I Was the Sun Before I Became an Immortal

He could never mistake this feeling — it was unmistakably the might of tribulation lightning, the same force he had barely survived when breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage, clinging to life beneath Heaven's Wrath!

And yet... it was even purer!

How could a Core Formation Stage cultivator possibly wield tribulation lightning?! This was something that defied every principle of the Heavenly Dao!

Immense terror engulfed him, leaving his mind a complete blank. The instinctive dread of tribulation lightning was carved into the very bones of every cultivator.

He had no room for anything else now — not his clan's mission, not the dragon pearl Fortuitous Encounter. None of it mattered compared to... surviving!

"Si Chen! Wait! We can talk about this..."

He struggled to drag himself out of the rubble, his face twisted with a panic he had never shown before, even tinged with pleading. As long as he could live, what did it matter to kowtow and beg?

But Si Chen had already lost all interest in him.

The test was over. This opponent held no further value.

He didn't even let the man finish his sentence.

"Don't worry," Si Chen said, looking down at him with a calm, reassuring tone. "It won't hurt."

Literally — it wouldn't hurt. When destruction came fast enough, the nerves simply had no time to register pain.

Before the last word had faded, the arm gripping that sky-piercing thunder spear tilted gently downward.

Hummm——!

A low, thunderous roar seemed to shake the heavens and the earth.

The hundred-meter thunder spear transformed into a raging violet-white dragon that tore through the sky and plummeted downward!

The churning dark clouds above seemed drawn by the spear's tip, and more and more tribulation lightning answered the call, pouring into that spear of annihilation!

"No——!!!"

Fang Yong's pupils were completely swallowed by the blinding radiance of the lightning. In his final moments of consciousness, all that remained was the smallness and despair of standing before Heaven's Wrath.

* * *

"Holy shit! Get back!"

Heishan let out a wild shout, and together with Chifeng, the two of them grabbed Li Tiezhu and fled with everything they had, pushing themselves to their absolute limits.

They had barely steadied themselves when the annihilating thunder descended.

BOOM!!!!!——

A truly massive explosion is often muffled and brief.

Immediately after, with the main peak of the Liuyun Sword Sect as the epicenter, a shockwave of mixed lightning, dust, and shattered rubble blasted outward in all directions!

The shockwave swept through the mountain forests, sending countless birds and beasts fleeing in terror from their hiding places, scattering madly in every direction.

Even though Heishan and Chifeng had retreated far away, they were still hurled through the air like leaves in a gale, tumbling head over heels several times before barely managing to stabilize themselves.

Li Tiezhu, who had been carried by Chifeng, nearly blacked out entirely.

A small mushroom cloud laced with arcs of electricity slowly rose from where the Liuyun Sword Sect's mountain gate had once stood.

It was a long while before the earth-shattering commotion finally began to subside.

The billowing dust and smoke gradually dispersed under the howling wind.

Heishan, Chifeng, and Li Tiezhu stared blankly down at the scene below, each drawing a sharp breath of cold air.

Where was the mountain peak?

Where were the grand halls?

Where the main peak had once stood, there was nothing left but a massive crater of unfathomable depth. The rocks along its edges had been melted by the intense heat and were still hissing with white smoke.

Every crumbled wall, every corpse, every trace of what had once been there... all of it was gone.

The cultivators of the Fang Clan had been vaporized along with everything else, leaving not even a speck of ash.

The entire mountain peak had been wiped flat.

"...B-brother..."

Heishan's mouth trembled, and after a long pause he finally managed to squeeze out, "Wasn't that... just a tiny... billion-fold bit too heavy-handed?"

Chifeng silently swallowed a mouthful of saliva, deciding then and there to permanently abandon any notion of sparring with Si Chen in the future. That wouldn't be sparring — that would be suicide.

Li Tiezhu's jaw had been hanging open ever since the thunder spear fell, and by now it was nearly dislocated.

He felt as though he had witnessed immortals at war. His head was still buzzing...

Si Chen drifted lightly back down to their side. Looking at the scene he had created, a faintly sheepish expression crossed his face.

"Sorry — first time using it. I misjudged the force."

Everyone was speechless.

Heishan wiped his face hard, still shaken, and grumbled, "Brother, next time you're going to pull something this big, could you at least give a heads-up? This old bear would like a chance to get further away..."

Chifeng nodded in deep agreement. It decided that from now on, whenever Si Chen said he wanted to "try out" a new move, it would immediately put at least thirty meters between them.

Si Chen smiled but said nothing in reply. Instead, he carefully swept his Divine Sense over the scorched earth that was still smoldering below.

He was looking for Fang Yong's Nascent Soul.

Red Bean seemed to quite enjoy eating those things, and he hadn't forgotten to prepare a snack for the little one.

Fang Yong had been at the Late Nascent Soul Stage — surely tastier than Lü Ci.

But no matter how many times he swept his Divine Sense back and forth, he couldn't detect so much as a trace of a remnant soul's energy fluctuation. Not even a flicker.

Nothing at all.

Si Chen furrowed his brow slightly, puzzled. By all logic, a Nascent Soul shouldn't be so easy to completely obliterate.

Strange... could it have escaped?

Chifeng noticed what Si Chen was doing, hesitated a moment, then spoke with a somewhat odd expression. "Si Chen, are you looking for that old fellow's Nascent Soul?"

"Mm." Si Chen nodded. "Red Bean seems to like those. Wanted to get it a little extra meal."

Heishan leaned in as well, his bear-face full of disbelief. "Brother, you don't actually think there's anything left after what you just did, do you?"

Chifeng picked up the thread, his tone carrying a note of helplessness. "I mean... is it possible that souls, Nascent Souls, and things like that are... most afraid of... tribulation lightning?"

He raised a paw and pointed at the lingering traces of thunder-clouds overhead. "What you just did was no different from a heavenly tribulation scorching the earth clean. Never mind a Nascent Soul — even a ghost cultivator couldn't have survived that."

Si Chen paused, then immediately understood.

He had vaporized the "snack" along with its packaging?

He had just begun to feel a little regretful when a sudden thud came from nearby.

Everyone turned to look. Li Tiezhu had somehow dropped to his knees on the ground and was kowtowing to Si Chen with resounding thwacks, his forehead already turning red.

"Immortal Master! Tiezhu has drifted through half a lifetime without ever finding a worthy teacher!"

"If you would not disdain me, Tiezhu wishes to bow as your... uh... Master! From this day forth, I will walk through fire and flood without hesitation! If I ever harbor a treacherous heart, may Heaven strike me down with thunder!"

His habit of spouting rhyming declarations got the better of him in his excitement, and the words tumbled out before he could stop them — but he kept kowtowing, red-faced.

Heishan and Chifeng watched from the side with deeply pained expressions, the corners of their mouths twitching.

Si Chen was caught off guard by this sudden plea for discipleship.

Take on a disciple?

How would he even teach? Was he supposed to tell the man that he could do all this because he had glanced at something a few times and simply understood it? That wasn't something that could be taught.

Si Chen looked at him and gently shook his head.

"I can't teach you."

Li Tiezhu's body trembled. A wave of crushing disappointment washed over him, and his eyes immediately reddened.

As expected... someone like him, a mere Mortal — how could an Immortal Master ever look upon him with favor...

Si Chen looked at him, then glanced around at his surroundings.

As far as his gaze reached, there was nothing but scorched earth, completely leveled. Almost every trace of the Liuyun Sword Sect had been erased from existence.

The tangled grievances and grudges seemed to have dissolved along with that single strike of the thunder spear.

His gaze finally settled back on Li Tiezhu. This young man was the only one who had insisted on climbing the Cloud-Ascending Stairway even in a moment like this.

Perhaps... the Liuyun Sword Sect should leave behind a new seed.

With that thought, Si Chen's mind stirred. He reached into his Storage Ring and withdrew several thread-bound ancient volumes.

These were the Liuyun Sword Sect's Cultivation Techniques he had found earlier in Lü Ci's Storage Ring. He had no use for them himself, and Heishan and Chifeng had even less need of them. He had simply kept them without much thought — but it seemed they would find a use after all.

He walked up to Li Tiezhu and held the volumes out to him.

"These are for you."

Li Tiezhu stared blankly at the Cultivation Techniques being offered to him. The titles on their covers were clearly visible — "Liuyun Heart Method," "Sword Art," and others.

He looked at Si Chen in disbelief.

He had thought that failing to become a disciple meant all hope was lost — yet here, against all expectation, the Immortal Master was simply handing him such precious Cultivation Techniques!

"Thank you, Master! The great kindness of my Master, Li Tiezhu will never forget for as long as he lives!"

Master?

Si Chen blinked slightly. He had clearly just refused him.

He was about to correct the boy, but seeing the stubborn look in his eyes, he knew it would be pointless.

Fine. It was just a title. Let him have it.

He said nothing more, and turned to Heishan and Chifeng. "Let's go."

Heishan grumbled and cursed the whole way, jabbing a finger at the blackened crater and declaring that the old bastard had gotten off far too easy. Chifeng was quiet, only occasionally glancing back at the flattened mountain peak, his heart stirring with unspoken feeling.

Li Tiezhu remained kneeling where he was, watching as Si Chen and the other two turned and walked away, their figures growing distant in the drifting smoke and haze. He clutched the Cultivation Techniques tightly to his chest, and with every ounce of strength in his body, shouted after Si Chen's retreating form:

"Master! My name is Li Tiezhu! I will cultivate with everything I have! I will never betray your kindness!"

"The grace of imparting the Dao is like being born anew! Just you wait!"

"If one day I become an Immortal Emperor, I will make your name resound throughout the Myriad Worlds——!"

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