Cultivating Immortality, Starting from Childhood Sweethearts

“Put me down,” Xu Xuenuo kept patting Xu Ming’s shoulder insistently.

She could tell that Xu Ming was struggling to fight off the beasts while carrying her on his back. It was already a challenge for him to escape on his own, let alone while carrying her.

Even though there was no guarantee he could make it out alive alone, keeping her on his back meant certain death for both of them.

“If I put you down, you’ll die,” Xu Ming snapped, his tone firm.

There was no way he’d do such a thing.

Earlier, if this girl hadn’t pulled him into her sword domain and hidden them in the cracks between worlds, she might’ve been able to escape this beast-infested area on her own.

Yet, she chose to take him with her.

Even when things went awry—when no one expected the beast zone to be this vast—she didn’t abandon him, not even when she was running out of strength.

If she could show such loyalty and righteousness, how could Xu Ming abandon her now? If he left her behind, he’d carry the guilt for a lifetime, and his inner peace and cultivation path would crumble.

Why can’t he see reason?

“Who said that? We’ll both make it out alive,” Xu Ming replied resolutely.

After that, he said no more, focusing entirely on the beasts lunging at them.

Truthfully, Xu Ming didn’t know if they could make it out alive.

While the beasts weren’t individually too powerful, there were far too many of them.

They came at him like waves, enough to drown him with sheer numbers alone.

“Min!”

A strange bird resembling a vulture, but with four pairs of wings, swooped down toward him.

“Get lost!”

Xu Ming kicked its head with all his strength, causing it to explode.

Though Xu Ming made it look easy, every attack he unleashed required nearly all his strength. Otherwise, there was no way he could kill these creatures.

But how much strength does one person have? How many times can they fight at full power?

A black hound seized an opportunity to lunge at him, slashing a long, bloody gash on his arm with its claws.

Xu Ming gritted his teeth against the pain and kicked the hound, sending it flying into a nearby rock. The sound of bones breaking echoed.

Xu Ming thought that was the end of the hound.

But to his shock, the creature got up, shook its head, and split open down the middle—from its skull to its belly—revealing rows upon rows of sharp teeth.

Enraged, the hound charged at him again.

Xu Ming ignored it and kept running forward.

Lying on his back, Xu Xuenuo bit her lip, her expression conflicted as she watched him carry her through the chaos.

She wanted to help him, but her spiritual energy was completely depleted.

All she could do was swallow a Qi-Recovery Pill, close her eyes, and focus on regaining her strength as quickly as possible.

“Damn it!”

Xu Ming, who had been sprinting nonstop, suddenly skidded to a halt, leaving a long trail of dirt behind him.

Feeling the abrupt stop, Xu Xuenuo opened her eyes in confusion and followed Xu Ming’s gaze upward.

In front of them stood a massive lion.

The beast was six meters tall, its golden fur thick and radiant. Blue flames surrounded its body, and its tail was a live snake, hissing and coiling menacingly.

It seemed as though the lion’s tail had a consciousness of its own. From behind the lion, the snake-like tail lifted its head and hissed at Xu Ming and Xu Xuenuo.

“ROAR!”

The snake-tailed lion lunged at the two of them.

Xu Ming focused his mind, and Dao patterns appeared in his pupils.

When Xu Xuenuo saw the transformation in Xu Ming’s eyes, her heart skipped a beat.

She had never seen such a technique before. His eyes seemed to be imbued with the profound essence of the Dao.

‘Is this the fortuitous opportunity he obtained? Could this pair of eyes be the reason Xu Ming is able to cultivate?’ Xu Xuenuo speculated.

Xu Ming charged toward the lion.

In his vision, the lion’s movements slowed down, as though time itself had been stretched.

He could clearly see the trajectory of its every action.

Finding the perfect opening, Xu Ming shifted Xu Xuenuo from his back to his front, cradling her in his arms.

“Huh?”

Before Xu Xuenuo could fully process what had happened, she found herself nestled in Xu Ming’s embrace.

From this position, she felt like a little girl being carried.

She had never been held like this before.

Although Xu Xuenuo knew her emotions were entirely out of place given the life-or-death situation they were in, she couldn’t help but feel a flush of embarrassment and wanted to escape his arms.

But she held herself back.

If she moved now, it would only hinder Xu Ming.

“Hold onto my neck!” Xu Ming commanded.

“Wha-?”

Before Xu Xuenuo could even finish saying the word “what,” she suddenly felt her body sink as though it were about to be hurled forward.

At that moment, even without Xu Ming’s reminder, she instinctively wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

With a swift slide, Xu Ming darted under the snake-tailed lion, sliding between its legs.

As he passed beneath the massive beast, Xu Ming drew his sword and slashed, severing its tail with a single, clean stroke.

Xu Ming hadn’t done this recklessly, nor was it a ploy to enrage the lion.

In his Dao patterned vision, a glowing white spot appeared on the lion’s tail, highlighted as if it were bolded and underlined.

Xu Ming trusted his instincts: this must be a newly evolved ability of his Dao pattern eyes, allowing him to detect an opponent’s weak points.

The severed tail fell to the ground, twitching a few times before becoming completely still, as though it had died.

The snake-tailed lion let out an enraged roar, writhing in pain as it slammed itself into nearby rocks repeatedly.

Although they had passed the lion, the beasts behind them continued their relentless pursuit. If anything, they seemed even more frenzied, as though the lion had been their warden, and its injury had unleashed chaos among the “prisoners.”

Xu Ming’s stamina and spiritual energy were nearing depletion.

Just as the pursuing beasts were about to overtake him, a deep, echoing voice rang out from ahead, cutting through the chaos:

“These two young ones… are truly remarkable.”

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