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Hua Hai went into secluded cultivation.

After leaving seclusion, he finally understood what his father had tried to tell him all those years ago.

The moment he chose to cultivate and walk the path of immortality, he'd left mortal affairs far behind.

As a child, he'd once hoped to use immortal magic to gain acceptance among the village children. Now, as he stepped out of seclusion, he finally understood how ludicrous that was.

Immortals lived a very, very long time.

For him, his seclusion seemed to pass in an instant. However, for those mortal children, a lifetime had passed.

He examined his former village. The youths who’d once tormented him were now old. After a brief pause, he turned and walked away indifferently.

He knew that he no longer belonged there.

Perhaps the youth was destined to cultivate; in just a short hundred years, he’d already reached the sky immortal level. Now a fully-fledged cultivator, he founded the Hundred Flowers Gate in the mountains to the Immortal Region's Hundred Flower’s City.

His father disappeared shortly after he left seclusion and never reappeared

A thousand years.

In the blink of an eye, a thousand years passed. By now, the youth was already master of a sect. He'd become a supreme figure within the outskirts of the Immortal Region and even in the entire Three Realms.

He was so powerful, he could decide the lives of tens of thousands with but a single word.....

Even so, deep within his heart, he was still lonely.

The battle techniques of the Hundred Flowers Gate.

He was proficient in all of the combat techniques of the Hundred Flowers Gate and had even improved and refined some of them. However, he had yet to use the last technique in the text, "bloom."

He’d grown accustomed to the “wilting” and “withering” and was actually rather curious what the fully bloomed black rose would look like.

However, he had no good reason to use the technique, nor could he think of one.

He’d once assumed that, when his father mentioned worthwhile reasons to use the technique, he'd meant that Hua Hai should wait until his life was almost over before activating it. However, as time passed, he'd realized that that wasn't what he meant at all.

Dying for other people?

Hua Hai disdained the very thought of it.

Cultivation was, at its core, defying the heavens to selfishly extend your own lifespan and increase your power.

Dying for someone else?

He wasn’t that stupid, nor could he imagine anyone else being that stupid.

Until……

“Hua Hai, Hundred Flowers Sect Master…..”

Hua Hai stood in a misty landscape, his eyes fixed on an elder in blood-colored robes. His left arm was unnaturally bent, and his entire body was covered in wounds so deep, you could see his bones.

“You've been plotting against me!” Hua Hui couldn’t help but gnash his teeth.

Childhood trauma had influenced his way of thinking, making it somewhat extreme. He’d tried looking for his father countless times to ask what exactly he meant back then, but even given his current abilities, he'd yet to find even a single trace of him.

It was as if his father had vanished into thin air.....

He was gone.

But just as he was about to give up the search, he’d received news of his father. He rushed out without any hesitation, only to discover it was nothing but a trap prepared by his enemies.

A thousand years? In a place as ancient as the Immortal Region, that was still considered young.

His Hundred Flowers Gate expanded brazenly, without any reservations. Naturally, this had infringed upon certain people’s benefits. Hua Hai didn't care at all. The way he saw it, those people were nothing but losers. He wasn't afraid of them.

There was no one else in his eyes; he did whatever he wanted......

Now, to his surprise, it was coming back to bite him.

“Hundred Flowers Sect Master, you think quite highly of yourself, but don't you think you're being rather arrogant? Looking at you now. You're not much, are you?"

Several middle-aged merchants stood to the blood-robed elder's side. Hua Hai didn't even have to think; these were undoubtedly people who'd suffered losses during the Hundred Flowers Gate's rapid expansion.

“Nothing but a group of cowards," Hua Hai snorted contemptuously. In his eyes, those merchants were nothing but ants. If it weren't for that elder.....

The elder was a member of the senior generation from the inner Immortal Region, the head of the Blood Temple Sect. Nevermind the outer Immortal Regions, even the experts of the Immortal Region's Holy Land had to give him face.

Although the Hundred Flowers Gate was pretty strong, it was nothing compared to the Blood Temple Sect. Similarly, its leader's strength far surpassed his.

Their strength was unequal from the start. On top of that, his arm was broken.

"All I can do is use that technique."

Hua Hai gnashed his teeth and made up his mind. However, before he could make a move, a man in a straw raincoat appeared before him.

As he examined this familiar figure, Hua Hai's heart trembled. '

"It's.... It's you......"

"Not bad."

The man turned to look at him. It was Hua Hai's long-lost father. He smiled and nodded. Hua Hai knew that, when his father said "nod bad," he was referring to Hua Hai's current strength.

As a mid-stage sky immortal, Hua Hai could clearly see his father's strength. "An early-stage Sky immortal."

Seeing this, he roared, "why are you here?"

"To save you!"

"You can't defeat him!" Hua Hai shouted angrily. "Hurry up and run, don't meddle in my affairs!"

"Have you truly forgotten that forbidden technique?" The man's lips pressed into a smile.

Hua Hai was struck dumb for a moment, then, lips trembling, said, "you can't be......"

"Do you remember what I once told you? Now, I have a reason to use that technique!"

.....

"Bloom!"

He snapped his fingers. Even in such a tense, violent environment, the sound reverberated through Hua Hai's ears. His father stood in the sky, still snapping his fingers.

Suddenly, an enormous black rosebud, easily a hundred thousand meters across, appeared in the sky. It looked as if it were just about to blossom.

Several comparatively smaller roses appeared by its side, one beneath Hua Hai's feet, another floating above his head.....

........

Five flowers. Including the central rose, there were five in total.

"Hurry and look!"

When the black rose appeared, practically everyone turned to look.

"That's.... the 'Blooming Black Rose'" said the city lords of the Immortal Region in surprise.

Within the Immortal Region, the Hundred Flowers battle techniques were fairly well-known. Thanks to the Hundred Flowers Sect Master, Hua Hai, they were now even more famous than before.

Everyone knew that this technique existed. Furthermore, they understood full well…

What it cost to use it.

"Master." Seeing this, Lia Jiayi couldn't stop herself; her eyes brimmed over with tears.

Was this why he'd been so confident earlier when he'd said he could buy them some time?

"The Blooming Black Rose."

Off to the side, Hanba couldn't restrain herself. She snorted, "you traded your life just to make this flower blossom? Don't you think that's rather pitiful? That said, it hasn't quite bloomed yet. Once it blossoms fully, it should be quite beautiful."

"Heh.... Pitiful?" Hua Hai floated in the air and laughed confidently. In the past, he'd thought the same way, but now....

Gaze solemn, he looked at the Zombie Progenitors blocking their path, then back at Lia Jiayi and the other disciples.

Then, he recalled that sentence he'd never been able to forget.

"When you find something you want to protect even at the cost of your life, your black rose will have a reason to bloom!"