“Where’s the slightest resemblance of a fellow disciple? Let alone helping each other, it’s already fortunate if they don’t stab you in the back when it matters most.”
After the others left, Li Tan murmured to himself.
The scale-armored snake had already swallowed the male disciple completely. Now it raised its head toward Li Tan, flicking its tongue out threateningly. Although stupid, this beast sensed something different about the current opponent compared to those before.
Li Tan slowly drew the rusty sword from his back and walked unhurriedly toward the snake, his expression completely blank.
The snake hissed threateningly, but when it met Li Tan’s cold, emotionless gaze, it inexplicably felt a chill despite being temperature-insensitive. Instinctively, it began to retreat.
Outwardly, Li Tan appeared to pose little threat, seemingly no different from the one it had just consumed. Yet, when it prepared to attack, the snake’s danger-avoidance instinct screamed warnings in its mind. It suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to flee, sensing instinctively that fighting this human would cost it its life.
The snake quickly turned around and frantically slithered backward.
“Want to run?”
Remembering the previous snake, Li Tan wanted to test how much damage his rusty sword could inflict on these scales. He activated the Maya Steps, instantly appearing in front of the fleeing snake after several quick movements, then thrust his sword forward powerfully.
A metallic clashing sound rang out. Although the rusty sword met some resistance, it still pierced through the snake’s armored scales.
The snake clearly hadn’t expected anyone to directly penetrate its defenses. It screamed in pain like a hysterical shrew and wildly thrashed its tail.
Li Tan skillfully backflipped to dodge and now had his answer.
Although the rusty sword could damage this snake’s armor, it was somewhat difficult. The previous snake was indeed as he had judged—his sword wouldn’t have been effective against its scales initially.
“Since you’ve killed someone, you must die. Otherwise, I can’t explain this.”
Li Tan activated the Maya Steps again, leaping into the air and delivering a fatal blow.
The rusty sword pierced through the snake’s head, killing it instantly.
Li Tan retracted his sword stance, stood upright, and symbolically retrieved the beast core before heading back. Not far ahead, the four fleeing disciples returned under the leadership of Sima Luo.
Going directly to find Sima Luo, clearly showing little trust in me. The three female disciples were obviously afraid that Li Tan wouldn’t be a match. Li Tan considered these trivial concerns beneath his notice and walked toward the group.
Sima Luo’s hair was disheveled from the thorns along the way, looking somewhat disheveled. He ignored his appearance and anxiously asked, “Where is that person?”
“Dead.”
Li Tan tossed the beast core to Sima Luo. “Killed by it.”
“Dead…” Sima Luo stared at the beast core, his hands trembling. “You lot, tell me exactly what happened.” The remaining two males and two females hurriedly stepped forward, with the argumentative male disciple speaking first.
“We were resting and having some food when suddenly a big snake appeared,” he said.
“The two of them grabbed their swords and rushed forward, claiming the beast was nothing to worry about,” added the marginalized male disciple, pointing at the argumentative one.
“You!”
The argumentative male disciple flushed red but, catching Sima Luo’s murderous glare, reluctantly shut his mouth.
The two female disciples spoke in succession.
“Brother Liu said he would protect us,” said one female disciple, pointing at the marginalized male disciple. Then she turned to the argumentative male disciple, “And then Brother Chen came running back too.”
Chen, the argumentative male disciple, was practically furious, panicking internally. He had fled midway, and his fellow disciple’s death was largely his fault. If blame fell on him, the punishment would be severe.
The speaking female disciple quickly lowered her head in fear and fell silent. Another female disciple continued the account.
“After that, Senior Brother Zhang was devoured by the snake. Senior Brothers Liu and Chen fled. My senior sister and I were too terrified to move until Master Li arrived just in time.”
As she spoke, she cast a grateful glance toward Li Tan.
Sima Luo stared at the beast core for a moment, roughly understanding what had happened. He coldly snorted and questioned the disciples Chen and Liu.
“If you consider what you’ve done good!” Obviously, he had guessed what they were up to at that moment.
When Chen thought about the possibility of being confined, his face turned pale. His mind raced and suddenly lit up as if he had thought of a bad idea. He pointed at Li Tan and said, “Actually, I was careless because I knew Master Li was nearby. I assumed Master Li would help us if anything happened. Well, I also misunderstood at that moment, thinking there was another beast attacking from behind, so I prioritized protecting the two junior sisters!”
Liu, whose expression was hard to describe whether from shock at his companion’s shamelessness, opened his eyes wide and was about to curse him for being despicable. Suddenly, he realized they were on the same boat, so he quickly changed his tone, pointing at Li Tan.
“That’s right. I indeed was negligent, but certainly not intentionally causing Senior Brother Zhang’s death.”
These two were shifting the small blame onto themselves while pushing the major blame onto Li Tan.
“Is what they said true?”
Sima Luo asked the two female disciples.
They exchanged glances, both remaining silent, clearly showing their disbelief.
Sima Luo glared angrily at Liu.
Liu immediately broke into a cold sweat. However, he suddenly had an idea and quickly changed his expression to one of sudden realization.
“Master, there’s something I don’t understand,” Liu said. “At that time, Master Li was clearly not far from us. Why did he only come to rescue after Senior Brother Zhang had died?”
Frowning, Sima Luo looked at Li Tan. “Are you implying that Master Li intentionally wanted to harm you?”
“No, no, no,” Liu quickly shook his head. “Senior Brother Zhang and I accidentally upset Master Li before. I suppose Master Li only bore grudges against the two of us. Therefore, when Senior Brother Zhang was in danger, Master Li hesitated. It was this hesitation that cost Senior Brother Zhang his life. Actually, this can’t really be blamed on Master Li.”
This statement sounded polite, seemingly not offending either side—you were not wrong, and neither were we.
In reality, though, it not only completely shifted the responsibility away from themselves but also painted Li Tan as petty and vindictive. If there were any repercussions upon returning, Li Tan would definitely be the one to bear the blame.
Sima Luo’s face darkened with anger, clearly believing Liu’s words to some extent. “Master Li, do you have anything to say?”
Li Tan replied, “The one who was eaten encountered the scale-armored snake and recklessly charged forward, still trying to slash it with his sword. Forgive this junior’s inability to help.”
Liu opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a female disciple who spoke first.
“Actually, just now Senior Brothers Zhang and Liu told everyone not to eat dry rations and wanted to make a fire to roast meat. Master Li told us not to make a fire, as it might attract beasts. However, Senior Brothers Zhang and Liu said making a fire would attract beasts to help complete the mission. When Liu mentioned offending Master Li, that probably refers to this incident.”
Sima Luo wasn’t stupid. Although he subconsciously hoped Li Tan had made a mistake, after hearing these words, he found it difficult to continue blaming Li Tan.
“Didn’t I emphasize repeatedly that lighting fires is strictly prohibited in the Fallen Immortal Realm?”
Sima Luo coldly questioned.
Both disciples Liu and Chen trembled, their lips turning pale as they lowered their heads.
“Your humble disciples know our crime.”
Li Tan had no intention of arguing with them. His pride disdained such behavior, so he strode forward.
“This junior will check other areas to prevent similar incidents from happening again.”
“Poor sword technique?”
Sima Luo angrily said, “Just another fool. We’ll discuss this matter back at the sect. You lot continue your training.”
As Sima Luo walked back to the camp, his face remained dark.
His current anger wasn’t about the death of a person but rather about Li Tan’s words.
Sword techniques primarily consisted of thrusting and slashing motions. Given the characteristics of swords, hacking wasn’t a standard sword technique—something even a three-year-old would understand. That his inner sect disciples had forgotten such a fundamental principle and ended up dying in the jaws of a beast was nothing short of what they deserved.
As Sima Luo returned to the camp, the thought of the first death in decades of training occurring under his supervision made his head ache.
It took him a long time to recover. He took out the sheepskin map, looking at it while muttering, “Tomorrow, we’ll go this way.”
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