Chapter 131: Demonic Corruption

  “If you feel anger, if you perceive injustice.”

  “Then unsheathe.”

  —Unsheathe.

  A lone bde in hand, igniting the night with a shower of starlit sparks.

  Will its brilliance banish the dark?

  If I truly believed in the sword in my hand… could I cleave open the darkness, restoring a bright and clear world to mankind?

  Even if it were just a momentary sword ray, even if it were only a flicker of starlight streaming brilliance…

  Huaixu Realm.

  Returning to the Huaixu Realm, An Jing was suspended in midair, plummeting straight down toward the surging great river at the bottom of the gorge.

  Yet as he fell from midair, he ughed loudly. “I understand! I finally understand!”

  “A sword is meant to be drawn; a sword can only be drawn!”

  He nded in the water.

  If nothing unexpected happened, An Jing would immediately dive into the river, following its currents thousands of li per day along the bottom of the gorge, completely hiding his tracks and leaving this troubled region of the Western Wastends.

  But upon leaving the Grand Void and returning to Huaixu, An Jing did not sense any Heavenly Demon presence… instead, he also detected a thick stench of blood and fire.

  “What happened here?”

  Furrowing his brow, An Jing turned around. He leapt out of the water and, using a hint of Taibai Baleful Qi to reinforce his arms, reached back to grip the cliff face.

  His ten fingers, gleaming with a silvery?white metallic hue, suddenly shattered the rocky surface, sending up a spray of debris. An Jing’s hands became embedded in the cliff, stabilizing him in midair.

  With the strength of a martial artist, climbing a cliff was no different than an ordinary person walking up steps. In just a few breaths, An Jing ascended like some giant gecko or swimming dragon, returning to the very spot where he had once fallen.

  Then, he opened his eyes wide.

  The cliff and the forest where he had once confronted the sinborn demon were now nothing but barren wastend.

  The once?lush woods had been reduced to rows of charred bck stumps. The ground was parched and cracked, and the formerly solid rocky surface of the cliff bore numerous fissures, their edges tinged with an ominous dark gray.

  Looking closely, one could see faint bck smoke drifting up from those dense cracks.

  An Jing surveyed his surroundings and, after confirming no one else was nearby, half?knelt and touched the ash and fissures. The mild burning sensation, simir to the acid rain of the Tianyuan Realm, showed that this area had indeed been permeated by a considerable concentration of Demonic Qi.

  And in one corner of this scorched earth y many corpses, some decayed and some reduced to bare white bones, as though some creature had devoured their flesh. Judging by the remnants of clothing, they were clearly members of the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect and the Red Armored Guards.

  “Great Chen and the Demonic Sect joined forces against the Heavenly Demon?”

  An Jing muttered to himself, “Could that Heavenly Demon really be this powerful?”

  From the looks of it, the Demonic Sect that had pursued him and the Red Armored Guards of Great Chen had run straight into the sinborn demon.

  The timing… it must have been shortly after he traveled to the Tianyuan Realm.

  They had fought a major battle. The Demonic Sect and Great Chen both suffered heavy casualties, and the sinborn demon was likewise seriously injured.

  But He ultimately did not die, and He even emerged victorious.

  “That’s not good news.”

  “Not only will it be hard for me to escape alive, but the surrounding vilges are bound to face utter disaster!”

  It was at that moment that he saw a plume of bck smoke ced with dark red sparks rise from the distant forest.

  “That pce is…”

  Tilting his head toward the billowing bck smoke, An Jing specuted inwardly, “If I recall correctly, that’s…”

  “The direction of the vilge?”

  While fleeing through this region, An Jing had never entered or even approached the mountain vilges of the Western Wastends. He knew that, in this remote border area where the Demonic Sect held great sway, the mountain settlements were actually the sect’s heartnd—possibly even serving as its backup base.

  To avoid running into any woodcutters, hunters, or herb gatherers, An Jing had gone out of his way to circle around those vilges.

  But the Heavenly Demon would have no such scruples.

  Clearly, It had already found the perfect pce to recuperate from Its injuries.

  At this point, there was no need for further deliberation.

  Silently, An Jing took out his firearm sword case and loaded it with bullets.

  Seizing the chance while it was wounded, he had to eliminate that sinborn demon as quickly as possible!

  This was… the act of unsheathing!

  An Jing raced through the forest path at top speed. It was clear that a fierce battle had taken pce here: the wreckage of two flying shuttles y crashed on the ground, fttening rge swaths of woodnd and igniting a mountain fire that charred the surroundings into a scorched ruin.

  The heat still lingered, smoke rising into the sky. The corpses of Demonic Sect followers and Red Armored Guards—some shriveled, some twisted—were strewn in the trees or along the roadside.

  In order to stop the Heavenly Demon from invading the vilge, they had actually joined forces and fought to the death.

  Indeed… even in such times, whether it was the decaying Great Chen or the bloody Demonic Sect, there were still those who rose above the mundane with their resolve. Otherwise, they would never have become organizations or major powers—merely petty thugs in some backwater pce.

  An Jing could tell that if they had used the flying shuttles to harass and kite the sinborn demon, It would not have had the opportunity to kill so many people.

  He did not linger, passing along this silent, smoldering mountain path. Perhaps, after him—maybe years from now—no one would ever set foot here again, and no one would ever know what had transpired.

  No one would ever know that a group of people who should have been killing each other had actually fought side by side for a common goal.

  Yet in the middle of his journey, An Jing unexpectedly came across an acquaintance who had narrowly escaped death—hanging on by a thread.

  The instructor of Hanging Fate Manor, the one?eyed Instructor Li, now had only one arm and one leg left as well.

  Half of his body had been torn away—even gnawed away—and the neat, bde?like wounds were heavily corroded by potent Demonic Qi. Yet thanks to his massive, tower?like physique, he still clung to life.

  Barely surviving, but alive nonetheless.

  “An Jing.”

  The one?eyed instructor had been on the verge of death. Only upon sensing someone’s approach did his dim eye regain a hint of brightness.

  Seeing that it was the familiar young man, he managed a surprised smile. “It’s you… so you really didn’t get far… heh heh, but now, you’d better run.”

  “That sinborn demon… pffft!”

  Halfway through his sentence, Instructor Li suddenly puffed out his chest and spat out a mouthful of pitch?bck fluid.

  It was not blood. It was some bizarre substance formed from the liquefaction of his internal organs. Blue?bck veins spread across his face, causing his muscles to twitch, emanating a hint of ominous menace.

  “This is demonic corruption.”

  The Sword Spirit spoke, “He is already a dead man, just leftover scraps the Heavenly Demon ‘didn’t finish.’ At most half a shichen—perhaps as little as a quarter?shichen—he’ll melt away into nothing but white bones and viscous fluid, all of his vital essence and Divine Soul corroded and dissolved by Demonic Qi, then sent to the Heavenly Demon’s body to become nourishment.”

  “This sinborn demon is highly intelligent, leaving certain doomed victims alive to fester in their pain and despair, so It can gather even more cursed resentment soul power to heal Its wounds. If It is not eradicated quickly, It will become a great scourge here!”

  (End of Chapter)