Mortal: The Path to Immortality

"You're quite composed. The 'Heavenly Fire Liquid' is now in my hands. If you're capable, you're welcome to come and snatch it."

Helian Yu crossed his arms over his chest, his tone undisguisedly provocative, looking at Lu Nanzhu with utter disdain.

Whoosh-!

However, before he could finish speaking, he was met with the sound of wind breaking through the air.

Knowing that further words would be futile, Lu Nanzhu, the moment Helian Yu opened his mouth, took up his twin blades and transformed into a blue-green afterimage, lunging towards Helian Yu's face without warning.

This speed was unusually fast, far exceeding Helian Yu's expectations.

Helian Yu, who had originally planned to probe the other party's background with words, hadn't even had time to hide the disdain on his face when he found that Lu Nanzhu had already attacked him.

At such close range, he didn't even have a chance to take out a talisman from his storage bag.

In haste, Helian Yu could only channel his magic power into his hands, relying on the protective demonic flames that shimmered with purplish-red spiritual light to meet Lu Nanzhu's twin blades.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

A series of rapid clanging sounds erupted from the cave, accompanied by flashes of spiritual light.

Lu Nanzhu used his agility to engage in close combat, his two short blades becoming afterimages, forcing Helian Yu to defend with all his might.

Although Lu Nanzhu had the speed advantage, the spiritual energy in his twin blades had been completely burned away by the demonic flames, and some cracks were faintly visible.

Without further delay, taking advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, he took out the "Snow Soul Cone" pseudo-talisman, which had only one last burst of power left, from his storage bag with his left hand and quietly infused it with spiritual energy.

"go!"

As Lu Nanzhu silently chanted, several ice spikes radiating an icy blue spiritual light appeared instantly, piercing towards Helian Yu's face.

At such close range, coupled with the terrifying power of the pseudo-talisman that was almost equivalent to the attack of a Core Formation stage cultivator, Helian Yu's pupils suddenly widened as he was unable to retreat in time.

He awkwardly turned his head to the side, frantically circulating his energy with both hands, pushing two strange balls of demonic flame in front of him, attempting to melt all the ice spikes in front of him.

A piercing hissing sound rang out, and thick white fog instantly filled the surroundings.

With his profound cultivation at the late Foundation Establishment stage and the domineering power of the demonic flames, Helian Yu managed to block the vast majority of the ice spikes.

The problem was that Lu Nanzhu's attack was far too insidious.

One of the ice crystals, by sheer coincidence, pierced through the gap in the demonic flames, slicing straight across Helian Yu's self-proclaimed handsome face and leaving a noticeable, inch-long gash on his left cheek.

Bright red blood oozed from the wound.

Helian Yu, in pain, suddenly opened his mouth wide and spewed out a large ball of dense purplish-red fire, forcing Lu Nanzhu, who was attacking him at close range, to retreat.

Lu Nanzhu landed steadily using his agility, not seeking credit, but simply watching his opponent with cold eyes.

Meanwhile, Helian Yu raised his trembling fingers and touched the wound on his cheek. Looking at the bloodstains on his fingertips, he suddenly looked up at Lu Nanzhu, his eyes filled with disbelief and humiliation.

As a "second-generation demon" carefully cultivated by the Demon Flame Sect, a highly respected genius with a Heavenly Spiritual Root, when had he ever suffered such a great loss? What's more, he had his face disfigured by an unknown person whose cultivation was inferior to his own!

"Shameless scoundrel!! How dare you do this!!"

Overwhelming rage completely distorted Helian Yu's face.

He roared through gritted teeth, and a giant, jet-black banana leaf fan with a long handle instantly appeared from his storage bag, hovering in front of him. It was clearly a top-grade magic weapon.

Without any hesitation, Helian Yu spat out three mouthfuls of pure purplish-red fireballs in succession. Then, he grabbed the handle of the banana leaf fan and used all his magic power to fan the three fireballs fiercely!

The wind fanned the flames, and the fire was fueled by the wind!

The three already raging purplish-red fireballs, carried by the gale, suddenly expanded several times in size, transforming into a massive cloud of blazing fire, carrying the force to scorch mountains and boil seas, as it descended upon Lu Nanzhu.

The power of this purplish-red demonic flame is extremely astonishing. Lu Nanzhu had personally witnessed that this flame could easily burn even the "Fire Bottle".

He dared not be careless in the slightest, and activated his escape technique, dodging Helian Yu's frenzied attacks with great difficulty within the cave.

The entire cavern was suddenly illuminated by the fire. The stone walls surrounding the cavern were shattered by the demonic flames, and the coral that had originally emitted a ghostly blue glow was also burned away.

Originally, Lu Nanzhu only wanted to test Helian Yu's abilities. However, his attack was not powerful but extremely insulting, which angered this "second-generation demon" who was in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

"Die! Die! Die! All of you, die!!"

Helian Yu's eyes were bloodshot as he relentlessly pursued the pursuer.

Seeing that the large-scale fire wave could not trap the extremely slippery Lu Nanzhu, he suddenly leaped up and instantly closed the distance.

He drew a jet-black demonic blade from his waist and slashed it down fiercely towards Lu Nanzhu's neck.

Lu Nanzhu dodged several attacks and avoided the splattering embers around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the demonic blade, and a strong sense of familiarity inexplicably rose in his heart.

The dark shape of this demonic sword, the strange blood groove patterns on the blade... why does it look so familiar the more I look at it?

A flash of inspiration struck Lu Nanzhu, and he finally remembered—the design of this demonic blade was almost identical to the trophy he had seized from the spy "Liu Yuan" in Kusong'ao years ago!

More importantly, watching Helian Yu recklessly attach that domineering purplish-red demonic flame to the demonic blade, the pitch-black blade showed no signs of melting under the scorching flames, but instead emitted an even more eerie spiritual light.

Lu Nanzhuxin had an epiphany:

"That sword is not afraid of these crimson demonic flames!"

Without the slightest hesitation, he suddenly paused, reached into his storage bag, and drew out the long-forgotten, jet-black longsword.

Without dodging or avoiding, he met Helian Yu's attack head-on with a fierce slash.

"when--!!"

Two identical, jet-black demonic blades were locked together. The shockwave from their collision instantly shattered the surrounding rubble.

Helian Yu gripped the hilt of his sword tightly with both hands, his gaze involuntarily falling on the weapon in Lu Nanzhu's hand.

Upon seeing the unique design of the longsword, the young envoy of the Demon Flame Sect suddenly widened his pupils, and the madness in his eyes abruptly froze.

"You...how do you possess the 'Ghostly Blade'!?"

He stared at Lu Nanzhu through the mask, then said in a deep voice, "So Liu Yuan fell into your hands... the kid from Spirit Beast Mountain."

"Hmph! You're always hiding your true intentions. No matter who you are, we'll settle all our old and new scores today!!" Helian Yu suddenly unleashed his magic power, shaking Lu Nanzhu away.

The moment he created distance, he quickly made a hand seal with his left hand, intending to summon demonic flames to bury Lu Nanzhu here again.

However, before he could open his mouth, a dull rumble suddenly came from beneath their feet.

"Boom—!"

In an instant, the entire narrow underground corridor began to shake violently, and large pieces of rubble from the surrounding stone walls crumbled and fell off.

Lu Nanzhu's expression changed as he noticed countless cracks spreading across the hard basalt ground beneath his feet.

"Damn it, this place is going to collapse!"

Before he could activate his escape technique, the ground where the two were standing collapsed with a loud bang.

Both of them were caught off guard by the sudden collapse of the earth.

The billowing dust and tumbling boulders instantly engulfed the two men. Before they could even regain their footing, they plummeted into the unknown darkness in a disheveled state.