Flying sword
As Li Chen grumbled, his eyes caught the ripples, and he reached out for his sword. The sound of his gauntlet scraping the metallic sheath was subtle but sharp as a scaly tail sprung out of the water, coiled around his waist and drew him in.
SPLASH—!
With a great splash, Li Chen found himself bound by a sea dragon. It had silver scales, a snake-like head, and a horn protruding from its forehead.
Assaulted by the bad breath of the growling beast, he struggled to free himself but its grip got stronger. Question marks appeared mid-air.
[Ahh!] Li Chen groaned deeply as he felt his bones creak. Should he do nothing, his bones would break and the 5-star-immortal human sea dragon would devour him.
As the sea dragon's head drew closer, Li Chen felt death knocking at his door. The insides of the beast's mouth seemed to be a pathway to the other world.
'Will I truly die here? Or will I return to the real world?'
Li Chen had no idea what would actually happen and he did not want to find out. Channeling his star energy, he condensed a pure ball of light right before the sea dragon's eyes. The sudden light and intense heat stunned the creature.
In that moment, Li Chen groaned loudly; his chest sank in and puffed. Unlike other cultivators who had to refine their bodies with their energy throughout the mundane level, Li Chen only had to strengthen his tendons, muscles, and bones.
His internal organs were like jade, giving him the head start of a cultivator at the immortal Daoist level. Immortal Daoist cultivators had purged all that was considered unclean from their bodies, greatly boosting their strength, lifespan, and the amount of energy they could absorb.
Using the beast's stunned state as a window, he brought out his right hand that held the sword and slashed toward the ball.
A golden arc slashed through the elemental ball and it burst outward, engulfing the sea dragon's head. The bright light made Li Chen close his eyes.
The moment the tail released him, he fell into the water with a loud splash. Waving his hands on the surface of the water, he looked at the headless corpse with narrowed eyes.
Blood gushed from the gruesome wound, contaminating the water.
Li Chen was about to swim away but he recalled that a beast like the sea dragon would surely possess a beast core. 'Ah, but it would be an attunement with water. It's worthless to cultivate, but I can sell it.'
With that thought, he went for the beast. Never in his life did he think that his peaceful, sad, and almost boring life on earth would turn into an adventure of this sort.
Li Chen reached the corpse, dug his fist into its chest from the neck and brought out a glowing blue orb.
It glowed like sapphire, reflecting in his obsidian iris.
Suddenly, Li Chen felt another aura and his eyes widened. 'Shit!'
At that moment, a much bigger sea dragon with two horns, a white mane, and thick oval scales emerged from the green water, a white mist gushing from her wide nostrils.
Her eyes trembled when she saw her son's corpse.
[Wait! I can explain!] Li Chen yelled and he was stunned by his words a second later. 'Did I really bet on explaining to a beast?'
Grr—!
Li Chen's eyes sharpened and he was about to form another elemental ball but the mother sea dragon sensed it and tightened her tail around him.
The sound of his bones pierced the air, along with Li Chen's screams. Raising his sword high, he struck the beast but his sword bounced off its scales.
'I guess a 6-star-mortal-grade sword is useless to a beast with the energy fluctuations of a 20-star-immortal human cultivator.'
'Wait… energy!' Li Chen's eyes widened when he realized his sword's capability would be better once he wrapped it with enough energy, probably from his light element.
However, the sea dragon, furious that it couldn't easily crush Li Chen, launched forward like a cobra.
It was so fast that it almost swallowed him in a blink of an eye but a blue beam burst through its head from behind.
The hum of the beam pierced the air and it sliced the tail that coiled around Li Chen. Looking around, Li Chen discovered he hovered mid air and an excited sword swooshed around him.
'A swordsman!' His eyes shone.
Swordsmen were rare. They were privileged cultivators with great talents with the sword. Each of them had formed an embryo and groomed it in their swords, giving the blade a life of its own!
A swordsman couldn't compare to a cultivator like Pig Yun when it came to physical strength but a thousand Pig Yuns would die should he face a swordsman of his level or even a level lower.
The excited sword took him to the bank and he fell on his knees, breathing heavily as he recalled his near-death experience.
"You have a strong will, young one." A man so old that his body shook with each step walked out of the bamboo forest.
Garbed in white robes, he holds a crooked staff in his right hand and his left around the gourd attached to his waist.
The aura of death was thick around the old man, meaning his death was imminent.
Opening his eyes a little wider, he examined Li Chen, who stayed silent. "You can speak. I have been watching you for a while. It was foolish to stay within the premises of the rabbit and you're about to do the same here."
Nodding, Li Chen took the beast's cores and followed him. Midway, he discovered that no matter how fast he walked, the old man was a step further than him.
"It's nothing perplexing; you don't have a movement technique, that's all," the man chuckled.
"You can call me old Li; I have a hut just at the peak." He stretched his trembling arm towards the peak of a distant mountain.
[This is a joke, right?!]