Applied Immortality

Yang Jun roared in his charge.

The raging heat around him made his magic clothing curl up as it glowed yellow, losing its effectiveness. Yang Jun’s attack burned it away.

Wang Qi took a deep breath. It was true that there was no limit to the heat the Celestial Entropy could release, given one had enough spiritual power to keep it going and protect oneself from it. Wang Qi could get Celestial Entropy to ignite his magic clothes all the same, but not before cooking his skin.

[What kind of super cultivation method is this guy training? What could unleash such explosive heat?]

Wang Qi waved his sword to block Yang Jun’s punches. He’d grasped Basic Swordplay’s foundation, but it was lacking compared to using his legs and punches. He also found the trick to Daoist Proscribe’s Ethereal Cloud Sword from his works, peeking into a true ultimate sword art, placing him high on the sword path. But that was for later.

He had just begun his journey and could clearly see the summit. Now the tricky part was finding his way to it.

Wang Qi was still unable to integrate Shifting Heavens Formula into his swordplay. His unrefined swordplay got him pushed back with every blow.

Wang Qi knew this wouldn’t work. The flying sword was glowing red hot, its magic seal breaking down. The flying sword’s glow flickered as its power faded.

Wang Qi bore the lung-scorching heat as he breathed in. The roughly made standard Immortal Institute disciple flying sword couldn’t take much punishment. Once he lost it, his odds would fall even lower without a weapon. He had to end this fast. 

Wang Qi adjusted his breathing, putting strength in every clash between the sword and the fist. 

Then he slashed. Wang Qi forwent all defense, bringing the sword down on Yang Jun’s head.

Be it out of foolishness or madness, Yang Jun neither dodged nor blocked. His hand went for Wang Qi’s shoulder, striking out with spiritual power.

Wang Qi had already cut his head. With equal speeds, Wang Qi acted first, putting him at an advantage. His strategy was to take Yang Jun’s life with this move. With his death, the attack would stop and, at worst, he’d only suffer a shockwave. 

Disciplinary officers were bound by duty to not kill, unlike Wang Qi.

The sword rent flesh, met bone, and got stuck in Yang Jun’s neck. 

Wang Qi’s heart sank. As the magic sword entered Yang Jun, he found the spiritual power put into the weapon scattering and the magic seal breaking down. The Qi Refining Stage-powered beheading slash was reduced to an ordinary swing. 

And how much better would a mortal sword strike fair in this case?

Yang Jun’s head wasn’t going anywhere, that was for sure. Even in a common beheading, a strong man had to be behind the blade to loop off heads.

Wang Qi wasn’t able to even sever the spine.

Everything would’ve long been over had Yang Jun been a mortal. Cutting the jugular led to bleeding out in minutes for a mortal. In the case of a blow to the cervical vertebra, it was either paralysis or death. But all that was moot when a cultivator was thrown in the mix, which Yang Jun happened to be. His wound spurted boiling blood and… nothing. He just kept on attacking.

Wang Qi was struck hard.

Pain laced his heart, and tears welled in his eyes.

He felt his cultivation collapsing!

Wang Qi cherished life. After discovering his resolve and shouting, “I want eternal life!” his desire to live only grew stronger. In fact, he even put up his defenses when he struck with the sword… Celestial Entropy’s entropy reduction worked at full power. 

[Isn’t your fist made up of only heat? Celestial Entropy is more than enough to offset it!]

Wang Qi had used Celestial Entropy until he felt the sting of coldness coming from his blood. Only then did he go through with the plan to take Yang Jun’s life in exchange for a wound.  

Wang Qi didn’t expect Yang Jun’s power to be so freaky.

The flow of spiritual power broke down within him, running amok. Wang Qi’s mind buzzed from the mess it was in.

[Shit!]

Wang Qi used the last remnant of his consciousness to focus all the ripples into his leg and kicked Yang Jun. It caused no damage, the waves warping and fading out on contact.

But among them was also Waveform Essence.

The golden ephemeral probability wave contained endless possibilities. Wang Qi watched as the amorphous probability wave collapsed before unleashing a dazzling golden light between them.

With a mighty bang, Waveform Essence created an explosion. Wang Qi and Yang Jun flew in opposite directions. As Celestial Entropy resumed its work, Wang Qi’s mind settled and focused on bringing the messy spiritual power under control. 

He then ran behind a bush while Yang Jun was still prone.

Yang Jun’s demonic transformation gave him endless strength by the looks of it, but his mind wasn’t all there. He crawled back to his feet, looking around without a clue. He actually couldn’t find Wang Qi, not even using his spiritual sense. He just kept muttering, “Kill demons… kill demons…” 

Behind the cover, Wang Qi grimaced from pain. His magic clothing had burnt holes in it, and his shoulder had a palm seared into his skin. He thanked his quick wit for using Celestial Entropy to lower his temperature and mitigate the worst of it. He heard a heavy thud coming from behind and looked back, dumbstruck.

The flying sword stuck in Yang Jun’s neck melted, the two sides sticking out of the wound clattering to the ground, while the middle part remained inside his neck. Yang Jun didn’t bother with it, and his skin healed over in a gruesome and ghastly gray tumor that twisted outward from the heat. 

It wasn’t limited to the neck either. Yang Jun’s magic clothing was burned away, and Wang Qi found in stark realization that Yang Jun wasn’t fearless of the searing heat; he ignored it as it burned away his skin completely, leaving behind gray tumors all over. To make it worse, Yang Jun’s heat didn’t dim, burning the tumors as well. Another tumor would replace moments after one was burned away.

Wang Qi muttered, “What kind of freak is he…”

Zhen Chanzi spoke out, “I may have some idea.”