Chapter 5: I Came, I Saw

As Li Ji'an slowly approached, Guangling's face broke into a triumphant grin.

"Granduncle, this is fate—hahaha..."

The old man clenched his jaw, his eyes nearly bursting with blood. "Ah! You will destroy the family sooner or later! When the clan falls and the lineage is extinguished, it will be your doing. I will wait for you in the underworld so you may come and atone for your sins..."

With those words, the last vestige of power from his core surged forth.

A thunderous sound echoed.

But it was a spent force, barely a tenth of its usual strength. All it managed was to throw Guangling three yards away, while the old man himself collapsed to the ground, utterly spent, unable even to move a finger.

As Li Ji'an drew near, the old man still chose not to reveal the family's secrets to someone he regarded as an insect.

No matter how fierce the strife among kin, he always acted for the family's enduring prosperity, never so outsiders might seize an opportunity—least of all a blood slave.

Bitterness, sorrow, and despair overwhelmed his heart, and the pallor of death deepened on his face.

He slowly closed his eyes, awaiting death's arrival.

But just as his eyes were about to shut, something unexpected occurred.

Li Ji'an, sword in hand, strode to his side. Suddenly, with a flick of his wrist as swift as lightning, he struck at Guangling.

Guangling, his power already spent and having just survived calamity, never imagined this insignificant ant would turn on him. He had no defense.

With a sickening sound, the sword took his head, blood spraying three feet.

Even as his head struck the ground, the same look of smugness remained frozen on his face.

"Brother Li!" The four behind cried out in shock.

During the earlier melee, they had fought only to save themselves, finally breaking free from the shackles of the "immortal" and daring to resist.

But now, they were caught utterly off guard.

The immortal master who had slapped their emperor and led them to this place had been slain so simply by Li Ji'an!

The old man, too, opened his eyes wide in disbelief, fixing Li Ji'an with a stunned gaze.

An ant from this forsaken land had killed the immortal sent to fetch them—yet stood there calm and unruffled.

Were it not for his helplessness, he would have warned his clan at once: this one must not be allowed to live!

"I ask, you answer. Otherwise, you will beg for death," Li Ji'an said coolly, striding to the old man's side and looking down on him.

The old man gave a bitter laugh, his voice full of grief. "Ha... cough... To think I would one day be looked down upon by such an insect..."

He ignored Li Ji'an's question.

Not to mention these mortals from the forsaken land—even in the cultivation world, ordinary folk unfit to tread the path had no right to speak to him, much less to look down from above in such defiance.

In the next instant, the old man bit his tongue hard, sending his life’s blood surging through his veins in an attempt to explode himself and die.

"Stubborn fool!" Li Ji'an, startled, sneered coldly and pressed a palm to the old man's crown.

He actually tried to self-destruct with his blood.

But compared to Li Ji'an’s own vital energy, the old man's was utterly insignificant.

In a flash, the old man realized his meridians were being nourished by a forceful surge of blood energy. His own life essence could do nothing to affect it.

Worse still, this nourishing influx instantly transformed into thousands of tiny needles, rampaging through his body with excruciating agony.

As a practitioner of body cultivation, Li Ji'an’s understanding of the human meridians far surpassed that of the old mage. He knew precisely how to inflict the most soul-piercing pain.

Without his power, the old man's body was little stronger than an ordinary mortal.

"What are blood slaves for?" After letting him taste pain at level five, Li Ji'an asked again.

"Vermin!" the old man spat.

His agony rose to level six.

"Which family do you serve?"

"An insect dares question an immortal?"

Agony rose to level seven.

"What is this forsaken land?"

"Spit! Kill me if you have the guts!"

Agony rose to level eight.

"What are body cultivation and mage cultivation? Is the martial path you taught us actually body cultivation?"

"You will never wring answers from me!"

Agony rose to level nine.

"How far are we from the cultivation world?"

"Kill me!"

"What became of the blood slaves previously taken back? And a woman named Ning Sujin?"

...

Until his bones were gnawed by blades and his heart pierced by a thousand needles, the old man finally let go of his former immortal arrogance.

Yet Li Ji'an had still underestimated the will of a true cultivator.

The old man would rather die than divulge anything about his family, answering only what he chose.

To force him to lead their group out of the desert stormlands, Li Ji'an had no choice but to compromise: he promised a quick death if the old man guided them into the Cangyun Province cultivation world.

This left the remaining four deeply shaken.

"Immortals" could not only be slain, they could suffer—they could even beg for mercy!

When the old man fed spirit stones into the flying vessel and steered it with his divine sense, they set off once more. Five days later, the endless yellow sands finally came to an end.

A barren, desolate wilderness spread before them, yet to the five it seemed as welcoming as a verdant oasis.

The flying vessel touched down. Li Ji'an withdrew the old man's blood energy, and his life ebbed away in a heartbeat.

With a spit of contempt, Zhao Shuyao was the first to step forward and smash the old man's skull with a palm.

The other three followed, each leaving their own mark on the corpse.

A faint smile played at Li Ji'an's lips. He understood—they were pledging their allegiance.

He turned his gaze from the old man, looking off into the distance, his mind assembling all he had learned of this world...

Heaven's Vast Domain.

The southernmost wilds of Cangyun Province, at Fallen Dragon Ridge...

The old man’s family was in the far north of Cangyun Province, tens of thousands of miles away.

He was a ninth-level Qi Condensation cultivator.

The two masked men were clan prodigies at the fourth level.

The immortal master Guangling, who had come to fetch them, was a clan genius at the eighth level.

"Qilin body cultivators, ancient mage cultivators, Netherworld soul cultivators..."

"A land abandoned by the heavens, where spiritual power is cut off... and not just here in the Immortal-bestowed Empire."

Li Ji'an stood for a long time, then slowly exhaled and watched as a distant point of light grew nearer on the horizon.

"The cultivation world—at last!"

After dealing with the old man’s corpse, Li Ji'an had the others bury all the storage bags and flying swords taken from Guangling and his men.

Then he prepared to lead the four eastward.

But just as they were about to set off, a beast's roar suddenly rang out.

"A spirit beast?" The five turned to see a dog-like creature the size of a calf.

There was no shortage of spirit beasts in the Immortal-bestowed Empire, and the five of them had eaten many.

At the height of his former life, Li Ji'an had searched the empire for spirit beasts, hoping to find something special, but in the end found nothing.

Spirit beasts in the empire were simply wild beasts with certain special bloodlines, good for nourishing blood and strengthening the organs.

Their strength far surpassed ordinary animals,

But their limits were clear; for a martial artist at the Blood Exchange stage or higher, slaying such beasts was as easy as reaching into a bag.

"Be careful! This isn’t an ordinary spirit beast. If I’m not mistaken, it's a demon beast!" Li Ji'an warned.

"A demon beast?"

At the sound of the word "demon," which stood in opposition to "immortal," the four grew instantly wary.

The canine beast roared again, its gaze repeatedly drawn to the old man's corpse lying on the ground.