Chapter 426: Heart Struggle (Part 4)

The middle-aged alchemist said with a smile.

"What is there to prepare? Outsiders don't know, but between you and me, why keep up the charade... In this world, where is there anyone who can truly be called an 'Immortal'?"

"Yingzhou, Fangzhang, and Penglai are nothing more than excuses used to trick the Emperor out of sea vessels and young boys and girls."

Zheng Anqi shook his head.

"Senior Brother, you should still be careful."

The middle-aged alchemist gave a carefree laugh and rolled up his sleeves.

"Careful of what? Setting sail is a life-and-death gamble to begin with. You and I, as fellow disciples, may never see each other again, and you are the only one who can understand me... If I were to lie to you, what would be the point?"

Zheng Anqi fell silent.

After a long while, he spoke slowly.

"Senior Brother, are you certain that by sailing east, you can find Master?"

"After attaining the Xuanlan Realm, I increasingly feel that Master deliberately erased our memories of him, leaving only a vague shadow... How are you so sure he went out to sea?"

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged alchemist tapped his own temple.

"Although our memories only contain a vague figure, there is one common point: in our memories, Master was always watching the sea."

Zheng Anqi frowned.

"Is that all?"

The middle-aged alchemist said with a smile.

"That is enough."

"You and I, these remnants of the Six States, have long since lost our homes. But I am different from you; I no longer even have the heart for revenge. I only want to fulfill my final wish before I die—to meet Master and say thank you."

"Following my thoughts, if I die, so be it. Hehe."

The middle-aged alchemist laughed in a way that was both carefree and helpless. Zheng Anqi did not know how to respond and could only remain silent. The two stood there for a long while before the middle-aged alchemist spoke again.

"Junior Brother, do you still intend to continue assassinating the Emperor?"

"I do."

Zheng Anqi's words carried not a hint of hesitation.

"Fine then."

The middle-aged alchemist shrugged.

"However, Junior Brother might want to hurry... The Emperor's health is not good; he might not wait for you to kill him."

Zheng Anqi remained silent.

"Forget it, I'm off, Junior Brother."

The middle-aged alchemist turned around.

"Is there anything you want me to tell Master? If I truly find him."

Zheng Anqi thought for a moment and said only one thing.

"Thank you."

The middle-aged alchemist waved his hand and walked away.

Zheng Anqi turned his head and continued to look at Langya Terrace.

Suddenly, he heard a whistling sound from behind, as if something extremely heavy had been thrown at him.

Zheng Anqi raised his hand to catch it, and upon looking at it, he saw a piece of pitch-black metal, the material of which was unrecognizable. As his fingers brushed the back, he felt a few carved characters.

He turned the metal and saw five Qin-style seal script characters on the back.

"The Ancestral Dragon dies this year."

The middle-aged alchemist's laughter came from behind.

"Meteorite iron from beyond the heavens, I just carved a few words on it."

"This charlatan doesn't have any other means, so I'll give this to you, Junior Brother, as a parting gift. It might be useful later... I'm off."

Zheng Anqi turned his head.

The middle-aged alchemist was already gone.

After a long while, he said hoarsely.

"Until we meet again... Senior Brother Xu."

The scene changed for the last time. Zheng Anqi was now frail and elderly, his arms as withered as tree branches, his skin dry and wrinkled. He leaned against a tree trunk, gasping for breath, his chest heaving like an old, broken bellows.

His lifespan was nearing its end.

Yet, he was still a Heaven-Man who cultivated both Nature and Life. By all rights, he should not have shown such fatigue until the very last moment before death.

Firstly, he had suffered too many injuries during his previous attempts to assassinate the Emperor, several of which had damaged his foundation and could no longer be healed by cultivation methods.

Secondly, it was because of a smell.

A stench lingered at the tip of his nose.

It was the smell of abalone rotting under the scorching sun.

But Zheng Anqi could naturally distinguish a different, subtle odor within the stench of the abalone.

The smell of a rotting corpse.

The sun was high in the sky, and a convoy was moving slowly not far away. Armored soldiers were lined up on both sides, and several Heaven-Men no weaker than him were patrolling the surroundings, ready to strike at any moment.

In the very center of the convoy was a carriage.

The stench was emanating from there.

There lay the corpse of the enemy Zheng Anqi had pursued his entire life.

Zheng Anqi suddenly laughed silently.

Dozens of failures, a lifetime of sacrifice, and just before the moment he was closest to success... his enemy had died of old age.

How ridiculous.

He had long forgotten what his parents looked like. On the road of revenge, everyone who had traveled with him had also died. He had nothing... Revenge had gradually become his means of seeking death.

If the assassination succeeded, he would die for a cause.

If the assassination failed, he could also find release.

But even this obsession had now become a joke.

He had become an empty shell, unable to live and unable to die.

Zheng Anqi slowly raised his hand, True Qi gathering in his palm, and struck toward his own face. He dispersed the protective True Qi on his head; with this one strike, he could be completely liberated.

But as his palm reached his face, it stopped.

Zheng Anqi remembered someone.

"Senior Brother Xu... did you find Master?"

He muttered.

Following these words, his palm slowly lowered.

"I have never heard news of Senior Brother Xu again; perhaps he already died at sea... If he had found Master, he would not have failed to come find me."

"I should also go find Master, and die on the road."

Zheng Anqi turned slowly and walked in the direction away from the convoy.

"Senior Brother went east, I should go southeast."

"If my lifespan is nearing its end... the Xuanlan cultivation method left by Master has a way to transfer one's 'Nature' into another shell, though as time passes, one becomes less and less like oneself... But that does not matter."

"If I cannot find Master, I will just build a sect on the sea in the southeast... What was the name of the Immortal Island Senior Brother Xu went to sea to find? Yingzhou?"

The muttering faded into the distance.

The convoy moved slowly forward, the stench mixed with incense, and black abalone slid across the golden coffin, making a sticky sound.

The final memory ended.

Li Miao slammed a fist into Zheng Anqi's chest. The moment his fist touched the protective True Qi, his skin suddenly split into countless tiny openings, revealing several tentacles with sharp teeth rapidly rolling beneath the skin. In just an instant, they scraped away a layer of the protective True Qi.

Li Miao's fist stopped an inch from Zheng Anqi's chest.

But the next instant, his fist retracted an extremely tiny distance—and then, as if teleporting, struck out again, blasting a shrill sonic boom within a distance of less than a finger's width!

Boom!

Zheng Anqi flew backward, blood gushing from his mouth.

His protective True Qi had been completely shattered.

The "Nature" he had planted within Li Miao's body had also been devoured, with less than thirty percent remaining.

And Li Miao's palm, in the next instant, had already clamped onto his neck.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 427 =====