I Was the Sun Before I Became an Immortal

The moment the corpse-dragon opened its eyes, the terrifying aura of an ancient fierce beast swept through the entire cavern like a thunderclap.

"Run… run for your lives!"

No one knew who shouted first, but the Rogue Cultivators who had been crowding the entrance to watch the spectacle were instantly scared out of their wits. Wailing and screaming, they surged toward the only exit.

What Nascent Soul battle? What priceless Fortuitous Encounter? Nothing mattered more than their own lives!

"Trying to leave now? Too late."

A cold voice rang out.

The grey-robed Old Mo flickered and in an instant had blocked the exit. His withered palm, brimming with the vast Spiritual Energy of the Nascent Soul Stage, shot forward in a plain, unadorned strike.

Boom!

Shattered rock and flesh exploded outward!

The Rogue Cultivators at the front didn't even have time to scream. Like insects crushed underfoot, they were reduced in an instant to smears of gore on the cavern wall.

Those behind them felt their courage shatter. They stumbled to a halt, staring in horror at Old Mo, who stood at the entrance with a blank, expressionless face.

"W-why…" a young Cultivator said, his face ashen and his voice trembling. "Senior, we swear we won't say a word outside! Please, let us go!"

Old Mo's clouded eyes held not a single ripple of emotion. He merely swept a cold gaze over the desperate crowd.

"Only dead men keep their mouths shut. Everyone, please stay here and rest easy."

His meaning was perfectly clear.

He intended to silence them all. Kill everyone in this cavern, and no one would ever know that the young master of the Fang Clan had been defeated by a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Once they left and he recuperated for a time, Fang Yuheng would still be the Fang Clan's heaven-blessed prodigy.

As for the lives of a few Rogue Cultivators — what did those amount to?

One Rogue Cultivator who had been lucky enough to stand farther back and escape the blast collapsed to the ground, pointing a shaking finger at Old Mo. "You… you people of the Fang Clan… how could you be so… so vicious!"

Fang Heng showed no reaction to the slaughter or the accusation. Every shred of his attention was fixed on controlling the Yin Corpse Banner, his face pale yet twisted with a manic grin.

Lü Ci watched it all from the side, a faint chill settling in his heart.

This old fellow — what ruthless methods.

He had spent several centuries in the world, and schemes like silencing witnesses and framing others were hardly foreign to him. How could he fail to see through Old Mo's plan?

Once Si Chen and the demon clan were dealt with, wouldn't the next ones to be silenced be his own people from the Liuyun Sword Sect?

He kept his expression perfectly neutral, but his feet shifted back half a step without a trace, and his mind had already begun calculating a different course of action.

"Fuck his grandmother! That old stick has blocked the door!"

Heishan cursed furiously, but its attention — along with Chifeng's and every other demon's — was quickly dragged back to the corpse-dragon, which was slowly lifting its enormous head.

The oppressive force that thing radiated was simply overwhelming.

"Holy shit…" Heishan swallowed hard. "This little scraggly hair is playing way too big a game! He actually managed to raise a dead Flood Dragon? How are we supposed to fight that?!"

Thick-skinned as it was, even Heishan could sense that the reanimated corpse-dragon's aura far exceeded the Nascent Soul Stage. Even as a mere shell, it was not going to be easy to deal with.

Chifeng's entire body tensed, every muscle coiled as if facing a mortal enemy.

The other demons were afraid, yet not a single one retreated. Instead, they instinctively drew inward toward Si Chen's position, closing ranks tightly around him.

Only Red Bean fluttered her wings and landed once more on Si Chen's shoulder. She tilted her little head, looked the massive corpse-dragon up and down, and her obsidian eyes held not a trace of fear — if anything, they seemed to carry a hint of disdain. She used her small beak to gently preen the hair beside Si Chen's ear.

Si Chen's attention, however, was not on the terrifying corpse-dragon at all.

His gaze pierced through the corpse-dragon's enormous coiled body and locked onto the spot beneath it — a place where arcs of violet lightning continuously flickered.

There, resting quietly, was a fist-sized orb, perfectly round, radiating an aura of supreme yang and unyielding strength — a purple pearl!

Almost the instant Si Chen spotted it, Fang Heng, Old Mo, Lü Ci, and the sharp-eyed Heishan and Chifeng all noticed it as well.

"A dragon pearl?!" Heishan cried out in shock, its bear-like eyes wide with astonishment. "That scheming old bastard… he actually got this far?!"

Si Chen glanced at it, puzzled. "Dragon pearl?"

Chifeng kept its gaze fixed on the orb and lowered its voice to explain. "Legend has it that for a Flood Dragon to transform into a true dragon, it must endure a heavenly tribulation and use the tribulation lightning to condense a dragon pearl. If it succeeds, it swallows the pearl at the end and completes the transformation."

It paused, its tone laced with disbelief. "It seems this one failed…"

Yet even though it had failed and the dragon pearl was incomplete, the value of this nearly-formed pearl was already beyond measure.

On the other side, Fang Heng and Old Mo were equally stunned.

They had only suspected that a great treasure lay hidden beneath the Flood Dragon's remains — they never imagined it would be something so utterly heaven-defying.

"Ha ha! Ha ha ha! A dragon pearl! It's actually a dragon pearl!!"

Fang Heng had seen it too. An unnatural flush surged across his pale face as he broke into wild laughter, his eyes blazing with fervor.

"Mine! This thing is destined to be mine! With it, I will surely break through to the Nascent Soul Stage — I might even catch a glimpse of the Soul Transformation Stage!"

This windfall of fortune made him instantly forget all his earlier defeat and injuries.

Si Chen paid no attention to his raving. His own eyes gleamed with a bright light.

There was no mistake.

What the dragon pearl contained was precisely the most refined and pure Yang Thunder energy — the very thing he had longed for to temper his body in the second layer of the "Nine Tribulation Thunder Body"!

Their gazes collided across the air, and each saw in the other's eyes an absolute, unshakeable resolve.

"Kill them!" Fang Heng laughed wildly and violently urged the Yin Corpse Banner forward.

Under his control, the enormous corpse-dragon let out a deafening roar and lunged straight at Si Chen and the demons!

"Brothers, watch out!"

"Fight it to the death!"

Heishan and Chifeng bellowed in fury, their demonic power surging to its peak as they braced to take the terrifying blow head-on. The other demons bared their fangs and claws, ready to fight to the last.

But just as that massive dragon skull, carrying the force of ten thousand tons, was about to crash into the area where Si Chen stood —

It stopped dead.

The enormous body froze rigid in midair. The black ghost-fire flickering in those hollow eye sockets blazed and shuddered violently, as though it had glimpsed something utterly horrifying.

Under the stunned gazes of everyone present, Si Chen raised his head and looked calmly at the Flood Dragon's corpse, now mere inches away, and said quietly:

"We meet again."

Just those three simple words.

The Flood Dragon's corpse — controlled by the Yin Corpse Banner, supposedly stripped of all self-awareness — actually took a step back.

The ghost-fire in its eye sockets blazed frantically, and its enormous body began to tremble beyond all control…

Though its remnant soul had long since been ground to dust by Si Chen within his consciousness space, the shuddering terror of having faced a supreme existence had been clearly imprinted upon this shell.

Howl——!

The corpse-dragon let out a shrill, mournful wail and began thrashing wildly, desperately trying to break free of the Yin Corpse Banner's control.

The manic grin on Fang Heng's face froze instantly. He found that the corpse-dragon, which had previously obeyed his every command, was now resisting his orders!

"What's happening?! Move! Kill him for me!" he screamed himself hoarse, spitting another mouthful of blood essence onto the banner.

The black banner blazed with dark light, yet the corpse-dragon not only refused to advance — it trembled even more violently.

The corpse-dragon's fear overwhelmed everything. It twisted its massive body and reversed direction, charging straight toward where Fang Heng and Old Mo stood!

It would rather defy the Yin Corpse Banner than face the figure standing behind it again!

"Young Master, watch out!"

Old Mo's expression changed drastically. He abandoned the doorway without a second thought, flickered forward to shield Fang Heng, and thrust both palms out. His dense Spiritual Energy coalesced into a shield of light.

Boom——!

The corpse-dragon's enormous skull slammed into the light shield, and the entire cavern shook violently.

Old Mo let out a muffled grunt, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth — he had been overpowered!

Seizing the opportunity, the trapped Rogue Cultivators snapped out of their daze and, screaming, poured out through the exit in a flood, no longer caring about watching the battle.

Lü Ci's eyes flickered. He quietly retreated a few more steps, the urge to flee already taking root. This situation had spiraled completely out of control!

Si Chen looked at the corpse-dragon thrashing in terror, then glanced at the dragon pearl behind it, wreathed in violet lightning. He suddenly stepped forward.

Heishan called out urgently, "Brother! It's dangerous!"

Si Chen seemed not to hear. He walked toward the dragon pearl at an unhurried pace.

Wherever he passed, the out-of-control corpse-dragon shrank back frantically as if facing its natural predator, clearing a path for him.

Under the disbelieving stares of everyone present, Si Chen walked straight through without obstruction, reached the dragon pearl, bent down, and picked it up.

The pearl was warm in his hand. Inside it, a world of thunder seemed to be sealed away, and its aura of supreme yang and unyielding strength caused the "Nine Tribulation Thunder Body" cultivation technique within him to circulate on its own.

This was the one.

It had taken some effort, but he had finally obtained it.

Si Chen tucked the dragon pearl into his Storage Ring with satisfaction, then turned to look at Fang Heng and the others, still locked in a desperate struggle with the corpse-dragon.

Now, it was time to settle accounts.

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