From a loser to an immortal sage

Chapter 21 Light of Hope

The light grew brighter and brighter, and my heart leaped into my throat. Suddenly, the light exploded, and I instinctively closed my eyes, only to feel a powerful force throw Li Yan and me away!

"Cough cough..." I struggled to get up from the ground, my vision blurry and my ears ringing. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind, then looked anxiously at Li Yan, "Li Yan, how are you?"

Li Yan's condition wasn't much better than mine; she was pale and had a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth, clearly suffering from internal injuries.

“I’m fine…” Li Yan shook her head weakly, her voice trembling, “But…but this seal…”

I followed her gaze and saw that the seal still stood there perfectly intact, as if it had never been affected by anything. The violent explosion just now hadn't had the slightest impact on it!

How could this be? I was filled with disbelief. Had we gone through so much trouble and risked our lives to get here, only to fail at the last minute?

I clenched my fists, unwilling to give up, and once again gathered my spiritual power, unleashing a series of fierce attacks on the seal. However, no matter how I attacked, the seal remained unmoved, like an insurmountable mountain blocking my way.

“It’s no use…” Li Yan shook her head helplessly, “The power of this seal far exceeds our imagination, we simply cannot…”

Her voice grew softer and softer, filled with despair.

A sense of despair gradually crept into my heart. Were we really going to be trapped here and die? Were we really going to watch this treasure fall into the hands of the evil cult?

No, I'm not reconciled! I gritted my teeth and desperately mobilized every bit of spiritual power in my body, launching attack on the seal again and again.

However, reality is cruel. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't budge the seal in the slightest. My attacks were like a mayfly trying to shake a tree—so powerless and laughable.

"Give up..." Li Yan's voice had become extremely weak, "We...we are no match for it..."

I let my hands fall limply to my sides, staring at the invincible seal before me, my heart filled with bitterness and despair. Was this our fate?

Just then, a deep voice suddenly echoed through the valley: "Is this what you're looking for?"

I suddenly looked up and followed the sound. I saw a figure dressed in a long blue robe appear at the entrance of the valley. He had his back to us, so I couldn't see his face, but he was as tall and straight as a pine tree, and his black hair danced in the mountain wind, making him look like an immortal.

"Who are you?" I asked warily, my mind filled with questions. When did this mysterious person appear? Why is he here? Does he know something?

"Me?" The man slowly turned around, revealing an extremely handsome face. A faint smile played on his lips, and his eyes gleamed with wisdom. "I'm just a passerby."

"A passerby?" I sneered inwardly. What a flimsy excuse. This place is remote and sparsely populated. Could he have just happened to be passing by?

“You don’t need to doubt my identity.” As if seeing through my thoughts, the man continued, “My name is Windrunner, and I’ve come here only to find something.”

"Windrunner?" A thought flashed through my mind. I felt like I'd heard the name somewhere before, but I couldn't quite place it.

"You're Windrunner?" Li Yan exclaimed in disbelief. "The legendary master who comes and goes like the wind, a peerless expert whose face is rarely seen?"

"I dare not claim to be a peerless master; I merely possess a rudimentary understanding of martial arts," Windrunner said with a faint smile, his tone humble, yet a hint of confidence shone in his eyes.

"You just said you're also looking for something?" I asked, suppressing my excitement. "What are you looking for?"

“What I’m looking for and what you’re looking for are the same thing.” Windrunner gave me a meaningful look, then turned and walked toward the seal. “This seal was set up by the guardian of the artifact. Only by finding the clues left by the guardian can it be broken.”

The Guardian? Clues? A thought struck me: Could it be that the key to breaking the seal lies not in brute force, but in finding the clues left by the Guardian?

"Do you know who the Guardian is? And what are the clues?" I quickly asked.

Instead of answering my question directly, Windrunner pointed to a boulder next to the seal and said, "The answer is there."

I looked in the direction he was pointing and saw that the boulder was bare and there was nothing special about it.

"What exactly do you mean?" I asked, puzzled.

Windrunner didn't speak, but walked to the boulder, slowly extended his palm, and pressed it against the surface of the boulder.

"Rumble..."

A deafening roar shook the earth, and the boulder slowly moved aside, revealing a deep passage.

"Follow me." Windrunner took the lead and walked into the passage. Li Yan and I exchanged a glance and quickly followed.

The passage was pitch black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. We could only rely on the faint light of spiritual energy to proceed cautiously.

"careful!"

The Windrunner, who was walking ahead, suddenly called out a warning. Before I could react, I felt a sharp gust of wind rushing towards me...

Before Windrunner could finish speaking, I felt a gust of wind rush towards me and instinctively dodged to the side. At the same time, a dark shadow flashed past me, crashing into the wall with a dull thud.

Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a giant bat, emanating a thick miasma, its blood-red eyes glaring menacingly at us. It had clearly been wounded by Windrunner.

"These are guardian beasts, sealed here to protect the magical artifact," Windrunner explained calmly, a gleaming silver dagger appearing in his hand at some point, before he charged toward the wounded bat like lightning.

Li Yan and I dared not slack off, and we both summoned our magical artifacts and joined the battle.

After a fierce battle, we finally eliminated all the guardian beasts in the passage. Windrunner sheathed his dagger, walked to the end of the passage, pointed to a mural on the wall, and said, "The answer is here."

I rushed forward to take a look and saw that the mural depicted an ancient ritual. A group of people in robes were singing and dancing around a ball of fire, chanting incantations, as if they were performing some kind of prayer.

"What is this?" Li Yan asked in confusion.

“This is an ancient ballad,” Windrunner explained, “and it’s also the key to breaking the seal.”

He pointed to the figures chanting in the mural and gestured for us to observe carefully. I carefully examined the strange symbols on the mural and finally discovered that they formed ancient songs.

Following the instructions on the mural, Li Yan and I tried to chant the ancient song. At first, the seal did not react, but as we continued to chant, the seal began to tremble slightly, a powerful force emanated from it, and the surrounding spiritual energy began to fluctuate violently.

"The seal is about to be broken!" I was overjoyed and sang the song with even greater focus.

Just then, a sudden change occurred... A powerful evil force suddenly descended, and a chilling voice echoed through the valley: "Who dares to touch my magic weapon!"

The voice seemed to come from the deepest hell, carrying a chilling aura that made Li Yan and me shiver involuntarily. The vibrations of the seal abruptly stopped, and the raging spiritual energy around us seemed to be forcibly suppressed by an invisible hand, gradually calming down.

"Black Wind!" Li Yan spat out the two words through gritted teeth, her eyes filled with furious flames.

My heart sank. I hadn't expected this evil cultivator to return, and so quickly at that! It seems our previous guess was right; he had been hiding in the shadows, waiting to reap the benefits.

"Hahaha, you two little insects, daring to covet my magic treasure! You're utterly overestimating yourselves!" Accompanied by a burst of arrogant laughter, a middle-aged man dressed in black, with a sinister face, appeared out of thin air before us. His eyes swept over us with a venomous glint, finally fixing on Li Yan and me. "You two ruined my plans! I'll make you wish you were dead!"

"You?!" Li Yan met Hei Feng's gaze without fear. "Today, we will act on behalf of Heaven and eradicate you, this evil heretic!"

Without hesitation, Li Yan unleashed her natal magic weapon, a crimson whip, and attacked Black Wind. I dared not be negligent either, quickly forming hand seals to command my magic weapon—a pair of golden short swords—to cooperate with Li Yan in launching an attack on Black Wind.

However, Black Wind's strength was clearly far superior to ours. With a cold laugh, he calmly waved his sleeve, and a black whirlwind rose out of thin air, easily neutralizing Li Yan and my attacks.

"Overestimating yourself!" Blackwind sneered disdainfully, just as he was about to deliver the fatal blow to us, when Windrunner, who had been silent all along, suddenly moved.

With a flash, he appeared before Black Wind like a ghost, a silver dagger already pressed against Black Wind's throat.

"You!" Blackwind was clearly surprised by Windwalker's speed, and his face immediately turned extremely ugly.

"Get out of here if you don't want to die!" Windranger's tone was icy, devoid of any emotion.

A hint of resentment flashed in Blackwind's eyes, but in the end, he dared not make a rash move. He knew he was no match for Windrunner, and if he fought head-on, he would probably lose his life.

After weighing the pros and cons, Black Wind glared at us fiercely, said "You just wait," and then turned into a cloud of black mist and fled in panic.

"Should we give chase?" I asked, looking in the direction where the black wind had disappeared.

“Don’t pursue a desperate enemy,” Windrunner shook his head. “Since he dared to come back alone, he must have something to rely on. We shouldn’t take the risk.”

I nodded, agreeing with Windrunner's assessment. Blackwind's strength should not be underestimated; we cannot afford to be careless.

"What do we do now?" Li Yan asked. "Black Wind already knows we're trying to break the seal, he'll definitely come back."

"Let's break the seal first and get the magic weapon," Windrunner said, turning to look at the seal.

The seal's light had dimmed considerably, clearly interrupted by the appearance of the black wind. Li Yan and I exchanged a glance, both seeing the determination in each other's eyes.

No matter what, we must do everything in our power to break the seal and obtain the magic weapon!