Seed of Dao

Becoming a disciple?

Ye Chen still stood frozen behind the tree, his hands gripping the bark until his knuckles turned white.

Flying swords. Fireballs. Lightning summoned from bare hands.

This is real. This is truly real.

His eyes didn't blink as they followed every movement in the air, too fast to follow completely, but clear enough to prove this wasn't an illusion. The ground cracked beneath them. Trees fell due to pressure waves. The air itself seemed to vibrate every time those weapons collided.

But even after seeing it directly, part of his brain trained for years in the modern world still refused to fully believe it.

Am I dreaming? Or hallucinating?

Such disbelieving thoughts kept appearing in his head. After all, living for twenty-five years on Earth, he had seen many things—whether strange, horrifying, or otherwise absurd. War zones in the Middle East, covert operations in African forests, even strange rituals performed by local militias.

But this was the first time he'd seen something that truly violated all the laws of physics he knew.

He really didn't want to believe it. But what was before him could no longer be denied.

Immortal. The two people fighting fiercely in the sky must be Immortal beings!

For a while, Ye Chen sank into his thoughts, not knowing what to do. Keep observing? Retreat before they noticed him? Or wait for the battle's outcome?

Wait for the result. Gather as much information as possible.

The decision was made. He stayed in position, eyes continuing to follow the increasingly brutal battle.

Who knows how much time had passed—perhaps only a few minutes, but it felt like hours—the battle in the air finally stopped. Two vague figures fell hard to the ground, creating dust and debris.

"Is it over?"

Ye Chen couldn't help but ask in his heart. After all, seeing miracles and new things for the first time, he felt that what just happened felt very short. He even wanted to see more, wanted to know the limits of such power.

"*Cough*... *Cough*...."

A hoarse and heavy coughing sound stopped Ye Chen's reverie.

Looking toward the source of the sound, he immediately saw a handsome young man, around his early twenties, sitting weakly on the ground. The young man was clearly severely injured, with blood continuously flowing from his mouth, and the white clothing on his entire body had been dyed red with blood. Even from ten meters away, Ye Chen could see deep wounds on his body, wounds that should have immediately killed an ordinary human.

Strangely, although his condition was very worrying, Ye Chen saw a slight smile and satisfied gaze in both his eyes.

Does this Immortal being not care about his life?

"Damn it!"

A voice that sounded very angry and cold came from the other side.

Turning in the other direction, Ye Chen found that the one fighting with the young man earlier was actually a middle-aged man with a cold, arrogant face that looked very cruel.

Like the young man wearing white clothes, the middle-aged man in dark red clothes on the other side was also severely injured, even more severely than his opponent. His right arm was severed and blood was still flowing. Moreover, there was a large penetrating wound in his left chest that went through to his back.

Setting aside the clearly visible wounds, the middle-aged man surely wouldn't be able to last much longer.

But at this moment, he suddenly laughed coldly. And when his voice reached Ye Chen's ears, he felt a chill throughout his body.

"Boy, you truly don't know the meaning of death!" The cold and heavy voice of the middle-aged man was truly piercing. "If only you hadn't rejected my suggestion, you surely wouldn't have died! You people of the Heavenly Alliance are truly foolish!"

Although Ye Chen was more than ten meters away from him, he truly felt cold. His body couldn't help but tremble.

Immortal... just by hearing his voice alone, I can't stand it!

Truly beings beyond imagination!

"He... hehe... he...."

The sound of forced satisfied laughter came from the other side. When Ye Chen looked at it, he was truly confused.

He really didn't understand how someone about to die could have such an appearance. There was no fear, regret, or anything negative. What existed was only scorn, pride, and satisfaction on his face.

Immortal... are they truly beyond reason!?

With both their conditions, could they really come back to life, so they weren't afraid of death?

No!

Ye Chen immediately found that the young man was no longer moving. Although he still had his eyes open with a proud expression and faintly appeared to be smiling, his chest was no longer rising and falling. His breathing had stopped.

He was already dead.

"Haha!"

The loud and satisfied laughter from the middle-aged man confirmed Ye Chen's observation.

"He's really still alive!"

Ye Chen instantly almost wanted to retreat and flee when he saw the middle-aged man was still alive and laughing. These two Immortal beings were truly hard to kill. Especially the middle-aged man whose heart or at least chest had clearly been pierced.

Wait. The flying sword that had previously been embedded in the man's chest was now in his left hand. Moreover, the sword began to shrink and transform into something like a black dagger fifteen centimeters long.

A weapon that could change size? This is getting more absurd...

"Boy."

The man suddenly turned and called in his direction.

The moment he saw the man's gaze and face, Ye Chen's heart unconsciously began to beat very fast. His entire body trembled, and the coldness from sweat soaking his back made him very frightened.

Terrifying!

Just seeing this Immortal's gaze, Ye Chen truly couldn't control his body!

That cold, indifferent gaze was like a deadly beast—even though Ye Chen had seen many killings and so on, he truly couldn't suppress the fear in his heart.

But still, Ye Chen knew that nothing good would happen next, because he clearly found that the middle-aged man's gaze and facial expression was the expression of a very cruel person. Just by looking at him alone, Ye Chen knew that the man never cared about humans, as if humans were just pigs and dogs.

Counting what happened now and what Ye Chen experienced, his parents, and Siqing village, this man must be the mastermind behind all the bad things that happened.

While the well-dressed young man on the other side was an immortal from the righteous path, trying to seek justice for all human lives in Siqing village. Unfortunately he failed and ended up dying too.

Now, considering what had happened, Ye Chen immediately thought quickly and several options immediately appeared in his brain. The first was to immediately flee from this place as far as possible. Counting the wounds suffered by the other party, he surely wouldn't be able to chase him.

The second was to kill this cruel man to avenge the past. But Ye Chen was aware that with his current condition, the first option was the most realistic. But somehow, the tightness in his chest and the surging adrenaline were very nauseating.

The thought to immediately advance and rush to kill was the right thing!

Perhaps it was the desire of Ye Chen's soul in this world. But Ye Chen from Earth knew that it was completely unrealistic for an ordinary human to kill an immortal like that middle-aged man.

He wasn't stupid, and knew that once he intended to kill, the middle-aged man would surely kill him easily. Although he was severely injured, he was an Immortal being. Beings like them couldn't be comprehended by mortals like himself.

So, he made his own choice and just stood in his position while waiting for an opportunity to escape.

Unfortunately, the man seemed to understand Ye Chen's intentions and spoke again, "Kid, are you willing to become my disciple?"

"Disciple?"

The question that didn't seem to match any of the possibilities Ye Chen had thought of before truly dazed him, and he didn't know how to respond.

Was there such a coincidental occurrence? How could it be that in a situation already like this, the man would accept him as a disciple? Although Ye Chen also wanted to become an Immortal and have a teacher to guide him, could this dying man do it!?

Thinking of the pros and cons, Ye Chen never believed he would be taken as a disciple because of good things he had done on Earth.

"Kid, with my current condition, at most I can only live for one more hour at longest,"

The middle-aged man truly understood Ye Chen's thoughts and began to explain in a softer tone, "If I can't live much longer, why would I think about killing and silencing? This old man has lived more than 100 years, and I only have 20 years left in normal times. But now, I will die, so I'm just thinking of other things."

"That's right, I've never had a disciple, and at my death's end now, I suddenly thought of it. How about it, are you willing to inherit my mantle?"