The Immortal Clan begins with deductive intelligence.

Several men dressed in animal skins were gathered in front of the wooden house, warming themselves by a fire, cursing and swearing, completely unaware that death was approaching.

"This awful weather is freezing! And the boss, even though he's injured, won't let us go out and have some fun. We're stuck in this godforsaken place all day."

"Say less, the boss's in a bad mood right now. If he hears you, you'll be in trouble..."

Before he could finish speaking...

"laugh!"

A faint blue light pierced through the air and instantly penetrated the core of the warning formation.

"boom!"

With a loud bang, the mist surrounding the water village immediately dissipated.

"Who?!"

Before the men could react, they heard shouts of battle erupting from all sides.

"kill!"

Xu Da took the lead and slashed down at the henchmen with his sword.

Blood splattered.

At the same time, Li Shan on the right wing was not to be outdone. He threw out several fireball talismans, which instantly set the wooden houses ablaze, with flames shooting into the sky.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

Chaos reigned within the water fortress, with flames erupting everywhere. The deafening roar of exploding talismans mingled with screams, startling a large flock of water birds into flight from the reeds.

Hearing the commotion outside, the one-eyed owl's single eye flashed with a fierce light as it grabbed the large, ghost-headed sword beside it.

They saw their own men, who usually boasted of being ruthless killers, being forced to retreat under the siege of the Li and Xu family cultivators, unable to even form a proper formation.

"A bunch of useless trash!"

This band of outlaws only came together temporarily because of the defeat at the front. They were fine when things were going well, but once they encountered a tough opponent, they would scatter like monkeys when the tree fell.

He clutched the old wound on his chest that was still throbbing, a ruthless and resolute glint in his eyes.

Where there is life, there is hope.

With a stomp of its foot, the one-eyed owl caused the entire wooden house to collapse, raising clouds of dust.

Using the smoke and dust as cover, he darted straight toward the depths of the reeds behind the water village.

"Trying to run away?"

Seeing the water churning beneath the wooden house, Xu Changqing leaped into the air and chased after the rapidly receding black shadow underwater.

The two chased and fled, covering two or three miles in the blink of an eye.

One-Eyed Owl held his breath underwater, cursing inwardly, "How can this brat be so persistent? I've already avoided his attacks, yet he still won't let go!"

Knowing that his injuries had not yet healed and that staying underwater for too long would inevitably disrupt his blood circulation, he steeled himself, spotted a huge black reef protruding from the water ahead, and with a powerful push off the muddy bottom, he burst out of the water and landed steadily on the reef.

"You little brat! Don't push your luck!"

One-Eyed Owl held a large sword across his chest, his entire body radiating a murderous aura. His single eye was fixed on Xu Changqing, who had arrived shortly afterward, and he shouted sharply:

"I don't want to get entangled with you today. If you know what's good for you, you'd better leave. Otherwise, even if we fight to the death, you won't come out unscathed!"

Xu Changqing stood on a dead tree three zhang away, his clothes were not wet, his expression was indifferent, and he did not say a word.

He simply raised his right hand slowly, palm facing outward, aiming it at the one-eyed owl.

Upon seeing this, the one-eyed owl's alarm bells rang in his mind. Before he could react, he saw a flash of purple light in Xu Changqing's palm, and the pale lightning that had been brewing for a long time suddenly lit up.

"Zzz—Boom!"

Thunder roared, and a white light, like a ribbon, pierced the dim sky, rushing straight towards our faces.

Thunder magic?!

The one-eyed owl's pupils shrank suddenly, and he was terrified.

The family cultivators on the outskirts of this great swamp mostly practice water and wood-based techniques. This kind of extremely powerful and yang thunder magic has always been mastered only by those orthodox Taoist sects.

"A Taoist disciple?!"

With nowhere to hide, the one-eyed owl gritted his teeth and pulled out a palm-sized black tortoise-shell shield from his robes, frantically pouring spiritual power into it.

"Buzz!"

The tortoise-shell shield swelled in the wind, growing to the size of a millstone, and stood in front of him.

"Bang!"

The lightning struck the tortoise-shell shield, the arcs of electricity scattering and creating a shocking crack on the shield's surface, which also dimmed the spiritual light.

One-Eyed Owl felt his arm go numb, and his hand felt like it was about to crack, but he calmed down a little and secretly made a plan:

"This lightning technique is powerful, but it consumes the most spiritual energy and meridians. This kid is only at the fifth level of Qi Refining. Even if he has secret techniques, let's see how many lightning strikes of this intensity he can unleash..."

Before the thought had even finished, another flash of white light appeared in Xu Changqing's palm.

"Bang!"

The lightning struck the tortoise-shell shield with a muffled thud. The spiritual light on the shield's surface dimmed slightly, but it barely managed to block the attack.

One-Eyed Owl was overjoyed and was about to use the opportunity to escape.

however.

Before he could even catch his breath...

"boom!"

The third one!

"Again?!"

The one-eyed owl's eyes were bloodshot, and he had no choice but to desperately channel his spiritual power into the shield.

"Snap!"

The tortoise shell shield let out a mournful cry and shattered completely into several pieces of ordinary iron, which fell into the water.

The one-eyed owl's eye twitched, and he was horrified.

Xu Changqing's expression remained calm and his breathing steady, as if those few blows were nothing more than casual flicks of the wrist, and the purple marks on his palms reappeared.

The fourth palm strike!

This bolt of lightning was more condensed than the previous three.

"That's impossible!"

The one-eyed owl was terrified. Using the force of the recoil, he staggered but managed to create a distance of several feet.

But at this moment, he had no will to fight left, only deep fear.

A Qi Refining Level 5 cultivator unleashed four palm lightning bolts in succession; such power is insurmountable!

Xu Changqing, however, was relentless. He pushed off with his foot and closed in again.

One-Eyed Owl sensed that the killing intent behind him had not diminished, but rather intensified, and made a firm decision.

He suddenly stopped and turned around. His single eye was filled with madness, and his hands formed a strange hand seal. His spiritual energy was chaotic, and he looked like he was about to self-destruct and fight to the death.

"You brat, you've gone too far! I'll take you down with me!"

He roared, his voice echoing across the surrounding area.

Seeing this, Xu Changqing paused, and the fifth bolt of lightning in his palm was poised to strike.

"die!"

Xu Changqing raised his hand and waved it, and lightning roared out, heading straight for the one-eyed owl's chest.

However, just as the lightning was about to strike, the One-Eyed Owl's previously crazed expression suddenly changed in a strange way.

His body, which seemed about to self-destruct, withered away in an instant, turning into a light, flimsy human skin.

Shedding its skin like a cicada!

The real one-eyed owl had already used that momentary illusion to transform into a bloody shadow, shooting out sideways while skimming the water's surface.

"boom!"

The fifth palm strike hit the human skin, blasting it into ashes.

"Hahaha! Kid, you're still too green!"

The one-eyed owl, already ten feet away, was overjoyed.

This move, "Blood Shadow Escape," is his trump card for survival. Although using it once will cost him three years of his lifespan, it's all worth it as long as he can escape.

He glanced back at Xu Changqing, his eyes filled with resentment and disdain.

"If I weren't still recovering from serious injuries and only at the fifth level of Qi Refining, I could crush a junior like you with one hand!"

"The day I recover from my injuries will be the day you die!"

One-Eyed Owl was filled with rage. If he could escape today and recover from his injuries, he would definitely devour this brat alive!

Xu Changqing stood there, watching the lightning miss its target, but his face did not show the panic or annoyance that One-Eyed Owl had expected.

He simply watched the blood-red shadow fleeing rapidly into the distance, and slowly raised his slightly reddened right hand.

Under the cover of night, his expression was eerily calm.

The second dose of the Five Internal Organs Strengthening Soup a few days ago, while not as transformative as the first, did make his skin and meridians a bit more resilient.

This resilience means—

The sixth one!

Xu Changqing took a deep breath, and the remaining spiritual energy in his body surged into his Laogong acupoint without reservation.

The purple mark on his palm, which had been somewhat faded, suddenly burst forth with a dazzling light once more.

"go."

Xu Changqing uttered a single word.

"besides?!"

The thought had barely formed in his mind when his body could no longer react.

"puff!"

A soft sound.

That was the sound of lightning piercing through flesh and blood.

The one-eyed owl froze abruptly, its single eye widening in disbelief as it looked down at its chest.

There, a charred hole appeared; the heart had already been vaporized by the lightning force in an instant.

"How...how is this possible..."

"The sixth...path..."

A gurgling sound came from his throat; the relief of surviving the ordeal had frozen into astonishment.

"Thump."

The body plunged into the water, splashing up a small spray before being swallowed by the murky water.