Immortality begin with Alchemy Grandmaster Chapter 2658 - 980:

"Something is wrong!"

"Everyone, pull back immediately!"

Regrettably, those commands came far too late.

Staring at the figure hovering in the void, one could see his face turn deathly pale before he coughed up a spray of blood.

The Sword Array that surrounded him disintegrated instantly, its structure no longer able to sustain itself.

Terrifying bursts of Sword Qi ripped outward in every direction.

Any life caught in its path was obliterated, turned instantly into a fine mist of gore.

Amidst the wet sounds of slaughter, the disheveled man gestured sharply, recollecting his five Sword Pills and the massive cauldron. He cast one final, hateful look toward Zhou Mingxuan and his nearby companions.

"Useless trash!"

With that parting insult, he vanished into the distance without a second thought.

Zhou Mingxuan stood frozen, his complexion ashen as the reality of the situation dawned on him.

"Luo Chen, you cannot run!"

Within the depths of the Magma Lake, the Cyan Simurgh, its aura severely depleted, dragged itself into the sky.

It glared icily at Zhou Mingxuan and his cohorts before taking off in pursuit of Luo Chen.

Once the man and the beast had vanished, the few surviving members were left behind.

A young woman trembled violently, her eyes wide with terror as she surveyed the scene: hundreds of her companions lay decimated across the ground, transformed into a grim harvest of broken limbs and carnage.

"Brother Zhou, we came here to assist that elder, so why did he attack us instead?"

Zhou Mingxuan offered a mirthless, bitter laugh, unable to find the words to explain.

Assist? It was more like they had been an absolute hindrance.

The strange cultivator and the demon were locked in a precarious, high-stakes deadlock—one striving to refine, the other resisting with all their might. By rushing into the fray, they had distracted the man, destabilizing the surrounding Sword Array and causing his containment efforts to fail.

Why else would he have cursed them as failures before fleeing?

Ultimately, it was not the girl’s impetuousness that caused the disaster, but his own failure as a Nascent Soul True Master to recognize the severity of the situation earlier.

Unable to voice his realization, he could only murmur under his breath.

"Good intentions turned into a catastrophe."

The woman remained indignant, struggling to reconcile the deaths of so many peers, her eyes burning with resentment.

"This man is twisting the truth! I will certainly file a report with both the Precepts Institute and the Arhat Hall!"

Zhou Mingxuan opened his mouth to respond but ultimately let her complaints slide, choosing to stay silent while internally repeating the name that the Cyan Simurgh had shouted.

"Luo Chen?"

...

Night had fallen over the land.

Two figures chased each other through the vast, unending desert, neither willing to yield.

As a fierce gale erupted, the man in front unleashed a counter-attack with his blade, slicing through the roaring wind.

From time to time, manifestations of Fire Phoenixes and Flame Dragons flared into existence, raining down assaults upon the Divine Bird trailing him.

Yet, compared to the opening of their duel, the strength of both Luo Chen and the Cyan Simurgh was rapidly waning.

Fragments of their hostile dialogue drifted through the air, carried away by the cold night breeze.

"Luo Chen, you have nowhere left to run!"

"Qing Shuang, why must you pursue me with such relentless hatred?"

"When you plotted to refine me, did you bother to have a conversation then?"

"If this continues, we shall both perish in mutual destruction!"

"Only you shall face death!"

"That mixed poison within you must be spiraling out of control by now! My Five Elements Suppressing Law Cones may not completely bind your Qi Power, but the more you circulate your energy, the deeper they sink. Between those and the Soul Weaving Needle, if you fail to force them out, your Divine Soul will surely shatter..."

"So be it! My sister perished at Soulbreak Cliff because of you. I had the power to save her, yet you betrayed us all!"

"Betrayal? What betrayal are you talking about?"

"Back on Cangwu Mountain, my sister guided your cultivation path so you wouldn't drift into darkness, and she even offered you the Spirit Land Cave Mansion. Is this how you repay us?"

"That was a simple transaction. Do you truly believe my Harmonization Pill was cheap enough to just hand out for free? As for the tragedy at Soulbreak Cliff, I had no choice—my life was held by others, what else could I have done?"

"If you had no options, you should have simply died instead!"

Perhaps due to the strain of repeated near-death encounters or her lingering guilt and concern for the Qi Xia Emperor, the usually stoic Qing Shuang betrayed a rare flash of raw agitation.

Overcome by emotion and ignoring the caution suggested by the Qi Xia Emperor, she gathered the last of her Origin Power.

"Subspace Slash!"

A dark, jagged tear in space ripped open in the night.

Luo Chen, having remained vigilant, twisted his body to dodge, but the attack was too swift.

Crack!

His left arm was severed clean through at the midpoint.

Luo Chen’s expression darkened, and though he gripped the severed limb and tried to knit it back onto his frame, the residual power of the slash prevented any healing. He possessed no more Origin Force to regrow the limb and was forced to stash the arm inside his storage ring.

Behind him, Qing Shuang stumbled, the toll of her strike hitting her hard. She flickered in and out of focus, appearing as if she were dissolving into the surrounding space.

Glaring at her with icy malice, Luo Chen clutched his Yuan Tu Sword and fled again.

Qing Shuang stabilized herself and resumed the hunt.

They had ventured deep into the heart of the desolate wasteland. As the horizon began to brighten with the coming dawn, Luo Chen plummeted like a falling star toward a massive mountain range below.

Boom!

The impact of his landing sent an uncontrollable surge of mana rippling out, leveling the peaks around him.

Beneath the rubble, numerous shapes stirred, sensing the rupture, and looked upward as one.

The air grew foul with a terrible stench, and countless cruel, glowing eyes focused on the sky. No one had suspected that the desert concealed such a massive, hidden legion of demon beasts.

The Cyan Simurgh descended from the clouds, locking onto him once more.

"Luo Chen, where will you flee to now?"

Luo Chen offered a grim, hollow smirk. Realizing he could no longer run, he swung his arm with a final, desperate resolve.

The Yuan Tu Sword erupted into a streak of bloody light, diving directly into the heart of the hidden demon beast army.