World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 503: Instant Kill of a Primordial Immortal

"Senior Gai, when were you captured and brought here?"

"Stop trying to play tricks on me!"

"We're both the Celestial Wind Sect's prisoners now. Won't acting like this trouble your Dao Heart?"

"Hmph! I do not need you to lecture me! Move!"

The attempt at conversation failed. Feeling a touch of helplessness, Wang Sheng began calculating which technique he could use that would kill the old man in one strike.

The tunnels twisted and branched. Deeper in, more junctions appeared.

The miners who arrived earlier left behind a piece of Immortal Stone fragment in the tunnel they had chosen, indicating that it was already taken. Gai naturally chose an empty one.

"Go in!"

He pushed Wang Sheng in and tossed down an Immortal Stone that had already been drained of its primal qi.

Soon, the two reached the end of the tunnel. Wang Sheng scanned his surroundings. The fiend-blood energy here was thick, with clusters of it drifting like mist. Several shovel-like stone tools lay discarded at the end.

Gai shoved Wang Sheng forward, stepped back a few paces, and calmly ordered, "Start digging. If you dare slack off or play games, well... Do you know what happens if the energy here seeps into your blood?"

Instead of answering, Wang Sheng simply walked deeper into the tunnel. The fiend-blood energy immediately surged toward him, quickly forming a swirling, heavy red mist. Cloaked in immortal light, he walked to the end, picked up a stone shovel, and started digging.

Just another day in the mines.

The blood soil was as tough as the cliff face that he had once chiseled at. Unlike back then, though, his cultivation now had been unsealed, and he was quite efficient with his shovel. Though the tool was dull, each strike carved out a square foot of soil.

Chipping away at the blood soil released fresh waves of fiend-blood energy. Mixed within it were all sorts of remnants: bone fragments, shattered armor, treasured artifact shards, and sometimes diamond-shaped crystals of various sizes—blood essences.

Digging in silence, it didn't take long for Wang Sheng to have his first cluster of small blood essences. He crushed them under his heel, releasing even more fiend-blood energy.

The immortal light surrounding him was only for show. In truth, Wang Sheng had already summoned a tribulation cloud inside him and was constantly absorbing the red mist.

The tribulation cloud flickered as lightning surged within him, breaking down and refining the energy. The endless primal qi was then transformed into Pure Yang Immortal Power.

After more than two centuries of relying on astral power to cultivate bit by bit, Wang Sheng now felt inexhaustible primal qi pouring into him. The sensation was indescribably delightful. If he had to describe it in a word, he'd say it was "refreshing."

"When are you planning to kill him?" Yaoyun asked.

Wang Sheng glanced back at Gai. "Later. I'll wait for the perfect moment. If and when I act, I can't give him any chance to respond. At the end of the day, he's still a Primordial Immortal."

"Mm."

Wang Sheng continued digging. A few meters deeper, a fist-sized blood essence tumbled out. He quickly stopped it with his foot.

As expected, Gai laughed coldly from behind. "You're quite lucky, finding a top-tier blood essence so quickly. Wrap it in immortal power and bring it here."

Wang Sheng hesitated, but Gai was already striding toward him. He picked up the blood essence and turned to face him, his gaze alert. With the stone, either of them could ward off the fiend-blood energy.

Gai was ruthless, and nothing mattered more to him than tangible benefits. His eyes now glinted with killing intent and pure menace. With immortal power swirling around his hands, he unleashed his full aura.

As though reaching a decision, Wang Sheng tossed the blood essence toward him. A hint of triumph flashed in Gai's eyes.

He wrapped the fist-sized blood essence with immortal power and made it float beside him. "Hah, seems like you're smart enough to know what a top-tier blood essence looks like."

Wang Sheng snorted coldly and pretended to turn away. He telepathically whispered, "Spiritual power."

Yaoyun understood immediately. Within the sword core of Flying Haze, the tip of Spiritless slipped out of the Qiankun Ring. Streams of spiritual power merged with her sword master's immortal power.

Pleased with his prize, Gai subconsciously took Wang Sheng's behavior as submission. When Wang Sheng turned away, he also turned and started walking toward the tunnel entrance.

At that instant, Wang Sheng forced the tribulation cloud outward, condensing a brilliant bolt of lightning. He then immediately used Heavenly Tribulation Lightning Flash.

Sensing danger, Gai turned around and unleashed immortal power, but it was already too late. Shock and fury filled his expression as he shouted, "How dare you, bo—!"

Before he could finish, the lightning struck him head-on and swallowed him.

Wang Sheng rushed through the bolt as electricity gathered into a sword in his right hand. He then leaped out right above his opponent and thrust it down. Seven sword phantasms split from the strike, instantly shattering his opponent's immortal light as though it were mere rotten wood.

Wang Sheng swung his lightning sword over the old Daoist's head, unleashing several beams of light. With a flick of his wrist, they fell and bore seven bloody holes all over Gai. Tribulation lightning then pierced into the wounds and wrapped around his Primordial Spirit.

It all happened too quickly. Wang Sheng's Lightning Flash had barely faded when he dismissed his lightning sword, stepped forward, and took back the blood essence hovering beside Gai. He wrapped it in immortal power and let it float beside him.

As spiritual power began to drain from within him, Wang Sheng lowered his head and coughed twice. Afterward, he and Yaoyun observed their surroundings, fearing that their attack would draw the two True Immortals' attention.

Wang Sheng strolled back to the end of the tunnel and picked up the shovel as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Gai's lifeless body slowly fell backward, and Spiritless returned to the Qiankun Ring.

Wang Sheng and Yaoyun breathed a sigh of relief.

Not bad.

Their final attack served as a test of the past two hundred years that Wang Sheng had spent cultivating using astral power.

He was already close to reaching the late stage of the Ascended Immortal Realm. With Yaoyun's spiritual power aiding him, the last strike became as powerful as those during his unification with Yaoyun. He didn't feel even the slightest pressure while eliminating the old Daoist.

Had his cultivation been this deep when he fought Ziyun, he would have saved himself quite a bit of effort.

Even so, Wang Sheng reminded himself not to grow complacent. The ease of this kill had much to do with the fiend-blood energy having eaten away at the old Daoist for years and the Celestial Wind Sect having confiscated his treasured artifact.

Due to Lightning Flash, abundant primal qi lingered in the tunnel. Wang Sheng quickly absorbed it and resumed digging like nothing had happened. However, he started consuming fiend-blood energy faster than it could gather. Soon, the energy in the tunnel showed clear signs of running thin.

Wang Sheng had already reached the threshold of his next breakthrough. He was only a step away from the late stage of the Ascended Immortal Realm, and his desire for primal qi was strong. With no better option, he took advantage of the empty surroundings and quietly blasted the mineral vein before him with immortal power.

As he had hoped, a palm strike sent out a surge of fiend-blood energy. Just as he prepared to strike a few more times, the entire mine rumbled, and several panicked cries echoed through the tunnels.

"It's happening again!"

"This is bad! The blood mine is erupting!"

"Why is the interval so short this time?"

Wang Sheng waited for a while. The disturbance settled quickly, and he soon confirmed that his attack had caused those rumbles, startling the other miners by accident.

Ignoring everything else, he stood still with his eyes closed, a faint smile on his lips.

Before long, a sweep of aura rippled and spread across the area, though its source was quickly concealed.

***

Three months later, several loud chimes echoed, and the miners gathered at the central passage of the pit. Each one lifted and reported the number of the treasures they had mined.

The two True Immortals stood above, holding a jade plate. They recorded every report, which would serve as their basis for reward or punishment distribution.

More and more unaffiliated practitioners gathered. Most had met the minimum quota, and a few had even done well enough to earn several Spirit Stones.

Once nearly everyone had arrived, one of the miners muttered, "Why did the mine keep shaking for three months straight? It's weird. I kept thinking it was about to erupt again."

"Same here. I noticed it too."

"Haaa... The mine is probably still unstable after the last eruption. Maybe some devilish being is about to appear, so it keeps trembling."

"What is there to fear? We'll all die here sooner or later anyway. Let it be."

Above them, one of the True Immortals asked, "Are we missing anyone?"

The pit fell silent. All unaffiliated practitioners sat cross-legged and tried to expel the invading fiend-blood energy.

The stuff seeped into everything and was nearly impossible to guard against.

The scholar-robed True Immortal counted the miners. "Why are we missing two? Did that Ascended Immortal die?"

At that moment, a man slowly walked out of a tunnel and lifted four pieces of blood essence that were between one cun and two cun long.

Faintly wrapped in Pure Yang Immortal Power, he wearily reported, "Tian No. 30, four pieces."

Wang Sheng placed the blood essence onto the stone slab at the center of the wooden table, then turned to a corner and sat down cross-legged. Several unaffiliated practitioners glanced toward the tunnel he had come from, but they saw no sign of Gai.

Those who had once competed with the old Daoist over the "young" Ascended Immortal stood up. Speechless, they turned pale and stared at him in disbelief.

The scholar-robed True Immortal's lips curved into a faint, playful smile. "Interesting."

He and the other True Immortal each lifted a chain, then slowly rose into the air.

Blood essence was all over the ground in the tunnel where Wang Sheng had worked. Moreover, fiend-blood energy had eaten Gai's corpse almost beyond recognition.

Only the one who had walked out of it knew what had happened there.