What is an immortal?

"Thump."

A frail silhouette leaped into the river, splashing water around.

The figure's owner seemed to be a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boy, extravagantly dressed, yet soaked in blood on one side of his body. As soon as he hit the water, his legs churned, swimming downstream toward the riverbed.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Arrows, with their deadly whistling through the air, flew from behind, skewering into the water at an angle.

The sharp arrows, carrying momentum, pursued the boy rapidly, slashing wounds across his cheeks, arms, and thighs, and instantly turning the surrounding water red with blood, but fortunately, none hit his vitals.

The boy clenched his teeth, using his arms and legs together, desperately wringing the last bit of strength from himself, madly diving toward the bottom.

The nearby current suddenly became more turbulent, a powerful undertow engulfed his body and in an instant, propelled him several zhang away.

The Dressed-up Youth welcomed the situation instead of panicking and swam rapidly along with the current.

The barrage of arrows continued from behind, but here they were ineffective; scattered by the undertow, they no longer posed a threat to him.

The Dressed-up Youth secretly sighed in relief, but he didn't relax his movements. He quickly dove to the riverbed and continued to struggle forward.

Only by getting farther away could he possibly survive.

In the blink of an eye, he had traveled underwater for fifteen minutes, with no sign of pursuit behind him.

However, having been under the water for so long, his breath was reaching its limit; his chest felt as if it was roiling with pent-up thunder, and his head was bloating, just as he was about to risk surfacing for air.

But then the undertow around him suddenly multiplied in strength. Even underwater, he could hear the loud roar, and he couldn't stabilize his body, getting swept away instantly.

The sound of rushing water ahead grew louder, like a dragon spiraling, forming a dark vortex dozens of zhang wide.

Many jagged rocks stood amidst it, resembling the fangs of a behemoth, ready to shred and swallow everything.

The Dressed-up Youth was terrified. Although he was a decent swimmer, he was severely injured and running out of breath, hardly having any strength left. If he got caught in such a huge vortex, he would undoubtedly die.

In panic, he hastily plunged his hands into the mud below, trying to grab something to stabilize his body, and his right hand touched something hard, seemingly a piece of rock.

With a strong grip of his fingers, his body, embraced by the raging current, briefly halted.

However, the object in his hand was not sturdy, and before he could fully steady himself, it dislodged from the riverbed, and he was swept away by the vortex, "bang," slamming hard against a black rock.

The boy could not hold on any longer; a mouthful of blood mixed with a large number of bubbles burst forth, and fresh blood gushed from his arrow wounds.

At that moment, he felt as if his bones had come apart, his head grew increasingly groggy, and having almost no breath left, he had no strength to resist, about to be completely devoured by the massive whirlpool.

Suddenly, a blue light burst from his right hand, illuminating the sea bottom within several zhang, turning it transparent. The once violent vortex suddenly calmed, disappearing without a trace or sound.

At that moment, everything around became eerily silent.

The Dressed-up Youth felt a coolness seeping into his head, his spirits lifted, and the overwhelming sense of suffocation subsided significantly. He was shocked and turned to look at his right hand.

Through the dim light, the glowing object was the very thing he had just grabbed, seemingly an ancient blue incense burner the size of a bowl.

And the blood from his wounds was twining around the incense burner like silk thread, seeping into it rapidly.

Just as the boy was about to take a closer look, the blue light from the incense burner exploded.

His mind felt like it had been struck hard, much stronger even than when he had hit the rock. At that moment, bizarre images began to churn in his mind.

A sky torn apart, the earth riddled with scars...

Below the blood-red sun, the western wind whipped up a sandstorm spanning thousands of miles, and a massive creature covered in spines and claws, snake-like but not a snake, twisted its body, convulsing up and down, gathering flashes of lightning around it...

A gigantic figure, half-naked and covered in strange tattoos, was bound to a cliff reaching to the skies, eyes tightly shut, with two trails of dried blood-tears...

The stars shattered in an instant, the moon lost its luster, and it seemed as if endless darkness was all that remained between heaven and earth...

These scenes flashed through the boy's mind as if they left no trace whatsoever.

Before a thought could rise in the boy's mind, he lost consciousness.

And the blue incense burner turned into a wisp of blue shadow, merging into his right arm, becoming a faint blue mark...