Chapter 427
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 0
Chapter Title: Down the Mountain, Demon-Queller!
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Jitian Cliff, Ye Family.
Ye Shaoying, patriarch of the Ye Family, stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing quietly out beyond the mountains. Behind him loomed a young man with a sinister expression.
“Alas, what a pity.”
Ye Shaoying let out a sigh, helplessness flickering in his eyes. If Perfected Being Demon-Quelling had truly been of one mind with the Ye Family, he never would have taken such action.
After all, what difference was there from severing his own arm?
*What a shame. Guangji is destined to offer his body to the sword path sooner or later. Since that’s the case, it doesn’t matter when he does it—better to let the Ye Family reap greater benefits first.*
*After all, it was our Ye Family that nurtured him step by step to this point. Without our Ye Family’s guidance, he never could have achieved his current cultivation or status. The greater and stronger our family grows, the more likely we’ll be able to welcome him back one day. I’m sure he’d be more than willing deep down.*
Ye Shaoying quickly convinced himself.
Or rather, this was simply the operating principle of the Sword Pavilion. Perfected Being Demon-Quelling had always been at odds with it, so now, he was being cast out.
“Ye Cheng.”
Ye Shaoying turned to the young man at his side and said softly, “Guangji had no heirs in life, and after his death, items like the Non-Killing Sword have no one to inherit them.”
“I can’t allow his lineage to die out.”
“After today, light incense at the ancestral register and be formally adopted as his son. I hope you make good use of the Non-Killing Sword and one day recreate Guangji’s glory.”
Ye Cheng immediately cupped his hands in salute. Excitement twisted his handsome features, his eyes gleaming—not just with the thrill of instant ascension, but with the savage joy of vengeance finally served. Clearly, he had long harbored resentment toward Perfected Being Demon-Quelling, who had stripped him of everything with a single sentence.
*This man deserves everything coming to him!*
The thought nearly made Ye Cheng burst into laughter. But as time ticked by, the expression on his face gradually stiffened.
—Perfected Being Demon-Quelling’s vital aura had yet to dissipate.
Not only that—even Yetie Perfected Being and Guangming Buddha Child, who had been ready to celebrate deep in the Earth-Penetrating Abyss, were momentarily stunned, as if they hadn’t yet processed it.
*What’s going on?*
Yetie Perfected Being’s brow furrowed slightly, a faint sense of foreboding rising in his heart. But he snuffed it out decisively the moment it appeared.
*There’s no way something went wrong. I’ve cultivated Sword Intent my entire life—how could I not understand it? Killing with Non-Killing Sword Intent creates such immense conflict that the Sword Intent can’t possibly remain intact. It has to self-destruct! Once it does, his qi transport will overwhelm him, forcing him to sacrifice his sword path foundation!*
And the outcome would inevitably be Perfected Being Demon-Quelling’s death.
How could there be a mishap?
There couldn’t be!
Yet as time dragged on, at the Sword Pavilion’s mountain gate, Perfected Being Demon-Quelling’s vital aura showed no change. The telltale sign of core formation never appeared.
*.Grandmaster, send someone to check.*
Yetie Perfected Being spoke up, his gaze shifting to Guangming Buddha Child. “You’ve been here long enough. It’s time you did something useful.”
Guangming Buddha Child promptly pressed his palms together.
*He’s scared.*
It was only natural—he was scared too. The reason they’d dared such a scheme was absolute certainty that Perfected Being Demon-Quelling would die afterward, leaving no chance for retaliation.
But what if he survived his wounds?
That would spell disaster.
Especially now that Perfected Being Demon-Quelling’s Non-Killing Sword Intent had been shattered. If his pedantic, foolish non-killing philosophy crumbled along with it...
“.Amitabha!”
At that thought, Guangming Buddha Child’s true body in the Pure Land suddenly opened its eyes and drew in a sharp breath. He wanted no part of this rotten luck.
Going himself was out of the question, of course.
Fortunately, his Pure Land was vast, with no shortage of expendable pawns. With a mere thought, he summoned a guardian monk from outside the temple.
“Vimalakirti, head to the Sword Pavilion.”
“Ah? Me?”
The monk froze for a moment. But with the Buddha Child’s command, a Pure Land Venerable equivalent to a late Foundation Establishment great cultivator had no right to refuse.
He bowed in acceptance and then shot off on a streak of Buddhist light.
Jiangnan, outside the Sword Pavilion’s mountain gate.
Lu Yang held his hands clasped before him, eyes on his nose, nose on his heart, standing ramrod straight as he sensed the “intent” permeating heaven and earth.
It felt like a thousand arrows piercing his heart, like being carved apart by ten thousand blades. Though nothing surrounded him, the agony was as real as death by a thousand cuts. And this was only because his own Sword Intent shielded him—anyone else would have been dragged into the real world’s torment.
“Ah!!!”
“No—I was wrong! Perfected Being Demon-Quelling, I was wrong!”
“Spare us...”
“No!”
Lu Yang glanced around to see the group Old Freak Mo Shiyuan had brought earlier writhing on the ground, tears and snot streaming down their faces as they begged nonstop.
And this wasn’t even Perfected Being Demon-Quelling punishing them.
*It’s just because his emotions fluctuated too wildly, and he couldn’t fully contain his Sword Intent. And you lot caused those fluctuations.*
They had only themselves to blame!
What left Lu Yang both exasperated and admiring, though, was this: as their screams rang out, Perfected Being Demon-Quelling snapped out of his daze.
In the next instant, the horrifying Sword Intent that inflicted the pain of flaying alive truly began to withdraw. Soon, it dispersed like clouds in the wind, leaving no trace of abnormality—only Perfected Being Demon-Quelling, clad in bloodstained robes, standing silently in place. His sword-like brows calm as he overlooked the crowd.
Boom!
Suddenly, Lu Yang saw the qi transport above his head swell explosively, on the verge of breaking through a critical threshold and propelling him into irreversible territory.
But the next second—
“Wait a little longer.”
Four polite words. Perfected Being Demon-Quelling looked up to the heavens and cupped his hands in request. Though it was a plea, he acted before any response came.
Index and middle fingers extended side by side like a sword.
In a flash, a Sword Intent utterly unlike the Non-Killing Sword Intent emerged from his fingertips—equal in power, if not surpassing it!
“Shriek—!”
In that instant, Lu Yang, closest at hand, went blind as the divine sense he’d projected onto that Sword Intent was obliterated from existence!
Not only that—the spiritual energy, Dao laws, light, and all things in the small patch of space at his fingertips were annihilated. So when the Sword Intent fully manifested, it wasn’t sword qi at all, but a black-hole-like orb hovering silently in midair.
*This is... [Slay]?*
Perfected Being Demon-Quelling made no effort to hide it, so everyone could sense it clearly: a Sword Intent tied to “slaying.”
But it wasn’t a sword for slaying people.
It targeted no individual. Instead, it encompassed heaven and earth, all creation, friend and foe alike—slaying everything impartially!
This was...
*The Heaven-Slaying Sword!?*
The sword light flashed and vanished.
In the next breath, the majestic qi transport crowning Perfected Being Demon-Quelling’s head—which had been about to shatter its limits—was cleanly severed, then quietly dissipated.
He had severed his own qi transport!
With that single sword, Perfected Being Demon-Quelling, who had been on the brink of forced core formation, stabilized his vital aura once more. Though the severed qi transport was regenerating even faster, it nonetheless bought him time—just as he’d said, making certain schemers wait a little longer.
“Yan Xiao.”
Lu Yang jolted to attention as Perfected Being Demon-Quelling turned, gazing calmly at him. “I have a task in mind. Will you accompany me?”
“This disciple is willing.”
Lu Yang bowed hastily. “May this disciple ask what Master intends?”
Before the words finished echoing, Perfected Being Demon-Quelling flicked his sleeve. One hand rested lightly on the hilt of the Non-Killing Sword at his waist as he gave his answer:
“To the Pure Land.”
Down the mountain—Demon-Queller!