Gateway of Immortality
Chapter 401: An Astonishing Battle

Chapter 401: An Astonishing Battle

Qin Sang did not act rashly.

Without a doubt, he had sincerely hoped that Wandering Man would see his wishes fulfilled—he would heal his hidden injuries and achieve tremendous breakthroughs in cultivation—not solely because of their personal bond.

Unless Qin Sang, after forming his Golden Core, found the time and opportunity to focus on refining his pills, he would have been forced to enlist an alchemist to help concoct the Du'e Pill in order to reach the Spiritual Infant Realm.

Remuneration mattered little compared to whether that person possessed the necessary ability and could be trusted.

Finding an alchemist worthy of such a responsibility was no easy task; with treasured items so capable of swaying hearts, let alone a divine pill like the Du'e Pill, the stakes were extraordinarily high.

It was rare that Wandering Man possessed such remarkable talent in the pill refinement. Even in the early stage of the Foundation Building Realm, his aptitude had granted him a seventy to eighty percent chance of successfully refining the Dark Patterned Heyun Pill—a clear testament to his ability.

Qin Sang stepped back a few paces and stood motionless, quietly observing Wandering Man. His spiritual consciousness subtly lingered on Wandering Man, ready to intervene if his situation deteriorated, but for now, it had not come to that.

On the arduous path of immortal cultivation, every hardship served as a trial that tempered one’s cultivation, a truth Qin Sang had come to appreciate deeply.

The predicament facing Wandering Man might even become the opportunity for a transformation; had Qin Sang intervened directly, he might have deprived him of this chance.

Moreover, once he acted, he would have to contrive an explanation for how he managed to remain unharmed in the bitter cold; the secret of the Jade Buddha, no matter their closeness, could never be revealed.

Step by step, Wandering Man’s strides had grown shorter, and the intervals between his steps had lengthened, yet he pressed forward, drawing ever nearer to the Night Lily.

The tremors within the ice cave grew more violent and frequent, but they failed to distract him.

Single-mindedly, his aged body had exuded a faint aura as he struggled onward, his progress labored yet fueled by an eternal spark within.

Ahead, the Night Lily had bloomed, exuding an irresistible allure.

Yet, no trace of urgency or greed appeared on Wandering Man’s face; his expression had remained as calm as a still pond, whether his steps succeeded or faltered—he showed neither joy nor sorrow.

It seemed that even if he ultimately failed, frozen in place with his life extinguished and his cultivation snuffed out, his heart would not be swayed.

Qin Sang had watched silently, lost in thought. He had slightly bowed his head as he recalled his own journey into the immortal realm, his inner state having shifted subtly over time.

Rumble...

Suddenly, a deafening roar shattered the silence and startled Qin Sang from his reverie.

A massive tremor had rocked the ice cave!

He abruptly raised his head and turned to face the source of the sound, which was anything but ordinary.

Whoosh!

In the next moment, countless shards of ice surged into the cave like a tidal wave.

In that instant, the qi within the ice cave were thrown into utter chaos.

Qin Sang suddenly sensed a disturbance behind him. Turning, he saw that the azure lamp on Wandering Man’s chest had suddenly flared up with sparks as large as beans, melting the surrounding cold ice.

Wandering Man roared in anger, his eyes wide with intensity as he fixated on the Night Lily. With a sudden stomp, his figure surged forward like a falcon, and in a single bound, he dashed to a point just one step away from the Night Lily!

Qin Sang silently commended him in his heart. In the wake of the sudden change ahead, amid a brief lapse in the relentless bitter wind, the opportunity had been fleeting—lasting only an instant.

True to form, Wandering Man had risked everything and seized the chance with remarkable acuity.

After covering a considerable distance, he once again halted in place, utterly exhausted from the exertion and in need of recovery—but it had all been worthwhile, for the Night Lily now lay within arm’s reach, nearly obtainable.

By all accounts, even without Qin Sang’s assistance, Wandering Man would have succeeded in harvesting the Night Lily.

Qin Sang then withdrew his gaze and stared deep into the ice cave. That earlier deafening roar had seemed like a portent; the tremors began occurring more frequently. He was uncertain whether the ice cave was perched atop an iceberg or nestled at the bottom of the frozen plains.

In any case, the entire world appeared to be trembling with massive quakes.

Qin Sang sensed that the source of the disturbance was not near them but far ahead—they were merely affected by its aftershocks, while the ice cave itself revealed an alarming fragility.

Crack!

Suddenly, a deafening explosion—like an entire iceberg collapsing—shook the very cosmos.

Qin Sang’s expression changed subtly as he glanced at Wandering Man, then he stealthily dashed forward.

After covering some distance, he abruptly halted, looked down at the shattered ice layer beneath his feet and the deep chasm hidden within it, and drew in a cold, startled breath before stepping back with lingering apprehension.

It appeared that this spot marked the entrance to the ice cave.

Just as Qin Sang was about to survey the surroundings, he inadvertently caught sight of a distant scene in the high sky. His eyes narrowed and his face turned ashen; he hurriedly hid behind a block of cold ice at the cave’s entrance, holding his breath and remaining utterly still.

Carefully, he lifted his head to peer upward.

High above, a pale azure wind enveloped the heavens.

This was the very essence of the Malevolent Frost Wind—which, in truth, should have been azure. However, because it existed in an extreme, icy wasteland where snow and ice coexisted, the wind was tinted azure-white, making it easily observable to the naked eye.

Aside from this wind, nothing else was visible.

Yet, inexplicably, a crack had appeared within the unified mass of the Malevolent Frost Wind. Through that narrow gap, Qin Sang saw three figures suspended in mid-air—a fleeting glimpse that shook him to his core.

Among these figures, two were human, both clad in black robes that stirred a sense of familiarity.

One of them had a gigantic, round tortoise shell floating before him. From that mystical tortoise shell, Qin Sang recognized these two men in black as the mysterious experts he had encountered after entering the inner valley of Endless Valley.

It was now clear that they were indeed the Spiritual Infant cultivators!

In the midst of the Malevolent Frost Wind, not only could they resist its corrosive force, but they could also fight within it—a feat achievable only by Spiritual Infant cultivators.

The third figure wielded a spiritual sword. Qin Sang caught sight of him swinging the blade—the sword’s qi had shattered the frost wind and cleaved open the sky.

The gap in the wind, it turned out, was nothing more than a sword mark—a move from the Shadowless Sword!

Qin Sang, having heard Wandering Man describe the Shadowless Sword before, was now able to identify the practitioner. This man hailed from the Wuji Sect and was likely the one who had slain the Star Venom Frog.

However, contrary to their earlier guesses that he was a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, he was, in fact, Spiritual Infant cultivator—the leader of the Wuji Sect!

The remaining figure was not human at all but resembled a demonic beast with the appearance of a hawk. Its immense size allowed its outspread wings to blot out the sky. Qin Sang could only glimpse half of its body through the fissure.

Its feathers shimmered with flashes of lightning, eternal and relentless, like a lightning beast born of the storm. With a single beat of its wings, it could summon a thunderstorm—a force capable of obliterating worlds!

Moments earlier, it had flapped its wings and unleashed a dazzling pillar of lightning that deflected the Wuji Sect's leader’s sword qi, forcing the other man in black to raise his tortoise shell in defense.

"Is that the Lightning-Devouring Falcon?"

Qin Sang mused, recalling ancient texts that described a demonic beast fitting this description.

There was no doubt—the Lightning-Devouring Falcon soaring in the sky was a formidable demonic beast in the Transformation Realm, and it was likely far more than just a simple Transformation Realm beast, for it had managed to contend with two Spiritual Infant cultivators!