Chapter 184: A Sword to Shake the World, Savior of the Demonic Race
Chapter 184 – A Sword to Shake the World, Savior of the Demonic Race
Hearing the sword cultivator’s words, Chen Changsheng clapped his hands together.
“I knew it! A face riddled with pockmarks is one thing, but to actually slap ‘Mazi’ into the name?”
“So it was just a crude moniker you lot forced upon him!”
“Your moral character is truly abysmal.”
Even as Chen Changsheng leisurely complained, a tide of sword cultivators had already encircled him.
Trapped within their killing intent, Chen Changsheng felt no anxiety. Instead, he smoothly plucked the True Martial Sword from Chen Shisan’s grasp.
Thrum!
The instant the True Martial Sword entered his grip, a violent tremor erupted from the blade.
“I am merely borrowing you for a moment. Why so stingy?”
“You never threw such a tantrum when I wielded you in the past. Have you truly forsaken the old for the new?”
Faced with the True Martial Sword’s fierce resistance, Chen Changsheng openly grumbled.
The moment those words fell, the True Martial Sword’s trembling instantly ceased.
Having successfully cowed the blade, Chen Changsheng’s gaze cooled into absolute seriousness.
“Stubborn mule, I am no master of the sword, so this strike will not be particularly dazzling.”
“However, since I promised to guide you, I must at least offer a proper demonstration.”
“Lest you keep shooting me expectant glances every time you practice.”
With that, Chen Changsheng casually swung the blade.
The motion was utterly mundane, like a child playfully waving a wooden stick at the heavens.
The strike completed, the True Martial Sword autonomously darted back into Chen Shisan’s hand.
Buzz!
The clouds drifting high above violently shuddered.
An instant later, the sky tore open.
……
The Southern Plains.
A colossal white wolf lounged contentedly across a vast, jade-green meadow.
Beside it, three graceful maidens meticulously combed its flowing, silken fur.
Swish!
The white wolf, previously lost in comfort, abruptly shot to its feet.
Closing its eyes, its massive snout twitched, sweeping the air for a phantom scent.
A heartbeat later, the wolf’s eyes snapped open, and it bolted toward a distant peach blossom mountain.
“Bookworm!”
“That monster is back! Let’s go find him!”
……
The Eastern Wasteland.
A man draped in a long scholar’s gown sat alone, studying a Go board.
Sensing the distant, world-shaking ripple, he slowly lifted his head. “Is this the successor that brute took a liking to?”
“His foundation is pitifully weak, but that lingering Dao rhythm… quite intriguing.”
The scholar lowered his head, returning his focus to the board, but the colossal mountain range looming before him suddenly trembled.
“Do you possess the courage to step out and test my patience?”
The scholar murmured, his eyes never leaving the black and white stones.
“Arrogant!”
“Do you truly believe we cannot obliterate you?!”
Faced with the crushing killing intent bleeding from the mountain range, the scholar sighed impatiently.
“I am well aware of your might, but I ask again—do you dare step out?”
“Step out alone, and I shall slaughter you. Step out as a pair, and I shall butcher you both. Step out as a trio, and I will immediately turn tail and flee.”
“And the moment I flee, Huang will immediately turn around to wipe you from existence.”
“If Huang and I join forces, completely uprooting a third of the Sacred Ruins is well within our grasp. Don’t believe me? Take a single step past that boundary.”
The instant those words echoed out, a suffocating silence descended upon the Sacred Ruins.
Smirking, the scholar flicked his wrist, driving a wooden signboard into the earth directly before the forbidden land. Four bloody characters were violently carved into its surface:
“Cross the Boundary and Die!”
Sign secured, the scholar shot a look of utter disdain toward the depths of the Sacred Ruins.
“Had I not been occupied elsewhere back then, your days would never have been this comfortable.”
“Among all the forbidden lands, I despise your faction the most.”
“You know exactly how much rot and filth you’ve sown.”
“A certain someone has nursed their fury for four thousand years, waiting for the perfect day to unleash that apocalyptic resentment.”
“I am quite eager to see if four millennia of pure wrath will be enough to shatter a few of your teeth.”
With his piece said, the scholar refocused on his Go board, and the Sacred Ruins sank back into a cowardly stillness.
It was worth noting that if Chen Changsheng had been present, he would have meticulously studied that crude wooden sign.
Because Chen Changsheng possessed an intimate familiarity with that exact handwriting.
There was a single, bloody decree from that brush that Chen Changsheng had eternally burned into his soul:
“A Great Scourge Eradicated; the Heavens Rejoice!”
……
The Western Continent, Mount Buzhou.
Gulp!
The harsh sound of dry swallowing echoed across the silent peak.
Though the sundered heavens had long since knit back together, the suffocating terror gripping the cultivators’ hearts refused to fade.
“D-Dare we ask, Senior… what exalted existence might you be?”
“I am no Senior. I am Wang Er Mazi. I merely came to participate in the Mount Buzhou Sword Discussion.”
“Additionally, a brief question: did I win this Sword Discussion?”
Faced with Chen Changsheng’s calm inquiry, not a single cultivator dared breathe half a word of dissent, instead frantically showering him with the most nauseatingly poetic flattery they could muster.
Ignoring the groveling, Chen Changsheng dismissively waved his hand.
“Disperse. I despise crowds.”
“Furthermore, as you leave, travel thirty miles to the east. You will find two men buried roughly sixty feet beneath the earth.”
“Should you feel charitable, you may dig them out early.”
“If not, let them rot. They will naturally break free in three to five days regardless.”
With his instructions given, Chen Changsheng turned and began dismantling the iron cage with his bare hands.
Realizing this monstrous Senior had completely dismissed them, the assembly of elites could only tuck their tails and slink away in utter dejection.
To have a heaven-defying Fated Chance dangling right before their eyes, yet lacking the qualifications to claim it—it was a visceral, suffocating agony.
……
Screech—
The arm-thick iron bars, tempered through profound esoteric methods, groaned and bent like warm wax under Chen Changsheng’s casual grip.
Tearing the cage wide open, Chen Changsheng reached in, seized the Xuan Bird by the throat, and ruthlessly dragged it out into the open.
Swish!
With a nonchalant sweep of his left hand, the suffocating restrictions binding the beast instantly shattered.
The colossal azure bird rapidly condensed, taking the form of a frail, thirteen or fourteen-year-old youth.
Staring coldly at the youth dangling from his grip, Chen Changsheng spoke without an ounce of pity.
“I recall the Xuan Bird clan. Your bloodline is considered apex among the Demonic Race.”
“For such a supreme lineage to be entirely exterminated… can you provide an adequate explanation?”
Confronted by Chen Changsheng’s glacial indifference, the choked youth displayed no terror. Instead, wild, desperate ecstasy flooded his eyes.
“Senior! I beg you, leave a path of survival for our Demonic Race!”
Ignoring the question, the youth broke into torrential tears, his voice trembling with raw, bleeding desperation.
Thud.
Chen Changsheng opened his hand, letting the youth crumple to the earth.
But the boy scrambled instantly to his knees and began viciously kowtowing against the stone floor.
“Senior, four millennia ago, my Demonic Race committed a grave sin! But we have long since realized our folly!”
“I beg Senior to show boundless mercy! Spare a single thread of survival for my people!”
Staring down at the youth frantically smashing his forehead into the rock, Chen Changsheng clicked his tongue.
“You recognize me?”
“This Junior does not recognize Senior’s face,” the youth wept, “but this Junior was raised on the whispered legends surrounding Senior.”
“For as long as I can remember, my Imperial Father would do nothing but sigh into the abyss.”
“Because Imperial Father knew that the Demonic Race’s ancient sins demanded a blood price.”
“On the day my clan was butchered, Imperial Father burned his lifeblood to smuggle me out, leaving me with a single mandate.”
“If the Demonic Race is to survive, we must locate a singular existence—the only being capable of staying the Desolate Heavenly Emperor’s hand.”
“He swore that if a day came when someone questioned the true reason behind the Xuan Bird clan’s annihilation… that person would be the prophesied savior of the Demonic Race.”
Listening to the youth’s desperate confession, the scattered pieces within Chen Changsheng’s mind finally clicked into place.
Wuli truly had tampered with the Western Continent’s foundational laws, heavily crippling the destiny of the Demonic Race.
“Your Imperial Father possessed profound wisdom, and your luck is heaven-defying.”
“But tell me… why in the heavens should I lift a finger to save the Demonic Race?”
……