Are There Only Demonesses Left in the Cultivation Realm?

Xuan Huai Master used his sword to prop himself up, slowly straightening his body. His robes were stained with blood, his breathing still ragged.

“Just… what just happened?”

Celestial Cyan Master stood at his side, an equally dazed look on his face.

He only remembered a warm, gentle hand landing lightly on his shoulder. The next moment, the Magical Power that had been on the verge of running rampant within him had calmed like a receding tide, and the burning pain in his meridians vanished along with it.

Xuan Huai Master’s gaze fell upon the distant phantom of the Chang’an Daoist. It still hung in mid-air, its posture unchanged, but it no longer possessed the suffocating pressure it had before.

“Someone is helping us from the shadows.” Celestial Cyan Master’s voice grew calm, but a glint of light flashed in his eyes. “No matter who it is, this is an opportunity we can’t afford to miss. First, we kill the Ape Demons, then we break this array!”

All eight True Masters were veterans of life-and-death battles. After a moment of stunned silence, their killing intent flared once more as they surrounded the four Ape Demons, whose ferocious auras had yet to diminish. Though all were injured, having been granted a sliver of hope for survival, retreat was not an option.

Xuan Huai Master suddenly felt his Wood Sword Qi circulating on its own within his body. Wherever it flowed, his wounds began to heal. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “I… My injuries are healing!”

‘The injuries caused by the phantom shouldn’t be healable.’

Celestial Cyan Master boomed in response, “Then I’ll have to ask Fellow Daoist Xuan Huai to heal us with your Wood Sword Qi.”

Before his voice had faded, Celestial Cyan Master swung his sword, unleashing a brilliant cyan gleam. The strike was thirty percent faster than before, its power exceptionally heavy and fierce. It sent two Ape Demons stumbling backward, a patch of golden fur on their arms sliced away by the Sword Qi.

“Daoist Celestial Cyan’s sword has gotten even stronger?!”

The other True Masters could naturally see that something was unusual about Celestial Cyan Master’s power, but given the urgency of the situation, none of them had the time to look into it.

Celestial Cyan Master could only say, “I nearly destroyed my own Dao Practice. Having faced death and survived, I’ve simply gained some new insights. Everyone, let’s kill these demons quickly.”

「Directly below the battlefield in the sky.」

BANG!

Li Qingcao kicked a monkey’s head away as if it were a ball.

This was the second Fifth Realm Monkey Demon he had killed.

The Dream Demons had thrown in their entire race, and the Monkey Race had sent a considerable number of its own. Most of these monkeys were at the Fourth Realm or higher; it was clear they had deployed all their elites.

‘This bunch of monkeys… did they bring their entire race here?’

‘The Dream Race wanted to move against the Human Race, and the Monkey Race immediately hit it off with them. I wonder when the two races started plotting this together.’

Li Qingcao licked his dry, chapped lips. The taste of blood filled his mouth, and the wine in his gourd was gone.

‘I’ll have to find the Lu Ban Palace and get them to make me a device that turns water into wine.’

He felt thoroughly exhausted.

Even with his extraordinary talent and supreme Swordsmanship, having defied the odds to slay three Fifth Realm Monkey Demons while at the Peak of the Fourth Realm, he was now truly spent.

“Huh?”

Li Qingcao frowned. He realized the Grand Array was no longer affecting him. The faint, ever-present feeling of drowsiness it had been causing had vanished.

He looked around and saw that the Low Realm Cultivators were also starting to wake up.

‘Is the Grand Array actively rejecting the Dream Demons?’

Before Li Qingcao could ponder it further, he was astonished to see the vegetation around the Qingcao Sword Sect begin to grow with wild abandon.

It was late spring, and the budding plants that had just shown their first hints of green had been destroyed in the sudden calamity. He never imagined they would now be sprouting anew.

Not only that, but Li Qingcao could smell the distinctive scent of his Qingcao Sword Sect on them.

Something streaked across the sky.

He plunged his sword into the grass and stared, transfixed, at the streak of light in the sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Is this Mei Zhaozhao?”

Su Youwan lifted the fox in her hands and passed it to Qiu Yuehan, then said, “Mm.”

Qiu Yuehan took Mei Zhaozhao and, quite naturally, gave the fox two slaps across the face.

It didn’t wake up.

‘Looks like she really is asleep, then.’

“How long has she been like this?”

Su Youwan replied, “She had already turned into a fox when I met her. As for falling into this deep sleep, that was probably around when I encountered the Dream Demon in Great Wei. It’s been over a month now, I’d say.”

‘So Mei Zhaozhao has been asleep for a whole month?’

“At first, it was just the lines of her fate that were strange—they seemed to have formed a complete circle. After she fell into this slumber, it became even stranger. All of her lines lost their beginnings and ends.”

Qiu Yuehan thought for a moment, then said with conviction, “There’s no problem. That’s exactly it. She’s undergoing Enlightenment.”

“But she asked me to take her to the Fox Race. Taking her to the Fox Race while she’s in this deep sleep…”

“It’s fine. Just take her. It was her own request, after all,” Qiu Yuehan said nonchalantly. “As long as she doesn’t die, it’s not a problem.”

Su Youwan nodded.

The two spoke from a high vantage point within the Qingcao Sword Sect. The surrounding Monkey Demons and Dream Demons couldn’t last a single round against either of them.

Now that the area had been cleared, the two took a moment to rest.

The phantom of the Chang’an Daoist hung motionless in the sky, a blue Cloud Sea churning around it.

The Silver-haired Maiden looked up, her moon-like hair rippling gently in the wind. The Magic Needle in her hand never stopped moving as she embroidered something.

Qiu Yuehan couldn’t help but ask, “What are you doing?”

“Young Master Lu is contending with someone over the Dao. I’m embroidering some easier future possibilities for him… It seems he doesn’t really need my help. The Magical Combat is about to end. Young Master Lu is going to win. The lines on that phantom are growing more and more solid.”

“Have you ever seen him lose?”

In any case, Qiu Yuehan had never seen Lu Changyuan in a wretched state… The most wretched he’d ever looked was when he carried her across thousands of miles, fighting the entire way. But that didn’t really count as wretched. At least, Qiu Yuehan didn’t think that version of Lu Changyuan was wretched in the slightest.

As the two spoke, the Cloud Sea began to tremble violently.