Chapter 212: The Name of the Sword Ancestor
A moment later, within the realm of Great Night Fills the Sky. The clean-featured demonic cultivator now had a body like charred wood, his features twisted in struggle, his steps seemingly extremely painful.
Song Yan’s gaze fell upon the fat Daoist.
He hadn’t expected these two to be in the same place. Not having to hunt them down one by one saved some effort.
The fat Daoist looked at the three with terror.
Third Brother had died in almost a single exchange.
That meant he would be the same.
He continuously retreated, but the darkness behind him seemed endless. The three opponents maintained the same distance from him no matter what.
“A formation?”
The fat Daoist was somewhat surprised. “Impossible…”
The two of them had been pulled into this strange dark night almost instantly.
“Kid from Xin Mountain, you actually conspired with a righteous cultivator to kill your own brothers. Aren’t you afraid…”
“Since when were you my brothers?”
Sheng Nian glanced at him with undisguised disgust, as if looking at something filthy.
“Would my ‘own brothers’ disguise themselves as rogue cultivators to kill me?”
He gave the Corpse Puppet A Yuan a look.
A Yuan understood and stepped forward.
“What are you doing? Lei Ning will return soon. If you leave now, I’ll let bygones be bygones.”
The Corpse Puppet A Yuan seemed to be reminded of something.
He took out the remains of the tall, thin cultivator from his Cosmos Bag and piled them with the clean-featured demonic cultivator’s corpse.
“…”
Seeing the barely recognizable remains of the tall, thin cultivator, the fat Daoist’s breathing stopped almost instantly.
Only now did his fear become unrestrained.
“Spar…” He squeezed a plea for mercy from his throat, his obese body curling backward in desperation. “Spare me…”
The Corpse Puppet A Yuan had already arrived before him. Calmly, he grabbed his head.
Under the instinct to survive, the fat Daoist wanted to stand, wanted to flee backward.
But before he could rise, the Corpse Puppet A Yuan slammed him to the ground.
He crashed before Song Yan’s feet.
The fat Daoist trembled all over, whether from pain or fear.
He raised his head slightly, looking at their cold gazes, knowing in his heart that he likely wouldn’t survive this.
Seeing their mocking tones and expressions, the fat Daoist’s eyes turned red. The fat on his face trembled with rage as he shrieked, “Since you won’t give me a way to live, I’ll take you down with me!”
He suddenly bit through his tongue, spitting out a wisp of essence blood. His hands formed seals as dark green mist rapidly churned around him.
Above his head, three streaks of dark green spiritual light condensed, transforming into three sword-shaped sword lights.
At the same time, the fat Daoist’s appearance instantly aged, and his obese body shrank considerably.
Song Yan’s gaze sharpened. This technique reminded him of the one Elder Xu Ziqing had used before in Changping.
But compared to that, Elder Xu’s method was more refined and the might it displayed even more terrifying.
“Three Flowers on the Corpse.” Sheng Nian sneered. “Heh, an ugly imitation.”
The fat Daoist was somewhat surprised. This secret technique had been obtained from some demonic cultivator’s ruin, and he himself didn’t know its origins.
How did this kid from Xin Mountain seem to know all about it?
He was about to attack when he sensed the Corpse Puppet closing in from behind.
At the same time, Sheng Nian’s horizontal saber was pushed forward, slashing through.
The spiritual energy shielding the fat Daoist was cut apart.
The force was controlled just right.
The Corpse Puppet A Yuan had already arrived behind him, grabbing his wrist and applying instant pressure.
“Ahhh–“
The fat Daoist wept and snot ran down his face. His obese body struggled and twisted frantically.
The three dark green sword lights wavered.
Right at this moment, a massive black palm emerged from the darkness, grabbing the three dark green lights and instantly refining them.
“Impossible?!”
The fat Daoist cried out. But before he could fully express his shock, a crack sounded.
A Yuan, expressionless, crushed his wrist bone.
“Ahhh–“
A scream.
Sheng Nian finally spoke. “I ask, you answer.”
The fat Daoist struggled in pain, but the Corpse Puppet A Yuan held him, forcing him to listen to the Young Master’s questions.
“How do you currently travel between the Demonic Ruins and the mortal world?”
The fat Daoist was in such agony that his body was drenched in sweat, his mind blurred. The dark night of this realm was also consuming his will to resist. “Below Foundation Establishment, you can use the… transmission array. Other methods, I don’t know.”
“The transmission array… where is it?”
“Guang… Guangling Prefecture.”
“…” Sheng Nian pondered for a moment. “The one at Guangling Huishan?”
The fat Daoist was stunned, thinking: Didn’t you already know?
Presumably, the Xin Mountain Rogue had told his disciple about this.
“As far as I know, the transmission array to the Demonic Ruins is one-way. That’s the one for coming here. Where’s the one for going to the Demonic Ruins?”
The fat Daoist was confused. Had the Xin Mountain Rogue only told him half the story?
“In Xin’an Prefecture.”
Xin’an Prefecture?
Song Yan and Sheng Nian exchanged a glance.
The Chu capital.
Sheng Nian asked again, “The demonic cultivators of the Demonic Ruins are so rampant now. Has some senior demonic cultivator broken through and decided to come to the mortal world?”
“That… I don’t know.”
“Where is Zhao Ziyang now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Which sects do the demonic cultivators in Chu Kingdom belong to? How many are there in total, and what are their cultivation levels?”
The Demonic Ruins’ infiltration of the mortal world was primarily focused on the Central Domain.
However, unlike the strict defenses of the Central Domain, smaller border nations like the Nine Kingdoms had fewer defensive forces and methods, making them easier to infiltrate.
So along this “Tian Shan Corridor,” these nine small nations also had a considerable Demonic Ruins presence.
It was just unknown how many demonic cultivators were in Chu Kingdom and what their overall strength was.
“I… I only know there are the Seed Demon Path and the Underworld Springs.” The fat cultivator said. “The rest, I don’t know.”
Sheng Nian curled his lip, losing interest in interrogation.
The Soul Search technique couldn’t be used again in a short time. Moreover, this person’s cultivation at the eighth level of Qi Refining wasn’t low, and he didn’t dare cast it carelessly.
Song Yan was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked. “Are the people of the Demonic Ruins connected with the Qin Clan of Southern Chu?”
Sheng Nian was taken aback, not understanding why he suddenly asked this.
The fat Daoist didn’t understand either, but answered honestly. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Song Yan exchanged a glance with Sheng Nian, then flicked his finger.
A wisp of sword qi pierced through the fat Daoist’s Dantian, not killing him but causing his spiritual power to collapse, making it impossible for him to ever cast any technique again.
“Ahhh–“
The fat Daoist sprang up like a fish that had been stabbed, then crashed heavily back to the ground.
Sheng Nian looked at him oddly. “Not going to let him refine a few more for you?” “No need. The Dharma Avatar needs to refine this demonic energy. Having more for a short while won’t help. No point wasting the effort.”
Song Yan glanced at the Corpse Puppet A Yuan.
“He enjoyed tormenting mortals so much. Why not let him taste what it feels like to be tormented to death?”
A Yuan agreed wholeheartedly.
His stiff neck nodded heavily. Then he grabbed the fat Daoist’s other arm and slowly applied pressure.
Crack! Crack!
Every bone in his body was crushed inch by inch. Each crisp crack was accompanied by heart-wrenching screams.
The fat Daoist’s pupils contracted sharply. All color drained from his fat face.
He shook his head frantically, his flesh slapping with “pa pa” sounds. “I beg you… just kill me directly…”
“How can we do that?”
Song Yan said flatly, “When you were tormenting those mortals, you were clearly enjoying it…”
“Why aren’t you laughing now?”
The fat Daoist’s screams no longer sounded human, and his voice gradually faded.
The Corpse Puppet A Yuan would occasionally pause, allowing the fat Daoist to fully savor the pain.
Then continue.
His obese body rolled frantically on the ground. Fine beads of blood began to seep from his skin, merging into the dark night.
His voice grew hoarse beyond human recognition, gradually growing quieter.
The Corpse Puppet A Yuan glanced at Sheng Nian and Song Yan, then grabbed the fat Daoist’s body and punched through his head.
The fat Daoist’s body twitched violently several times before finally going still.
…
A moment later, the endless dark night completely enveloped the entire Green Pine Temple.
Song Yan and Sheng Nian stood at the highest point of the main hall’s roof, overlooking the scene below.
The stench of blood permeated the air. In the open space of the temple, dozens of bodies lay in disarray.
The Corpse Puppet A Yuan was busy throughout the temple. At this moment, he had just cleanly snapped a demonic cultivator’s neck.
“Three or five more. Almost done,” A Yuan said to himself.
Looking at the demonic cultivators’ corpses scattered across the ground.
Their painful, twisted expressions and miserable, terrified screams before death…
Had these demonic cultivators seen the same when they were slaughtering the ordinary cultivators of Green Pine Temple?
Now, it was their turn.
A Nian had said that Green Pine Temple had once been a thriving small temple, with its master at Qi Refining completion.
But simply because these Demonic Ruins cultivators needed a place to stay, the entire temple was massacred overnight.
He didn’t want to judge the demonic cultivators’ actions, but at this moment, it was merely replaying the cycle of the weak being prey to the strong.
Song Yan gazed at the endless dark night above Green Pine Temple.
The absolute darkness that enveloped the surroundings not only concealed cultivators’ senses but also seemed to have the strange property of devouring spiritual power.
Sheng Nian’s “Great Night Fills the Sky” technique combined entrapment and killing, much like a sword formation.
Looking at it this way, Sheng Nian at his peak was no weaker than himself.
Song Yan asked, “These Demonic Ruins cultivators – if you were careful, with A Yuan, the two of you could have cleaned them all out. Why did you call me?”
Sheng Nian looked somewhat sheepish. “Heh heh… I was guarding against Zhao Ziyang.”
He and the Corpse Puppet A Yuan could indeed eliminate most of the people here. Even facing Zhao Ziyang one-on-one, he was confident of victory.
But if Zhao Ziyang appeared simultaneously with these three, that would be more troublesome.
At this moment, behind Song Yan, one palm of the Dharma Avatar had completely grown black flesh and meridians, with faint golden patterns visible on the skin’s surface.
Apart from that demonic cultivator named Lei Ning from the beginning, the rest of the demonic cultivators in Green Pine Temple provided negligible nourishment for the avatar.
At this moment, A Yuan dragged the last two corpses to the center of the temple’s open space and dropped them.
His robes were stained red-black with blood. In his hand, he carried a string of Cosmos Bags.
Seeing that matters here were concluded, Song Yan casually dismissed the Dharma Avatar.
The two decided to divide the spoils here, also harboring a thought of waiting for Zhao Ziyang to come knocking.
According to Sheng Nian, there were many Dao Candidate substitutes in the demonic sects, but Zhao Ziyang was a special case.
Although he hadn’t broken through to Foundation Establishment, his strength among those Qi Refining demonic cultivators was outstanding.
In the Demonic Ruins, many forces had their eyes on the Nine Border Kingdoms, but divided among nine countries, the number was small.
Even the death of a so-called Dao Candidate substitute wouldn’t cause much of a stir.
Unfortunately, Zhao Ziyang didn’t give them that chance and never appeared.
Most of the items in the Cosmos Bags collected this time weren’t worth noting. Only the three late-stage Qi Refining cultivators’ Cosmos Bags held some value.
Song Yan didn’t even bother taking the Cosmos Bags. He picked out some spiritual herbs and half the spirit stones he could use, then paid them no more attention.
Those magical treasures and talismans – he’d still need to find a place to sell them. Better to just take spirit stones.
Let Sheng Gou handle these goods himself. He had hired muscle after all.
“If matters here are concluded, I’ll be leaving first.”
Song Yan bid farewell to Sheng Nian.
Sheng Nian nodded. “We’ll meet again.”
He thought that if Sheng Nian hadn’t called him over, he truly wouldn’t have imagined the Demonic Ruins would issue a kill order against someone as insignificant as himself.
He also felt quite innocent. The Changping affair – he had only acted in self-defense.
If he had truly offended anyone, it was undoubtedly the Profound Abyss Sect.
The scroll affair – wasn’t that caused by those Underworld Springs cultivators themselves?
Heh.
But whether it was the Profound Abyss Sect, the Underworld Springs, or the Qin Clan, Yang Wenxuan, Corpse Bone Abyss…
For someone as insignificant as himself, they wouldn’t bother with elaborate schemes or plots. At worst, they just wanted him dead.
What he needed to do was simple.
Forge his Dao Foundation as soon as possible, possessing sufficient power to handle everything!
“…”
Sheng Nian stood in the night, watching Song Yan’s departing figure.
“Tsk tsk…” The demonic voice within him sounded faintly. “This kid really did obtain the Sword Sect’s legacy.”
“The Sword Sect? How can you tell?” Sheng Nian was curious. “Do you recognize the sword formation he used?”
“Not exactly. Sword formations are infinitely varied. This lowly sword formation – how could I remember them all?”
Elder Xie said, “It’s that sword dao eye technique. If I’m not mistaken, that should be the Sword Sect’s exclusive art.”
“Back then, Zheng Tianqi caused quite a commotion.”
Sheng Nian heard an extremely unfamiliar name and couldn’t help asking. “Zheng Tianqi? Who was that?”
“The founder of the Sword Sect.” Elder Xie’s voice carried a hint of reminiscence.
“Twenty-four thousand years ago, he ascended to the Immortal Realm.”
“Ascended to the Immortal Realm?!”
Sheng Nian’s mind shook. The founder of the Sword Sect had actually ascended to become an immortal?!
Ascension.
Such a distant and unfamiliar word.
After all, in the Chu Kingdom, Foundation Establishment was already considered a senior master.
“Of course, among the three lineages of sword cultivators, the Sword Sect was the one that achieved the grand synthesis. For such a heaven-blessed genius, ascension would be no difficulty.”
“But the Sword Sect’s legacy is vast…” Elder Xie’s tone shifted. “I wonder how much this kid has inherited.”