Watching the Mountain

However, he had secretly contacted Xu Ran behind Jiang Ling’Er’s back, redeeming himself in Xu Ran’s eyes.

So, Xu Ran felt that this time, Jiang Xiaohui would definitely be reliable.

Jiang Xiaohui had told him the final battle was a month away. He arrived at the designated coordinates a mere twelve days later, thinking he still had plenty of time to make preparations.

However, when he arrived with Senior Sister Yue and the others, the air was thick with the stench of blood, and crimson stains were everywhere.

Jiang Ling’Er stood in a pool of blood, her clothes soaked crimson. The mangled remains of fallen enemies lay scattered around her.

She heard the disturbance and slowly turned her head. When she saw Xu Ran, her lips parted in a complex, unreadable smile, and she spoke softly:

"Master, this is what you wanted to see, isn’t it?"

She finished, revealing a row of white teeth streaked with blood as she smiled at Xu Ran.

"When you taught me the Cultivation Technique, you’d already planned for this moment, hadn’t you?"

"So, have you come now to reap the fruits of your labor?"

What must a person experience for their eyes to become like this? A demonic, blood-red glow within the jet-black depths, as if poised to devour everything.

Before coming, Xu Ran had imagined many scenarios. Perhaps an accident would make him arrive a step too late and Jiang Ling’Er would have fallen. Or perhaps the enemy would be too strong, and both he and Jiang Ling’Er would fall together.

But he had never once imagined a scene like this.

All the enemies, slain by his very own Jiang Ling’Er. There she stood, cloaked in blood, wreathed in tangible killing intent and Evil Qi, asking him such a question with an indifferent smile.

Back then in the Scripture Pavilion, it was also Jiang Ling’er who had first sought him out to ask questions.

Back then, however, she was just a timid girl who kept her head down, afraid to speak to strangers.

Her gaze was clear as spring water; one glance was enough to know that her mind and heart were blank slates.

Xu Ran could effortlessly answer any question she asked, earning him a gaze of pure adoration from her shimmering eyes.

But now, faced with her question, Xu Ran found he had no answer.

Even Yue Qingyu and the others who came with Xu Ran were silent.

Even Zhao Wuyang and Liu Yunge had heard about Jiang Ling’er from Chen Chang’an. They knew she was a naive girl who had been deceived.

At this moment, however, her gaze seemed as if it would devour them all.

Despite her soft, fair face, looking at her now sent a chill down their spines.

"Ling’Er, I was the one who called Teacher over. I was worried you weren’t a match for them, so I..."

Jiang Xiaohui, standing to the side, began to explain, but before he could finish, his body froze under Jiang Ling’er’s sweeping gaze. He quickly shut his mouth, not daring to speak further.

"Jiang Xiaohui, if you ever act on your own again, you will no longer be my dog."

Jiang Ling’er’s tone was flat, betraying no emotion.

Jiang Xiaohui panicked at her words, scrambling up and barking twice. "WOOF WOOF! No, Ling’Er! I am your dog! I want to be your dog forever!"

His tongue lolled out. "I won’t dare do it again, WOOF WOOF! No, wait, there won’t be a next time."

Jiang Ling’er stared at him for a moment without speaking, then slowly turned her head back to Xu Ran. After a moment, she flipped her slender hand, and a strange, demonic fruit appeared in her palm.

She gave it a light toss, and the demonic fruit landed securely in Xu Ran’s hand.

"Master, this is probably the last time I will call you Master."

After speaking, without waiting for Xu Ran’s reply, she turned to leave.

But just then, her expression suddenly changed. She snapped her head up and looked toward the sky.

Seeing this, Xu Ran and the others also looked up. On the horizon, several black dots were approaching, growing larger as they neared.

"Jiang Ling’Er, you can’t escape! Come back with us..."

A cold voice rang out, followed immediately by a sleeve that blotted out the sky. It carried an endless devouring power, seeming to want to suck in the fiercely resisting Jiang Ling’er.

Endless gray mist precisely enveloped Jiang Ling’er and Jiang Xiaohui, completely ignoring the others nearby.

Jiang Ling’er and Jiang Xiaohui’s bodies began to twist like ropes. Her eyes were fierce; facing the gray mist, she didn’t make a sound even as her body contorted.

Just then, a flash of sword light streaked out, slashing toward the sky-blotting sleeve.

"What do you think you’re doing to this foolish apprentice of mine?"

Xu Ran, in his gray robes, stood with a longsword in hand, shielding Jiang Ling’er and the others. His body was enveloped in a mysterious and majestic fiery aura.

The gray mist dissipated. Jiang Ling’er stared blankly at the figure before her, biting her lip without a word.

Jiang Xiaohui panted, his tongue lolling out. As he wagged his tail, he couldn’t help but wonder to himself, ’Isn’t Teacher only at the Purple Mansion Stage? When did he get this strong?’

The sky-blotting sleeve in the air retracted, revealing an old man with the head of an eagle and the body of a man. He glared at Xu Ran and bellowed, "Who are you?"

Then, a note of surprised suspicion entered his voice. "No, your Cultivation is strange. That last sword strike had no Daoist Monarch’s Power. You’ve forcibly elevated yourself through some other means."

He finished with a cold snort. "This seat doesn’t care who you are. A Divinity Transformation Stage cultivator who got there through crooked means. Back down now, and I might spare your life."

Xu Ran’s sword hand trembled slightly. It wasn’t from fear. He had just accepted the Heaven and Earth Qi to raise his Cultivation, and his body was still wracked with intense pain as he adapted to the new power. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have given his opponent a chance to speak; he would’ve charged in, sword first.

Once a fight had started, he didn’t like to waste time on words.

He wasn’t surprised that his opponent saw through him at a glance. But he wasn’t panicked, either.

Instead, he silently sheathed the sword in his hand and swapped it for a longsword that looked completely ordinary.

From the example of Shen Wuchen’s Flying Immortal Stream, Xu Ran knew that a Divinity Transformation Cultivation raised through the Huaque Array was no match for a proper Divinity Transformation Daoist Monarch.

That was why he had borrowed the sword once used by Ye Shan from Ye Shu.

If the Magical Treasures of this world were divided into ranks, then the sword Ye Shan had used could be classified in a rank of its own: "Heaven and Earth’s Artifact."

Borrowing this longsword would compensate for his weakness of not having Daoist Monarch’s Power.

The Demon Race Daoist Monarch in the sky saw him switch swords and sneered, paying it no mind. His gaze was vicious. "Since you’re seeking death, I’ll oblige you."

"First, I’ll take care of you, then I’ll capture Jiang Ling’Er."

Hearing this, Xu Ran didn’t reply. Instead, he turned his head and said to Chen Chang’an:

"Senior Brother Chen, haven’t you always wanted to witness my sword? Now, watch carefully."

As his voice fell, he slowly raised the longsword in his hand, pointing it at the eagle-faced Demon Race Daoist Monarch in the sky.

Then his figure slowly vanished. The flow of air between heaven and earth seemed to stutter for a moment. A galaxy, glittering with starlight, slowly appeared—seeming to move with incredible slowness, yet also appearing in an instant.

As the sword’s edge rose, a river of stars truly did begin to slice open the sky.

At first, it was just a sliver of faint light, quietly spreading along the path traced by the sword’s tip, as if a god were using the night sky as silk and starlight as ink, holding their wrist aloft to paint.

The rift grew deeper and brighter until the stars of the entire sky poured out—not a static river of stars, but a flowing, cascading waterfall of light.

Myriad points of light roared down an unseen riverbed. The Sword Intent, carrying the power of ancient stars, churned the entire night sky into a brilliant vortex.

The moment the river of stars descended, the body of the eagle-faced Demon Race Daoist Monarch shattered into dust.

He didn’t even have time to be shocked before his entire being was enveloped by starlight.

Then, in the brightest part of the galaxy, his form began to disintegrate.

There were no screams, no struggle. His flesh-and-blood body dissolved into countless tiny, shimmering particles, like deep red stardust, slowly blooming within the silver river.

That touch of red rippled through the brilliant starlight, spreading and finally merging into a hazy blood mist, like a rose nebula being born in the depths of the galaxy. Its extreme cruelty revealed a breathtaking, tragic beauty. The starlight gradually faded, and the night sky closed once more.

When the wind blew past, even that wisp of bloody stardust vanished without a trace, as if everything that had just happened was merely a magnificent illusion between heaven and earth.

Only on the edge of the sword, a single drop of blood slowly slid down, reflecting a fleeting, galaxy-like sheen in the moonlight.

Jiang Ling’Er murmured in a daze, "So beautiful."

When the dust settled, Xu Ran’s figure reappeared, standing tall and straight. He slowly turned his head, looked at Chen Chang’an, and asked softly:

"Senior Brother Chen, did you see it clearly?"

In the lands of the Demon Race, countless demons abruptly raised their heads, staring blankly at the sky.

"What just happened? What was that river of stars? It was so beautiful..."