Immortal of the Ages

If it were an ordinary Green Lotus Sword Soul, would the Serpent Emperor fail to suppress it? Of course not! The Sword Soul plunged into its heart, like it had been thrust into a realm of the dead. Heaven Burial drew blood and corroded at the same time, and how on earth could that be suppressed?

The Serpent Emperor bled explosively, hemorrhaging profusely and losing its demonic power!

"Only realizing it now, are we? Too late!" Yun Xiao taunted. He seized the opportunity as the Serpent Emperor started to weaken to slam its head into the ground, delivering several relentless punches—one after another!

BAM BAM BAM! Its serpentine eyes burst. Screams of agony echoed around them. BUZZ! Swift as lightning, Yun Xiao moved behind it, hoisted its tail, and swung it up high, pummeling it onto the ground repeatedly.

THUD THUD THUD! He directed all the Serpent Emperor's spattering blood towards its heart, while he kept smashing it onto the ground. This gruesome spectacle was a horrendous sight to behold.

"You vile beast, you dare harm my Senior Sister Zhao?" Yun Xiao bellowed, punching and smashing, relentless in his onslaught. During his violent onslaught, the Serpent Emperor's spine broke, bone splinters piercing out from its flesh!

"You insolent human! Are you aware of my secret identity?" the Serpent Emperor spat out in a ferocious tone. Its spine was barely holding up when Yun Xiao suddenly grasped his Flying Sword, transforming it into a three-foot-long Palm Sword, without even looking up, he thrust it directly towards the wound.

"I am the foster son of the Grand Wasteland Demon Lord!" Upon hearing this declaration, the onlookers from the Sword Pavilion were shocked, the faces of the two observing elders changed!

The Grand Wasteland Demon Lord! That entity not even the Forbidden Tower would dare to cross!

"Foster son?" Upon hearing this, Yun Xiao's Sword Soul plunged deeper into the Serpent Emperor's body, piercing its spine.

"Even if you are his blood-son, if you dare harm the Azure Spirit Sword Sect, I will make sure you are wiped from existence!" The Serpent Emperor was stunned. Immediately, the pain that shot through its demon bones surpassed all previous agony ten-fold.

Yun Xiao's Sword Soul was biting into its demon bones voraciously. For demons, this torturous experience was the ultimate nightmare.

"Ah!" the Serpent Emperor convulsed in the throes of pain. Its screeching screams reverberated in the night, sending chills down the spectators' spines.

"You will…"

"Did I say you could speak?" Yun Xiao interjected and with force, plunged his Sword Soul even deeper. The Serpent Emperor's speech turned into incoherent whimpers.

"Spare... spare me!" Finally, fear had overtaken the Serpent Emperor. But it was already too late.

"Spare you? Good joke! I hear you've achieved the Demon Core Realm, right?" Yun Xiao snarled.

"No, No!" The Serpent Emperor shook violently, whimpering and almost sobbing.

Yet Yun Xiao had already drained the demon of its marrow!

"Don't die just yet... If your death isn't gruesome enough, I'd be doing my Senior Sister Zhao a disservice!" Who could you have crossed paths with, out of all people, but those dear to Yun Xiao? Who made his white clothes? Who stoked the flames of his youthful passion?

Yun Xiao showed no mercy. He stepped on the serpent's abdomen, his sword plunged deep into it. As he drew his sword down, the serpent demon that once thought itself invincible was instantly gutted!

The Serpent Emperor screamed out its despair.

"Demon Core!" Yun Xiao cried out, his Sword Soul scooping out a black bead from the Serpent Emperor's abdomen, a bead emanating dense, demonic energy. It was no larger than a soybean, but the energy it contained was overwhelming.

"My... my core…" The Serpent Emperor's despairing scream grew weaker. Its recently formed Demonic Core was gone, and its life was fast fading. Yun Xiao swiftly severed its spine, his foot firmly planted on top of the monster.

"Who's the mortal? Who lives from dawn to dusk?" Yun Xiao taunted. "Now, it’s you that’s dead and I'm still alive! I carry the grace of the Creator Immortal. What are you?"

A whirring flurry of ten slashes from Yun Xiao's sword, and the Serpent Emperor's skin was flayed and flesh split open.

"Ah!" With its last gasp carrying fear of the young man, the Serpent Emperor succumbed to death. A thousand-year-old demon fell at the hands of a sixteen-year-old boy. It couldn't believe its own fate.

"Yun Xiao…" Beside the scene, Jiang Yue was terrified out of her wits. Just a moment ago, she’d been secretly praying for Yun Xiao’s death. Yet, the boy turned out to be a living nightmare, making her crumble in fear. However, Yun Xiao had long grown indifferent to her feelings. He even started to find her repulsive.

At first, Yun Xiao had planned to take her head back to Cloud Nation, but now it seemed more and more pointless. The once-acclaimed genius had become an unmistakably laughable clown after her downfall.

He turned his attention to the people from Sword Pavilion. He had no relatives apart from his sect members. To him, his Senior Sister Zhao, senior brothers, the elders and even his mute Master were like family.

With the Serpent Emperor slain, Yun Xiao lifted his gaze. At the entrance of Grand Hall, a woman in a black gown leaned against a pillar, her eyes moist with tears, a smile of delight underscored by sadness glistened as she looked at him. Words weren't needed. Everything he needed to know was spelled out in her gaze.

SQUELCH SQUELCH SQUELCH! The fiery passion within Yun Xiao was still not entirely cooled. He turned and skinned the colossal serpent entirely, presenting a ghastly sight.

"Yun Xiao is the true heaven-defying genius! Who else can strike eleven times with the Ten-Step Scale and make it echo through the ages?" Grandpa Qin exclaimed, his words inspiring everyone present with greater hope.

"Indeed!"

"He hasn't even measured his Sword Soul yet. Who knows how powerful it is?" Cai Maomao, his ardent supporter, was fired up.

The members of the Sword Pavilion were all reinvigorated.

"Junior Brother Yun, there are still three demon bones," a woman in a black gown softly pointed at the three wolf carcasses in the crowd. "Develop your Sword Aura first, then your Sword Ring."

Composed, Zhao Xuanran was already thinking of Yun Xiao's next steps. The night's battle was not over yet. Vengeance still simmered in their hearts.

"How is our Master?" Yun Xiao asked.

"I'll explain later," Zhao Xuanran, her voice trembling slightly.

"Alright!" Yun Xiao nodded and quickly absorbed the demon bones from the three eight-hundred-year-old Demon King carcasses.

While they were not as powerful as the thousand-year-old Demon Emperor, they still allowed Yun Xiao's Sword Soul to develop two more layers of Sword Aura!

"Twenty-nine layers of Sword Aura, five more than Ye Tiance and two more than our Master during his peak! This ranks among the revered in the history of Azure Spirit!"

At present, the Heaven Burial Sword Soul not only had a terrifying quality but its Sword Aura was significantly superior to that of others! It looked exceedingly ferocious, its deadly power almost uncontrollable, affecting its environment!

"Imbed the Demon Core into the Sword Soul to form the Sword Ring!" Zhao Xuanran instructed.

"Alright!" Yun Xiao held the black Demon Core!

Everyone in Sword Pavilion drew closer, eagerly watching the scene unfold. At this moment, only the Sect Master and Ye Tiance possessed a Sword Ring, so the others were intensely curious.

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ! As the black Demon Core neared Heaven Burial, it seemed to dissolve, transforming into a black ring that coiled around the azure Sword Soul—the development of a Sword Ring, a millennium Sword Ring!

This Sword Ring came with both demon powers and demon magic and released black fog continuously around the Sword Soul's surface, fusing and merging with the Sword Aura.

The Serpent Emperor's demon magic, akin to a death force, contained substantial toxicity and corrosion.

"This way, the Sword Ring doesn't just add demon magic and power but enhances the Sword Soul and better conceals the death attribute of the Heaven Burial Sword Soul! The observers will mistakenly presume it originates from the Sword Ring!" Yun Xiao mused, who had realized the killing potential of his weapon had grown manifold since integrating the Sword Ring.

"Perfect! The First Sword of Azure Spirit coupled with the most potent Sword Soul! Yun Xiao, you're second to none!" Grandpa Qin applauded, infused with great enthusiasm.

"Senior Sister Zhao, it's time to discuss his condition," Yun Xiao took a deep breath.

"Come with me." Zhao Xuanran led Yun Xiao into the Grand Hall. The man in the azure robes who had been sitting cross-legged inside had collapsed. He lay motionless, his eyes closed, his face pale, and his breath faint. He was not dead— but his condition could hardly be considered good.

"His Sword Soul was initially half broken, but now it’s three-quarters gone, barely stabilized by the remaining magic power." The gloom in Zhao Xuanran's eyes expanded as her voice trembled with pain and anger.

"Could the items from Sword Heaven save him?" Yun Xiao asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes!" Zhao Xuanran asserted.

"Leave it to me!” Yun Xiao demanded, his gaze burning into her.

"Yes…" Zhao Xuanran's eyes welled up with tears as she choked, "But he can probably only hold on for a month more."

"A month? Noted!" Yun Xiao said firmly.

Suddenly, Zhao Xuanran took a softer tone, “Junior Brother Yun, there is an understanding between you two.”

"Yes! That's why he didn't exert his full strength today, he left some for me to finish!" Yun Xiao nodded.

Indeed, that was the unspoken agreement between men! Had Zhao Jianxing given his all, he might have died at that moment, not leaving a month left for healing. He had faith in Yun Xiao and also gave himself a fighting chance.

Yun Xiao did not let him down! They were master and disciple but had never spoken in words until now. Yet, it was enough. With a fellow traveler in life, even death could be willingly accepted!

The Sword Pavilion quieted down. However, outside, the noises were escalating. There was a civil war in Azure Spirit!

"Senior Sister Zhao!" Yun Xiao suddenly looked up at her.

"Go!" She understood him.

"Today, I will give Azure Spirit an answer!" After his statement, Yun Xiao turned abruptly and stormed out of Grand Hall, disappearing into the bushes. And he dragged along with him, the corpse of the thousand-year-old Serpent Emperor!

"Father's in your hands now, I'm following him," Zhao Xuanran turned back to Grandpa Qin and the others.

"Are you sure you're not injured?" Elder Zheng asked, showing concern.

"I'm not going to die!" Having said that, she chased the white figure disappearing at the entrance of Grand Hall.

"Where are they going?" Qin Tong asked with a trembling voice.

"To cull those who betrayed the sect!"

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Outside the Sword Pavilion, the clashing of swords echoed to the high heavens! Ye Tiance, Yao Manxue, and Zhang Jian led three hundred Sword Cultivators, wielding their swords in midair, their eyes cold as ice, as they charged towards the outraged crowd.

“With my power reaching the heavens, who dares to defy me?!” Ye Tiance roared, armed with a dark golden Sword Soul spiraled with a golden Sword Ring, accompanied by twenty-four layers of golden Sword Aura. It was the most resplendent sword in the midnight sky.

“Are you the one?” His cold sneer echoed as his eyes locked onto an old man standing before him.

“Ye Tiance, you’re despicable! As a cultivator, you conduct yourself shamefully. May you meet a dreadful end!” the elder’s eyes blazed with anger.

“Shut up!” Ye Tiance vanished momentarily and reappeared with a slash perfect enough to decapitate the elder. He held the severed head aloft, his severe voice reverberated through the battlefield, “See this? This is the fate of anyone who defies the Ye Family!”

“With the presence of Sword Venerable Ye, anyone who dares to challenge us is signing their death warrant!” Zhang Jian flattered while swinging his sword.

“Still unsure who’s the strongest in Azure Spirit?” Yao Manxue’s sweet voice rang out, laced with a chilling mockery, as her sword swept wide.

Sure enough, nobody could contend with Ye Tiance! He killed whoever he saw! And, his three hundred Sword Cultivators who had been assembled from the start outnumbered the rest! He was in a dominating position, using strength to oppress the weak and taking advantage through numbers!

"Slay them! Annihilate all!" The Ye Family, led by Ye Xuanying, despite having their tongues removed, found the sight remarkably thrilling. Their furious grunts could barely be deciphered into words, but annihilate was distinctively audible. Everyone echoed the same sentiment! Although deprived of their tongues, their eyes burned with intense uproar, staring at Ye Tiance, their smiles filled with wicked satisfaction!