On that day, the whole Ethereal City strengthened its patrol; even the Lord of Qin City personally went out to patrol around with the city guards, for fear that another Fiend would kill people and set fires in the city.
The drums indicating the relief of the crisis never sounded again at night.
In the Myriad Dao Academy, Sword God Hall, Yan Tianhen raised his head and looked towards the door from time to time. There was some restlessness between his eyes that could not be ignored.
However, Sword Saint Tianshu was very calm. He looked at Yan Tianhen and said, “Ah Hen, do you remember what I just told you about the cultivation secret of《Decline and Prosperity》?”
Yan Tianhen took a deep breath and nodded. “I remember.”
“You have a unique talent in cultivating, not only in alchemy, but also including the miscellaneous Dao and sword cultivation, if you are willing to concentrate on cultivating, you can reach a fairly high level.”
Yan Tianhen had never heard anyone speak so highly of him like this, even though he was slightly stunned, he said, “Thank you very much.”
Sword Saint Tianshu shook his head and said slowly, “This is not an exaggeration. I’m merely telling the truth. You have to know that if you practice many paths, it means that you can’t become the best master in any of them, unless one day you break through the cocoon and become a butterfly, completely break away from the world, and become an immortal or a saint.”
Yan Tianhen thought deeply, but he wasn’t very concerned. “I don’t intend to be the number one in the world. I’m a person who doesn’t really have aspirations.”
Sword Saint Tianshu studied him and said, “You are not much different from what I thought.”
Yan Tianhen then laughed and said, “On the other hand, the feeling that Sword Saint Tianshu gives me now is quite different from before. I used to think that Sword Saint was an Elder Martial Brother, but now Sword Saint is the Hall Master. Sword Saint’s image in my heart suddenly became much higher and bigger.”
“Senior Martial Brother or Hall Master, what’s the difference? It’s nothing more than a title, let’s go back to this 《Decline and Prosperity》. The biggest reason why I singled out this book for you to practice is that the author of 《Decline and Prosperity》was a demonic cultivator. He was originally an orthodox Dao swordsman. Later he became a demonic cultivator. After he became a demonic cultivator, he acquired a great understanding of the relationship between Daoist and demonic cultivation, so he created this 《Decline and Prosperity》, but in these years, no one has actually practiced this secret book into a high realm.”
Yan Tianhen said, “I have also read the secret script, and I always feel that it is not so profound and difficult.”
Sword Saint Tianshu glanced at him and said, “You are going to be beaten if you say this. It’s not like the martial brothers and disciples of Sword God Hall haven’t ever had any ideas about this secret book. However, they are born with bloodline defects and cannot use them. You are half-human, half-demon, and have a furnace constitution. Naturally, you can get twice the result with half the effort and make it much easier to practice.”
Yan Tianhen laughed and said, “Now it seems that being a half-demon is not a bad thing, but speaking of which, the sect is quite tolerant towards demons.”
Sword Saint Tianshu said, “It’s not that the sect has never had any demonic cultivators, just not many. Since Myriad Dao Academy claims to educate everyone without discrimination, it’s impossible to turn away any student who has never done great evil. It’s just that the demons live in the seven regions of the extreme north all year round, and they still have some rejection of the human race, so they rarely come to Myriad Dao Academy to study.”
Seeing that he still wanted to discuss the Dao and the sword technique, Yan Tianhen immediately cut in, “It’s late now. Hall Master should take a rest.”
Sword Saint Tianshu looked at the sky and said, “True. You will sleep here tonight.”
Yan Tianhen was taken aback. “Why?”
“Tonight, all the gates of Myriad Dao Academy are closed and no one is allowed to go out. At these chaotic times, you must not run around.”
Yan Tianhen felt inexplicable and said, “I’m just going back to sleep.”
Sword Saint Tianshu said, “Before Huarong Sword Immortal left, he asked me to keep you firmly under my eyelids before he returns. I don’t want him to get angry at me again.”
Yan Tianhen, “….”
Yan Tianhen touched his nose and said, “He really understands me ah.”
After listening to the disciples who had run into the Fiends coming back and happily talking about the scenes of fighting with those Fiends, Yan Tianhen suddenly felt that Fiends were not so invincible.
He was called to the side hall of Sword God Hall by Sword Saint Tianshu again, who told him that Lin Xuanzhi had followed the Fiends towards the west. Yan Tianhen immediately felt uneasy, and it was really hard to sit still.
If it wasn’t for Sword Saint Tianshu, who insisted on pulling him back to ask questions, discuss the Dao, and chat about things, Yan Tianhen would have already sneaked out to look for Lin Xuanzhi.
Sword Saint Tianshu saw that he really had this intention, and said, “Huarong Sword Immortal’s swordsmanship is unparalleled, although he has not yet been enshrined to sainthood, but it is just a matter of a single step. If you go find him at this time, won’t you just make trouble for him?”
Yan Tianhen listened to what he said, but did not repent, and said, “I miss him in my heart. Sitting here is even harder. Besides, I have countless life-saving magic treasures on me. Even if I can’t beat those Fiends, I can still escape easily. The problem is, you actually let him go to such dangerous places alone, so no one will know if anything happens to him.”
“Boy, you are very bold. You call me the Hall Master, but you dare to accuse me of my mistakes regardless of the severity.” Sword Saint Tianshu sneered and said, “You really think that just because you have Huarong Sword Immortal as your backer, this Hall Master won’t be able to do anything to you?”
Yan Tianhen blinked, nodded, and said, “Yeah. If Huarong Gege comes back and finds that I’m missing even a single strand of hair, he’ll be angry. Once he’s angry, he’ll probably go back to Little Penglai and won’t come out anymore.”
Sword Saint Tianshu, “….”
I feel like I’ve been forcibly stuffed with some dog food.
Sword Saint Tianshu just wanted to say, “Brat, don’t be arrogant”, when suddenly the gate was pushed open from the outside.
“Dage!” Yan Tianhen saw the visitor and immediately stood up, running towards the door.
Lin Xuanzhi’s face was pale. He touched the door with his backhand and pressed it with one hand to stabilize his figure. Yan Tianhen rushed over and supported him. At a glance, he saw the bloodstain on Lin Xuanzhi’s left sleeve.
“I went to the West and reached the place where the sound came from.” Lin Xuanzhi let Yan Tianhen support him, gave him a look that said “I’m fine”, took a breath, then raised his head and said to Sword Saint Tianshu, “I have chased him all the way to the sea, three hundred miles outside the Ethereal City, the Fiends had already occupied a piece of the sea, as if it had been that way for a long time.”
Seeing this, Sword Saint Tianshu’s face changed, and the teasing chuckle just now disappeared.
“Don’t talk, where are you hurt? It looks serious, I will find someone to heal you!” Sword Saint Tianshu looked serious, and he wanted to raise his hand to call someone over.
Lin Xuanzhi shook his head, “It’s nothing more than a superficial wound, it doesn’t matter.”
Yan Tianhen rolled up Lin Xuanzhi’s left sleeve. His eyes were hot and he looked at the hideous wound so deep that the bones were visible. He gritted his teeth and took out a bottle from his storage bag, took the blue transparent pill inside, and stuffed it into Lin Xuanzhi’s mouth.
Immediately afterwards, he took out another medicine box, opened it, and picked out a large pile of medicine that exuded the fragrance of spiritual grass, and rubbed it on Lin Xuanzhi’s wound unceremoniously.
“Hiss” Sword Saint Tianshu’s mouth twitched as he sucked in a cold breath.
Yan Tianhen’s hand shook, and he almost applied the medicine crooked.
Lin Xuanzhi was obviously dissatisfied, and said to Tianshu, “Don’t make a random sound casually and scare Ah Hen.”
Sword Saint Tianshu almost couldn’t help but yell out “Cheap man”. He took a desperate breath and said, “I mean, King Ye Palace’s sacred medicine can’t be obtained even with a thousand gold. It’s nothing more than a skin injury. Using this much is too wasteful.”
“Like hell it’s wasteful!” Yan Tianhen gritted his teeth and stared at the wound healed himself, and said angrily, “Just a skin injury alone won’t make you like this, do you still have internal injuries?”
Lin Xuanzhi said, “It’s not a problem.”
Yan Tianhen pushed Lin Xuanzhi onto the futon, his attitude was very tough, and he said, “Heal the wound first, I just gave you the Jade Cloud Clear Heart Pill for you, so quickly absorb it.”
When Sword Saint Tianshu heard the name Jade Cloud Clear Heart Pill, he couldn’t help but say, “Prince Ye really is rich.”
While meditating, Lin Xuanzhi said, “It’s a bit wasted.”
Yan Tianhen said with a cold face, “You’re going to stop talking, I’m holding my anger right now. If you say anything else, just go back to Little Penglai directly. Don’t say anything.”
So Lin Xuanzhi closed his mouth.
Sword Saint Tianshu had a long-awaited expression, and joked, “Oh, he’s quite fierce. Huarong, your wife is not listening to you ah.”
Yan Tianhen didn’t bother listening to his nonsense.
After a while, either the Jade Cloud Clear Heart Pill had taken effect, or it may be that Lin Xuanzhi’s internal injury was true as he said, not serious, so his complexion quickly returned to normal, and even the frightening wound on his arm healed.
Lin Xuanzhi first went to the next room and changed into a clean robe before coming out and sitting next to Yan Tianhen again.
Sword Saint Tianshu said, “I feel that with your Dao attainments, that Fiend shouldn’t have been able to do this to you.”
Lin Xuanzhi said, “The Fiend hid in the sea and possessed a sea beast. I did not know how many years the beast has lived and it has high cultivation. He jumped out of the sea and looked like a hill. I couldn’t find its weakness, so I wanted to attack strongly, but I was grazed by its teeth.”
Sword Saint Tianshu’s face was a little solemn. “The northwest sea area is the place we have never set foot in. Our territory is only near Ethereal City. It is said that at the end and deep of the endless sea, there are evil worshippers who were sealed by the gods at the beginning of the world. Those evil worshippers have not been eliminated, but can only be forced into a deep sleep. If they suddenly wake up, they may cause immeasurable consequences.”
Lin Xuanzhi also had a headache. “Right now, I am not afraid that the Fiends can cause waves. What I am most worried about is that they will unconsciously break into the forbidden area of the deep sea and release the evil things. At that time, the Nine Lands will be really in danger.”
Yan Tianhen looked at Lin Xuanzhi, then looked at the solemn Tianshu, and asked, “It can’t be this coincidental, right? It’s just a single Fiend — can it really break the ancient seal?”
Lin Xuanzhi said, “It’s hard to say. After all, this Fiend is born from the evil Qi of heaven and earth. It is a kind of evil, to begin with. The things in the deep sea, although I don’t know what they are, they’re also undoubtedly evil. Evil creatures can mutually sense each other, and no one can say what will happen.”
