"Have you finally decided to fight to the death?"
Lin Xiaoyao saw it clearly, yet remained utterly uninterested.
Even though his opponent had used every trick in the book and brought out all his hidden cards, in Lin Xiaoyao's eyes, there was still just one word for him... weak!
His interest waned. He might as well get rid of this nuisance quickly and head back. Signing in was much more interesting.
He raised his right hand, unhurried and calm, and pointed toward the space ahead as casually as if it were nothing.
"Freeze!"
Before his voice had even faded,
the entire valley—
flowers and trees, birds and beasts, insects and fish, even the surging, roaring demonic qi, along with Old Demon Jia himself—all froze in place, unable to move, as if time itself had stopped.
"This... is this the Immobilization Technique?"
Old Demon Jia could still just barely speak, though his voice was hoarse. His eyes bulged as if he'd witnessed something utterly unbelievable.
It was as if his entire worldview had collapsed in an instant.
The scene before him seemed like one enormous joke.
The Immobilization Technique?
That was basic Five Elements magic.
It was practically useless, even less effective than little spells like Fireball or Wind Blade. It could only affect small creatures like snakes, insects, and rats.
Even a mere mortal with abundant vitality could struggle free. How could anyone call it an immortal art?
And yet his opponent was using it against him.
And, unbelievably, it had worked!
Apart from barely being able to speak, he couldn't move a single finger.
Terror welled up in his heart.
Even a Mahayana cultivator might not be able to do this!
No—he was certain they couldn't!
Could it be...
A bolder, more unthinkable guess came to mind, but he couldn't bring himself to believe it.
Unfortunately, there was no time left for him to investigate.
Lin Xiaoyao waved his hand.
The gesture was gentle, as if he were shooing away mosquitoes.
But Old Demon Jia was horrified to discover that his body had become like a rock weathered by a thousand years of wind and rain. Under the sunlight, it crumbled into sand and scattered on the breeze...
His face twisted in terror, but caught by the Immobilization Technique, he couldn't struggle. Before long, he couldn't even speak.
Then the light faded from his eyes.
He vanished from the world entirely.
This time, his soul was truly scattered.
As he died, only one thought circled endlessly through his mind.
"Could this man really be a True Immortal?"
But he never got an answer.
After watching his opponent fall, Qin Yan turned and left as well.
Several days later.
Treasure Pill Valley.
A young man passed through the area, his head slightly bowed.
Seeing that no one was around, he silently said to himself,
"System, let me sign in."
"Congratulations, host. Sign-in successful. You have received 'Mystic Heaven Green Spirit Powder.'"
Mystic Heaven Green Spirit Powder?
Lin Xiaoyao raised an eyebrow and casually tossed it into the System Space.
But disappointment showed on his face. Why was it another useless item? Was it really so hard to give him a few hundred or thousand years of cultivation?
He couldn't use this junk at all!
With a sigh, he continued on his way.
More than half a month had passed since the crisis Old Demon Jia had brought upon them.
Feathering Sect had returned to its former tranquility.
Well, at least on the surface.
The ordinary disciples might have sensed that the sect had run into some trouble a few days ago, but they would never have imagined that it had been on the brink of annihilation.
The sect had come within a hair's breadth of being destroyed, and they would have had their souls scattered beneath the enemy's demonic might.
Every one of them had already set a foot through the gates of the underworld.
The younger disciples might have been in the dark, but the sect's senior cultivators all knew the truth.
They kept their mouths shut to avoid causing panic.
But behind the scenes, the elders and peak leaders had already discussed the matter several times.
Today, they had gathered once again in a secluded courtyard.
"Junior Brother Zhang, are you certain Old Demon Jia really has fallen?"
Master Green Feather glanced at the man standing below them, his expression grave.
They had watched Old Demon Jia die with their own eyes that day, but hadn't the same thing happened five hundred years ago?
The old monster's cultivation technique was bizarre.
Perhaps he had another substitute-death technique, letting him fool them all over again.
They had made this mistake once. They absolutely couldn't repeat it.
"I believe so."
"You believe so?"
Master Green Feather looked puzzled and raised his head. "What do you mean by that, Junior Brother?"
"Please take a look, Senior Brother."
The Head of Sword-Flying Peak placed a black storage pouch before them.
"Is this one of Old Demon Jia's belongings?"
A white-haired elder's eyes widened. He released his divine sense, then clicked his tongue in amazement.
"Everything inside is still there, and it's all extremely valuable. It even includes the cultivation manuals Old Demon Jia practiced. This storage pouch is genuine. If that old monster hadn't fallen, he wouldn't have left it behind. Where did you find it?"
"In a valley more than a thousand li from our sect's headquarters."
The Head of Sword-Flying Peak answered truthfully.
"So, the Old Demon Jia we saw that day really hadn't fallen."
"Correct."
The Head of Sword-Flying Peak nodded. "I read through the manuals he practiced and discovered that his cultivation technique was extremely strange. His Primordial Spirit could switch freely between his avatar and his true body."
"I see. Were there any signs of a fight in the valley?"
"No. Just this storage pouch."
All the elders fell silent. If their opponent had survived, then even if he'd meant to use a cicada's shell to escape, he would never have left this behind.
So the old monster really had returned to the underworld.
"Did that senior take care of him for us?"
Someone finally voiced the question on everyone's minds.
Master Green Feather didn't know how to answer.
Even now, what had happened that day felt like a dream!
The sect-protecting formation had been destroyed, and Master Green Feather had been ambushed. Old Demon Jia had actually reached the late stage of the Mysterious Mastery Realm.
None of their fellow disciples had been a match for him. They'd been injured by his demonic might in a single exchange.
They'd thought themselves cornered, with nowhere left to go, only for the situation to take an astonishing turn. A senior expert had killed the man with a single Fireball.
Everyone who witnessed it had been stunned.
The Fireball Technique was basic Five Elements magic!
They could never have dreamed that the invincible Old Demon Jia would be instantly slain by the simplest of spells.
And yet the facts were right before them.
Even after they learned that Old Demon Jia had prepared a substitute-death technique, his true body, hidden a thousand li away, hadn't escaped its fate.
How had that senior found him?
And there had been no signs of a fight in the valley.
Clearly, the difference in their strength had been beyond measure.
Otherwise, it couldn't have ended in such an overwhelming, instant kill.
Could a Mahayana ancestor really have come forward to suppress this demon?
But did their sect truly still have a Mahayana ancestor?
Even as its sect leader, Master Green Feather couldn't say for certain.
Feathering Sect had an ancient lineage. Though its younger generations had yet to match the strength of the old, its foundations remained unfathomably deep. Perhaps some senior ancestor had withdrawn from worldly affairs and simply refused to show himself.
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