Death was normal.
All living things born on this earth must one day die.
However, sometimes, there were exceptions.
These exceptions were certainly rare but they weren't completely non-existant.
When a phoenix dies, it is reborn from its ashes.
When a Daoist manages to cut all ties with the living realm, he is able to ascend and becomes an immortal.
These rare exceptions taught people that even in the face of death, there was life.
However, Jie Fu Lian knew that he wasn't a phoenix nor had he severed his ties with the living realm.
He was just a thirteen year old boy who had barely touched the Half step stage of the core formation realm.
For many, that in itself was an impressive achievement, however, for him, it was still lacking.
He was young and curious to know more about the world.
If he were to die today, he would never be able to accept it.
"Jie Ming... Run," His father urged with a weak whisper.
However, Jie Fu Lian didn't move. He simply stared at the east gate of the demon realm.
"Jie Ming, you can't..." His father added, already guessing what was going on through Jie Fu Lian's head, "It's impossible."
Jie Fu Lian smirked as he heard this and asked, "Father, have I ever been afraid of the impossible?"
"..." His father was silent, knowing that he wouldn't be able to win this argument against his son.
If there was anything Jie Fu Lian was good at, it was coming up with tricks and shortcuts.
While everybody urged him to work hard, he preferred to work smart.
"Jie Ming... Don't do it..." His father muttered before finally losing consciousness.
Jie Fu Lian had clearly heard those words but he still chose to turn a deaf ear on them.
He sat down cross-legged and took out his sword, Changbo.
This Changbo sword was made from the bones of a peak stage God realm cultivator and Jie Fu Lian had enfused it with a part of his own soul.
He was connected to the sword. As long as he lived, the sword would thrive and shine ever so brightly, but as soon as he died, the sword would also destroy itself.
Jie Fu Lian quickly plucked out a handful of grass from the ground and slowly began chewing on it.
The grass grown here wasn't that special, however, it had still been around for ages and hence, it had managed to collect a bit of spiritual energy from here and there.
Consuming this grass would give a person spiritual energy but Jie Fu Lian knew that he would need to atleast chew on a hundred strands of grass in order to recover just a single percent of his spiritual energy.
The grass tasted horrible and some of it was even covered with demonic blood, however, none of that stopped Jie Fu Lian.
He continued to chew on the blood-stained grass and at the same time, he poured every last bit of his spiritual energy into the Changbo sword.
As he chewed on more grass, he felt helpless and a few round drops of tears also fell down from his eyes.
He knew this was a life or death situation but this was the only thing he could do.
He didn't feel like a phoenix that was about to turn into ashes and be reborn. He felt like a fish that had been washed up ashore and couldn't breath.
He knew that in order to live, his best bet was someone coming to his rescue, but at the same time, he also knew that no such person would ever show up.
With a heavy heart and a scared mind, he continued to chew on the grass for almost half a day.
However, even after chewing on it for half a day, he only managed to get back five percent of his spiritual energy, which was far less than the required amount for closing the east gate of the demon realm.
Just when he thought he had a bit more time to collect spiritual energy, another demon crawled out of the gate.
Jie Fu Lian gulped and felt his heart race with fear.
He was in no condition to be fighting a demon and depending on his father at the moment was also useless considering the fact that his father was still lying unconscious.
The demon looked at him straight in the eye and slowly approached him.
Jie Fu Lian didn't know what to do anymore. He quietly peeked at his father and thought that it was good.
If the demon was coming after him then he would at least die first and perhaps his father would be spared.
Jie Fu Lian quickly shut his eyes and took a sharp breath in as he waited for the demon to end his life.
However, a minute passed and nothing happened.
When Jie Fu Lian opened his eyes once again to peek at the demon, he saw the creature opening its mouth to say something but struggling to voice out the words.
"Huh...?" Jie Fu Lian muttered to himself in confusion.
The higher-level demons had the ability to speak but as long as Jie Fu Lian had learnt, the lower-leveled demons couldn't even comprehend simply words so they were naturally incapable of speaking.
So far, Jie Fu Lian had only fought against lower-level demons and hence, as soon as he saw this demon trying to speak, his heart froze in terror.
"Wh... Why..." The demon had a very hoarse voice that could hardly be understood and hurt the ears of the listeners, "Why are you... Chewing...?"
"Eh?" Jie Fu Lian gulped as he looked at the demon with his eyes widened in horror.
"Why are you chewing the grass...?" The demon once again asked, looking to be genuinely curious.
Jie Fu Lian tried his best to calm down as he took a minute to process the question in his mind before he replied, "I wanted to collect spiritual Qi."
"Why...?"
"To close the gate," Jie Fu Lian answered, his voice slow and soothing.
The demon looked at him as if it was looking at a madman, "To close the east gate?"
Jie Fu Lian nodded his head.
Suddenly, the demon let out a laugh and it was the most terrifying laugh Jie Fu Lian had ever heard in his life.
"I'm sorry, kid. I can't have you do that."
Before Jie Fu Lian could give a response, the demon reached out to grab the boy's neck, with the intent to kill him in an instant.
Just a few minutes ago, Jie Fu Lian had been more than ready to give up his life, but now that the demon had actually attacked him, Jie Fu Lian grabbed onto the hilt of Changbo and acted on pure instinct, immediately chopping down the demon's hand.
The demon didn't look to be fazed and from his bloody arm, grew a new hand.
'Able to speak. Strong and has amazing regeneration ability,' Jie Fu Lian noted down in his head as he concluded, 'This is a high-ranking demon.'
The demon sprang forward with its mouth open, aiming to bite Jie Fu Lian's head off, however, Jie Fu Lian used all his energy to jump up and clung to the branch of a random tree.
By the time the demon looked up to pull the boy down, the boy had already disappeared, leaving the demon confused.
The demon snapped his head around in search of the boy and as time passed, his expression kept getting uglier.
Hiding on the other side of the tree, Jie Fu Lian put his hand over his mouth and tried his best not to make a sound.
"Boy, where are you?" The demon called out to him but there was no response, "Come out and play."
Jie Fu Lian was afraid.
He felt so afraid that he almost had the urge to run away from there, but when he thought about his father who was still lying there unconscious, he couldn't leave.
The demon chuckled sinisterly and called out to him a few more times, but Jie Fu Lian was too terrified to respond.
Suddenly he saw his sword glowing a little and his fear made him have a realization.
He was afraid of dying and if he kept hiding here, he would surely die...
Changbo was an amazing sword and when he had first incorporated a piece of his soul inside this sword, his father had told him that in the future, this sword could even beat the great demon king Shen Fang.
He trusted his father and that trust made him clutch on tightly to the hilt of the sword as he finally made up his mind.
He was going to fight.
Even if it was fate for him to die today, he was going to make sure that he would not die without a fight.
With this thought in mind, he stepped out of his hiding spot and jumped at the demon from behind.
However, how could a thirteen-year boy stand a chance against a fully grown high-ranking demon...?