Chapter 989: The Might of the God-Slaying Blade

In Lianyao Mountain, smoke and dust rose in all directions.

A youth's figure raced ahead, like a flash of startled waterlight across heaven and earth—light and slender.

Behind him was a black dust storm.

A massive, sturdy, mountain-sized third-grade Jin Dan black boar demon, sweeping through waves of bloody qi and a duststorm of black demonic energy, plowed through every tree and rock ahead, sniffing the faint sweetness of human flesh, chasing Mo Hua to kill him.

For a moment, the demonic momentum was immense, the scene spectacular.

Beasts scattered, flocks of birds took flight in panic.

Elder Xun Ziyou followed close behind, gripping the Grand Void Sword, several times wanting to strike and slay the boar demon.

But after thinking it over, he held back.

If he acted now, he would expose himself.

The Ancestor's intent was to ensure Mo Hua's safety while letting him endure as much trial as possible.

A precious sword's edge comes from honing; plum blossom fragrance arises from bitter cold.

Protecting Mo Hua constantly, shielding him from even the slightest risk, would prevent him from growing.

Now is still too early to act.

Besides, the situation has not yet reached utter desperation.

Though the third-grade black boar demon was terrifying, its demonic power immense, each charge deadly beyond measure.

Yet Mo Hua, relying on his exquisitely refined body technique, dodged and twisted, moved like flowing water, swift as a startled swan, dancing on a thread—each time at the brink of death, he narrowly escaped unscathed.

Elder Xun Ziyou, startled, could not help but admire: "Mo Hua's body technique is truly exquisite—where on earth did he learn it—..."

But he knew this situation could not last.

Mo Hua was merely Foundation Establishment, his spiritual energy meager; facing this third-grade Jin Dan boar demon with demonic power as deep as an abyss, he would inevitably tire.

In such fierce, perilous, and overwhelmingly oppressive pursuit, once he exhausted himself, it would be over.

Even a single slip—a moment of fatigue, a flicker of nervousness, the tiniest misstep in his technique—would be fatal.

Mo Hua's repeated escapes from the black boar demon's jaws only further stoked the beast's ferocity.

The black boar demon gradually grew enraged; its demonic power strengthened, its speed increased.

Elder Xun Ziyou gripped his sword tighter, alert to the utmost.

And Mo Hua indeed felt increasingly strained.

The third-grade Jin Dan black boar demon's pressure was overwhelming; its surging demonic energy and black qi rolled like waves.

Mo Hua was like a tiny boat adrift on those waves—yet this damned pig chased him with relentless fury.

Mo Hua had fled for a long time and still could not shake it off; frustration began to rise in his heart.

He glanced back with the corner of his eye and caught sight of the black boar demon's eyes—huge as lanterns, bulging like bronze bells.

Those eyes locked onto Mo Hua without wavering.

A surge of impulse rose in Mo Hua's heart, but he forcibly suppressed it.

The black boar demon was too strong; he could not risk it.

His immediate priority was to shake off this third-grade boar demon—not to linger and entangle himself.

Mo Hua continued to flee.

But the more he fled, the angrier the black boar demon became.

Such a ferocious demonic beast, relying on overwhelming demonic power, never struggled to hunt.

Mo Hua had made it chase so long that it had awakened its killing instinct.

From then on, the black boar demon pursued without pause, its body growing faster, its demonic aura denser,

its eyes blazing with fiercer malice—as if it would never rest until it devoured Mo Hua.

Cold sweat broke out on Mo Hua's back; he felt more and more strained.

At the same time, the fire in his heart burned hotter.

After a moment, Mo Hua suddenly calmed.

He turned to look at the third-grade black boar demon, his expression icy, his eyes revealing a sliver of killing intent.

After more chasing and fleeing, they reached a mountain marsh.

Mo Hua's form flashed like waterlight, his shadow dissolving into thick mist.

In an instant, three water shadows split off.

The black boar demon was momentarily confused, lost its target, and lunged at one water shadow, smashing it to pieces.

When the water shadow shattered, it revealed a cliff face.

The black boar demon, head, face, and half its body, crashed straight into the cliff and became trapped.

A deafening boom echoed—like mountains collapsing and earth splitting.

Trapped in the cliff, the black boar demon thrashed wildly.

But its body was too bulky to turn around; after struggling for a while, it finally broke free, covered in dust and dirt.

Its eyes glowed crimson, dripping blood.

This third-grade black boar demon had clearly reached the brink of "fury."

It exhaled foul stench, breathed demonic winds, its eyes crisscrossed with blood vessels.

Its grotesque, snorting snout trembled, then caught Mo Hua's scent again; its cruel gaze sharpened instantly,

turning to the right.

Mo Hua stood among a patch of forest nearby.

The surrounding woods were dense, damp with mist, streams murmuring softly.

He had not run—he stood there, silently watching the massive third-grade boar demon before him.

A slender, low-realm cultivator stared directly at a massive, black-qi-churning beast.

This was naked provocation.

The Black Boar Beast roared in furious rage.

That roar was like the wailing of demons from the inferno, the lament of vengeful ghosts, piercing the eardrums and shaking Lin Yue.

Then blood qi surged, and demonic qi swept outward.

The Black Boar Beast charged at Mo Hua, wrapped in a torrent of pitch-black demonic wind.

But halfway through its charge, water suddenly surged from the ground, dissolving soil and stone into a vast marshland.

The marshland turned to bog, the ground slick with mud.

Beneath its feet, the earth collapsed instantly; the Black Boar Beast's massive body sank into the mire, and as the mud flowed, it sank deeper.

The Black Boar Beast thrashed desperately, its demonic power shaking the earth, flinging soil and stone into the air.

But this bog was deep, and the arrays surrounding it were exceedingly sophisticated.

It was clear that without ten breaths, the boar beast could not escape.

In a life-or-death chase, ten breaths were enough to decide life or death—and more than enough for Mo Hua to flee.

Elder Xun Ziyou slowly exhaled, nodding inwardly.

Mo Hua's arrays were growing ever more exquisite.

He no longer relied merely on the array's power, but used the array to generate the Eight Trigrams' force, altering the terrain with the natural power of heaven and earth to trap this third-grade beast and secure his chance to escape.

In such a short time, he conceived this plan—and executed it flawlessly.

This child truly possesses near-demonic talent and insight into arrays.

No wonder outsiders call him "the little monster of Grand Void Gate."

"With this, he need not lift a finger—he can escape the third-grade boar beast by his own skill…"

Elder Xun Ziyou felt relief, but after a moment, he noticed Mo Hua had not fled—though the array had trapped the boar, he stood still, frowning in thought.

Elder Xun Ziyou froze, frowning.

What is he doing?

What is this child doing?

Run, now!

In a moment, the boar beast will break free of the bog array.

Time is precious—such a perfect opportunity, and instead of fleeing, he stands there posing, thinking…? Elder Xun Ziyou stared at Mo Hua, then suddenly his heart jolted with a ludicrous suspicion:

This child… he doesn't mean to—? Kill the boar beast?

No way—

He's only Foundation Establishment—does he think he can kill a third-grade Jin Dan beast alone?!

He's—gone mad?!

Who gave him the nerve?!

Even if the Liezulie Sect's ancestral spirits protected him, even if the ancestral graves of Grand Void Gate caught fire and smoked until the ashes turned bald, they couldn't save him from this recklessness!

Elder Xun Ziyou's heart clenched, cold sweat bursting from his skin.

At the same moment, the Black Boar Beast's two front hooves had broken free of the mire, gripping the shore.

A monstrous, snarling boar head emerged from the mud.

Elder Xun Ziyou's heart pounded—he no longer hesitated, silently activated the sword technique, and drew his treasure sword.

But the next instant, a foreign sword intent surged toward him; his heart lurched, and he turned in disbelief.

Among the mountains and woods, the powerful boar beast broke free of the bog.

The weak Mo Hua stood facing the beast.

He pressed two fingers to his brow.

He seemed ordinary—but in an instant, a sword intent far beyond Foundation Establishment, sharp and unbelievable, erupted from his slender frame.

His spiritual sense howled like a storm of sword intent.

Sword intent rose; Mo Hua's eyes grew ever more brilliant.

Pure Jin Guang condensed to its utmost, sword light swirling, razor-sharp.

At his fingertip, a thread of spiritual power touched his brow, bridging the veil between reality and illusion, slowly drawing forth the mighty Grand Void Sword Intent.

A shocking edge slowly revealed itself to the world—

Sensing this ancient, profound sword intent, Elder Xun Ziyou's mouth gaped open; he felt his breath choke, his heart freeze.

Sensing the danger, the boar beast's roar grew even more agonized.

Its blood qi boiled utterly; its demonic qi turned as black as ink, and with a surge of demonic power, it leapt clear of the bog.

Then, without hesitation, it lunged at Mo Hua, desperate to crush this threat in its cradle,

and swallow him whole.

At that moment, Mo Hua's gaze sharpened; he pressed two fingers forward, and a faint, shimmering blade of light stretched from his fingertip.

This blade of light was dazzling beyond measure.

It was a formation of spiritual sense.

Moreover, it was infused with the marrow of a god, refined into pure Jin Dao—transcending the spiritual awareness of ordinary cultivators.

Even Jin Dan late-stage Elder Xun Ziyou could see only a blurred sword shadow, and occasionally, fleeting threads of sword intent glowing like liquid gold and iridescent jade.

The Black Boar Beast, eyes bulging, charged at Mo Hua wrapped in black wind.

Mo Hua's gaze was icy; he pressed two fingers forward.

Grand Void Slash-Soul Sword emerged from its sheath.

A massive sword shadow pierced through the air and arrived in an instant, stabbing directly into the boar demon's copper-bell-like eyes.

The eyes are the window of the spiritual awareness.

The powerful sword intent surged through this flesh-and-blood window and slashed straight into the boar demon's demonic awareness.

Like iron cleaving clay.

A shrill, agonized bellow, piercingly loud, erupted instantly and echoed across the entire mountaintop.

Then the scream cut off abruptly.

No one knew what had happened inside the boar demon's spiritual sea.

Like the King of Hell calling names, the Grim Reaper claiming souls.

The black boar demon's life vanished suddenly.

Its copper-bell-like cruel eyes, within just a few breaths, lost all luster and went utterly dark.

Its body, deprived of will, became a massive pile of flesh, limbs collapsing to the ground, yet still sliding forward due to momentum toward Mo Hua.

The ground array flared to life; stone spikes rose like spears, blocking the black boar demon's body.

One after another, the stone spikes shattered; the black boar demon's speed slowed further, until it finally stopped before Mo Hua.

Its eyes still stared fixedly at Mo Hua.

But its demonic awareness had been utterly extinguished; it was completely devoid of life.

Mo Hua stood still, his slender figure suddenly as unmoving as a mountain.

The black boar demon lay on the ground, limbs and head touching earth, its flesh still intact, its mountain-sized body now seeming to bow in humble submission.

All around was silence.

Far away, among the trees.

Elder Xun Ziyou still held his sword-drawing posture, his entire body frozen like a clay statue, yet his heart churned with a storm of shock.

.. —Dead?!

A third-grade Jin Dan demonic beast, killed by Mo Hua?!

Mo Hua, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, killed a third-grade Jin Dan demonic beast with his own strength?!

Elder Xun Ziyou's soul was violently shaken; his hands began to tremble, and for a moment he could hardly believe his eyes.

Even seeing it with his own eyes, he found it absurd.

For an instant, he even began to doubt whether he was still trapped in the nightmare of the Solitary Mountain's demonic fetus.

Everything before his eyes was merely a dream.

Otherwise, such an outrageous thing could never happen—

Foundation Establishment killing a Jin Dan cultivator was already nearly impossible.

Especially when the target was a Jin Dan demonic beast, stronger than human cultivators.

And the one who slew this Jin Dan demonic beast was Mo Hua—weak in blood qi, low in spiritual power, never known for his cultivation depth.

He hadn't even relied on the array.

Those arrays were merely used to restrain and control.

He truly, with his own strength, with the profound and unfathomable sword art he cultivated, alone and face-to-face, had brutally slain that third-grade demonic beast!!

Elder Xun Ziyou was utterly stunned.

What kind of powerful Dao art was this?

And what kind of immense power had it unleashed?

On the other side, the boar demon was dead.

Mo Hua came to his senses, gazing at the massive corpse before him, feeling a measure of surprise himself.

It's—.. —dead?

"I used my spiritual awareness to form a sword and killed a—third-grade Jin Dan boar demon?"

Mo Hua looked at his own pale, delicate hands, disbelief flooding his heart.

This was only one-tenth of his spiritual awareness's power.

The killing power of the God-Slaying Sword when it emerged from its sheath, hampered by the constraints between illusion and reality, was only one-tenth of his full strength—yet even so, this powerful third-grade boar demon had been undeniably slain by this single strike.

Mo Hua let out a quiet breath of cold air.

If one day, I truly merge the barrier between illusion and reality, and release the God-Slaying Sword completely, fully, one hundred percent—

into the real world—

How terrifying would that single strike be?

What realm of cultivator or demonic beast could it slay?

Mo Hua couldn't even dare to imagine.

He was stunned for a moment, then remembered that such a commotion would surely draw attention.

The urgent task now was to find a way to "clean up the mess," or he'd have no good explanation.

But how could he clean it up?

Who could he turn to for cleanup?

Mo Hua stared at the massive third-grade Jin Dan boar demon before him, its dead pig eyes wide open, and fell into deep thought.

After a moment, he pulled out the Grand Void Token and sent a message to Elder Xun Ziyou:

"Elder Xun, come quickly! I found a dead pig!"

Far away, Elder Xun Ziyou glanced at the Grand Void Token, his expression instantly turning wildly incredulous:

Found a dead pig—

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he might have believed it.

Elder Xun Ziyou suppressed the turmoil in his heart, thought for a moment, and sent a message to Mo Hua: "Where?"

Mo Hua looked around and gave his location.

Elder Xun Ziyou said: "Good, I'm coming now."

Mo Hua: "Mm."

Elder Xun Ziyou then sneaked to the foot of the mountain, circled around several times, estimated the time was right, and finally pretended to rush over in haste.

Upon arriving at the scene, Elder Xun Ziyou feigned "shock":

"A third-grade boar demon?"

Mo Hua nodded.

"How did it die?" Elder Xun Ziyou asked.

Mo Hua shook his head: "I'm not sure either. I just got here and saw this boar dead right here—it's huge. I guess it was either killed by someone, or it suddenly fell ill and crashed into a tree."

"Crashed into a tree—"

"Boar brains are stupid. They don't turn. They just crash."

Elder Xun Ziyou had no anger.

This child now makes up nonsense without a second thought, with no logic at all.

Elder Xun Ziyou looked around and saw that all traces of the surrounding arrays had been erased; only then did he nod slightly.

Knowing to erase all array traces is decent enough—it saves me trouble—

"Alright, I understand," Elder Xun Ziyou nodded. "This Demon Refining Mountain isn't safe. Go back first. I'll handle this third-grade boar demon."

Seeing that Elder Xun didn't press further, Mo Hua exhaled in relief, but after a moment's thought, he asked: "Elder, does this third-grade boar demon count toward merit?"

Though he currently had plenty of merit and didn't need more, merit was always better in excess.

Besides, this was a third-grade boar demon—if he didn't exchange it for merit, Mo Hua truly felt uneasy.

Elder Xun stared silently at Mo Hua and sighed:

"Luck is part of strength. Since you 'found' it, it naturally counts as your merit."

Mo Hua relaxed and smiled: "Thank you, Elder Xun!"

Elder Xun said: "Go back."

"Mm."

Mo Hua bowed and took his leave; the rest was left to Elder Xun Ziyou.

After Mo Hua left, Elder Xun Ziyou fell silent for a moment, then slowly approached the black boar demon.

Seeing the boar demon's nearly intact body and its hollow, lifeless eyes where its demonic awareness had been extinguished, Elder Xun Ziyou drew a sharp breath, then his gaze trembled as he whispered, in a voice filled with disbelief, the nearly forgotten name:

"Grand Void—Spiritual Mind Transforms into Sword True Art—"

These words seemed to possess a shocking magic, filling Elder Xun Ziyou with awe and dread.

He sighed, drew his treasure sword, and with sweeping blade-light, sliced open the boar's hide, shredded its flesh, and pierced its heart meridian.

The once-intact boar demon was instantly riddled with sword cuts.

Only then did Elder Xun Ziyou use a message seal to summon others to handle the corpse of this massive third-grade boar demon.

On the other side, Mo Hua returned to Grand Void Gate and sat in the disciples' quarters, still emotionally stirred.

The scene of slaying the boar demon remained vivid in his mind.

The power of Divine Mind Out-of-Body still sent shivers through him.

He couldn't help but gaze at his own hands, lost in reverie.

In his hands, he held the method to slay a Jin Dan—

This was the foundation of Spiritual Mind Pathway, combined with the true power of the Spiritual Mind Transforms into Sword True Art.

A sense of mastering power gradually spread through Mo Hua's entire body.

After eight years of study in Qian Xue Province, day and night, relentless cultivation, refining arrays, devouring malevolent spirits, integrating into his spiritual marrow, laying the foundation of the Spiritual Path.

Coupled with cultivating the Sword Path, step by step mastering the method of Spiritual Mind Transforms into Sword.

Sand accumulates into a tower; water drips until it pierces stone.

Now, his Spiritual Mind Path had finally begun to reveal its edge.

Mo Hua clenched his hand in the air, his gaze sharp.

Spiritual Mind Condenses into a Core—Sword Formation Complete!

From now on, his Spiritual Mind threads would be "death lines."

Whether human, demon, or devil, once his Divine Mind Sword emerged from his body and pierced the opponent's consciousness sea, it would ignore all flesh, spiritual energy, or demonic power, extinguish their spiritual awareness, and erase their life.

And he had finally taken the first step toward becoming a powerful "Spiritual Path cultivator."

With mighty spiritual awareness, he now held dominion over life and death!