A Sword Through the Storm

“You dare!”

Just as Xiao Miao’s Shizun prepared to act, a female voice echoed across the heavens.

Qin Yan was intimately familiar with that voice; it belonged to Yu Qingxuan.

Accompanying her words, a streak of sword light shot directly towards the white-robed cultivator. As for why Yu Qingxuan appeared there, it was, naturally, because she couldn’t bring herself to leave her junior brother unguarded.

Moreover, a sense of foreboding had settled in her heart, prompting her to arrive outside the city shortly after Qin Yan and Xiao Miao departed, where she carefully concealed her aura.

Knowing Qin Yan’s stubborn nature, she had chosen to offer her assistance discreetly.

The white-robed cultivator barely managed to dodge the sword light by twisting her body. Her expression turned exceptionally sinister as she declared, “Since you already know, there’s no need for me to maintain this disguise any longer. Today, you will all perish here!”

‘Know… know what?!’

Qin Yan, Yu Qingxuan, Xiao Miao, and Xiao Miao’s Shizun all wore bewildered expressions, while only Fangyuan’s face held a faint smile of absolute control.

Yet, for Yu Qingxuan, no matter the unfolding circumstances, she could not allow the white-robed cultivator to harm her junior brother. Both were Golden Core cultivators, and a fierce battle was on the verge of erupting between them.

Witnessing this, Xiao Miao’s Shizun also retracted her aura.

Then, to their astonishment, three pink tails unfurled behind the white-robed cultivator, with similar appendages appearing on her head. The white-robed cultivator, with whom they had just been conversing, was, in fact, a Golden Core Great Demon.

Without further ado, the white-robed cultivator lunged at Yu Qingxuan.

The two clashed fiercely in the sky, while the scene on the ground devolved into utter chaos. In Qin Yan’s eyes, numerous demon beasts, sporting animal heads and covered in fur and feathers, gazed up at the fox demon in the sky, screaming in terror.

‘What on earth is happening?!’

However, this was clearly not the time for contemplation. Qin Yan raised his long spear, preparing to assist his senior sister against the Golden Core Great Demon.

Fangyuan, on the other hand, plunged headfirst into the tumultuous ‘human’ crowd, unleashing a brutal massacre. Blood flowed like a river, and the streets seemed to have been painted anew with a crimson hue.

Upon witnessing this, Xiao Miao found herself powerless to intervene in the aerial battle. Seeing Fangyuan’s slaughter, she prepared to rush forward and stop her, but her Shizun’s words brought her to an abrupt halt.

“Something is amiss, Xiaomiaozi. Come, let’s first search for the Exotic Water. I can sense its location. Once we retrieve it, we’ll return to aid Qin Yan and the others.”

“Alright!”

After a brief moment of thought, she ultimately nodded.

****

A stick of incense’s time later.

A dragon’s roar reverberated across the heavens, shattering the eerie balance that had settled over the scene.

Fangyuan stared in horror towards the source of the sound, the piles of corpses around her nearly forming a high wall. Yu Qingxuan and Qin Yan also looked utterly astonished, sensing a terrifying, unseen aura in the sky.

“This is bad! Someone has disturbed the Old Ancestor.”

The Golden Core Great Demon murmured, then rushed towards the direction of the sound.

At that moment, dark clouds gathered ominously in the sky, and a rain of blood began to fall. A colossal, inky-black Flood Dragon soared into the air, manifesting before everyone’s eyes.

Its scales were mottled, and its entire body was covered in deep, bone-visible scars. Its Nascent Soul cultivation was fully revealed; though its aura seemed somewhat weak, it was undeniably a true Nascent Soul cultivator!

“Damn you, little rascal! Disturbing my recovery and stealing my Exotic Water!”

The Flood Dragon writhed within the dark clouds, its voice echoing like rolling thunder.

The ‘little rascal’ it spoke of was none other than Xiao Miao. Following her Shizun’s guidance, Xiao Miao had arrived before an ancient well. After leaping into it, she discovered the Exotic Water and also encountered the Flood Dragon, which had moments ago been in a deep slumber.

In short, had it not been for her Shizun’s intervention, she would have long since perished at the Flood Dragon’s claws.

Now, what was to be done? Xiao Miao was fleeing through the city, and the highest cultivation present belonged to Qin Yan’s senior sister, who was merely at the Golden Core stage.

The situation seemed to have spiraled into a deadly stalemate; everyone present was destined to die here today.

Even Fangyuan wore a look of utter terror, gazing at the Flood Dragon swirling amidst the clouds. In her previous life, she had never heard any mention of this particular Flood Dragon.

Yu Qingxuan, naturally, felt the same. As the one with the highest cultivation among them, she understood even more keenly the true meaning of the Nascent Soul stage.

Qin Yan watched the Flood Dragon churning in the sky, a suffocating pressure building within him. As the Flood Dragon’s gaze swept over his body, he felt his spiritual energy completely stagnate.

The Flood Dragon then turned its attention to Yu Qingxuan, as she possessed the highest cultivation among those present.

The next second, a blast of dragon’s breath erupted towards Yu Qingxuan. Though it appeared to be an ordinary stream of water, it carried an annihilating force capable of obliterating all creation.

Witnessing this, Qin Yan recalled the magical artifact his Shizun had entrusted to him before their departure. He promptly summoned the Vajra Seal from his storage ring.

The Vajra Seal shot towards the dragon’s breath, and the two collided in mid-air. With a sharp ‘CRACK,’ the Vajra Seal shattered instantly, though the dragon’s breath also gradually lost its momentum.

The Flood Dragon’s eyes regarded Qin Yan with a hint of surprise, seemingly not expecting the male cultivator before her to produce such an artifact.

‘But what did it matter, even if he could withstand a single strike from her?’

“Xiao Miao! Take my junior brother and go!”

Yu Qingxuan, seeing the situation, let out a desperate cry, then charged directly at the Flood Dragon.

She could only hope to buy Qin Yan some time with her own life. At that moment, Xiao Miao, possessed by her Shizun, wasted no further words and rushed towards Qin Yan.

However, Fangyuan proved even swifter.

Fangyuan and Xiao Miao exchanged a glance, a silent understanding passing between them. Without a word, they each grabbed one of Qin Yan’s arms, preparing to flee towards the city’s outskirts.

It was clear that Yu Qingxuan intended to carve a path of hope for everyone with her life. Of course, she wasn’t so altruistic; everything she did was for her junior brother.

“Silence!”

The Flood Dragon merely cast a dismissive glance at Yu Qingxuan, uttering a thunderous pronouncement.

Everyone present today was fated to die here, for her century-long grand scheme had been utterly ruined this very day.

‘Why couldn’t these damned human cultivators grant their demon race a little breathing room? To ensure the survival of her kind, she had even gone so far as to establish a grand formation here.’

‘This formation made all the demon beasts believe they were human, which not only eliminated the divisions between different demon clans but also kept them hidden.’

‘Yet, even the most successful formations inevitably had their flaws.’

“A Nascent Soul demon beast? And a Flood Dragon at that,” Yu Qingxuan scoffed, a hint of disdain gracing her features upon hearing the dragon’s words. “However, seeing as you’re severely injured, dragging a great demon like you down with me would mean my time in this world wasn’t spent in vain.”

With that declaration, Yu Qingxuan plunged her right hand into her abdomen, extracting a Golden Core.

“No! She’s going to detonate her Golden Core!”

The Flood Dragon’s face twisted in terror at the sight. Already grievously wounded, a self-detonating Golden Core would likely inflict further harm upon her. If she sustained more injuries, how could she possibly withstand the pursuit of human cultivators that would surely follow?

“Senior Sister!”

Qin Yan let out a cry, his face a mask of utter astonishment and dismay at the scene. He knew that a Golden Core’s self-detonation meant not only death and the scattering of one’s essence but also the complete inability to enter the cycle of reincarnation.

“Magnificent, truly magnificent!”

Fangyuan couldn’t help but exclaim as she watched the unfolding drama.

“This person certainly possesses a fierce spirit.”

Xiao Miao’s Shizun murmured, concluding that if this was the case, then her junior brother, Qin Yan, she was determined to protect!

“Whoosh—”

Just then, a streak of sword light suddenly surged from the distance. It not only pierced through the dark clouds in the sky but also decapitated the Flood Dragon in an instant.

The colossal dragon head plummeted into the city, kicking up a cloud of dust.

With that single sword strike, the Nascent Soul-level Flood Dragon was instantly annihilated, its essence scattered.

A figure clad in a Daoist robe, seemingly having traversed countless realms, appeared before Qin Yan’s eyes. Upon closer inspection, who else could it be but his own Shizun, Qin Nianci?