The animated saga Renegade Immortal (仙逆) presents a cultivation world of stark brutality and relentless consequence. Its protagonist, Wang Lin (王林), navigates a landscape where power is the only true currency and yesterday's disciple can become tomorrow's mortal enemy. His journey is less a heroic ascent and more a grim march through betrayal and survival. In a pivotal confrontation, he is forced to return to a place of ancient conflict, the Ancient Battlefield, to settle a debt a decade old and face a treachery that festered within his own circle. This episode crystallizes the series' core theme: in the pursuit of immortality, the most dangerous demons are often those you once nurtured yourself.
The Traitor's Ambition
Treachery often wears a familiar face. Hu Pao (虎咆), once under Wang Lin's tutelage, re-emerges not as a lost follower but as a vengeful rival. His rapid rise in power, serving the malevolent San Mo (散魔), is built on a foundation of resentment. He views his past as a subordinate as a stain to be erased. His ambition mirrors Wang Lin's own early hunger but is twisted by bitterness. He dreams of erasing his master and establishing his own dominion, proving that the pupil has learned the master's ruthless lessons all too well.
Their reunion is charged with bitter irony. Wang Lin witnesses the monstrous growth of Hu Pao's signature technique, the Soul Banner, a method he himself pioneered. Yet, the disciple's power is revealed as a hollow, desperate gamble. Wang Lin perceives the truth: such explosive growth comes at a catastrophic cost to life and potential. It is a path of self-destruction, not cultivation. Hu Pao's declaration of independence is undercut by the very flaws in his understanding that Wang Lin immediately recognizes.
The confrontation is short and decisive. It serves as a dark lesson in mastery. Wang Lin, who always withheld a final key to the Soul Banner's true potential, demonstrates the gulf between creator and imitator. With devastating efficiency, he dismantles Hu Pao's prized collection of a billion souls, rendering the traitor's decade of work meaningless. The rebellion ends not with a epic clash, but with the crushing finality of a master reasserting control over his own creation.
A Servant's Power
Eliminating the traitor is merely the prelude. The true obstacle guarding San Mo's sanctuary is Ming Yuan (暝渊), the Mo Shi Zhang (魔侍长) or Demon Attendant Captain. Empowered by a chestplate bestowed by his master, Ming Yuan's strength is artificially elevated to a formidable level. This encounter shatters Wang Lin's momentum. For perhaps the first time in this campaign, his relentless assault meets an immovable object.
Wang Lin empties his arsenal. The Dao Transformation Yellow Springs that annihilated legions, the very billion souls he seized from Hu Pao—all prove ineffective against the fortified attendant. The struggle highlights a brutal reality: raw power, even in staggering quantities, can be neutralized by superior defense and borrowed authority. Wang Lin is forced into a defensive, reactive stance, a shocking reversal for the character who had been an unstoppable force.
A single, stolen artifact breaks the deadlock: a sword qi (剑气) from Ling Tianhou (凌天候). This foreign energy, not of Wang Lin's own cultivation, finally scores a hit. The strike not only wounds Ming Yuan but cracks the foundational Mo Ta (魔塔), the Demon Pagoda that is the source of San Mo's awareness and power. This accidental success, however, triggers a catastrophic escalation, forcing the hidden master to intervene directly through his servant.
The Price of Survival
Confronted with a fusion of Ming Yuan's body and San Mo's will, Wang Lin faces annihilation. His earlier, almost berserker rage, fueled by the potent Renegade Immortalang or Immortal Brew, dissipates, replaced by cold, tactical clarity. He is outmatched. Survival now demands a terrible sacrifice, not of others, but of a priceless treasure meant for his own advancement.
He turns to his captive, Yao Xixue (姚惜雪), daughter of the Xue Zu (血祖), the Blood Ancestor. Forced to reveal the secret, she discloses the true, destructive function of the Xue Hun Dan (血魂丹), the Blood Soul Pill. In a moment of stark ruthlessness, Wang Lin does not use it to empower himself, but as a weapon. He triggers its self-destruction. The resulting cataclysm achieves what direct combat could not: it severely wounds the augmented Ming Yuan and, more crucially, devastates the central Demon Pagoda.
This act is both escape and strategic masterstroke. By destroying the Pagoda, Wang Lin obliterates San Mo's "fishing pond," the system he used to lure and trap powerful cultivators across the Yao Ling Zhi Di (妖灵之地), the Demon Spirit Lands. The cost is a priceless pill and the fury of a wounded ancient evil. His survival hinges on this absolute severance. The immediate threat is paused, but the war is declared. Knowing the enraged San Mo will stop at nothing, Wang Lin's only path forward is to seek an alliance with another primordial power, Gu Yao Bei Luo (古妖贝罗), finally honoring their decade-old pact out of sheer necessity.
