Seeing this, Long Di whispered very audibly to the passenger in his arm. “Yaomu Shou, the girl who is calling out for everyone who is not me is having trouble touching someone else who is not me.”

“Screw you!”

****

“Die!”

Shing!

“Tectonic Palm!”

A sword strike cut through the air before landing a giant palm composed of quaking spiritual qi!

Boom!

An explosion erupted from the two collisions that sent shockwaves everywhere.

One figure flew out from the blast before crashing into a nearby cliff face!

The one who won out in the exchange sneered upon seeing this and pressed his assault as he shot towards his opponent.

Shing!

He brandished his sword, a high-grade orange rank secular weapon before slashing it towards his opponent.

Whoosh!

The attack cut through the air with killing intent, fuelling it onward.

There were a few cultivators to the side who were watching everything with satisfied expressions.

Looking closely, it could be seen that everyone was wearing the exact same robes, even the one attacking and the one receiving the attack. This suggested that these experts were from the same sect.

“This Weisheng Zu isn’t too bad,” one cultivator standing off to the side said with a malicious grin.

That’s right, one of the two cultivators embroiled in battle was Weisheng Zu, the son of the city lord and the young master of the Weisheng family back in Thunder Cloud City, Long Di’s hometown.

After Ao Lan brought him back to the Soaring Cloud Immortal Sect, due to his golden destiny, he was quickly drafted by the Black Bear Group, one of many factions within the sect.

Since then, he had become even more arrogant and unbearable. There were many cultivators within the sect that were displeased with him but were forced to endure because of the faction backing him.

“This is what happens to those who turn down our offer! Elder Shen Dai isn’t here to protect you this time, so you can either comply or die!”

Wang Zhi, the vice leader of the Black Bear Group, sneered at the sorry state of Weisheng Zu’s opponent.

Shing!

Pu Ci!

The sword already arrived towards Weisheng Zu’s opponent in an instant. His foe dodged the strike at the last moment, but the attack still dug out a gash on his chest, causing blood to spurt!

“Ack!”

A mouthful of blood followed, and his combat prowess dropped significantly.

“Hehehehe…” Weisheng Zhu stood over him with a malicious grin. “Lu Pei, my boss is very magnanimous. If you tell him how you changed your destiny, he will allow you to not only join the Black Bear Group but to become his right-hand man!”

When Wang Zhi, the vice leader heard this, his expression darkened, but he didn’t say anything.

“Weisheng Zu, you bastard! If you didn’t say anything, how could the leader of the Black Bear Group know about this!? You sold me out, a fellow countryman from the same origin!”

Weisheng Zu’s expression twisted into one of anger and disgust!

“Fellow nothing! You’re just a lowly mortal who had a miraculous encounter! No matter what changes, you’re still a mortal! Your dog self isn’t even fit to carry my shoes and you dare call yourself my fellow!? Pa! Now, will you yield or not!?”

That’s right. The opponent of Weisheng Zu of Thunder Cloud City is Lu Pei who hailed from the same place.

After entering the Soaring Cloud Immortal Sect, he tried to be as low-key as possible. After all, for someone who used to possess a bronze destiny changing it into something that allowed him to not just keep up but catch up with the great geniuses in the sect is something that would cause an uproar if discovered, and he needed to grow strong enough before this secret was uncovered.

Yet, somehow the secret of his destiny being changed spread to those within the upper echelon of the Black Bear Group.

Luckily, it didn’t spread beyond that group, but then they started to target him. After declining the invitation to join their faction, they started to bully him.

After a bit of investigating, he discovered that Weisheng Zu was in this group and it became all too obvious what happened after that.

Obviously, Weisheng Zu sold this information to gain a higher standing in the faction. The mere fact that he recently joined them and is already with the vice leader spoke volumes of that.

“Well!?” Weisheng Zhu forced him to answer, lowering the sword to his neck.

Lu Pei’s strength was at an all-time low and he doubted his ability to move, much less win the fight.

There was no other way about it. He decided to bet it all on one last ditch effort. If he died here, then this was how far his path was fated to reach.

Shing!

The golden King character appeared on his forehead. His aura underwent a visible change that shocked Weisheng Zu and the others.

Boom!

Suddenly, an explosion erupted, but this one was orders of magnitude bigger than anything that came before it.

Wang Zhi and the others who were watching the battle looked behind them to see an explosion of fire and lightning expanding and heading towards them!

“What the hell is that!?”

“Why are you asking that!? Move! Go!” Wang Zhi ordered before fleeing. The others didn’t waste time and took off. If they stayed here, there was no doubt that they would die here!

Weisheng Zu obviously noticed the imposing blast roaring its way towards them with a trace of fear before he looked back at his opponent with a sneer.

“Hmph! Not even the heavens want you to live! I don’t think you will be able to live after this, but if you somehow manage to survive, I will make sure you die for going against Boss Wang Zhi! A mortal should know his place!”

Shu!

Without another word, Weisheng Zu took off after his elder brothers!

Lu Pei got up soon after and took off in a dash! The energy he possessed right now was something attributed to this strange mark he had. He didn’t know too much about it apart from the massive boost of energy it gave him.

But not even it was enough to allow him to outrun the explosion. He looked back to see that it was already upon him.

Once the explosion was close enough, he didn’t know if he was hallucinating, but he was sure he saw a figure within the blast withstanding it.

He definitely had to be crazy. No one here could be capable of surviving whatever the hell this explosion is.

Rumble!

The ground below him shook and before long it gave way under him before the explosion arrived!

A bright light consumed his vision before darkness came much too quickly and stole it all away.

…

Plop, plop, plop…

The sound of dripping water echoed in a dark and damp place.

“Mhmm…”

A groan interrupted the rhythmic chanting of the water drops as a figure lying on the ground strained to open his eyes.

Of course, it was Lu Pei. He tried to get up before a surge of pain wracked his body, causing him to clench his jaw in pain.

The King character’s glow had long faded from his forehead and the backlash caused by its use had superimposed on his already grievous injuries.

“Great.”

He then lay there for a while, waiting for the pain to abate by even a little.

It did not.

Taking deep breaths, he moved his hand over his storage ring, causing a medicinal pill to appear in his hand.

It was mottled and filled with holes. Its medicinal scent was nearly non-existent and its colour was dull, making the pill appear like it was dead.

Medicinal pills weren’t alive in the traditional sense, but this thing was so dead-looking that it made every other pill look alive in comparison.

He looked at it in disappointment before he hardened his heart and swallowed it.

The pill dissolved chunk by chunk before it was all gone. He could feel the medicinal energy coursing through his body, but the pain he felt only receded by a little.

He had to actively direct the meagre medicinal energy to where the wounds were most severe.

The pain finally diminished a tad, but his situation was far from good.

“Sighs…”

He thought about all the hardships he endured to get where he was. Truly, his life wasn’t as easy as he would like it to be.

Enemies were beset on all sides of him and circumstances yielded death if he was to relax even a little. As of now, he was a 2nd Duan Cauldron Forging realm expert. A pitifully low cultivation base in the cultivation world, but he resolved himself to survive these moments and reflect on them to never forget where he came from.

Eventually, he felt strong enough to sit up, and he did so to regain his bearings and figure out where he was.

“Where am I? The last thing I remember was the explosion nearing me and the entire place shook before the ground caved in and…”

Remembering this, he looked up to see the ceiling, a mass of huge rocks stuck together.

‘A cave-in?’ he thought to himself.

He looked down with a wry smile at his luck, “How the hell am I gonna get out of here?”

He tried his best to cheer himself and took a deep breath to think about his next move.

“Inhale…”

“What the!?”

The minute he took a deep breath, a surge of strength entered his limbs!

He wheeled his head around in shock before a daunting sight greeted him!

Where he was located was a cave system, but this wasn’t the unusual aspect of it. What was off was the abundance of spiritual energy in this place!

The spiritual energy here was thick enough for beads of spiritual energy liquid to form on the walls!

There was not much light here, but the spiritual energy fog that formed as a result of this possessed a quiet luminescence that cast the entire place in an otherworldly glow. If someone told Lu Pei, this was an Immortal’s grotto, he would believe them.

“Incredible!” The state of the environment here took Lu Pei’s breath away.

“So you’re an alchemist?”

“An alchemist apprentice, really.”

“I didn’t think the demon race had alchemists.”

“We’re not all muscle-brained y’kno! Plus, anyone can cultivate somatic essence and spiritual force since it’s inherently different from spiritual qi. Can you stop talking to me now!? I don’t like you!”

“I didn’t think that was a prerequisite for this conversation.”

Suddenly, Lu Pei heard voices from an earlier path in the cave system. He quickly found a small crack in the side to hide himself in.

He positioned himself in such a way so that he could see who it was that was coming.

The fog of spiritual qi here rendered it impossible for him to see far away, so he needed to wait till they were much closer.

Soon, three shadows emerged from the fog and upon spotting the first one, a coloured blush quickly crept up Lu Pei’s cheeks.

He had never seen someone so beautiful before. Not even in the Soaring Cloud Immortal Sect where there were many city-toppling beauties.

Her face was perfectly oval, and her figure was striking. The smile she wore at the moment lit up the passage.

At a glance, however, he could see that she wasn’t human, evident by her violet skin. In addition, there was a regal bearing to her that he couldn’t quite describe. It was this bearing that dissuaded any impure thoughts about her.

‘Is she from the demon race?’

This was the first time he saw such a life form. The other person was the same as well. However, she lacked the regal bearing the former had. In addition, her beauty came from a little sister type of cuteness.

The third figure, on the other hand…

“!”

Lu Pei’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw who that figure was. He could never forget the day when after checking his destiny, a world-shaking calamity descended, nearly destroying his hometown.

Those dead eyes, that impassive, immovable expression. There was no mistaking it!

“L-Long Di…” the figure subconsciously uttered before quickly covering his mouth with both hands, but it was too late.

It was only a whisper, but in a cave system like this, even whispers carried far.

“Who’s there!?”