An immortal artifact.
Even with Chen Yan’s current cultivation level, he couldn’t unleash the full power of an immortal artifact, nor could he fully drive its lingering resonance of the immortal path.
But the whip in his hand was different.
Because this whip was derived from the crimson flame through his own cultivation.
The Li Fire Seal and the whip, about a meter and a half long, shared the same origin.
This allowed Chen Yan to better control the immortal artifact in his hand by executing the Li Fire Seal.
Five Unity Realm cultivators, now completely deranged, surrounded Chen Yan, who was clad in pure white daoist robes with gilded cloud crane patterns embroidered on his sleeves.
Though these Unity Realm great powers had all sensed the terrifying pressure of the lingering resonance of the immortal path emanating from the immortal artifact in Chen Yan’s hand, none of them retreated. These maddened cultivators had lost their reason.
Even if the person standing before these frenzied Unity Realm cultivators wasn’t Chen Yan but a true Immortal from the Immortal Ascension Realm, they would still charge at him in a swarm.
If Chen Yan fell, the other maddened Unity Realm cultivators would immediately start slaughtering each other.
But Chen Yan wouldn’t fall—at least, not when facing these Unity Realm cultivators.
Chen Yan swung the crimson flame whip in his hand.
The whip’s shadow quickly traced an arc in the air, and then crimson flames began to spread rapidly.
Roaring, the crimson flame swept toward those Unity Realm cultivators.
In just an instant, the three Unity Realm cultivators swept by the crimson fire serpent were instantly incinerated into ash.
Chen Yan’s pure white daoist robe fluttered in the air, and then his gaze shifted to the last two remaining enemies: one at the peak of the Unity Realm and another at the late Unity Realm stage.
Despite his calm exterior, Chen Yan wasn’t as composed as he appeared. A single swing of his crimson flame whip had nearly depleted all the spiritual energy in his Martial Spring.
An immortal artifact wasn’t something a Unity Realm cultivator could control.
Yet Chen Yan remained fearless.
He began to channel the Great Derivation Art, transforming the heaven and earth’s spiritual energy into pure spiritual energy. Like a vortex, he drew the surrounding spiritual energy into his Martial Spring.
The moment his Martial Spring began to replenish, he swung his crimson flame whip once more. The crimson flames engulfed the last two enemies, and everything returned to calm.
In less than ten breaths, Chen Yan had slain all nine Unity Realm cultivators who had charged at him.
He wasn’t surprised by this outcome.
Even cultivators of the same realm—those whose talent far surpassed his own and who might one day ascend to immortality—would find themselves utterly powerless against Chen Yan’s many abilities that transcended his current cultivation level.
Chen Yan used the Great Derivation Art again to refill his Martial Spring.
Then, he looked at the crimson flame whip in his hand.
From just now, he had noticed that the immortal artifact, which he had derived through the Great Derivation Art, had dimmed considerably in luster.
Moreover, the Li Fire Seal inscriptions carved into the whip had become much blurrier.
When he swung the whip the second time, the spiritual energy consumed from his Martial Spring was indeed less than the first time.
Chen Yan knew this wasn’t due to his own shortcomings.
Based on past experience, immortal artifacts derived through the Great Derivation Art shouldn’t decay this quickly.
In other words, the limitations of an immortal artifact created from thin air seemed greater than Chen Yan had initially believed.
But it didn’t matter.
With a light flick of his wrist, the meter-and-a-half-long crimson flame whip in Chen Yan’s hand suddenly dissipated into spiritual energy.
Then, that scattered spiritual energy froze in the air before regrouping in an instant.
The next moment, a blood-red whip with clear inscriptions reappeared in Chen Yan’s hand.
It was a simple logic.
If the old one was worn out, why not replace it with a new one?
Having mastered the Great Derivation Art to the point of perfection, Chen Yan could disregard his Martial Spring’s consumption and non-lethal injuries, turning himself into a “perpetual motion machine” for battle.
Chen Yan knew this was far from over.
More cultivators, influenced by the polluted spiritual energy caused by the fallen Immortal named Er Dong, would continue to surge toward him in an endless stream.
And just as he had predicted, several more cultivator figures appeared on the distant horizon. From their auras and the pressure they radiated, they were also Unity Realm experts.
But unlike the previous situation, these cultivators were widely spaced apart.
Chen Yan couldn’t kill multiple enemies with a single whip swing like when he was surrounded.
He had to take them out one by one.
Just as Chen Yan began formulating a battle strategy, his spiritual sense detected several powerful presences from behind him.
Counting front and back, there were eleven Unity Realm cultivators in total... no, the number was still growing.
Thirteen, seventeen, twenty-one!
A total of twenty-one Unity Realm cultivators were charging toward Chen Yan!
No hesitation or panic arose in Chen Yan’s heart. Having once witnessed the Great Chaos of the Immortals, he naturally wouldn’t be affected by such a minor skirmish.
He only felt a slight confusion.
Logically, in this domain, the twelve Immortal Sects had at most just over two thousand surviving Unity Realm cultivators in total.
Even if Chen Yan didn’t hide his cultivation level and even actively provoked them by releasing his spiritual energy, only the Unity Realm cultivators within a few thousand miles centered on Qingxuan Mountain could sense his presence.
But how could there be dozens of Unity Realm cultivators within a few thousand miles around Qingxuan Mountain?
Chen Yan even thought that the nine Unity Realm cultivators he had just killed were abnormal.
He quickly figured something out.
The laws of heaven and earth in this domain were nearly broken, and the spiritual energy was polluted by the presence of the fallen Immortal.
The only person in the world unaffected was Chen Yan, who could purify the spiritual energy through the Great Derivation Art and use it for himself.
This meant that while the pollution of spiritual energy hadn’t yet reached cultivators of lower realms, Chen Yan had already become the sole anomaly in this world.
Chen Yan looked up, his gaze fixed on the spatial rifts torn open in the sky.
In that boundless darkness, it seemed as if a withered eye was watching him.
Whether it was an illusion or not, in a daze, he seemed to hear the sound of a bronze bell ringing across the sky.
Chen Yan’s hair wildly danced in the fierce wind, and then a flash of blade light streaked past his face.
In the eyes of the young man in pure white daoist robes, the crimson flame flickered.