Eternal Life Begins with Learning

’Another hundred li... then another hundred, or maybe two hundred...’

The chase continued. Chu Mu silently calculated the distance in his head.

Fleeing was just a tactic.

He had to kill Zhao Tang today.

Even if it meant using up every last trump card he had accumulated!

He *had* to kill him!

It wasn’t a hot-headed impulse, just a lingering grievance he couldn’t swallow.

But *how* to kill him still required a clear plan.

The farther he was from Jade Emperor City, the safer he would be.

After fleeing for over a hundred li, only four of the five pursuers remained.

Although other Longevity Sect disciples had tried to intercept him along the way, he had managed to shake them all off one by one.

But if he stopped anywhere near Jade Emperor Valley, other Longevity Sect disciples would inevitably arrive as reinforcements in short order.

Distance was a crucial factor.

He activated his second Tier Two Wind-controlling Talisman. His frantic speed didn’t drop, and the distance between pursuer and pursued rapidly increased.

Chu Mu was extremely familiar with the terrain around Jade Emperor Valley. By the time he was about three hundred li away from it, only three pursuers were left, including Zhao Tang.

Chu Mu silently assessed his Magical Power. He hadn’t used much Magic, relying mostly on Talismans to fight his enemies. With this two-pronged approach, his Magical Power consumption wasn’t high.

’The Formless Needle has been exposed. It’s lost its most crucial advantage—stealth—so it won’t be much use now.’

Of the three chasing him, Zhao Tang was at Qi Cultivation Perfection. The other two were at the Qi Cultivation Eleventh Layer and Qi Cultivation Twelfth Layer, respectively.

For Longevity Sect disciples to have pursued him for this long, their methods were certainly not weak.

’A battle of attrition... my chances of winning are slim. So...’

Chu Mu took stock of the many trump cards hidden within his several Storage Talismans.

His strongest Attacking Spiritual Artifact was still the Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Minghong Saber, which he had used only a few times.

What he had most of were various Talismans.

He had dozens of them, the majority of which were Tier One Upper Grade.

He also had a few Tier Two Lower Grade Talismans. There were six in total; three of them were Tier Two Lower Grade Wind-controlling Talismans, and he had already used two. The other three were all Attack Talismans.

He had acquired most of these Talismans over the past ten days by visiting various Black Markets.

After all, Tier Two Talismans were extremely rare in the regular Marketplaces.

Even in the Black Markets, their prices were exorbitant.

After a moment of thought, Chu Mu made his decision.

He leaped up, his toes tapping lightly on the mountainside. He had been sprinting forward, but now, he used the momentum to suddenly spin around, several Talismans already in his hand.

BOOM!

In the next instant, several massive Wind Blades and a ten-foot-long Fire Dragon formed by a Tier Two Lower Grade Fire Dragon Skill shot toward the three men who were still in hot pursuit.

At the same time, the Minghong Saber let out a piercing whistle as it chopped down directly at Zhao Tang!

"It’s a Tier Two Talisman! Everyone, be careful!"

Zhao Tang roared, throwing out several Talismans of his own.

But Sword Flight was, after all, only a means of borrowing power from an Artifact, not a personal ability to fly.

Caught by this sudden counter-attack—especially the Fire Dragon Skill, which was comparable to a strike from an Early Stage of Foundation Establishment Cultivator—the three men were clearly caught off guard.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The Wind Blades exploded and the Fire Dragon raged. In an instant, the three men flying on their swords plummeted toward the ground like kites with their strings cut.

Without any hesitation or mercy, the descending saber reaped the life of one of the Longevity Sect disciples who couldn’t dodge in time.

Chu Mu leaped up and actually grabbed the Minghong Saber—which should have been controlled by his Divine Sense—in his hand. With the force of a mountain crashing down, he brought the blade hacking down toward the falling Zhao Tang.

CLANG!

A piercing metallic ring—at the last second, a round Shield had appeared, stubbornly blocking the saber’s edge.

Beneath the Shield, Zhao Tang was wreathed in golden light, clearly from a Tier Two Defense Talisman. Under the talisman’s glow, his Dharma Robe shimmered brilliantly; it was obviously another impressive Magical Artifact!

"You’re courting death!"

Zhao Tang’s eyes were icy as he stared daggers at Chu Mu.

"Get lost!"

Chu Mu roared and slashed down again. His immense Power, approaching that of the Late Stage of Qi Cultivation, sent Zhao Tang and his Shield flying back dozens of meters.

Activating several more Talismans in his hand without even a glance, Chu Mu unleashed a barrage of Attack Magic—Wind Blades, Fireballs, and wooden stakes—that rained down on the falling Zhao Tang.

Flames and dust flew. The saber’s edge flashed as he was about to press his Attack, but a sudden sense of Palpitations from behind made him change his target. He redirected the saber with his Divine Sense to slash behind him.

Then, he raised his left hand and condensed several Fireballs. This time, however, he didn’t immediately throw them to kill his enemy. Instead, he let them hover in front of him.

Only when the Minghong Saber blocked an incoming Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact Flying Sword and was locked in a stalemate did the hovering Fireballs suddenly shoot forward.

Seeing this, the man’s expression changed slightly. With a swipe of his hand, a metal Command Token appeared in his grasp.

The man was clearly reluctant. He glanced at the Command Token in his hand, but finally gritted his teeth and activated it.

"Shield Wall, rise!"

Following the man’s shout, a brilliant golden light erupted before him. Golden shields materialized one after another, finally forming a Metal Shield like a fortress wall in front of him.

The Fireballs struck the shield wall but vanished without a trace, not even causing a ripple.

Immediately after, a gap opened in the shield wall, and a small golden arrow shot out with a whistle.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

The arrow broke through three layers of his Flame Barrier before it finally dissipated.

Chu Mu glanced up at the sky. His strongest Magical Artifact, the Minghong Saber, was tied up by the man’s Flying Sword. Meanwhile, the man himself was hiding inside his shield ’turtle shell,’ clearly intending to stall for time rather than fight head-on.

And Zhao Tang, who he had just sent flying with a surprise attack, was already charging back with murderous intent!

Chu Mu’s expression grew solemn. His second Tier Two Attack Talisman was already in his hand.

A Tier Two Lower Grade Ice Spear Skill.

"Hm?"

Just as he was about to activate the Tier Two Talisman, he seemed to notice something and suddenly looked at his Minghong Saber, which was locked in combat with the Flying Sword.

For some reason, he felt a sense of his control slipping.

Of course, this feeling didn’t come from his Minghong Saber, but from the Flying Sword fighting against it.

Looking again at the Longevity Sect disciple cowering behind his ’turtle shell,’ too afraid to show his face, Chu Mu began to understand.

’It seems I’ve been overlooking a certain reality.’

After all, almost all the life-or-death battles he had experienced before were one-sided. Even when they weren’t, his opponents were just struggling Loose Cultivators without many tricks up their sleeves.

But now, his opponents were elite disciples of the Longevity Sect, with numerous techniques and high-quality Magical Artifacts.

He had been ignoring the fact that in the Qi Cultivation Realm, not only was Magical Power limited, but Divine Sense was as well.

Controlling any Magical Artifact required immense support from one’s Divine Sense. The higher the grade of the Artifact, the more Divine Sense was needed to maintain it.

If one’s Divine Sense was insufficient, trying to use other techniques while controlling a Magical Artifact would very likely result in one’s control slipping.

The reason he had never noticed this problem was because both his Magical Power and Divine Sense had been subtly refined by that Divine Soul Long Saber ever since his Sword Technique anomaly first appeared.

Furthermore, he didn’t have to worry about Erysipelas, his Body Refining Cultivation had kept pace, and his Essence, Qi, and Spirit System was complete.

With all these factors complementing each other, the quality of his Magical Power and Divine Sense was clearly far superior to that of other Cultivators at the same realm, or even those beyond his current realm.

After all, in terms of Magical Power, his had already been refined to a misty state back when he was only at the Qi Cultivation Third Layer.

According to the Flame Decision cultivation manual, this characteristic of Magical Power was something that should only appear when one was in the Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation, approaching the Late Stage.

And his Divine Sense was even more special than his Magical Power.

Just because he could easily use other techniques while controlling a Magical Artifact in battle didn’t mean other Cultivators at a similar realm could do the same.

’Control slipping...’

’Then I’ll just have to make that control slip even more!’

A flicker in Chu Mu’s eyes, and his original plan changed. He activated the Tier Two Talisman. Amidst a flash of blue light, an ice-blue spear about ten feet long and as thick as an arm materialized before him.

"Go!"

Chu Mu grunted. The spear pointed not at the ’turtle shell’ in front of him, but at Zhao Tang, who was charging at him from behind!

The sudden appearance of the spear made Zhao Tang’s face turn ugly.

A Tier Two Talisman was equivalent to a full-power strike from a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

No matter how many tricks he had, it didn’t change the fact that he was a Qi Cultivation Realm Cultivator.

Faced with such a fundamental difference in power, his only option was to dodge if he didn’t want to be severely injured!

The ice-blue spear and the Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Minghong Saber!

One behind, one in front, with Chu Mu in the middle—he was fighting two against one without being at a disadvantage at all!

With an extremely expensive Tier Two Talisman, Chu Mu wasn’t trying to kill his enemy right now; he just wanted to tie up Zhao Tang.

His target was the ’turtle shell’ in front of him!

’His control is slipping? Then I’ll see just how long he can hold on!’

While the Minghong Saber kept the man’s Flying Sword occupied, Chu Mu unleashed a barrage of Tier One Talismans at the ’turtle shell’ as if they were free.

Under this relentless bombardment, the once-unwavering ’turtle shell’ began to tremble and look on the verge of collapse within just a few breaths.

"Young Master Zhao, save me!"

Surrounded by his shields, the man cried out in desperation. Zhao Tang was furious, but faced with the ice-blue spear attacking him again, he could only dart away to dodge.

But just as Zhao Tang dodged the ice-blue spear again, the spear feinted and then, in that instant, suddenly changed its target.

The ice-blue spear was nearly dissipated and flickering in and out of existence. It suddenly dove, streaking toward the ’turtle shell’ like a falling star.

"You’re courting death!"

Zhao Tang was beside himself with rage. As he twisted and moved, he shot after the spear to provide support.

But in the end, he was a step too late.

It was a Tier Two Attack Magic. Without the means to resist a Tier Two attack, its assault was unstoppable.

The already-faltering metal ’turtle shell’ shattered instantly. A flash of ice-blue light was followed by a deafening roar.

When the dust settled, the man was gone. All that remained was a gaping, ugly crater in the ground, spattered with flecks of blood.

In the sky, the Flying Sword seemed to have lost its controller and fell straight to the ground.

...