Immortal Master

Lan Yi was flying—or, more precisely, drifting.

Cang Hua condensed into a ring, absorbing the magnetic energy of heaven and earth, rotating the Gang Sha, and forming the energy-storage structure found in certain artificial divine realms. Using spiritual energy to cycle between release and absorption, it created a counteracting magnetic field to support his own suspension. For a spiritual-energy cultivator with ample knowledge of Daoist arts, this was nothing worth mentioning.

As far as the Nine Heavens Responding Primordial Treasury was concerned.

Magnetic Control and Evil Conversion was basic training.

Only after mastering this basic skill to perfection could one cultivate the hundreds of subsequent, miraculous Daoist arts, such as Sound-Shooting Thunder, Formless Gang Sha, Primal Magnetic Light Shield, and Resounding Thunder Transfer.

Drifting through the air without any disguise, Lan Yi openly displayed his existence before all of Puhai City. He wanted to make absolutely everyone aware of his presence.

If he had merely been flying through the sky.

Some people might still have harbored doubts, wondering whether the foreigners had invented some marvelous trick for flying into the heavens.

But Lan Yi was not merely flying through the sky. Behind him hovered a circular wheel radiating searing lightning! As he flew along, several foreign constables who had been foolish enough to cross him ended up roasted like suckling pigs, informing everyone that the circular wheel behind him was no decoration!

Flying through the sky, controlling thunder, with a halo of light behind him.

In the vast majority of myths and legends, this was exactly how a god was depicted!

It was easy to imagine what kind of sensation Lan Yi had caused along his journey. Worshippers were as numerous as oxen's hair, and excited shouts of "immortal," "Thunder God," "immortal envoy," and "angel" rang out without end. Especially after his thunder arts precisely struck dead several foreign constables firing from ambush, the shouting immediately shifted from excitement to fanaticism.

The people's hearts could be used. The people's strength could be used.

The manpower and resources of the city beneath his feet, with its population of over a million, would soon obey one person's commands with unprecedented efficiency and loyalty—that person being Lan Yi.

Lan Yi had done this deliberately.

Information traveled too poorly in this era. The fastest method was the telephone, and over long distances, the telegraph.

The destruction of warships and the slaughter of foreigners would naturally have plenty of people helping spread the word, but it would be too slow, and it could easily be branded as the sorcery of a Boxer uprising. To integrate the forces he could use more quickly, Lan Yi had to repeatedly reveal his divinity before the masses and display power that surpassed the age.

He had to thank this turbulent, war-torn era.

There were plenty of stages on which Lan Yi could display his Daoist arts.

Before long, Lan Yi, drifting forward without obstruction, saw his destination in the distance: the International Journalists' Club. Who loved big news the most? Journalists, of course.

"What nonsense are you spouting! How could anyone possibly fly through the sky?" Nong Jinsun rose and rebuked him.

Had Lu Bing developed some kind of hysteria?

As Huo Yuanjia's disciple, if word got out that he had hysteria, it would be a risk that Nong Jinsun and the organization behind him absolutely did not want to see. The Jingwu Gymnastics Association might even suffer damage to its reputation because of it.

That would ruin the arrangements they had spent two years making.

"Mr. Nong, Master, I really didn't lie to you!"

"There really is someone—no, wait, it's Grandpa Thunder God! Grandpa Thunder God is flying through the sky! He's grabbing lightning and striking people! There's also something very bright and round behind him... Ah...!"

"If you don't believe me, go outside and look!"

Lu Bing was unlike his senior brother Chen Zhen, who was learned enough to study abroad in Dongyang. Lu Bing was simply a big, rough martial man.

Faced with something that surpassed the age and exceeded his understanding, he became incoherent. When he could not explain himself, he could only sigh heavily and stomp his feet, urging everyone to go out and see for themselves. As long as they witnessed it with their own eyes, they would know whether he had been talking nonsense.

The scene inside the club quickly became somewhat chaotic.

Quite a few journalists were already on the verge of leaving. If they had not come by invitation and retained a shred of professional integrity, they would have chased after the breaking news long ago.

Soon, someone with prestige rose from among those present.

"All right, all this clamoring is getting us nowhere. Let's all go outside and have a look at this Grandpa Thunder God."

Chen Qimei spoke loudly as he led the way toward the exit.

Having founded newspapers and promoted Western-style education, putting knowledge into practice, Chen Qimei had been a pioneer alongside Nong Jinsun within the organization in advancing from empty talk to action. He had studied abroad in Dongyang, learning policing, law, and military science in succession. He could be called well-informed and possessed a steadfast will. Naturally, he did not believe in the ghosts and gods of China.

Not only did he disbelieve in them, he found them quite abhorrent.

The doctrines of ghosts and gods were the foundation of the heretical Boxer uprising and ought to be eradicated and crushed.

If ghosts and gods truly existed.

Then how had the land of China fallen into such a blood-spitting, heart-rending state?

Chen Qimei very much wanted to see whether this Grandpa Thunder God could withstand a bullet.

He stepped outside and raised his head.

"Mm... Huh?"

The instant he left the club, Chen Qimei's hand began to tremble violently. More than twenty meters in front of him, roughly a dozen meters above the green lawn of the International Journalists' Club.

A figure bearing a circular wheel of searing lightning was floating there as naturally and effortlessly as a cloud.

W-what was this?

Forget Dongyang—even the science-fiction novels of the West had never depicted a scene like this!

Could it be that immortals truly existed in this world?!

Lan Yi, who had descended upon this place, did not care what the people below thought. With a wave of his hand, streaks of bright-silver metal flew out of Cang Hua. The hard silver metal softened like dough, transforming beneath Lan Yi's descending steps into lotus flowers that appeared to carry him down to the ground one step at a time.

The moment he landed, Lan Yi waved his hand again.

The lotus flowers instantly transformed into hiltless long swords, twelve in all, slowly rotating along the circular wheel behind his head.

This place had a pleasant environment.

It also suited what Lan Yi was about to do.

The journalists' camera shutters were nearly smoking from being pressed! Whether this person was an immortal or an extraterrestrial, he was absolutely guaranteed to occupy the next day's front-page headline. They wished they had a dozen more cameras and a dozen more rolls of film to photograph him with! They took pictures as if their lives depended on it!!

"Master Huo, I have a great opportunity to bestow upon you."

His gaze swept across the familiar yet strange faces, finally settling on the person who had once treated him best. Only then did the cold severity of Lan Yi's face soften slightly.

Huo Yuanjia had already been standing near the front. Now that the immortal had singled him out and said he had an opportunity for him, the blazing gazes converging on him in an instant were enough to make a pot of cold water boil at once.

Chen Qimei's heart pounded like thunder, while worry appeared on Nong Jinsun's face.

"May I ask, Immortal Master, what opportunity might that be?" Huo Yuanjia did not understand why it was him, but facing power that was clearly beyond human ability, he still steeled himself, stepped forward twice, and clasped his hands in inquiry.

"You're a martial master. Naturally, the opportunity is martial arts." Martial arts were another one of Lan Yi's objectives.

When they heard that it was martial arts, the gathered crowd showed all kinds of expressions.

An immortal imparting martial arts.

Decades ago, that would indeed have been quite impressive. But now firearms and cannons ruled the world, and this immortal still wanted to impart martial arts? Could he be some old antique who had wandered out of the deep mountains? Yet his clothes and appearance did not look like it.

Facing the crowd's strange expressions.

Lan Yi said nothing more. He casually threw a punch toward the empty ground behind him.

BOOM!!!