The Quest for Immortality

Sword Qi tore open the flesh of his arm.

But it activated the Monster Pattern. After demonization, his arm surged with demonic power, and the hardened flesh, despite taking the hit directly, didn’t suffer any significant injury.

Still, the monster cultivator knew—this was as far as it could go.

If the fight dragged on, even killing one or two of these pesky brats would end with him defeated.

Dying wasn’t an issue. But he absolutely couldn’t die here.

Leaving behind a corpse was even worse!

The monster cultivator shot Ling Huxiao and his companions a vicious glare, etched this grudge deep into his heart, and decisively turned away.

”Don’t even think about running!”

Situ Jian saw this, his face darkened with anger. Instantly, he activated the Li Fire Sword Qi, condensing it into a fiery red sword light that shot straight towards the monster cultivator.

The sword was swift. The monster cultivator had no time to dodge and was struck on the back by one sword.

The monster cultivator staggered, gritted his teeth against the pain, spat out a curse, and continued fleeing toward the distance.

At the same time, Ling Huxiao had already condensed his Sword Qi. Then, he pointed with two fingers.

The piercing Chongxu Sword Qi broke through the air, aiming for the monster cultivator’s legs, intending to cripple the wretched beast and halt its escape.

The monster cultivator’s eyes trembled briefly but quickly twisted into a sneer. He leapt like a wild hound, narrowly evading the Chongxu Sword Qi.

Just then, Mo Hua struck out of nowhere, employing the Water Prison Technique.

The Water Prison Technique hit its mark flawlessly, immobilizing the monster cultivator for a brief moment.

The monster cultivator’s expression shifted sharply.

”Damn this disgusting spell again!”

It struggled with all its might, breaking free from the Water Prison Technique.

But before it could fully regain footing, the Chongxu Sword Qi arrived in an instant. The monster cultivator tried to evade desperately but still couldn’t avoid it completely. The sword light grazed him, missing his thigh but leaving a bloody gash on his calf.

The monster cultivator burned with rage.

Sooner or later, he vowed to shred these insufferable brats into pieces!

Discarding all dignity, he endured his injuries, dropped to all fours like a wild hound, and sprinted ferociously, covering dozens of yards in several bounds.

Ling Huxiao attempted to condense another Chongxu Sword Qi to stop the fleeing monster cultivator but found that, in the span of mere moments, the beast had already escaped too far, moving like a wild animal.

The layers of the forest blurred with depth, and the monster cultivator’s figure receded into the distance, vanishing from sight.

At this distance, Ling Huxiao could no longer lock onto him with his Divine Sense.

He could only watch helplessly as the monster cultivator disappeared from his field of vision.

Ling Huxiao grew frustrated, his expression filled with resentment. Just then, he suddenly froze.

He sensed a familiar aura of Goldstone Sword Qi beside him.

Turning his head, Ling Huxiao realized Mo Hua had already drawn a golden Spirit Sword at some unknown moment.

The Spirit Sword was crudely forged, its appearance peculiar, yet it exuded an uncanny air of fatality.

”Trying to run?”

Mo Hua’s eyes turned icy. Then, in an instant, his pupils turned pitch-black, as if pools of dark water.

Powerful Divine Thoughts stretched out like tendrils, tightly controlling the Spirit Sword before him.

Simultaneously, his Divine Sense locked unwaveringly onto the figure of the fleeing monster cultivator, now 150 yards away.

”Go!”

Mo Hua murmured softly.

The moment he spoke, waves of potent Divine Thought radiated outward.

The Spirit Sword hummed sharply before transforming into a streak of golden light. It shot out at an unimaginable speed, weaving through the forest and tracing a sharp, flickering golden line directly toward the escaping monster cultivator.

The further the monster cultivator fled, the closer he felt to freedom. Just as he was about to relax his breath—

A sudden sense of alarm overwhelmed him.

It was as if some unspeakably terrifying Divine Sense had fixed itself on him.

At the same moment, a chilling, murderous intent with razor-sharp precision hurtled towards him at unimaginable speed.

”What’s happening?!”

The monster cultivator’s heart was filled with dread.

He turned his head, wanting to see what was behind him. Then, he saw—the strand of fatal golden light.

This... sword light?

Sword Control?!

The monster cultivator’s pupils contracted violently. In a split-second decision, he forced the Monster Patterns on his right arm to their limits, using the surging demonic power and bloodied, hardened flesh to shield his head and chest.

And then, the Golden Sword struck. The golden light exploded.

Sword Qi surged furiously as the Spirit Sword shattered. The mutual destruction unleashed a blast of blood spray.

The monster cultivator felt as though his eyes would never open again. His right arm burned with the agony of a ”thousand cuts,” the pain so excruciating it threatened to tear his mind apart.

The intense Sword Qi ravaged his physical form.

When he managed to push through the agony and regain his senses, he found himself thrown over ten yards away by the Sword Control strike.

His right arm was gone.

Half his body was dripping blood, resembling the aftermath of being gnawed on by hundreds of monster beasts.

The monster cultivator’s eyes were filled with terror. Gritting his teeth through the pain, he summoned the last of his strength to crawl away into the dense forest until his figure disappeared.

Within just ten breaths’ time, Mo Hua performed the Water Passing Step and caught up.

Sword Qi had exploded blood over the ground, but the monster cultivator was nowhere to be seen.

Mo Hua released his Divine Sense, searching momentarily, when he let out a soft ”Hmm?” and walked to a corner of the woods. From the dirt and stones, he unearthed a small, blood-soaked fragment of an arm.

It was the monster cultivator’s arm.

Most of its right arm had been shredded by Sword Qi, bursting into a mist of blood, leaving only this small fragment.

The Monster Patterns on the arm were faint but still discernible.

Mo Hua examined the Monster Patterns closely for several moments. His eyebrows raised slightly, and his eyes lit up gradually.

”So it really is...”

”The Four Symbols Formation Pattern!”