Chapter 115 - 109: The Thin Benevolence of Sword Sect’s King, Sworn to Fight to the Death with Demons (5700 words)_2
This is bad! Retreat!
In an instant, they all fell back. Some burned their Essence Blood, while others unleashed their life-bound demonic artifacts. Venerable Golden Lion transformed into a Demon Lion dozens of feet tall and let out a mighty roar, his body surging with Demonic Qi that coalesced into a barrier before him.
Li Zuoyue’s heart hammered against his ribs. I don’t know when Same Life as Heaven and Earth gained a move called ’Slaying a Thousand Pigs and Ten Thousand Pigs,’ but I certainly know the power of the base technique! Right now, that unnamed junior brother of mine is clearly planning to be annihilated along with these demons. Once unleashed, this sword strike will not distinguish between friend and foe!
He immediately shouted, "Everyone be careful! Defend together!"
As he spoke, he couldn’t help but feel a wave of sorrow. Since childhood, he had heard the Sect elders tell moving stories of the Sword Sect’s ancestors. He knew how unyielding and fearless they were in the great battle of the past, never retreating and sacrificing their lives to slay demons many times their own number. But those were just stories. This was the first time he had ever witnessed it with his own eyes! Who would have thought! This unnamed junior brother possesses such astounding character! That’s so damn cool!
With tears welling in his eyes, Li Zuoyue was overcome with a feeling of inadequacy. And I call myself the Chief Disciple of the Sword Sect. Compared to this junior brother, I am so far behind!
He secretly made a decision. In the future... that’s how I’ll die too!
In that moment, the disciples of the Sanqing Immortal Sect huddled together. The demon soldiers and generals of the Demonic Path did the same, exerting all their strength to form defensive barriers.
However, after several breaths, the expected shockwave never arrived. Cautiously, everyone looked up, puzzled, only to see a figure rapidly fleeing into the distance and disappearing into the night.
Li Zuoyue was speechless.
Venerable Golden Lion was speechless.
Venerable Yu Jiao was speechless.
Everyone was speechless.
...
Damn it! We’ve been had!
Venerable Yu Jiao and the others were stunned for a moment before the realization hit them, their faces flushing with shame and rage. A group of Venerable-level experts like them had been played for fools by some unknown junior from the Sanqing Immortal Sect! What a disgrace! An absolute, utter humiliation! That bastard...
"After him!"
Li Zuoyue and the other disciples of the Sanqing Immortal Sect were also stunned. What just happened? What about the fight to the death? What about the ’Ten Thousand Pig Annihilation’? You yelled all that just for a bluff? Are you kidding me? I had your eulogy all prepared! And this is what you show me?
Wang Xiu escaped quickly. Activating the Ten Thousand Demonic Transformations Art, his aura rapidly vanished, allowing him to meld invisibly into the night. To Venerable Yu Jiao and the others, it was as if he had simply disappeared into thin air. It was utterly bizarre. At the same time, the disciples of the Sanqing Immortal Sect charged forward once more, forcing them to counterattack. The battle was reignited.
「In the shadows.」
Wang Xiu watched the battlefield and let out a long sigh of relief. That was enough to scare them. Only an idiot would fight those demonic masters to the death! I only had a few thousand Pig Spirits in my sword to begin with, and two uses of Same Life as Heaven and Earth wiped out more than half of them! Alas, in the end, I just don’t have enough firepower! When I get back, I’ll have to push Wang Daren to do more good deeds! Providing disaster relief and helping the poor is our inescapable duty!
...
"That kid is quite the bluffer!"
「In the void.」
Ji Yan said calmly, "If I weren’t so used to real life-and-death partings, with a will as hard as stone, I might have actually fallen for his act! Still, to use a celestial treasure to consume pig blood in place of his own Essence Blood to fuel Same Life as Heaven and Earth... That kid is clever, very impressive!"
Beside him, Venerable Wuji’s mouth twitched as he looked at Ji Yan. He didn’t know if Ji Yan’s will was as hard as stone, but his mouth certainly was. Just a moment ago, he had been on the verge of intervening to save the besieged youngster. His hand had even been raised. And now he was acting as if he’d seen through the ruse all along. Why bother? There’s no shame in caring for the juniors of your own Sect!
Venerable Wuji found Ji Yan to be a very contradictory and complex person. He was obviously worried about these youths from the Sanqing Immortal Sect, afraid they would die, yet he refused to step in and subdue the demons. He even orchestrated this entire play, pretending they had encountered a Saint Manifestation-level Great Demon, just to crank the pressure on these young cultivators to the absolute maximum.
The most crucial part was that not only did he refuse to act, but he also forbade Venerable Wuji from acting.
According to the original plan, Venerable Wuji was supposed to charge out the moment these demons revealed themselves, attacking from both sides to wipe them out in one fell swoop. How satisfying would that have been? After all, my hatred for evil is legendary! I love vanquishing demons. It brings me joy! I’ve even developed a severe ’demon-slaying addiction’! If I go a day without slaying a demon, I feel uneasy all over. For hundreds of miles around Limitless City, not a single trace of demonic presence can be found—that’s all my handiwork!
And yet, the moment he’d stood up, Ji Yan had used some unfathomable power to pull him directly into the void and told him explicitly, "You can watch, but you can’t interfere!"
Heaven knew what kind of torture this was for Venerable Wuji. The demons he yearned to kill were right there, but he couldn’t lay a single finger on them. He could only watch as they were tormented by those youngsters. My heart aches!
But he couldn’t resist Ji Yan’s tyrannical power. He could only be forced to sit and watch. As the demons fell one by one, his heart felt like a field that had been plowed over and over again.
...
That’s right. Ji Yan had made it all up.
There was no Saint Manifestation-level Great Demon.
It was all a fabrication. His goal was simple: to train his disciples.