Chapter 666: Remnant of the Demon Sect

Boom!

Boom-boom!

The earth is trembling.

Amidst a thunderous roar, a black tide flecked with Jinguang appeared on the horizon, advancing at an unimaginable speed.

This was a troop of armored cavalry, numbering about a hundred. They were equipped in black armor, which was etched with intricate golden patterns that shimmered with a holy radiance under the sunlight. The banners at the front of the formation snapped in the wind, appearing incomparably solemn and holy. The steeds they rode were also peerless, one in a hundred.

They were solemn and grave, their momentum astonishing. Though there were clearly only a hundred men, it felt as if ten thousand riders had arrived at once.

The world itself seemed to be filled with a murderous intent due to the appearance of this cavalry, causing one to tremble.

The riders on horseback came from the Xiling Divine Palace; they were skilled in slaughter, and countless heretics had fallen beneath their hooves.

And this time would be no exception.

The Temple Cavalry had already drawn their bows and notched their arrows while still on horseback, the bows curved like full moons.

Every one of them was skilled in archery and horsemanship, and with their specially crafted bows and arrows, a single volley of arrows could end most battles.

Swish, swish, swish!

The bowstrings emitted a continuous trembling sound, followed by the sound of arrows piercing the air.

The cold arrowheads flashed with a chilling light, the feathers at the ends of the shafts trembling slightly, and the arrow shafts gathered Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi as they spun rapidly, trailing white lines like turbulent currents.

The Xiling Divine Palace was the largest power in the world, supported by countless believers, with immeasurable wealth in gold and silver.

As the most elite Divine Palace Cavalry of the Xiling Divine Palace, their bows and arrows were forged through a thousand hammerings; any single arrow was worth enough for a family of three to live carefree for several years. The arrows of the cavalry commander even had runes flickering on them, which could continue to draw in Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi on their own after leaving the bowstring.

Yet their opponent was only one person.

Therefore, they were full of confidence in this volley of arrows.

Even if the opponent was rumored to be a terrifying remnant of the Demon Sect.

"A boring trick."

Amidst a soft sigh, a long black sleeve was rolled up.

The long black sleeve was like a patch of dark clouds hanging from the horizon, facing the clusters of arrows shooting through the air.

The arrows merged into the dark clouds, instantly turning into the finest powder, scattering in all directions.

The eyes of the Temple Cavalry widened in disbelief.

"For the sake of the light, advance."

The Temple Cavalry had not reined in their horses or slowed down while shooting, and at this moment, they were only ten-odd zhang away from that black figure.

The cavalry commander quickly drew the sword at his waist; the sunlight shone on his serious, righteous face, making him appear incomparably holy. He led the cavalry to charge toward that black shadow, kicking up countless gravel and dirt. The intricate golden patterns on the armor looked like countless blooming sunflowers under the brilliance.

Holy and solemn.

Like warriors in ancient stories meeting their deaths with generosity.

That black figure, unstained by a single speck of dust, looked up at the firmament, then gazed at the Temple Cavalry close at hand, and seemed to sigh softly: "Truly in a rush for Reincarnation."

He took a step forward and broke into that field of bright "sunflowers."

And so, the "sunflowers" began to shatter, began to stain with blood, and began to fall—falling row by row, like wheat being harvested.

Yet his gaze remained as indifferent as ever, as if even if the sky were to collapse, it would not shake him in the slightest. If they wanted to judge him as a heretic, they had to have the resolve to be judged themselves.

Those who kill will always be killed.

"Weak lives. I remember there is a Sword Saint in this world; I wonder how his sword is?"

The black figure touched his chin, pondered for a moment, then transformed into a faint shadow and disappeared, leaving behind only a ground full of corpses and words drifting in the air.

"However, I should first taste the fine wine, delicacies, and jade-like beauties of this world."

……

Haotian.

It is the highest and only faith in this world.

Countless believers in the world piously offer their spirit and Golden Coin to the Haotian Dao Sect and the various Taoist temples spread across the world, and the Xiling Divine Palace is the supreme hub that controls these temples and the secular imperial power.

The Xiling Divine Palace uses the High Priest to lead the Dao Sect, while the affairs of the Dao Sect are managed specifically by the three Great Divine Officials.

These three Great Divine Officials hold immense power, possess great majesty, and occupy high positions, hence they are called God Seats.

The three God Seats are the Heavenly Decree Great Divine Official, the Judgment Great Divine Official, and the Light Great Divine Official.

Among them, the Judgment Great Divine Official is in charge of judging heretics, has countless experts under his command, possesses the greatest military strength, and holds the greatest power on the surface.

Longqing Prince is the Second Seat of the Judgment Division and also the Crown Prince of the Yan Kingdom. A few days ago, he received the mission to hunt down the remnants of the Demon Sect—a very ordinary mission.

Three months ago, he had dealt with a decrepit remnant of the Demon Sect. After sixty years of living in seclusion in a mountain village, that remnant was finally caught by the Judgment Division of the Divine Palace. Longqing Prince personally tied him to a wooden platform, carefully ensuring the Iron chains avoided the wounds on the old man's aged body from torture, and then lit the firewood under the platform.

Longqing Prince had assumed this mission would be no different from the past.

But he was wrong.

The most intuitive feeling was that the remnant of the Demon Sect was truly strong; the operations of the Judgment Division along this journey had failed many times, and many people had already died.

The broken Temple Cavalry before his eyes were the proof of that failure.

The ground was covered in severed limbs and broken arms; even though some time had passed, the smell of blood was still nauseating.

Longqing Prince did not vomit, because he had seen many scenes even bloodier than this, and many of them were even concocted by his own hands.

He stood beside the corpses, head lowered, carefully observing each one.

Many people once considered Longqing to be the most handsome man in the world; there was some exaggeration in that statement, but he was indeed very handsome. Standing among the corpses now, reflected in the blood-red setting sun, it instead gave him a strange sense of beauty.

He looked at the corpses with intense focus, because he had killed too many people himself, and thus had his own insights regarding corpses.

The cuts on the corpses were very smooth, as if they had been sliced open by a divine weapon in an instant. And the time of death for these cavalrymen was also almost at the same instant.

But none of these Temple Cavalry were mediocre, especially the cavalry commander, who was an expert at the peak of the Unknowing Realm.

Yet, under the hands of that Demon Sect remnant, he had been sliced into pieces without any power to resist. As far as he knew, even the Demon Sect Walker 'Tang' could not do this.

Aside from those inhuman existences above the Five Realms, perhaps only the Sword Saint Liu Bai could slice them open so easily in an instant. And in these fragments of corpses, there was indeed a faint trace of Sword Intent.

"When did such an expert appear in the Demon Sect? Or could it be that this person is related to the Sword Pavilion?"

Longqing Prince narrowed his eyes slightly, then cast his gaze toward the corpses on the ground, secretly pondering in his heart: "Next, should I pursue or not?"

Practitioners in the current world are generally divided into five realms: Initial Perception, Perception, Dongxuan, Unwavering, and Knowing Destiny. He is a cultivation genius, and with the resources of the Xiling Divine Palace, he has now reached the Unwavering realm. In terms of strength, not to mention the younger generation, even among all practitioners in the world combined, he is a standout; otherwise, how could he sit in the position of the Second Seat of the Judgment Division?

But regarding that opponent he had never met, he still felt somewhat anxious in his heart and did not have much confidence.

Moreover, that remnant of the Demon Sect seemed to have grown somewhat impatient with the constant pursuit by the Judgment Division. At first, one or two members of the Judgment Division who failed could still escape, and the opponent was too lazy to hunt down such small fry. Later on, there were no survivors, and most of them died with their foreheads pierced through.

But now, this unit of Temple Cavalry had been dismembered and died miserably in an instant.

Clearly, the opponent's patience for their Judgment Division was wearing thinner and thinner; the next time they met the pursuer, he feared the opponent would launch the most terrifying attack at the very first encounter.

Could he withstand it?

Furthermore, it was hard to say whether that person was truly a remnant of the Demon Sect; the whole affair was shrouded in a layer of mystery. He, Longqing, was the favorite of Haotian, and he was unwilling to die so inexplicably.

"Your Highness, shall we continue the pursuit?"

A Judgment Knight asked respectfully.

Longqing Prince looked far into the distance: "I remember this place is not far from Nanjin."

The Judgment Knight nodded: "Indeed, at most another ten-plus miles."

A smile overflowed from the corner of Longqing Prince's mouth: "Pass the news of the Demon Sect remnant to the Nanjin Sword Pavilion, and let that number one powerhouse in the human world make a move."

The Judgment Knight hesitated: "Your Highness, although Sword Saint Liu Bai is our Divine Palace's Chief Guest Minister, this person..."

Longqing Prince's smile carried a sense of strategic mastery: "Heh, true, Liu Bai has always been proud; even the orders of the three God Seats might not necessarily be obeyed, let alone those of a small Second Seat of the Judgment Division like me. But a Demon Sect expert proficient in Sword Technique is something Liu Bai has always been very interested in."

Nanjin, located in the south of the continent, has many soldiers and generals, is extremely wealthy, and is the strongest empire besides Datang.

Everyone knows that the world-famous Sword Pavilion is in Nanjin. The strongest swordsmen in the world are also in the Sword Pavilion.

And the founder of the Sword Pavilion is the number one powerhouse in the human world, Liu Bai, who bears the title of "Sword Saint".

It is said that when Liu Bai first had Perception, he saw a surging great river and was the first cultivation genius in a thousand years. Later, he realized the Dahe Sword Intent by the side of the great river and founded the Sword Pavilion.

About seventy miles away from the Nanjin capital, there is a mountain.

This mountain is not majestic in the ordinary sense, but is surprisingly tall and steep, like a Divine Sword reaching toward the sky, impossible to climb.

The sect of the world's number one powerhouse, Sword Saint Liu Bai, is at the foot of the mountain. It is an old-style ancient pavilion with distinct black and white colors, simple and plain, without a single superfluous detail, yet it reveals a sharp and proud Sword Intent.

Dozens of young practitioners are practicing sword forms under the guidance of a senior. They use Hand-held Sword, swinging and retracting their swords with focused expressions. Every swing is filled with power, vented in one go, with astonishing sword momentum capable of piercing metal and stone, while the retraction is like wind sweeping away clouds, as light as smoke and fire.

Unlike the Flying Sword of other cultivators in the world, Sword Pavilion cultivators all use Hand-held Sword, focusing on the one-foot space in front of their bodies.

"Demon Sect expert!?" Deep within the black and white Sword Pavilion, a ray of light falls, covering a tiny green pool and a thatched cottage. A man with long hair draped over his shoulders sits in the cottage. One cannot feel any powerful aura from this person, yet if anyone looks directly at his figure, before long they will feel their eyes stinging unbearably, and may even shed tears or go blind.

Because the man's disheveled hair, the sash at his waist, his still-hanging sleeves, including his gaze and figure, are all swords.

This man himself is a sword, a sword that spans heaven and earth, with Sword Qi soaring into the sky.

And in the world today, besides Sword Saint Liu Bai, who else could possess such Sword Intent?

"Heh, to think a Demon Sect expert has entered the world, and is even proficient in Sword Technique; interesting, truly interesting."

Although he said 'interesting', his voice was calm yet sharp, as if it too were a sword, a sword that pierces the clouds and pierces the eardrums.

Cheng Ziqing, the number two figure of the Nanjin Sword Pavilion, is a plain-looking middle-aged man. He frowned and said: "For some time now, the Judgment Division has indeed had unusual movements. They spent a large portion of their forces to hunt down a certain existence. Now it seems that not only did they fail to capture them, but they actually let them escape into our Nanjin. Now that they ask you, Pavilion Master, to make a move, I fear they have ill intentions."

"I fear that Demon Sect expert is not easy to deal with, which is why they remembered me, this Chief Guest Minister." Liu Bai's expression was calm: "However, I am somewhat interested in this person. You go and investigate to see if such a person has entered Nanjin, and it would be best to test their level; I do not want my sword to kill a mediocre person."

As he spoke, he handed a piece of silk to Cheng Ziqing, on which was the person's information and portrait.

When Cheng Ziqing looked at the silk, the first thought that arose was "what a handsome person".

As the number two expert of the Sword Pavilion, he had seen many handsome youths, but this was the first time he had seen someone like the one in the portrait. However, for some reason, Cheng Ziqing felt that the person in the portrait was vaguely familiar.

Cheng Ziqing left.

The Sword Pavilion is the number one force in Nanjin, and in some respects, it can be considered the backer of Nanjin. Therefore, when the Sword Pavilion wants to find someone, it is equivalent to the whole of Nanjin looking for that person. As long as that person is in Nanjin, he thought they could be found. However, since that person could escape the pursuit of the Judgment Division, he feared they were also skilled in the art of concealment, so he thought it would take some effort to find them.

But in less than half an hour, Cheng Ziqing appeared before Liu Bai again.

Liu Bai raised his head and looked at Cheng Ziqing.

He knew that not only had they found the person, but they had also tested the person's level, and the level was very high.

As the number two figure of the Nanjin Sword Pavilion, Cheng Ziqing also stands among the top experts in the human world.

But now, he was injured; a pale pink rose was stuck in his shoulder, with fresh blood dripping down, staining his clothes and making the rose appear even more bright red and dripping.

Cheng Ziqing's face was pale; he could have plucked this rose, which blooms in all four seasons, from his shoulder at any time, but he did not, because he wanted to let Liu Bai see this flower, to see "this sword".

Liu Bai saw the rose, and he also saw "this sword". On that face that was always calm and composed, a sense of excitement suddenly erupted, and his cold eyes became scorching, like two burning fireballs.

He stared at it without blinking for a full incense stick's time. When Cheng Ziqing's face looked pale due to excessive blood loss, and his figure was even swaying, he slowly spoke: "How many moves?"

Cheng Ziqing's breath was somewhat weak, and he said: "One move."

Liu Bai's expression became even more excited, and his whole person seemed to ignite with battle intent like fire.

"Where is he?"

"Rose Courtyard."

Liu Bai's eyes flickered slightly; judging by the name, it didn't seem like a proper place.

PS: One update today, four thousand words. Still not used to the writing style of Nightfall, will speed up updates soon. Asking for monthly tickets.