Demon Wolves Attack the Village

Several bloody claw marks ran across the old man's body, faint green demon aura wafting from them.

At the sight of that demon aura, Lin Qingxian suddenly felt an inexplicable agitation stir within her body. Only after suppressing it with Sword Qi did it gradually subside.

This had happened before, but in recent years, it had become increasingly pronounced.

They all knew this old man. He was Liu Ergou, the village chief of Sword Immortal Village at the foot of Sword Immortal Mountain.

Demon troubles had become frequent throughout Great Xia. The various academies under the Martial Hall had each taken on part of the duty of protection. Whenever demon troubles arose in nearby villages or cities, the academies would send people to deal with them.

Sword Immortal Village was precisely within Sword Immortal Academy's jurisdiction.

After glancing at Liu Ergou's injuries, Lin Jiansan's brows immediately furrowed.

Had demon troubles struck again?

"What happened?"

Chou Wantian's expression was equally grave.

"Many terrifyingly powerful demons came to the village. They ate anyone they saw, and they have already eaten dozens of our people! Fortunately, the Ninth Princess and the students of Zhenkun Academy arrived in time and are fighting them now. But the enemy is too strong. The Ninth Princess and the others are almost unable to hold on any longer. Please, Headmaster Chou, act quickly!"

Liu Ergou's face was full of urgency.

"How many demons came? What realms are they in? Even Zhenkun Academy's people cannot suppress them?"

Chou Wantian asked.

"Nearly a hundred. They are a pack of Ironclad Demon Wolves. Most are Demon Apprentice Seventh Heaven, while a few have reached Demon Apprentice Eighth Heaven! Zhenkun Academy's students are formidable, but their scales are too hard. Ordinary weapons can barely hurt them. As time drags on, Zhenkun Academy's students cannot endure much longer! Please, Headmaster Chou, hurry down the mountain and slay the demons!"

Liu Ergou said anxiously.

Chou Wantian fell silent for a long time before shaking his head. "I cannot act!"

"Why? Haven't you always dealt with the demon troubles around here before?"

Liu Ergou's eyes widened.

"Half a month ago, a Demon Race Heavenly Prodigy Rank was slain by an expert of our Human Race. The Demon Race's great powers flew into a rage, slaughtering ten cities of our Human Race and killing dozens of our Heavenly Prodigy Rank."

"The Demon Race has declared that they will not interfere if the younger generations of humans and demons kill one another within the same realm. But if any member of the Human Race dares to strike across realms, they will make the Human Race pay a price in blood!"

Chou Wantian said in a low voice.

"What? The Demon Race wants to use our Human Race as a whetstone to hone their demon prodigies? How outrageously arrogant!"

Lin Jiansan flew into a rage at once. He had long lived in seclusion and had only just learned of this news. He had never expected the Demon Race to be this overbearing!

"That is exactly what they mean. But even if we feel humiliated now, we can only follow their wishes. Otherwise, once the Demon Race retaliates, the price will be one our Human Race cannot bear!"

Chou Wantian clenched his fists, his eyes filled with unwillingness as his aged body trembled slightly.

A mere hundred or so Ironclad Demon Wolves could be wiped out with a single stroke of his sword, yet he could not act.

Once he acted, the Demon Race's great powers would act as well, launching frenzied reprisals. Human Race Heavenly Prodigy Rank were already few in number and simply could not withstand such slaughter by the Demon Race.

"I will go. Sword Immortal Village is protected by Sword Immortal Academy. We cannot simply watch as the villagers are slaughtered to the last by demons!"

At that moment, Lin Qingxian stepped forward.

Chou Wantian glanced at her and shook his head. "You are a sword cultivator, and your attack power is stronger than that of martial artists. You may be able to break the Ironclad Demon Wolves' defenses. But if so many Ironclad Demon Wolves swarm you together, even you will not be able to endure. It is too dangerous!"

"What if you add me?"

At that moment, Xiao Chen slowly appeared before them.

He had heard their previous conversation. The Heaven-Defying Demon Slayer Art he cultivated was specifically meant to deal with demons and required advancement through slaughter.

This pack of Ironclad Demon Wolves was perfectly suited for his training.

The others immediately turned to look at Xiao Chen.

"Why did you come out? You have not even mastered the cultivation art... You have already entered the threshold? How is that... possible! In such a short time, you have actually cultivated the Heaven-Defying Demon Slayer Sword Sutra to the entry level?"

Chou Wantian had been about to reprimand Xiao Chen for overestimating himself, only to discover in astonishment that Sword Qi radiated sharply from Xiao Chen's entire body, far more solid than before. He had clearly cultivated the technique to the entry level.

But even a Yellow Rank cultivation art should take one or two months to reach the entry level!

Xiao Chen had entered the threshold in a quarter of an hour?

What the hell kind of comprehension was that?

Heaven-Jealous One, my ass. He was more like a child of destiny!

Lin Jiansan and Lin Qingxian were also dumbfounded.

"Grandfather, I remember you saying that the Sword Dao was difficult to cultivate. Even the lowest-grade inferior Yellow Rank cultivation art required a month to enter the threshold for someone with high talent. So you were lying to me before!"

"Nonsense. Why would Grandfather lie to you?"

"Then why did Xiao Chen enter the threshold in less than a quarter of an hour?"

"This... how would I know? This kid is a damn freak!"

Lin Jiansan truly had no idea how to answer!

At his age, he had seen every kind of prodigy and monster, but he had never seen anyone as outrageous as Xiao Chen.

He comprehended the Sword Dao in dozens of breaths and entered the threshold of a cultivation art in a quarter of an hour. This was a monster among monsters, absurdly outrageous!

"Stop standing around. Who can find me a sword?"

Xiao Chen looked at Chou Wantian and the others.

Chou Wantian glanced at Xiao Chen, then made a grasping motion. A black, battered longsword appeared out of thin air in his hand, and he tossed it to Xiao Chen.

The moment Lin Jiansan saw the sword, his pupils shrank sharply as he looked at Chou Wantian in disbelief.

His junior brother had always been miserly, yet now he was actually giving this sword to Xiao Chen?

After Xiao Chen received the sword, he immediately drew it three inches. The imagined scene of bone-chilling cold did not appear. Instead, the blade was covered in rust, as though it had not left its sheath in a very long time and was on the verge of becoming scrap.

Xiao Chen's eye twitched at once. He glared furiously at Chou Wantian. "Old Man Chou, what the hell do you mean? As the next headmaster of the academy and Sword Immortal Academy's hope of rising again, this is the broken sword you give me?"

Chou Wantian turned to Xiao Chen. "A broken sword? This sword is called Dragon Slayer. It is an ancient Fierce Armament that once slew nine Primordial True Dragons. It has True Dragon souls sealed within it, and its power is boundless. It may even be capable of slaying gods, yet you call it a broken sword!"

"It... it slew Primordial True Dragons? This sword is that powerful?"

Xiao Chen stared at the rotten sword in his hand in astonishment, a trace of disbelief flashing through his eyes.

This broken sword looked no different from scrap metal. Who would have thought it had such an immense origin?

Yet no matter how he examined it, he could not find anything special about the Dragon Slayer Sword.

Thus, he looked suspiciously at Chou Wantian. "Old Man Chou, you are not fooling me, are you? This sword really looks like scrap iron. How could it be some ancient fierce weapon?"

"Heh. A fierce sword has a spirit and chooses its own master. Dragon Slayer is currently dormant. Whether you can awaken it depends on you! If you can truly awaken it, nine dragons will soar into the heavens. Calling that might heaven-destroying and earth-shattering would not be an exaggeration!"

"But if you cannot awaken it, it is merely an ordinary sword!"

Chou Wantian explained.

"Fine, I will trust you this once! Come, Miss Lin. Descend the mountain with me and slay demons!"

Xiao Chen sheathed the sword and strapped it to his back. After glancing at Lin Qingxian, he strode toward the foot of the mountain.

Lin Qingxian looked at Lin Jiansan. He said quietly, "He has only just entered the Sword Dao and cultivates only the lowest-grade cultivation art. His combat strength is weak. On this trip, you will take the lead. Do not let him act rashly. Both you and he must return safely!"

Lin Qingxian nodded, leapt into the air, and chased after Xiao Chen.

"Th-this... Headmaster Chou, there are nearly a hundred demon beasts. Can just the two of them manage?"

Liu Ergou looked at the two retreating figures, his face creased with worry.

Chou Wantian remained silent for a long time.

When the nest is overturned, how can any egg remain intact!

Sword Immortal Academy only had two people in total, and he had sent them both out. If they could not manage, what else could he do?

At the entrance to Sword Immortal Village.

Ye Qingxuan and several companions had already been surrounded by nearly a hundred Ironclad Demon Wolves. Their expressions were haggard, and their white dresses were speckled with blood, leaving them in a thoroughly bedraggled state.

Around them lay more than a dozen corpses of Zhenkun Academy students. They had been gnawed beyond recognition, an unbearably tragic sight.

Nearly a hundred Ironclad Demon Wolves stared at them with scarlet eyes, bloodthirsty ferocity glinting in their gaze.

As she looked at these terrifying demon wolves, massive in size and covered from head to toe in scales as hard as iron armor, a thread of despair flashed through Ye Qingxuan's eyes.

She had never expected to fall into a deathtrap on her very first day at Zhenkun Academy.

If she had known, she would not have rashly come to investigate the demon wolves!

Zhenkun Academy was very close to Sword Immortal Academy. When the demon wolves had attacked the village earlier, she and several Zhenkun Academy freshmen had happened to be nearby and decided to investigate. Yet several freshmen had been so terrified upon seeing the demon wolves that their courage shattered, and they could not help crying out. They had directly drawn the wolves' attention, been surrounded, and fallen into a dead end.

"Senior Brother Zhang, why has no one from Sword Immortal Academy come to support us yet?"

A round-faced girl stared at the pack of demon wolves around them, her entire body trembling.

"You are still counting on Sword Immortal Academy? They are nearly bankrupt and seem to have only one student left! Today, they even accepted Xiao Chen, a Heaven-Jealous One. They are clearly so starving they will eat anything! What ability do they have to save us?"

The handsome youth called Senior Brother Zhang held a curved saber toward the demon wolves as he spoke with disdain.

Sword Immortal Academy had long since rotted to the bone over the years. They were all trash, and Xiao Chen was a body of misfortune, trash among trash.

Rather than count on Sword Immortal Academy, they might as well count on a sow climbing a tree!

"But isn't Xiao Chen a born King Physique, an unrivaled genius? If he became a sword cultivator, he should be very powerful, right?"

"Senior Sister Zhu, what nonsense are you talking about? He is merely a Heaven-Jealous One, destined to be cursed by the Heavenly Dao and born incompatible with the Dao. How could someone like that possibly awaken the Sword Dao, the hardest Dao in the world to awaken today? He is destined to be trash for the rest of his life!"

Senior Brother Zhang spoke disdainfully, secretly glancing at Ye Qingxuan as he did so.

He was the young master of a great clan in Barren North City and had always admired Ye Qingxuan. He was extremely displeased with Xiao Chen, who had once been betrothed to Ye Qingxuan.