I Was the Sun Before I Became an Immortal

Inside the main hall of the Liuyun Sword Sect.

More than a dozen corpses lay arranged neatly on the cold floor, each covered with a white cloth.

The man standing at the front wore an expression as still as deep water. The oppressive aura radiating from his body made every Elder and disciple in the hall hold their breath, not daring to make a single sound.

This man was the current Sect Master of the Liuyun Sword Sect — Lü Ci.

His gaze swept across those white-draped figures. When it landed on Lü Yan's corpse — charred almost beyond recognition — even the veins at his temple began to twitch.

Crack.

The armrest of his chair was crushed to splinters by the force of his grip.

Lü Yan was not only an Elder of the Sect — he was Lü Ci's own kinsman.

A Core Formation Stage Elder, a Senior Brother in whom the Sect had placed its greatest hopes, along with more than ten fellow disciples — all of them had been uprooted and slaughtered to the last man inside their own stronghold.

"Have you found out yet?" Lü Ci's voice carried fury suppressed to its absolute limit. "Who did this?!"

"Please calm yourself, Sect Master."

A gaunt-faced Elder stepped forward. "Word has come back from Wanggu City. The perpetrator goes by the name Si Chen — approximately twelve or thirteen years of age, and his cultivation… is reportedly at the Foundation Establishment Stage."

"Foundation Establishment?"

A hot-tempered Elder nearby cut in sharply. "Nonsense! How could someone at Foundation Establishment kill Junior Brother Lü Yan? And wipe out Zhao Qinghe and all the others?"

"That is precisely what makes this boy so unsettling."

The gaunt Elder continued, "Traces of extraordinarily violent thunder force were left at the scene. Apparently, this Si Chen can condense thunder spears out of thin air, with devastating power. Elder Lü Yan… it seems he even activated a blood-burning secret technique, and still could not prevail."

"Si Chen…" Lü Ci repeated the name slowly, his cold and vicious gaze finally unable to contain the towering rage beneath it.

"No matter what wicked arts he used, no matter who stands behind him — he killed an Elder of my Liuyun Sword Sect and slaughtered my disciples. This debt will be repaid in blood."

He spun around and roared his command: "Relay my Sect Master's decree! Mobilize every resource at our disposal, spare no cost — find that little beast called Si Chen!"

"Kill on sight!"

The lean Elder pondered for a moment, then added: "Sect Master, this boy was able to overcome a Core Formation Stage cultivator while still at Foundation Establishment. His strength is beyond what ordinary disciples can handle. To be absolutely certain, should we… consider engaging the 'Night Rain Tower'?"

A cold gleam flashed through Lü Ci's eyes.

The Night Rain Tower — a name that sounded almost poetic, yet made every cultivator across the Eastern Region go pale at the mere mention of it.

They operated in shadow, with terrifying efficiency. Their fees were staggering, yet they rarely failed.

Engaging them would best preserve the Sect's strength, and moreover… it would be discreet enough to salvage what little remained of the Liuyun Sword Sect's crumbling dignity.

If this matter could not be resolved swiftly and cleanly, the Liuyun Sword Sect would become a laughingstock across this entire region — with nowhere left to stand.

With that thought, Lü Ci hesitated no longer.

"Do it."

"Go contact the Night Rain Tower yourself. Tell them price is no issue. I want only one thing — that little beast's head."

* * *

Si Chen spent a few more days recovering before leaving the desolate mountains.

Having reached the Late Foundation Establishment Stage, his wind-riding speed had increased considerably.

As he flew, he habitually suppressed the cultivation that was growing on its own within him.

He had thought this through long ago — if his cultivation rose too fast, his physical foundation might not be able to keep up.

Breaking through to Core Formation probably wouldn't be too difficult, but the "Yang Thunder" needed for the second tribulation of the Nine Tribulation Thunder Body was still nowhere in sight. His cultivation was fine where it was for now; he'd worry about it when the time came.

With that thought in mind, he flew along and pulled out the map he had purchased from Wanbao Pavilion in Wanggu City to take a look.

Back when he was still with his clan, he had no real sense of how large the outside world was — not until he saw this map.

Wanggu City, along with the entire region where the Liuyun Sword Sect was located, occupied no more than a fingernail's worth of space on the map — pitifully remote.

According to the person at Wanbao Pavilion, even this map only depicted a corner of the Eastern Region's frontier.

"So the world really is this big…" he muttered quietly, then bent his head to search the map carefully, trying to find where his home was.

But after searching for a long while until his eyes nearly crossed, he found nothing.

He was a little puzzled. When he had left home, traveling by wind-riding technique and occasionally using the Thunder Smite Flash to cover ground, it hadn't felt like he'd gone that far.

How could his clan not even appear on the map? Could it be that his family wasn't in this region at all?

He couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped trying. After all, the communication stone for his clan was right there in his Storage Ring — he could just ask when the time came.

The clan hadn't set any deadline for his return, so wandering around outside a bit longer was perfectly fine.

He casually picked a city on the map that looked somewhat larger than Wanggu City and flew toward it at an unhurried pace.

When he grew tired, he would land and meditate. Occasionally, he would take out the dark, dull scale he had obtained from Lü Yan and turn it over and over in his hands.

The scale was cold to the touch and hard in texture, with nothing particularly remarkable about its appearance — yet the faint, peculiar trace of thunder energy within it never ceased to intrigue him.

He flew on like this for several days. The scenery below gradually shifted from rolling hills to increasingly barren mountain terrain.

Just as he was approaching a mountain range, the scale he was toying with in his hand suddenly gave off a faint, tugging sensation!

Si Chen immediately halted, looking down at his palm.

The feeling was subtle — as if something far away had given the scale a gentle pull.

He unfolded the map and found that the direction it pointed toward was a vast region marked as "Wanji Mountain."

Beside the name was a brief note: Continuous mountain ranges; unusual celestial phenomena occur from time to time; rich in rare natural materials, but overrun with Demon Beasts and fraught with danger.

"Unusual celestial phenomena…" Si Chen stared at those words, lost in thought.

Perhaps… it was worth a look?

The note warned of danger, but compared to wandering aimlessly through a city asking around, this seemed far more promising.

Without much hesitation, Si Chen changed course and flew toward the depths of Wanji Mountain.

* * *

Wanji Mountain was indeed rarely visited by people. Even at its outer edges, there were no Mortal villages to be found.

The occasional cultivators he encountered had all come in search of those so-called rare natural materials — every one of them wary-eyed and travel-worn.

Some noticed Si Chen riding the wind overhead. Seeing how young he was, his clothes clean and neat — nothing like the Rogue Cultivators who spent years fighting for their lives in the mountains — they couldn't help but eye him with curiosity.

Si Chen paid those looks no mind, simply continuing to fly in the direction the scale had initially guided him.

Those cultivators couldn't read his background, and most likewise chose to watch in silence. Both sides left each other in peace.

However, after persisting for a short while, the scale's tugging sensation vanished without warning — completely gone.

Si Chen stopped and tried channeling a thread of Spiritual Energy into the scale. No response.

He probed it carefully with his Divine Sense, but the scale was like an ordinary dead object — utterly inert.

He even tapped it with his knuckle the way Third Uncle Si Shuo used to inspect Artifacts, but the result was the same.

So it just… stopped?

Si Chen stared at the scale that had abruptly "gone on strike" in his hand and felt a twinge of disappointment.

He gazed out at the layered peaks and ridges ahead, mist beginning to drift between them. Since the lead had gone cold, he might as well search this area on his own.

What if luck was on his side?

And so, Si Chen began wandering through the mountains.

But the interior of Wanji Mountain was far more complex than he had imagined. The terrain rose and fell unpredictably, deep ravines cut across in every direction, and the deeper he went, the thicker the mist became — his line of sight severely hampered.

He tried flying higher to get a bird's-eye view of the terrain.

The moment he shot upward, he found himself surrounded on all sides by churning clouds and fog. Forget finding a path — he could barely tell north from south.

"Looks like flying too high won't work either." He had no choice but to descend.

If the sky was no good, he'd try the ground. He recalled passing a few cultivators on his way in and decided to go find someone to ask for directions.

However, he had overestimated his ability to navigate in an unfamiliar mountain forest.

Relying on his personal method of "this direction looks more agreeable to me," Si Chen wandered through ridges and mist for the better part of a day.

The result was…

He, Si Chen —

A rising star who had just overcome a Core Formation Stage cultivator and made a name for himself throughout Wanggu City — had walked willingly into Wanji Mountain, only to experience for the very first time what it truly meant to be completely lost.

He was lost.

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