Chapter 108 – The Sky Has Cloudy and Clear Days, the Moon Waxes and Wanes, People Have Joy and Sorrow, and Feasts Must End

Ancient Immortal?

How could there be an unfamiliar Ancient Immortal behind this child?

Didn’t the Leader say that aside from the Black Lotus Buddha Mother, all other Ancient Immortals had fallen into slumber?

Could it be that some Ancient Immortals unknown to the Leader have already awakened from their slumber?

An ordinary person might not detect the Ancient Immortal Aura emanating from Lu Chen.

But for Hao Fu, who had received multiple Ancient Fiend Gifts and walked the path of Ancient Immortals, this Ancient Immortal Aura was as clear as fire in the darkness.

The reason lay in the uniqueness of the Ancient Immortal lineage.

Unlike cultivators who comprehended the heavens and earth in their cultivation, the Ancient Immortal lineage’s cultivation methods leaned more toward “plunder” and “borrowing.”

Thus, unless a brand new world appeared before the Immortal Fiends, they would never set aside their “faith” conflicts to jointly deal with a new enemy.

Otherwise, Immortal Fiends worshipping different Ancient Immortals could be considered mortal enemies.

Sensing an unknown Ancient Immortal Aura from Lu Chen… this was far from good news.

But Hao Fu had no time to ponder this further, for Lu Chen’s sword had already descended upon his Protective Qi.

Although the momentum of this sword was far inferior to the Dragon Transformation Sword Intent and Righteous Sword Intent, that was because its true power lay neither in the blade nor in the technique.

Instead, it carried a terrifying Sword Intent—this sword struck at the cultivator’s soul!

Bang!

As the sword light fell, Hao Fu’s Protective Qi shattered instantly.

He immediately spat blood, staggering back several steps before steadying himself.

Despite causing no physical harm, this single strike achieved what Chen Fugui had failed to accomplish despite consuming countless Flying Swords.

One sword injuring a Golden Core—even if Hao Fu only possessed a False Core, a Golden Core was still a Golden Core!

Before Hao Fu could catch his breath, he saw Lu Chen, pale-faced and enduring visible pain, summon another Heretical Avatar.

An-Another sword?!

If the previous sword had shocked Hao Fu, this one truly made him feel fear.

Without hesitation, Hao Fu immediately activated his Black Lotus blessing.

Heretical Divine Ability… Hundred-Handed Buddha Mother.

As countless sounds of twisting flesh echoed from behind Hao Fu, hundreds of arms sprouted from his back.

These arms varied in appearance—male and female, young and old.

But unlike when Lu Chen unleashed the Heretical Sword, where Hao Fu could vaguely glimpse an ancient existence behind him, nothing appeared behind Hao Fu when he executed this Heretical Divine Ability.

Undoubtedly, this indicated he was not someone worthy of attention in the eyes of the Greatly Merciful and Compassionate Black Lotus Buddha Mother.

Thus, facing Lu Chen’s second sword, Hao Fu could only choose passive defense.

Bang!

As Lu Chen’s sword fell again, the multitude of arms enveloping Hao Fu instantly cracked with countless fissures.

Then, these arms shattered simultaneously, breaking off from his body.

“Pfft!”

Hao Fu spat another mouthful of blood, his injuries worsening further.

After all, the so-called Protective Qi was fundamentally a manifestation of the Golden Core itself.Upon reaching the Golden Core Stage, cultivators can utilize their Golden Core to mobilize greater amounts of heavenly and earthly power from their surroundings.

Thus, their Protective Qi appears to be sustained by their own cultivation.

In reality, however, they achieve an effect akin to “four ounces moving a thousand pounds” by borrowing the power of heaven and earth.

Therefore, unless facing an opponent of the same level or possessing terrifying means to overcome skill with brute force, only Golden Core Stage cultivators can typically defeat others at this stage.

Yet Lu Chen before them had achieved what many could not through some special method.

His first sword strike severed the connection between Hao Fu’s inner Golden Core and the heavens and earth, shattering his Protective Qi.

The second strike then cut off Hao Fu’s connection to the Ancient Fiend behind him, further aggravating his injuries.

Two strikes. Just two strikes.

With these two strikes, Lu Chen made Hao Fu understand what it meant to be heaven’s favored child.

And what it truly meant to receive the Ancient Fiend’s favor.

Hao Fu had expended endless effort, performed countless deeds, and exhausted every means to curry favor with the compassionate Black Lotus Buddha Mother.

Yet all he received were casual scraps from the Buddha Mother.

But Lu Chen?

Had Lu Chen not revealed his Heretical Avatar, Hao Fu would have thought him no different from any ordinary cultivator.

Showing not the slightest sign of corruption by the Ancient Fiend Power.

To achieve this, he must either possess a method to evade contamination by the Ancient Fiend Power,

Or he had gained the Ancient Fiend’s favor, allowing him to borrow their power without cost.

In Hao Fu’s view, Lu Chen was undoubtedly the latter.

Envy. Boundless envy.

The look Hao Fu now gave Lu Chen was that of a marginalized child gazing with jealousy at another showered with infinite affection.

“So what if you have the Ancient Fiend’s favor? In the end, you’re still merely at Qi Refining!!”

“I refuse to believe you can still borrow that one’s power now!”

With a furious roar, without even stabilizing his internal Qi, Hao Fu immediately struck out at Lu Chen with a palm.

The palm transformed mid-air into a gigantic fleshy hand that blotted out the sky.

But Lu Chen’s subsequent action transformed Hao Fu’s expression from madness to terror.

For he saw Lu Chen assuming that very stance which had terrified him before.

Only this time, Lu Chen wasn’t executing that sword technique through his Heretical Avatar.

He was using his true body.

Witnessing this, Hao Fu instinctively recalled the agony those previous two strikes had inflicted.

Madman! An absolute madman!

How dare this brat withstand that one’s power with his true body!

Did he truly believe the favored could remain forever presumptuous?!

Even if those supreme beings doted on him endlessly, he couldn’t possibly borrow power not his own repeatedly without paying a price!

As if guessing Hao Fu’s thoughts, Lu Chen spoke while executing the Heretical Sword:

“The opportunity Teacher Chen bought with his life—as his student, I would rather die than waste it.”

“Sever.”

The sword fell upon the colossal arm.

In the next instant, Hao Fu’s gigantic arm halted mid-air.

Countless blood lines emerged across the limb before it erupted in torrents of blood.

“Ah!”

Clutching his severed right arm in agony, Hao Fu stared at Lu Chen with horrified eyes.But when he discovered Lu Chen’s face, already pale to the point of having no trace of blood, and his fragile Divine Soul, flickering like a candle in the wind,

the fear in his heart quickly turned into the relief of having survived a disaster.

Thank goodness, thank goodness he only had this one Sword strike left.

If he could still unleash one or two more Sword strikes, then he would truly be in danger.

Staring at Lu Chen, who could barely stand, Hao Fu clutched his severed arm and said in a complex tone, “It’s a good thing you could only deliver three Sword strikes, and it’s a good thing you’re only at the Qi Condensation Stage. If you were at the Foundation Establishment Stage or could deliver even one more Sword strike, I might have really died by your hand today.”

“To have taught a student like you, Old Chen’s life… has been worth it.”

Just as Hao Fu was about to turn and leave with the unconscious Bian Shouyi on the ground, Lu Chen suddenly spoke.

“Who told you… I only have these three Sword strikes?”

Hao Fu turned back in terror, only to find a golden light suddenly enveloping Lu Chen.

His body, which had been riddled with wounds, and his Divine Soul, fragile as a candle in the wind, actually began to recover continuously under the nourishment of this golden light.

This situation was as if something had altered the fate inscribed on Lu Chen’s body,

causing him to exhibit this phenomenon that defied the fundamental principles of heaven and earth.

“H-how is this possible?!”

Hao Fu stared in disbelief, his mind completely blank.

Returning from death—this was truly, genuinely returning from death.

It was absolutely not a method like Possession or borrowing a shell for Rebirth!

How could such a method exist in this world…

Watching Lu Chen transform from a person on the verge of death to one brimming with vibrant vitality,

Hao Fu felt that the cultivation path he had built since childhood was utterly shattered.

The dead cannot return to life; when the soul scatters, the Dao vanishes.

This is a fundamental truth engraved in the hearts of all Cultivators.

Even the Immortal Fiends are no exception.

Yet Lu Chen had broken this truth.

Never mind that Lu Chen was only at the Qi Condensation Stage—even if he were at the Golden Core Stage, the Nascent Soul Stage… or even a true Immortal,

it would be absolutely impossible to defy this fundamental principle of heaven and earth!

Otherwise, the world would have long descended into chaos.

And at this moment, Lu Chen finally understood why the Azure Clouds True Immortal of the past had chosen to suppress the Little Gold Dragon rather than kill it.

Because the Dao mastered by the Little Gold Dragon could not be extinguished, not even by an Immortal.

[Shard of Heavenly Dao (Return)]

[Effect: Can negate one instance of death, reviving on the spot.]

Return—this was the Dao the Little Gold Dragon had mastered after devouring several Dragon Veins.

Its principle was somewhat similar to the relationship between a nation and its Dynasty.

No matter how the Dynasty changes, the nation remains the same nation, and the sky remains the same sky.

In a sense, the Little Gold Dragon represented the nation.

As long as the heaven and earth it represented still existed, this Aura Golden Dragon, representing the vast nation, would never truly die.

Conversely, once this nation disappeared,

the Little Gold Dragon would truly perish.

Thus, in a way, the vast nation was the true form of the Little Gold Dragon.

The so-called Aura Golden Dragon was merely the soul of this vast nation.

Therefore, if the Azure Clouds True Immortal of the past had wanted to slay the Little Gold Dragon,

he would have needed to destroy the vast nation.

For him, this was undoubtedly an unacceptable outcome.

Although Lu Chen could not achieve the Little Gold Dragon’s level of immortality as long as the nation endured,

by borrowing this small Shard of Heavenly Dao, he temporarily attained a similar effect….which the panel referred to as… reviving once.

These simple words concealed a terrifying implication.

The profundity of the Dao of Revival surpassed even that mysterious Heretical Sword.

Lu Chen couldn’t even begin to comprehend it, let alone master it.

But none of that mattered to him now.

Because he had to deal with Hao Fu, this severely injured False Core cultivator, first!

“Slash.”

As Lu Chen summoned the Heretical Avatar once more, that nearly unavoidable sword strike shot toward Hao Fu again.

“No!!!”

This time, Hao Fu didn’t attempt to block it head-on but turned and fled.

Yet no matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t outpace Lu Chen’s sword.

Hao Fu had barely taken a single step when his body abruptly froze in place.

Then, his head separated from his torso and thudded heavily to the ground.

Just as Lu Chen prepared to deliver a finishing blow…

He suddenly saw a translucent jade hand materialize in the air, plucking something from Hao Fu’s corpse.

Within that jade hand, Lu Chen glimpsed a tiny figure struggling desperately.

But no matter how it writhed, the miniature figure couldn’t break free from the jade hand’s grasp.

When the jade hand vanished, Hao Fu’s corpse instantly withered before crumbling into a pile of dust with a crisp pop.

Witnessing this, Lu Chen knew Hao Fu was truly dead.

As for his soul, it had likely been taken by the Black Lotus Buddha Mother behind the Black Lotus Sect.

For one’s Divine Soul to fall into the hands of such an existence… that was surely a fate worse than death for Hao Fu.

Although the immediate crisis had passed, Lu Chen found no joy in it.

Scanning his surroundings, he realized only he and a few classmates had miraculously survived.

The frenzied horde of gnawing rats that had been attacking them moments earlier now retreated like a receding tide, as if responding to some unseen command.

Simultaneously, the blood-red clouds that had blotted out the sky were unexpectedly split open by a gap.

Lu Chen looked up to see two figures emerging through the severed clouds.

One was an elderly man standing atop a broken sword, the other a young sword cultivator.

Though they had just appeared, their presence exerted immense pressure on the Rat high above Luocheng High School.

So much so that the Rat immediately abandoned Meng Chuanping and fled into the distance without a backward glance.

The old man on the broken sword snorted coldly and gave chase without hesitation.

Meanwhile, the young sword cultivator descended upon the remaining Black Lotus Cultists around Luocheng High School.

Though merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Lu Chen sensed greater pressure from him than from Hao Fu.

Because this person was clearly a sword cultivator who had mastered Sword Intent.

And he possessed not just one, but multiple Sword Intents.

Perhaps due to their Sword Intents resonating across the distance, the sword cultivator noticed Lu Chen from afar and offered him a friendly smile.

Then he immediately mounted his sword and pursued the fleeing Black Lotus Cultists, unleashing carnage.

Ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators could control at most three or four Flying Swords.

Yet this cultivator manipulated hundreds, even thousands at once.

So many Flying Swords gathered together resembled a flowing river of steel, a terrifying sight to behold.

This was none other than Jiang Dongliu, Sword Institute Chief of Clear River Dao Academy, renowned as the ‘Romantic Sword Immortal’.The vast river surges with endless waves, yet only one man stands unrivaled in his brilliance.

Even within the elite-gathering Qinghe Sword Academy, Jiang Dongliu remained the undisputed, most exceptional figure.

After all, his position as Sword Institute Chief was not attained through connections, but earned strike by strike with his sword.

Seeing this, Lu Chen knew the crisis brought by the Black Lotus Sect had been resolved.

Yet this joy of surviving a calamity instantly faded when Lu Chen laid eyes on the remains of his teacher, Chen Fugui.

Recalling how Chen Fugui had privately discussed with him not long ago about how to exploit the two major Dao Academies, Lu Chen felt as though it had happened only yesterday.

With this in mind, he silently approached Chen Fugui’s remains and solemnly performed a deep bow.

“Th-thank you, revered teacher, for your years of guidance. Your st-student Lu Chen… congratulates you on your Ascension.”

Just as skies shift from cloudy to clear and the moon waxes and wanes, human life is marked by sorrow and joy, meetings and partings.

On the long journey of life, some encounters are unexpected, while some departures come without farewells.

Drip, drip…

Guilt—boundless, endless guilt.

This was because Lu Chen believed he had drawn the Black Lotus Sect, causing Chen Fugui’s death.

And because he felt that if he had been just a little stronger, even slightly so, everything might have been different.

If he had achieved Foundation Establishment earlier, or if he had mastered Harmony Realm swordsmanship sooner…

At this moment, Lu Chen felt that it wasn’t Hao Fu who had killed Chen Fugui—it was himself.

His own weakness had caused Chen Fugui’s death.

After an unknowable length of time, Lu Chen wiped his wind-stung eyes and, gazing at Chen Fugui’s remains, declared solemnly, “Teacher, I will never let something like this happen again. Never…”

Whether these words were meant for Chen Fugui or for himself, only Lu Chen knew…

(End of Chapter)