Chapter 493: I Am the Dragon-Slaying Daoist

Tick-tock.

Dark red blood dripped from the blade of the spear onto the ground, spreading through the cracks in the stone tiles out of the great hall, and then dissolving into a faint mist of blood within the clear waves.

Shen Yi yanked the dragon spear from the pale, slender neck of the beautiful woman.

The woman's face was filled with incredulous terror; even in death, she could not comprehend how anyone could stride boldly into her palace, crush her son's chest, and then drive a spear through her with such decisive efficiency.

She was no ordinary water-demon, but the legitimate wife of the Sixth Prince, known as the Dragon Consort.

The palace guards, her brother who rivaled the White Jade Capital, and even the Sixth Prince himself seemed to have vanished, with no one paying any attention to what was happening here.

Was this truly the Long Gong, known as the master of the Southern Hong?

「……」

Su Hongxiu suddenly felt a sense of unease.

We had agreed to kill his entire family.

She had already formed the spiritual technique in her fingers, yet she never got a chance to act.

Logically, the palace guards should have swarmed them the moment the two entered, yet until now, the great hall remained completely empty, and a deathly silence reigned outside.

She looked toward the hall entrance with some confusion.

Immediately, her pupils contracted slightly.

She saw that at some unknown moment, a thick blood mist had enveloped the entire great hall, resembling a giant mouth ready to devour anyone, or a grotesquely exaggerated monster.

Within the blood mist, corpses drifted into the hall one by one.

Until dozens of corpses piled up at the hall entrance, among which were even three great demons at the twelfth layer of the Return to Emptiness realm.

Immediately following this, streaks of flowing light surged forward, quickly drilling into Shen Yi's forehead.

Only then did the blood mist outside slowly dissipate, diluted by the flowing water.

"Hah."

Su Hongxiu released the spiritual technique from her fingertips, suddenly realizing something.

Shen Zongzhu possessed the means to control puppets, a fact the other party had never mentioned; he supposedly had only one spiritual puppet... yet those streaks of light just now numbered at least seven or eight.

Of course, even if those seven or eight streaks of light were all puppets at the twelfth layer of the Return to Emptiness realm, or even comparable to the White Jade Capital, it would not be enough to make Su Hongxiu lose her composure.

What truly astonished her was that she had not sensed any fluctuation in aura whatsoever.

Those puppets, while killing the demons, had managed to suppress their presence to the extreme, even shielding themselves from spiritual soul perception.

A group of "assassins" with such power, moving like ghosts.

That was somewhat terrifying.

【Remaining Lifespan of Demons: 2,233,000 years】

Previously, condensing the stabilizing stones had consumed a full 1,770,000 years, nearly exhausting Shen Yi's reserves, but in the blink of an eye, not only were the losses replenished, but there was even more to spare.

"Is there more?"

Shen Yi adjusted his mood, turned to look at the woman, and his attitude became much gentler.

「……」

Su Hongxiu looked at the young man's blood-stained palms, then quietly glanced at the hint of kindness in his expression, and suddenly felt something was amiss.

The more he kills, the better his mood becomes?

This hardly seems like the temperament of a cultivator from an immortal sect... let alone that of a sect master.

Su Hongxiu wanted to offer a warning, but felt her status was inappropriate, so she merely shook her head and said, "There shouldn't be any more."

When the Seventh Dragon Grandson set this trap and ambush, he did not borrow manpower from the Long Gong, bringing only his own generals and demons from his maternal clan; not only did the Heavenly Sword Sect not intervene, but even if his master had arrived personally, this matter could at most be retaliated to this extent.

Such is the rule of the Southern Hong.

As long as the Seven Sons and the Long Gong have not completely torn off the mask and decided to fight to the death, they must follow the rules, and even the giants of the Dao-Integration realm are no exception.

"Good."

Shen Yi nodded slightly, smoothed the curve of his lips, and returned to his previous calm demeanor.

It was hard enough to finally pull the banner of the allied sect.

Ending it here feels somewhat regrettable.

It would have been ideal if the Heavenly Sword Sect and the Long Gong could have fought each other to the death.

However, judging by the current situation.

Even if the Seven Sons of the Southern Hong faced only the Southern Long Gong, they should not have an overwhelming advantage; moreover, in reality, there are only six sons, missing the once most powerful Nanyang Sect, so their strength has certainly been reduced.

They should not be capable of such self-destructive acts for the time being.

Besides, if the allied sect were truly destroyed.

The Nanyang Sect would certainly be unable to survive either.

"Let's go."

Shen Yi withdrew his gaze, waved slightly, and stored the pile of corpses on the ground into his ring.

He then summoned his dark-glowing flying sword and vanished into the water without looking back.

As for the treasures accumulated within the hall, Shen Yi did not make a scene of greed; after all, since he was the one who killed the demons, if he took the loot as well, the blame would fall entirely on his Nanyang Sect.

For now, it is more appropriate to pin this blame on the Heavenly Sword Sect.

「……」

Su Hongxiu was stunned, slightly bewildered, feeling that her silence today had exceeded the total of the past few decades.

Does Shen Zongzhu change his expression too quickly?

Also, did he come here just to enjoy the thrill of slaughter?

That seems too absurd.

Thinking of this, she shook her head and casually glanced at the pile of junk inside the hall.

They likewise stepped out of the great hall.

As a cultivator of Bai Yujing, very few things in the world could still catch her eye.

Until both figures vanished into the waters.

Only the intact great hall, reeking with a fishy stench, remained.

They took not a single coin or treasure, appearing to come solely for slaughter, leaving only to depart, leaving the surrounding water creatures who dared approach much later utterly dumbfounded.

……

Nanyang Sect, Inner Gate.

After a period of adjustment, the Thousand Demon Cave had completely transformed into a cultivation treasure land drifting with immortal qi.

The places needing repair were all fully restored with the help of the Yu family.

Li Qingfeng contacted several powers, including Great Qian, and began selecting those of exceptional talent to admit into the Outer Gate, where numerous Void Return executives personally transmitted the Dharma.

The good news was that, with so many strange powers entering the sect, he had worried about whether trouble might arise.

As it turned out, these powers must have witnessed some terrifying scenes; each was more obedient than the last, and even when encountering Nanyang natives, no matter how low the opponent's cultivation, they were quite courteous.

They seemed afraid that those Soul Transformation cultivators might, in the next instant, pull a multi-storied Chen Ziqi Tiangong from between their eyebrows, clothe themselves in a Spirit Body Dharma, and summon two Spirit Puppets...

The bad news was that the Shen Zongzhu had gone missing.

"Can you give us a definite answer? When exactly will the Shen Zongzhu return?"

Li Qingfeng accompanied Xuan Qing; if before it was to rouse this wooden man, now it was simply to find a mute to vent his stress upon.

Less than a month remained until the Seven Disciples Assembly.

The Shen Zongzhu hadn't even prepared anything; now, not even a shadow of him was to be seen.

"Should we ask the executives to go out and search?"

"He has returned."

Xuan Qing suddenly interrupted the other's incessant chatter.

"What?" Li Qingfeng was stunned.

"The Shen Zongzhu has returned." Xuan Qing repeated softly, then rose and walked out the door, looking up at the void, a hint of incomprehension on his face, his entire body freezing in place as if turning back into a piece of wood.

That wisp of aura just sweeping across the sky had even caused this genius, who once suppressed his peers for tens of thousands of years, to feel a trace of surprise.

Hearing this, Li Qingfeng hurriedly followed, also walking out of the Ancestral Master Hall, looking around and asking, "Where is he?"

As if responding to his question.

In an instant, a sudden pale red appeared on the sky canopy of the Nanyang Sect Inner Gate, like a sunset glow; the closer one got to the mountain peak, the more intense the red became, until it transformed into a vast ocean resembling blood, upon which stood an eight-storied magnificent great hall.

The Wuliang Demon Emperor Palace seemed like a sharp sword, about to pierce through those clouds to gaze directly at the scenery behind them.

"It is real."

Xuan Qing murmured, coming to his senses; what he had just sensed was the aura of late-stage Void Return.

Between the crimson Dao Palaces, purple qi without a single impurity rippled slightly, so pure that it instinctively made onlookers stop in their tracks.

The next moment, the sound of crackling echoed throughout the Nanyang Sect Inner Gate.

Six thick Dao pillars rose from nothing; as the stone skin peeled away, lifelike demon and monster reliefs were revealed upon them.

Each one was ferocious and ruthless, seeming to possess the ability to overturn rivers and seas.

Those cultivators who had recently joined the Nanyang Sect, such as the patrons of the Shuiyueshang Alliance, even recognized many familiar faces among them.

They were, after all, late-stage Void Return cultivators and prominent figures outside.

Yet at this moment, they all wore expressions of shock.

The Dao pillars visualized by the Shen Zongzhu were none other than that group of top-tier great demons infamous within Yu Nanhong!

Each one could cause powers outside the Xian Sect to tremble.

It was hard for them to imagine any cultivator choosing to visualize such things, let alone condense them so vividly, with even the details on the scales being identical; it made one suspect the Shen Zongzhu had climbed onto their backs to visualize them while they slept.

That was simply too bold.

The crackling sounds grew more intense, then evolved into a booming roar like a great bronze bell.

As the stone skin completely fell away, supported by the six first-grade Dao pillars, the Wuliang Demon Emperor Palace suddenly added another story.

Thus, the humming sound transformed into celestial music echoing across the sky; cranes seemed to stroll within the clouds, and a thick, intense purple mist rose from the end of the crimson sky canopy, slowly drifting toward the Demon Emperor Palace.

"Hah."

Xuan Qing closed his eyes.

Nine layers of Void Return, all Heavenly Palaces; heaven and earth celebrated.

Before today, among the Seven Disciples of Yu Nanhong, this was a legend belonging to one person alone.

From this moment on, this honor would no longer belong solely to him, Xuan Qing.

Even though he had expected it, and even after the tempering of his mind over long years, Xuan Qing still felt a trace of loss.

But the instant that loss faded, a surge of intense excitement burst forth from that wooden body.

The Nanyang Sect is alive!

Had he not sat in stagnation for too, too long, Xuan Qing would even have felt the urge to let out a long roar.

These hundred thousand years of torment.

What Xuan Qing thought of day and night was to return to the day before he broke through to perfect Void Return, restrain the impulse in his heart, walk this cultivation path more steadily, and no longer provoke those disasters.

To lead the Nanyang Sect forward step by step once more.

However, time offers no chance to reverse itself.

He never imagined that one day, he would personally witness the Nanyang Sect coming alive again.

Moreover, with the support of the purple qi he offered, the Shen Zongzhu's path was even more stable than his own was back then, and could also fulfill his wish in his stead.

The only thing that made him feel a bit envious was... the spectacle of heaven and earth's gift today was far grander than when he himself broke through to the ninth layer of Void Return.

At this thought, Li Xuanqing smiled.

"Xuanqing has two empty sleeves, nothing to celebrate, only a broken body remaining."

The wooden figure suddenly spoke, making the dazed Li Qingfeng beside him instantly feel something was wrong; he instinctively turned his head: "Senior, you..."

Indeed, Xuanqing's body began to tremble slightly.

Yet his expression was calm to the extreme: "Today, I shall use this broken body to pave the way for the Dao of the Nanyang Shen Zongzhu!"

As the words fell, a wisp of purple qi peeled away from his body once more.

Compared to the previous times, Li Xuanqing's movements this time were very slow and even more arduous, as if drawing out his last thread of life force.

Even the face carved from wood revealed pain visible to the naked eye.

"You're really doing it!"

Li Qingfeng's pupils contracted sharply; he lunged forward and pinned Li Xuanqing to the ground.

He was the Nanyang native who followed Shen Yi the most, and the one who knew best that the reason the Shen Zongzhu had so much time to grow was due to whose help.

Based on his understanding of Shen Yi, if the other party knew the situation, they would absolutely not accept this thing.

But the instant he truly pinned Xuanqing down, Li Qingfeng's fingertips began to tremble.

A Transformation of Spirit Realm realm being able to pin down a Void Refinement Realm cultivator was, in itself, bizarre to the extreme.

That purple qi passed through Li Qingfeng's body and spread out behind him.

Just then, as if a gentle breeze swept down from the horizon.

It wrapped around that purple qi and forced it back into Li Xuanqing's wooden body.

A familiar, flat voice sounded in both their ears.

"I appreciate the intention."

"..."

Li Xuanqing lay on the ground, silent for a long time, before finally showing a trace of irritability; this was a demeanor he had not displayed since his reappearance in Nanyang.

He always seemed gentle and calm, as if he had no temper at all; even when Li Qingfeng was noisy by his ear every day, he had never spoken a heavy word.

Perhaps everyone had forgotten how arrogant Li Xuanqing's own personality truly was.

He let out a long sigh and said in a low voice: "I've seen what needed to be seen; I really have lived long enough."

The thing he had awaited has happened; to drag on living any longer would have no meaning other than torturing himself.

That gentle breeze in the sky also fell silent for a moment.

Then it said softly: "I haven't heard your story yet; endure a bit longer."

With these words spoken.

Li Qingfeng suddenly felt the wooden figure beneath him shudder violently; immediately, that pair of wooden eyes was filled with complexity and fear.

Xuanqing's breathing suddenly became heavy.

He realized one thing.

Shen Yi was not some second Xuanqing granted by the heavens' pity to Nanyang Sect, a sect master with a steady mind, peerless talent, who would lead Nanyang Sect to walk a solid path.

The other party was not a second Xuanqing; he was Shen Yi, the one and only Shen Yi.

A young man at the mid-stage of Void Refinement who dared to slay a Long Gong general, more arrogant than he had been in his own day.

On the peak of the inner mountain of Nanyang Sect.

Shen Yi withdrew his divine soul; he was rather greedy, and greediest of all for life, unwilling to die.

But being unwilling to die did not equal being afraid of death.

He also hoped that, on the premise of ensuring his own survival, he could also let those who showed him goodwill live on together as much as possible.

This kind of thing is far too scorching to hold.

Shen Yi shook his head and turned his gaze back to the sky... a hint of helplessness flashed through his clear eyes.

Probably last time, when the heavens were bestowing the purple qi, before it had finished, he had prematurely intercepted the purple qi onto his body.

This time, the heavens were clearly deliberately trying to make up for the face lost last time.

An immortal melody has been playing until now without ending, as if the heavens were sick in the head; look at that stingy attitude.

Fortunately, it is not a breakthrough in the midst of battle; time is still ample; otherwise, he would inevitably have to sweep its face again.

These six Dao Pillars used the six Void Refinement twelfth-layer generals from the Turtle Army previously.

Besides that, at Ke Laoqi's maternal clan, he had also harvested three great demons that could be condensed into top-tier Grade One Stabilizing Stones.

"That is enough already."

Shen Yi looked at the Dao Palace again; if he counted Wu Jun and the flesh-winged silkworm, he had a very high certainty of forging the Void Refinement tenth-layer realm in one go, and it would most likely be a Tiangong.

But he was not in a hurry.

Compared to a direct breakthrough, these two great demons could still play a greater role for the time being.

At this thought, Shen Yi summoned Wu Jun.

Then he took out three corpses: two Void Refinement Perfection Golden-Winged Turtle generals, and that old Wang Ba comparable to Bai Yujing.

With a slight movement of his mind.

The three powerful demon corpses rapidly turned into a sea of blood and poured into Wu Jun's body; the dense bloodline power within made people tremble with fear at the sight.

It could be seen from the earlier clash between the Tianjian Sect Dao Son and the Water Clan.

Both were Bai Yujing, yet the gap was also very obvious.

If Su Hongxiu successfully opened the second Xiancheng, there would probably be no need for him at all; the other party could easily slay all the demons and monsters present.

Perhaps after eating this demon corpse, Wu Jun could also rise to a similar level?

While Wu Jun was absorbing the demon corpse.

Shen Yi also summoned that flesh-winged silkworm, along with a dense mass of corpses of its own kind.

Though the quality was far inferior, the sheer quantity made up for it.

This was truly the meaning of exhausting the entire clan's strength to nurture a peerless heavenly genius.

Two stabilizing stones, one on the left and one on the right, guarded Shen Yi.

Both sat cross-legged, absorbing the vast bloodline power.

Day and night turned.

When the eastern sun first rose, Wu Jun finally opened his eyes; the flesh-winged silkworm followed closely behind. Even though they were stabilizing stones, demonic qi still quietly leaked from their bodies.

Their strengths were comparable.

That was terrifying demonic qi Shen Yi had never seen before.

"If the Dao Son of the Heavenly Sword Sect offers two Immortal Cities, can you defeat her?" Shen Yi glanced sideways, slightly curious.

To his slight surprise, even with such a massive boost, the two demons remained calm. After pondering for a moment, they hesitantly replied, "Reporting to my Lord, if we combine our forces, there is roughly a twenty percent chance of victory."

"That much of a difference?" Shen Yi was somewhat surprised.

Wu Jun closed his mouth, feeling ashamed. It was the flesh-winged silkworm with the broader knowledge that humbly said, "My Lord does not know: although it is the same city, the Dao Soldiers extracted from it vary vastly."

"Take Su Hongxiu, for instance. When she returned to the Void, she forged a seven-layer Tiangong; thus, the Hongmeng Heavenly Soldiers extracted from the Long Han Great City were of that caliber. What was extracted from the Chimingcheng is unknown, but at the very least, it would be Qingluan Immortal Soldiers."

"This is not something other Bai Yu Jing cultivators can compare to."

"If it were an ordinary Bai Yu Jing cultivator who opened two cities and wielded Spirit Soldiers, I alone could handle them."

Hearing this, Shen Yi looked at his own boundless Demon Emperor Palace, brimming with purple qi.

A sudden sense of relief arose in his heart.

Fortunately, he hadn't done as before, ignoring everything and breaking through a realm first.

So there were so many intricacies to Bai Yujing.

"How many cities are there in total?"

Shen Yi looked at the two demons again, but received completely different answers.

"Three cities."

"Four cities."

Wu Jun and the flesh-winged silkworm exchanged glances, frowning slightly; clearly, both believed they were right.

At this moment, a weak voice emanated from Shen Yi's third eye.

"Reporting to my Lord, there are five Immortal Cities in total, also known as the Five Tribulations, representing Birth, Old Age, Sickness, Death, and Suffering. Only cultivators who cross the heavenly tribulation can shed their mortal forms to become immortals and reach the Dao-Integration realm."

"However, not every cultivator has the opportunity to cross the five tribulations. Most cultivators, due to weak foundations when returning to the Void, cannot even see the later cities."

"Even if one is lucky enough to break through the Dao-Integration realm, they can only be considered a pseudo-immortal."

Ke Shisan, though lower in realm, clearly possessed far greater knowledge than these two demons.

He spoke hurriedly, "If evidence is needed, a cultivator in Yu Nanhong once saw the fifth city, the Yan'an Immortal City, but ultimately failed to open it. This person happened to be from your Nanyang Sect, named Xuan Qing, also known as the Dragon-Slaying Daoist."

Heavenly tribulation.

How could such a thing as calamity sound like a good thing in the mouth of this Dragon Grandson?

One must even have the aptitude and foundation, otherwise one lacks the qualification to undergo the tribulation?

Simply absurd.

Shen Yi stood up and gazed far toward the direction of the Ancestral Master Hall.

Come to think of it, the rumors about this former Nanyang Dao Son are truly everywhere.

The title "Dragon-Slaying Daoist" sounds rather rustic.

But do not forget... this is Hongze.

Hongze, which has four Dragon Palaces stationed to guard it, with claws and fangs spread across land and water, and can even be said to cover the sky with one hand.

For a cultivator to dare to go out with this title and even survive until now, the terror involved is simply indescribable.

"Hah."

Thinking of this, Shen Yi retracted several stabilizing stones and sped toward the Ancestral Master Hall.

He then landed at the hall's entrance.

He signaled with his eyes for the panicked Li Qingfeng to leave first.

Shen Yi straightened his robes, then squatted before the wooden figure lying horizontally. Xuan Qing's eyes were closed, as if cut off from sight and hearing, or perhaps already devoid of life.

"..."

Shen Yi cleared his throat, extended his hand toward the other, and said calmly, "Hello, Dragon-Slaying Daoist."

Before the words had fully faded, Xuan Qing suddenly shuddered all over. The Tianyan Siji body finally moved; like an ostrich, he turned his head and buried it in the ground.

"What's wrong, Dragon-Slaying..." Shen Yi's expression remained unchanged.

Xuan Qing grabbed Shen Yi's arm with one palm, cutting off his words, then quickly stood up and walked silently into the hall.

His pace grew faster and faster, as if he wanted to flee this place as soon as possible.

So there are things in this world more terrifying than death.

(End of this chapter)