Tales Of The Exiled Immortal

CHAPTER 3

Rain’s expression darkened further as the banging continued and it wasn’t the polite kind of knock you get from someone with good intentions. It was loud, commanding, and sharp like whoever was outside was already pissed and just needed an excuse to cause trouble.

Still, Rain stood up, his steps were steady as he walked to the door and opened it.

The face that greeted him was all too familiar, grey sect robes, an arrogant chin tilted up just a little too high, and a golden crest pinned to his chest. Rain’s gaze flicked over it once.

A golden-crest outer disciple, someone guaranteed to be picked by an elder during the upcoming five-year trial. A so-called rising star.

To the sect, this badge meant potential but Rain, it meant nothing.

The five-year trial was only for those the elders had overlooked during recruitment. Anyone at Foundation Establishment Realm or above had a shot. That was the bare minimum. Anyone weaker was simply background noise.

Rain? Ten years and still stuck in Qi Gathering Realm. A perfect definition of the sect’s favorite joke and trash.

"What do you want, Jackson?" Rain asked coldly, his eyes locking on the man with the crest.

Jackson. He remembered him. They had taken the sect test together ten years ago. Now Jackson stood at the middle stage of the Core Spirit Realm. With that badge on his chest, he was already halfway through the door into the inner core.

But even now, even after rising in rank, he still came knocking on Rain’s door.

Pathetic.

"What did you do to my brother?" Jackson snapped, eyes gleaming with hostility.

Rain raised a brow, unconcerned. “Oh… that coward’s your brother?”

Jackson didn’t answer.

Rain chuckled. “Relax. I didn’t touch him.”

He tilted his head lazily, mockery dancing in his tone. “The brat pissed himself before I could even raise my voice.”

That smile tugged at the corners of his lips, slow and sharp and it wasn’t just mockery but a satisfaction.

This body he now inhabited, this weak, broken outer sect disciple had memories steeped in humiliation and torment. For years, the former Rain had been treated like garbage by scum like these.

That need for revenge? It had sunk deep into the bones of this body, so much so that Rain could feel it even now, even after a soul transplant.

He couldn’t ignore it and wouldn’t ignore it.

This was one of those obsessions he’d have to clear… and there were many more where this came from.

Jackson’s fists clenched, his breathing ragged with fury. “If you didn’t touch him, then why did he faint the moment he got back to the dorm? Everyone saw his encounter with you! He confronted you after you refused to clean his dorm!”

Rain rolled his eyes.

“I’m not their dog,” he snapped. “If your brother wants a maid, he should go to a brothel and hire one. He and his little rats can rot in their own filth for all I care.”

Jackson’s aura surged.

“You bastard, how dare you!”

With a roar, Jackson cussed molding Qi into his fist, condensing it into a brutal blow meant to maim.

Rain’s eyes narrowed. That attack wasn’t playful. If that punch landed, his bones would snap clean in this current state but he didn’t move.

Not yet.

This wasn’t arrogance, it was instinct and experience. Jackson might be higher in realm, but Rain had fought real battles, blood-soaked, death-waiting-on-the-sidelines battles.

And this brat?

He was just another overgrown bully playing sect politics.

He didn’t just rise to the Void Shattering Realm by sheer luck in his past life, no, Rain had carved that path through blood and carnage, through bone and betrayal, with mountains of corpses beneath his feet.

Jackson? He was just another soon-to-be corpse.

"Eat this, you bastard!" Jackson roared, lunging with his fist glowing in condensed Qi.

Rain’s eyes narrowed, the wind stirred as Jackson’s punch rushed forward but to Rain, it moved like a snail crawling through honey.

"Too slow," Rain scoffed, stepping into the attack rather than away from it.

In one fluid motion, he reached out and grabbed Jackson’s arm before the fist could land, pivoted his weight, and yanked the bastard forward, his own momentum now a weapon against him.

Before Jackson could react, Rain shifted, locked his opponent’s arm over his shoulder, then twisted slightly.

CRACK!

The sickening snap echoed through the hallway,

"AARRRGHHHH!"

Jackson’s scream tore through the quiet, blood-curdling and raw.

He stumbled back, clutching his limp arm with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Y-you... what the fuck did you just do?"

His chest heaved with pain, and his mind spiraled with confusion. Just now… just now, he’d been utterly dominated by none other than Rain.

The sect's legendary punching bag.

"You’ve been hiding so well, haven’t you?" Jackson spat, face twisted in disbelief, fury, and growing fear. "Pretending to be weak this whole time..."

"Hiding what?" Rain frowned genuinely, tilting his head. "That was the most basic counter anyone with half a brain should know."

Jackson froze because he didn’t understand.

Rain continued flatly, “Even children in the Immortal Realm learn this counter. It’s used to break fist-based attacks if your opponent throws it too hard and forgets balance.”

The tone wasn’t mocking, it was just cold, factual, and that somehow made it worse.

To Rain, Jackson wasn’t an opponent. He was a training dummy.

“You were the one dumb enough to hurl your fist like a beast and forget to protect your center,” Rain added. “And now you’re crying like a dog with a broken paw.”

Jackson’s face flushed. His jaw clenched and he looked ready to spit venom until the reality of his shattered arm and the crowd that had begun gathering around him sunk in.

He couldn’t stay here, if word got out that he, Jackson the chosen one with the crest got his ass handed to him by a Qi Gathering realm trash, he’d never live it down.

He was an outer sect disciple, sure but he was one of the strongest. Not the strongest, but respected enough that people bowed slightly when they passed him.

And now? He was nothing but a joke waiting to happen.

Gritting his teeth, Jackson turned his back and muttered, "Rain... we’ll meet in a month. I swear on my core, next time, I won’t hold back."

Then he ran.

Coward.

Rain didn’t bother replying. He just stared at the back of the retreating dog and calmly closed the door behind him.