Invincibility Begins with Mastery of Fist Techniques-Chapter 148 - 144: Immortal

A corpse, dead for over a thousand years, suddenly opened its eyes. The pupils within were dilated, devoid of all light.

Zhou Yuanjue couldn't see its pupils, but he immediately sensed a change in the corpse.

The magnetic field of the ancient palace abruptly converged. From three major acupoints on the corpse—the Niwan, the Qi Sea, and the Dantian—three pitch-black Flying Swords suddenly shot out.

The secret art of the Ancient Daoist Family: the Three Corpses Sword!

This was a powerful Technique from the same school as the Flying Sword Technique once used by Dai Yisheng. Upon reaching Saint Awakening, one could condense their surrounding magnetic field into "Flying Swords" of terrifying power.

The Niwan, Qi Sea, and Dantian are the upper, middle, and lower Dantians. The Ancient Daoist Family also knew them as the Three Corpse Acupoints—the three most important hubs of the human body.

If struck by these three Flying Swords, the magnetic field of the Three Corpse Acupoints would shatter, very likely causing a violent, instantaneous death.

Dai Yisheng's Flying Sword was limited to the spiritual plane; it couldn't take a life with a single strike. Ultimately, this was because he had not yet broken through to the Saint Awakening Realm and was merely a mortal. But the figure before him was already a Land True Immortal!

However, Zhou Yuanjue had sensed the corpse's strange movements the moment they began. He was not unprepared.

VMMM!!

He abruptly contracted his Life Magnetic Field, forging a red shield of light around himself.

TING! TING! TING!

The two forces collided like sharp blades striking a bronze bell. The three black Flying Swords struck furiously, causing the shield of light to warp and buckle, but it never broke. It couldn't harm Zhou Yuanjue in the slightest.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

A horrifying series of pops echoed as its joints exploded with sound. The corpse, which had sat cross-legged and motionless on the ground for a millennium, suddenly sprang up. Its ten-centimeter-long fingernails shot straight for Zhou Yuanjue's neck and chest.

"A corpse, dead for a thousand years, and you think you can harm me?"

Zhou Yuanjue's eyes lowered, and his voice was deep.

BAM!

His body abruptly swelled, his muscles expanding beyond human limits into terrifying shapes. His palms, in particular, grew larger than his own head. They were blood-red, shrouded in crimson light, and blazed with a heat that seemed poised to ignite the very air.

A fierce wave of Power hammered the air, forming a visible wall that collided with the corpse's incoming nails.

BOOM!

The air exploded. The immense force pulverized the corpse's tough fingernails, sending the body flying backward to slam heavily into the cavern wall.

The wall trembled as terrifying cracks spread across its surface. The sheer force of the impact had driven the corpse's back deep into the stone. Its limbs hung limp, swaying back and forth.

At the same time, a black, illusory figure separated itself from the corpse.

It had long, disheveled black hair, a wrinkled, pallid face, and pure black eyes. Fangs jutted from its mouth, and two pairs of sharp horns sprouted from its head. It wore armor like that of a Demon General. This was, unmistakably, a General level Celestial Demon.

However, the ferocious face of this Celestial Demon still bore a faint resemblance to the thousand-year-old, incorruptible corpse of the Daoist.

A moment ago, this was the Celestial Demon that had hidden within the corpse, using the shift in the magnetic field to manipulate the long-dead body into a sudden attack.

Unfortunately for it, such crude manipulation was no match for Zhou Yuanjue's truly battle-forged body, which was why it had been sent flying with a single strike.

Seeing this, Zhou Yuanjue narrowed his eyes. He remembered the small bottle that had been placed before the corpse when he first arrived.

"Just as Daoist Bailong described. It's completely indistinguishable from those... things now. To think he was once at the level of Saint Awakening, only to end up like this. It's truly despicable."

Zhou Yuanjue said, his expression calm.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

He stepped forward slowly. With each step, the Life Magnetic Field within him intensified. He could feel a seemingly endless well of Power gushing from his body.

This was the first time he had ever fully mobilized the power of both his physical body and his Life Magnetic Field.

"I am... Nanyun True Immortal... Having consumed the Elixir of Immortality, I have joined the ranks of the Immortals, my lifespan equal to that of heaven and earth. You, a mere mortal of flesh and blood, how could you possibly understand..."

The General level Celestial Demon vibrated the surrounding air with its magnetic field, producing a broken but majestic voice.

The voice carried a kind of archaic accent, but Zhou Yuanjue could still grasp the general meaning.

SCREEE!!

An ear-splitting avian screech tore through the air, cutting it off. The red light enveloping Zhou Yuanjue abruptly warped and swelled, forming a massive Firebird with wings outstretched.

Intense heat swept through the dry cavern. The rotten wooden furnishings instantly self-combusted, erupting into a roaring blaze.

The General level Celestial Demon's expression changed drastically. Three more black Flying Swords shot out from its body.

Unlike the General level Celestial Demons of the outside world, Zhou Yuanjue knew from Daoist Bailong's description that the magnetic field here was incredibly strong—a perfect environment for Celestial Demons. In this place, even in an incorporeal state, a Celestial Demon could wield nearly its full peak power without fear of bodily harm.

'But so what if it can wield its peak power?'

'It was so tormented by the idea of death that it fell from grace, twisting into this thing that is neither human nor ghost. How could I ever take such a weak Spirit seriously?'

The Flaming Giant Bird held its head high. Its two claws shot out, precisely snatching two of the black Flying Swords from the air. At the same time, its sharp beak snapped open and clamped down hard on the third.

Simultaneously, the great bird dove at incredible speed. Its wings, shimmering with red light, wrapped tightly around the General level Celestial Demon.

The red light blazed intensely. In that moment, the Flaming Giant Bird transformed into a massive crucible, encasing the Celestial Demon. No matter how the demon struggled, it could not break free.

A flicker of terror passed through its ugly, all-black eyes. It violently pulsed the magnetic field around its body, seemingly trying to make a sound.

Zhou Yuanjue's gaze was calm. He paid it no mind, simply raising his hand toward the Furnace Cauldron that the Flaming Giant Bird had become.

He clenched his hand into a fist.

The crucible contracted violently. A powerful magnetic field destroyed the Celestial Demon's body. The demon was like a piece of scrap paper, continuously crushed and mangled by Zhou Yuanjue's Life Magnetic Field until it was compressed into a fist-sized ball of black shadow, which fell into his hand.

"An Immortal? You're just a pitiful wretch who couldn't even remain human."

Zhou Yuanjue murmured. He walked to the side, picked up the open Jade Bottle from the ground, and peered inside.

The bottle was empty.

'The Elixir of Immortality...'

Zhou Yuanjue's expression was placid. To be honest, when he had first learned this information from Daoist Bailong, he had been genuinely surprised.

This substance, so prominent in ancient legends, was in reality an item that could transform the soul of a powerful human into a Celestial Demon.

Human lifespans have limits. Even having reached Saint Awakening, Zhou Yuanjue knew that with his current body, he couldn't possibly live past one hundred and fifty.

But Celestial Demons, having shed their physical forms, have an almost limitless existence barring special circumstances. Some Celestial Demons have been sealed for millennia, yet as long as they can possess a new body, they can continue to live.

Some ancient powerhouses found their paths forward blocked. Over the long centuries, their passion and drive were ground down. Gripped by the fear of death, they accepted the temptation of the Celestial Demons, willingly becoming one of them for the sake of a longer life.

The price was abandoning their bodies, along with most of their sense of self and intellect. They had to constantly possess new hosts, birthing new personalities in new flesh, until their original self was completely diluted and they became a monster known only as "Celestial Demon."

And the thing that helped them achieve this was the so-called "Elixir of Immortality."

'But is that truly immortality?'

'Perhaps, from the moment they consumed the drug, their true selves had already died.'

'All that remained was a pitiful soul that had lost its identity, forever shackled in the river of time.'