Make the Immortal Sect Great Again

'Even though I have only broken through the tendon and blood gates of the Six Gates of External Arts, my True Dragon Tendon and Supreme Yang Blood are both of the highest grade.'

The former symbolized strength; the latter symbolized explosive power.

With the two combined, my defense, resilience, and endurance might not match a martial artist at External Arts Perfection, but my offensive power should be on par.

It might even be stronger!

"Where is Chen Haoyan?" Wang Ping scanned his surroundings.

The torrential downpour muffled all scents, sounds, and sights. Finding a person in this rain was no different from searching for a needle in a haystack.

'But that is only true for a Mortal.'

Wang Ping calmed his mind and closed his eyes, discarding his five senses. His subtle spiritual sense rapidly fanned out, expanding in all directions like a spider's web.

'No matter what he did at Youren Temple, he must return to the County Yamen in the end. Given that, I'll cast the net of my spiritual sense across these surrounding city blocks, covering every short, fast, and unavoidable route between Youren Temple and the County Yamen.'

'He couldn't have retreated from Youren Temple unscathed; he's most likely severely injured.'

'Under these circumstances, his only option is to return to the County Yamen. There is still an expert there... the magistrate of Longxing County! Only he can protect him.'

About fifteen minutes later, Wang Ping's eyes lit up.

"Found you...!"

It was as if a butterfly had fluttered into the massive net of his spiritual sense, triggering a response. The presence swiftly outlined a person's face—a bedraggled Chen Haoyan.

Wang Ping didn't hesitate. He continued tracking Chen Haoyan's escape route to predict his position, then took a shortcut to cut him off. Hiding in the shadows along the street, he curled up in the torrential rain and gently pressed his ten fingers against his abdomen.

Planting Lotus in Fire Seal!

This was an introductory technique of the White Lotus Sect. The palm strike Shouchong had used against him earlier also stemmed from this hand seal, and now he was using his spiritual sense to replicate it.

'Force generation cannot be limited to a single area.'

'Calves, thighs, liver, gallbladder, intestines, stomach, abdominal muscles, waist, back, and spine—I must use my entire body to generate force, twisting all my qi, blood, and strength into a single thread.'

Recalling Shouchong's palm strike, Wang Ping pressed his ten fingers against his lower abdomen near his dantian, intercepting his qi and blood to gradually conceal all his vital energy.

The entire process was like a flower bud slowly closing. Wang Ping's vitality, blood circulation, heartbeat, breathing, and even the peristalsis of his internal organs completely stilled. Or rather, he entered a state of 'accumulation.' Beneath his seemingly calm exterior hid tempestuous, roaring waves.

'Chen Haoyan... it's time to settle our old score.'

Having reached this point, Wang Ping relaxed. His spiritual sense locked firmly onto the approaching Chen Haoyan as he silently counted the paces between them.

...

The heavy rain poured down.

Beneath the curtain of rain, every household's doors and windows were tightly shut. Sight and sound were thoroughly obscured by the downpour, providing perfect cover for those with hidden intentions.

"That black snake... one day, I'm going to stew it for soup!"

Chen Haoyan walked through the rain-soaked streets and alleys. Relying on the heavy downpour to wash away his scent, combined with his deep familiarity with Longxing County, he had finally shaken off his pursuers.

His breathing, pulse, and even footsteps carried an inexplicable rhythm, faintly synchronizing with the ambient sounds of his surroundings. As a result, even if someone stared intently, they would fail to notice a person hidden within the rain. It was an extremely high-level concealment technique.

This was exactly why he had chosen to make his move today.

Not only because Shouchong had appeared and broken into the county town, but also because the weather was unpredictable. The forecasted torrential rain had unexpectedly arrived two days early.

'Thank goodness... I did not fail my mission.'

At that thought, Chen Haoyan tightened his grip on the cloth bundle slung across his body. It held all the pills from the alchemy room in Youren Temple, each one a rare and exquisite treasure.

The elixir of immortality was definitely among them.

'That Liansheng Bodhisattva might have come for it as well. I just don't know why she suddenly paused right when she was about to deal a killing blow...'

Recalling what had just happened, Chen Haoyan couldn't help but feel a lingering fear. He had no doubt that Liansheng Bodhisattva could have killed him then and there. Her eerie methods completely exceeded his understanding of martial arts. Yet, for some unknown reason, she had come to a noticeable halt right at the end.

That was what snapped him awake, allowing him to seize the opportunity to flee.

But misfortunes never came singly. Just as he escaped Youren Temple, he ran into the Perfected Wandering Spirit hurrying back, and even that old bastard Shouchong had been there.

Wolves ahead and tigers behind.

He dared not linger in battle. To shake everyone off as quickly as possible, he had no choice but to damage his own foundation, nearly exhausting his Internal Force to escape with his life.

'The toll from the Heavenly Demon Disintegration is still too great.'

'Moreover, to play it safe, I disintegrated more than half of my cultivation in a single breath. The foundation of my entire body has practically collapsed, my Internal Force is scattered, and even my internal organs are damaged...'

Thinking of this, Chen Haoyan cursed inwardly. Even at an optimistic estimate, it would take three to five years to slowly recover from these injuries, and it was entirely possible he might never fully heal. His only sliver of comfort right now was that his mission hadn't failed—he had obtained the items.

'To avoid any unforeseen complications... I must deliver these items back to the County Yamen as quickly as possible!'

Chen Haoyan quickened his pace. However, the moment he crossed an alley intersection, he abruptly narrowed his eyes, stopped dead in his tracks, and looked toward the shadows around the corner.

"Who's there?!"

Almost simultaneously, Wang Ping opened his eyes.

"...A pity."

The gap in their cultivation was simply too great. Even though he had hidden with all his might, in the eyes of an Internal Force Martial Master like Chen Haoyan, he was still as conspicuous as a firefly in the dark night.

"Since that's the case, I won't hide anymore."

With that thought, Wang Ping immediately released the hand seal pressed against his lower abdomen. The qi and blood he had accumulated for so long erupted wildly, like floodwaters bursting a dam.

Boom!

With this single burst of force, even though he couldn't completely twist it into a single thread like Shouchong had, he managed to condense more than half of it. The resulting momentum was equally terrifying.

The torrential curtain of rain instantly exploded outward!

Immediately after, Wang Ping sprinted forward. His boiling qi and blood caused his body temperature to skyrocket, turning the rain into steaming mist the moment it struck his skin.

Roar—!

Within Wang Ping's body, his snapping tendons vibrated the air. As they stretched taut during his high-speed sprint, the sound mixed with the rain, transforming into a resonant dragon's cry.

In this instant of explosive power, Wang Ping pushed himself to the absolute limit. With the advantages of his Supreme Yang Blood and True Dragon Tendon, combined with the power accumulated during his ambush, he was confident that if the Xie Shi from that night were standing here now, he wouldn't even need a saber—he could punch a gaping hole straight through the man's chest with his bare fists!

Before him, Chen Haoyan's initial emotion was sheer astonishment.

His first reaction was: 'Who is this?'

Such monstrous qi and blood, such terrifying explosive force, and the ability to intercept him with such precision—when had an expert like this arrived in Longxing County without his knowledge?

'No, it's that young bailiff.'

'I think his name is... Wang Ping?'

Only in the next second did he recognize the person's identity.

An even more intense shock flooded his mind. By his calculations, Wang Ping should already be a corpse!

How could this be?

However, Chen Haoyan quickly suppressed his emotions. He raised the massive bow in his hand high; the bowstring snapped, and an arrow tore through the curtain of rain.

Swish! Swish!

The arrows moved like dragons, displaying Chen Haoyan's profound foundation. Driven by an ominous premonition, he dared not hold back in the slightest.

Therefore, after firing the first arrow, Chen Haoyan's movements didn't pause for a fraction of a second. Drawing the bow continuously, he nocked arrow after arrow and let them fly. In the blink of an eye, he emptied his quiver. A rain of arrows far denser than the downpour, glowing with the enhancement of his Internal Force, instantly engulfed Wang Ping!

Lower abdomen, heart, glabella!

Hands, feet, groin!

Wang Ping's spiritual sense sent out a blaring warning. Every vital spot on his body felt as though it had been plunged into an ice cavern. An intense sense of fatal crisis nearly drowned out his reason.

At the same time, Chen Haoyan let out a cold sneer.

"What a clown!"

Relying on his martial arts and experience, he had already made a judgment: this brat couldn't dodge his arrows and would be able to protect one or two spots at most.

But what use would that be?

Glabella, groin, heart—there were three fatal vitals targeted, let alone the others. Even if the other hits weren't instantly lethal, they would be enough to completely cripple a person's combat strength.

'This boy probably realized I used him as a pawn and harbored resentment. With a bit of luck, he managed to block my path... But in the end, he's just a youth fueled by hot-blooded courage. He's as naive as Lin Sheng. Didn't he consider whether he could actually be my match even if he did manage to intercept me?'

To put it harshly.

If he were currently at his peak, even with his hands and feet tied and without using any weapons, he could kill the boy with a single glare!

Brimming with confidence, Chen Haoyan relaxed his muscles, preparing to catch his breath. Once Wang Ping fell to the arrows, he would continue his mad dash toward the County Yamen.

Yet, in the very next second, his expression froze.

Boom!

Facing the incoming rain of arrows, Wang Ping showed absolutely no intention of halting his sprint. Instead, he stomped his foot against the ground, accelerating even further!

With the aid of his spiritual sense, he accurately grasped the speed, trajectory, and timing of the flying arrows. Tilting his head slightly, he dodged the arrow aimed at his glabella. Then, with a leaping bound, he raised his form and evaded the arrow shot toward his groin. However, he made absolutely no attempt to defend the rest of his body.

Squelch!

Arrows pierced his body, spraying dazzling crimson blood.

Bowl-sized wounds instantly appeared over Wang Ping's heart, limbs, and lower abdomen dantian. His scalding Supreme Yang Blood seemed to ignite a cluster of flames beneath the curtain of rain.

But he still did not stop.

Then, under Chen Haoyan's astounded, bewildered gaze, Wang Ping charged straight up to his face, drawing his saber and delivering a horizontal slash in one seamless motion.

Yama Three Demonic Sabers, Art of War: King of Hell's Summons!

In a flash, the icy, murderous intent riding the saber's edge—resembling King Yama delivering a summons or a grim reaper claiming a life—invaded Chen Haoyan's heart, nearly freezing his limbs.

"...You court death!"

Chen Haoyan roared furiously, entirely unafraid. He could clearly see that the young man before him had suffered devastating injuries and was merely a paper tiger at this moment.

With such massive wounds spread across his vitals, the sheer volume of blood loss would claim a person's life in a matter of breaths, and this young man would be no exception. The only reason he still possessed such momentum was a final, dying surge of adrenaline. Did he really think that merely getting close would allow him to turn the tables?

It was utter delusion!

Although his primary martial art was the Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow and his skills revolved around archery, that didn't mean he was poor at close-quarters combat.

After all, with the physical strength required to draw that bow to a full moon, how could his melee abilities possibly be weak?

At that thought, Chen Haoyan decisively dropped his bow. Drawing the Oxtail Saber from his waist, he executed the exact same Art of War: King of Hell's Summons with a cold flash of the blade.

Clang!

The twin sabers crossed paths, and another spray of blood blossomed in the rain. A severed arm, still gripping an Oxtail Saber, flew high into the sky.

"You overestimate yourself!"

Chen Haoyan's face was grim, but the hand holding his saber remained steady. The arm flying into the sky shockingly belonged to Wang Ping, who had charged in desperately to swing his blade.

An External Arts practitioner against an Internal Force Martial Master.

There was a qualitative difference in their levels of existence. Even though Chen Haoyan was in extremely poor condition right now, Wang Ping was still no match for a single strike from him!

However—this, too, was within Wang Ping's expectations.

The heavy rain abruptly stopped.

Not only that, but the sound of the wind, the thunder, the lightning, and even Chen Haoyan's expression—every sight and sound paused at this exact moment. Time had ground to a halt.

The scripture scroll activated—Perish Together with the Sun!

Wang Ping's figure instantly vanished from his spot. Along with his severed arm, he entered the Taiping Sutra space and immediately dropped to his knees.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Blood drained rapidly from his body, carrying away his vitality, yet it seemed to receive some kind of guidance as it converged toward the towering book directly in front of him.

A wound on his lower abdomen, one on his heart, one on each hand and foot, and his severed right arm—every injury inflicted by Chen Haoyan was now clearly recorded upon the Perish Together with the Sun scripture scroll. Every character was shocking to behold, and every stroke was a deep, vibrant crimson.

They would deliver total retribution upon Chen Haoyan.

As for Wang Ping...

"Just a few fatal wounds, that's all."

Baring his teeth in a grimace, Wang Ping endured the agonizing pain. He grabbed the arm that had fallen beside him, pressed it against his stump, and took a deep breath.

Spell: Qi Restriction!

Vigorous True Qi flooded through his limbs and bones, stopping the bleeding, regenerating flesh, mending bones, and reconnecting tendons. After a few breaths, Wang Ping stood back up as if nothing had happened!

"Cultivating immortality really is the way to go."

Flexing his reattached arm, Wang Ping let out a heartfelt sigh. A severe injury that spelled certain death for a martial artist was utterly trivial to an immortal cultivator.

This wasn't even the limit of Qi Restriction. Having trained bitterly for so long, he had barely elevated the spell's effect to the second level—the point of mending bones and reconnecting tendons. If he could take it a step further and reach the realm of invulnerability to ordinary weapons, Chen Haoyan's saber strike just now wouldn't have been able to harm him in the slightest!

"...Let me see just how powerful this scripture scroll truly is."

In the next second, the familiar spinning sensation hit his mind. Wang Ping immediately reined in his thoughts and rallied his spirit. In the blink of an eye, he returned to his original spot in reality.

At this moment, barely a ten-thousandth of a second had passed in the real world.

The retribution of Perish Together with the Sun would never arrive late. Therefore, the time it took for Wang Ping to record his injuries had been maximally accelerated, condensed into a single instant.

Bang!

Chen Haoyan stood frozen in place. On his lower abdomen, heart, limbs, and right arm, visible wounds and fresh blood violently erupted out of nowhere!

"...Huh?" Chen Haoyan hadn't even processed what was happening.

What just happened?

How am I injured?

His thoughts lingered on this very instant. The sheer agony radiating from all his vitals—especially the sensation of torn muscles and broken bones in his right arm—left him utterly bewildered.

Wang Ping's movements, however, would not stop.

Shing!

The cold saber light slashed down like one slaughtering a pig or a dog. This time, it was Chen Haoyan's arm that flew into the air in a shower of blood, finally jolting his mind awake.

"My hand...!?"

At this moment, Chen Haoyan couldn't even feel the pain, but he clearly realized something else: he had lost. He had lost in a complete blur!

From beginning to end, the other party hadn't even spoken a single word to him. He hadn't yelled a battle cry or shouted a curse. There was only a silent, resolute killing intent.

How did it come to this?

Even if I did treat you as a disposable pawn earlier, and it was my fault, you survived, didn't you? Since that's the case, what is there that we can't talk over?

At worst, I'll figure out a way to compensate you!

In this split second, Chen Haoyan had a thousand words he wanted to say. Not because he realized he was wrong, but because he felt the looming aura of death.

'I need to run... run as far away as possible.'

He didn't want to die!

Chen Haoyan decisively abandoned his dignity. Stomping his foot down hard, he gave up all thoughts of fighting Wang Ping head-on and instead tried to open up the distance, fleeing into the rain-swept alleys.

As long as he could stay alive, that was all that mattered!

It had taken so much effort—so much agonizing effort to reach this day. Measuring fields, investigating household registries, collecting autumn taxes... he had produced so many dazzling achievements.

Now that His Excellency's mission was also complete, regaining his freedom was no longer a pipe dream.

When that time came, he would be able to walk out of this tiny Longxing County and put his life's learning to use in the prefectural capital. He would protect the borders and bring peace to the people, ensuring his trip to this mortal world had not been in vain.

A brilliant future was waiting for him.

How could he die here for nothing? Die at the hands of a lowborn peasant with no family lineage and no background? This was absolutely not the ending he deserved...

Roar—!

The low roar of a horned dragon snuffed out all of Chen Haoyan's indignant thoughts. He subconsciously turned his head, only to see Wang Ping drawing a bow and nocking an arrow.

Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow, drawn to a full moon!

As the bowstring was pulled back inch by inch, the two coiled horned dragons upon the bow suddenly opened their eyes. Their claws twisted as if they had come alive.

'I was the one who gave him that bow...' Chen Haoyan's mind spun in a daze.

It was also in this moment, looking once more at Wang Ping's ruthlessly fierce face, that a patch of fog in his memory finally dissipated, allowing him to remember.

'...It's him?'

Damn it! How could he not have remembered?

He wasn't some bailiff at all. He was the mud-legged peasant whom he had personally sent into the White Lotus Sect as a mole, only to cross the river and burn the bridge by killing him to claim the credit!

He didn't die!?

In this fraction of a second, countless questions exploded in Chen Haoyan's mind. But no matter how many thoughts he had, they all met their end in the very next instant.

With his bow drawn to a full moon, Wang Ping's long arrow lit up with a faint glow, its razor-sharp tip aimed directly at Chen Haoyan. Despite the man's desperate attempts to weave and dodge, he couldn't escape the lock of Wang Ping's spiritual sense.

In the next second, Wang Ping let go.

Boom!

The monument-cleaving, stone-shattering arrow shot forth fiercely, striking the dodging Chen Haoyan in the blink of an eye. The peerless divine force condensed upon the arrow erupted on impact. The shockwave was like a bomb planted deep within his body. After a deafening blast, all that remained in his place was a blossoming flower of blood.

"Phew!"

Stepping through the bloody water, Wang Ping let out a long breath but didn't stop. Forcing his aching body to endure, he grabbed the cloth bundle and immediately vanished into the curtain of rain.

It was only after he left that the heavy thuds of falling objects began to ring out.

Splash.

Limbs, torso, internal organs... The blown-apart body was thus scattered across the street of Longxing County, its splashed blood washing away in the heavy rain.

Longxing County's chief constable, the Internal Force Martial Master Chen Haoyan.

Dead!

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