The Immortal Path Is Crowded

Bai’s group was startled when they saw someone emerge from behind the altar. Until that moment, all of them had been focused on Jin and the strange structure, but now a man with an unsettling appearance stood before them as if he had appeared out of nowhere.

The five young women froze for a moment. One of them instinctively took a small step back, while another moved closer to Bai and lightly clutched her sleeve.

“Wh-who is that…?” one of them whispered.

“Senior sister Bai… that wasn’t here when you came, right?” another asked nervously.

Bai tried to maintain her usual confidence, but even she was clearly surprised. Her eyes remained fixed on the man while her hand unconsciously drifted closer to her spiritual ring.

Meanwhile, Jin’s concentration had reached its peak. He didn’t take his eyes off the strange cultivator in front of him, and now that he could observe him more clearly, the impression was even worse than what he had first thought.

The man’s arms were abnormally long and thin. When he slightly raised a hand, Jin could clearly see that the palms were covered in dark cracks, as if the skin itself were splitting apart. His nails were long, black, and sharp, far more similar to claws than human fingernails.

Jin narrowed his eyes slightly. In his opinion, everything about that guy screamed the same conclusion.

Demonic cultivator.

I can swear by all the gods of xianxia that this is definitely going down a very bad path, he thought with bitter resignation.

For a few seconds no one spoke. The silence inside the chamber grew so heavy that even the faint sound of everyone’s breathing seemed amplified by the stone walls.

Then the man reacted.

His lips slowly curled into a somber smile, like someone who had just found water in the middle of a desert. It wasn’t simple joy—there was a desperate satisfaction behind it. When he opened his mouth to speak, black and uneven teeth were revealed, as if they had been stained by something dark for far too long.

His eyes slowly scanned the group.

“What curious luck…” he said in a hoarse voice, as if he had not spoken to anyone for a very long time. “Just when I was starting to worry.”

He slowly licked his lips, looking first at Jin and then at the group of girls behind him.

“A perfect moment… because I need a lot of blood to return to my best state.”

The silence that followed grew even heavier. Jin’s gaze sharpened immediately.

So that was it—a recovering demonic cultivator.

Perfect.

Exactly the kind of situation he had expected.

His bad guess had become reality.

The Qi inside his body began circulating slowly while he calculated the distance between himself and the altar. The man seemed far more interested in hearing himself talk than paying attention to what Jin was doing.

If I attack now…

Jin was just about to launch a surprise strike while the man continued with his generic monologue—

“Try this young lady’s artifact!”

Bai’s shout echoed across the chamber.

Jin felt his concentration snap instantly. He turned his head just in time to see Bai stepping forward with a determined expression, clearly preparing to attack.

When he saw Bai rushing ahead while the other four girls hurriedly began pulling objects out of their storage rings, he felt the blood rush straight to his head.

“Don’t do anything stupid!” he shouted urgently.

But the very moment he said that, he realized his mistake.

He had taken his eyes off the enemy.

Even if it had only been for a brief moment, it was still a mistake.

When he turned back, it was already too late.

A violent gust of wind struck his face.

Jin’s eyes widened slightly, and his body reacted purely on instinct. He crossed both arms in front of his chest to protect his heart just as a dry and heavy palm slammed into them.

Boom!

The impact was brutal. A terrifying force surged through his arms and spread across his entire body, sending him flying backward as if he had been struck by an enormous beast.

His back crashed against the chamber wall with a dull impact that cracked the stone.

A small crater formed where his body struck the rock, dust and fragments of stone exploding outward as the echo of the collision reverberated through the cave.

The demonic cultivator didn’t even pause after the strike.

While sending Jin flying with one hand, the other began moving quickly through the air, tracing strange patterns. His long cracked fingers moved with unnatural precision as a faint fluctuation of dark energy spread from his palm.

Bai and the other girls had barely begun pulling artifacts from their rings when the effect reached them.

Suddenly, they froze completely.

Their bodies became rigid like statues.

One of them had half a fan out of her storage ring, while another held a small talisman she hadn’t even finished pulling free.

But none of them could move.

Their eyes remained open, filled with confusion and surprise, yet their bodies refused to respond.

The demonic cultivator slowly lowered his hand after finishing the gesture. The dark smile returned to his face as he observed the scene in front of him.

The sudden change made the girls panic almost instantly. Their bodies remained completely rigid, as if they had been turned to stone, but their eyes darted around desperately as they tried to understand what was happening.

“I… I can’t move!” one of them murmured with a trembling voice.

“Me neither!”

“What did he do to us…?”

One of the young women—the one who still held half a fan from her ring—frowned while trying to concentrate on the strange sensation spreading through her body.

“Th-this… this feels the same…” she said with difficulty. “As when my master taught me her soul techniques…”

Her eyes widened in sudden realization.

“But it shouldn’t affect me! My master gave me a treasure to protect me from soul attacks…”

Hearing those words, the demonic cultivator raised an eyebrow slightly while smiling with interest.

“Oh… interesting.”

His gaze settled directly on the girl who had spoken.

“Congratulations,” he said slowly, his voice dripping with mockery. “You are able to notice what is happening.”

The dark smile on his face widened.

“But simple treasures of that level are useless in front of this lord’s soul.”

While he spoke, a rough cracking sound came from behind him.

Crack.

Fragments of stone fell from the damaged wall, making the demonic cultivator turn his head.

From the small crater in the rock, a figure slowly stepped out.

Jin emerged from the dust-covered indentation in the wall. His robe was coated with dirt, and fresh blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His arms trembled slightly after receiving the palm strike directly, and every movement seemed to require considerable effort.

Even so… he was still standing.

The crimson-robed cultivator looked at him with genuine surprise.

“Hm?”

His eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the young man.

“How curious… How did a brat who is barely at the seventh level of Qi Condensation survive that strike?”

Jin spat the blood that had gathered in his mouth. The red stain splashed onto the stone floor as he slowly straightened his body. His arms still trembled from the force of the impact, yet a mocking smile appeared on his face.

“I suppose I should thank my body for being quite tough,” he said with a hint of irony while wiping the corner of his lips with the back of his hand. “Although honestly… I didn’t expect to meet here an old man who calls himself ‘lord’ when he’s only in the Foundation Establishment stage.”

His words echoed throughout the chamber.

The girls stared at him in surprise, and the demonic cultivator did as well. For a brief moment, silence returned to the cave.

Then the man’s sunken eyes narrowed.

“Curious brat…” he murmured.

The smile on his face faded, replaced by a colder expression.

“You have quite the guts to speak like that after receiving a strike from me.”

His gaze swept briefly over Jin and then over the group of immobilized girls behind him.

“It certainly would have been better if you had found the altar first…”

He shook his head slightly, a crooked smile appearing on his lips.

“But since things turned out like this…”

A dark and heavy energy slowly seeped into the chamber.

“I suppose you will only serve as resources.”

The killing intent in his voice was unmistakable.