Chapter 161: Legend

An ancient legend has been passed down in the Azure Spirit Realm since primordial times.

It is said that there exists a lineage of people, born to ride out the chaos when calamities arise.

The bearers of this lineage face countless trials and tribulations. Yet, they are revered by the world as holy spirits and worshipped with utmost devotion.

The physique of a God of War, and arts that defy the heavens.

With a heart set on the Dao, they dominate the mortal world.

The aged voice, brimming with anticipation, echoed through the empty mountain forest, finally reaching Meng Fan’s ears.

"You..."

Gazing at the elder who stepped out of the void before the campfire, Meng Fan's eyes widened to their limits. Crimson bloodshot veins slowly crawled across his eyeballs, and his breathing quickened instantly.

The elder had white hair and a long beard, clad in a plain robe, exuding the air of an otherworldly immortal. With his white eyebrows and benevolent eyes, he possessed the supreme demeanor of a venerable elder.

How could Meng Fan not recognize this person!

Over the past two days, Meng Fan had dreamed of choking him to death with his bare hands!

That treacherous scoundrel! ! !

Meng Changhe! ! !

If it weren't for him making off with the storage pouch, how could he have ended up in such a sorry state!

The storage pouch was sealed with restrictions; the people of the Azure Spirit Realm could never open it! Only Meng Changhe, who had tossed him here, could do so!

At the very thought of this, Meng Fan could no longer stomach Meng Changhe's hypocritical facade! A surge of anger boiled up within his chest!

Destroying my dreams! Snuffing out my salted-fish life! It is intolerable to both heaven and earth! We are irreconcilable! ! !

You old dog! Hand over your life! ! !

"Uncle Changhe, Fan'er has missed you so much!"

Seeing the elder look toward him, Meng Fan hurriedly scrambled to his feet, a look of ecstatic joy plastered across his face as he bowed respectfully to Meng Changhe. Paired with the lively glint in his eyes, it gave off an indescribably clever and obedient vibe.

Joking aside, if he pissed this old fogey off again and was truly left behind to fend for himself, who on earth would he cry to?

"Uncle Changhe, look at how well-behaved Fan'er is, never causing trouble for the family on ordinary days. How about you discuss it with my father and take me back?"

"Or if that doesn't work, take me back and I'll discuss it with my father myself. Sound good?"

Not giving Meng Changhe a chance to speak, Meng Fan chimed in first, blinking at him with a deeply endearing and expectant expression.

After all, who knows, maybe it was all just a misunderstanding. Aside from his aversion to cultivation, he was completely harmless.

Could it be that he was sent here to undergo trials through hardship?

As an immortal second-generation descendant from the Supreme Immortal Realm, coming down to the Three Thousand Lower Realms for trials? Besides bullying weaklings, it was just more bullying; it had no meaning whatsoever.

Meng Fan thought to himself in secret.

"Not necessarily."

Hearing this, Meng Changhe instead shook his head and laughed heartily, a deep look of anticipation flashing through his eyes as he spoke again:

"The legends passed down in the Azure Spirit Realm are naturally true; they were left behind by successive generations of sequences from the Supreme Immortal Realm!"

"Every few centuries, or even millennia, the major clans and regional sects of the Immortal Realm send their most important disciples to the Azure Spirit Realm to experience life-or-death trials."

"This trial is of utmost importance. In the battles between disciples, there is no victory or defeat—only life and death."

"The one who ultimately survives will become the new generation's sequence of the Supreme Immortal Realm! Revered by tens of thousands, with no one daring to cross them in the slightest!"

"Although the aristocratic families of the Immortal Realm do not openly fight on ordinary days, the covert contests are numerous."

"Your father, despite being the strongest Dao Venerable in the Immortal Realm, finds that time spares no one, and his body grows weaker by the day."

"This trial was specifically pointed out by your father to give you thorough life-or-death tempering, so that the Meng family can be safely entrusted to you in the future."

Meng Changhe's voice was aged and deliberate.

"Fan'er, time ultimately has its limits. Even though your father has already become the strongest Dao Venerable, man cannot defy the heavens..."

"You are the final hope of the Meng family..."

Pausing slightly, Meng Changhe gazed at Meng Fan with boundless affection and spoke expectantly.

"Uncle Changhe, are you guys... serious..."

Thinking of the lunatics belonging to the major clans in the Supreme Immortal Realm, Meng Fan was on the verge of tears.

Based on what he knew, all those of his generation were utter maniacs!

The sole son of the Fang family's ninth lineage, in order to temper his physical body, carved hundreds of thousands of cuts into himself with ice blades, bleeding profusely without dying.

The legitimate daughter of the Fang family's eighth lineage, similarly for physical tempering, immersed herself day after day in the venom of a ten-thousand-year-old demonic python!

That madman of the Fang family's seventh lineage gouged out his own eyeballs just to master a divine technique!

The Fang family's sixth lineage...

And this was the Fang family, which was widely known throughout the Supreme Immortal Realm for being steadfast and prudent!

Not to mention those eccentric and heterodox Wang and Zhao families...

At the mere thought of what Meng Changhe said about there being no victory or defeat, only life and death, Meng Fan felt as though his entire world was collapsing. His yearning to return home and peacefully live the life of an idle immortal second-generation grew even more intense...

As for Meng Changhe's claim that his father's body was growing weaker by the day, Meng Fan simply chose to treat it as white noise!

Have you ever witnessed a monstrous prodigy who achieved Foundation Establishment by birth, formed the Core at age three, reached the Nascent Soul at four, attained Spirit Severing at five, mastered the Dharma at seven, entered the Void Spirit stage at nine, and became an immortal at ten?

Putting everything else aside, as far as Meng Fan knew, his father became an immortal at age ten, stepped into the Origin realm at twenty, achieved Daoist enlightenment by thirty, and now, not yet a hundred years old, had already become the strongest Dao Venerable in the Supreme Immortal Realm!

It was universally acknowledged in the world that his father was the most likely person to become the third Supreme of the Immortal Realm before the age of five hundred!

What was a Supreme? The absolute peak combat power of the Immortal Realm!

Even though the Immortal Realm had existed for tens of millions of years, there were only ever two Supremes!

And you're telling me that a person like this is growing weaker by the day???

Resentment churned fiercely in Meng Fan's heart; this old fogey was dead set on forcing a duck onto a perch and driving him down a dead end!

He wasn't an idiot—was playing a stunt like this really okay with him?

"Uncle Changhe, Fan'er thinks..."

Unreconciled in his heart, grievances swirling in his eyes, Meng Fan blinked and looked pitifully at Meng Changhe, just about to say something when Meng Changhe suddenly reached out and patted his head.

"Fear not."

"The Innate Dao Physique, an undying body, and the descent of natal Dao artifacts to pledge allegiance on the very day of your birth. Even looking across the entire Supreme Immortal Realm, cultivators with such an impossibly high starting point are exceedingly rare—not even one appearing in tens of thousands of years!"

"In this trial, you will undoubtedly astonish the Supreme Immortal Realm with the bearing of a supreme prodigy, and become the undisputed Qilin son of our Meng family!"

Meng Changhe still wore a benevolent expression, speaking in a deep, earnest tone. Yet, upon closer inspection, one could notice that deep within Meng Changhe's eyes, his gaze toward Meng Fan seemed to carry a hint of appraisal.

It looked more like he was checking to make sure Meng Fan hadn't hidden any other resources on his person, terrified that he might sneak back to the Meng family...

Meng Fan: ─━_─━?

Meng Fan remained silent, secretly noting down this grievance in his heart.

He had to hurry back and strip this treacherous scoundrel of his status in the Meng family!!

Zero tolerance!

Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to sleep in peace for the rest of his days!

If not for this old man, he would still be sleeping peacefully on the Spirit Stone Mountain of the Meng family right now.

Thinking of his miserable experiences over the past two days, and then looking at Meng Changhe's current hypocritical face, Meng Fan's gaze toward him grew increasingly unkind...

"Ahem..."

Noticing Meng Fan's unfriendly glare, Meng Changhe felt a twinge of guilt and gave a dry cough.

"My purpose in coming to find you today, aside from informing you of this matter, is to impart a technique to you on behalf of the Clan Patriarch."

"If this technique is mastered, it can condense the Immortal Fiend Body!"

Meng Changhe paused slightly, speaking slowly as he formed hand seals and pressed a single finger directly against Meng Fan's brow.

He had indeed transmitted the method for condensing the Immortal Fiend Body straight into Meng Fan's mind.

"Can people actually cultivate this kind of technique?"

After sweeping through the cultivation information in his mind, Meng Fan's mouth twitched, and his inner defenses completely collapsed.

What absolute madness was written in there?!

It required fusing fiendish aura directly into every single inch of flesh and blood!

What was fiendish aura?

That was something that could only be condensed after slaughtering at least tens of thousands of lives!

Wasn't fiendish aura supposed to be a type of intangible presence? How on earth could it be fused into flesh and blood???

Most importantly, this cultivation method was specifically tailored for the Innate Dao Physique! Yet he had never once heard of such a technique during his time in the Supreme Immortal Realm!!

Furthermore, throughout the tens of thousands of years of the Supreme Immortal Realm's history, wasn't he the only one with the Innate Dao Physique?

Where did any physical tempering method like this come from?!

Could it be that this bastard took bribes in spirit stones from other aristocratic families?

A flash of suspicion crossed Meng Fan's eyes. He remained silent, though his thoughts were immensely complicated.

Given how thoroughly he embraced his salted-fish lifestyle, there was no reason for the other clans to want him dead...

Could it be that they were afraid he would secretly cultivate in seclusion and, just like his father, suppress an entire era...?

Unlikely, quite unlikely...

His father would never sit idly by...

Could it be that his previous cultivation was simply too slack, and his father genuinely couldn't bear to watch any longer?

Meng Fan felt a headache coming on. There were simply too many dubious points to these events, and looking at them from a single perspective made them impossible to untangle.

Yet, by now, Meng Fan had also confirmed one crucial matter!

This old man could no longer be trusted...

Worse still, with him around, it would be utterly impossible for him to contact anyone from his family!

If he wanted to go home, he would have to find another way.

"As for the questions regarding the technique, you will have to ask the Clan Patriarch about them at a later date."

"As for your cultivation, you might as well try using your natal Dao artifact to condense the fiendish aura. It shouldn't be too difficult."

Meng Changhe was also starting to get a headache. After stammering evasively for a long time, he let out a couple of dry laughs and glossed the matter over.

"Additionally, what is recorded on this item are the locations within the Azure Spirit Realm where fiendish aura is most concentrated."

"If your cultivation reaches a certain bottleneck, you can use this to make a breakthrough."

Pausing briefly, Meng Changhe waved his sleeve, and a quaint scroll materialized three inches above his palm.

He tossed it over to Meng Fan without delay, offered a few more parting words urging him to cultivate diligently, and then hastily snatched up the roasted tiger leg Meng Fan had prepared by the campfire. With a flicker of his figure, he vanished instantly!

Leaving Meng Fan all by himself, his mouth twitching as he stared blankly into the empty space ahead, the bitterness in his heart reaching an absolute peak!

Was this even human?

One second he was telling you that you were the hope of the family, and the next second he was making off with the tiger leg you painstakingly roasted, dumping you straight into a den of trouble and leaving you to your fate.

If not for the fact that his current strength was insufficient to break through the boundary barriers, Meng Fan would have chased after that old dog Meng Changhe, grabbed him by the collar, and demanded to know how many spirit stones the other families had paid him off with!

After a brief pause, Meng Fan wore a bitter expression, let out a soft sigh, and waved his hand to store away the quaint scroll. He carved off another tiger leg and resumed roasting it himself.

Even though he had no desire to practice such a demonic technique, there were bound to be unorthodox cultivators who loved this sort of thing.

When the time came, he could sell it for a good price to tide himself over this immediate crisis.

Then he would figure out a way to scrape together some spirit stones and hurriedly construct a formation to go home...

No matter when the people from those clans arrived, this place was unlivable!

He definitely couldn't stay here for long!

Who knew what kind of bizarre schemes those aristocratic families might cook up next...

At the very thought of those freaks in the Supreme Immortal Realm, Meng Fan couldn't help shuddering. He frantically shook his head to banish the thoughts from his mind and focused intensely on his roasting.

...

The chilly wind blew in desolate gusts as the night grew deeper.

The rustling sound of leaves gradually quieted down.

The entire mountain forest grew increasingly still.

Only in a certain mountain valley could a faint wisp of firelight be seen.

If one drew closer, an immensely rich aroma of roasted meat could be smelled...

Right at this moment, a young man who had been searching the area for the better part of the day also caught the scent of this rich roasted meat!

"Little White..."

Clad in a green robe with a gloomy expression, the young man muttered in a hoarse voice as a bone-chilling coldness grew increasingly fierce within his eyes.

Pausing slightly, his figure flickered like a ghost, darting straight toward the source of the firelight!

"Little White!!!"

Before long, the young man had closed the distance. Gazing at the scattered, gnawed bones littering the ground, a sudden surge of poignant sorrow pierced his heart!

Having depended on each other for survival all these years, Little White...

You died a tragic death...

When the young man swept his gaze around and spotted Meng Fan leaning leisurely against a tree, looking completely unrepentant, his breathing quickened imperceptibly, and bloodshot veins rapidly suffused his eyes!

This must be the murderer who killed and ate Little White!

Avenge this! ! !

A terrifying thought arose, and the killing intent in the young man's heart could no longer be suppressed!

"Vile beast!! Hand over your life!!"

With an explosive roar, chilling light flashing savagely in his eyes, and the aura of the half-step Foundation Establishment stage erupting around him, the young man summoned his longsword! His figure flickered as he charged straight at Meng Fan to kill!

"Rebellious scoundrel, you're courting death!!!"

Meng Fan was deep in thought, racking his brain over how to take the first step toward going home, when he suddenly sensed an approaching wave of killing intent. His entire body gave a violent jolt, snapping him instantly to his senses.

Catching sight of the rapidly approaching youth, a flash of anger crossed Meng Fan's eyes. With a furious roar, he raised his hand, and the Heaven-Slaying artifact instantly transformed into a ferocious silver-white heavy staff gripped firmly in his palm!

He brought it down fiercely!

Bang!

Thud!

All of this sounded slow, but it happened in the blink of an eye! From Meng Fan being startled to knocking the youth unconscious with a single blow, it took no more than a split second!

Yet, following this brief clash, the area fell into an eerie silence.

Hoo...

A gust of bleak wind swept through, rustling the leaves. Meng Fan sized up the physically feeble youth collapsed on the ground, a trace of suspicion flickering faintly in his eyes.

Why was this kid acting like a lunatic out of nowhere...

Even with a half-step Foundation Establishment cultivation base, his physical body was inferior to someone at the third layer of Qi Condensation...

Any random person at the seventh layer of Qi Condensation could probably knock him flat.

Coming out of nowhere to try and kill him...

Could it be...

Hiss...

Recalling the youth's hate-filled roar earlier, Meng Fan glanced back down at the scattered, gnawed bones littering the ground. Understanding dawned in his eyes, and his breathing grew slightly hurried!

This fellow must be the master of that white tiger, here to exact revenge!

He couldn't just let him off easily!

Meng Fan's gaze turned profound, a trace of murderous intent flashing deep within his eyes!

He was an immortal second-generation descendant, but he wasn't an idiot. In the cultivation world, murder and pillaging—battles to the death—were commonplace.

If he didn't eliminate him today, it would bound to be a headache in the future!

Yet, he was merely at the half-step Foundation Establishment stage...

This situation...

No matter how he looked at it, he was somewhat in the wrong...

Meng Fan felt rather conflicted. He had eaten someone's spiritual beast and then knocked the owner out.

Might that be... a little bit impolite?

"Oh well, oh well... Who told Meng here to be so kind-hearted, sigh..."

"I'll let you off the hook this time."

After a long silence, Meng Fan let out a soft sigh and slowly shook his head.

Despite his sighing, Meng Fan's movements were remarkably swift and efficient as he neatly unhooked the storage pouch from the youth's waist.

"Sparing your life means taking a few items is only right, after all."

"I'm unfamiliar with this place, so I might as well find some useful things to get a better understanding of this region."