Slaying Mo Chenzi
As Mo Chenzi's figure swept past the entrance of Qingfeng Valley, the Carefree Sword Intent that had been veiled among the grass and trees and hidden in the flowing clouds suddenly surged forth like a dormant blade awakened by a thunderbolt. It was no longer the gentle concealment it had before, but instead carried a sharp force capable of piercing the sky—that sharpness entered his nasal cavity with his breath, and when it passed over his throat, it brought a cold, stinging pain, piercing straight into the deepest part of his mind's Spirit Sea. The innate spiritual light deep within his Spirit Sea was startled by this sharpness and began to pulsate violently, even causing a ripple to appear on his century-old, stable Dao Heart.
His hair stood on end, and the hair on the back of his neck trembled slightly from the oppressive force, each strand standing upright. A century of honed instinct brought him to a sudden halt. His feet, still suspended in mid-air, carried the momentum of his forward thrust, and the resulting wave of scorching air swept across the ground, swirling up a few withered leaves. The leaves spun in the air, their edges blackened by the intense heat, finally turning into charred fragments that scattered in the cracks of the bluestone slabs.
The Golden Whisk in the palm reacted first, its three thousand pale gold ribbons trembling violently like living serpents. Each ribbon was taut and straight, and the Mars that flew from its ends were not just a few scattered sparks, but a dense Fire Rain. The Fire Rain on the bluestone slab below, instantly burning out charred marks about half an inch deep. Faint blue smoke rose from the edges of the marks, mixed with the acrid smell of burning rocks, which mingled with the Central Plains, creating a strange odor.
His spiritual energy poured out without reservation, condensing into a semi-transparent, pale Golden Shield around his body. Fine, spiraling Flame Runes swirled across the shield's surface; this was the "Heaven Burning Armor," forged with thirty years of cultivation and his own Essence Blood. A hundred years ago, when resisting the Demonic Cult, this armor withstood the "Blood Corrupting Demonic Saber" of a high-level Devil Cultivator —a blade capable of corroding a cultivator's spiritual energy, yet it left not a single scratch on the Heaven Burning Armor. Attacks from ordinary high-level cultivators wouldn't even leave a mark.
"You cowardly cowards! How dare you destroy my Zhao Clan Array and injure my clan leader's arm? Why don't you fight me face to face? What kind of hero hides in the shadows!" Mo Chenzi roared, his voice booming like thunder through the valley. The sound waves spread outwards, causing the leaves in the dense forest on both sides to fall in a rustling sound, forming a thin layer on the ground. Even the winding stream in the valley was shaken, causing ripples to spread across its surface. The pebbles at the bottom of the stream swayed gently, and several spirit birds that had been drinking at the stream were startled. They flapped their wings and flew into the sky, splashing water and leaving behind a few panicked cries before disappearing into the clouds outside the valley.
His fingertips moved swiftly, forming hand Law Seals for the Heaven Burning Art. Each rotation of his knuckles carried scorching spiritual energy, and tiny Mars could be seen dancing between his fingers, each spark raising the surrounding air temperature slightly. A fist-sized Golden Flame rapidly condensed in his palm, enveloped in a pale red halo—a sign of the flame's extreme compression. As the halo shifted, even the surrounding light was distorted, and the shadows of distant trees became blurred within it.
As soon as the flame took shape, the surrounding air began to distort, and the distant vegetation withered at a visible speed: the once emerald green leaves first turned yellow, the veins gradually lost their luster, then became brittle and crumbled at the slightest touch, finally turning into powder, which was swept up by the valley breeze and scattered in the air; the bluestone on the ground was scorched, and the Green Moss in the crevices dried instantly, turning into grayish-green fragments that crumbled at the slightest touch; even the moisture in the air was instantly evaporated, leaving only a dry, scorching sensation, and even a breath made one's throat hurt, as if tiny embers were burning.
Instead of the expected roar, he was met with a gentle breeze carrying the fragrance of grass and trees. The wind was extremely light, yet it carried an irresistible force. Wherever the wind passed, a deafening "whoosh" suddenly came from the dense forest on both sides of the valley—not just a few scattered branches and leaves swaying, but the entire forest trembling collectively. The thick trunks tilted slightly, and the branches collided with each other, making a "crackling" sound.
Countless leaves, shimmering with a bluish-green light, detached from the branches, their edges crackling with a cold glint. Like arrows manipulated by an invisible hand, they shot densely towards Mo Chenzi. These leaves appeared ordinary, but in reality, they had been repeatedly tempered by the Free and Unfettered Carefree Sword Intent, their edges sharper than the blade of Black Iron Sword —previously, a Mysterious Iron spear belonging to a member of the Zhao Clan family had been sliced in two by this sword intent, its tip instantly snapping in two. Now, the leaves whistled through the air, so densely packed they resembled a bluish-green rainstorm, sealing off all of Mo Chenzi's escape routes.
The first wave of leaves struck the pale Golden Shield, creating tiny sparks and briefly dimming the Flame Runes runes on its surface. Mo Chenzi snorted coldly, flicking his wrist as his Golden Whisk lashed out like a whip, its threads weaving a dense, impenetrable net of Fire Net in the air—each mesh of the Fire Net pulsed with Golden Flame of extremely high temperature, igniting instantly upon contact. The leaves that shot towards him were instantly incinerated upon touching the Fire Net, turning into wisps of smoke that dissipated into the air, leaving not a trace of ash behind.
Before he could even catch his breath, more leaves surged out of the dense forest, several times more than before, like a never-ending blue downpour. Even the clouds in the sky were stirred by the sword intent, condensing into translucent blue energy blades—each blade with a faint halo around its edge, each a few feet long, its body shimmering with fragmented spiritual light, attacking him from all directions, sealing off all avenues for evasion.
The air blades struck the protective shield, producing crisp clanging sounds. Each impact sent a slight tingling sensation through Mo Chenzi's arm. The runes on the shield's surface flickered more and more frequently, even developing tiny cracks. Faint spiritual energy seeped from these cracks, dissipating into azure mist upon contact with the air. "A charade!" Mo Chenzi's eyes flashed with even more killing intent. The flames around him suddenly surged several meters, the golden light almost engulfing the entire valley entrance, even dyeing the distant rocks gold and causing their surfaces to radiate scorching heat.
He abandoned his passive defense and frantically poured his spiritual power into the flames, which instantly transformed into a ferocious golden fire dragon—its body was ten zhang long, its scales clearly visible, each scale pulsating with flames, its edges shimmering with a pale white halo; its horns were spiral-shaped, Mars tips sparking; the Flame Sect spewing from its mouth were pale white, the ultimate form of the Heaven Burning Art, hot enough to melt through Thousand-Year Black Iron —he had previously used this flame to melt through the Demonic Cult's Mysterious Iron city gate, a gate three feet thick, yet it instantly turned to molten iron in the flames.
The fire dragon, carrying World-Ending Aura, charged towards the dense forest on the left—where the Carefree Sword Intent was most concentrated, and even floating blue specks of light could be seen in the air, clearly Ren Xiaoyao's hiding place. Wherever the fire dragon passed, ancient trees were instantly burned to charcoal. The trunks first emitted thick smoke, mixed with black Mars, before collapsing with a roar. The broken parts were still burning, and Mars fell to the ground, igniting the dry leaves and forming small seas of fire. Even the Green Moss on the ground turned to ash, and a pungent, acrid smell filled the air, mixed with the thick smoke from the burning trees, making it almost impossible to open one's eyes and difficult to breathe.
Just as the fire dragon's claws were about to pounce into the dense forest, the ground suddenly cracked open with a "crack," revealing a ten-foot-wide fissure. The edges of the fissure were jagged, exposing the dark soil beneath, which was mixed with small rock fragments. A rich azure spiritual light surged from the fissure, mixed with faint fluctuations of the spiritual Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. The Spiritual Qi was so pure that it contained not a trace of impurity, forming a stark contrast with Mo Chenzi's fiery spiritual power.
A condensed, almost tangible, azure sword light shot out from the crevice. The sword light was incredibly fast, leaving only a cyan afterimage in the air. Before the afterimage had even dissipated, the sword light had already pierced straight into Mo Chenzi's dantian—the most vulnerable part of a cultivator, where their life force is stored. Once struck, at best, one's cultivation will be completely destroyed; at worst, one will die on the spot. It is the Achilles' heel of all cultivators.
The Sword Come incredible speed and an extremely tricky angle, precisely catching the moment when Mo Chenzi was activating the fire dragon and his spiritual energy was circulating in a slump—in order to control the fire dragon, most of his spiritual energy was poured into the dragon's body, leaving his dantian defenses already weak, and the Heaven Burning Armor at his dantian even briefly stalled. Mo Chenzi's expression changed drastically, his pupils suddenly contracting to the size of pinpoints. He couldn't continue controlling the fire dragon and hurriedly withdrew his attack to defend.
The Golden Whisk flashed like lightning before his dantian, and with a deafening clang, the sword light and the whisk collided violently. The sound echoed through the valley, shaking the surrounding trees and causing leaves to fall in a flurry. Several pale gold ribbons were instantly severed, and the broken ribbons, sparking as they fell to the ground, burned small holes, half an inch deep, into the hard Mars. Smoke still rose from the holes, carrying the acrid smell of burning ribbons.
Mo Chenzi was forced back by the force of the sword. With each step he took, a crack appeared in the bluestone slab beneath his feet, and the dust that seeped out from the crack was instantly burned to ashes by the flames surrounding him. A trace of glaring blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. The blood dripped onto the ground, and as soon as it came into contact with the scorching air, it turned into a wisp of green smoke and dissipated without leaving a trace.
Mo Chenzi looked at the source of the sword light with a mixture of shock and anger— Ren Xiaoyao stood beside the crack, his white robes fluttering in the breeze, a few unburnt leaves still clinging to the hem, their edges shimmering with a faint blue spiritual light; the Carefree Sword in his hand radiated a soft yet penetrating spiritual light, the cloud patterns flowing on its blade seemingly merging with the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, each turn causing fluctuations in the surrounding spiritual power, forming tiny ripples. His eyes were devoid of any emotion, showing neither killing intent nor smugness, as if the sword strike just now was not a devastating Killing Moves, but merely a casual swing.
"You dare to show yourself!" Mo Chenzi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his knuckles turning white from the force, his nails digging deep into his palms, leaving several bloody marks. The killing intent in his eyes was almost tangible, and the flames around him pulsed violently with rage, the temperature rising again, distorting the surrounding air. The flames around him surged once more, this time no longer a fire dragon, but transformed into countless fine, hair-like fire needles—each needle gleaming with a ghostly golden light, its surface wrapped with tiny Flame Runes that spiraled continuously, containing a temperature powerful enough to melt even the finest Mysterious Iron.
This is the Killing Moves of the Heaven Burning Art, "Heaven Burning Needles," one of his trump cards. A hundred years ago, he used this move against five cultivators from the Demonic Cult. The fire needle pierced through their protective shields and burned wildly along their meridians. The five cultivators turned to ashes in agony, their souls even being devoured by the flames, their deaths extremely tragic.
Countless fire needles rained down on Ren Xiaoyao, numbering in the tens of thousands, weaving a golden net in the air that blocked out even the sunlight, casting countless tiny shadows on the ground. The temperature in the air soared again, and even the distant rocks began to scorch slightly, with tiny cracks appearing on their surfaces. Faint moisture seeped from these cracks, evaporating upon contact with the air.
Ren Xiaoyao neither dodged nor evaded. He slowly raised his hand and plunged the Carefree Sword vertically into the ground. The moment the sword touched the ground, the remaining Carefree Sword Intent in the valley was instantly aroused, converging towards the sword like a tide. The cloud patterns on the sword became clearer, and one could even see Spiritual Qi flowing within the patterns, forming tiny streams. Then, this sword intent merged into the bluestone on the ground along the sword, and the bluestone slabs began to emit a faint blue halo, which gradually spread and covered the entire valley entrance.
The next second, the ground began to shake violently with a rumbling sound—not a slight tremor, but a violent tremor like an earthquake. Rocks on both sides of the valley began to fall, the fragments hitting the ground with a crackling sound; trees in the distance shook violently, branches colliding and snapping. Countless arm-thick, blue stone spikes protruded from the ground, their surfaces covered with a layer of blue spiritual light, their tips sharp as swords, gleaming with a faint, cold light.
These stone spikes not only precisely blocked all the fire needles—the moment the fire needles touched the stone spikes, they were shattered by the spiritual light, turning into Mars and dissipating—but also carried a fierce momentum as they coiled around Mo Chenzi. Faint cyan light threads connected the stone spikes, and these threads intertwined like a spider web, forming a huge stone net that sealed off all of Mo Chenzi's escape routes.
Mo Chenzi hurriedly took to the air, trying to avoid the entanglement of the stone spikes, but just as he was three feet off the ground, a heart-palpitating spiritual energy fluctuation suddenly came from above his head—that fluctuation was far more powerful than the previous sword intent, carrying the boundless power of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, making it almost impossible for him to breathe, as if a huge rock was pressing down on his chest, making even breathing difficult.
He looked up sharply and saw that the clouds above the valley had been forcibly condensed by the Carefree Sword Intent. They were no longer scattered white clouds, but had transformed into a huge azure sword shadow tens of feet long. Fine Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi flowed around the edges of the sword shadow, Spiritual Qi continuously poured into it like water, making the sword shadow clearer and clearer. The sword shadow carried a pressure as heavy as Mount Tai Crushing Down, and one could even vaguely see the Mountain and River Phantoms on the blade. There were mountains, water, clouds, and mist. These were signs of the perfect fusion of the Carefree Sword Intent and the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. Every Dao Patterns contained a vast natural power, as if a single sword strike could cleave mountains and rivers.
"Not good!" Alarm bells rang in Mo Chenzi's mind. He realized that he had already fallen into Ren Xiaoyao's trap: first, he used leaves and air blades to distract him and deplete his spiritual power; then, he used sword light to lure him into revealing a weakness and lowering his guard; finally, he drew upon the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to condense a sword shadow, completely cutting off his retreat and leaving him with no way to escape. At this moment, the sword shadow had already slashed down with a whistling sound. The Spiritual Qi in the air was drawn by the sword shadow, forming streams of azure air that swirled around it, its power growing increasingly terrifying, even dimming the light in the valley.
Mo Chenzi gritted his teeth, gathering all his spiritual power into his whisk without reservation, even drawing out the last bit of his natal spiritual power from his dantian—the golden spiritual light surged several times over, the runes on the surface of the shield became dazzlingly bright, and one could even see the runes constantly reorganizing to form a more complex defensive array. The array contained a faint spatial power, attempting to offset the pressure of the sword shadow. He knew he couldn't dodge it; he could only take this sword head-on!
The moment the sword shadow fell, the Golden Shield shattered like paper, offering no resistance whatsoever—the fragments of the shield dissipated into specks of golden light in the air, swirling before merging into the sword shadow, amplifying its power. The whisk handle was severed in two, the broken wooden fragments flying out with Mars, crashing heavily onto distant rocks and shattering into several pieces. The wood fragments were still burning, emitting wisps of blue smoke.
Mo Chenzi was slammed to the ground by the force of the sword, spitting out a mouthful of blood with a "pfft." The blood, mixed with fragments of broken internal organs, splattered onto the bluestone slab, instantly spreading out like a bewitching blood flower. The cracking sound of breaking ribs could be clearly heard in the silent valley; not just one or two, but several ribs snapped simultaneously, the broken ribs piercing his internal organs, bringing excruciating pain. Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the bluestone slab beneath him, extending several feet, with faint fluctuations of spiritual energy emanating from the cracks—the result of the leakage of his dissipated spiritual energy.
"You... you dare to hurt me!" Mo Chenzi struggled to get up, but as soon as he moved, a heart-wrenching pain shot through his dantian. His spiritual energy dissipated like a flood, and a tearing pain shot through his meridians— Ren Xiaoyao's sword light had not only injured his physical body but also disrupted his spiritual energy meridians. Several meridians were broken, and his spiritual energy was surging and crashing wildly within his body, making it extremely difficult for him to even mobilize a trace of spiritual energy. He looked up at Ren Xiaoyao, who was walking slowly towards him, his eyes filled with fear and resentment. His former arrogance had long since No Existence —he had never imagined that he, a dignified cultivator of the Human Immortal Realm had cultivated for a hundred years and had once single-handedly burned and killed a thousand members of the Demonic Cult Sect, would be so severely injured by a seemingly young junior through a scheme, without even the power to fight back.
Ren Xiaoyao walked up to him, bent down to pick up the Carefree Sword stuck in the ground, and gently pressed the tip against Mo Chenzi's throat—the spiritual light on the sword flickered slightly, causing a stinging pain on Mo Chenzi's skin, making his hair stand on end, and his throat muscles tremble involuntarily. His tone remained cold, without the slightest hint of killing intent, yet carrying an undeniable firmness. "I had no intention of being enemies with the Zhao Clan, much less taking lives. When I severed Zhao Lie's arm, it was merely a self-defense retaliation after he attacked me first. But you have pressed on relentlessly. If I do not eliminate you today, you will surely cause trouble for the ' Myriad Evil Cave ' in the future—the remnants of the Evil Sword Immortal have not been eliminated, the Evil Crystal is about to shatter, and once the Evil Qi erupts, millions of people below the mountain will suffer calamity. This Non-Self wish for."
A flicker of panic crossed Mo Chenzi's eyes. His survival instinct made him want to beg for mercy, but his lips moved only, producing a weak "hoarse" sound—a broken rib pierced his lung, preventing him from uttering a complete sentence. Before he could even utter a word, the sword light had already lightly grazed his throat—there was no earth-shattering sound, only a thin line of blood appeared on his neck, gradually widening as blood began to seep out.
The next second, blood gushed out, splashing three feet high like a fountain, staining the bluestone ground red and splashing onto Ren Xiaoyao's white robes, as dazzling as red plum blossoms, a stark contrast to the purity of the white. The light in Mo Chenzi's eyes quickly dimmed, from initial fear to resentment, and finally to complete loss of spirit, leaving only a deathly silence. His body slumped to the ground, his limbs twitching a few times before becoming completely still, only his chest still rising and falling slightly, but even that last rise and fall disappeared in a moment. A Human Immortal Realm cultivator who had been famous for a century, who struck fear into the hearts of the Demonic Cult, ultimately perished in this nameless Qingfeng Valley, his bones likely to be devoured by wild beasts.
Ren Xiaoyao sheathed his longsword and gently brushed away the bloodstains from his clothes—his fingertips brushed against the white robes, a blue spiritual light swirling around them, and the bloodstains vanished instantly, as if they had never been there. He glanced at the corpse on the ground, without lingering, neither searching for Mo Chenzi's belongings nor showing any extra emotion— Mo Chenzi's death was merely a minor episode on his path of exorcising evil spirits, insignificant. He lightly touched the ground with his toes, and his figure shot up like an arrow, transforming into a streak of blue light, several times faster than before, speeding towards the western "Myriad Evil Cave," leaving behind only the empty valley, the gradually cooling corpse, and the bluestone slab stained red with blood.
At this moment, the black mist in the sky grew thicker, no longer a thin layer, but like dark clouds covering the western horizon. The eerie light flickering within the mist became clearer, with red and black intertwining to form distorted faces that looked particularly bizarre. The Evil Qi in the air was also more pungent than before; even a single breath made one feel uneasy, as if countless tiny insects were burrowing into one's heart, trying to erode one's Dao Heart.
Ren Xiaoyao's heart tightened. He could clearly feel the fluctuations of the Evil Crystal growing weaker and weaker. The Evil Qi that had been so condensed as to be almost tangible was now dissipating at a visible speed—a sign that it was about to shatter. Once the Evil Crystal completely collapsed, the millennia-old evil power contained within would pour out like a flood. He dared not delay for a moment. The azure light drew a sharp arc across the sky, sweeping over the continuous mountain range. Even the clouds and mist in the mountains were dispersed by the airflow, revealing the lush forest below.
Along the way, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of smoke rising from the village below—a few children were chasing butterflies along the ridges of the fields, and a woman stood at the gate of her courtyard waving to her husband who was working in the fields; the rising smoke was full of the Mortal Worldly Charm. This scene made him grip his sword even tighter: if the evil power were to erupt, these vibrant lives would all be reduced to mindless Evil Puppet, and he absolutely could not allow such an ending to happen.