Chapter 72 – A Touch Upon the Head, Bestowing Immortality

Chapter 72 – A Touch Upon the Head, Bestowing Immortality

The sudden voice caused all the dignitaries of Great Li present to fall silent.

The Emperor of Great Li’s face turned deathly pale.

After all, in the eyes of an immortal master, mortals like them were essentially no different from ants.

What fate awaited an ant that dared make demands?

The sky full of blood over the Great Li capital twenty years ago was the best answer.

They all lowered their heads, sweat pouring down like rain, stealing glances at Li Fan from the corners of their eyes.

Yet that voice, as if unafraid of death, repeated loudly once more: “Please, Immortal Master, save my sister!”

Li Fan looked toward the source of the voice. It was Su Changyu, barely more than ten years old.

A middle-aged man finally came to his senses, rushing forward to press the boy down to his knees.

“What are you doing, Yu’er!” The middle-aged man knelt on the ground in a panic, pressing Su Changyu’s head down to kowtow to Li Fan.

He kowtowed repeatedly while saying: “The child is ignorant. Please forgive him, Immortal Master!”

Li Fan fell into silence.

This sent all the dignitaries of Great Li into a panic. Following the emperor’s lead, they all dropped to their knees as well.

Xiao Heng likewise kowtowed, saying cautiously: “Immortal Master, please save little Miss Su.”

After a long while, Li Fan finally spoke slowly: “Very well then. Take me to see her. But let there be no next time.”

Everyone present breathed a long sigh of relief.

In truth, Li Fan had always intended to examine Su Changyu’s terminally ill sister. He simply couldn’t agree too readily on the surface.

So he had put on a show just now.

After a short while, Li Fan saw little Miss Su in an underground chamber.

The temperature in the underground chamber was very low, and many of the officials who had followed couldn’t help but shiver.

An infant who appeared to have been born not long ago lay quietly on a small bed made of jade.

Beside the jade bed, numerous blocks of ice were piled up.

The infant’s body seemed to be extremely hot, requiring the attendant maids to continuously chip away at the ice and press it against her skin to cool her down.

Seeing this abnormal scene, Li Fan narrowed his eyes.

He stepped forward and swept his spiritual sense over little Miss Su’s body. His expression immediately froze.

“All of you, withdraw!”

He ordered coldly.

The dignitaries filed out of the underground chamber one after another.

Only Li Fan and little Miss Su remained.

Li Fan placed his hand on little Miss Su’s scalding body and channeled an extremely thin wisp of spiritual energy into her.

After it circulated through her body and returned, Li Fan finally confirmed his findings, a look of shock appearing on his face.

“There is actually no Mortal Taint whatsoever inside little Miss Su’s body?”

“And what kind of constitution is this? That wisp of spiritual energy I sent into her body—after circulating once, it was actually strengthened?”

Li Fan gathered the wisp of spiritual energy at his fingertip.

Its properties were completely different from the spiritual energy originally in his body—it carried a searing quality.

Yet it was also different from the searing heat brought by the Crimson Flame he had encountered before.

It wasn’t the searing heat of fire, but rather…

Li Fan carefully analyzed the cluster of spiritual energy at his fingertip. After a long while, he arrived at a rough conclusion.

His expression couldn’t help but turn peculiar.

“The searing heat of… fury?”

Li Fan looked at little Miss Su, still deep in slumber, a strange expression crossing his face.

“Could this actually be the legendary Innate Immortal Body—one whom Heaven envies?”

Having set foot in the cultivation world across two lifetimes, Li Fan was no longer some clueless novice.

He did know a thing or two about common knowledge in the cultivation world.

First, the Innate Immortal Body.

As everyone knew, mortals in the cultivation world were born with Mortal Taint in their bodies. To cultivate, one must first purge all the taint from oneself.

However, when two cultivators conceived a child together, there was a certain probability of producing offspring free of Mortal Taint.

Such individuals were called Innate Immortal Bodies.

Those with an Innate Immortal Body possessed unparalleled affinity for all manner of cultivation techniques and Dao arts.

Their cultivation talent was also exceptionally high.

The combination of both meant that Innate Immortal Bodies not only cultivated at a terrifyingly fast rate, but also received a natural potency boost when executing techniques.

This was far beyond what ordinary cultivators could compare to.

They truly deserved to be called the favored children of heaven.

On the distant continent, those legends of cultivators forming a Golden Core after merely a decade or so of practice were all achievements of those with Innate Immortal Bodies.

Next, those whom Heaven envies.

In the cultivation world, there existed a class of people who were born with innate divine abilities.

Some were born with a third eye, able to see through all illusions. Some were born with unique bone structures, possessing boundless potential and a life force that was virtually inexhaustible.

Others were born able to command water, fire, lightning, and other elements.

Those born with innate divine abilities would typically incur Heaven’s envy proportional to the power of their gifts.

From the moment of birth, they would be beset by various tribulations.

If they could overcome each tribulation, the trials would only temper them into something stronger.

But if they could not endure, they would naturally die with all their gifts unfulfilled.

This was Heaven’s restriction upon such people, as well as its test.

Those who possessed innate divine abilities did not necessarily cultivate at a particularly fast rate.

But when it came to combat, they were almost invariably unrivaled within their own realm.

There were even quite a few whose innate divine abilities were so powerful that slaying cultivators of the same realm was as easy as slaughtering chickens. Even crossing an entire major realm to fight was not beyond their capability.

Such individuals were, without exception, feared throughout the cultivation world, their battle records illustrious.

Both constitutions were exceedingly rare—perhaps one in ten million.

And now, what did Li Fan see?

These two constitutions had actually appeared simultaneously in a single infant!

Not a trace of Mortal Taint in her body—undoubtedly an Innate Immortal Body.

Though he didn’t know why an Innate Immortal Body—something that could only be born from the union of two cultivators—had appeared in this small world full of mortals.

Li Fan was certain he hadn’t made a mistake.

And the force that had been continuously burning within little Miss Su’s body was likely her innate divine ability.

Li Fan speculated that her constitution was tied to the emotion of “fury.”

As the rage in her heart grew ever more intense, her strength would multiply correspondingly.

Until the fury ultimately burned both herself and her enemy to ashes.

And little Miss Su’s current state of constant, searing heat was very likely caused by her innate divine ability running out of control—an inability to contain the fury within her heart.

“An Innate Immortal Body, one whom Heaven envies—no wonder she faces such a deadly tribulation from the moment of birth.”

“With the fury inside her body continuously burning away her vitality, even if she hid in an ice cellar for the rest of her days, little Miss Su could never possibly survive to adulthood.”

“No wonder in his previous life, Su Changyu was so desperate. He was willing to become a test subject for the Mortal Taint experiments, just to become a cultivator as soon as possible.”

“In his eyes, perhaps becoming a legendary immortal master was the only way to save his sister’s life.”

“What a pity…”

Li Fan looked at little Miss Su, and in his sea of consciousness, the Blue Flame phantom spirit suddenly stirred from its slumber.

“If she hadn’t encountered me, even a Golden Core cultivator coming here might not have been able to save her life.”

A faint blue figure materialized before Li Fan.

It drifted forward like a thin veil of mist, slowly approaching little Miss Su’s tiny body.

It extended a hand and placed it upon little Miss Su’s head.

The searing heat gradually faded from the infant’s body.

Her tightly furrowed brow relaxed, and little Miss Su smacked her lips, slowly rolling over in her sleep.