Chapter 103

Chapter 103

This sudden turn of events instantly paled the faces of the cultivators still chatting and laughing on horseback.

"How could this be!"

They never imagined that their fellow disciples, who had trained in the sect for so many years, would be sent flying by a single palm strike from this wild deity, utterly powerless to retaliate.

"Senior Brother, don’t be afraid! This wild deity has merely absorbed some incense offerings from villagers lately, boosting his strength. But in reality, the power from incense is limited—who knows if it’s even enough for him!"

One of them spoke up.

His words calmed their unease. "Why don’t we all attack together and exhaust his spiritual energy? Once we finish him off quickly, we can head back sooner."

"Yes! Junior Brother is right, that makes perfect sense!" They outnumbered their opponent, who was merely a little kid who had just become a wild deity.

The child looked so young, surely he was timid and nothing to fear!

Once they reached this conclusion, they drew their swords simultaneously, unleashing deadly moves, determined to eliminate the little kid.

But the little kid showed no fear at all.

He snorted coldly, the sound oddly soft. "Come on! Do you think I’m scared?"

He shouted, his less than three-foot frame suddenly seemed to stand eight feet tall.

Were they just bullying him because he looked small and was an easy target?

The little kid knew exactly what they were thinking. He was angry and couldn’t stand being looked down upon.

The child let out a battle cry, picked up a hoe dropped by a villager from the ground, and rushed forward.

The two sides immediately engaged in an intense fight.

You Nan, while fighting his own opponent, pricked up his ears to listen to the situation on Little Immortal’s side, deeply worried that the child might get hurt.

Fortunately, the little kid’s strength was not to be underestimated. Instead, it was the other cultivators who were getting the worst of it during the fight.

Before You Nan could even feel relieved, he noticed the others joining the fray. He frowned, growing more concerned. Worried, shocked, and furious, his spiritual energy surged, showing signs of an imminent breakthrough.

His opponent noticed this and was utterly astonished.

How could this be!

Clearly, every step of their own cultivation was incredibly difficult. Why did this man’s progress seem so effortless, with his power increasing so dramatically?

It wasn’t fair!

Gritting his teeth, the opponent unleashed a deadly move, but this time You Nan didn’t prolong the fight.

With a mere blast of energy, You Nan sent his opponent flying like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily to the ground far away.

This stunned the other disciples.

They hurried to their fellow disciple’s side, helping him up while all asking at once, "Senior Brother, are you alright?"

As they expressed their concern, they couldn’t help but keep looking at You Nan.

The techniques You Nan used were unlike anything they had ever seen. Just by watching, they could tell these moves were far superior to what they had learned in their sect.

How could someone who grew up in the countryside, who stumbled upon the opportunity to cultivate, deserve such powerful spells?

If they could bring these techniques back to their sect, perhaps they would be granted permission to learn them. Then their progress could be just as rapid.

You Nan paid no mind to what they were thinking. Having knocked aside his opponent, he immediately rushed to Little Immortal’s side to help share the burden.

You Nan had been learning techniques from Little Immortal, but whether it was book learning or real practice, his strength had grown rapidly. Realizing that these opponents were no match for him, he fought even more fiercely.

The so-called "Demon-Slaying Squad" attacked together but were utterly defeated by the two of them.

You Nan and the little child joined forces, chasing these people away from their village in disgrace.

"Just you wait! We’ll be back!" they shouted defiantly as they left.

But the little child and You Nan were no longer afraid of them.

The little child placed his hands on his hips—where his waist should be—and said triumphantly, "Fine! I’d like to see how much stronger you’ll be when you return! Hmph! Nothing but losers!"

His words made the cultivators grit their teeth in frustration, while You Nan smiled, his eyes crinkling with amusement.

Little Immortal’s spirited demeanor was truly adorable.

Once these people had left, the villagers who had been hiding emerged from their hiding places.

They surrounded You Nan and Little Immortal, cheering loudly.

"Little Immortal is amazing, defeating all of them! With Little Immortal here, no one will ever bully us again!"

"Xiao Nan can actually use cultivation techniques now? That's incredible!"

"We haven’t made our offerings to Little Immortal today. I’ll go burn incense at the shrine right away!"

Surrounded by the crowd, Little Immortal beamed happily, his smile so wide his eyes nearly disappeared.

But he also noticed the villagers’ envy toward You Nan. To reassure everyone, Little Immortal proudly puffed out his chest and made grand promises.

"My strength is slowly improving! So I’m really good at fighting now! But it’s not enough for just me to be strong. As the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands—you can't fight multiple opponents alone—I still need helpers."

As he spoke, a look of grievance and sadness appeared on the child’s face. "But I’m still so weak, boo hoo."

The child thought of something and began to cry sadly. "Helping people cultivate is so hard. I thought it would be easy. I wanted everyone to fight bad guys with me, but it took so much effort just to help Daddy unblock his meridians. It took me a long time to recover."

Tears streaming down his face, the child patted his little chest. "If only I were stronger, maybe everyone could cultivate…"

The child’s heartfelt crying touched everyone deeply.

A few had been jealous of You Nan’s close relationship with Little Immortal, which had allowed him to become an immortal and have such power.

But now, seeing the child who had just protected them speak so sincerely about his own inadequacy—how he wasn’t strong enough to let everyone cultivate—their hearts were genuinely touched.

What did a child understand? He saw You Nan as his daddy, so of course he would give the best things to You Nan. They were just villagers, with no real chance of cultivating, and their lives were already pretty good.

Besides, Little Immortal was still so young. That he's this strong already is amazing.

"It’s not Little Immortal’s fault! Don’t be sad, Little Immortal! You’re already amazing!"

"Yes, yes, we’re already happy. If it weren’t for you and Xiao Nan, we would have died when the evil spirits attacked, not to mention you saving us again today."

"It’s a good thing Xiao Nan can cultivate with you! That way, you’re not all alone."

The village chief's wife looked at the Little Immortal, her eyes full of affection. "I've heard that immortals have very long lives, so long that everyone they know eventually passes away, leaving them all alone in this world."

"You're still so young, Little Immortal. You have a long road ahead of you, while we only have a few decades left. How could we possibly accompany you to the very end? If it weren't for You Nan staying by your side, we would never feel at ease, knowing you’d be all alone."

The villagers fell silent, and a somber atmosphere settled over them as they reflected on this.

The little child clutched his father's clothes, feeling somewhat uncertain how to respond facing everyone. He just didn’t want people to blame him for only helping his father cultivate immortality.

You Nan patted his head and spoke up. "After those people left today, they will surely come back. They kept calling the Little Immortal an unnatural being and are certain to target him specifically."

You Nan shifted everyone’s attention away from the Little Immortal’s words and redirected it to those with ill intentions who had just left.

"Right now, they are powerful, and to them, we are nothing but fish on a cutting board. If they really bring back more powerful cultivators to target the Little Immortal, there’s no way for any of us to escape."

Hearing You Nan’s words, the villagers grew stirred up.

"These people are absolutely despicable! How dare they treat the Little Immortal like this!"

"If it weren’t for the Little Immortal protecting us, we would have died long ago. We wouldn’t even be standing here talking, let alone being insulted by them!"

Everyone voiced their protests, their expressions angry and stern.

If they had been strong enough to defeat those people, the villagers would have surrounded and overpowered them the moment they set foot in the village—they wouldn’t have been allowed to escape.

You Nan and the Little Immortal thanked the villagers for their trust and support.

"Don’t worry, everyone! As long as I am in this village, I will protect all of you to the very end!"

"Well said!" The crowd cheered for the little child.

After this incident, everyone in the village became more vigilant. Whether working or walking around, they remained alert to their surroundings, watching for any signs of Cultivators.

The little child and You Nan focused on improving their strength.

The cat, having absorbed the worship energy over the past couple of days, had grown stronger.

You Nan, having gained insights during the fight with those people, showed signs of a breakthrough. With the little child protecting him, he felt secure enough to calm his mind and advance directly from Qi Refinement Stage 1 to Level 2, and then to Level 3.

The cat and You Nan, being relatively inexperienced, still felt their progress was too slow.

But if outside Cultivators were to find out, it would certainly cause a huge stir.

For Cultivators at the Qi Refinement Stage, breaking through from Level 1 to Level 2 typically takes about seven days. Reaching Level 3 can take over a month.

These are considered talented individuals with fast cultivation speeds.

Those with poorer aptitudes might take two to three months, or even half a year, to advance just one minor realm.

.

After the village recovered from the evil entity incident a few days prior, the village chief arranged for a group to go to town to buy daily necessities.

The village had a small population, so they didn’t go to town every day. Instead, they went once every ten days or half a month to purchase everything the villagers needed.

This time was no different.

But when they arrived in town, they were shocked to find it completely empty.

The usually busy streets were deserted. There were no vendors on the roadside, not even any homeless beggars.

The villagers shared worried looks. The overwhelming silence felt oppressive. Though unnerved, they got off their ox cart and went door to door, knocking and calling out, hoping to find someone who knew what was going on.

"Is anyone there?"

"Anyone home?"

They shouted loudly, but no matter how hard they knocked or shouted, there was no response—not a single sound, as if the town had become a ghost town.

This terrified the usually brave farmers.

Not daring to stay any longer, they quickly got back on their ox cart and made haste back to the village. Only after they had traveled more than halfway, under the midday sun, did they dare to speak.

"Brother, do you think there are evil spirits or monsters waiting for us here too?" someone whispered.

They kept their voices low, afraid that evil spirits might hear them.

"Not sure. We need to hurry back to the village and tell Xiao Nan and the Little Immortal what happened in town."

The ox cart driver was the village chief’s son. He knew something must have happened in town, and it might affect the safety of several villages.

This was nothing good.

The village chief’s son looked grim, preoccupied with worry.

He touched his chest, where a small figurine was tucked away.

It was a wooden carving made by an elderly villager skilled in wood carving, carved in the likeness of the Little Immortal.

Before they left, the Little Immortal had infused a wisp of his divine awareness into the carving to protect them from danger on the road.

He carefully kept it near his heart, treating it as their protective talisman.

The others nodded in agreement upon hearing the village chief’s son.

"Yes, let’s hurry."

There were too few people on the road—only them. It was deeply unsettling.

Meanwhile, in the county town nearest to the Great Xing Mountain, the group of Cultivators who had retreated in defeat from the mountain’s foothills stopped to rest.

They had originally planned to rest in the small town, but it was completely empty—a ghost town—so they had journeyed farther to reach the county town.

Their Sect had received their earlier message and sent many disciples for reinforcements. They were now waiting here.

When their fellow sect members arrived, especially when they saw that the Outer Elder had also come, they hurried over as if seeing their saviors and immediately reported what happened with the wild deity to the Elder.

"You say you saw a wild deity?"

The Outer Elder’s face remained calm, but his mind was in turmoil.

It had been a long time since a deity had appeared in this world.

The disciples in front of him, unaware of his inner thoughts, nodded vigorously. "Yes, and that wild deity even awakened one of the villagers, making him into a Cultivator."

The Outer Elder’s expression changed abruptly. "Is this true?"

If it were true, it would undermine the very foundation of their Sect.

The head senior disciple's eyes darkened as he said, "It's true. That person is only at the first level of Qi Refining, yet he fought evenly with our junior brother at the third level and even showed signs of a breakthrough. With such a terrifying cultivation speed, it’s hard to guarantee he won’t turn to evil ways in the future."

"Moreover..."

He paused deliberately to draw the elder’s attention. "I believe that the wild deity must possess an extraordinary cultivation technique."

"That Cultivator disciple was carefully examined—his bone structure is utterly ordinary, and his spiritual roots are a disorderly mix of all five elements. Yet, after being enlightened, such a person not only entered the Dao but also possesses such strength. The techniques he uses are unfamiliar to any of us, yet in combat, we were consistently suppressed. It must be due to the profound effects of this technique."

Upon hearing this, the elder narrowed his eyes, already forming a plan. "Very well. In that case, I shall accompany you on this trip. Today, we will confront this wild deity and rid the mortal realm of this evil!"

"Wise decision, Elder!" the disciples shouted in unison, their morale restored.