Chapter 51: Heavenly Demon's Ination

  “Something’s off!”

  An Jing instinctively sensed a particurly troublesome aura. He frowned and murmured to himself, “It ’t possibly be like in those old storytelling novels, where Gu Yeqi’s father had a falling-out with his family, left on his own to live as a oner in the Northern Frontier under a hidden name, and then, because of the Frost Camity, was forced to sell Yeqi ters in order to save his daughter. After that, he had no choice but to bow his head to his parents, borrow his family’s influeo get his daughter back…”

  “And while searg, they discovered something huge—that group of straurned out to be a demonic sect, and thehing spun out of trol…”

  Shaking his head slightly, An Jing cast aside this eous guess from his mind and pined, “That would be way too cliché.”

  Still, regardless of how things actually stood, given this e, An Jing was no longer worried about his little panions’ future pts—Gu Yeqi truly was a nice girl, and as An Jing’s assistant, she was also quite capable.

  Though the sing within the demonic sect was certainly cruel, it also meant that anyone who survived would be a dragon among humans.

  Besides, to ehat his most familiar friends would not bee inated by Demonic Qi, An Jing, having obtained permission from the Sword Spirit, also passed on a portion of the willpower-strengthening segment of the “Serene Sword Teique” to Gu Yeqi and g Linzu.

  g Linzu, being sed only to An Jing in ialent and prehension—able to even exge a few moves with him—did not learn slowly. But Gu Yeqi learhis meditative method even faster.

  She clearly possessed a natural gift in this aspect.

  But again, speaking of which, for a modest pce like Hanging Fate Manor to gather so many Children of Camity, it seemed uhat the envoys Great had sent would e purely fu Yeqi’s rescue; they were probably also here to “pick peaches,” right?

  That possibility was defihere…

  “Your past-life memories actually tain so many storytelling tales?”

  Sensing An Jing’s train of thought, even the Sword Spirit grew curious. “Hmm… Although those stories might sound rather ohe plot doesn’t seem too bad—An Jing, could it be that in your previous life, you roamed the nd with a sword, perf as a storyteller?”

  “Probably not.” An Jing smacked his lips. “Your memory isn’t plete, aher is mine. We do share that in on.”

  “In time, your past-life memories will fully awaken, or you might make peace with your past self. It’s also possible your former self no longer wishes to live another life,” the Sword Spirit said, somewhat dejected. “Meanwhile, my memories were stripped away by the Heavenly Demons… Still, our way of thinking is quite simir, so I guess that’s our bit of good luck.”

  “Is that so.”

  An Jing sighed in his heart and gnced around at the nearby Children of Camity and Red Armuards. “Sometimes, I feel as if I don’t quite fit in.”

  Ihe camp, everyone else stood in the sunlight, as if they had shed all the lingering shadows of the past.

  Only An Jing remained seated in the shade of the trees along the side of the valley, watg it all with a plicated expression.

  “They ’t uand my anger. My mi, my opinions, and my character all e from my innate gifts and my past-life memories. To them, ibalism isn’t that big a deal; they even disregard sughtering others.”

  “I keep w if I’m too tense, if I’m so traumatized by the Frost Camity that my mind is unwell, makihis sensitive, this…obsessive.”

  “Maybe this world just is what it is. Times are hard, so people eat people. Maybe I’m too lost in my own fantasy.”

  “Though I absolutely won’t ge, the question is about bringing others along…”

  An Jing id out what was in his heart. He no longer had any doubts about the path he would take iure, but he still hesitated when it came to pulling other people into it.

  “If you were an ordinary person, then yes, your s would be on point,” the Sword Spirit retorted without aation, in respoo An Jing’s momentary gloom.

  It decred matter-of-factly, “What a mere twig do? At most, it drifts along the water, following the current. You ’t expect it to prop up a great pace hall, nor expect it to bee any sort of pilr of support. Even if it were burned, it would fre for only a moment. It wouldn’t illuminate a person’s fa the dark night, it wouldn't be able to pierce the haze, and it certainly wouldn't heat steel to glowio be fed into a sword.”

  “But you are a cultivator, have a Strae, are a genius, and you are my Swordbearer. Iure, once you bee powerful, your spine will be able to hold up the temple of morality. Your bones could serve as a pilr of the world. If you ignite a fire, then the whole nd would burn.”

  “You think you’re trapped in your own world? Wrong, An Jing… We cultivators wield our fists and swords t the world in our hearts into reality—to carve it into reality!”

  “If the world won’t allow it, then smash the world until it does!”

  “If others don’t uand you, thehem live in the world you fe, geion after geion, until they take it as Heavenly Dao, as a natural principle!”

  That was the sword’s straightforward way of thinking, so direct it hardly needed logic to back it up.

  But that direess was exactly what An Jing needed.

  The young man froze momentarily, then broke into a smile. “True. There’s no need for me to be like them.”

  “And indeed, I’m not like them.”

  An Jing closed his eyes.

  Perhaps this era really was soaked in blood and gging behind, rotting and full of greed… Yet even in su era, in a nd like Great , even within the demonic sect, there would still be those who loved the try and cared about the people, who were upright and ho, who at least strove to keep themselves free from corruption, who refused to stoop to cruelty and depravity.

  An era like this did not mean every person was doomed to act that way. “From time immemorial” does not mean forever.

  Nor does it mean he himself must follow along.

  What was more, he was strong, gifted, and had a divine sword.

  He, An Jing, could very well reverse this path, reform it, or even smash this world to pieces!

  “Not bad. You’re shifting your mi pretty quickly, which is excellent for honing your Dao Heart…”

  Sensing An Jing’s ge in attitude, the Sword Spirit began to praise him, but halfway through, its tone suddenly grew grave, causing An Jing—just as he rexed—to jerk his head upward. “This feeling… Such dense Demonic Qi… Is it a Heavenly Demon?!”

  “An Jing, run!”

  Its voice grew louder, shocked and furious. “Among that new group of Red Armuards heading this way, there’s a hidden Heavenly Demon with tremendous power! It’s here for me… I ’t let it discover me!”

  “How this mortal dynasty be so deeply infiltrated by a Heavenly Demon?!”

  “What?!”

  An Jing sprang to his feet, startling g Linzu, who was standing nearby. Even Gu Yeqi, who was in the middle of asking the Red Armuards about news from home, instinctively turned around, looking toward An Jing. “Big Brother Jing, what happened?”

  Then all of them, including every single Red Armuard, stared in astonishment at An Jing as he dashed away. He turned into a blur and shot off, heading deep into the forested mountains.

  “Move! Get away from Hanging Fate Valley!”

  Before leaving, An Jing shouted in a stern, anding voice: “Among the Red Armuards ing, there’s a Heavenly Demon in disguise, and it intends to free the Heavenly Demon sealed in Hanging Fate Valley!”

  “Ah g! After I leave, you and Yeqi must teach everyohe meditative method I showed you…the one from the ‘Serene Sword Teique’! You absolutely must get it done!”

  “What? A Heavenly Demon?!” “roof do you have…? Screw it! Hear my order! Form up and withdraw!”

  g Linzu stood there in shoot prehending how An Jing, who was just chatting and helping him shake off his gloomy mood, could suddenly set off alohout the slightest iion ing him along. Meanwhile, the Red Armuards’ captain—a mustached military officer who had just been exging words with Gu Yeqi—instinctively asked a question.

  But as soon as he spoke, he recalled that there was indeed a Heavenly Demon sealed away in this horrible pown as Hanging Fate Valley.

  Giveuatioer to believe than not!

  Moreover, as the one who had ied with their undercover tact more than anyone else, he uood better than all the other Red Armuards how truly capable An Jing was—this young genius, highly regarded within the demonic sect, did possess abilities beyond the norm. Perhaps he really did have an unusually keen sense for Demonic Qi?

  As for why he abruptly abandoned his usual habit of taking care of his panions a alone, maybe there was some other reason. In any case, they wouldn’t be able to catch up with him. Their only option now was to retreat!

  In no time at all, over a hundred Red Armuards moved out in unison, leading the bewildered Children of Camity away from the white sandy terrain of Hanging Fate Valley and withdrawing to the foothills nearby.

  On their armor, crimson fmes spread and surged. tering on their ahey formed an enormous battle formation, proteg everyone inside.

  “Big Brother…he…” g Linzu still had not recovered from the shock. Just moments ago, An Jing was right here, joking and bantering, helping lift his mood. Then, in a fsh, he left without a word about taking him along. Gu Yeqi, however, turoward the patch of forest where An Jing had vanished, seeming to uand.

  —Hanging Fate Valley’s Demonic Qi was so dangerous that even the Red Armuards dared not casually approach, yet Big Brother Jing dared to lead them in and out freely…perhaps Big Brother Jing really did have some special means of dealing with Demonic Qi, some secret reted to the Heavenly Demon.

  Now that a Heavenly Demon roag, it would definitely discover him!

  He left so suddenly to prevent any fallout for us!

  “Oh?”

  Right at that moment, in the squad of Red Armuards advang toward Hanging Fate Valley, an ordinary-looking warrior noticed that the group ahead ulling away, distang themselves from the valley. He murmured in surprise, “They actually sensed something off? 【Jiexin】—what are you doing? How could these little nobodies detect a clue?”

  “Never mind.” He sighed regretfully. “What a pity. That would’ve been a good show.”

  “Fanjin, what did you say?”

  A panion beside him, thinking he had spoken to them, turned in fusion.

  “Nothing.” The man addressed as “Fanjin” smiled. “I’m sorry, but—farewell.”

  And then, the world sank into total darkness.

  A rotten, cloyingly sweet odor thiough to seem oily gushed from the seams in Fanjin’s body and armor, swirling with Demonic Qi so de was almost like a greasy sludge.

  In an instant, that prismatic-oil-slick-like Demonic Qi swallowed the entire squad of Red Armuards in one surge, as though a tide had rolled in to engulf grains of sand.

  (End of Chapter)