Evan Yang stared at the strange mound of earth, inching closer, wanting to see what this pile of soil really was—why all the baleful qi converged on it before drifting upward.
Just as Evan was within a step of the mound, something changed. With a thunderous boom, the earth exploded, sending him flying backward.
Even with Evan's speed, he couldn't avoid the shower of earth fragments. He crashed into the wall, blocking some of the tiny pores. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, spiritual power churned wildly inside him—like he'd taken a heavy blow.
His flame had gone out, so Evan quickly rekindled it, shielding it with spiritual qi, trying to see what had just happened.
When he saw what lay before him, he was completely stunned.
He saw a long-haired man's head, skewered by a sharp sword straight through the skull and nailed into the ground. All the baleful qi venting from the pores was drawn to the sword, converging along its blade, then flooding into the head, gnawing at its eyes and mind.
"That's so cruel!" Evan exclaimed in shock.
At that moment, the severed head suddenly opened its eyes—blood-red pupils fixed on Evan. "Who are you?" it demanded.
"Still alive?" Evan gasped. To survive like this, pierced straight through the head—this was terrifying.
"I asked you a question. Who are you?" The blood-red eyes stared at Evan.
"My name is Evan Yang. May I ask who you are, senior?" Evan replied, regaining his composure.
"Me? You wouldn't understand even if I told you. But you're quite unusual—able to keep your mind clear in a place like this, flooded with baleful qi." The head praised Evan.
Evan gave an awkward smile. "Senior, how did you end up here? And where's your body?"
"My body? It's not here," the man replied.
"No way, senior—are you joking? How could your body not be here?" Evan thought the body must be buried below, but hearing this made him even more shocked.
"I'm not joking. But I'm curious—what are you doing here?" the other asked suspiciously.
"I'm here to find Dragon-Nether Grass, but..." Evan looked around, but found nothing.
"Dragon-Nether Grass? Kid, don't you know it's deadly poison?" the other said, surprised.
"I know, but I'm not afraid," Evan replied.
"Good kid, you've got guts. You've come to the right place—I know where it is. But there's a condition," the other suddenly said.
"What condition?" Evan was overjoyed when he heard there was Dragon-Nether Grass.
"It's simple—just help me pull out this sword," the man said.
"What is this sword? Why are you pinned here?" Evan knew the other's strength had to be extraordinary. Otherwise, how could someone survive so long, separated from their body and skewered like this?
"This sword? It's a weapon saturated with baleful qi, called the Nine-Dragon Balefire Sword. Legend says it seals nine immensely baleful dragons inside." the man replied.
Evan was stunned at the word 'dragon.' "Dragons really exist?"
"Of course they do—there are plenty. But with your low cultivation, you wouldn't know about them." the man said, then stared at Evan for a moment.
Hearing confirmation that dragons were real, Evan found it hard to believe. He wondered what dragons were really like.
"Stop daydreaming and help me pull it out. You'll get your reward," the man said with a smile.
"Should I pull it or not?" Evan hesitated. The man's strength was extraordinary, and Evan couldn't tell if he was good or evil. If he revived, it could be terrifying—he might even kill Evan.
"What, scared?" the other laughed.
"I'm not scared—I'm just curious. How did you end up pinned here? Whoever did this must be incredible," Evan said, intrigued.
"You really want to know?" the man asked, curious.
"Yes, I really want to know." Evan definitely wanted to understand what was going on.
"It's simple. Some demonic, baleful cultivators tried to kill me but couldn't. So they wanted to destroy my physical body, but it wasn't so easy. Then they decided to drive me insane. To do that, they needed enough baleful qi—and unless it's all gathered through the Nine-Dragon Balefire Sword, ordinary baleful qi wouldn't affect me much." the man explained dismissively.
"And then what happened?" The more Evan listened, the more shocked he became. It felt like he'd stumbled into a battle between powerful beings.
"After that, they came up with this trick—trapping my body somewhere else, while my head was skewered here. I've endured tens of millions of years of baleful qi erosion. It's started to affect my eyes, so they're blood-red now, but my mind is still clear. In a few million more years, who knows?" the man laughed.
"Tens of millions of years? What kind of person are you?" Evan couldn't imagine what that meant—it was almost impossible to comprehend. Only those legendary Immortals could survive that long, he thought.
"Me? In your mortal world, I'm called an Immortal," the man said with a smile.
"Immortal? Does that mean there's an Immortal Realm?" Evan asked, shocked.
"Of course there is," the man replied.
"Where is it? Can you take me there?" Evan was overjoyed—he'd finally met someone who knew about the Immortal Realm, and was an Immortal himself.
"You? You're still a mortal. Even though you've cultivated to the Spirit-God Realm, if you entered the Immortal Realm now, you'd die instantly. So just keep cultivating—when the time is right, you'll naturally know where the Immortal Realm is." The man looked Evan over and smiled.
"Why can't I go now?" Evan was stunned.
"The Immortal Realm isn't like your mortal world. You have to reach a certain realm and undergo a bodily transformation before you can enter. Otherwise, you can't go—it's Heaven's Dao, a rule that's lasted hundreds of millions of years, without a single exception." The man smiled.
"What realm is that?" Evan was excited, desperate to know where the Immortal Realm was.
But the man just smiled. "When the time is right, you'll know."
"Senior, you always say that," Evan complained, frustrated.
"It's for your own good. If I told you now, you'd change—but I don't know what kind of change, and it wouldn't help your cultivation. It's for your own good," the other sighed.
"You really can't tell me?" Evan asked, resigned after hearing it was for his own good.
"I can't," the other insisted, refusing to say more.
Evan could only sigh. "Alright, how do I help you?"
"Grip the sword with both hands and pull upward," the man instructed.
Evan followed his instructions, grabbing the Nine-Dragon Balefire Sword and starting to pull it upward.
The sword slowly rose from the ground. Strangely, there wasn't a drop of blood on it—the blade was pitch-black all over.
"A little higher," the man encouraged.
Evan put all his strength into it. Though the sword moved only a little each time, he didn't give up until the whole blade was freed.
The man was freed from the ground, floating away from the Nine-Dragon Balefire Sword.
"Kid, thank you," the man laughed heartily.
"Senior, can you tell me where the Dragon-Nether Grass is now?" Evan asked.
"Sure. Take ten steps behind you—there's a wall, but it's hollow, blocked by some earth. You'll find a Dragon-Nether Grass there," the man said with a smile.
Evan was overjoyed. He grabbed the sword, hurried back, and broke through the wall. Sure enough, a crimson Dragon-Nether Grass was there, surrounded by waves of baleful qi.
"Found it—finally!" Evan said excitedly, reaching out to touch it.
The man was startled, trying to stop Evan, but Evan was unharmed.
Evan dug up the Dragon-Nether Grass, roots and all, and brought it to the man.
The man, now just a head with wild hair, looked at Evan. "You aren't even afraid of the Dragon-Nether Grass's poison?"
"Poison? Is there poison on its surface?" Evan knew his body was different—poison was practically nourishment to him.
"Of course! The surface of Dragon-Nether Grass is deadly poison. Yet you're fine—that means the poison doesn't affect you. You're truly remarkable," the man said, clicking his tongue.
"Maybe I'm just immune to poison," Evan said with a smile.
"Alright, I'm leaving now. You should leave too," the man said, glancing at Evan as he prepared to depart.
"Senior, where are you going?" Evan asked in surprise.
"Me? Of course, I'm heading to the Immortal Realm—to settle some scores," the man said with a smile, then shot skyward and vanished.
Evan couldn't even see how the man disappeared.
"Did I just see a ghost?" Evan thought. So much had happened in such a short time, and now his mind was filled with the idea of the Immortal Realm, though he still didn't know where it was.
But he quickly calmed down. "If I work hard, I'll get a chance to reach the Immortal Realm someday," he said to himself.
Evan put away the Dragon-Nether Grass. As he prepared to leave, he realized the pitch-black sword was still in his hand.
"Nine-Dragon Balefire Sword?" Evan muttered.
He wondered about a sword powerful enough to subdue even an Immortal, so he examined it closely, even trying to inject spiritual power.
But infusing spiritual power had no effect, so Evan decided to refine it.
He summoned his Sacred Flame, and after a while, finished refining it. With the Nine-Dragon Balefire Sword now refined, Evan wanted to see what was inside.
But his divine sense was blocked by a layer inside the sword—he couldn't see what was within, nor could he probe deeper.
"No way—it's still like this, even after refining?" Evan muttered, frustrated.
Since he couldn't see inside, Evan tried injecting spiritual power again—after all, he'd already refined it.
Who would've thought—when he injected spiritual power, baleful qi appeared at the sword's tip.
"Spiritual power turns into baleful qi? Is that even possible?" Evan wondered, puzzled.
He tried several more times and found it was true. The surrounding baleful qi was also affected by the Nine-Dragon Balefire Sword, gathering at the tip—just like when the sword was skewering the Immortal's head.
Evan quickly stowed the Nine-Dragon Balefire Sword in his Space Ring, finally isolating it from the outside baleful qi.
"Whew—refined, but I can't keep it on me," Evan muttered, feeling like he'd gotten a bizarre artifact.
He looked around—the baleful qi was still thick, but no longer gathered as before. It drifted through the space.
"Time to get out." Evan knew if he stayed, the baleful qi would keep gathering here.
So Evan climbed back up the original shaft. He'd descended slowly, but now it felt as if someone below was helping push him upward.