Chapter 697: No Life, No Rest

Facing the true form of Huang Feng Immortal Lord, the pressure on Li Ya and the plain-clothed youth instantly multiplied—especially the youth, who felt like he could explode and die at any moment. A suffocating force crushed down on his body, throwing his blood and qi into chaos.

Li Ya was terrified.

He could clearly feel the killing intent coming from Huang Feng Immortal Lord.

If he refused again, Huang Feng Immortal Lord would definitely kill him!

And he wouldn’t even have the power to resist!

In that moment, memories suddenly surfaced in Li Ya’s mind.

It was from years ago in Xuan Valley, when he, Gu An, and Meng Lan followed their eldest senior brother Zhang Chunqiu to sow crops. Back then, Meng Lan often ordered Gu An around, while Li Ya just watched quietly from the side.

Those memories had long since faded, yet for some reason, they suddenly became vivid again.

Huang Feng Immortal Lord looked at him calmly, waiting for his answer. The vast, majestic Heavenly Step still stood behind him, towering like the edge of the world, an insurmountable divide between mortals and immortals.

The plain-clothed youth couldn’t turn to look at his master, but he could sense Li Ya’s internal struggle.

This immortal god spoke with grandeur, but his actions were clearly aggressive. There was no good intent here.

But...

If he died here, he’d never get his revenge...

Fear and anxiety filled the youth’s heart.

Li Ya stayed silent for a long time. When Huang Feng Immortal Lord turned his gaze to the plain-clothed youth, only then did Li Ya speak:

“I won’t agree to your offer. Even if you kill my disciple, doing this will only make me hate you more. If I survive, I’ll treat you as my greatest enemy. Even if the Heavenly Court protects you, I will stop at nothing, give everything I have to take my revenge.”

“No life, no rest.”

His voice wasn’t fierce. In fact, it sounded strained—but his gaze was ice-cold.

Huang Feng Immortal Lord’s brow twitched, his killing intent growing even stronger.

A mere mortal dared to threaten him like this?

Boom!

The plain-clothed youth suddenly exploded.

Flesh and blood sprayed everywhere, splattering all over Li Ya, dyeing half his body red. Bits of blood and meat still clung to his face, but his expression didn’t change.

He continued staring dead at Huang Feng Immortal Lord, as if his disciple’s death didn’t shake him at all.

Huang Feng Immortal Lord sneered. “You really think you still have a chance? Reject me, and not only will you die, everyone connected to you will suffer endless misfortune—tormented in the mortal world, wishing for death but unable to die, until they're finally destroyed.”

He raised his right hand and reached toward Li Ya.

Li Ya’s expression didn’t change, but the chill in his eyes grew deeper.

Pa!

A hand suddenly landed on Huang Feng Immortal Lord’s left shoulder.

Li Ya, standing right in front of him, finally showed a reaction. His expression shifted slightly, and the corners of his mouth even curled into a faint smile.

Huang Feng Immortal Lord’s expression also changed. He slightly turned his head, glancing sideways toward the person behind him.

Standing behind him was none other than Gu An.

But even with the two so close, he still couldn’t see Gu An’s true face clearly.

“So, the Sword Master of the Dao has finally decided to show himself.”

Huang Feng Immortal Lord spoke with a mocking tone.

“Your arrival in the Heavenly Spirit World must’ve been an accident. If you truly meant to support that prince, you wouldn’t have sent him away and joined the Heavenly Court. I’ll make a personal appeal to the heavens.”

“You have no room to refuse. You’ve already captured Tai Yi Immortal Lord and the Seventy-Two Immortals of Jin Dong. That’s a capital offense against heaven. If you don’t become an immortal god before the Celestial Heavens find out, you’ll face the wrath of the Heavenly Court—and what awaits you then will be far more terrifying than me.”

Li Ya stared at Huang Feng Immortal Lord. Now, it was his turn to wait for Gu An’s decision.

“Do you really speak for the Heavenly Court?”

Gu An’s voice rang out.

Huang Feng Immortal Lord’s body stiffened. Just as he was about to speak, a terrifying force suddenly shattered his fleshly body, making him follow in the footsteps of the plain-clothed youth.

But instead of exploding into blood and gore, he turned into drifting ash and scattered away.

Seeing that Huang Feng Immortal Lord couldn’t even lift a finger before Gu An, Li Ya wasn’t surprised—his gaze only grew more complicated.

Junior Brother Gu…

Why couldn’t you have come just a little earlier?

Li Ya thought bitterly to himself. He didn’t feel he had the right to blame Gu An—because his disciple’s death was caused by his own choice.

Even after living for hundreds of thousands of years and experiencing the tragic deaths of disciples before, at this moment, his heart was still filled with guilt and unwillingness.

Just then, he noticed something change in Gu An’s eyes—a flicker of dark red light passed through, cold and sharp, making Li Ya dazed for a moment.

“Master…”

A familiar voice echoed beside Li Ya’s ears, like it was calling to him from far away. The sound grew louder and clearer.

He suddenly opened his eyes wide as if waking from a dream and turned his head.

His disciple—the plain-clothed youth—was standing right beside him.

“Xianyou, you…”

Li Ya looked at the youth, stunned as he spoke. His mind went blank, completely unable to comprehend what was happening.

The plain-clothed youth named Li Xianyou stood in front of Li Ya, eyes bright with excitement. “Master, I didn’t die! I’m still alive! Just now I really thought I was dead… Was that some kind of illusion?”

After hearing that, Li Ya looked down at his own robes and noticed the bloodstains were vanishing quickly.

The scene from earlier… absolutely wasn’t an illusion!

Li Ya turned his head and looked toward Gu An, who stood not far away.

Gu An was looking back at him, but in Li Ya’s eyes, Gu An’s figure was shrouded in haze—he couldn’t clearly see his expression.

“Junior Brother Gu… What just happened?”

Li Ya couldn’t help but ask. As soon as he said “Junior Brother Gu,” Li Xianyou widened his eyes and quickly turned to look at Gu An as well.

“Everything you experienced earlier was real, not an illusion,” Gu An replied calmly. “I simply made his death transform from real to unreal. He is still alive.”

These words left both Li Ya and Li Xianyou even more shocked.

They couldn’t comprehend what Gu An meant, which made them feel an even deeper awe toward him.

What kind of cultivation level did it take to wield such unfathomable power?

Li Xianyou nervously asked, “Then… was that Immortal God really killed?”

Li Ya also grew tense at those words, waiting for Gu An’s response.

Gu An stood with his back to the Heavenly Step and replied, “Immortal gods are immortal and indestructible. What you saw was just one of his incarnations. In truth, the reason he summoned the Heavenly Step wasn’t to display heavenly might to you—it was to open a path to the mortal world for an even stronger existence.”

An even stronger existence?

Li Ya and Li Xianyou both shuddered involuntarily. Their hearts raced, and they instinctively turned their eyes toward the Heavenly Step.

At the top of the Heavenly Step, where it connected to the farthest reaches of the cosmos, a ball of white light had appeared at some unknown time.

That light was slowly expanding.

Their hearts beat faster and faster. A sense of dread overwhelmed them—as though some unknown existence was staring directly at them from beyond.

“Sword Master of the Dao… since you already know, and yet you still dared to come here—who exactly are you? Whom do you serve? What is it that you seek?”

Huang Feng Immortal Lord’s voice resounded again. His tone was cold and biting, and his killing intent spread across the endless sea of clouds.

Gu An slowly turned around, facing the Heavenly Step.

At the peak of the Heavenly Step, within the dazzling white light, a figure was descending step by step.

The million-zhang-tall Heavenly Step beneath his feet looked no different from ordinary stone steps of the mortal realm.

Bathed in the radiant glow of the Heavenly Dao, his true form couldn’t be seen. Yet the pressure radiating from just his silhouette made Li Ya and Li Xianyou feel suffocated.

Each step he took carried the weight of the heavens collapsing.