"Hoo..."
Lin Zhao slowly took off his helmet and sat up from the game pod, his mind in a mess. In the end, even Dongcang was abducted by that thirteen-realm spirit, her fate unknown.
In fact, Lin Zhao felt the most guilt towards Dongcang. Back then, Dongcang had endured years of loneliness for a single "Thousand Riders Rolling Snow." Now, it was also for Lin Zhao, guarding an empty Natural Residence, only to be abducted by Chen Rusong, that pine spirit.
"Lin Zhao, are you alright?"
Beside him, Shen Xingchen had also logged off.
"I'm fine."
Lin Zhao stood up and swayed out of the game pod. Leaning on the stairs, he went down one step at a time. He hadn't logged off for too long, from nurturing a sword intent in the Snow Domain Heavenly Pool to the complete fall of the Snow Domain Heavenly Pool, Lin Zhao's continuous online time had exceeded two days and two nights.
Shen Xingchen rushed forward a few steps, supporting his other arm, her pretty face filled with reproach. "Even if things in the game are important, isn't your own body important? If you push yourself like this and your body collapses, Sister Feiyue will blame us, and Chen Xue and I will be the scapegoats."
Lin Zhao chuckled, "It's alright, I'll carry this pot myself. You don't have to. Xingchen, you look like you can't even lift a chicken. How can you carry a tens of pounds pot?"
Shen Xingchen couldn't help but smile. "Still talking? Let's go downstairs and eat something. Otherwise, your stomach will be empty, and that's not good."
"Mm."
Downstairs, Wang Ju looked at Lin Zhao's slightly pale face and quickly asked what he wanted to eat. Lin Zhao wasn't picky and said any fried rice and soup would do, the important thing was speed.
"Okay."
Wang Ju quickly went into the kitchen and swiftly made a tomato and egg drop soup. Then, using the leftover celery and shredded pork from the previous meal, she fried a portion of fried rice for Lin Zhao. A few minutes later, Lin Zhao sat at the table, holding his rice bowl, devouring the food. For someone starving, this bowl of fragrant fried rice was heavenly.
After finishing the fried rice, Chen Xue also came downstairs and served him a bowl of egg drop soup.
It was a little hot, so Lin Zhao drank it in small sips.
"In the end, we still couldn't hold it."
Chen Xue furrowed her delicate brows and said, "The Snow Domain Heavenly Pool has completely fallen, and the Mountain Peak Villa is officially lost as well. However... it's really not our fault. Everyone did their best."
"I know."
Lin Zhao said softly, "Everyone lost so many levels, I know everyone did their best. It's alright. The final outcome of the great battle in the Snow Domain Heavenly Pool is largely as I predicted, and even better. We killed Canglan of the fourteenth realm, traded blows with Lu Hai of the thirteenth realm and Chen Feng of the twelfth realm, and slew a large number of demon race cultivators of the twelfth and eleventh realms. The Parasol Heart Demon was also killed in the Snow Domain Heavenly Pool, with at least over 300,000 casualties. This battlefield merit is sufficient."
"Mm."
Shen Xingchen's beautiful eyes were like water. "The most important thing is that the Snow Domain Heavenly Pool held out against the demon race for nearly six days. This has blunted the edge of the demon race and Wuwang Mountain. This is especially important."
Lin Zhao nodded. "That's right, Xingchen is correct."
"Your account..."
Chen Xue's red lips parted slightly. "Have you thought about how to handle it?"
"I'll think about it after I sleep."
Lin Zhao said, "After I wake up, I'll check when I log in. If the account is still the same, then I'll have to call and ask the officials of 'Tian Xia' for an explanation."
"Okay."
The two beautiful girls smiled and nodded in unison.
Immediately after, Lin Zhao finished his soup, went back to his room to wash up, and fell asleep.
...
While Lin Zhao was lost in his dreams, the progress in the game had not stopped at all.
The Snow Domain Heavenly Pool was breached, and White City was reduced to ruins. Under the onslaught of numerous demon race cultivators, White City's walls and buildings were all razed to the ground, leaving only the Lotus Breeze Academy, filled with literary fortune, in the center. In the heart of the academy, a white tree radiated a dense aura of sagehood.
"It's finally over."
Qing Kui, the Ancestor of the Demon Race, smiled calmly from the clouds. "Pass down my decree, the demon race marches south."
"Yes, Ancestor!"
Yu Zhi, dressed in a red dress, nodded with a smile.
The next moment, many great demons led the way. Countless demon race tents, flying the bloody battle flags of the demon race, crossed the Snow Domain Heavenly Pool in droves, leveling the Mountain Lord's Shrine along the way, and then marched south.
In the fierce wind, Ning Yuan Sheng, a great demon in a blood-colored long robe, walked at the forefront of the demons, his hands behind his back, soaring through the air.
His eyes were filled with smugness. The demon race had flattened the Snow Domain Heavenly Pool and was marching unhindered. The next target was the Washing Sword River and the Fusu Great Wall. As one of the meritorious officials of the demon race, Ning Yuan Sheng had dreamed of this day for far too long.
However, as Ning Yuan Sheng flew south and passed through the Munjac Forest, he suddenly felt as if his heart had been squeezed by something. A sense of inexplicable terror enveloped him. The next moment, Ning Yuan Sheng's body was enveloped and swallowed by an extremely powerful sword intent. That sword came from the depths of the Munjac Forest below.
How could Ning Yuan Sheng have imagined that there was still a peak thirteen-realm sword cultivator lingering in the human world? As he looked down, the myriad sword energies were blindingly brilliant. Amidst the sword energy, a figure in white, as pure as snow, approached, holding his sword.
Lin Wanhua, peak thirteen-realm!
She had been ambushing in the Munjac Forest for more than a day or two. In fact, she had witnessed Lin Zhao, Su Qingjiu, and Tang Guangjun die. Lin Wanhua had endured and waited, precisely for this sword. If this sword couldn't kill a peak thirteen-realm demon race cultivator for the human race, she would be extremely disappointed.
"Lin Wanhua, are you insane!?"
Ning Yuan Sheng shouted, quickly bringing out his "Weeping Blood Fan," and at the same time, his joints "crackled" and burst. He instantly burned four vital soul bones, and wisps of fiery red demonic energy coiled around him. As one of the elders of the demon race's ancestral mountain, Ning Yuan Sheng understood the power of Lin Wanhua's sword all too well. Without fighting for his life, there was no chance of survival.
However, how could a sword honed for seven days and nights, a sword filled with anger and the spirit of Northern Liang, be so easily dealt with?
Amidst the wisps of brilliant sword light, the demonic aura around Ning Yuan Sheng continuously shattered, like decaying trees collapsing under the force of a flood. The next second, Lin Wanhua's peerless sword, Jing Hua, descended from the air. With a loud "bang," it chopped the Weeping Blood Fan, Ning Yuan Sheng's weapon, into pieces. Then, the boundless sword intent swept over.
Screams of anguish echoed endlessly. Ning Yuan Sheng, filled with unwillingness, even revealed his true form as a nine-headed lion before his death. However, that nine-headed lion, which could command the winds and rains in the demon realm, was now beyond saving. His body was continuously corroded and devoured by the sword energy, and in a flash, only bloody bones remained.
Lin Wanhua's sword swept past like autumn wind scattering fallen leaves. Ning Yuan Sheng's physical body and spirit were both crushed by the incomparably pure sword energy, directly reduced to ashes, leaving not even a wisp of his primordial spirit or soul behind. He died as thoroughly as possible.
Ning Yuan Sheng was one of the leaders of the demon race. Chu Yu, the Rebirth Realm cultivator of the Mountain Peak Villa, had also died under Ning Yuan Sheng's extremely vicious time poison arrow. Ning Yuan Sheng was one of the main culprits in the deaths of Su Qingjiu and Tang Guangjun. Lin Wanhua remembered all these debts for Lin Zhao.
"It's time to go."
After killing Ning Yuan Sheng, Lin Wanhua looked at the rolling demon army in the distance, then at the half-ruined Wuwang Mountain. She then glanced back at the Fusu Great Wall, her beautiful eyes filled with reluctance and longing. Leaving now, she didn't know when she would be able to return.
The next moment, Lin Wanhua ascended with her sword, and a golden Sword Immortal manifestation soared into the sky.
Although great demons like Ji An, Lian Ban, and Chen Feng had arrived, none dared to step forward to stop Lin Wanhua's ascension. Her sword intent and killing aura were too potent. Anyone who stepped forward now might provoke Lin Wanhua to fight desperately, and it would likely be a fight where one side was eliminated.
In the sky, the rumbling sound of the Great Dao echoed endlessly. Finally, the Heavenly Gate opened, and Lin Wanhua, clad in white, stepped into the Heavenly Gate, leaving a golden ripple in the mortal world, and then vanished without a trace.
...
In the afternoon, by the Washing Sword River.
A group of great demons from the Northern Region appeared. Qing Kui, the Ancestor of the Demon Race, Yu Zhi, Ji An, Lian Ban, and Chen Feng, their figures appearing one by one, like kings from the north, looking down upon this great river of the human race.
"It can begin."
Qing Kui said calmly.
"Mm."
Yu Zhi's beautiful eyes looked westward and smiled. "Lord Huo Si, if not now, then when will you make your move?!"
Instantly, a figure rose from the boundary between the Ghost Realm and the human world. It was the young man in a fiery red short shirt. His body suddenly expanded, revealing his thirteen-realm Huo Si true form. He then activated his divine abilities, controlling large mountains transported from the Ghost Realm, and hurled them fiercely from the sky, aiming to suppress the Washing Sword River.
As long as this great river could be blocked, and its waters allowed to flood the forests, the Washing Sword River's water transport would be completely drained. As for Lin Xingchu, she would be no threat.
However, as the mountains descended, a River God Consort, clad in golden armor and a golden water transport cloak, rose from the river. Her golden body stood over ten thousand feet tall. With a gentle point of her sword, wisps of golden light emanated from the depths of the river. Shortly thereafter, with splashing water, hundreds of Begonia Golden Boats appeared, spanning the Washing Sword River!
Furthermore, the spiritual energies of these Begonia Golden Boats were connected, gathering the entire Washing Sword River's fortune. The moment the mountains descended, the Begonia Golden Boats in various locations simultaneously deployed hundreds of feet of restrictive barriers. The mountains then crashed against these barriers and shattered, with not a single one managing to land safely in the Washing Sword River.
"Outrageous!"
Qing Kui, the Ancestor of the Demon Race, roared, his body soaring into the sky. A palm strike, imbued with an extremely intense demonic energy, descended from the heavens, spanning dozens of miles in the air, and struck directly at the Washing Sword River on the river surface.
The river water surged, and a thirteen-realm Flood Dragon emerged. It was Xiao Ke, who frowned and said in his heart, "The Ancestor of the Demon Race suppresses me with the Great Dao, so I'll leave them to the Consort. The rest is up to me, Lin Xiao Ke! This battle can be lost, but not disgraced. We must avenge young master Lin Zhao!"
"Good!"
Lin Xingchu smiled slightly. She raised her River God Sword to the sky, refining the Washing Sword River's fortune, and exchanged a palm strike with the Ancestor of the Demon Race. The river water steamed, and the cloak behind Lin Xingchu fluttered. However, Qing Kui, the Ancestor of the Demon Race in the air, was also forced back several miles by a single sword strike. He was slightly shocked, realizing he had underestimated the River God of the Washing Sword River.
"Attack!"
Great demons Ji An, Lian Ban, Long Zheng, Chen Feng, and others all made their move. Facing them were Lin Xiao Ke, who was shaking his head and chanting, refining a portion of the Washing Sword River's water transport. The surging demonic energy rose into the sky. On this day, Lin Xiao Ke, bearing the blood feud of his kin, possessed an aura no less than that of any fourteen-realm demon race cultivator!