Chapter 13: The End of the Immortal Path
I really know nothing about my own power.
I feel a mix of emotions, even a bit nauseous.
Although I don't feel anything when killing, blowing someone's head off with my own hands...
Damn, that's just too brutal, isn't it?
It goes against humanity.
I should try to restrain myself in the future. The explosion of my inner energy after a hundred and eighty years is really overwhelming.
While contemplating, Zhang Kai's gaze shifted, and he noticed that the shadow he had attacked was still carrying something, like a sack.
Opening it, Zhang Kai's eyes narrowed. Inside the sack was a child, a little girl in ethnic clothing, probably only five or six years old, currently unconscious, her eyes tightly shut.
Zhang Kai checked her breathing; she was merely in a state of unconsciousness. But why would there be an old man carrying a child in the middle of the night deep in the mountains?
That old man didn't look like an ordinary person either, especially from the clothing, which had an ethnic style to it. And the brutal way he acted earlier, like a wild beast, made Zhang Kai suspicious.
He hid the little girl behind a large tree and then proceeded to investigate the situation in the valley.
The place was eerie. Why would this old man bring a child here? It couldn't be for anything good. However, this also piqued Zhang Kai's curiosity.
The era of cultivating had passed.
Could there still be some secret methods or ways to produce extraordinary individuals in this age of decline, where the path to immortality had been severed?
His curiosity was strong, and Zhang Kai decided to leave the little girl and venture further into the valley.
One shouldn't judge by appearances; there might be more to this situation than met the eye.
As he ventured deeper into the valley, Zhang Kai came across a horrifying sight - a pile of bones.
Various bones, including thigh bones, ribcages, and skulls, were stacked up to form a macabre mountain. These bones came from various creatures, including cattle, pigs, and some wild animals. Zhang Kai even noticed human bones among them.
It made him feel nauseous; the stench was overpowering. This gruesome and unsettling scene challenged his psychological endurance.
As he struggled to suppress his discomfort, a voice suddenly echoed. The words spoken were rapid and urgent, seemingly in an ethnic language Zhang Kai couldn't understand. The sound came from the left.
Moving towards the source of the voice, Zhang Kai saw a cave entrance, shrouded in darkness. He also heard the rattling of chains coming from inside.
While he was observing, a figure emerged from the cave and lunged towards him.
Startled, Zhang Kai hastily stepped back, but he quickly realized that the figure was restrained by iron chains, preventing it from advancing beyond the cave entrance.
The figure appeared grotesque, an old man with disheveled hair cascading below his waist, a beard covering his chest, a haggard and emaciated body, yet he displayed remarkable strength.
The chains shook violently as he attempted to advance further. The chains were locked around his pelvic bone.
Zhang Kai watched in astonishment as the old man stopped, and their eyes met. Suddenly, the old man spoke in broken Mandarin, "You are Han Chinese."
Zhang Kai was taken aback but remained calm. "Who are you?"
The old man exclaimed in joy, "Fantastic! I've finally met a fellow countryman. Young man, help me, and I can grant you immortality."
He seemed to find his rhythm, speaking more fluently.
Huh?
Zhang Kai chuckled, "Old man, your current state isn't very convincing."
"Do you doubt me? Do you know how old I am now?" the old man looked at Zhang Kai, his tone somewhat arrogant.
Curious, Zhang Kai asked, "How old are you?"
"I'm a hundred and sixty-seven years old this year, and I'm still strong. I can live longer, two hundred years, three hundred years, it's all possible. Oh, by the way, I can also bestow you with great power," the old man said with enthusiasm.
Then Zhang Kai smiled, "Old brother, I'm not interested in your level of power."
The old man was puzzled. "What?"
"But you can answer a few questions for me, and I'll consider helping you," Zhang Kai continued.
The old man asked, "What do you want to know?"
Zhang Kai inquired, "What kind of being are you? How can you achieve immortality? Is it related to cultivation or the path of immortality?"
The old man grinned and laughed, "Young man, you're not rejecting immortality; you want to cultivate as an immortal! Haha, cultivate immortality, become an immortal, hahaha..."
Watching the old man laugh hysterically, Zhang Kai calmly observed him. After a while, when the old man finished laughing, he looked at Zhang Kai and said, "Don't dream about it. This world can't accommodate cultivation anymore. It's a dead end. No matter what kind of being you are, within this realm, you'll be suppressed. Gods have fallen, Buddhas have gone silent, demons and monsters have vanished. Even ghosts, did you know that there are souls after death? But even souls can't exist in this world for long—only seven days. After seven days, the souls must abide by the rules of the heavens and the earth, reincarnate, or else they'll dissipate entirely. That's the world we live in now. It can't support cultivation. Give up on that dream."
Zhang Kai was deeply shaken. This was the most detailed information he had ever heard about the state of the cultivation world. Gods falling, Buddhas disappearing, demons and monsters vanishing, and even souls being unable to exist for more than seven days in this world. It was indeed a place where all spiritual beings had to hide their existence. The power of the rules was too overwhelming.
But the Heavenly Seal still had a spark of spirituality. There might still be a way.
He encouraged himself inwardly, then looked at the old man and said, "Alright, there's only one question left now. You have to withstand one of my attacks. If you can endure it, I'll help you."
The old man hesitated. "You... don't understand..."
Zhang Kai interrupted, "I'm not afraid of you. Let's get on with it."
The old man was about to retort when Zhang Kai swung his hands, and his inner energy surged. With a dragon's roar, a yellow dragon-shaped energy, about six or seven meters long, surrounded him.
This dragon image was vivid and lifelike, with fangs and claws, soaring while emitting a dragon's roar. The old man stared in disbelief, unable to believe his eyes.
In this world where cultivation was supposedly impossible, how could such a scene occur? He must be seeing things, hallucinating, or...
The dragon-shaped energy approached, and the old man panicked, attempting to escape. However, the speed of Zhang Kai's technique exceeded his own, and the dragon's energy pierced through his body.
Plop!
The old man spewed blood, his clothes torn apart by the energy, revealing his emaciated body.