Chapter 74: White Bone Relic

“This Jinchuan Sect’s Sect Master is merely mid-grade Golden Core, protected by a few ancestral magic treasures—enough to stall me for a time. But Miao Kong eradicated the entire Louguan Sect and escaped unscathed from the pursuit of a True Person of the Supreme Dao with a Nascent Soul. His cultivation and magical power surpass this man a hundredfold. Having experienced reincarnation, his temperament and tactics are utterly beyond the reach of this petty sect master confined to Jiuzhen Commandery!”

Faced with this stalemate, Qian Chen did not entertain retreat; instead, a surge of boldness rose within him—to cleave through his bindings and slay this formidable foe by force.

He smiled: “If I cannot even breach this petty Jinchuan Sect, what merit do I have to face the great enemy ahead? Compared to him, you are but a mere skin disease…”

Qian Chen instantly made his decision: he attached the Ice Soul Needle to the Black Iron Dark Hook, concealed another object within the Dragon Sparrow Ring, then slapped the back of his head, summoning a Golden Core that slipped into the sword light. He spurred the sword light further—it surged dozens of zhang in length. With a single thought, the sword light shot forth…

This sword strike had no name, only speed and overwhelming force.

Qian Chen anchored his external Golden Core to the sword light, channeling his bold spirit to drive it forward without retreat. Sword cultivators value this inner resolve above all—if one lacks such unyielding, invincible spirit, how can the sword light reach the realm that cleaves through all arts? Qian Chen unleashed his full strength; the sword light reached a peak unimaginable before.

Under the sword light’s lock, Pei Boyu trembled slightly. The sudden, overwhelming killing intent that engulfed the heavens and earth left no doubt in his mind as to how Pei Junhu had fallen—if not for his ancestor’s Cloud-Drifting Sleeves, he himself would have been effortlessly cut down by this sword light.

How much less his arrogant nephew?

In that instant, even Pei Boyu felt the thought of resistance impossible.

Behind him, in the great hall, dozens of Pei clan disciples lost all courage to ever strike at Qian Chen again. Even True Person Sun Huanqin felt relief that her own sect had not provoked such a killer.

Pei Boyu moved instantly! He poured all his magical power into the Cloud-Drifting Sleeves, causing them to swell a hundred zhang wide, completely engulfing the heavens and earth. Facing the darkness at the sleeve’s mouth, the sword light burst forth—brilliance so astonishing, it twisted like a flying dragon, fluttered like a startled swan…

The darkness from the sleeve’s mouth swept over, instantly plunging the space before Pei Boyu into blackness, then just as swiftly restoring light.

This process felt as long as a lifetime.

The sleeve swept away—everything remained unchanged, save that the vast sword light was now trapped within the darkness.

“Sect Master’s divine might! This man cannot escape the Sect Master’s grasp!” The Pei clan disciples cheered wildly.

From behind, the great hall erupted in thunderous cheers… After the Cloud-Drifting Sleeves swallowed the flying sword, Qian Chen had no offensive tools left except his protective treasure. To the Jinchuan Sect disciples, this nearly invincible foe had finally been defeated!

Qian Chen remained unmoved, watching the sleeve sweep past, observing Pei Boyu drawing it back—seeing the sleeve’s mouth flick slightly backward, neutralizing the sword light’s residual momentum… yet temporarily disabling its swallowing power.

The Dragon Sparrow Ring shot forward. Pei Boyu remained calm. Though the sleeve’s swallowing power was paused, its material itself was extraordinarily resilient; when infused with magical power, it became one of the finest protective treasures in the world. The tiny Dragon Sparrow Ring struck the swollen sleeve like hitting a soft yet unbreakable wall.

Easily neutralized…

Yet Qian Chen remained utterly calm, making Pei Boyu feel something was amiss.

The next instant, a White Bone Relic appeared before Pei Boyu, swelling from the size of a grain to that of a dou.

The skull opened its jaw and emitted a demonic sound, freezing Pei Boyu’s body—then it lunged forward as one.

Pei Boyu’s body blazed with light as he activated every protective spell—but the White Bone Relic struck, shattering all light, smashing everything. This White Bone Relic, too, was a perfected treasure forged from a fallen magic artifact. In a flash, it pierced Pei Boyu’s heart. Its demonic nature was profound; by instinct, it should have devoured all his flesh and blood.

Yet the White Bone Relic, embedded in Pei Boyu’s heart, remained utterly still—raising doubt whether it was even a demonic artifact.

Only then did Qian Chen nod in satisfaction. All his effort to refine a hundred poisons into the Three Corpses Demons, to unravel the art of subduing demons—was not in vain. In demonic cultivation, forging powerful divine demons is not rare. Countless demonic masters spent their entire lives crafting earth-shattering demons, only to be devoured by them, granting free passage to Jiuyou.

To tame a divine demon like a dog—that is true mastery!

Even a successfully tamed hound must be fed its desires, its ferocity worn down… and still, it may turn on its master. Only when a demon is refined as if it were one’s own limb does one achieve true mastery over demons.

The more orthodox the demonic sect, the more it emphasizes the art of subduing demons.

Qian Chen used the hundred poisons of human hearts to steal the celestial mechanism of a single elixir furnace, nurturing the Three Corpses Demons.

This was already an upper-tier demonic art of subduing demons. Moreover, he used the same Three Corpses and hundred poisons to refine his Dao heart, subduing the Three Corpses Demons. Borrowing Zhen Daoren’s lifetime of cultivation, he completed their gestation, then, beneath the plum tree, slew the Three Corpses, completing the final step of demon subjugation—erasing the demons’ original consciousness, leaving only their purest essence.

Afterwards, Qian Chen nurtured the Three Corpses from his own evil roots, subdued them again, and severed them from his body. Only through this most orthodox demonic method did he forge the Three Corpses Demons into something like his own limbs.

The Three Corpses Demons possessed exceptional essence and were fully obedient, immune to backlash. Qian Chen concealed them within the White Bone Relic, using demon to control demon, commanding the relic’s demonic thoughts—thus truly subduing this Xiongqi . Using demon to control demon is also an upper-tier method of subduing demons. Only thus could he wield this demonic artifact without fear of backlash.

Qian Chen disliked this artifact and feared that, when confronting Miao Kong, it might harbor Miao Kong’s hidden hand and turn against him.

Thus, he had planned to destroy the White Bone Relic.

But now, having unraveled the art of subduing demons, he had gained confidence in dismantling hidden hands and subduing demons. With his desperate need for tools to counter Golden Core cultivators, he would not let such a useful artifact go unused. Thus, in his first strike, he slew the Jinchuan Sect’s Golden Core fifth-rank Sect Master.

He reached out, and the White Bone Relic, now reduced to a bone bead, pierced through Pei Boyu’s heart and returned to Qian Chen’s hand.

At this moment, Pei Boyu’s fate had been severed; he clung to life by a thread, casting one last resentful glance at Qian Chen before collapsing.

The Dragon Sparrow Ring reclaimed the Cloud-Drifting Sleeves and Gengjin Divine Sand. Qian Chen retrieved the Black Iron Dark Hook, sighed, and took back the Ice Soul Needle hidden within—barely avoiding the need to detonate the Ice Soul Cold Light Gangqi to blast open the Cloud-Drifting Sleeves.

Otherwise, his painstakingly gathered external Golden Core, nearly complete in materials, would have been lost.

Under the eyes of countless Jinchuan Sect disciples, Qian Chen had slaughtered his way through, finally slaying their Sect Master (by treachery). Now, to them, he was a legendary demonic monster. Wherever his gaze fell, Jinchuan disciples trembled.

Though Qian Chen had come to commit violence, those he looked upon lowered their heads, ashamed, unable to meet his eyes.

Qian Chen approached an Elder with Golden Core cultivation, albeit low-grade, and asked calmly: “Where have you stored the Yin True Poisonous Sand?”

Under the threat of this killing star, the Elder answered truthfully, daring not to deceive: “It is sealed beneath this great hall. Normally, disciples draw qi and refine their arts when the Sect Master opens the hall’s seals to release a trace of the poison.”

Qian Chen nodded: “Then I shall use this hall to close myself in… First, I claim my winnings. By the way—do any of you wish to avenge the Pei father and son?”

All Jinchuan disciples shook their heads like rice dumplings on a drum.

True Person Sun Huanqin, having watched Qian Chen kill for a while, sensed he had no intention of exterminating them all. She stepped forward with a slight bow: “I am the Mistress of the White Deer Sect. I have yet to ask you, sir—why do you possess one of my sect’s name tokens?”

Qian Chen glanced at her—so she was the White Deer Sect’s Mistress.

He answered honestly: “Your disciple gave it to me. I asked someone to locate the Poisonous Sand; your disciple promptly informed Master Pei. Master Pei, seeking to prove his Dao, attacked me. I merely tested whether his Dao heart was truly unyielding, as firm as iron… Afterwards, your disciple, to secure my mercy, revealed the location of the Jinchuan Sect and gifted me this name token, so I might use it to gain entry.”

True Person Sun’s face changed: “Then what of my disciple…?”

Qian Chen glanced at her coolly: “Do you think I am a man who breaks his word? She returned safely.”

Hearing the full story, the Jinchuan Sect’s Elders and disciples finally knew who had summoned the plague. With the Pei father, son, and nephew all dead, they could no longer blame the others—but their eyes toward True Person Sun turned hostile. She bowed in resignation and withdrew. Qian Chen walked straight into the great hall, waved his hand to seal the doors, raised the Luo San, and began his spell to draw forth the Yin True Poisonous Sand beneath the hall.