Chapter 1257 - A Person and a Sword, No One to Stop
Chapter 1257 - A Person and a Sword, No One to Stop
The Harmony province was not too big, so the honoured guests all arrived one by one, but no one dared to step forward. It was not just because of the surging sea of blood, but also because of the gushing demon qi.
The pitch-black demon qi was so thick that it was almost a liquid, surging out from the demon cavern endlessly and filling the surroundings.
The demon qi spread out in the night sky, turning into demonic clouds and shrouding the moon and stars. It corrupted the land within several dozen kilometres, and that range rapidly grew larger.
If cultivators set foot in this demonic land, they would face suppression. Even their arcane treasures would be contaminated by demon qi.
However, she was an exception.
Since life and death meant nothing to her, the Hungry Ghost realm and the nine provinces were equal in her eyes. At the same time, good and evil meant nothing to her, so the Demon domain was nothing in her eyes.
How could a person that was neither living nor dead be afraid of becoming contaminated by demon qi? The thick, deep sea of blood was even more foul than the demon qi.
The Black Dragon King sailed through the night sky, stopping beyond the corrupted land.
The governor of the Harmony province basically struggled to believe this had once been the Bhikṣu Mountain temple.
The honoured guests all reported what they saw earlier. “Your majesty, the buddha nemesis is far too powerful. We’d struggle to kill her even if we were elsewhere. If we enter… the Bhikṣu Mountain temple rashly, we might sustain losses!”
The governor of the Harmony province ground his teeth. “We wait. I refuse to believe she’ll remain above the demon cavern forever. Demonfolk definitely won’t thank her for opening the demon cavern!”
The howls of the demonfolk filled the air as the black demon qi flickered with specks of light that were as dense as stars. That was the foul, corrupted eyes of demonfolk, all fixed on Xiao An.
Dressed in white clothes, she stood above the turbulent sea of blood, standing out like a white lotus flower within the surging demon qi.
Before the demonfolk could even attack her, she struck.
Raising the Blood Sea Banner, the surging sea of blood immediately poured into the demon cavern. The eyes immediately became filled with fear.
The sea of blood had no bounds. Even with repentance, there was no shore of salvation, only sinking into deprivation.
A few Demon Commanders demonified without any regard, turning into vicious, grotesque monsters. They abandoned their limbs that had been eaten away by the sea of blood and rushed into the air.
With a ring of the Soul Stirring Bell, they were like birds that had been hit by arrows, falling head-first into the sea of blood again.
Whether it were demonfolk or monks, there was no difference to her, bringing them all to salvation.
Only when Demon Kings appeared would she have to take action personally. Whether it was Buddha Slaying or Immortal Relinquished, it only took a single slash!
The sea of blood became even thicker. Even from dozens of kilometres away, the reeking of blood was present.
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More and more skeletons appeared in the sea of blood, some with strength on par with Daemon Kings. Every single one of them was hideous, composed of a strange assortment of bones. They were all deceased Demon Kings. A shining demon heart was embedded deeply in their white bones. As a matter of fact, they retained some of their original intelligence and techniques, except they had all become slaves to the blood sea already, unleashing a massacre on the demonfolk.
The great cultivators of the Harmony province watched this slaughterfest in shock. Only now did they understand that her reason for opening the demon cavern was not for an incursion of demons at all. Instead, she wanted to feed off the demonfolk.
Whenever a Demon King died, the great cultivators would shiver inside. They did not believe they were stronger than the Demon Kings. If they launched an attack rashly, they would even face suppression from the demon qi, so they would probably meet even worse fates.
Throughout history, demonfolk invasions had brought disasters to the nine provinces. Now, she stopped them alone, and she even grew stronger as she fought.
Towards the end, she did not even have to do anything personally. The sea of blood gained more and more powerful skeletons and slaves. She could not order them around freely like the Skeleton Demons, but she could mobilise them through the Blood Sea Banner.
Gripping the Blood Sea Banner, she stood above the sea of blood like the commander of an army of thousands, butchering the endless demon folk army.
A three-headed, six-armed Demon King rushed out of the encirclement, except he had already lost two heads and only three arms remained. He gazed at her above the sea of blood in fright. “What monster are you!?”
It was hilarious for a Demon King to ask a question like that, except no one could laugh.
A strange, twisted sword entered the Demon King’s hand. Before he could even respond, sword intent rushed through his sea of consciousness and his eyes rolled backwards. His body began to convulse.
The Demon King suddenly produced a strange, deranged smile. “Master, let me have some fun too!”
Xiao An nodded. Ever since she cast the Immortal Relinquished sword into the Blood Sea Banner, the Sword Spirit of Immortal Relinquished had become much more obedient.
Their equal relationship between person and sword had already changed. She was becoming the true master of the sword step by step, embedding her will in the Sword Spirit of Immortal Relinquished.
This was not a difference in strength—it was almost impossible to subdue the Immortal Relinquished sword with a cultivation at the third heavenly tribulation unless they were a mysterious existence like the Five Absolutes Immortal. Instead, in a clash of wills between the person and the sword, the Sword Spirit of Immortal Relinquished had already admitted defeat.
To not bite back at her when she was most vulnerable was already evidence of his fear, and when she began to uphold the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty, inheriting the White Bone Bodhisattva’s will, it was without a doubt the one that had experienced it most deeply. Its own twistedness and madness suddenly seemed as laughable as a joke.
In the eyes of regular people, the Immortal Relinquished sword was a mad, demonic sword, so how could it compare to a mad bodhisattva? Even a wisp of the bodhisattva’s will could overwhelm it and make it truly subservient.
The Sword Spirit of Immortal Relinquished forcefully devoured the Demon King’s powers. The Demon King’s colossal body shrank rapidly as bones jutted out from his flesh, piercing his skin and flying out. They hovered above the sea of blood and began to shine with the same glow of swords.
Xiao An immediately understood what the Sword Spirit of Immortal Relinquished was trying to do. All she heard was the “Demon King” say, “Sword Formation of Heaven and Earth!”
With the Immortal Relinquished sword as the core and several hundred bones as support, it assembled a Sword Formation of Heaven and Earth and descended beneath the sea of blood, butchering the demonfolk madly. Only Demon Kings could stave it off temporarily, but even they could not avoid death.
The great cultivators were all stunned. “That sword…”
Some people knew about the Immortal Relinquished sword. “The name of the sword is Immortal Relinquished. It’s said to be the Five Absolutes Immortal’s personal sword and was sealed in the Sword Tomb. Afterwards, the Sword Collection palace obtained it, and it became the renowned Sword Collection peak in the Green province. Afterwards, it devoured elder Tian and destroyed the entire Sword Collection palace before breaching the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga and taking on the Fierce King of Chu, the Dragon King of Ink Sea, and Daemon King Northmoon, Li Qingshan at the same time. It was unable to defeat them, so it opened the demon cavern. In the end, it was subdued by Li Qingshan. That’s probably the strongest weapon in the nine provinces. Very few of us stand a chance against it.”
The shocking battle feats left the great cultivators in even more despair. They bemoaned, “Let alone the buddha nemesis, even just this sword would serve as a difficult opponent! Is the Harmony province really unable to overcome this disaster?”
“Not just the Harmony province. It’s a disaster for the nine provinces!”
However, the Immortal Relinquished sword had not actually unleashed its full strength during the battle on Great Buddha mountain. Weapons were to be used. A masterless sword could not unleash its full power. Most importantly, it had no source of energy, so it could not even use its unmatched swordsmanship freely. This was also the main reason why it had been defeated back then.
Afterwards, while Xiao An had become the master of the Immortal Relinquished sword, it barely wanted to help her at all, and it constantly tried to devour her.
Under these circumstances, Xiao An obviously would not give it too much power. She had to maintain its feeble state. As a result, the Immortal Relinquished sword had even less power than when it had no master.
But now, with the gradual submission of the Sword Spirit of Immortal Relinquished, Xiao An began to give it more support.
The main culprit behind the attacks of two great sects on the Green province was gradually unleashing its true strength.
With a swing of the Blood Sea banner, thousands of skeletons were delivered to her from the sea of blood. She cast out a ball of Samādhi Flames of White Bone, forging all of the skeletons into three hundred and sixty four tiny bone swords that were as thin as cicada wings.
They did not possess any special powers. Instead, they were extremely sharp and tough, on par with arcane treasures, and they formed a set too.
With a swing of her hand, the tiny bone swords shot through the air, piercing the Demon King that the Immortal Relinquished sword had devoured, gradually becoming soaked in the demon blood.
“Fine swords!”
The Sword Spirit of Immortal Relinquished immediately discarded the large bones and controlled the tiny bone swords instead, assembling the Sword Formation of Heaven and Earth again.
Immediately, the power behind the sword formation skyrocketed. Even when Demon Kings were sucked into the sword formation, they would be ground to a pulp immediately, unable to put up any resistance.
This was the first time they had worked together. As a matter of fact, she did not even need the Buddha Slaying sword, the Blood Sea Banner, the Soul Stirring Bell, and so on anymore. Just a person and a sword was enough to sweep through the nine provinces and butcher kings like dogs.
“Your majesty, what do we do?”
The great cultivators looked at one another, all with fear. Even if they ignored the abysmal chance at victory, just how many of them were going to survive if they actually managed to kill the buddha nemesis by some fluke?
The governor of the Harmony province used the Aura Observation technique and peered into the distance in all directions. In the end, he let out a sigh. “Fellows, return to your sects and hold your ground!” Why would cultivators even be willing to throw their lives away for mortals? Let alone the honoured guests and great cultivators, even he, the provincial governor, was reluctant to do something like that.
Suddenly, he remembered the Bhikṣu Mountain temple was right here, so the other sects might not be able to hold their ground either. “Gather all your disciples and return to the king’s estate with me!”