Chapter 53: Seven Luminaries, Seven Fiends

  Annouhe Sword Spirit's pronouns will now be capitalized when the raws use the ese divine pronouns (when they are used.)“I only wao escape from Hanging Fate Manor, yet I ended up stumbling into a flict among three different fas… What in the world is going on?!”

  Letting out a long sigh, An Jing realized his heart ounding rapidly.

  Before heading here, he had already witnessed a Heavenly Demon being unsealed, as well as two Divireasury True Persons taking a… Without a doubt, it ower far beyond what he could ha his current level.

  her he nor the Sword Spirit had expected a Heavenly Demon—especially one so powerful—to lie hidden among the Red Armuards and seize the ce to unseal its brethren.

  What was Great doing? How did they eve a Heavenly Demon slip in?!

  “How many days I stay in this other world?”

  After steadying himself a bit, An Jing posed the question. The Sword Spirit, which had been lost in thought, immediately replied, “Three days.”

  “Three days…”

  An Jing closed his eyes in tration. Within his Sea of sciousness, around the broken sword, three dazzling points of sword light shimmered around him.

  The first point was already dimming, which correspoo the “three days” the Sword Spirit had mentioned.

  “Within those three days, if I choose to return, I teleport to an area within a one-li radius tered on the spot where I left Huaixu.”

  Summarizing his current situation, An Jing said, “After pleting one round of ‘departing aurning,’ your teleportation goes on cooldown. It requires a full day-and-night cycle of recharging before you support me in telep again.”

  “Yes,” the Sword Spirit reminded him. “So you have to flee on your own for at least a day before you return to this other world to seek refuge.”

  “That’s a bit troublesome,” An Jing muttered. The Sword Spirit did not seem bothered. “Once you find more of My fragments, My powers will grow. Longer durations, faster teleportation, more ways to recharge—My plete form won’t be any trouble at all.”

  “Besides, three days is plenty. Those Heavenly Demons have surely left by now. Even if they id some trap, they wouldn’t stay in pd risk being discovered.”

  “And the Demonic Sed the people from Great must still be tangled up with each other. They won’t have the time or energy to hunt you dowlessly. With your current strength, you should be able to slip away from these forests, ceal your identity, aurn to society.”

  “Sihe Heavenly Demons are gone,” An Jing thought aloud, “maybe I look freat ’s Red Armuards again? Although Yeqi and the others don’t really need my help…”

  “You could try, but it’s extremely dangerous. I don’t reend it.” The Sword Spirit’s tourned grave. “That Heavenly Demons are lurking i is arming enough. Even if such high-level Heavenly Demons aren’t too on, there are definitely more run-of-the-mill demon hosts than we realize!”

  “Heavenly Demons are like cockroaches—if you see ohere’s actually a swarm of them. They’re just hiding in the shadows.”

  “If we go bato Great under our current identities, the Heavenly Demons will definitely spot us!”

  “This is exactly why I had you leave: who tell if there are lesser Heavenly Demo in the Red Armuards, just waiting to catch you with yuard down?”

  “Mm.” An Jing had already sidered it, but the Sword Spirit’s warning drove it home. He sighed. “Then my junior brothers and sisters are in daoo…”

  “You worry about that.”

  The Sword Spirit did not sider his for others a bad thing. On the trary, He greatly appreciated An Jing’s loyalty to those close to him.

  Hence He spoke pinly: “After all, your panions’ value isn’t high enough for those hidden Heavenly Demons to blow their cover. Only you and I are worth that risk.”

  “Aren’t we something,” An Jing said with a self-depreg chuckle. He steadied his breathing, stood, and surveyed his surroundings.

  The pce was as it had been when he left: a faintly glowing underground cavern, an a, half-ruieel pavilion, and the remains of corpses he had already looted.

  “Hmm… I’m missing quite a lot of supplies.”

  An Jing pondered. Last time, he had stayed here for only one shi (two hours) a right after breaking through to Internal Energy, so he hadn’t had to think about anything else. But this time, since he would be here for three days, he had to sider food, air circution, water, building fires, and a safe pce to rest.

  He had to remember that a monster capable of killing gun-wielding cultivators iernal Energy realm roamed here!

  Firearms in this world seemed more powerful than those in An Jing’s previous life, and their gunpowder was no ordinary gunpowder.

  He had indeed killed the Medie Manor Lord with a handgun, though only by ambushing him when he was careless. Even so, that was merely the expedition team’s standard armament.

  Yet despite suidable firepower, they had all been wiped out here.

  Though these people had died from “heart and soul damage,” An Jing would not let his guard down. Having a power that targeted the heart and soul did not necessarily mean the creature’s physical body was weak. He had to be ready for the worst.

  “If it really bees unbearable, I’ll just return to the Huaixu Realm,” An Jing thought. “But at least I o hold out for one night. If I go back out now, I might be spotted by aill around.”

  Right now, what he needed most was rest.

  From perf the ritual procedure and sying the Heavenly Demon to fighting the Medie Manor Lord and resg his friends in the dungeon, followed by the Heavenly Demon’s unsealing and traveling to another world—on top of the exhaustion after the Qi Boosting Pills wore off—An Jing was utterly spent.

  He felt as though he had gohree days without food and then run for two hours aountain roads. His bones and muscles ached from mere fri, and his whole body was out of sorts.

  He badly needed a secure spot to recover his strength.

  An Jing searched the ruins of the pavilion and the great hall. There was nothing inside; ohere might have been an altar dedicated to some Aral Master or Deity, but now, with pilrs toppled and floor tiles pried up, all that remained was dust.

  The beams in the hall were still sturdy, though dirty and partially decayed, but this was no time for piess.

  An Jing climbed up, huddled in a er, and forced himself into mental stillute his breathing and recover.

  “After I finish entering stillness aing my breathing, I’ll o sleep for two or three shi to let my body recover naturally. you keep wate?”

  An Jing asked the Sword Spirit. Receiving an affirmative, he practiced the Serene Sword Teique to cultivate his Internal Energy for a while, then drifted into a deep slumber.

  As soon as An Jing fell asleep, a faint glow of spiritual radiance appeared on his forehead, f a silver sword pattern. Sword radiance gleamed at its ter, remi of ahat had just awakened.

  “This world… It feels very familiar. And so it wasn’t a mere illusion—this world truly does have ‘Demonic Qi.’”

  In a solemn tohe Sword Spirit’s clear voice spoke to itself: “The mohat killed the entire expedition team must be a type of ‘demonic creature.’”

  The sword radiance dipped, as though looking down at the sleeping An Jing. “This child’s Heaven-Ordained Fate is irange… Blood Baleful Qi, Sword Baleful Qi, Spiritbane Qi, Soulbane Qi—he accept them all. Even in My era, there were almost no people with this sort of fate.”

  “As I thought, this is not simply an ordinary Star Fiend Strae, but ohat only surfaces when a great camity es…”

  “【Seven Luminaries, Seven Fiends】?””

  After a pause, the Sword Spirit lifted His gaze. “If that’s the case, it’s impossible to tell if this is fortune or disaster… I once believed I was guiding him, but perhaps I’ve been caught up in his Heavenly Fate.”

  “So be it. Let’s see how far I walk this path with him.”

  He began His vigil.

  Soon enough, three shi passed.

  An Jing woke up.

  (End of Chapter)