Chapter 483: Chapter 242: The Longevity Path Is Long, the Years Like a Heavenly Blade! Former Arch-Enemy (5k-word Chapter)_2

In front of Zhang Fan, he couldn’t even sacrifice a pawn to save the king, let alone grasp that sliver of hope.

"Ah ah ah..."

Li Kongxing let out a horrific scream. His skin and flesh instantly necrotized, turning pitch black, and then his body gradually swelled, as if inflated, with foul-smelling pus continually seeping out.

His aura also gradually dwindled, and his agonized cries were soul-wrenching, as if from Purgatory.

The next moment, Li Kongxing’s Primordial Spirit wilted like a withered flower, slowly fading away.

His body turned into a pool of pus, wantonly flowing in the cold and clear courtyard.

"What a fine technique." Zhang Fan said expressionlessly.

The moonlight shone brilliantly, the night stretched endlessly, the serene courtyard resumed its silence, pervaded only by the stench of blood.

The crimson black Great Demon Inner Core glimmered under the moonlight’s embrace.

"Come out."

Without turning his head, Zhang Fan bent down to pick up the Great Demon Inner Core from the ground.

In the shadows, Fang Changle emerged, holding the unconscious Shi Shougong in his hand.

Shortly after Zhang Fan left, he followed, finding the severely injured Shi Shougong from the basement and bringing him out.

At this moment, Fang Changle looked at Li Kongxing, who had long turned into a pool of pus, and then glanced at the carcass of the Black Rat hanging mid-air, his gaze stiffened, yet he remained silent.

"Old Fang, you shouldn’t have come." Zhang Fan spoke softly in a solemn tone.

"What does it matter?" Fang Changle said indifferently: "Under a bleak sky, murder and arson..."

"Don’t forget, I’m a Maoshan Inheritor, and have licked blood from the blade in the Wuwei Sect."

"Good friend."

Zhang Fan remained expressionless, staring at the Great Demon Inner Core of the Black Rat in his hand.

"For cultivators, this is a Cultivation Sacred Item, densely infused with essence, comparable to Exotic Treasures." Fang Changle whispered.

"Old Fang, this path is so long..."

Just then, Zhang Fan spoke, gazing at the shimmering Great Demon Inner Core in his hand, his eyes gradually growing distant.

"What?" Fang Changle blanked for a moment.

"Throughout history, from emperors and ministers down to commoners, how many have pursued the elusive longevity, but who has truly reached the end of this path?" Zhang Fan murmured softly.

His voice was like a whisper in the wind, his figure akin to a solitary mountain in the night.

At this moment, Fang Changle gazed at Zhang Fan’s silhouette, feeling a sense of bewilderment, perceiving that Zhang Fan had become entirely different, an aura emerged, transcending the world with sorrow, enveloping the ages with solitude.

The path to longevity is long and distant, the passage of time is like a knife, solitude like a blade, cutting down commoners with no mercy. Looking back, who remains on this journey, how many have crossed the bridge to the skies?

"Zhang Fan..."

"This path is too lonely!"

With a soft whisper, Zhang Fan flicked his fingertip, causing the crimson black Great Demon Inner Core to instantly disintegrate, transforming into specks of luminescence, scattering into the mortal world, returning to the earth.

"Let’s go." Zhang Fan said lightly.

"Back to Yujing?" Fang Changle asked.

This Li Kongxing wasn’t a minor character, a disciple of Qi Yun Mountain, seemingly connected to the Qin Family of the Profound Family, suddenly dead in his own home, surely would stir trouble.

Cultivators wield immense power, the higher their realm, the less constrained they are by mundane rules and laws.

Some cultivators even no longer consider themselves human, distinguishing themselves from those common folks, believing that possessing extraordinary power grants extraordinary privileges.

Precisely because of these dangerous ideologies, the Daoist Alliance was formed.

Even as cultivators, one can’t simply kill indiscriminately, once traced, countless troubles ensue.

"Back?" Zhang Fan shook his head: "There’s still one more, isn’t there?"

As he finished speaking, Zhang Fan raised his hand, the Crimson True Flame soared into the sky, roaring like a dragon, setting the entire courtyard ablaze in an instant.

The dark night stretched on, a tremendous fire brightly illuminated half the sky.

...

At two thirty in the morning.

The Qin Family mansion.

Qin Shi was awakened from his sleep, this young master who had been pampered since childhood was about to lose his temper, but the news delivered made him sober in an instant, like a splash of cold water.

"What? You say Li Kongxing is dead? How is that possible? I just saw him tonight, when did this happen?" Qin Shi shouted in disbelief.

Just tonight, just now, he had seen Li Kongxing, returning from his home, and even agreed to wait for Li Kongxing to refine those two Demon Inner Cores, to host an alchemy party and have fun together.

How could it be that during a brief nap, Li Kongxing was gone? And he died in his own home?

Under a bleak sky, murder and arson.

Whose hands are so ruthless, whose courage so great!?

"Last night, around eleven o’clock." The person below reported.

Li Kongxing’s residence caught fire around this time.

"Around eleven?"

Qin Shi’s complexion changed drastically, a cold sweat broke out.

He had left Li Kongxing’s home around ten thirty, just half an hour before.

If he had been delayed by just half an hour, he too might have died in that courtyard like Li Kongxing.

"So close, so close, ancestors bless, ancestors bless..."

Qin Shi shivered twice, then his expression tightened, gradually regaining composure.

Li Kongxing was a disciple of Qi Yun Mountain, not weak in cultivation, and this was his own territory, how could someone dare murder him at home!?

Qin Shi paced back and forth in the room, suddenly halting.

"Where is my father?"

Qin Shi’s father is the leader of this generation of the Qin Family, in Qin Capital.

"The patriarch is in the reception hall."

As soon as the words fell, Qin Shi hurriedly left his room, bypassed the corridor, through the main hall, and arrived at the reception hall tucked in a corner.