I Was the Sun Before I Became an Immortal

The moment the barrier/seal lifted, the scene erupted into chaos.

The eyes of the human cultivators turned red with greed.

A few of the more impatient ones, terrified that someone else would snatch the treasures first, let out wild howls and charged in on their Flying Swords. Their figures vanished into the dark entrance, their auras disappearing in an instant — as if swallowed whole by some enormous maw.

Those still outside felt their hearts hammering.

"Something's off..."

A more seasoned cultivator furrowed his brow and muttered, "Those scales just now weren't only keys — they likely triggered some other Array Formation as well. This Fortuitous Encounter may not be so easy to claim..."

Those words sobered quite a few people up.

Everyone knew the old Flood Dragon had no good intentions — it was plainly a trap. But with such staggering wealth dangling right before their eyes, who could resist reaching out?

After a brief hesitation, more people gritted their teeth and charged in anyway.

Fortune favors the bold — the daring feast while the timid starve!

The Demon Race side was far simpler, with none of those complicated calculations.

Heishan let out a roar: "Brothers, charge!" His massive bear frame led the way, crashing straight inside.

Chifeng turned and growled at Si Chen, "Buddy, keep up!" before darting in as a streak of crimson.

The other demons howled and surged toward the entrance en masse, the scene descending into utter disorder.

Si Chen, however, didn't rush.

His gaze fell on the unconscious, one-armed cultivator lying on the ground.

This man had just insulted his parents, and now lay discarded like a piece of rubbish.

The older cultivator who had shoved him earlier had already retreated into the crowd, his eyes darting away — clearly unwilling to deal with this burden any further.

The people around likewise gave the wretch a wide berth, not sparing him another glance.

Si Chen raised his hand. The blinding arc of lightning gathered once more in his palm, and another Spear of Thunder took shape in an instant.

Pfft!

Under the horrified gazes of everyone present, the thunder spear became a bolt of lightning that pierced straight through the skull of the unconscious cultivator on the ground.

The man didn't even let out a groan before his aura vanished entirely.

This sent a jolt of shock through everyone who hadn't yet entered.

"He — how dare he still make a move?!"

"The man was already finished, and he still didn't let him go... Simply... ruthless and cold-blooded!"

"Si Chen, the demonic cultivator of Wanggu City... the rumors from two years ago... truly weren't groundless!"

No one had expected that even with his opponent already gravely wounded and unconscious — no longer a threat — he would still deliver the killing blow without a moment's hesitation.

Cries of shock and low curses broke out on all sides, and the eyes that turned toward Si Chen were filled with fear and wariness.

This young man looked barely of age, yet his hands moved with such decisive, merciless finality — like a cold-blooded demon lord!

"You little beast — die!"

Lü Ci saw that all the demons had entered and that Si Chen was now alone. How could he pass up such a perfect opportunity? He unleashed the full force of his Nascent Soul Stage spiritual pressure and charged with a furious roar, his sword slashing down once more!

Si Chen didn't meet it head-on. His figure flickered — the Thunder Smite Flash activated — and his entire body became a jagged bolt of lightning, appearing dozens of meters away at the entrance in the blink of an eye.

He had already marked Lü Ci — and the entire Liuyun Sword Sect — as targets to pull out by the roots, as people who must die.

He turned and looked back at Lü Ci with calm eyes. "I'll be waiting for you inside."

With that, he stepped into the dark, deep entrance, Red Bean perched on his shoulder.

* * *

The moment he crossed that threshold of dim light, Si Chen felt the ground vanish beneath his feet. The world around him began to spin, and he plummeted downward, completely out of control.

He instinctively tried to use his wind-riding technique to stabilize himself, only to find that invisible chains seemed to bind him — the Spiritual Energy throughout his body sluggish and unresponsive, flight utterly impossible.

This place was strange. It was suppressing aerial movement.

He hadn't had time to think further when several short, sharp cries reached his ears.

He swept his gaze downward. Not far below, a number of human cultivators who had entered before him were in the same predicament — falling like dumplings, flailing their limbs, their faces masks of terror.

And beneath them — a vast lake of murky dark green, bubbling with eerie, viscous froth!

The lake water was thick and churning, emitting a strange, putrid odor. Even inhaling the faintest wisp of it made one's head swim.

Some unlucky souls had already fallen in ahead of the rest.

"Ahhh——!"

Shrieks so wretched they barely sounded human rang out instantly.

The moment those fallen cultivators' bodies made contact with the dark-green lake water, their protective spiritual light dissolved — it didn't even last one breath — and their flesh and blood began to melt and slough away at a visible rate.

In the blink of an eye, only a few stark white skeletons remained, bobbing and sinking among the bubbles, with no chance to struggle at all.

The water in this lake possessed terrifyingly corrosive power!

"S-save me!"

"What kind of hellhole is this?!"

"Senior Brother, grab my hand!"

The air above erupted into chaos — some wailing, some grabbing at those beside them, others frantically digging through their robes for Magical Artifacts.

Si Chen's brow furrowed slightly.

He had just begun to consider whether he could forcibly activate the Thunder Smite Flash when the jade bracelet his mother had given him flickered with a faint glow at his wrist.

At that same moment, Red Bean — who had been sitting perfectly still on his shoulder — suddenly let out a clear, bright cry.

"Chirp——!"

The little creature leapt from his shoulder in an instant. Its crimson feathers bloomed with a soft yet resolute halo of light, and its body rapidly expanded within that radiance.

In the blink of an eye, it had transformed into a great crimson bird with a wingspan of over three meters!

Though still not particularly enormous in size, it was strikingly magnificent — its scarlet feathers shimmering with flowing light, like living, burning flames.

With a graceful spiral, its broad wings stirred the stagnant air below and steadied Si Chen's fall, catching him firmly.

Red Bean raised its head proudly and let out an even louder, clearer cry, as if showing off its abilities.

Si Chen reached out with mild surprise and stroked the warm, smooth feathers along its neck.

"Well done," he said.

It seemed this little creature was far more than merely "somewhat intelligent." The dormant power sleeping within it appeared to be slowly awakening.

Red Bean carried Si Chen, soaring over the deadly lake below, gliding toward what appeared to be a distant shoreline.

The carnage below continued.

Several Rogue Cultivators of lower cultivation screamed as they crashed into the lake, instantly reduced to white bone.

Those with deeper cultivation or special means displayed their various abilities.

For a time, the light of countless Magical Artifacts and techniques flashed in every direction.

One particularly ruthless individual, seeing no way to avoid the fall, grabbed the companion beside him and used the person as a stepping stone, launching himself upward with a powerful kick.

The poor wretch who'd been sold out didn't even have time to scream before sinking below.

Farther away, the Demon Race side appeared far more composed — one might even say harmonious.

Heishan's massive frame, through sheer brute force, stomped violently against the air mid-fall, generating a pressure burst that forcibly altered his trajectory. He came crashing down onto the distant shore like a meteorite, sending clouds of dust billowing in all directions.

"Fuck! That old Flood Dragon really is a sneaky bastard!"

He shook off the mud splattering him and bellowed his crude curses.

Chifeng, meanwhile, displayed elegance and agility — a gentle wind rising beneath his feet, he lightly trod across the floating corpses on the lake's surface, skipping to the shore in a few graceful bounds like a dragonfly skimming water.

Some demon beasts with innate flight ability — great eagles and bats — grabbed companions who couldn't fly and strained toward the shore.

The Demon Race's casualties were considerably fewer than those of the chaotic human cultivators.

This strange lake acted like a sieve, filtering out a large portion of the greedy and the weak right at the entrance.

The old Flood Dragon's "hospitality" was, as expected, utterly merciless.

* * *

When Red Bean carried Si Chen and landed steadily on solid ground, the dark-green lake behind them gradually returned to calm.

Only the white bones and shattered Magical Artifact fragments drifting on the surface remained, bearing witness to the carnage of moments before.

At a rough estimate, just that one obstacle had already cut down at least one-fifth of the crowd that had charged in so boldly.

The survivors gathered on the hard shore, most still shaken to their core, a chorus of curses rising and falling as they damned the restless old Flood Dragon.

"Brother Si Chen! Over here!" Heishan waved his enormous bear paw from not far away. He and Chifeng had already regrouped, with more than a dozen demons who had successfully made it to shore gathered around them.

Si Chen walked over.

The place they stood in resembled a massive underground cavern — whether it had formed naturally or was the Flood Dragon's handiwork, no one could say.

The only path forward was a deep, pitch-black tunnel ahead, its destination unknown.

The force suppressing flight was still present, pressing down on everyone like a mountain on their shoulders.

"What cultivation level did this old Flood Dragon reach in life? It's been dead so long, and it can still pull off something like this." A demon beast with a wolf's head muttered, still rattled.

"Who cares what level it was — it's just plain underhanded!"

Heishan grumbled and cursed, "First thing through the door and it pulls this stunt — who knows what other garbage is waiting up ahead."

On the human side, someone refused to give up and tried to fly again. They jumped, but before they'd even risen three meters, it felt as though a mountain had been dropped on them — and they crashed back to the ground with a thud, utterly disheveled.

"No good! The barrier/seal in this cursed place is incredibly powerful — you can't fly!" the person called out in dismay.

The old Flood Dragon's cultivation in life had truly been unfathomable — it had even been able to lay down a massive barrier/seal suppressing flight across the entire area, and it continued to function even after death.

Complaints aside, everyone's gaze drifted involuntarily toward what lay ahead.

At the far end of the lakeshore, a colossal cavern entrance loomed, its interior pitch-black, its destination unknown.

People began slowly gathering in that direction. They knew what lay ahead would certainly be more dangerous — but having come this far, no one could turn back.

Si Chen, however, did not follow. Instead, he turned around and looked up toward the space above the dark-green lake.

He was waiting.

The Sect Master of the Liuyun Sword Sect — the one called Lü Ci — had not yet come down.

Outside just now, the man had ambushed him with a sword strike. Si Chen disliked leaving debts unpaid — especially debts of the kind that involved someone trying to take his life.

Right now, this place had no-fly restrictions. Below was a death lake that could dissolve flesh and blood.

And he himself stood on the shore, waiting for a chance.

Si Chen suddenly felt that this place... was actually quite ideal.

He raised his right hand. Above his palm, blinding arcs of electricity began to gather at rapid speed.

A Spear of Thunder took shape swiftly.

Returning the courtesy — that's not too much to ask, is it?

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