Mortal: The Path to Immortality

In the northern mines, the air was thick with the pungent smell of blood.

In the cracks between the rubble on the ground, the dark red bloodstains were not yet dry, and several mutilated corpses of Spirit Beast Mountain disciples lay scattered about.

On the high platform, several Yu Ling Sect cultivators wearing hooded robes sat cross-legged, their fingertips forming hand seals, their eyes slightly closed, and a faint spiritual light flickering between their brows.

Below the platform, several early Foundation Establishment cultivators idly chatted beside a few "Crimson Armor" golems.

"You mean, for a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, the sect has sent out so many people, and even equipped us with a level three demonic beast called 'Crimson Armor'?"

A tall, thin monk kicked at some loose stones, his tone full of disdain, "Is it really necessary to make such a fuss?"

Beside him, a slightly older-looking cultivator with squinty eyes slowly fiddled with his fingers. "I heard that Elder Ning personally oversaw this assignment. I heard it's related to the death of that dual-spiritual-root genius from the Liu family ten years ago."

"The Liu family?" A short, stout cultivator, picking his two prominent front teeth, approached, spitting out bits of grass from his mouth, and mumbled indistinctly.

"Is that Liu Yao, the one who's invincible among his peers with his earth-attribute skills, the one who made our Senior Brother Yuan unable to lift his head? Hasn't he been missing for a long time?"

"Heh, what disappearance? He went to the Seven Sects as a spy." The squinting cultivator lowered his voice, a hint of sarcasm on his lips.

"Unfortunately, this undercover work is not like a battle of magic. I guess that kid surnamed Lu saw through it and slit his throat. Elder Ning is a relative of the Liu family. Someone has to settle this score."

"Hey! So that's what happened?" The tall, thin cultivator suddenly realized, and pursed his lips.

"No wonder we ended up in this godforsaken place! No spirit stones, no spiritual energy. So we're here to settle a personal score? Tell me, when will we ever get this kind of treatment?"

"Shut up! Don't you know Elder Ning's methods? If he finds out you're gossiping behind his back, you'll be the Red Armor's rations tomorrow!" On the high platform, the female cultivator who was casting a spell suddenly opened her eyes, her face hardening.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes, stopped casting the spell, and seemed to have discovered something. She continued giving instructions to the group.

"I've spotted him! Quick! Let's get going! Don't let him get away again!"

Before she finished speaking, she had already leaped onto a giant beetle and swept away with a gust of foul wind.

......

Lu Nanzhu was speeding across the wasteland, still planning to find a place to deal with those Blood Jade Spider "dead eggs".

Suddenly, a panicked aura intruded into the edge of my consciousness.

"Senior Brother Qi?" Lu Nanzhu frowned slightly and stopped in his tracks.

We saw Senior Brother Qi, riding a long sword with a dim spiritual light, his hair disheveled, and his robes torn in several places, stumbling and flying towards us.

"Junior Brother Lu! Quick, turn around! Those demonic cultivators from the Spirit Control Sect are here for you!" Senior Brother Qi saw Lu Nanzhu as if he had found a lifeline, and his voice became shrill with fear.

Lu Nanzhu's heart sank. He stepped forward and caught the swaying Senior Brother Qi, landing him on a low, barren hill: "Senior Brother Qi, something happened at the Northern Border mines?"

"It's over, it's all over!" Senior Brother Qi gripped Lu Nanzhu's sleeve tightly, speaking rapidly, his eyes filled with terror.

"We had only been in the mine for a short time when we were attacked by the Spirit Control Sect. They had seven or eight Foundation Establishment cultivators and several Level 3 demonic beasts."

We were no match for them at all. All the disciples were devoured by those monsters, and I was the only one who managed to escape.

They seem to have been looking for you. Could it be that you've offended some powerful figure, junior brother?

"Did the Yuling Sect come specifically to find me?" Lu Nanzhu was filled with doubt, as he had never had any conflict with the Yuling Sect.

"Stop thinking about it! We shouldn't stay here any longer. We should hurry back to the sect and report the news here truthfully," Senior Brother Qi urged, sweating profusely and glancing nervously behind him.

Lu Nanzhu nodded slightly, and was about to turn around and summon his flying sword when a sense of unease suddenly flashed through his mind.

He turned around without making a sound, and was about to ask for details when his pupils suddenly dilated.

The terrified Senior Brother Qi's face suddenly contorted into a hideous grimace as a black magic cone, accompanied by the sound of wind being cut, viciously shot towards his chest from his sleeve!

Instinct caused Lu Nanzhu's body to shift slightly to the right in an instant.

"laugh--"

The magic cone sprayed a splash of blood. Although Lu Nanzhu had protected his vital heart, a deep wound was opened on his left shoulder, and the highly poisonous black energy spread instantly along his blood vessels.

"What do you mean by this, Senior Brother?!" Lu Nanzhu covered his wound and retreated several feet, swallowing a meridian-protecting pill with his backhand, his voice as cold as ice.

"Junior brother, don't blame me! I want to live! I have to listen to them, otherwise those insects will devour me completely." Senior Brother Qi's expression was a mixture of madness and guilt. He held up the magic cone with trembling hands.

"I can only live if I exchange your head for mine. Junior brother, you can't escape anyway, so you might as well give in to your senior brother!"

Just as Senior Brother Qi roared and charged forward, a muffled buzzing sound came from the horizon, and the figures of several huge red-headed beetles were already vaguely visible.

The leading female cultivator from the Yuling Sect hovered in mid-air, looking down at Senior Brother Qi on the ground with a hint of disdain in her eyes, and lightly pinched her fingertips.

Just as he was about to attack, Senior Brother Qi froze. His greedy face suddenly turned bright red, and he made a desperate "crackling" sound in his throat as he looked up at the sky with resentment.

boom----!

Senior Brother Qi's body exploded like an inflated balloon, turning into a thick mist of blood.

From within the mist, thousands of tiny, fingernail-sized blood flies, gleaming with a dark red, menacing light, buzzed and surged forth, like a crimson tide threatening to engulf Lu Nanzhu completely.

"Go!" Lu Nanzhu's eyes sharpened as he patted the spirit beast pouch.

A swarm of blood-eating bees, like a dark cloud, soared into the sky. The selected ferocious insects, upon seeing this sky full of blood flies, regarded it as a delicacy.

"Fooling yourself to death." The female cultivator in the air sneered, her tone contemptuous. "My blood fly is covered in a layer of blood spiritual energy, extremely poisonous. Intending to use spirit bees to devour it? Hmph, what a bizarre idea..."

However, before she could finish speaking, the arrogance on her face was replaced by shock.

Two swarms of insects collided in mid-air, but there was no one-sided slaughter by the blood flies.

On the contrary, the protective blood energy around those dark red blood flies was quickly "melted" away the moment they touched the Soul-Eating Bees.

The blood flies, under the dense stingers and mouthparts of the Soul-Eating Bees, didn't even have a chance to burst before falling from the sky in swarms, turning into shriveled, lifeless things.

"My blood flies! What... what are those things?!" the female cultivator cried out in alarm.

The female monk was horrified by these strange, unnamed spirit bees.

Lu Nanzhu had no interest in explaining to her.

Taking advantage of a lull in the insect swarm's struggle, he frantically channeled blue-green light around his body, activating the "Soaring Record." He transformed into a fleeting beam of light, disappearing into the edge of the wasteland without looking back before the rest of the demonic cultivators could gather.