The Forbidden Path to Immortality-Chapter 272

What settled in the fat man's expression was a calm, steady composure. “So, it turns out… there’s someone else in the Old Immortal Cave, he said in a low voice. And he pressed lightly against the sea with his foot. The junior brother who had just sunk beneath the surface rose again as if lifted by an invisible hand.

Then he flicked his sleeve. A piece of silk-like fabric slipped out, caught the wind, and spread open. It planted itself between the water and his junior brother as if it had a mind of its own, holding the man afloat.

Old Kunpeng looked the fat man up and down with interest. He nodded. “Someone like you lowering yourself to play the clown is rare. And your way of turning weakness into strength is impressive. Still, if you can ring the Spirit-Stirring Bell, you must be somebody important. How come I’ve never heard of you?”

This was exactly what puzzled Li Xun as well. He was just as curious to hear the answer.

The fat man suddenly broke into a broad grin. He let out a booming laugh. “Old Immortal, you’re too kind. What turning weakness into strength? That’s way too fancy. At best, I was just luring the snake out of its hole. Honestly, I didn’t expect you to take a little detour through the Northern Alliance and even break your habit of living alone. You actually picked up a wife. That one’s on me. Really, I miscalculated.”

He still refused to reveal who he was, slippery as ever, and his words were laced with barbs sharp enough to raise anyone’s temper. Li Xun could already see Old Kunpeng’s face darkening to an iron blue, and right then, a cold snort sounded behind the fat man.

Li Xun’s eyes flicked over just as a huge, hulking man broke the surface. The moment he caught sight of that bluish-gray skin, he let out a sigh in his head.

Perfect. Just my luck. The Three-Headed Flood Serpent...

In the battle at North Pole Yemo Heaven, the Three-Headed Flood Serpent had already yielded to Gu Yin. But then Yin Wanderer barged in and stirred everything up, and the beast slipped away in the chaos. Li Xun never imagined it would flee straight into Old Kunpeng’s lair and end up getting dragged into the fat man’s insults as well.

Li Xun was sure of one thing: if he were in Old Kunpeng’s or the Three-Headed Flood Serpent’s shoes, he would never let anyone escape. Not if he wanted to stay alive. He let go of any remaining illusions and braced himself for the escape attempt that was surely coming.

The fat man still hadn’t turned around, yet somehow he knew exactly what was behind him. It was as if he had eyes in the back of his head. His face shifted at once into a look of genuine shock.

“So it’s Three Origins Dragon Lord? This is all a misunderstanding!”

His cry stretched out long and miserable, enough to break a person’s heart. The two demons and the lone human on the water could all hear the despair in it.

But before the wail even faded, the fat man suddenly spun in place like a top. His entire body blurred as he whipped into a rapid, dizzying rotation.

While everyone stood there stunned, he suddenly shot forward and charged at Kunpeng.

Yeah, the whole thing was creepy, but Old Kunpeng had weathered more storms than anyone. He just barked out a laugh. And a towering wave rose in front of him and crashed down toward the spinning figure.

There was a thunderous BOOM. The fat man’s body jerked to a halt inside the wave, but he forced his way through and kept barreling forward.

“Interesting.”

Old Kunpeng reached out with one massive hand and clawed at the air. The surrounding primordial qi surged and twisted. Even from where Li Xun stood, he could feel the whirlpool of energy forming around Kunpeng’s palm and violently churning.

What truly terrified him was that this surge of Kunpeng qi seemed to blend with the endless sea around him. For a moment he lost his sense of direction. Li Xun suddenly couldn’t tell whether the energy was moving or the ocean was shifting.

He sucked in a sharp breath. He realized he had still underestimated that old demon.

If Old Kunpeng had used this technique back at Yemo Heaven, not even Gu Yin’s thousand tricks would have been enough to hold him back.

It was exactly as expected... going up against Old Kunpeng out on the open sea was no different from walking to your own death.

No matter how sly that fat man was, he couldn’t make up for the absolute difference in cultivation. It felt like he slammed straight into a giant wall, and then that wall turned into the jaws of a ferocious beast. Blades of qi crisscrossed around him like thousands of tiny knives stabbing all at once.

With a harsh series of tearing sounds that would make your teeth ache, the fat man shrank down. Flesh and blood sprayed everywhere.

But right then, Old Kunpeng elder, the Three-Headed Flood Serpent, and Li Xun frowned at the same time. Something’s wrong.

Their gazes shot toward the “junior brother” who had just been lying there like he didn’t know life from death. Yet something had moved even faster than their eyes. The man that had been slumped on the “silk mat” like a pile of mush had suddenly sprang up and bolted toward the western shore.

Li Xun saw it clearly. That so-called junior brother had already shifted into the shape of that pudgy, round-faced fatty.

Who knew when he had pulled off a swap like that? And to make it worse, the fat man still had the nerve to shout while fleeing at top speed:

“Third Junior Brother, time to run!”

Damn it!

Li Xun wasn’t dumb; the second he heard that shit, he knew talking was useless. He was just a fraction slower than the fat guy. With a sudden burst, he shot off, hurtling north.

He held back his speed on purpose, slowing himself by about twenty percent. Only after the fat man had completely vanished from sight did he narrowly dodge the long-range punch from the Three-Headed Flood Serpent and make his own messy escape.

Everything unfolded just the way he expected.

There was no chance those two demons would let a single survivor slip away. With a single howl, the pair traded their intentions. Naturally, Old Kunpeng went after the fat man, who was both skilled and sly and had just embarrassed him. While the Three-Headed Flood Serpent took responsibility for the weaker junior hiding his true abilities on this side.

Seeing this, Li Xun finally relaxed.

He pushed himself a little harder, picked up some speed, and widened the gap between him and the Three-Headed Flood Serpent.

The infamous demon wasn’t about to be outdone. With a cold laugh, the waves churned beneath his feet and mist rose around him. His body seemed to grow lighter, and he closed the distance with ease. It was obvious he still had plenty of strength to spare.

Speed depended heavily on cultivation. Even though Li Xun had recently made great progress in his speed, there was still a considerable gap between him and the Three-Headed Flood Serpent.

If they were simply racing, Li Xun wouldn’t stand a chance.

But that was under ordinary circumstances.

From far off, faint ripples of primordial qi spread through the air. It sounded like Old Kunpeng had begun his attack.

Not wanting to fall behind, the Three-Headed Flood Serpent picked up speed as well. As a sea beast, his ability to ride the waves was even faster than flying by controlling qi.

By now, Li Xun could feel the demon almost at his back. He glanced over his shoulder and could clearly see the smug expression on the flood serpent’s face. A trace of mockery flashed in Li Xun’s eyes.

Thin strands of burning-hot true breath shot up from the soles of his feet. They instantly rushed through his whole body, and rose to the crown of his head. Then poured back down again, completing a full cycle.

A dull boom went off inside Li Xun’s skull. Those threadlike strands of true breath were the trigger that unleashed all the power he had been holding back.

His heart swelled in a terrifying instant, ballooning so wide it felt as if it might burst. The moment it filled his chest, it snapped back, shrinking with a violent pull until it was no bigger than a tiny core.

With each surge and contraction, all the blood and qi in his body fused with the raging true breath. Under crushing pressure they reacted together, forming a strange kind of fuel. It needed no flame. The rising force inside his body simply ignited it on its own.

The “flame tongue” hissed sharply, erupting from within and licking at every inch of Li Xun’s flesh and bone.

Li Xun was burning alive.

By now, he couldn’t tell whether the rush flooding his mind was pleasure or pain. All he knew was that it was unbelievably intense.

With a single thought, he threw his head back and roared. The sound shot into the heavens, slammed down toward the deep sea, and swept everything before it. In this moment, nothing in the world could stand in his way.

His bones began to crack in a rapid, unbroken rhythm, like a string of firecrackers. One thousand and eight sharp pops, from first to last, one seamless burst. When the final pop exploded, a mighty surge of power blasted through him, linking heaven and earth.

Right then, Li Xun lost all sense of his own weight.

The Three-Headed Flood Serpent just stared, stunned.

Right before his eyes, a blood-red, rainbow-like streak suddenly shot up into the sky, stretching across the sea and horizon. He could clearly see that if he just reached out, he could touch the very end of it.

Yet the divine sense he’d built up over nearly ten thousand years told him one thing:

Danger. Extreme danger.

He yanked his hand back at once. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The rainbow glow stretching between sea and sky lasted only a few breaths before it began to fade. Even so, he saw clearly that wherever the blood-light passed, the world’s primordial qi was drained clean. It was as if the very void had been sliced open by a divine blade, leaving a wound that refused to heal and groaned in endless pain.

Blood Demon Heart Transformation Technique? No… this is the Blood Shadow Demon Form!

The Three-Headed Flood Serpent’s fingers trembled slightly. He drew in a deep breath before he finally regained his composure.

As one of this world’s greatest demons, he understood well what that strange vision meant.

He knew there was no point in chasing any farther. What mattered now was returning to meet with Kunpeng and figuring out how to face the great calamity that might soon be coming.

Hmm, that fat guy should’ve been taken care of by now… Wait, what’s that?

A streak of silver-white light whipped past a few yards above his head. The gust it kicked up scraped across his scalp, sharper than any blade.

The Three-Headed Flood Serpent dodged on instinct alone. By the time he tried to strike back, the chance was long gone.

All he managed to catch was a blurred, fat figure. And the two silver-white metal wings jutting diagonally from the man’s back.

Nightshade Wings? Damn it!

He slammed a foot down in frustration. The sea for miles around exploded upward, waves surging in every direction. Who knew how many fish died under that single stomp. And from far off, there came another roar; similar to his own, but far more thunderous.