Asha

As the lion demon's claw struck her head, at this critical moment, Chen Asha shouted...

"Five Poisons Blood Transformation Skill!"

She made a hand seal, and the snakes, scorpions, toads, spiders, and centipedes on her body suddenly opened their mouths, their poisonous breath surging, and bit Chen Asha's hands, feet, and neck. Five colors of poisonous breath, purple, white, gold, blue, and red, overflowed, and the terrifying poison was injected directly into Asha's body!

Instantly, the girl's skin turned bluish-white and pinkish-red, veins bulged, blood poison flowed freely, her face contorted into a grotesque, ghostly expression, blood vessels in her eyes bursting, five-colored poisonous breaths rupturing the blood vessels in her pupils like five venomous insects, swirling and piercing into her pupils! Five poisons attacking her heart!

Chen Asha let out a long howl, and her Dao Breath surged! Her cultivation instantly rose to the Nascent Soul Realm! She broke free from the shackles of demonic power! She dodged the lion demon's pounce in a flash! At the same time, she drew a greatsword from her Storage Jade, did a somersault, and slashed at the lion's claws with her sword!

"Xuantian Rising and Falling Slash!"

"Ha! You poisoned yourself, just so I wouldn't dare eat you! You poisoned my head too, didn't you? Do you think I don't know your tricks? Your underhanded methods are useless against me!"

The Lion Demon laughed loudly, withdrawing his claws to avoid the sword strike. This old demon, having fought in the Ten-thousand-mountains for so long, was incredibly experienced. He immediately saw that this little girl possessed countless poisons and had used a desperate technique to enhance her combat power. Moreover, this so-called Mysterious Heaven Sword was extremely ruthless and could truly injure him. He immediately abandoned his contempt, shrugged his shoulders, and with a flick of his head, instantly transformed from his giant lion form into human form. With a wave of his hand, he picked up the Crescent Moon Blade and slashed horizontally, aiming to cut Asha in the waist!

Seeing that her rising and falling slashes couldn't even touch the lion demon, Asha decisively leaped away, abandoning her sword and dodging the blade's light. In mid-air, she shouted, "Profound Nether Ice River Escape!"

In an instant, frost appeared and a fierce wind swept across their faces! A river of ice rushed straight towards them! The Lion Demon was caught off guard and managed to block it with his sword, but he was trapped in the vast sea of ice and snow by the frost and snow dragon!

"What! The Profound Nether Escape Technique! How could you...?"

Suddenly attacked by a superior escape technique, before the Lion Demon could even recover from his shock, Asha was still fighting!

"Xuantian Lightning Strike!"

A girl wielding a rapier bursts forth from the icy blizzard! With a single strike, she slashes at the lion demon's head!

"A trivial skill!"

The Lion Demon roared, unleashing a burst of power that broke free of the icy restraints! He swung his Crescent Moon Blade, aiming a downward slash at Asha's feet!

"Lightning Strike Again!"

A flash of bluish-black light appeared on Asha's face, and her Dao Breath burst forth. Suddenly, she bent over and flicked her sword, reversing her sword momentum, deflecting the blade's energy, and with a flick of her wrist, she sent a gust of sword wind straight toward the Lion Demon's face!

"Excellent swordsmanship!"

This white-haired lion demon was, after all, an elite monster who had fought his way to the Divine Transformation stage in the Ten-thousand-mountains. Even when Asha attacked him with her ultimate power, combined with superior swordsmanship and stealth, and brought him right to her face, Asha's thrusting sword from advancing an inch!

However, Asha wasn't finished yet!

"Lightning Triple Strike!"

She roared and suddenly drew a twin sword from the hilt of her rapier, threw it with a backhand motion, and with a 'clang,' plunged the twin sword into the lion demon's throat!

That sword was not only forged from refined gold, but it also pierced the hide of a Divine Transformation stage demon! Moreover, the spine of the sword was engraved with Thunder Talisman! The moment the demon's blood overflowed the blade, the Thunder Talisman on the blade shone with a bright blue light! Thunder roared! Crackling and popping! A series of muffled Thunder Roar erupted! The explosions caused lightning to flash in the lion demon's mouth and nose, a cloud of blue smoke and fire, shattering its trachea and causing blood and flesh to spray wildly from its mouth and nose!

But Asha wasn't finished yet!

"Outburst Sword!"

She reached to her waist and pulled out a broadsword! She gripped and pulled the sword, coating the blade with a layer of bluish-black and purplish-red poisonous blood. Then, as if holding a dagger, she sidestepped to the lion demon's lower back and plunged the sword in!

"Roar--!!"

The Lion Demon coughed up blood and roared wildly, its demonic energy surging out of control. A fierce wind arose, blasting Asha away. The three swords on her body were thrown to the ground. She clutched the wounds on her throat and abdomen. Although she used her demonic power to break open the flesh corroded by the poisonous breath, the wounds were difficult to heal quickly, and blood flowed freely.

It never expected that a mere Golden Core junior would dare to challenge it head-on, and even take advantage of its superior magic and swordsmanship to launch a series of attacks on it first, completely humiliating it. Its six beast eyes stared at the girl who landed ten feet away, filled with rage and murderous intent!

"Heh... heh... hehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh to to to to, but, but also!"

Asha waved her hand expressionlessly, summoning another pair of Mandarin Duck Swords. Although these Mandarin Duck Swords were not divine weapons or magical treasures, they were still equally powerful. The inscriptions on their blades resembled flowing golden flames, making them quite beautiful.

The Lion Demon subconsciously glanced at the Crescent Moon Blade in his hand. This was a rare and superior-grade weapon selected from ancient immortal weapon ruins. It had just cut down more than a dozen Ink Mountain Heavenly Demons, but now it had been blocked by the Mother-and-Child Daggers, and the blade was already shattered...

The lion demon roared in fury, "Ah! My cold, beautiful saw--! You bastards! You've gone too far in bullying demons--!!"

Perhaps unwilling to part with his weapon, the Lion Demon shrugged, splitting one head into six. The other five heads, whose throats were unharmed, roared simultaneously, spewing out demonic winds, ice, and fire. Fireballs and ice spikes rained down on Asha! In an instant, demonic flames filled the mountains and fields, accompanied by deafening explosions, and nearly half of the mountain range was blasted flat!

Asha hadn't expected the demon to use ranged attacks. She quickly crossed her twin swords in front of her chest, imbued them with a clashing aura, and wildly swung them around, using the sword energy to deflect the lion demon's magical attacks. She dodged and weaved through the bombardment, narrowly avoiding the direct assault of the demonic power.

Although she had just gone all out and struck the lion demon twice with her sword, the opponent was, after all, a Nascent Divine Transformation stage demon. Even with this minor injury, he was still full of energy, howling and roaring. At this moment, the Nascent Soul Dao Breath that Asha had gained through the Five Poisons Blood Transformation Skill Nascent Soul Realm was visibly dissipating rapidly. She probably couldn't even withstand a single demon fire cannon shot from the lion demon head-on, and could only rely on skill to deflect and dodge.

Fortunately, the lion demon's attack speed wasn't fast; it mainly had many heads, so its firepower was spread out. With the Gu Yingshi Asha had honed by facing raindrops from the sky, she was more than capable of withstanding this frequency of bombardment and wouldn't be blown to pieces. However, she couldn't intercept all the shattered bricks and wood around her, so she could only endure the pain and tough it out under the bombardment, using the Gu Yingshi to evade and deflect the demonic energy attacks.

After a barrage of attacks, Asha survived, but she was leaning on her twin swords, panting heavily. Her cultivation had dropped back to the Golden Core realm, and her face was covered in a bluish-black sweat, overflowing with venom, as if she had just crawled out of a mud pit. The wounds on her skin from the bites of the Five Poisonous Insects had begun to fester and rot, clearly indicating that she was too weak to use the Five Poisons Blood Transformation Skill again.

Her swordsmanship had never reached its peak. Forcibly using sword energy to deflect and block the bombardment of demonic power inevitably damaged the blades of her two magical weapons. The blades of these two Magic Treasure had been bombarded by the demonic power of Divine Transformation many times, and they were already cracked and dim, their divine light gone.

In the short time that followed, the Lion Demon's injuries had mostly healed, and he laughed loudly, "Now you're swordless!"

Asha looked at it and patted the centipede's head on her waist.

The centipede opened its fangs and spat out a soft Soft Finger from Asha mouth. The sword was three feet long, its blade as thin as silver thread and as soft as a whip. The tip of the sword was covered with specks of jade-green centipede venom, clearly indicating that it had been laced with venom for many years.

The Lion Demon was speechless for a moment. "... Wait, why are you carrying so many swords?"

Asha surprisingly replied, "Actually, I don't like wielding swords either. But my elders thoughtfully prepared these gifts for me, and they keep asking me how my cultivation is going, so I felt embarrassed to refuse and have kept them with me."

As she spoke, she popped a red pill into her mouth, and her Dragon Fetus Feathering, her true energy surging! She once again reached the Nascent Soul Realm!

The Lion Demon remained expressionless. "Hey, that's going too far..."

Then Asha took out five green pills and fed them to her insects.

Then the black snake grew horns, the toad shed its golden shell, the spider grew a human face, the scorpion sprouted wings, and the centipede opened a thousand eyes. Then they all bit Asha, injecting her with five-colored, flowing poisonous flames that mixed into azure-blue Dao fire, which shot out from the girl's mouth and nose, setting her on fire!

Asha and the Five Poisonous Insects! Phase Two!!

"Hiss... What kind of weird moves are these...?"

The Lion Demon, being a mountain lion who had attained enlightenment, though unaccustomed to such things, sensed something was amiss and gasped in shock.

"Alright, alright, alright! Today I'm merely out patrolling the mountains and hunting, there's no need for me to fight you demonic cultivators to the death! Let's call it a night, farewell, until we meet again!"

"You're talking too much nonsense."

Suddenly, Asha flew towards the Lion Demon—no, she vanished and suddenly appeared. But she was so fast that she left the flames of her Dao behind, fluttering forward like a blue butterfly spreading its wings. With a flick of her Soft Finger Sword, she unleashed a single sword flower, followed by hundreds, thousands, and then three thousand more, blooming before the Lion Demon's eyes and showering his face! Then, like a shower of icy rain, she swept across his face, as if fine rain were pattering on his skin!

"Awoooooo--!"

The Lion Demon had no idea what kind of trick this was. He could only roar wildly and wildly slash with his Crescent Moon Blade, shattering and dispersing the Dao fire around him. Then he felt around and found that he hadn't lost any arms or legs.

It seems like... a lot of noise but little action?

Then it turned its head and saw that Asha had collapsed on the ground, exhausted and with a racing heart.

What's going on? One stab and it's over? That's it?

The Lion Demon swallowed hard and wiped away his sweat.

I wiped it again.

I wiped it again...

Then, looking at the overflowing blood in its hands, it realized it had been stabbed.

"Waaah..."

The lion suddenly realized that it hadn't been struck by a sword.

It's thousands of swords...

The fine rain that hits your face, each drop is a sword, and... each one is coated with deadly poison...

Oh no, I've been poisoned.

These ferocious beasts, who had attained enlightenment and possessed the ability to devour all kinds of poisonous creatures in the desolate mountains and wilderness, generally had a considerable degree of resistance to poisons. However, even they could not withstand being stabbed so many times by the poisoned sword.

The Lion Demon felt dizzy and lightheaded, his hands and feet felt numb, and his blood and qi were not flowing smoothly. In an instant, he understood the principle that quantitative change leads to qualitative change.

"Despicable, utterly despicable person! Ugh!!"

The lion demon, its white fur stained crimson, acted decisively, punching the abdomen, causing its six gaping maws to spew forth blood and thick fluid like a fountain.

"Roar--! You despicable scoundrel! Ugh!! You can't kill me! Ugh! You can't kill me, woof woof woof--!"

Indeed, although the thousands of sword strikes were terrifying, they were only superficial wounds, like fine rain or bee stings. Even with the addition of potent poison, while they temporarily injured the Lion Demon, they did not reach its vital points and could not take its life.

The effects of poison are limited; it might damage veins and internal organs over time, and some illusionary paralysis effects might be surprisingly effective in battle. But discussing effects without considering dosage is meaningless. This lion is so big; it's not so easy to poison it to death. However, forcing a Golden Core girl to this point is truly a disgrace.

Asha understood that now was the time for the Lion Demon to be completely flustered and unprepared, and for her to strike with a fatal blow.

But now she can't move a single finger.

That's already the limit.

Asha could only lie quietly on the ground, staring intently through the spider's tentacles at the lion demon who was cleaning his own mouth and stomach.

Watching the decisive opportunity he had fought so hard for slip away from his sight.

As long as there's even one person, or even just one helper nearby, we have a chance of winning.

But no, just now the Lion Demon roared and unleashed a barrage of attacks, probably turning the nearby Bamboo Mountain disciples to smithereens. There was no one left to come to their aid.

For a fleeting moment, looking at the lion in front of her and the spider crawling down her face, Asha's mind suddenly raced with images.

She suddenly recalled ten years ago, when Lei Marsh was rescued.

It's a pity that I disappointed my senior brother and Senior Huangfu.

Yes, she wasn't the kind of genius born with a sword heart.

It's not the kind of sword demon who has exceptional insight into or specializes in any one of the five styles.

They also lack the ability to remember everything they see, to grasp concepts instantly, or to apply knowledge to new situations.

She only knew that diligence could make up for lack of talent.

Therefore, over the past ten years, she has practiced and honed the Xuantian Five Forms with extra diligence every day.

I believe that with consistent hard work and perseverance, there will be a reward someday.

This 'reward' doesn't mean she hopes that when the crucial moment arrives, she can actually be like someone else, killing monsters of higher levels, challenging Golden Core Divine Transformation Nascent Soul Stage reaches the highest level, and even conquering a sect when she reaches the highest level.

It's not that she wants others to see this hardship, to acknowledge this diligence, or to expect returns from investments like flying swords, divine skills, talismans, or elixirs.

Asha simply hoped that with this diligence, she could hold on a little longer, fight a little longer, and stay a little longer in this perilous, cruel, and beautiful world.

It seems like Grandma instructed me to do that.

Even if only one remains, we must survive...

As if hearing her thoughts, the toad on its back crawled over and spat out a sticky talisman.

I didn't originally intend to use it.

As Senior Huangfu once said, relying on others will never get you through a life-or-death situation.

But,

I still don't want to die...

"Senior brother..."

"Hehehe, you despicable, wicked woman, it's no use being scared now! Begging your senior brother! Begging your father and grandmother, it's all useless! You've made me lose face! How can I let you die so easily?! Aaaaaah!"

In the short time that followed, the Lion Demon, having vomited and expelled all the toxins from his body, was back to normal and ready to fight again. He leaped up and roared to the heavens with his six heads, his voice shaking the mountains!

Then a gentle breeze swept by, and the lion's head rolled to the ground, like grapes falling from a broken vine.

Asha, "..."

"Sigh, still a little short, but the basics are passable, if you can manage."

The girl's voice drifted in like a gentle breeze, reaching my ears.

A short-haired girl with branded marks on her shoulders and back squatted in front of Asha, resting her chin on her hand. With a flick of her finger, she sent flying the spider and toad that were baring their fangs and claws and had puffed-out cheeks and bellies, protecting their master.

"Your Cultivation Method is quite interesting. Raising these poisonous insects to temper your five elements and refining your breath into a sword, although it's a crooked path, it can still be considered as mastering the true essence of my Sword Sect... Did you come up with this yourself?"

Although Yuepo has been in human form for ten years, she has often been cultivating by Li Fan's side or going out to slay demons. No other living person has ever seen her sword spirit.

Although Asha didn't recognize Yuepo's true form, her Cultivation Method technique had worn off, the medicinal effects were exhausted in one move, her true energy was depleted, her hands and feet were cold, and her muscles and bones were weak. She was powerless to resist, but seeing the sword sect's seal on the short-haired girl in front of her, and how she had easily slain six heads of the lion demon, she knew that she was probably a protector under her senior brother's command. So she answered honestly.

"It was Senior Huangfu who taught me."

"Oh, I thought so too."

Moon Soul beckoned, and the stone sword pellet that had been knocked off by the Lion Demon was retrieved and examined.

"You've used too much of this Frost Stone. All these years of slaying demons and monsters have taken a toll, and it was even knocked down by a demon, damaging its foundation. It needs to be taken back for major repairs. Hmm?"

Upon hearing this, Yuepo turned around and saw that the headless lion demon, in the instant it collapsed to the ground, transformed back into its original lion form. Suddenly, it used the momentum to leap forward, and from the huge, bloody wound on its neck, a gaping maw of fangs and flesh grew out. With a roar, it casually snatched a lion's head from the ground and leaped into the clouds to escape.

"They're almost at the seventh life! These days, monsters cultivate so fast!"

Moon Soul handed the Frost Stone Pill back to Asha, and at the same time, with a flick of her wrist, placed another purplish-black pearl-like sword pill in her palm.

"I won't steal your opportunity; I'll just lend you a hand. Remember my name..."

Then the girl's figure turned into purple light and disappeared, as if it were just a fleeting illusion, a scene from Asha's revolving lantern.

However, the realism of the sword pellet in my hand...

And there are lions running for their lives.

They all told Asha that this wasn't a dream.

She is still alive.

She has to live.

"False Moon Soul, unsheathe."

As the purple light shifted, rain began to fall from the clouds. Large raindrops pelted Asha's hair, sticky, thick, fishy, and foul-smelling, like blood squeezed into juice and stirred into foam.