Beiluo, Heartlake Island.To Mo Liuqi, everything on this island felt wondrous and unfamiliar. It was a land of paradoxes — teeming with life, yet barren in appearance. Though only ten eerie chrysanthemums bloomed here, the air was fresher and purer than even the most secluded mountain forests.
He strolled slowly along the lakeshore, the gentle breeze stirring his robes and waking his spirit."Beiluo... Heartlake Island..."With measured grace, Mo Liuqi removed the hairpin from his head. The cheap pearls dangling from it swayed gently. His fingers caressed the inscribed name, and he clenched the ornament tightly."A-Zhu... wait for me. I will return to you, alive," he murmured silently.
In the distance, Jing Yue stood lazily, a yellow pearwood sword case strapped to his back, watching Mo Liuqi with idle amusement.Mo Liuqi, the second-ranked assassin under heaven, a formidable force even Jing Yue himself might not be able to match.Yet was Jing Yue afraid?Not in the slightest — because behind him stood a youth whose power rivaled that of the patriarchs of the Hundred Schools.
If Mo Liuqi had any sense, he would tread carefully. If not... Jing Yue recalled his young master's volatile temper and couldn't help but want to whistle in anticipation of the drama to come.
Mo Liuqi paid him no heed, his gaze drifting toward the horizon.About a mile from the lakeshore sat a figure clad entirely in black robes, cross-legged, a fearsome butcher's blade resting upon his knees.Two miles further, a woman in white robes also meditated, seemingly communing with the heavens.
Narrowing his eyes, Mo Liuqi sensed serpentine currents of energy threading through the air, drawn by those two and converging into their bodies — forming Qi Cores.
He recalled Lu Fan's demand: to reach the third tier of the Qi Core realm within a day. Otherwise... his severed head would be delivered to A-Zhu.
The thought sent a chill through him.He couldn't let A-Zhu see his bloodied head.To survive, he had to reach the third tier.
"Qi Core Realm... what kind of realm is that?" Mo Liuqi muttered, head throbbing.
He turned to glance at Jing Yue, who responded with a radiant grin.Expressionless, Mo Liuqi looked away.
That fool...His aura wasn't even as strong as Mo Liuqi's, nor did he appear to possess any unique qualities.Better to ask that butcher instead.
With a tap of his toe, Mo Liuqi shot toward Nie Changqing like a streak of wind.
—
Wolong Ridge.Outside the Immortal Palace, cries of battle thundered across the land.
Dantai Xuan's crimson cloak billowed in the wind as he waved the command banner, sending his densely packed army surging toward the Immortal Palace.
Standing behind him, Mo Ju's expression was conflicted.To dare summon the regional governors and command tens of thousands of soldiers to storm the Immortal Palace — Dantai Xuan's audacity was undeniable.
Yet Mo Ju felt a foreboding dread.His feather fan stirred gently, his scholarly robes fluttering as he fixed his gaze on the palace.
Yes, even a mighty warrior like Xiang Shaoyun would fall before an army of ten thousand.But could mortals truly defy immortals?If sheer numbers sufficed... would they still be called immortals?
Boom!As the first soldier, face flushed from the lure of a hundred thousand taels of silver, charged within five li of the Immortal Palace, he collapsed to his knees under a suffocating spiritual pressure — the very ground beneath him fracturing.
More soldiers followed like swarming ants.Each was brought low by the overwhelming aura radiating from the palace.
Some stepped over fallen comrades, elated to discover that the greater their numbers, the less pressure they endured.
Dantai Xuan's eyes gleamed as he watched soldiers brave the barrier, long blades flashing, pushing ever inward.
"Indeed... there's nothing ten thousand troops can't accomplish. And if ten thousand aren't enough — then twenty thousand! Thirty thousand!""I refuse to believe human lives can't pave a path into the Immortal Palace!"
Raising his banner high, Dantai Xuan gave the order.
From behind him, an elite squad of first-rate warriors burst forward — a unit he had cultivated at great expense.Though perhaps no match for grandmasters in single combat, on the battlefield, they were peerless instruments of slaughter.
Twenty warriors, clad in glistening armor, surged through the ridges.They too crossed into the five-li boundary — and felt the pressure easing.Like a fixed stream of water, the more who drank, the weaker it became.
"Charge! Break through the Immortal Gate!"The squad leader roared, barreling ahead under immense strain.
Four li. Three li. Two...There it was — the towering, sacred gate, veiled in radiant multicolored light.
Unfastening their long staves, the twenty men combined them into a mighty battering ram.
"Forward!" the leader bellowed.Ten guarded, ten held the pole, surging within one li of the gate, aiming directly for its sealed entrance.
Five li away, Dantai Xuan's crimson cloak danced.He tossed the banner to Mo Ju, then unsheathed his sword with a metallic hiss.
"Immortals... are nothing special," he whispered with a cold smile.Then, under his guards' protection, he leapt into battle.
The other regional lords stirred with excitement.
But suddenly — all faces changed.
The sky darkened.Looking up, they saw that ominous clouds had devoured the sun, a crushing blackness descending like doom itself.
Within the five-li perimeter, the army froze. Their joy evaporated.
Dantai Xuan's elite squad felt a chill rise from their feet to their cores.
Pale-blue currents swirled around the palace — then pulsed outward in rippling waves.
The warriors froze mid-charge.
Splurt!Blood gushed from all twenty as they were flattened to the earth.
Their eyes bulged.Above the palace, the pale-blue aura coalesced into a translucent hand holding a single glass-like chess piece.
A voice echoed through the heavens — majestic, boundless:"Heaven and Earth are unkind, and treat all beings as... chess pieces."
As the voice faded —
Pa.
The sound of a single piece striking the board echoed across the world.
Then came screams of despair.A spiritual pressure multiplied a thousandfold crushed the elite squad —Boom! Boom! Boom!
Within the five-li boundary, soldiers and warriors alike vanished like melting snow —leaving behind only pools of blood and a stench of death.
With a single move, the immortal swept away all life.One thought. One word. Life withers or thrives.
Dantai Xuan, half a step into the five-li zone, watched in horror as his two-thousand-strong vanguard and cherished elite were wiped from existence.
Only blood remained, soaking the earth crimson — a scene from the depths of hell.
Drenched in gore, Dantai Xuan trembled like a leaf.Terror filled his eyes as he beheld the blood-soaked wasteland.
His legs buckled.
Thud.He fell to his knees.
—
Within the Immortal Palace's antechamber...
Xiang Shaoyun, drenched in steam and blood, had just slain the last mischievous ghost-beast.
His Qi surged, his core spinning furiously, drawing in spiritual energy —but it dispersed the moment it entered him.
"Damn it!"He slammed his shield into the ground.
Lacking a cultivation method, he couldn't absorb even a wisp of energy —and the higher he rose, the harder it became.
He had massacred every creature in the hall, yet gained nothing.
Suddenly, Xiang Shaoyun turned his head, frowning toward the palace's exterior.
Something terrible had just occurred outside — he could feel it.
Li Sansi and Mo Shougui sensed it too.A chilling dread crept across their skin in that moment.
Outside...Had those fools done something irredeemably stupid?