Just like everyone else Xiao An had struck with the Buddha Slaying sword, Battle Demon Hun’s face was filled with disbelief. He watched helplessly as the pale-white flames surged and spread, feeling as feeble as a mortal.
“You’ve lost!” Li Qingshan said.
“I’ve lost?” In his final moments before death, Battle Demon Hun instead recovered his cool. “The Demon domain is determined to obtain the nine provinces and the Immortal Relinquished sword. You will follow my footsteps very soon, Li Qingshan!”
Li Qingshan gazed at the Immortal Relinquished sword in his hand and smiled. “The Demon domain is indeed very troublesome, but it can’t be more troublesome than Qiongqi, right?”
“Demon God Qiongqi!?” Battle Demon Hun was stunned. He stared at Li Qingshan deeply before the flames swallowed him.
A sliver of surprise flashed through the eyes of the boy who laid on the Asura Altar of Armaments like a corpse. He thought, Qiongqi, is it? That is indeed troublesome, but what does it have to do with me? Am I supposed to be in less trouble compared to that?
Xiao An accepted the ball of flames into her sleeve. Li Qingshan asked, “How is it outside?”
“It’s alright for now.”
“C’mon, let’s go out and take a look!” Then Li Qingshan instructed the boy. “Hey, just stay here and don’t go anywhere for now. I’ll talk with you later.”
However, he understood extremely well that given the great powers that this strange “Asura King” had demonstrated earlier, no one could stop him from leaving this Asura Field, even if he was the master of the Asura Field.
The boy laid there without budging. He said powerlessly, “Don’t talk to me. I hate you…”
Outside the Asura Field, the King of Southern Yue and the Fierce King of Chu worked together as they slowly pushed back the demon qi. It was all thanks to Xiao An’s Soul Stirring Bell and the Golden Cicada Spirit King’s cicada cries that they effectively disturbed the demonfolk army, buying them a lot of time.
However, the demonfolk army clearly had powerful demons presiding over them. They rapidly pressed closer towards Great Buddha mountain.
“That’s strange. Why have reinforcements from the Dragon province still not arrived?” Jin Fugui controlled the black sand, washing away the demon qi wave by wave as he said anxiously and in confusion.
The Green province was distant from the Dragon province, but whether it was the Guardian Hawk God or the grand preceptors of the left and right, they should have arrived a long time ago. For the sake of something as major as an invasion from the Demon domain, it would not be strange even if the three ducal ministers and the nine ministers were mobilised, but why had they not even seen a shadow until now?
“You can forget about it. They’re not coming. The divine kingdoms of otherfolk fell because of demonfolk. Why would they want to follow their footsteps?” Gu Yanying said.
“Invasions of the Demon domain affect all nine provinces, all living beings in the world. Who can remain uninvolved?”
Yue Wuyang frowned heavily. Unless they had no other choice, otherfolk were reluctant to oppose demonfolk as well.
“Perhaps the son of heaven has something else in mind?” Gu Yanying shrugged and said as food for thought.
“Something else in mind?” Jin Fugui and Yue Wuyang were slightly surprised. The Fierce King of Chu and everyone else all listened in too.
Gu Yanying came from the Dragon province, and her status was anything but ordinary. Her acquaintances were all descendants of the imperial clan, so she knew even more than an old dragon who spent several millennia cooped up in one place like the Dragon King of Ink Sea. Her knowledge even surpassed the kings of provinces like the Fierce King of Chu and the King of Southern Yue. Everyone could not help but ponder over her words.
The Dauntless monk and the Unraging monk exchanged glances. They had developed their suspicions long ago. As the leading sect of buddhism in the world, the Spirit K?etra temple had turned a blind eye to the appearance of the buddha nemesis and a deaf ear to the invasion of demonfolk, which was far too strange. Just what were they brewing in the Dragon province right now?
However, now was not the time to think about that. What Gu Yanying had said had basically cut off all possibilities of any external support. If it were not for the fact that great cultivators all possessed great willpower, perhaps they would have fled in every direction already.
The current situation was not turning for the better. The bellows and war cries from within the demon cavern were growing closer and closer. By the time that demonfolk army had arrived, no one would still possess the strength to keep fighting.
“Your majesty, we’ve already done everything that we can. Why don’t we just retreat to the Mist province?” A great cultivator silently communicated with the King of Southern Yue mentally.
“We’ve already come so far. There’s no need to say anything more!” the King of Southern Yue said firmly.
The great cultivator no longer spoke, but clearly, he was rather displeased. He conserved even more of his strength now as he helped out.
The King of Southern Yue knew exactly what kind of people these honoured guests were. Probably all of them were dissatisfied with his decision. If there was no risk, then perhaps they could help out, but as soon as the demonfok arrived, they would immediately ask to retreat.
He could not afford to throw his own resources at the demonfolk either, so he thought, Li Qingshan, I’ve already lived up to my duty!
At this moment, Li Qingshan stepped out of the Asura Field with the Immortal Relinquished sword in hand. He looked around and said loudly, “I’ve slain Battle Demon Hun!”
Everyone was reinvigorated. They even found it a little hard to believe. Just how terrifying of a combination was Battle Demon Hun and the Immortal Relinquished sword? Yet, Li Qingshan had actually killed him and stolen the sword, so just how powerful had he become now?
At this moment, the war cries from the demon cavern were already near at hand. The demon qi became even more turbulent, difficult to restrain and suppress.
Li Qingshan handed the Immortal Relinquished sword to Xiao An. “Be careful. Don’t let it escape. The path of the sword inside is indeed extraordinary. It’s no weaker than the Sword Collection Manual of Heaven and Earth. You’re welcome to take a shortcut and comprehend it!”
With that, he dove into the demon cavern.
Xiao An gripped the Immortal Relinquished sword and began refining it. As soon as it left Li Qingshan’s hand, the Immortal Relinquished sword began to shake violently before gradually fading away too, wanting to escape into space.
Xiao An planted the sword into the Blood Sea Banner first before drawing it out again, now coated in a thick layer of blood-red light. Then she controlled the Skull Prayer Beads and turned them into tiny skeletons that bit down on the sword. Finally, she hung the Soul Stirring Bell on the end of the hilt, which jingled away as soon as the sword trembled. She did not forget to add, “If you resist, I’ll have Qingshan destroy you later.”
Sure enough, what she did and said was effective. The Immortal Relinquished sword gave up on the struggle, switching to threats instead. “I’d advise you to just let go. Do you know what fate awaits you if you want to become my master? Your mind will be gradually twisted, and your consciousness will sink into madness. In the end, you won’t even recognise yourself anymore.”
Xiao An smiled. “So you sense it!”
White bone and great beauty, life and death, prosperity and decline. In the eyes of regular people, her heart of white bone had already been an extremely twisted and mad existence. Even when she had coincidentally obtained a bit of humanity through cultivation, it was not her true nature. A measly sword spirit was trying to shake up the great will and great views passed down in the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty. That was basically no different from dreaming.
The Sword Spirit of Immortal Relinquished was rendered speechless for a moment. He thought resentfully, Just what are the origins of these two?
Li Qingshan’s figure grew as he flew through the air, turning into an indomitable ox demon. He slammed down violently with both fists.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The demon cavern cracked and shattered, becoming covered in criss-crossing spatial cracks.
However, this was only a temporary measure. The surging demon qi clearly was not afraid of being sliced apart by space. There would always be a moment when the cracks recovered.
Li Qingshan sucked in a deep breath and laid down above the demon cavern. He said silently, “Spirit Turtle Transformation!”
At that moment, multicoloured light poured out and permeated the surroundings like an ocean!
