I'll Slaughter My Way to Immortality on the Bones of Betrayers - Chapter 34:

Chapter 34: Living a Different Life

Inside the Pill Hall, Lin Xing stood silently with his eyes half closed. For now, only Lu Hengge knew that Yao Fan had left.

A moment later, footsteps approached. Lin Xing opened his eyes and looked at Lu Hengge. His gaze held no emotion, as if he were looking at someone completely irrelevant. “Holy Son.”

“Elder Lin, speak plainly if you have something to say. I’m busy,” Lu Hengge replied coldly, not even bothering to hide his impatience.

Lin Xing’s eyes flickered slightly, and he smiled. He naturally understood that Lu Hengge’s current confidence came from Yao Fan. With a half-step Divine Ascension Realm expert backing him, his weight far surpassed Lu Sheng’s.

Precisely because of that, Lin Xing didn’t get angry. “It’s a small matter. Your position as Holy Son has been revoked. The sect master is in seclusion, and this was decided jointly by the other peak masters and hall elders. It also represents the will of the sect master. Please hand over your Holy Son token.”

He extended his right hand. He was following proper protocol and assumed Yao Fan wouldn’t interfere over something like this.

Lu Hengge stared at Lin Xing with interest, as if studying a strange species. His odd gaze made Lin Xing frown—he had definitely seen that look somewhere before.

Lu Hengge smiled, “I always thought Elder Lin was a smart man.”

Lin Xing lowered his hand and asked calmly, “What do you mean?”

“That day in the Hall of Justice, I returned both my cultivation and my storage ring to Lu Sheng. Everything you’re asking for is in that ring. You saw it with your own eyes. Yet instead of asking her, you come to me. This isn’t something a smart person would do.”

Lu Hengge felt the whole Three Thousand Dao Sect had turned stupid. Maybe Ye Feng was the rotten apple that ruined the entire batch, lowering the sect’s collective intelligence.

Lin Xing shook his head slightly. “What I want is your insight into the Three Thousand Paths.”

Lu Hengge now fully believed Lin Xing was an idiot. “The comprehension of the Three Thousand Paths came from me. Elder Lin, let’s be clear: it was only after I understood them that I qualified to be the Holy Son. You didn’t make me Holy Son and then hand over the insights—I earned them.”

Lin Xing knew this well. But the insights of the Three Thousand Paths were incredibly tempting. If he could obtain them and study them carefully, they would greatly benefit his own cultivation.

He also knew Lu Hengge had been wrongfully accused. Naturally, the man would be resentful. That’s why he had been hiding in the Pill Hall these past days.

“The other elders have agreed. If you hand over your insights into the Three Thousand Paths, your sentence to Sword Prison can be lifted.”

What the hell?

Lu Hengge raised a brow. That made it even less likely he’d agree.

In Lu Hengge’s eyes, Sword Prison was far more important than any comprehension of the Three Thousand Paths.

“No,” Lu Hengge rejected flatly.

Lin Xing frowned deeply. He could suppress Lu Hengge with force, but if he provoked Yao Fan, the consequences would be difficult to handle. For all he knew, Yao Fan might be observing from the shadows.

To be safe, he opted to use threats and incentives instead of brute force.

“If you’re unwilling, then tomorrow you’ll enter Sword Prison to serve your sentence. Given your current state, a full century won’t be necessary—a single 60-year cycle will be enough.”

Sixty years wasn’t long for a cultivator. But for Lu Hengge, now a mortal, it was most of his remaining life. Even if he survived Sword Prison, sixty years later he would emerge as an old man, half in the grave. It was no different from life imprisonment.

Lin Xing was trying to scare him.

The revocation of the Holy Son title was real. The Three Thousand Dao Sect couldn’t allow a mortal to hold that title, so after discussions, the elders had agreed to strip him of it.

But the Sword Prison sentence was fake.

Considering Lu Hengge had become a mortal, and that he was still an 8th-grade alchemist, he remained useful to the sect. The elders had already agreed to spare him the Sword Prison punishment.

An 8th-grade alchemist was incredibly valuable. Even without the Holy Son title, they needed to keep him tied to the sect.

Lin Xing thought such threats would shake Lu Hengge, but the man simply replied with a casual hum and said no more.

“You’re not afraid of death?” Lin Xing asked curiously.

If Lu Hengge really entered Sword Prison, he might not come out alive.

“Would being afraid let me avoid death? Elder Lin, you’re afraid of dying, but can you guarantee you’ll live forever?” Lu Hengge smiled meaningfully.

For some reason, Lin Xing felt extremely uneasy. On the surface, Lu Hengge’s words sounded like self-consolation, but they seemed more directed at him.

Coming to his senses, Lin Xing grew annoyed. That he, the Hall Master of the Hall of Justice, had been rattled by the words of a powerless mortal—if word got out, he’d be a laughingstock.

With that thought, he turned to leave. “Then take care of yourself.”

Lu Hengge said nothing, silently watching Lin Xing’s departing figure. Once outside the Pill Hall, Lin Xing finally turned back to glance behind him.

“Lu Hengge is a serious problem. Looks like I’ll need to find a chance to kill him.” From the moment Lu Hengge lost the Holy Son title, Lin Xing no longer cared about his survival. What he wanted was the insight into the Three Thousand Paths.

He couldn’t explain it, but when Lu Hengge looked at him just now, it had been terrifying—like being watched by some incomprehensible, monstrous presence.

Lin Xing hated that feeling.

…

“Holy Son… were your words just now your own will, or the Hall Master’s?” the young alchemy disciple asked, visibly disappointed.

While organizing the pill room, Lu Hengge replied, “It’s both my will and Elder Yao Fan’s. Tomorrow I’ll enter Sword Prison for punishment, and Elder Yao Fan has gone into seclusion. With only you left in the Pill Hall, staying here would just waste your time.”

The disciple looked around the Pill Hall. After a long while, he knelt and bowed toward Lu Hengge. “I’ve studied the craft for over ten years without results. This foolish disciple will take his leave tomorrow.”

“Once you leave, go far. There are many things in this world more interesting than cultivation or alchemy. You are half a disciple to Elder Yao Fan. I’ll give you something.” Lu Hengge pulled out a jade bottle from his storage ring containing a single pill.

“If your life is ever in danger, it could save you.”

The young man looked up, eyes rimmed with red. “Thank you, Holy Son.”

“Don’t call me Holy Son anymore. I’m just Lu Hengge now. If you’re willing, call me Senior Brother. If not, we part ways here.”

The disciple bowed deeply. “Senior Brother Lu.”

There was no response.

After a long time, the disciple looked up—but Lu Hengge was already gone.

He had joined the Three Thousand Dao Sect more than ten years ago, leaving his hometown and family behind. Now, he was leaving this place too, returning to where he came from.

It all felt like a dream.