My Journey to Immortality Begins with Hunting-Chapter 619 – Reunion - Part 1

The disciples of the Faculty of Seduction had no idea what had just happened.

In their eyes, their dean, who had endured so much humiliation, was now resting obediently in the arms of the Primordial Emperor, like a docile lover.

There was a smile of quiet bliss on her alluring face, her breathing slow and relaxed, as if a heavy burden had finally lifted. It suddenly made sense. She had long since belonged to the Primordial Emperor.

The grand formation had been broken. The ground lay in ruin, littered with shattered fragments of spiritual artifacts.

The grand killing formation, a scheme the Eastern Sea’s elites had spent three years patiently building toward, had now become a complete joke.

The formation drew on the collective power of everyone within it. But if the formation was attacked, the backlash would hit them all. It was like two armies clashing. If one side fell, none of its soldiers would walk away unscathed.

True, the 30 cultivators who composed the formation were all third rank. Even in death, they could be resurrected using the blood essence they had hidden in advance.

But so what?

The world was on the verge of a great upheaval. Even if they were revived, even if they regained their strength, there would be no more chances. The last opportunity of this end-times era had already slipped from their grasp.

The hall master of the Arcane Water Hall was now barely clinging to life. Her body cracked open, blood oozed from her wounds only to be instantly consumed by fire. In a raspy voice full of disbelief, she croaked out a single question.

“Bai Xinxuan...why did you betray us?”

Bai Xinxuan glanced down at the pitiful woman, now little more than a stray dog, and the others, then laughed like silver bells. Delighted, she said, “Because the Primordial Emperor gave me the joy of being a woman.”

With that, she wrapped both arms around Li Yuan’s broad chest, closed her eyes with a blissful expression, resting her left cheek against him while turning her right cheek outward, smiling at the defeated crowd.

“Shameless!” Pang Si growled, one of the few who still had some strength left. He clenched his jaw, eyes red with fury. “You filthy traitor!”

Truthfully, at that moment, his hatred wasn’t aimed at Li Yuan, but at the woman who had betrayed them.

Bai Xinxuan wasn’t offended. Instead, she chuckled. “Pang Si, you've lived this long and you’ve never seen something like this? Winners take all. What’s the point in whining? Honestly, your words just make you look pathetic.”

This brief exchange snapped the disciples of the Faculty of Seduction out of their daze.

Now they understood. Clearly, they had backed the wrong side. It was the Primordial Emperor they should have chosen all along.

As for the Five Spirits Institue...well, after all this, who cared about any so-called institute?

Led by one of the elders, the sea of disciples dropped to their knees and chanted in unison, “Greetings to the Primordial Emperor!”

Among them was Bai Lianjue. Once she had knelt in humble servitude in Gemhill County. Once, she had ruled the flow of information across the realm as the leader of the White Lotus Cult. And now, no one was more stunned than her.

The first time she had heard of Li Yuan, he was just a weaponsmith in the Holy Tree Temple. The White Lotus Cult had paid him some attention only because he was Zhu Ban’s son-in-law. Later, she heard he’d poured his lifespan into forging a demonic sword and perished in the process. She hadn’t thought much of it at the time.

And now...this?

Many years later, the southern lands were suddenly thrown into chaos. The White Lotus Cult’s grand plan collapsed out of nowhere. Instead of merging with Apparel Atelier, the Exotic Beast Park fractured it in half, giving rise to the Ghost Prison.

The south had become the dominion of Yan Yu, and the Lotus Cult, in desperation, began digging obsessively into her past, tracing every last blood relative from her former life. That was when the name Li Yuan surfaced again, sudden, jarring, and inexplicable.

More events followed. One after another, like a chain reaction.

But it wasn’t until Li Yuan revealed his identity at the Swan Pavilion in the Central Capital that everything suddenly clicked into place in Bai Lianjue’s mind.

Now, watching it all come together, the former leader of the White Lotus Cult knelt before the Primordial Emperor. Her thoughts churned as she looked at her dean snuggled up in his arms like a little bird, her expression soft, her body relaxed, practically offering herself up with a silent plea, take me, cherish me.

Bai Lianjue had no idea what to think anymore.

But Li Yuan wasn’t the sort to leave loose ends lying around.

He raised a hand, and a black blade shot out from the Lotus Heart Pavilion.

He could feel the soul inside the blade, the one that once called itself Yan Hongxiu, was no longer just asleep. It was gone, vanished without a trace.

That suited him just fine.

The blade sliced forward, streaking first through Pang Si’s chest. Then Yun Ranzi’s true form. Then Shi Jialan. And then the Earth, Fire, and Water Elders. All those third rank cultivators who had once stood so proudly.

Wherever the blade passed, the bodies withered instantly, as if they’d aged hundreds of years in the blink of an eye.

In hidden corners of the realm, in places no one could see, ornate boxes that stored their blood essences now held nothing but dark, sludgy water. The once-glowing crimson had faded into rot.

At first, Bai Xinxuan was still smiling, but the more she watched, the more her expression froze.

She clung rigidly to Li Yuan.

The Faculty of Seduction did have skills for extracting souls and shattering spirits, but none so clean, so absolute, as this.

Who could kill a man’s entire lifespan with a single slash?

Unless...unless he shared some link to the Northern Dipper.

The Northern Dipper governed death. The Southern Dipper governed life.

“You...are you the Northern Dipper?” she whispered.

Li Yuan shook his head. Then he tilted her chin up gently, studying her face, a flawless work of art, from her delicate features to her dainty toes. She looked like a treasure shaped by the very era they lived in, exquisite, unmarred, and perfect.

A woman like this, even without love, without trust, was the kind that stirred a man’s most selfish instincts. The kind he could see himself indulging in, night after night, losing himself in her beauty.

In the end, what did mortals chase after, if not food and desire?

Li Yuan had always seen himself as a mortal first, before a seeker of higher truths.

And as a man with power, longevity, and no need to chain himself to mortal morality, he saw no reason to deny himself someone like Bai Xinxuan. A woman like her? Of course he wouldn’t let her go.

But just then, a flicker of surprise crossed his face. He gave a small, curious hum.

In a flash, he stepped into the domain still humming with the black blade’s energy, and with a flick of his wrist, the blade snapped back to his fingers like lightning.

Bai Xinxuan stood far off in the distance.

That blade, its presence alone filled her with utter dread.

Although the people of Eastern Sea were known as Immortal, their lifespans were only eternal when compared to the pitiful hundred-year lives of ordinary mortals.

In truth, she herself had only 4,800 years of lifespan.

So a blade that could slice away one's lifespan directly, it terrified her to her very core.

And yet now, she was like a creeping vine wound tightly around Li Yuan, this towering tree of a man. She didn’t understand everything that had happened, but instinctively, she floated after him, drifting to his back and following in his wake.

Before long, the two of them spotted a faint glimmer among the withered corpses.

They moved closer and discovered a bead. clear as crystal, glowing with a soft luster.

“A sarira,” Bai Xinxuan murmured.

Then her face changed, a flash of unease and confusion crossing her features, as if she’d suddenly sensed something.

Li Yuan raised his palm, and the bead floated up of its own accord, hovering silently in the air.

Sunlight struck its surface, refracting into a brilliant halo of rainbow light. It looked like a jewel, beautiful and radiant. But other than its charm, there was nothing else. No energy, no trace of life.

“Still not coming out?” Li Yuan’s voice turned cold.

The sarira remained motionless.

With a flick of his will, an overwhelming force pressed down on it. The weight of his domain power descended like a mountain.

A faint cracking sound came from the bead’s surface, but it showed no signs of breaking.

Then, slowly, an aged face appeared within the bead’s translucent core. Pressed up against the inner crystal wall, it looked like a figure painted on paper, flat, eerie, and coldly staring back at them.

“Shi Jialan, you’re not dead?” Bai Xinxuan gasped, recognizing him instantly.

Inside the bead, the old man gave a twisted, venomous grin but said nothing.

Li Yuan continued to bear down with his power, but the sarira seemed to possess an absurdly powerful defensive force. No matter how hard he pressed, it held firm.

Bai Xinxuan studied it for a moment, then spoke thoughtfully. “My lord, I once heard that the Faculty of Ghosts had profound hidden roots. That’s because the place was originally the ancient temple known as Radiant Treasure Monastery. It dates back to the Age of the Ancient Gods.

“That Shi Jialan previously claimed he could truly trap you, but he needed a drop of your blood. I’m guessing it had to do with this thing. In my view, this sarira must be a relic passed down from Radiant Treasure Monastery. And anything that’s survived since that era...must be extraordinary.”

Li Yuan reached out and grabbed the bead.

Only then did he sense it clearly. The surface of the sarira wasn’t made of any known material, but of some strange, hidden spatial force.

It was as if the bead contained an entire world inside it. One that could be seen, but not entered, unless he could break through the membrane separating one world from another.

And this membrane wasn’t like the discord between Yin and Yang he’d experienced when he was with Yan Yu. It was a true barrier between completely different realms of existence.

This world inside the bead was tiny, no larger than the bead itself. And yet, it held Shi Jialan. Just him, and no one else.

Shi Jialan looked terribly weak. Clearly, this sarira wasn’t meant as a shield. It was a last-ditch life-preserving gambit, nothing more.

“If you tell me everything you know,” Li Yuan said directly to the bead, “I’ll bring you with me to explore the ancient hall.”

He wasn’t sure the old man could even respond. It was worth a try.

To his surprise, Shi Jialan snapped back with venom in his voice, “I don’t believe you!”

“I figured,” Li Yuan said casually. “Doesn’t hurt to ask.”

He watched the old man’s twisted expression with amused interest, eyes narrowing slightly.

Then, pinching the bead between his fingers, he conjured a single crimson lotus petal and attempted to cut through it. But even that razor-sharp petal failed to scratch its surface.

Just as he suspected, this wasn’t a power at the third rank anymore. It had evolved, undergone some fundamental transformation.

For now, he put the sarira away.

Then, without warning, he swept Bai Xinxuan into his arms and, with her in his grasp, strode across a battlefield littered with corpses and kneeling the Faculty of Seduction disciples, heading straight for the Lotus Heart Pavilion.

The battle had tempered his strength, yes. But it still wasn’t enough.

And that left him in a foul mood.

That meant, for the moment, he needed something...pleasing.