"Boom!"
A blur of cyan streaked past, none other than the graceful Yu Wanling. Her fist descended, shattering the woman's form once more. Without hesitation, she spun and swept her fist across the water's surface, obliterating the woman's coalescing body once again.
"..."
Lin Zhao watched, his heart filled with awe.
Three Heavenly Origin realm martial artists were unable to deal with a single umbrella-wielding heart demon?!
When he was in the Hundred Flowers Realm, Lin Zhao had fought the umbrella-wielding heart demon Wu Yuanzi. Back then, Wu Yuanzi was at the eleventh realm, his vital energy more potent than the woman before him.
However, it was the Dragon Slaying Sword that truly killed Wu Yuanzi, not Lin Zhao's own power. Otherwise, Lin Zhao, Yu Wanling, Chi Zhongyu, Chu Xiantong, and the others would have been incapable of defeating an eleventh-realm umbrella-wielding heart demon.
Ultimately, there was only one reason: the umbrella-wielding heart demon was an entity "beyond the Three Realms and outside the Five Elements." Unless a cultivator was a supreme grand cultivator, their attacks would not be able to instantly annihilate a heart demon.
Therefore, although Chen Ben, Yu Wanling, and Chu Yu repeatedly shattered the umbrella-wielding heart demon's illusions, the strength of the heart demon's flames would slightly diminish each time the woman reformed her body. This meant that if Chen Ben and the others continued to strike, they could eventually kill the heart demon, but at a considerable cost.
Because each time they struck, they would become tainted with a trace of the heart demon's flames, which was a torment to the cultivation of Chen Ben, Yu Wanling, and the others. The opponent had used a single umbrella-wielding heart demon to wear down the cultivation of several top martial artists from the Mountain Summit Villa; it was a risk-free bargain.
"Everyone retreat!"
Lin Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly. "Old Huang!"
As Chen Ben, Yu Wanling, and Chu Yu retreated, a wisp of amber sword energy swept across. It was Old Huang, who had drawn his sword from the tree by the shore.
With a sweep of his sword, the woman holding the oil-paper umbrella let out a shrill cry on the lake. Her body was gradually evaporated and corroded by the sword energy, her demise most tragic.
"You wait and see..."
As she faced death, her gaze sharp, she looked at Lin Zhao and the others and sneered, "The general trend of the world is not something you ants from the lower realm can resist!"
Lin Zhao frowned, his thoughts reaffirmed. Old Huang was in the Ascended realm. The moment he became a thirteenth-realm cultivator, his power had already "transcended the mortal world." Although he hadn't ascended, every sword he drew possessed some rules of the upper realm.
Thus, in the entire Snow Region Heavenly Pond, only Huang Tingyu and Gu Lingyu could easily exterminate heart demons.
Recalling the scenes he had witnessed in the "Three Inches of Time's Flowing Water," Lin Zhao's heart grew heavier. In the near future, the Mountain Summit Villa would need as many thirteenth-realm cultivators as possible.
Perhaps, the mortal world was indeed on the brink of change.
...
"Swish!"
Zhuo Zhi and Huang Tingyu arrived gracefully, standing above the lake.
"What's its origin?" Zhuo Zhi asked.
"A strand of an umbrella-wielding heart demon."
Lin Zhao frowned. "Old Huang, when you annihilated it just now, did you feel anything?"
"A little."
Huang Tingyu said calmly, "It's easy to annihilate the physical body and form of an umbrella-wielding heart demon, but its origin is not so easy to destroy. The kill just now actually required me to unleash a second sword to finish it, a sword you all did not see."
Zhuo Zhi's delicate brows furrowed slightly.
Although she was at the peak of the twelfth realm, the gap between her and a thirteenth-realm sword cultivator was like a mountain. If she were to fight Huang Tingyu now, she would have no chance of winning. Zhuo Zhi could at most be considered to be on the mountainside, while Huang Tingyu had already reached the summit.
"Understood."
Lin Zhao felt a lingering sense of fear. This trip had been fortunate because he had brought Huang Tingyu along; otherwise, it might have been quite troublesome. What was even more troublesome was not knowing how many such umbrella-wielding heart demons were still loose in the mortal world. If there were too many, it was possible that all cultivators in the lower realm would be infected with heart demons, leading to the decline of the mortal world.
"Continue practicing your punches, don't get distracted."
Lin Zhao frowned slightly and said, "Even if an umbrella-wielding heart demon comes, we have Old Huang."
"En!"
Yu Wanling, Chen Ben, and the others nodded in unison.
Huang Tingyu, meanwhile, picked his nose, turned, and returned to the tree to resume his nap.
Lin Zhao stood at the abandoned ferry, his fist intent flowing. He turned to look at Zhuo Zhi and saw a trace of hesitation in her beautiful eyes. Lin Zhao smiled knowingly. "Are you thinking about the thirteenth realm?"
"En."
Zhuo Zhi said softly, "My lord, actually, like Tang Guangjun, after being tempered by the sword dao of Lin Wanhua, the Lord of the Fusang Great Wall, my sword heart has become even more solid. I already possess the foundation to step into the thirteenth realm. And after entering the thirteenth realm, I will not be a weak thirteenth-realm cultivator."
"That is for the best."
"However..."
Zhuo Zhi bit her red lip. "The Confucian, Military, Daoist, and Mohist schools once established rules: any thirteen-realm sword cultivator in the human realm who breaks through must ascend, otherwise the mortal world will no longer retain the luck of the sword dao. Therefore..."
"It's alright."
Lin Zhao said, "Rules are rigid, but people are flexible. Moreover, times have changed. The rules of that time may not be applicable now. Cultivate well first, and I will tell you when it is time for you to break through."
"Alright, thank you, my lord!"
"What are you thanking me for..."
Lin Zhao turned to look at Zhuo Zhi, at this sword immortal who had only one arm left. He saw the innocent girl who was a nascent sword immortal from the Mountain Summit Villa all those years ago. He couldn't help but chuckle, "Silly girl, it is I who should thank you. Without you, I would have lost a powerful assistant."
Zhuo Zhi's eyes reddened. "En..."
Lin Zhao's words were more meaningful to her than anything else in the world.
...
In the Eastern Forest Sea of the Demon Realm.
A young sword cultivator in a cyan vine-colored long robe, carrying a sword on his back, rode a donkey through the mountains.
After studying with his teacher Gu Lingyu for a period, Lin Zhujie decided to travel and broaden his horizons before returning to his studies. He consulted his teacher about this, and Gu Lingyu readily agreed. Learning was never about being confined to one place; it was essential to see more of the world and increase one's knowledge.
Moreover, although Lin Zhujie had a heart for learning, he was, after all, a twelfth-realm sword cultivator. His learning and realm both needed tempering. It was difficult to become a thirteenth-realm sword cultivator solely through studying.
In the morning, dew dripped from the forest. Lin Zhujie did not use any of his cultivation, allowing the dewdrops to fall on his body, feeling a sense of lazy contentment.
He suddenly sniffed the air and detected a strong scent of blood from ahead. He immediately patted the donkey's hindquarters, letting it fend for itself, and drew his sword, floating down to the mountainside ahead.
As Lin Zhujie looked down, he saw a hellish scene. Below the mountain was an earthen fortress, which should have been a place teeming with life. However, bodies were scattered everywhere. It was the aftermath of a battle between a fox tribe and a bear tribe, where both sides had suffered heavy casualties, resulting in a mutual destruction.
Lin Zhujie frowned. The last time he had traversed this Eastern Forest Sea, he had met fox and bear cultivators who were all kind-faced, even sharing tea and discussing the dao together. Yet now, the two tribes were killing each other with such ferocity.
This matter was extremely strange.
Lin Zhujie narrowed his eyes and activated his twelfth-realm grand sword cultivator cultivation. He immediately saw layers of faint, shimmering black flames covering the corpses, almost imperceptible to the naked eye. These black flames rose slowly, coalesced in the air, and then dispersed with the wind.
It was heart demon flames.
In an instant, Lin Zhujie was certain that the heart demons from beyond the heavens had infiltrated the mortal world and were now raging even in the heartland of the Demon Realm.
"This is not good!"
He frowned, then raised his sword, stirring up wisps of sword qi, and completely shattered the heart demon flames that lingered on the corpses. He then ascended on his sword and flew away.
At noon, in a humble wine shop in the mountains, Lin Zhujie walked in on foot and sat down to drink and eat.
Nearby, there were two other diners, both young in appearance. One was an eighth-realm wild boar spirit, who had transformed into a young martial artist wearing a gray short shirt. The other was a green bamboo spirit, which had transformed into a seventh-realm sword cultivator wearing a green long robe.
A demon and a spirit, walking the jianghu side-by-side, such a combination was common in the Demon Realm and contributed to its unique jianghu and customs.
Lin Zhujie was indifferent, only drinking wine and eating meat, uninterested in the two's tales of the jianghu.
Shortly after, a figure approached from a distance; it was a middle-aged man.
Despite the bright sun, he carried an oil-paper umbrella and wore a gray-white long robe. A book satchel was slung over his back, giving him the appearance of a traveling scholar. Yet, Lin Zhujie felt no scholarly aura from this person, not even a human presence.
"Boss."
The middle-aged man put down the oil-paper umbrella on the table and smiled. "Cut two jin of beef, and a jin of wine."
"Coming right up, sir, please wait."
Lin Zhujie's gaze swept over the oil-paper umbrella. He noticed that its inner side was patched and mended, seemingly with many names affixed to it. And those names... were indeed the names of demon cultivators. One of them was even someone Lin Zhujie had interacted with. On those names, the owner's innate aura lingered.
"Humph..."
The middle-aged man lightly patted the oil-paper umbrella. Immediately, wisps of almost invisible black energy emanated from the handle and streamed towards the eyebrows of the wild boar spirit and the green bamboo spirit.
"Friend."
Lin Zhujie slowly stood up. As he did, two streams of sword qi erupted, directly shattering the two black energies. He looked at the middle-aged man and smiled. "Do you really think there's no one in the Demon Realm?"
"Meddling?"
The middle-aged man waved his hand, opening the oil-paper umbrella. Black flames swirled around him as he floated up, laughing. "If you really want to meddle, let's find another place. Don't ruin these two excellent puppet-embryos here."
"Puppet-embryos?"
The green bamboo spirit frowned, utterly confused.
The wild boar spirit also looked bewildered.
"You two, keep drinking."
Lin Zhujie smiled slightly. "I'll handle the trouble."
Saying so, Lin Zhujie rode the wind and followed the middle-aged man into the depths of the mountains.