Immortal Druid

I stepped forward without thinking, my staff rising instinctively as I placed myself between Zhen Ai and the man. Every instinct I had screamed at me that this was not someone we could afford to take lightly, but that didn’t matter. Not right now.

“Where is Guo Yimu?” I demanded, my grip tightening around the staff. “What did you do to him?”

The man’s smile widened, amused rather than threatened. “Why ask me?” he said lightly. “Why don’t you see it for yourself?”

The world shifted.

The illusion peeled away like rotting bark, and reality bled through in all its ugliness.

My treehouse was on fire.

Flames crawled hungrily up the wooden structure, devouring everything I had built with patient hands. The thorny vines that once guarded the clearing were gone, reduced to brittle ash scattered across scorched earth. The ground itself was a grotesque mixture of mud and soot, as though water and fire had fought here and neither had truly won.

The guesthouse was no longer a building. It was splinters.

And at the center of it all was Guo Yimu.

He was impaled on a wooden post, his body hanging limply, barely held together by sheer stubbornness. Parts of his skin were charred black, others swollen with angry boils that pulsed beneath the surface. His breathing came in shallow, ragged gasps that sounded more like a death rattle than life.

“Senior…” rasped Guo Yimu, his voice barely more than a whisper. “I… I didn’t tell him anything…”

His head slumped forward as tears mixed with soot on his face. His chest hitched once, twice, and then stilled.

The light in his eyes faded into something empty and glassy.

Behind me, the man clicked his tongue in mild disappointment. “I didn’t expect the baldy to be so hard-headed,” he said. “Quite the waste of effort.”

Something inside me snapped.

I stared at Guo Yimu’s corpse, at the way his body still trembled faintly from whatever torment he had endured, and felt a slow, rising heat coil in my chest. It wasn’t explosive. Not yet. It was worse than that.

“Z-Zhen R-Rang…” Zhen Ai’s voice shook as she stepped forward, her earlier composure completely shattered. “W-What are you doing here?”

Zhen Rang turned to her with a smile that might have been warm under different circumstances. Here, it felt wrong and twisted.

“Of course, I came to take you back,” he said. “Father would welcome you with open arms. Do you know? When he heard the Heavenly Domain Sect lost you, he immediately sent me after you. Father really loves you, doesn’t he?”

Zhen Ai’s eyes trembled, hope flickering where fear had once been. “Really?”

“Cleanse Spirits.”

The words left my mouth cold and sharp.

A ripple of energy washed over her, severing whatever unseen influence had wrapped around her mind. Zhen Ai flinched, clutching her head as confusion replaced that fragile hope.

I glanced at her briefly. “That isn’t nice,” I said flatly.

Willow swooped down, landing atop Zhen Ai’s head with a small thump. “Wake up, Zhen Ai. Focus,” she said firmly. “This is a dangerous situation.”

I didn’t take my eyes off Zhen Rang.

My spiritual senses screamed at me.

If I lined up everyone I had fought so far, it wasn’t even close. The old man from before would be at the bottom. Long Xue, the black-robed cultivator who had actually made me cautious, would be above him.

However, this man?

He didn’t belong on that scale.

He existed far beyond it.

“NO!” Zhen Ai cried suddenly. “I will come with you.”

Zhen Rang blinked, genuinely surprised. “Oh? I didn’t think it would be so easy. I thought you’d fight back.” He chuckled softly. “Come on, sister, let’s go home—”

“NO!” Willow snapped, feathers bristling. “Are you still under a mental spell? Why—”

“You don’t understand!” Zhen Ai cut her off, voice shaking. “My brother is a Soul Transformation realm cultivator—”

Zhen Rang’s expression didn’t change, but his hand lifted slightly.

Water qi condensed instantly, forming a razor-sharp beam that shot toward Willow.

She dodged.

Of course, she did.

Her small body twisted midair with impossible agility, wings beating as she shot upward at a speed that blurred her outline as if aiming for Zhen Rang.

I moved at the same time.

Grabbing her mid-flight, I flung her back into the air, away from Zhen Rang.

“Don’t waste your life,” I said, my voice low and steady. “He’s mine.”

Zhen Rang laughed, a genuine sound this time. “Ah, such a funny little thing,” he said, eyes glinting with something darker. “Do you even hear yourself? It really makes my blood boil—”

I didn’t let him finish.

My fist slammed into his face with everything I had.

Level 999 stats weren’t just mere numbers. They were my raw abilities, representing my base prowess. I snapped my wrist at the last second, twisted my torso, and drove the punch through him the way Roo had taught me.

“YOU WRECKED MY PLACE!” I roared. “NO ONE GETS TO WRECK MY PLACE! OR I WILL WRECK YOU BACK, BITCH!”

Blood burst from his nose as his head snapped to the side.

“Wild Shape: Steppe Mammoth.”

Power flooded my body as I transformed, muscles swelling, bones reshaping, mass multiplying until the ground beneath me groaned in protest. My trunk lashed out, coiling around him before he could fully recover.

Then I threw him.

His body tore through the air like a ragdoll, vanishing into the distance as the force of it shattered what little remained of the clearing’s fragile silence.

I felt furious.

…

..

.

[POV: Zhen Rang]

Zhen Rang’s body tore through the sky like a discarded puppet before he halted midair with effortless control. The momentum bled away as his cultivation took over, suspending him high above the forest in perfect stillness. The wind curled around him, tugging at his robes, but he remained unmoved, as though the world itself had to adjust to his presence.

He tilted his head slightly, rolling his jaw.

“Pointy ears have a mean punch, huh?”

The taste of iron lingered on his tongue. He spat a thin stream of blood into the open air and wiped the rest from his nose with the back of his hand, eyes narrowing in quiet interest rather than anger.

That man… that so-called master of the forest.

No qi. Not even a trace.

And yet, that punch had drawn blood.

Zhen Rang chuckled under his breath, the sound low and thoughtful. He had done his due diligence. The Heavenly Domain Sect’s agents hadn’t simply vanished. He had found them. Dug them up himself. Inspected the corpses, studied the injuries, and traced the patterns of their deaths with the meticulous care of a hunter learning his prey.

Severed heads. Clean kills. Efficiency without flourish.

Also, plenty of cruelty if the crushed dantian was to go by.

What did Zhen Rang do with that information?

Of course, he took advantage of it.

The moment he confirmed the forest master’s absence, he burned everything that might go against him. Every thorny vine that blanketed the clearing had gone up in flames under his command, stripped away before they could become a nuisance. He layered an illusion formation over the destruction, weaving it carefully so that any casual inspection would reveal nothing amiss.

He had intended to ambush the man.

Instead, the man had seen through it.

Zhen Rang’s smile thinned slightly.

Perhaps pretending to be that bald servant had been excessive.

With a single thought, space folded.

He vanished.

And reappeared.

Zhen Ai’s throat fit neatly within his grasp as he materialized before her, fingers tightening just enough to remind her how fragile she truly was. Her body jerked in shock, hands clawing weakly at his wrist as she struggled to breathe.

Below them, the massive behemoth charged.

The ground trembled under its weight as it lunged forward, tusks gleaming, fury radiating from every movement.

Zhen Rang disappeared again.

The mammoth’s attack crushed nothing but air.

He reappeared high above, suspended once more with Zhen Ai still dangling in his grip. With a flicker of intent, he cloaked them both in invisibility, his qi seamlessly bending around them. The space he occupied became his domain, obedient and malleable, allowing his techniques to manifest without resistance.

Such was the privilege of Soul Transformation.

Where Nascent Soul granted instant movement, his realm refined it, extended it, perfected it, and imbued it with personal authority.

Below, the mammoth stomped wildly, trumpeting in rage as it searched for a target that no longer existed.

Zhen Rang laughed, the sound bright and mocking. “Ha ha ha~! Amusing.”

He watched the creature thrash for a moment longer before turning his attention back to the woman in his grasp.

“You always did have a talent for making things difficult,” he said, his tone light but edged with irritation. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused me, running off like this?”

Zhen Ai’s eyes burned with a mixture of fear and defiance, but her body refused to obey her. The pressure of his grip, combined with the overwhelming authority of his cultivation, locked her in place. Dragon hierarchy was not something she could simply ignore.

Zhen Rang’s gaze drifted downward.

He paused.

His spiritual senses brushed against something… unfamiliar.

Something wrong.

His expression twisted.

The life within her was unmistakable, yet tainted. Its nature warped into something that offended every instinct he possessed. A hybrid existence, neither pure nor acceptable.

Zhen Ai recoiled at the look on his face, as if she could feel the disgust radiating from him.

“You disgust me,” Zhen Rang said coldly. “A dragon of our bloodline, reduced to this? Spreading your legs for beasts like some common whore.”

His grip tightened slightly, just enough to make her flinch.

“Was it that lumbering fool down there?” he asked, glancing briefly at the raging mammoth below.

Zhen Ai shook her head desperately, her voice breaking as she forced the words out. “N-No… it wasn’t him…”

Zhen Rang studied her for a long moment, then exhaled softly.

“The Heavenly Domain Sect,” he murmured. “I suppose that makes sense.”

After all, she had always attracted attention. Even within the palace, she had been adored and desired by many. There had been a time when Zhen Rang admired her, too. Of course, that changed quickly. Her rejection had stung more than he cared to admit, but he had moved one. That feeling had long since rotted away, replaced by something far uglier.

Now, the mere thought of touching her made his skin crawl.

“How unfortunate,” he said idly, almost to himself. “I wonder if you’re even worth saving anymore.”

Zhen Ai blinked, confusion cutting through her fear.

Zhen Rang’s eyes flickered back to her, a faint smile returning to his lips. “Perhaps I should salvage what I can,” he continued. “The child, for instance. Strip it away before it’s fully tainted. That might still be useful.”

Her eyes widened in horror.

She struggled, qi flaring weakly against his hold, but it was like a candle trying to defy a storm. His presence crushed her resistance effortlessly, the dominance of a higher dragon absolute and unquestionable.

“P-Please…” she choked out, tears spilling freely now. “Don’t… don’t do it…”

Zhen Rang watched her quietly, her desperation reflected in his eyes like a distant, meaningless thing. “Everything will be okay from now on,” he said, his voice calm, reassuring in a way that felt deeply wrong. “You will be perfect, again.”

Zhen Ai trembled in his grasp, trying to fight back, but it was useless.

Zhen Rang lowered his free hand. His palm rested lightly against her abdomen. For a moment, nothing happened. Then his qi moved. It wasn’t violent. Not outwardly. It was controlled and precise to an inhuman degree. A silent wave slipped into her body, bypassing flesh and bone, targeting only what he intended.

Ending it.

“NOOOOOOOOO—!”

Zhen Ai’s scream tore through the sky, raw and unrestrained, as her entire body convulsed in his grip. She clawed at him, at herself, at the air, her voice breaking into something hoarse and animalistic as agony and loss crashed over her all at once.

“I—IT HURTS—! PLEASE—! NO—! NO—!”

Her hands clutched her stomach as if she could hold it together, as if she could force life to remain through sheer will alone.

She couldn’t.

Blood spilled down her legs, warm and merciless, staining everything it touched.

Her screams faltered.

Then stopped.

The tears on her face dried as quickly as they came, her expression emptying out until nothing remained. No anger. No grief. No resistance.

Just… absence.

Zhen Rang looked at her and understood.

A broken doll.

He had seen many before.

Below them, the raging behemoth vanished.

In its place, an eagle cut through the sky, its form sharp and determined as it closed the distance in an instant. Mid-flight, it expanded once more, reshaping into that same massive, tusked monstrosity, descending with crushing force.

Zhen Rang barely spared it a glance.

“Truly pathetic.”

Space folded and Zhen Rang reappeared just above the beast, one hand still holding Zhen Ai, the other extending outward with a single finger raised.

Qi gathered, condensed, and was refined.

“Dao Domain: Nine Suns Phantasm.”

The world responded.

His domain bloomed outward with him as its center, reality itself bending under his will as the sky ignited. Nine blazing suns manifested above, each radiating unbearable heat, their presence warping the air and scorching everything beneath.

At the tip of his finger, a single arrow of fire formed.

It shot forward.

There was no time to react.

The attack pierced the behemoth cleanly, slicing through its massive form as if it were nothing more than paper. For a fraction of a second, the creature remained intact, then it split, and burned. It was reduced to ash before the momentum of its own weight could even register.

Zhen Rang lowered his hand.

The nine suns flickered once… then vanished, his Dao Domain retracting as though it had never existed.

Silence reclaimed the sky.

He looked at the lifeless space where the beast had been, then back at the hollow figure in his grasp.

“Time to go home, sis.”

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