Immortal Destiny

 Chapter 2: Sword and Poison

Amidst the black clouds and flashes of lightning, two people were hovering with an injured condition.
One of them was a man who looked to be in his forties, had a stern face and a dignified demeanor, while the other looked like a man in his early twenties.
The most striking thing about him was his blood-red hair and handsome face.

“Does it have to end up like this?” The stern-faced man sighed.

“Fang Mu, you already know this war is different from the previous one.
It will only end when one of us dies.” The red-haired man shook his head with a chuckle, not caring that the blood dripping from the edges of his lips was getting heavier.

Fang Mu looked deeply at the handsome man in front of him before closing his eyes, remembering the past that happened between the two of them.

“Fang Mu, do you think this is the right time to close your eyes? Are you underestimating me? Remember, with our last match, the number of my wins and losses to you is even.” The red-haired man can still joke.

“Xiao Fan, it’s all my fault.
If I had put more effort in the past…” Fang Mu clenched his fists tightly.
“Fang Mu, there’s no need to lie to yourself.
Ever since I killed Xue Bai hundreds of years ago, we both realized that there was no turning back for me, and a day like this would eventually come.”

“We have lived for more than five hundred years.
We were childhood friends back then, but after becoming cultivators, we made different choices.
You reach the top with your way, and I reached the top with the path I chose myself…” Xiao Fan looked up.
“Five hundred years is a long time.
It is time for us to end this complicated relationship.”

Fang Mu swung his sword, but his hands trembled.
Various thoughts filled his head until he finally couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“Xiao Fan, come back with me to the Heaven Mountain Sect.
Even if I can’t wash away all your sins, at least I’m sure I can keep you alive.
Atone for your sins, and maybe… maybe we can go back to how we used to be.”

“Don’t mention the name of that cursed place in front of me!” Xiao Fan, who was originally calm, changed his expression.
Heaven Mountain Sect where Fang Mu came from only held bad memories for him.
During the several years that Xiao Fan spent his life as a servant, he was bullied in the sect.
“Fang Mu, are you blind?! The Heaven Mountain Sect that you defended had sent you to die!”

Fang Mu was speechless.
His situation in this war was indeed unfavorable.
The help that should have arrived for him had not arrived yet, since the patriarch of Heaven Mountain Sect was withholding the reinforcements.

“That Ji brat is too afraid of you.
He thinks you will take the patriarch position from him after this war is over! He wants you to die in this war! How long do you need to realize this?!” Xiao Fan threw out all his anger, and Fang Mu couldn’t retort back.

“Xiao Fan… I…”

“Fang Mu, enough…” Xiao Fan released a large amount of qi and gathered it in his right fist.
“Let’s end this now.
I will use my best attack to end this.”

Fang Mu closed his eyes before releasing qi into his sword, making the sword glow golden.
Then, he opened his eyes, which were filled with sadness.

Slowly, golden-colored flying swords began to appear around Fang Mu, starting from a dozen, turning into hundreds, and then into thousands of golden swords of light.

“Xiao Fan, you can’t win over me…”

“Tell that to my punch.
Life Banishing Fist!” Xiao Fan unleashed a punch that seemed to move the entire world with him.

“Rising Yang Thousand Sword!” Fang Mu used thousands of swords of light to block Xiao Fan.

Thousands of swords of light turned out to be unable to stop Xiao Fan’s punch, and in the end, the red-haired man’s punch landed on Fang Mu’s body.
Simultaneously, Fang Mu’s real sword pierced through Xiao Fan’s body.

One thing that surprised Fang Mu was that Xiao Fan’s punch wasn’t as strong as he thought.
Although the punch wounded him, it wouldn’t get him killed.
That’s when he realized that Xiao Fan was smiling broadly at him.

“Xiao Fan! You!”

Xiao Fan couldn’t respond to Fang Mu; he had lost his consciousness.
Fang Mu wanted to react further but was stopped, as a huge lightning bolt struck both of them at the same time.

If it was on another occasion, such lightning would not be able to injure the two of them, but their conditions were unusual—both of them were seriously injured.

Fang Mu and Xiao Fan couldn’t continue to float, and both of them started to fall down.
Fang Mu felt like he hit something in the air before losing his consciousness as well.

***

Li Hao became curious after realizing that something that fell from the sky resembled a human.
Not caring about the heavy rain, he started running towards one of the locations where it fell.

Li Hao found an unconscious middle-aged man.
His face reminded him of Uncle Liu, who had suddenly disappeared long ago.

Whether it was because of Li Hao shaking his body too hard or the heavy rain falling on him, the man finally came to his senses.
The man looked at Li Hao in astonishment.

“Child… Why did you…” Before he finished speaking, the man vomited quite a lot of blood.
He then took a jade bottle from his robes, and then emptied the contents in his mouth.
The man sat cross-legged before catching his breath.
Li Hao watched in silence, observing the actions that he found confusing.

It wasn’t long before the man opened his eyes while frowning and realized something was wrong.
He was having trouble gathering the qi into his body.
“What is this place? Why is the qi here so thin?” Li Hao didn’t understand what the man was talking about.
He just scratched his head awkwardly.

The man’s attention then turned to Li Hao.
“Young man, did you see anyone else who fell with me?”

“Yes.
The person you mean probably fell there…” Li Hao pointed in one direction.
“I saw you two fall from the sky.
How did you two get up there?”

“Child, this is not the right time to explain.
I need your help to get me to the location.
Can you help me?” The man tried to stand but had trouble getting up.

“No problem, I will take you there.” Li Hao lifted the man up easily, making the man slightly surprised.