IMMORTALITY STARTS WITH A GUN

Liu Xing stood on the edge of his invisible turtle, aimed his gun, and pulled the trigger six times, sending Exploding Lightning Missiles forward. Without missing a beat, he activated his technique again to repeat the process. His gun spat out so many bullets so rapidly that it looked more like a machine gun than a normal pistol. The whistling and howling of the bolts streaking toward the winged serpent filled the air, and the wind rushed past his ears, making his hair flutter. The bubble of qi shrouding the turtle was not complex. It was merely his potent qi, meant only to block the wind. His bullets passed through it easily, but at the same time, it offered no real protection.

As the invisible turtle statue soared higher through the air, Liu Xing remained standing and sprayed the snake with hundreds of bullets. Each bullet was bright and fast, leaving a faint trail behind, and the winged serpent shot toward Liu Xing, its maw open wide and its portal swirling menacingly inside. The serpent knew the portal could protect it from the bullets, but Liu Xing knew that, too. So, he curved the bullets and moved them out of the way of the portal. Some were failed and swallowed by the portal and likely exploded on the island, while others curved like maneuvering bees and successfully landed on its inky black scales.

From afar, the sight was both terrifying and awe-inspiring. A winged snake soared in the dark sky, blending into the blackness as hundreds of bolts flew around it, curving and maneuvering like disturbed wasps. As the bullets landed, blue lights bloomed around the snake's head, body, and bat wings. Sometimes the explosions tore off its wings or body parts, and once, the snake was even split in two. However, red qi swirled around the snake, and it regenerated its body parts as if an invisible brush were mending the ink and it continued flying toward them.

As he continued shooting Exploding Lightning Missiles, he sent some of his qi toward his stone blade, making it glow with a purple hue.

"That damned snake is fast and annoying," he muttered.

Indeed, its speed was actually greater than that of his flying turtle statue. If not for his bullets, it would likely have already reached them. For now, his Lightning Missiles were enough to create distance, but the serpent was not the real threat. No, the real threat was the portal inside its maw, and before it could spew something out, he needed to destroy it. But this serpent, though its eyes looked empty and unfeeling, knew that the most precious part of its body was its maw, and it made sure that no attack strong enough to destroy its head could get past the portal.

Still channeling potent qi to his stone blade, making it heavier and heavier, he decided this would be the attack to kill the snake. He needed to make sure the attack counted. After all, he didn't want to waste his qi. When the stone blade held enough qi to feel heavy in his hand yet was still light enough to swing, he held it and waited for the perfect moment. The snake flew left and right as if born to rule the sky. However, Liu Xing began cataloging its movements, trying to find a pattern that would guarantee a hit.

As far as he could observe, there was no discernible pattern to its movement, but he found one constant. It was always, always, trying to look toward his position. Even when it was maneuvering left and right, or even when its body was ravaged by his bullets, its head was always pointed toward him. It was as if its head were a compass, and he was the north pole. Realizing this, a plan began to form in his mind, and deciding not to waste time, he instantly executed it.

First, Liu Xing dropped the focus of his Eyes of Lightning on his surroundings and concentrated his will on a dozen of the foremost bullets. He ordered all of them to rush forward, and the snake opened its maw wide as if trying to swallow them. Then, with a firm will, he curved all the bullets, making them spread out like a blooming flower. The snake flapped its bat wings to stop its momentum and began to move to the side. But its head, its eyes, were still looking directly in his general position. At that moment, Liu Xing willed the same bullets to converge on a single point. The projectiles that had spread out like a blooming flower suddenly closed, resembling a budding flower, until finally, all the bullets met at once and exploded right in front of the snake's face. Instantly, an explosion rattled the air and a blinding blue light erupted in the dark sky.

At that moment, Liu Xing sent out his crescent of purple qi. It moved swiftly and loudly, but its approach was hidden by the bright light of the explosion. Liu Xing instantly willed his turtle statue to move up, trying to position himself above the snake, while his crescent of purple qi moved forward. When the light lessened, he could see, as expected, that the snake looked up toward him, creating a single second of distraction, and by the time the snake realized a giant crescent of purple qi was moving horizontally toward it, the attack was merely several meters from its face. Since it had no time to move, the snake opened its maw wide, as if trying to swallow the attack. However, the amount of qi he had sent into this attack was immense, resulting in a crescent of purple qi with a wingspan of more than ten meters. It was too wide to be swallowed. However, that didn't mean his attack would be successful.

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Looking down, his heart hammered in his chest as he sent more qi to his stone blade to stage another attack. He saw the moment the crescent of purple qi hit the portal on its maw. His attack speed and sharpness were high, yet for a moment, the snake and the attack pushed against each other, making both of them stop in the air. The point where the crescent and the blue portal met sparked with purple and blue light, and flashes akin to lightning began to spill from the point of contact. The portal could not swallow the purple qi, and likewise, his attack did not destroy the portal.

"Eat this!" From above, with his turtle statue positioned almost upright and some of his friends sliding down the invisible surface, he slashed his stone blade downward and unleashed another crescent of purple qi.

The attack descended, cutting through the air with a high-pitched whistling sound. The snake looked toward the attack and flapped its bat wings, but it was too late to react. Before it could move, the second attack struck the snake's forehead. Since there was no portal there, the attack cut through the snake's head as if it were tofu, coming out the other side and splitting the head cleanly in two. At that moment, the struggle between the portal and the first attack ended suddenly. Like an energy barrier whose source of energy has been cut off, the attack successfully cut through the blue portal, slicing it in two. Then, a bright blue explosion spread outward like a firework, creating a strong wind and shockwave that traveled outward.

Upon seeing that the portal was destroyed and the body of the black snake was falling from the sky, Liu Xing nodded, a proud smile spreading across his lips. "With this, we should be safe!"

This snake was merely a carrier for a portal. Its true threat was if the Nether Lotus Sect used it to get to him. However, as far as he could remember, the portal hadn't spat anything or anyone out. Rather, it had been swallowing his attacks repeatedly. Perhaps that was the reason no one had crossed it. After all, that portal had been bombarded with Exploding Lightning Missiles, and anyone who wanted to cross would have had to deal with those bolts.

He inhaled deeply before sighing with relief. With the threat gone, even though his stomach was still spewing black smoke, he concluded that the situation was resolved. Still, he decided that instead of reattaching his friends' limbs, getting rid of the mark inside his consciousness was the most important thing to do. Once it was gone, they would be truly safe.

"Liu Xing," Qing Yuan suddenly said, pulling Liu Xing from his thoughts. He looked behind, toward where the sound had originated, and even though he couldn't see him, he knew that Qing Yuan was holding onto the stone turtle with all four of his limbs. "Look below and be cautious. I think it's not over yet."

As he corrected the turtle statue's position so his friends would not slide off, he looked below. The blue explosion created from the portal's destruction, instead of dispersing, was lingering in the air.

He sharpened his focus and tried to sense it with all his senses, including his sight and his qi sense. The lingering blue glow was no longer just light. It had turned into something like a cloud of dust. There were particles spreading evenly inside this shining blue light, and they contained qi, turning the light into a cloud of blue dust. Not only that, but in the center of this cloud, Liu Xing saw something. It was a small portal, about the size of a dinner plate. A hand holding a big brush was jutting out from it, moving left and right, up and down, as if painting something in the air.

Instantly, a bad premonition filled his heart. Liu Xing sent his potent qi out of his body, shrouding his turtle statue in more of it, and willed it to rise higher with tremendous speed. "Hold on!" Liu Xing shouted to his friends as the turtle moved like a giant, fast elevator. The push of the turtle and the pull of gravity pressed his friends into its surface, making them cry out in surprise and pain. "Hold on for a little bit!"

In that instant, Liu Xing glanced down and saw the blue cloud moving toward him with incredible speed. Comparing their speed to the blue cloud's was like comparing a snail to a cheetah. In a moment, the blue cloud of dust caught up to them, and in the next, it swallowed them whole, painting the world around them with a glittering blue light. The inside of the cloud was suffocating, as if there was no air, and Liu Xing's heart hammered in his chest as he began blindly sending out attacks. But, like his fight with Ji Dongyang, one could not punch or slash a cloud. While he had been lucky enough to kill him, this situation was different.

Liu Xing gritted his teeth as his mind raced to find a solution, but before he could think of anything, the blue cloud suddenly lit up. It was as if it had been a lamp that was turned off, and now someone had flipped the switch. The world was suddenly filled with a light so bright it was painful to the eye. Liu Xing could not help but close his eyes as he braced for the worst possible scenario.

Then, suddenly, the light was gone.