The Saint Son’s Arrival and a True Demon’s Challenge

Rustling sounds accompanied their steps as Xu Qingzhu guided the blind Lu Yanling through the forest. He looked up at the sky.

The sky was already growing light, the pale dawn breaking.

But Xu Qingzhu wasn’t observing the sky’s color. His gaze was fixed on the undisguised streaks of flying swords, each imbued with a sharp, formidable aura.

“Buzz! Buzz!…” Several ethereal longswords pierced through the air, plunging forcefully into the ground.

Crash! A tree trunk was severed, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Through the dim light, a figure descended from the sky, a sword cultivator as graceful and unburdened as an immortal.

He stepped on the floating longswords as if they were stairs, approaching Xu Qingzhu.

“Little Brother Zhu, has someone arrived?” Lu Yanling clutched his sleeve.

The next second, a voice, chillingly detached, spoke. The sword cultivator asked, “Fellow Daoist, in which direction lies Dangyang County?”

He sounded as if asking for directions, but in truth, he was inquiring about the situation in Dangyang County.

All along their journey, the forest had been eerily quiet. The usually rampant ghosts and monsters were nowhere to be seen.

It was as if they had witnessed something truly terrifying.

Having struggled to find anyone, he casually posed the question upon encountering Xu Qingzhu and Lu Yanling.

“Are you the cultivator here to deal with the ritual?” Xu Qingzhu looked up, his eyes suddenly alight with excitement.

A hint of complaint lay hidden within that excitement, one he himself hadn’t even noticed.

Yet, regardless, if this sword cultivator had arrived a little earlier, perhaps Su Mo would not have died.

‘No, Su Mo isn’t dead yet. She was just… taken away by an Incense God?’ Xu Qingzhu argued with himself, a neurotic edge to his thoughts.

“Buzz.” Raising his longsword, the cultivator narrowed his eyes.

“I am Lu Jianyu, the Saint Son of the Myriad Sword Saint Sect, and I have come specifically to break this demonic ritual… Now, you shall answer my question, fellow cultivator.”

He paused for a fleeting moment, then the longsword was pressed against Xu Qingzhu’s throat.

He spoke each word distinctly: “You understand much. I require your assistance… And you seem to have survived the Ascension Ritual. What is the reason?”

In Lu Jianyu’s eyes, this was a demon concealing its true form, a “culprit” blessed by a demon during the Ascension Ritual.

If necessary, he would cut them down!

‘…’ Xu Qingzhu stared blankly at the longsword before him, a sense of familiarity washing over him, followed by a pang of bitterness in his heart.

He remembered a time, long ago, in another forest, with another longsword. He had held it to Su Mo’s throat, coercing her “help.”

“Hahahaha…” Xu Qingzhu let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head. His unexpected reaction startled Lu Jianyu.

“It seems there truly is a problem.” Lu Jianyu raised his longsword, and a cold glint flashed.

As if sensing the killing intent, Lu Yanling gritted her teeth and sprang in front of Xu Qingzhu.

Unintentionally, the sharp longsword grazed her flowing hair, and a lock of dark silk drifted down.

Lu Jianyu’s heart jolted. He immediately withdrew his longsword, careful not to injure the young woman.

“This young lady,” he began, “he may not be…”

He then noticed that the girl before him, though her gaze was resolute, was looking significantly off to the side, not at him at all.

Lu Jianyu fell silent.

‘Is she blind?’

Gently pulling his companion aside, Xu Qingzhu struggled internally for a long time before finally deciding, “I will lead you back to Dangyang County.”

“Agreed.” Lu Jianyu released his grip, the longsword falling before floating back to hover behind him.

Under the moonlight, the individual longswords began to merge, transforming into a single golden dragon sword that followed him.

‘…’ Xu Qingzhu silently watched this scene, realizing now that the person before him was indeed the Golden Core cultivator of Dangyang County, a childhood friend of the Demon Suppression Bureau’s master.

He was also Lu Jianyu, the peerless genius and Saint Son observed through the ring in the Fragrant Cloud Pavilion.

In his memories from before his rebirth, this peak-level expert had not ventured much outside the cultivation world.

He hadn’t expected the Ascension Ritual to draw him out.

However, Xu Qingzhu’s decision to lead him back wasn’t out of fear of the sword in his hand, nor a surrender of his pride.

He simply wished to… ask more questions, to observe further.

‘Perhaps, I can still find my wife, Su? Right?’ His confidence had long since been shattered, ever since he realized that the Path of Ruthlessness didn’t require “killing one’s wife to prove the Dao.”

He had always misunderstood the Path of Ruthlessness! How laughable it was that he had once been so smug about it.

“Very well, lead the way.” Lu Jianyu’s voice was cold, directed solely at Xu Qingzhu.

Possessing an innate sword physique, his perception was far keener than an ordinary person’s.

That blind girl, so protective of the man, was certainly not his beloved.

Such a betrayal meant this man was undoubtedly not good.

Perhaps he had killed everyone in Dangyang County and used a secret art to conceal his demonic body.

He might have found a blind girl along the way to hide his identity, preparing to escape the area.

‘A hateful, suspicious man,’ was Lu Jianyu’s judgment.

****

Meanwhile, carrying Su Mo’s remnant soul, the Ghost General did not immediately summon the Ghost Gate to return to the Underworld.

He intentionally circled several times, finally choosing an open area. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed his subordinates.

The scene that was about to unfold was not something ordinary Ghost Soldiers, let alone so few, could handle.

“Come out, now. You’ve been following for long enough…” The Ghost General chuckled, twisting his arms, which emitted a series of sharp cracks.

Boom! His body vibrated, and mysterious patterns surfaced on his greenish-black skin.

A golden wheel spun behind him, ancient script shimmering and flowing within it.

“Don’t be so angry. I’m a good demon, you know.” A voice, like thunder, echoed through the air.

A wisp of black mist materialized out of nowhere, then a colossal hand suddenly clamped down on the black mist, kneading it.

When the one-armed giant hand unfurled, a True Demon emerged within, smiling placidly, yet it was an undeniably sinister grin.

The demon was entirely black, its armor appearing to be embedded in its skin, and a pair of demonic horns, like those of a water buffalo, topped its head.

It stood on the colossal one-armed hand, looking down, smiling at the Ghost General.

“A demon? And a ‘good’ demon at that?” The Ghost General narrowed his eyes, his blue-and-red facial markings appearing terrifyingly ferocious.

“Why not?! Am I not a good demon?” The True Demon feigned surprise, its performance so convincing that it was impossible to discern its sincerity.

“You were the one who presided over that Ascension Ritual, weren’t you?” The Ghost General sneered.

He was already prepared to act; there was no reasoning with such an ancient being.

“Oh, don’t misunderstand. When we True Demons preside over a ritual, our limitations are extensive. We can practically only watch… I certainly didn’t harm Miss Su.”

“You came for Su Mo?” The Ghost General’s eyes glinted with ill intent.

He understood that a pure soul like Su Mo’s was the finest material for demons, perfect for shaping new demonic beings.

Demons were always dedicated to increasing their numbers, which was why they had specifically passed down the Ascension Ritual.

The exact reason, however, remained unknown.

“Indeed, I wish to witness how far she can go,” the True Demon mused with a sigh.

“You wish to transform her into a demon? Laughable! To waste so many words on you, I must truly be a fool!” The Ghost General’s eyes blazed open with fury.

Crack! A sound echoed from behind him as four massive hands extended from his back.

The Six-Armed Technique! The Asura Body!

Each hand clenched in the void, and six weapons materialized and coalesced: a saber, a sword, a spear, a staff, a halberd, and a hammer.

With a casual lift of the six weapons, a fierce gust of wind immediately swept through the surrounding ground, tearing open dense cracks.

“Excellent! Then let’s fight, and talk later!” The True Demon’s eyes lit up, transforming into black mist and merging with the colossal one-armed hand.

Crack, crack… The colossal one-armed hand began to grow, transforming into a complete body.

Whoosh! After a fierce gust of wind, the sky darkened, and the hundreds-of-meters-tall demonic body lowered its gaze, laughing maniacally.

“What my kind desires, we shall achieve! We shall do as we please! Hahahahaha—!”

Even at three meters tall, the Ghost General seemed minuscule in comparison.

He manifested several layers of protective edicts, to prevent the True Demon from seizing Su Mo’s remnant soul during their battle.

Once back in the Underworld, he still had ways to resolve the remnant soul issue and revive Su Mo.

First, however, he had to defeat this True Demon.

“Hmph!” The Ghost General scoffed, taking a deep breath.

A fierce wind erupted, and his body swelled with the absorbed power, growing to a mighty height of several hundred meters.

“Good! Come, fight!” The True Demon unleashed a powerful punch.