Chapter 17: Fang Qingxue: Chen Zheng, You Are Very Good, Exceedingly Good!

"This person cannot be overpowered; return to the cave at once!"

"Summon the Great Heavenly Demon King of Water Gu to descend and annihilate that damned Feather Ascension Sect cultivator…"

The countless Heavenly Demons on the island, upon seeing the streaks of purple blade light cutting down from the sky, instantly halted their rampaging onslaught, their souls trembling in terror, shrieking sharply and scattering to evade.

Many other Heavenly Demons fled toward the mountain‑peak cave entrance that had emerged earlier, hoping to summon the strongest among the Heavenly Demons to oppose the one wielding the Purple Lightning Yin Thunder Blade in the sky.

But the speed of the purple blade light was far beyond what these Heavenly Demons, whose strength equated to the Mortal Secret Realm, could match.

It was like a blazing meteor, piercing the celestial atmosphere, arriving in an instant.

Boom—Boom—Boom……

The Thunder Blade fell like a sudden gale and rain, cleaving through hundreds of the densest swirling demon clouds, each cloud containing thousands of Heavenly Demons, which all disintegrated into ash the instant they touched the blade.

Then the cascade of blade light continued unabated, crashing into the forest, stirring bursts of purple thunder light, with electric arcs flashing incessantly, shooting out in a wild spray.

Another wave of Rumble—Rumble—bombardment erupted, the thunder light setting rocks and soil across dozens of miles of the island ablaze.

It also struck many of the previously unscathed stragglers, their wails rising in a chorus.

By now, tens of thousands of Heavenly Demons on the island had been killed, about seventy to eighty percent.

Even those who survived were grievously wounded by the thunder, on the brink of death, and would perish within moments.

The Heavenly Demons still hidden in the mountain‑peak cave dared not emerge, curling up inside trembling.

The many Heavenly Demons aboard this Magic Ship with Chen Zheng were so frightened that their souls fled, no longer caring to devour the hunters' flesh; they transformed into slender streams of air like needles, slithering toward the sea surface, and in a blink plunged into the water, vanishing.

In an instant, the grim, terrifying atmosphere was cleared, and heaven and earth returned to bright, clear serenity.

"We are saved…"

On the Magic Ship, the remaining hunters' faces were filled with the joy of surviving a calamity and lingering fear, each collapsing onto the deck, gasping heavily.

From the moment the Heavenly Demons appeared to the instant they caught up with the Magic Ship, only a brief span passed, yet over a hundred hunters perished, their bodies reduced to smooth white bones.

Such a death is truly terrifying.

Had the immortal wielding the Thunder Blade not suddenly appeared, they all would have been buried here.

Thinking of the immortal who saved them, many hunters couldn't help but lift their heads toward the sky.

Chen Zheng at this moment also gazed at the sky, a hint of strange hue in his eyes.

Faintly, he saw a figure clad in white as snow, with hair like a blue waterfall, standing proudly in the night sky, reflecting the starlight, shining alongside the bright moon, as if a celestial maiden from the Nine Heavens descended to the mortal world.

Though unsure whether it was due to distance or other reasons, Chen Zheng could not discern the fairy's exact features, yet he was certain she possessed an ethereal beauty.

He could also be certain that she was Fang Qingxue, the reincarnation of the Celestial Realm's Electric Mother Celestial Lord Yuan Ling.

"The Great Tribulation of the Divine Clan is near…"

Chen Zheng whispered silently in his heart.

Until now, he finally pinpointed his temporal position: the final arrival of the Divine Clan's Great Tribulation was just over ten years away.

A span of over ten years is too brief for anyone.

Especially for most cultivators, this period is insufficient even to break through a single realm.

Can he, within a decade or so, grow enough to confront the Divine Clan's Great Tribulation, or even escape the vast Mysterious Yellow World?

Chen Zheng felt urgency, but more so excitement.

A shorter time makes the challenge greater!

At this moment, his mindset seemed to undergo a change.

Previously, he tended to treat the people of this world as NPCs.

Even killing, he felt no nausea or disgust; after all, killing NPCs is nothing to be repulsed by.

But now, he felt himself blending more into this world.

Perhaps it won't be long before he becomes a truly immortal being.

"I, the humble one, salute the immortal!"

As Chen Zheng's thoughts flickered, the many hunters also saw the white‑clothed woman in the heavens, and, not daring to delay, bowed their heads, prostrated, chanting the immortal's name, daring not even a breath.

She was a cultivator of the Shen Tong Mi Jing!

Between heaven and earth, practitioners of the Mortal Secret Realm number like grains of sand in the Ganges, and those at the Rou Shen Di Shi Chong divine transformation realm are countless, yet cultivators of the Shen Tong Mi Jing are one in ten thousand.

The gap between them is but a single step, yet it is as if heaven and man.

"What is your name, and what is your background?"

From the sky, the white‑clothed woman's questioning voice came down, a bit cold but not bone‑chilling, rather like a gentle spring stream, revealing no hint of joy or anger.

"Is she asking me?"

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Chen Zheng, about to follow the crowd and bow like the others, upon hearing the white‑clothed woman's voice, felt a strong illusion that she was speaking to him.

No, it shouldn't be an illusion.

The methods of a Shen Tong cultivator are beyond ordinary comprehension.

She was indeed asking him.

He immediately feigned a humble and fearful demeanor, replying, "Honored Fairy, I am Chen Zheng, from the Chen family of Jin Jin Yu Dao Island in the South Sea Region."

"Chen Zheng, you are very good, exceedingly good," the white‑clothed woman said in the same calm tone.

"Is she praising me?"

Chen Zheng felt a sudden oddity in his heart.

Fang Qingxue's words sounded like a compliment, but the tone was not, instead it kept one at a distance.

Upon reconsideration, Fang Qingxue indeed has that temperament.

As for why Fang Qingxue praised him, it was probably because when she arrived earlier she saw him rescue the Li Qiu siblings and knock out seventy or eighty Heavenly Demons with two punches.

"Chen Zheng, since you have no sect or school, join my Feather Ascension Sect as an outer disciple," Fang Qingxue's voice echoed again in the night sky.

As the words finished, a palm‑sized snow token fell from the sky and hovered before Chen Zheng.

Chen Zheng looked up, and on the snow token a cluster of violet lightning flickered uncertainly, as if it had a spirit, with dragons and snakes winding across it, writing a few lines of small characters: "Chen Zheng, born of the Chen family of the Great Northern Ocean, South Sea Region, Jin Jin Yu Dao Dao, in the eighth‑level Divine Valor realm of the mortal body, capable of crossing realms to slay Ninth‑level Heavenly Demons, of outstanding talent, recorded."

"The dangers on this island have not yet been cleared; you should leave as soon as possible."

"Remember, within three months, if you take this token to cross the vast ocean and go to the Stepping Immortal Courtyard of the Feather Ascension Gate, you may take part in the outer‑disciple assessment," Fang Qingxue said in a few words.

She paused, then added at the end: "If one day in the future you successfully enter the Shen Tong Mi Jing, you may come to Purple Lightning Peak to find me."

"Thank you, Fairy, for granting this celestial affinity! I still do not know your name…"

Chen Zheng hurriedly took the snow token with both hands, pretended it was a priceless treasure, jerked his head upward, and shouted excitedly.

But there was no sign of Fang Qingxue in the night sky.

Truly… come or go, she leaves no trace.

(End of Chapter)