Immortal

Zhong Shan went into the forest again, which he had become quite familiar with.

As usual, he had come to cut more trees.  He chose a big tree this time; it was as big as the three trees that he had chopped down before, combined.

As he’s chopping, he had a sudden feeling of being watched.

Not far from him, there were a pair of green eyes in a bush nearby.  They were blood thirstily glaring at Zhong Shan.

Zhong Shan stopped and sensed danger.

Suddenly, Zhong Shan heard a slight sound from behind.

“Sha ~ ~ ~ ~”, very light noise.  The owner of those blood thirsty eyes couldn’t wait any longer, jumping out the bush and dashed towards Zhong Shan.

Zhong Shan swiftly turned around, quickly moved genuine energy into his machete, and forcefully slashed towards the direction of the noise.

Annihilating Slash!

“Dang ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

With the sound of metal clashing, Zhong Shan was forced to back away three steps.  He finally saw what exactly was a.s.sailing him.

A mountain lion, a bright red mountain lion that was as tall as a man.  The mountain lion stared at Zhong Shan hungrily.

A monstrous beast, it must be a monstrous beast. His slash didn’t even leave a mark on it.

The mountain lion charged at Zhong Shan again; its huge claws swiftly extended towards Zhong Shan.  Zhong Shan noticed that the claws seemed to dimly glow red.

Annihilating Slash!

“Boom ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

Huge claws and a machete collided, Zhong Shan flew out by the tremendous force and crashed into a big tree.  A large amount of leaves fell off the branches from the shock.

The huge claws were strong as steel and as fast as lightning.  Zhong Shan figured that his own power and speed were far inferior than the mountain lion.  What to do?

As his anxiety grew, the mountain lion charged again.  The red claws tried to catch Zhong Shan again.

Zhong Shan turned away and leaped backwards to avoid the claws.  One of its paws. .h.i.t the tree, leaving a large, somewhat blackened, hole.

Blackened?  The mountain lion was a fire-type?  Then it wouldn’t be affected by his own machete?

Zhong Shan was desperate.  His eyes bulged and the muscles on his body seemed to instantly swell as the machete in his hand slashed again, aiming between the claws of the mountain lion.

The Demonic Body Toning Method!

But this mountain lion was intelligent, it saw the machete was aimed between its claws and avoided the attack while grabbing at the machete at the same time.

“Boom ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

Even though Zhong Shan’s strength had doubled, he was still thrown out backwards.  The mountain lion was simply too strong, though it also backed away a little bit due to Zhong Shan’s unexpected increase in power.

The mountain lion looked at Zhong Shan with surprise, confused at how Zhong Shan increased his power so suddenly.

Seeing that the effect was only minimal, Zhong Shan, in alarm, swung once more at the mountain lion’s face.  Only this time, there was a faint amount of pink energy on the blade.

Mountain Splitter!

But the mountain lion didn’t even try to avoid it, it just lowered its head and swiped with one paw at Zhong Shan’s chest.

“Dang ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

The machete hit the head of the mountain lion as if it had struck a piece of metal.  The mountain lion had also scratched Zhong Shan’s chest.

It left three long, reddish scratch marks on his chest.  He had only gotten off so lightly due to the distance from the beast and the Demonic Body Toning Method which had hardened Zhong Shan’s muscles.

Zhong Shan quickly backed away after the failed slash.  However, the mountain lion had already inhaled the Hongluan Mist.

They continued to fight for a while.  He had acc.u.mulated more b.l.o.o.d.y scratch marks but overall wasn’t hurt too badly.

The Hongluan Mist started to take effect finally.  The mountain lion began to act weirdly.  Its eyes turned bright red, its movement muddled by a sudden strange feeling that slowly spread over its body.

The time was now.

Annihilating Slash!

The machete slashed at the gaps between the mountain lion’s claws.

“Pi ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

One of mountain lion’s paw had been cut down the middle, a large amount of blood gushed out.  The mountain lion lost one leg.

All of sudden, the mountain lion weakened.  Zhong Shan, without hesitation, slashed at another paw with full force.

After he had crippled both legs, he turned and used Annihilating Slash to cut the mountain lion’s throat.

“Pa ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

The mountain lion fell to the ground.  Blood spilled all over, after jerking for a while, the mountain died from blood loss.

The mountain lion was huge; it stood as tall as a man and its body was three meters long.

It’s been awhile since he had used the Demonic Body Toning Method, Zhong Shan didn’t dare to linger any longer.  He put the body of the mountain lion on his back and started to run towards his valley. Two hours after using the Demonic Body Toning Method he would become extremely weak, it’s best to leave this dangerous place as soon as possible.

The blood soaked Zhong Shan finally returned to his valley within two hours.

He threw the mountain lion onto the ground in front of his yard, cast aside his machete, then lied down.  His muscles had returned to its normal condition.

He closed his eyes and tried to feel the condition of his body.  By now, his strength had reduced to about 30% of what he had before.  But the weakness was not the major concern now, what’s more important was that he was aching all over as if his flesh and bones were all broken.

However, he survived and killed the mountain lion.

“You finally came back.  You, big liar.”  Suddenly, a very pleasant voice came from inside his room.

The voice sounded very nice but the tone of the voice didn’t seem very friendly.

He looked over and saw Tianling-er, dressed in bright red clothes, walking out of the house with a wooden statue in each of her hands.

Tianling-er was very angry.  The instant she walked out, she saw Zhong Shan whose clothes were torn in many places when he had used the Demonic Body Toning Method.

“Pervert ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”  Tianling-er suddenly yelled.

But, Zhong Shan merely glowered at her.

“Put Bao-er and Kui-er down,”   Zhong Shan got up swiftly and angrily shouted at Tianling-er.

Tianling-er was stunned by his sudden angry outburst.

“Bao-er?  Kui-er?”  Tianling-er looked at the two small wooden statues in her hands.

Both wooden statues depicted stunningly beautiful ladies.  One was the lady on the painting hanging on the wall of Zhong Shan’s room back home, Bao-er.  The other one was a lady with a gentle look; the kind of look that people couldn’t help but bully.  The statues had been carved during Zhong Shan’s practice sessions with his machete.  Using a machete to carve such small statues, Zhong Shan was truly hard practicing his machete form.

“Why are you so mean.  I’m just looking.”  Tianling-er seemed fl.u.s.tered after seeing Zhong Shan’s blood shot eyes.

“Give them to me,” Zhong Shan abruptly stretched out his right palm.

“No,”  Tianling-er withdrew her hands.

“Give me,”  Zhong Shan shouted in a rage.

Tianling-er jumped a bit with Zhong Shan’s shouting as if she’s terrified of him. But, she had already reached the 8th stage of Xiantian, he had just started.  She figured that being much higher leveled than him, why should she be afraid of him?

She straightened herself after thinking it through.

“You said my father was going to get the Flying Nimbus.  He didn’t at all. You lied to me.”  Tianling-er quickly yelled.

Zhong Shan frowned when he heard Tianling-er.  He knew he was in the wrong and his anger diminished somewhat.

“I’m sorry.  That day, I really wanted to get the best manual. I did lie to you. I will make it back to you in the future.”  Zhong Shan said.

A real man had to be honest, it’s not a shame to apologize.  Besides, he did lie to her.

“Then, I like these two statues a lot.  Give them to me as compensation.”  Tianling-er immediately said.

“That won’t do.  I can carve others for you.  But, these two, absolutely not.”  Zhong Shan shouted to stop her right away.

Usually, Zhong Shan wouldn’t be so agitated.  But, those two statues meant a lot to him. Even though he could carve them out again, he didn’t even want to let someone else to own the images of these two ladies.  If these were statues of someone else, Zhong Shan couldn’t care less.  But, statues of these two ladies, absolutely no.

“Hump, I just want these two.”  Tianling-er also shouted.

Usually, Tianling-er wasn’t a headstrong person.  But, Zhong Shan’s att.i.tude made her very angry.

“Give me.”  Zhong Shan stretched out his hand to grab the statues.

“No.”  Tianling-er withdrew her hand and prepared to move backwards.

However, Zhong Shan’s hand had already reached her and was about to grab one of the statues.

“Pa”  Tianling-er applied force to her hand and squashed that statue.

Without proper control, a person of Xiantian’s 8th level could exert terrifying power.  Tianling-er didn’t expect that she would squash the statue. In the heat of the moment, she had used full power without realizing it.

Seeing the statue of Kui-er smashed inside Tianling-er’s hand, Zhong Shan flabbergasted, then seemed to remember something, his eyes suddenly became bloodshot.

“Prince Lietian, ah ~ ~ ~, I will kill you ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

All of a sudden, the usually calm Zhong Shan flew into a rage.  He took up his machete and mercilessly slashed at Tianling-er.

Tianling-er was surprised by Zhong Shan’s ferocious reaction.  He swung the machete with the intent to kill.

Yet, Zhong Shan was in his weak period and could only muster half of his usual strength.  Besides, Tianling-er was much stronger than him.

“Bang ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

A piece of red silk suddenly appeared in Tianling-er’s hand which blocked Zhong Shan’s machete.  Zhong Shan was also unharmed.

“Ah ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~” ………………………….

Zhong Shan’s bloodshot eyes stared at Tianling-er like she was his archenemy.  The machete kept slashing at her, each faster than the next, each more vicious than the next.

“Bang ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

Zhong Shan was sent flying away by the force of the red silk.

“Pu ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

Midair, Zhong Shan spat out a mouthful of blood, then fell to the ground.

Zhong Shan was seemly much calmer afterwards, he quietly stood up using the machete to support himself, but he still looked at Tianling-er with the intention to kill.

Looking at Zhong Shan’s bloodshot eyes, Tianling-er threw both wooden statues on the ground.

“I’m not playing with you anymore.”  Tianling-er quickly flew away after throwing down the statues.

“Pa,” Zhong Shan fell back down on the ground.  Obviously, Tianling-er’s red silk was quite powerful, even more powerful than the monstrous beast he had run into before.  He was weak to begin and with the wound he just gained, he couldn’t hold himself up anymore after Tianling-er had left.

After a while, Zhong Shan felt much better and stood up walking over to where the statues were.

He picked up Bao-er’s statue which was intact, however, the other one was all twisted.

He carefully picked up all the pieces from Kui-er’s statue and smiled bitterly.  “Kui-er, I lost my mind because of you once again today.”

He put down the machete and sat back down on the ground holding Kui-er’s statue in hand.

“All my life, I have loved two women.  I will lose my mind only when I face you two.  I have lost all contact with Bao-er now. Kui-er, I didn’t expect that with all the riches I had, I still couldn’t save your life.  Prince Lietian is the person who kills as he wishes.  In order to make a demonic banner, he searched all over for the soul of someone who was born on the most yin day and hour in the world.  You were fine in the morning, then in the afternoon, a bunch of devils descended from the sky and with just one grab, you died instantly.  The leader was called ‘Prince Lietian’, I remember.  That’s how his followers called him, I will never forget.  If it wasn’t for the fact that one of my staff had knocked me out, that would have been the end of me too.”

“Kui-er, you can rest a.s.sured that I’m now practicing and have entered an immortal school.  You watch from above, there will the day when I will find Price Lietian and cut him into pieces.  I will avenge your death.”  Zhong Shan clenched his fists.

“That day, if we didn’t go out to the countryside and just stayed at home.  How nice it would be~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

As Zhong Shan murmured to himself, tears came down from his eyes.

“How many years has it been?  Over 40 years?  I didn’t expect to cry for you again.”  Zhong Shan talked to himself with a bitter smile as he cried.

Being a strong man, he suppressed his sadness and wiped his tears.  He turned his sadness into motivation and slowly closed his eyes to do his breathing exercise with his legs crossed.

What he didn’t know was that Tianling-er had came back after she had flown away and had hid in a corner in the yard behind him.  She heard Zhong Shan’s monologue and lightly bit her lips.  She looked at Zhong Shan’s face which had blood and a resolute expression on it; there’s a trace of regret in her eyes.