Painting of the Nine Immortals
chapter-98

Under the burning Sun, the temperature was warm, and the lighting was soft.

In the clear blue sky, there were two silhouettes. One in the front, another in the back. They raced across the sky in terrifying speed and left behind a white, cloudy trail.

The wind was blowing harshly and messed up Ling Xian’s black hair. Ling Xian’s expression was heavy, but his eyes were glistening with nine colored lights. Each stroke of light wrapped around him, signaling to the world that his Eyes of Execution were working very hard right now.

His snow-white wings covered up much of the sky. They flapped against the heavy wind and created a turmoil of forces. He was headed to the South.

Behind him was the Red Robed Elder. Every step he took carried him forward ten feet. He followed Ling Xian closely and did not dare to relax.

There was still some shock in his eyes because he did not expect the Winged Blitz to be so fast. He had been chasing Ling Xian for an hour, but he still hadn’t managed to catch up to him!

Realize that he was a completion leveled cultivator. Even though his speed may not be the fastest, he had the ability to shrink the distance he walks on, hence giving the illusion that he was very speedy. Despite his ability to do that, the distance between him and Ling Xian was still very noticeable.

One was a high being in the completion level while the other was an ant-like meditation level trainee. The gap between the two was like the distance between heaven and earth. The two shouldn’t even be compared.

However, in terms of speed, he was slower than Ling Xian, which was ridiculous. How could he not be stunned?

To be honest, the Winged Blitz really was famous for its speed. However, with Ling Xian’s training, the fastest it could get to was to be on par with a foundational leveled cultivator. To be able to surpass the Red Robed Elder was because Ling Xian was burning away all his mana and straining his Eyes of Execution.

If one watched carefully, it becomes apparent that the snow-white feathers were not gleaming brightly like they usually do.

“Dammit, I am at my limit.”

Ling Xian frowned as he felt his body being depleted of mana. He couldn’t help it but to smile bitterly and mutter to himself, “Could it be that I will really die here today?”

“Haha, child, it seems like you are at your limit. Why don’t you give it up and stop running? Maybe I will show you some kindness and leave you as a complete corpse.” The Red Robed Elder noticed how exhausted Ling Xian was, and rejoiced.

“In your dreams.” Ling Xian’s face remained cool. He knew that he has pushed himself too far this time and needed to stop running. He fluttered his wings and landed on top of a lofty mountain.

“So you finally admit the difference between our capabilities? You will stop the meaningless struggling now?” The Red Robed Elder landed as well and teased the youth before him. “Say, do you want to carve out your own eyes or do you want me to do it.”

“Freak, you really think I will give you my Eyes of Execution?” The pair of white wings slowly transformed into murky strokes of light and retired back into his Eyes of Execution.

He was fully aware of the fact that if his opponent was a foundational level trainee, he might have a chance at winning. But the Red Robed Elder was a completion level cultivator. No matter how much Ling Xian tried to save himself, he could not defend himself against whatever attacks the opponent threw out.

“I understand that you will not willingly hand over your eyes,” The Red Robed Elder grinned and mocked, “But what can you do. With the state you are in, do you even have the energy to struggle against me?”

“It’s true that I don’t have the energy to struggle against you,” Ling Xian smiled and pointed at his own eyes, “But I have the ability to destroy these eyes.”

“Don’t you dare!”

The Red Robed Elder’s expression became distorted. He let go of Si Tu Nan, his longtime nemesis just to chase down Ling Xian to get his eyes. He will never let Ling Xian destroy them before he could carve them out.

He had the ability to subdue Ling Xian, and he had ways to steal the Eyes of Execution. However, he had no useful methods that could stop Ling Xian from self-destruction. Anyone could easily wreck themselves if they had the will and the desire. The Red Robed Elder didn’t dare make any drastic moves.

“Why don’t I dare?” Ling Xian beamed. “You freak. You want my eyes, but do you really think I will let you get what you want?”

“I don’t believe you would choose a glorious death over a shameful life,” the Elder stared at Ling Xian, hoping to see some hesitation from him.

He was disappointed.

Ling Xian was emotionless, and his face was calm like water. There was no hint of question or hesitation. Behind that look was only the staunch of a fish trying to escape a net, and the determination of a stone trying to reshape itself into a jade.

“Dammit!” The Elder angrily growled. “Listen to me. If you dare blind yourself, I will chop your body into millions of pieces and grind your bones into dust. Then I will seal your soul so you will never reincarnate!”

“I guess you are just used to that cocky attitude of yours. At a time like this, you still have the guts to threaten me?” Ling Xian sneered, “Sadly, I do not get threatened. I’m afraid your hope will turn into despair soon.”

“You!” the Elder was enraged. He extended his arms forward. Gushes of spiritual energy poured out of him!

Instantly, wind started blowing, and clouds converged. A storm was brewing inside the clouds and was ready to strike and wipe out everything it hit!

The Elder stepped forward a step. His Red Robe danced crazily. Looking at the handsome youth, his cold words traveled into Ling Xian’s ear.

“I will give you one more chance. If you willingly give up your Eyes of Execution, I will let you go alive.”

“No need for any more words. Like I said, I will not let you have things your way.” Ling Xian stepped back a little. He peeked behind him and saw a bottomless cliff. His eyes flashed with a hint of joy. Then he made a decision.

He decided to jump.

“Alright, if that’s the case then don’t blame me for my heartlessness.” The Elder held up an arm, and thick lightning bolts jolted down from the sky!

“If I do not die this time, then I will definitely slaughter you the next time we meet.”

Leaving behind this sentence, Ling Xian plunged backward and threw himself down the cliff.

“I knew it! I knew you would not give up so easily.” The Red Robed Elder’s gaze turned cold. He twisted his body and jumped down from the cliff also, getting ready to catch Ling Xian.

“Haha, you still dare to chase after me?”

Ling Xian laughed loudly. He didn’t use his Winged Blitz, but rather he let gravity take over his body.

“Why can’t I go after you? Are you treating yourself like a mere mortal or are you treating me like a mere mortal? A mile-deep cliff to a mere mortal is death. But to a cultivator who knows how to fly, it is nothing.” The Red Robed Elder raised an eyebrow. Realizing that the youth was grinning, he had a bad premonition.

“You damn old man, your dog nose is sensitive but why is your eyesight so bad. Widen your dog eyes and look down and see if the space below us has anything special about them!” Ling Xian continued beaming. The speed he was dropping at was very fast, causing his heart to pound and wanting to fall out of his chest. However, he didn’t feel any fear.

During his lost century, he had tens and hundreds of near death experiences. More than once was he forced to jump off a cliff. The situation he was in now was nothing compared to the other stuff he had to deal with.

“Hmm?”

Hearing Ling Xian’s words, the Elder was a little alarmed. He looked down.

Below him was a bottomless pit blanketed by cloudy fog. One could not see clearly what really was down there.

“There’s nothing unusual about this…” the Elder observed even longer and still did not find anything strange about the cliff. When he was ready to adjust his gaze back up, he saw that other than the fog, at the place roughly a thousand feet away from him, there was a mysterious darkness.

The mysterious darkness was very eerie. It was floating around very slowly and was shaking with a deviating kind of spiritual energy.

“Wait a minute…”

The Elder’s eyes widened like he saw something horrifying. Shaking, he said, “This is… the restrictive property!”

In the Taoism community, many spaces had magical and mythical properties. The restrictive property was one of them. Like its name, this property restricted cultivators from flying. It could usually be found between forests and mountains, as they are naturally formed from shifting earth. Once living beings enter the restricted area, they cannot utilize any techniques related to flying. Even beasts with wings cannot fly and could only use their legs.

“Good, I guess you do have eyesight,” Ling Xian beamed and said softly. “Once we drop for another thousand feet or so, we will be restricted by the magnetic force of the area. When that happened, even those in the original level can only let gravity take over and smash themselves into a pile of mush.”

“Dammit, how did I encounter a mountain with restrictive properties!” The Red Robed Elder was furious. He was a little hesitant as to whether or not he should take the fall with Ling Xian.

This was a mountain that was ten thousand feet high. Even though he was in the completion level with a very strong physique, he could not escape death in this situation. If he leaves now, however, he would feel a bit pitiful.

The Eyes of Execution though!

Such strong Inner Eyes, it was worth taking a risk for.

Ling Xian noticed his hesitation. He frowned a bit and purposely teased, “What, you want to die alongside me? That’s good too. I have no complaints. A completion leveled Elder buried with me. I have no regrets.”

Hearing this, the Elder hesitated even more. After thinking about it for a minute, he decided he treasure his life more than those pair of eyes. He looked at Ling Xian with a deadly gaze and gritted out of his teeth, “You child, you ruthless child. I admit your victory. So what you win this part of the fight though? Even I don’t have the guts to land from here. With your meditation leveled physique, death will be your only result.”

“Haha, no need to think and worry about me.” Ling Xian felt a bit more at ease upon hearing those words. However, the Elder didn’t seem to have any intentions of walking away. He frowned and screamed, “If you don’t plan on dying with me, then why aren’t you going away?”

“You think I’m an idiot? We aren’t at the restrictive area yet. If I leave now and you summon those wings of yours, then I would’ve been played.” The Red Robed Elder has always been very careful and suspicious. Even though he has given up on the Eyes of Execution, he didn’t just leave right away but paused in midair and waited for Ling Xian to fall into the restrictive property.

“You old bastard!”

Ling Xian clenched his teeth as his eyes darkened.

It was true. When he saw the restrictive properties of the mountain, he had a daring plan, which was to jump down and scare away the Elder, then fling himself back up with his Winged Blitz. This way he would be able to escape from the Elder and save his own life.

One has to admit that even though this plan was very dangerous and had nine out of 10 chances of dying, it was the best plan he had. Sadly, the Elder saw through his plan and did not leave, but rather wanted to watch Ling Xian fall to his death.

“Haha, yes, curse me, curse me as much as you want. I don’t argue with a dead man.” The Red Robed Elder laughed. “Or, you could fly up before you enter the magnetic field, before it’s too late.”

“Fly up so you can carve out my eyes and grind me to dust?”

Ling Xian’s expression was cold. He was in a loss-loss situation. Flying up or falling down would both cause him his death. The difference was that if he flew up, he would lose his Eyes of Execution and have his body chopped into pieces. But if he falls down, he had a sliver of hope that he might survive, no matter how small that sliver of hope was, it was hope.

“Screw it!”

Ling Xian gritted his teeth, opened his arms, and embraced gravity.

“Wow, you actually are rather reckless.” The Red Robed Elder was a little surprised at the turn of events. He then smiled and said, “If that’s the case then let me help you out.”

As he spoke, he raised a hand and a ghastly flash of lightning stroke down onto Ling Xian.

“You old bastard, if I do not die today, I will search the world to find you and slice off your head!” Ling Xian coldly sneered. He then fastened the pace of the drop by using his mana.

The wind howled and the coldness spread, the youth’s falling silhouette quickly disappeared into the fog.

“An ant-like trainee dare to try and take my head? You sure don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth. I do hope that you will survive this though. So that when you stand before me again, I can get your Eyes of Execution.” The Red Robed Elder watched the youth disappear as pity flashed across his eyes.

Spinning, he turned and shot up into the sky again, leaving this place. He did not notice at all, how inside the restrictive property, a burst of immeasurable light radiated.

It was illuminating like the rainbow.