Chapter 142: The True Lord Manifests

This voice was pleasant, with a hint of magnetism.

"Huh?"

Zhang Jian suddenly stood up from the reef.

His expression changed, but after carefully scanning the surroundings with his keen spiritual sense, he detected nothing unusual.

Still, this voice was somewhat familiar to him, as if he had heard it somewhere before.

"You brat, I am your master!"

At this moment, Zhang Jian finally sensed the source of that voice; he raised his hand, and deep in his palm two dark sword-shaped symbols glowed with a faint light.

"So it's you, Master—you gave me a start!"

Zhang Jian breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that, but then he blurted, "Do you think this place is dangerous, Master, and want me to leave? I'll go right away!"

"Hold on, I want you to go up and slay those two arrogant little hair gods, and rescue that old dragon!"

Hearing this, Zhang Jian froze for a moment.

"Master, did I hear you right? With my meager abilities, you want me to go rescue the Dragon Lord?"

Zhang Jian felt a pang of doubt.

He had originally come just to watch the excitement and pick up some bargains, not to fight as a main force.

After all, he was merely a lowly cultivator at the mid-stage of Fate Measurement.

The path to longevity has only just begun!

Constantly risking one's life for high-stakes battles—what nonsense is that?

Upon hearing that, the Slay Demon True Lord's cold laughter rang out.

"You're lurking here just to borrow my power to scoop up some cheap gains—now that I tell you to go up, you're scared?"

Zhang Jian felt a pang of doubt.

Thinking about it in one's mind is one thing; actually going up is another.

The road to immortality has just begun; cultivation must be undertaken with caution!

"Come on, don't hesitate!"

The Slay Demon True Lord shouted, seeing Zhang Jian still unable to move his feet, and added,

"You brat, I'll give you another opportunity—save that old dragon, and he will repay you in the future!"

"Master, if you had said so earlier, I would have loved to help others!"

Zhang Jian couldn't help but chuckle.

His steps were not slow; following the Slay Demon True Lord's guidance, he held the Water Avoiding Pearl and quietly headed toward the area where divine power erupted.

Boom—

Just then, a roaring torrent surged forth from the depths of the void.

Above, several divine lights streaked across the murky water like meteors.

Zhang Jian clearly sensed that each of those shooting stars was, in fact, a water deity.

These deities were scattered like flies swatted away.

The magical fluctuations emanating from each of those water deities were no weaker than his own.

Zhang Jian felt a secret chill, but having come this far, he suppressed his doubts, his Seven Apertures Pure Heart blazing, gradually bringing him into a special state of focus.

"Huh?"

In the depths of the void, a vast divine awareness locked onto Zhang Jian's silhouette, its gaze falling toward his heart, a flicker of surprise flashing in its eyes.

This silhouette was none other than the Slay Demon True Lord, who had emerged from the ruins.

Thinking that she had not yet fulfilled her duty as a master, she hurried straight to Fengyang Commandery to give this junior disciple some extra tutoring, and just happened to arrive in time for this scene.

"It seems my closed-door disciple not only possesses a special innate Dao body, but also a special heart—this heart resembles the legendary sage's heart of antiquity, the Seven Apertures Pure Heart, a natural-born sage?"

The Slay Demon True Lord's gaze shifted.

There was an unusual hue in her eyes.

She had been quite certain before that Zhang Jian lacked such a sage's heart!

Clearly, a great opportunity has arisen in this period!

But she had no intention of investigating further!

As long as one's heart leans toward the sect, everything else is mere trivialities!

And if one could bring a living sage into the sect, such fortune would likely make even the ancestral masters hidden deep in Tong Mountain envious.

Meanwhile, deep beneath the water, Zhang Jian had already seen the gods battling within the meridians.

Two towering heavenly deities stood in the void, their forms vast, their divine power locked in a stalemate—like the two eyes of the yin-yang universe, light and darkness swimming like yin-yang fish, forming a great yin-yang vortex that trapped a fierce divine light, severing it from the meridians and suppressing it there.

Around the meridians, moreover, many river-patrolling yakshas, water ghost generals, and dragon sons and grandsons glowed with divine light, trying to rush forward, only to be utterly crushed by those two towering heaven‑standing deities.

Like swatting flies, accompanied by wretched screams, casualties were countless.

Yet these shrimp soldiers and crab generals, heedless of life and death, kept charging wildly at the barrier.

Watching this, Zhang Jian felt somewhat moved, but in an instant he decisively ignited the power in the sword-shaped symbols in his hand.

"Kill!"

In that instant he felt a matchless, magnificent sword aura swiftly forming in the void, all things losing color, as if heaven and earth were utterly annihilated.

That was a blade of light!

"Look closely—this is my Slay Demon Exterminate Immortal Sword, containing the ultimate power to exterminate all things in heaven and earth; the essence of the sword‑control art lies in will: a strong will makes it unstoppable, able to cleave anything—"

"If one strike cannot sever it, then strike it with countless blades!"

Zhang Jian's thoughts flashed like lightning; bolstered by his Seven Apertures Pure Heart, his body radiated an unmatched, vigorous righteous vigor, and in that moment he seemed to grasp something, the chaotic star technique he cultivated subtly undergoing an inexplicable change.

At the same time, a dim‑colored sword gleam seemed to come from heaven and earth; beneath its light, heaven and earth became distinct, all things turning to ash‑gray.

The two deities of the Mysterious Capital Sect immediately felt something.

"Bright Light, be careful!"

The Mysterious Heaven Demon God's eyes were about to split, and the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Wheel in his hand kept rotating; layer upon layer of vast, dark power came from the void, transforming into countless Mysterious Heaven Scriptures and merging with the Yin-Yang Dharma Realm.

Bright Light Holy Mother also felt the terror of that sword light; her face turned pale, and the boundless light around her body, in her hand, subdued demons and rose, likewise transforming into part of the white divine power condensed scriptures and the Yin-Yang Dharma Realm, condensing into a huge Yin-Yang Wheel to block in front of her.

Yet the sword light came, and it easily shattered the yin-yang divine light circulating in the Yin-Yang Wheel; a streak of pure, incomparable ash-black sword light directly pierced Bright Light Holy Mother's divine body, boundless black radiance burst forth, and only then did Bright Light Holy Mother's true form instantly dim, turning into specks of fragments.

Even this divine true form was directly destroyed by a single sword.

"Slay Demon Exterminate Immortal Sword!"

The Mysterious Heaven Demon God finally realized what it was, his expression filled with great fear, as if he had encountered the most terrifying evil god.

The Slay Demon Exterminate Immortal Sword belongs to the Slay Demon True Lord of the Paulownia Mountain Dao Tradition; its sword intent of slaying demons and exterminating immortals is invincible, and the sword light has slain too many evil god souls—such deities are utterly unranked.

Seeing Bright Light Holy Mother's true form collapse, the Mysterious Heaven Demon God instantly felt a urge to retreat, but then saw the Mysterious Capital Yin-Yang Dharma Realm before him also lose balance and collapse in an instant; a furious old red dragon broke free from it, and the angry old dragon, having escaped, lunged fiercely at him.

"I, the god, will tear you apart!"

The Old Dragon God fell into a rage; he had long seen the scene of the Dragon Palace soldiers and generals being slaughtered by the two deities, and would not allow this deity of the Mysterious Capital Sect to retreat completely intact.

From afar, Zhang Jian watched as the true form of the deity, surrounded by holy pure light, turned into fragments, and felt something strange in his eyes.

"Master, why did you slash that goddess with a single sword, but not kill the god?"

"It's simple—she was the most arrogant; if not her, who else should I kill?!"

Immediately, the Slay Demon True Lord's voice sounded again.

"Hmph, wicked disciple, as your master, do I still need to explain to you whom I wish to kill?"

"Hehe, disciple, I dare not!"