Chapter Nineteen: The Arrow That Slays Immortals

After Hua Feng finished speaking, he strode toward the area dozens of meters away where Commander Chen Sheng was facing off against Po Jun. Silently, he began to circulate the internal energy techniques he had diligently practiced from the “Flying Dragon Manual – Combat Chapter.” In his hand, he gripped a treasured sword, once a prized possession of Li Long, who had later gifted it to Hua Feng as a temporary weapon. Li Long claimed it was a family heirloom, a sword his ancestor had come by quite by chance. The blade was engraved with a blue dragon, so it was named the Azure Dragon Sword.

At this moment, Hua Feng’s expression betrayed no emotion, but his eyes shone with a determined, unyielding light. After suffering a setback in his previous encounter, Hua Feng had retrieved the Azure Dragon Sword from his pack, believing it would bolster his strength. The blade was neither too long nor too short, just right for carrying on his back.

With the Azure Dragon Sword, shimmering with a blue glow, gripped tightly in his hand and his true energy gathered, Hua Feng was about to act when, in a flash, Li Yun—who had been guarding several hundred students outside the barrier—appeared before him as if by teleportation.

“You must be Hua Feng? Young Chen has mentioned you to me. It’s no small feat to have such skill at your age. But, as an old man, let me offer some advice: I know your commander’s temperament well. On his own turf, if something happens and he’s already taken action, he’ll never tolerate anyone else interfering. Besides, the man he’s fighting was once his brother, or perhaps his fellow disciple—this is a matter for his own sect to resolve. Do me this favor and let Chen handle it, will you? What’s most important now is to protect all these students. What do you think, young friend?”

The moment Li Yun saw Hua Feng draw the Azure Dragon Sword, his attention had been fixed on him. Although unsure how Hua Feng had acquired such an extraordinary weapon, Li Yun wasted no time, leaping to block Hua Feng’s advance. On one hand, it was because he truly understood Chen Sheng’s upright nature—he would not want help in a situation like this. On the other, Li Yun had already learned from Shuang Ning that Zhang Yu had previously been defeated by Po Jun. Even with this seemingly powerful sword, Hua Feng’s strength had grown, but he was still no match for Po Jun, who now wielded the Blood-Lotus Hellfire technique. Li Yun feared that Hua Feng would suffer another hidden loss.

Li Yun’s intentions were good, but Hua Feng, intent on avenging his brother, was not so receptive. He understood the sense in Li Yun’s words but could not simply stand by and watch—it left him feeling bitterly unwilling.

Although he had not known Li Long and Yang Tian nearly as long as Yun Meng, with whom he’d grown up, the days of training together had forged a brotherly bond between them. Now, facing the kindly but sorrowful Li Yun, Hua Feng was about to protest.

Suddenly, with a sharp whoosh, a streak of green light tore across the sky, hurtling straight toward Chen Sheng.

Li Yun and Zhang Yu, closest to the scene, were about to shout a warning when, at that critical moment, Po Jun—about to make his escape—lunged and shoved Chen Sheng out of the way.

The lightning-fast green light pierced Po Jun’s body, and he collapsed to the ground.

“What speed! It looks like…the Immortal-Slaying Arrow, the dread weapon Chi You once used to hunt gods! Hadn’t it vanished from the world? How strange.” A hidden voice in the shadows muttered in disbelief.

“Po Jun!” Chen Sheng rushed to his fallen brother, the man who had just moments before been his adversary, and cried out as he cradled him. “Why?”

With a pale face and life slowly ebbing away, Po Jun managed a weak, bitter smile. “Why? I don’t know… Maybe I just didn’t want the only family I have in this world to die before my eyes. I never expected Chi You would use the newly restored Immortal-Slaying Arrow. It seems Chi You has no intention of letting Flying Dragon Battalion survive. His orders were clear—bring back all the students, and kill the rest. But I couldn’t let you die at someone else’s hands.”

“Chi You, I, Chen Sheng, will never rest until one of us is dead!” Chen Sheng cried to the heavens.

Neither Hua Feng, Li Yun, nor any of the students watching the battlefield had expected events to take such a turn—Po Jun had taken the Immortal-Slaying Arrow for the commander. As the green light struck Po Jun, Li Yun, recalling ancient texts he had once read in his master’s study, guessed that it must be Chi You’s legendary weapon.

Though Po Jun’s cultivation was formidable, the Immortal-Slaying Arrow—designed to slay gods—was overwhelmingly powerful. Despite Chen Sheng’s desperate attempts to save him, there was nothing to be done. As the blood-red lotus at Po Jun’s side slowly faded, his body dissolved into nothingness. Po Jun was dead.

Deep within the Kunlun Mountains, in a hidden realm—

“What? Po Jun was killed by the Immortal-Slaying Arrow? Useless wretch—he ruins everything! I’ve wasted an arrow for nothing. Looks like our plans for the Flying Dragon Battalion must be postponed.” Wrapped in swirling black mist, Chi You raged upon hearing news from his subordinates.

Human emotions are strange things—often swinging between love and hate. Fates entwined are bound to overlap at certain moments; in the end, love or hate may no longer matter at all.