Chapter 251: Chapter 149: Immortal Slayer (Part 2)

These days, his name was legendary even among the Cultivators of the Immortal Palace.

Every Cultivator had heard that the Lower Realm had produced an absurdly powerful leader of the Martial Dao, a man they had dubbed the “Immortal Slayer”!

Rumor had it that the number of Cultivators who had died by his hand over the years was approaching ten thousand!

Many Cultivators were so terrified that the mere mention of his name would make their blood run cold.

To have personally killed nearly ten thousand Cultivators!

And these were elite Cultivators, the kind sent to wage war in the Lower Realm.

As the name “Immortal Slayer” spread, it became enough to stop the crying children of the Cultivation Realm!

…

For years, the Immortal Palace had wanted to establish a massive Immortal Sect in the Lower Realm. This would allow them to dispatch a Sect Leader at the Divine Splitting Realm, leading Nascent Soul Elders, to completely eradicate the source of the turmoil.

But Li Chang’an was a relentless obstacle, like a piece of tough, sticky candy that could neither be shaken off nor chewed through. No matter what methods they employed, they were ultimately driven back.

After repeated attempts, the Immortal Palace finally abandoned this plan.

They found it hard to imagine how a mere native of the Lower Realm like Li Chang’an could have mastered such immense combat power.

It completely defied logic.

After their plans failed time and again, their current strategy had become very simple: send wave after wave of disciples to wear him down.

Eventually, they would exhaust him to death.

In the eyes of the Immortal Palace, the main reason the Lower Realm was so difficult to deal with was this “heretic,” Li Chang’an, causing trouble.

Once Li Chang’an was dead…

The Lower Realm would inevitably become leaderless. It was impossible that another person could ever command the same unquestionable authority and prestige among the Martial Artists as Li Chang’an.

At that point, the Cultivation Realm would only need to employ a few simple tricks—sow some discord and dissent—and the problems in the Lower Realm could be easily resolved.

The Cultivators’ prediction was correct.

Because Li Chang’an foresaw the exact same outcome.

The Immortal Palace controlled thousands of smaller worlds. With its deep foundations and abundant resources, it was a power as deeply rooted as an ancient tree.

The Martial Artists of the Liyang Empire, on the other hand, had only a single world. Worse, that world had already been plundered and harvested by the Immortal Palace several times, its most valuable items and resources long since carried away.

By this point in the war, the problem of resource scarcity was now out in the open, an issue the Liyang Empire had to resolve immediately.

The only reason they could still hold on was because of Li Chang’an, who was single-handedly and painstakingly propping everything up.

Before the war with the Cultivators began, the Lower Realm had an estimated population of at least ten billion.

Technology, culture, and the arts were all flourishing.

But after several thousand years of war against the Cultivators, the population of the Lower Realm had plummeted to less than one billion.

Although both their technology and Martial Dao combat strength had seen significant improvements, the war was still an immense hardship for the Martial Artists and the millions of ordinary citizens. It was so brutal that many had lost the will to go on.

As long as Li Chang’an was alive, the situation remained under control, for now.

But the moment Li Chang’an died, the tide of battle would almost certainly turn, becoming completely one-sided. The Cultivators would gain the absolute advantage.

…

「Emperor Calendar, Year 3121.」

Li Chang’an was just over four thousand years old.

Over the years, everyone around him could clearly see that he had aged a great deal. The number of scars on his body had also multiplied.

For a Martial Artist from the Lower Realm to live for several thousand years was something even the Cultivators found incredible.

The entire Liyang Empire had been beaten into ruins; it was nearly impossible to find a patch of land where even grass could grow.

Over five hundred years ago, Ran Qingqiu’s lifespan had reached its end.

Before her death, she donned her armor and entered the battlefield. She fought a Cultivator of the Nascent Soul Realm for hundreds of exchanges before she was ultimately overcome and killed.

Her death felt like a bad omen.

After that, one tragedy after another befell the Empire.

Li Chang’an’s eldest son, Li Hongying, also reached the end of his life. Following Ran Qingqiu’s example, he too donned his battle armor, entered the fray, and fought the Cultivators until his last drop of blood was spilled.

Su Ying and Leng Yanran, however, were still in relatively good condition.

Their talent in the Martial Dao was exceptional. While their current Cultivation couldn’t match Li Chang’an’s, they weren’t far behind.

Moreover, because Li Chang’an had shouldered all the pressure himself, Su Ying and Leng Yanran had not expended too much of their Origin over the years. As a result, they looked considerably younger than him.

They were deeply worried about his condition.

They had tried to intervene and help him several times, but Li Chang’an always stopped them.

He knew his mission and was prepared to see it through.

But Su Ying and Leng Yanran were different. Their talent for the Martial Dao was truly immense. If not for the limitations of the Lower Realm’s Martial Dao and the suppression of the World Consciousness by the Cultivation Realm, which prevented them from advancing further, their future accomplishments would have been unimaginable.

’If they can just survive this ordeal.’

’They might yet see a far more beautiful sea of stars.’

Having fought to this point, one would expect the Cultivators to press their advantage and extinguish the last embers of the Liyang Empire.

Yet now, the Cultivators were suddenly in no hurry to send more people down.

The reason was simple: they had calculated that Li Chang’an’s lifespan was nearly spent and his death was imminent. There was no longer any need to send people to wear him down. All they had to do was wait quietly for him to die.

“’Time is on the Cultivators’ side? No. Time is on my side.’ Li Chang’an merely smiled at the thought, and secretly contacted the World-Devouring Whale.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep