Chapter 100: 95 Self-Inflicted Doom

95 Self-Inflicted Doom

This kind of evil...

It's too disgusting!

As the power of these people surged, their evil also skyrocketed. In the sensation of Clear Judgment, the revulsion they brought to Tang Zhao was unprecedented; they were like stains and dregs of the world, like a lump of filth or phlegm. Just perceiving their existence made one's stomach churn, unable to be tolerated.

So, do crimes differ depending on one's state?

In this state, just how great a crime have they committed, and how many people have they killed?

Can these people still be called human?

Tang Zhao was truly furious. His hand gripping the sword tightened gradually, veins bulging on the back of his hand. Without needing any Sword Technique, streaks of Sword Light leaped back and forth on the blade, resembling a thunderbolt of Heavenly Punishment.

That kind of Sword Light was the anger of the sword.

Holding the sword for a long time, he could feel the sword's emotions more and more clearly. Previously, Clear Judgment had judged the crimes of fish; sometimes a certain fish's crime was minor, Tang Zhao didn't care at all, and the sword was not indignant. Sometimes a certain shrimp seemed to have committed heinous crimes, the sword was very angry, but Tang Zhao felt it was actually average, so he took the initiative to restrain the sword, and at those times the Sword Light did not ignite.

But when a villain full of evil stood before his eyes, Tang Zhao's spontaneous anger and the sword's hatred of evil erupted simultaneously, producing a subtle resonance.

The Sword Light surged!

Their feelings were unanimous—such dregs are not worthy of living between heaven and earth!

Exterminate evil completely...

No!

Even with his hair standing on end from rage, Tang Zhao still suppressed the impulse to use his strongest Sword Technique to exterminate them all and take them away.

The consumption of exterminating evil completely was too great; using it once required a long time to recover. Now that he had already killed people, there was no chance to put down the sword; he only had one tube of stamina, and he had to use it to the end.

It was just that for these people before him, there was no need to waste his precious Sword Technique opportunity.

"Tear him apart!"

Following a loud shout from the Sacred Moon Cultist whose original features could not be seen, the half-Fierce Beast people lunged up together, their sharp claws flashing with cold light in the night sky, intending to tear everything into fragments.

From all directions, there were enemies!

Facing the many with the few?

What is there to fear!

Try this move—

Sword Art—Self-Inflicted Doom!

A streak of Sword Light leaped off the blade and shot into the sky, as if a firework had been set off, then transformed into dots of light, scattering in all directions. At the same time, Tang Zhao tapped his toes and leaped upward.

Flying upward in a group battle is not a good idea, because it is too conspicuous. There may not be many experts who can fly, but there are many who know hidden weapons, especially those with weapons in hand; a casual throw could turn a living target that is inconvenient to turn into a hedgehog.

But at this moment, it was just right!

One step out of the encirclement, and it was time for him to watch the fire from the other side of the river.

Amidst the dots of light, all the cultists froze; their faces, which already had little human quality, became even more dull, revealing a pure beastliness only possessed by wild animals.

With a wolf's howl, one of them suddenly grabbed back with their extended claws, clutching their own throat.

Immediately after, someone clawed at their own face.

All kinds of beastly acts were exactly what they wanted to do to Tang Zhao; within the Sword Art, they were all inflicted upon themselves.

This is "Self-Inflicted Doom." A Sword Art that can make crimes rebound onto the perpetrator; those who are not committing evil are not affected at all.

Amidst flying flesh and blood, a feast of tearing oneself apart was taking place. For a time, howls and screams rose one after another. While they felt pain, they were also incited into ferocity, desperately biting at imaginary enemies, attempting to use cruel means to make the enemy suffer, and these torments were repaid upon themselves even faster.

Tang Zhao was originally very disgusted by them, but after seeing such a scene, he couldn't help but turn his head away. With a light wave, he let the Xie Zhi carry him high into the sky, away from this slaughterhouse.

Flying upward, the various sounds gradually grew distant, and only when looking down could one see a pool of blood red.

Looking up again, the two moons shone together, one bright and one dark. The bright one was clear and vast, the dark one silent and empty.

"Brother Bright Moon, they say they are your believers; do you acknowledge them?"

The bright moon would not answer him, letting him fly further and further away under the moon.

"People of today do not see the moon of the past; the moon of today once shone on the people of the past. How many people has the bright moon seen? There are wise men and fools, why bother with them..."

The cold wind blew against his face, and Tang Zhao slowly calmed down, placing his sword across his knees, yet he dared not let go. Although the task given to him by Xing Ji, "Clear the Phantoms," was almost complete, he dared not stop there. Even if he could not return to the front line of resisting demons, he felt there were hidden tasks waiting for him to discover.

For example, that Incense Master...

Both groups of the Sacred Moon Cult mentioned the Incense Master; it seems this Incense Master must be their leader, whose skills should not be bad, and perhaps they are also a Sword Guest.

If they are a Sword Guest, then they are a powerhouse like Xing Ji.

Back then, when Xing Ji and the others discovered that a White-haired Swordsman was active in He Yang County, they feared he would cause trouble and insisted on catching him before the Demon Cave, which shows the importance they placed on Sword Guests. And the danger level of a Sacred Moon Cult Sword Guest goes without saying; their strength is unknown, but it certainly won't be poor.

I wonder if those in the Ground Inspection Division who are dealing with the Sacred Moon Cult have interrogated any information about the Incense Master, and whether they have reported it to Xing Ji? There shouldn't be enough time; Xing Ji doesn't yet know that a Sword Guest has already snuck into the Demon Cave he has sealed off.

Speaking of the blockade...

Yumen Guan? Pfft, he thought it was very impressive before.

The Incense Master was not active with the cultists, seemingly waiting to ambush Xing Ji. Then he should also go up and take a look; it would be best to be the oriole behind the mantis.

He rode the Xie Zhi, taking advantage of the moonlight, and flew toward the Tian He.

Seeing the river from afar, he saw several iron chains crossing the river surface, already woven into a net, cutting the wide river surface into pieces. The shadow of the flood dragon was hidden deep at the bottom of the river, with no sign of showing its head, seemingly suppressed by the net of heaven and earth above.

Has it already become like this?

The people of the Ground Inspection Division were no longer standing on the ground; one by one, they were stepping on the iron chains crossing the river, with chains wrapped around their hands, just like winter fishermen waiting to open the lake and cast their nets.

Xing Ji stood in the very center, his sword pointing far at the river surface, the Sword Light flashing coldly in the night sky, seemingly ready to strike.

Suddenly, he seemed to sense something, looked up at Tang Zhao, and waved at him.

Tang Zhao originally thought he was greeting him, but upon closer inspection, it turned out he was shooing him away. He snorted and thought: You don't want me to get close, and I don't care to watch! If it weren't to save your life, would I be happy to come?

He hadn't intended to get close anyway, so he took the initiative to rise higher, gradually moving away from the river surface, overlooking the overall situation from the air. There was still no sign of any Incense Master in the surroundings, only layers of heavy iron chains. It turned out that the chains were not just across the water surface, but also blocked the flow of water. The water surface under the iron chains was unusually calm; slight ripples hitting the iron chains were like being beheaded, returning to silence.

Those iron chains were intertwined, gathering in the center, where there was a chain disk, the hub of all the iron chains, covered with a huge tiger-head shape.

Bi An!

The Bi'an suppresses the prison; this is a cage!

The entire river surface is clearly a Demon Cave, yet it has also become a cage for the Heavenly Demon.

Tang Zhao looked at the massive shadow that seemed to exist or not exist beneath the water, calm to the point of almost having given up struggling, and suddenly a thought arose: It is innocent.

Immediately following, he thought of the bloodied and mangled form of Xue Daxia, his mind cleared, and he secretly thought: The enemy and I are clearly divided; it has reached this point, it is only a matter of life and death, what more is there to say?

At this moment, Xing Ji shouted loudly: "Drop the anchors—"

Everyone shouted together, chains dancing in their hands, sinking downward. Through the ripples, one could see several black shadows sinking together, as if they had eyes, precisely strangling that huge figure.

The flood dragon immediately rolled crazily under the water, the iron chains clattering loudly, and the people on the water surface could almost none of them control themselves, falling downward.

"Sword Art—Flying!"

Everyone wrapped the chains around their waists, wound them once, and carried them on their backs, diving downward while controlling their swords, plunging headfirst from the air, using gravity and the speed of the sword's Flying to pull the iron chains upward. This contest was exceptionally deadlocked; many people's figures were frozen in the air, unable to advance an inch.

Tang Zhao watched until he held his breath, his body involuntarily lifting upward, and while cheering in his heart, he also secretly worried: Will these chains hold? If they break, it would be a disaster.

Also, why hasn't that Incense Master appeared yet?

Are they waiting for the final strike to launch a sneak attack?

Then they must be in a convenient position to attack, right?

Where are they?

Clearly, these iron chains are high-quality items specially used by the Land Inspection Division to capture Heavenly Demons, tempered a thousand times, and each chain is attached with Gang Qi, reinforcing the material so that even such crazy struggling cannot destroy them, instead pulling the flood dragon upward inch by inch. Tang Zhao could even see thin sparks covering the surface of the flood dragon, which had not extinguished in the water, but were indeed becoming thinner and thinner.

Xing Ji remained motionless, his long sword pointing steadily at the heart of the river. But behind him, the shadow of the tiger-shaped divine beast became more and more solid.

He is going to unleash his strongest Sword Art.

Although a Sword Guest can only release Sword Arts, there are also the most powerful ones among them, especially after the Sword Image descends, which will cause the power of the Sword Art to increase exponentially.

In fact, when the flood dragon was first lured out by the Sword Seed, Xing Ji had intended to give it his strongest strike, but at that time he believed more that Tang Zhao could use the strongest Sword Technique, and the power of a Sword Technique should be higher than a Sword Art, so he yielded the main attack to Tang Zhao.

The result is known to everyone. Now they have to spend a lot of energy to pull the flood dragon up again, consuming manpower, and then unleash a full-force attack once more.

It might be the last time.

Splash, the water ripples churned, and the huge flood dragon finally revealed itself above the water again, its two eyes filled with rage.

It's coming!

Tang Zhao tensed his heart, his gaze observing the surroundings, and suddenly, it stopped at a certain spot.

"Sword Art—Dragon Head Guillotine!"

The Bi'an roared toward the sky, the sound like a dragon's chant—

The Bi'an is a dragon's son!

A dragon's son also has dragon might!

Amidst the sky-filling dragon might, the head of the Bi'an transformed into a guillotine blade several zhang long, the blade body shimmering with golden light, the edge filled with red mist, carrying Xing Ji as he lunged forward—

Dragon Head Guillotine, guillotining the flood dragon!

Open the guillotine!

The guillotine falls, the head falls!

The guillotine blade fell with unstoppable Momentum, cutting it in two!

Tang Zhao watched from above, his eyes completely unable to pull away, and could only barely use a hand that felt as if it were not his own to draw an Art Tool and throw it forward.

The guillotine blade grazed the skin of the flood dragon, grazed the water surface, and cleanly and neatly guillotined...

A Buddhist bead the size of a leather ball!