Celestial Dragon Sword Venerable

"Little Dragon Girl... I’m... I’m already... about to die! You... *sigh*."

Ye Tianling sighed softly.

The Little Dragon Girl had given him hope.

He truly felt completely powerless, his entire body nearly withered into a dried-up corpse.

He couldn’t see, and he was nearly deaf.

His Soul Talent was useful, but it was all he had left.

And a Soul Talent couldn’t keep him alive.

"You’re about to die? How come I didn’t know?"

the Little Dragon Girl asked back curiously.

Ye Tianling was speechless—in fact, it was only after hearing the Little Dragon Girl say there was hope that he truly felt there was a point in living.

But, just when he felt that living had meaning again, he realized he might not be able to live on after all!

The terrifying, near-death experience before him was just too real.

His body was cracking apart, bit by bit, about to undergo Transformation Dao. His flesh and blood were turning to dust—although the process wasn’t fast.

But even a blind man could see that he was indeed undergoing Transformation Dao, bit by bit, and was about to die any second.

"I’m undergoing Transformation Dao... can’t... can’t you see?"

Ye Tianling said bitterly.

He was very reluctant to let go.

He wasn’t afraid of death.

But right now, he really didn’t want to die.

"I see it, but does undergoing Transformation Dao mean you have to die? Let me tell you, Tianling, you’re just being melodramatic, you know?"

The Little Dragon Girl’s tone was full of contempt. She even rolled her eyes and snorted.

She stopped nuzzling Ye Tianling’s neck to comfort him. Instead, she flew off into the Void, flapping her Spiritual light-wings with a WHOOSH. Her aura and posture became even more haughty and pouty.

"Melodramatic... I’m being melodramatic?"

Even with his heart already riddled with a thousand holes, Ye Tianling felt the urge to cough up blood.

"Little Fairy, Little Dragon Girl, I’m in no mood to joke with you right now! My little master, I’m worried sick!"

Ye Tianling was on the verge of tears.

’Is this any way to treat someone?’

’Can’t you just speak normally for a minute?’

Ruoxue was already afflicted with thirty percent of the Ancient Soul Extinction Forbidden technique! Every second for her was unimaginable agony!

His mother, Long Qingzhuo, was still suffering the punishment of the Destruction Order’s shackles deep within the Celestial Demon Blood Domain in the Ancestral Dragon Abyss, in immense pain!

His father’s whereabouts were unknown, and he didn’t even know if he was alive or dead!

Tianyu and Tianmo had fallen into the Space-Time turbulence, a situation with virtually no chance of survival.

Then there were Que De, Wan Jimie, and Yue Lintian.

And when Yue Lintian transformed into the Heaven-Slaying Demon Slayer Sword, he was cut in two. What would have happened to Que De, Wan Jimie, Ancient Fairy, Ye Yueling, and Lin Yuchan in the Holy Dao Space? An attack of that destructive power was enough to warp the Void!

The Void itself had been shattered, and Ouyang Ruoxue had previously been summoned to her death by Long Fengyang... Could her sudden reappearance have been without reason?

At the final, critical moment, Que De, Wan Jimie, and even Ye Yueling, Lin Yuchan, and Ancient Fairy hadn’t appeared. Didn’t that mean something terrible had happened to them?

Ye Tianling wasn’t a fool. His powerful Soul Talent gave him a comprehensive Sensing of his surroundings. Even if he couldn’t know what happened inside the Holy Dao Space, it wasn’t hard to guess at some of it.

’There’s likely only one reason Ruoxue was able to awaken. They all combined their power, transferring all of their Life Origin to revive her.

But in doing so, they all fell into an incredibly fragile state, all for the sake of waking me, Ye Tianling, from my state of Entering Demon...’

Ye Tianling thought to himself. He was at least ninety percent sure that this was the truth.

But what he didn’t know was that the truth was even more brutal.

This was why he was so worried, so anxious.

"Worried sick? Worrying isn’t going to kill you. I told you you’re fine, and you still don’t believe me? The fact that you *can* worry means you’re fine."

The Little Dragon Girl shot Ye Tianling a glance, clearly annoyed.

"My little master... what... what did I do wrong?"

Ye Tianling gave in.

Faced with such a haughty little loli, he felt like crying but had no tears.

"Sigh... This just goes to show, it’s always the subtle flexes that are the most lethal."

The Little Dragon Girl sighed, sounding wise beyond her years.

Her words left Ye Tianling utterly dumbfounded.

’Flexing? I’m flexing?’

’It’s come to this, I’m about to die, what the hell am I flexing for?!’

’Who am I supposed to be showing off to?’

’To the Celestial Dao? Hoping the Celestial Dao takes a liking to me?’

’With me looking like this old, ugly monster, it’s a blessing the Celestial Dao hasn’t already sent down a Destruction Law to strike me dead, isn’t it?’

Ye Tianling was truly at a loss. The Little Dragon Girl’s antics had left him without an ounce of fight, only indignant frustration.

"Speaking of which, to be able to use a Demon Heart Sword Body until it’s completely wrecked... Tianling, you really are the first in history! Over the ages, I have chosen countless Inheritors—because the Mechanical Heart, by combining photonic Intelligence with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi particles, can derive over a quadrillion data points and resources. The differentiations of the Demon Heart alone number over a quadrillion, but..."

the Little Dragon Girl said, deliberately slowing her speech.

Ye Tianling nearly died of anxiety.

"But even those with a Demon Heart Sword Body condensed from Demon Heart Will and Demon Heart Blood often can’t withstand it, nor can they unleash the Demon Body’s true potential. But you... you’re really something else. You took a mere Demon Heart Sword Body, one with only one-ten-millionth of the Power of Demon Heart, and completely wrecked it! Not only did you wreck it, you used it to the point of Transformation Dao, used it until it *died*! You’re just too ruthless! Too ruthless!

So, how much longer are you going to stay inside that Demon Heart Sword Body? Planning on metamorphosing into a moth or something?"

The Little Dragon Girl’s words struck Ye Tianling’s heart like a bolt of lightning.

"Holy shit— That’s right! I’m *inside* the Demon Heart Sword Body!"

He jolted. With a flash of thought, he forced his will to condense and broke free from the withered, nearly immobile, dried-up corpse of the Demon Heart Sword Body.

"SWOOSH—"

A projection converged, forming Ye Tianling’s Dragon Soul.

It was covered in golden Dragon Scales, yet it had a humanoid form.

His combat body.

At the same time, the Nine-Orifice Exquisite Demon Heart flew out on its own. Although it looked battered and scarred, it proactively enveloped Ye Tianling.

Then, the golden Dragon Scales covering Ye Tianling’s body and the Nine-Orifice Exquisite Demon Heart began to fuse completely.

As streams of bloody light converged, Ye Tianling discovered his physical body had returned.

Not only did it seem as if he had never been injured, but he had also shed that ancient, decaying body that was as heavy as a great mountain, transforming into a dashing, Spiritual youth.

He also felt better than ever before.

"Hmm, not bad. More handsome and more devilishly charming. Your Realm just dropped a bit drastically, only to the First Heaven of the Sword Soul Realm, but it’s no big deal."

The Little Dragon Girl sized up Ye Tianling and nodded.

"...Why didn’t you say so earlier?"

Ye Tianling smiled wryly. Looking at the old, ugly, corpse-like Demon Heart Sword Body that was no longer deteriorating, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

"I did tell you earlier, you moron. I said the better you are, the better I am. When you saw how cute and adorable I am, you should’ve known you were doing great!"

The Little Dragon Girl was utterly contemptuous.

Compared to the super Intelligence of the Mechanical Heart, Ye Tianling really was a moron.

"This..."

Ye Tianling’s expression was a picture. "I really did feel like I was dying, and that feeling was terrifying and utterly despairing."

This time, the Little Dragon Girl nodded very seriously. "That’s right. The Demon Heart Sword Body, even one with just one-hundred-millionth of the Demon Heart Blood, is an existence that surpasses Divine Blood. For something so powerful, the fact that you could play it to death, to the point of crippling it, is truly... remarkable!

The Demon Heart Sword Body is that strong, and you unleashed its full power. Now that you’ve exited the Demon Heart state and the Sword Body has collapsed, you’ve been holding on with sheer willpower. At your weak Realm, of course you couldn’t hold on. Of course you felt like you were dying.

It had to be you. Anyone else would have been shaken to death by that terrifying destructive impact long ago. It’s truly rare that you could hold out until now.

I thought you were showing off in front of me, flexing how strong your will was. Isn’t that what you were doing? Did you think I’d look down on you if you didn’t show off?"

The Little Dragon Girl’s explanation gave Ye Tianling the distinct impression that he wanted to die for real this time.