Calamity of the Demonic Cultivator, Fabricated Divine Soul

At the beginning of the Great Transformation, demonic cultivators were still unrestrained, slaughtering entire cities at the slightest provocation.

However, as cultivation methods spread throughout the world, individuals often managed to survive when demonic cultivators slaughtered spirits to refine their arts.

Among them was one person who not only joined a sect but became a disciple of an Immortal Sect ancestor; once his cultivation reached success, he would kill any demonic cultivator he laid eyes on.

Many descendants of Old Devils tried to take revenge after their kin were killed, but that Immortal Sect ancestor was extremely protective of his own, personally intervening and causing heads to roll.

The ancestors of the demonic path were of a solitary and arrogant nature; to them, if some unrelated demonic cultivators were killed, then so be it—it was simply their own misfortune.

This led to the gradual decline of the demonic path, as many of its artifacts required the refining of living souls or the use of living beings as sacrifices.

To improve this situation, some Old Devils of the demonic path gathered together and, through the cloning technology mentioned by Saint Emperor Abyss, combined with illusion-based acceleration, actually managed to mass-produce divine souls.

Although this act was likewise not tolerated by the world, the number of people targeted was ultimately much smaller.

Since then, the demonic path had slowly begun to recover.

"Sigh~ True Person, you are right; I truly cannot be considered an impressive demonic cultivator," the young man sighed softly. "That is why I had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure."

While artificial divine souls were convenient, they were expensive.

An artificial divine soul with quality comparable to True Person Xiaoning was something he couldn't afford even if he sold himself.

Sigh~ being a demonic cultivator these days is truly difficult.

He shook the Ten Thousand Soul Banner in his hand once more.

"Please, True Person, be on your way."

Clear light cascaded like a waterfall, and those banner ghosts, with their majestic expressions resembling gods, spoke in unison, filling the sky with ten thousand rays of light.

True Person Xiaoning felt a jolt of alarm, and a dark red faceplate instantly covered his entire head, but it was of no use; the sound of Buddhist chanting rang in his ears.

Because his opponent's cultivation was already higher than his own, coupled with the amplification of the Soul-Absorbing Array and the loss of the initiative, boundless exhaustion surged from the depths of his soul in an instant, making him want nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep until the end of time.

In a single exchange, True Person Xiaoning of the Void Return Realm was about to be captured!

It seemed his divine soul was destined to be sucked into the Ten Thousand Soul Banner to serve as a miserable laborer for the rest of his life.

"Cannot sleep!"

The roar was like thunder, causing ripples to spread through the clear light filling the sky.

The sky seemed to ignite in an instant, and surging, extreme blood energy kicked up scorching heat waves; a blood-red light pierced through the clear light like a crimson spear thrusting toward the heavens.

The young man, who was in the middle of dealing with True Person Xiaoning, raised an eyebrow, dodging to the side while swinging his left hand in a light slap.

Thud!

The blood light dissipated, and a muscular giant nearly three meters tall appeared, his arms crossed to block the young man's strike.

A body cultivator, and a Void Return Realm body cultivator at that!

"Isn't that Old Jiang?!" Students at Xuanjian City No. 3 Middle School quickly recognized the identity of the body cultivator.

But most were still in a state of bewilderment.

"Old Jiang? Who is Old Jiang? Does our school have such a great cultivator?"

"He's that librarian!"

"Ah? Isn't he only at the Foundation Establishment stage?"

For a moment, there was a flurry of discussion; no one had expected that the frail old man who looked like he could be blown over by a gust of wind was actually a hidden master!

A Void Return Realm great cultivator, and a body cultivator at that!

Zhang Yunlu, who had just recovered and managed to stand up, also stared blankly at the sky.

She liked to go to the library to read, so she had chatted with this librarian a few times, but the scene before her was completely beyond her expectations.

"So it's true that great cultivators like to play among the mortals," she murmured.

"Playing among the mortals is not necessarily the case, but his injuries are very severe; he should be dying soon."

Ah?

How could you tell?

Zhang Yunlu was startled and suddenly turned to look at Xu Xing's back, an incredibly absurd guess forming in her heart.

In the sky, Old Jiang's eyes were bloodshot, and the few remaining strands of hair on his head danced in the wind.

Due to the hidden injuries in his body, he had reached his limit after blocking that palm strike.

"A dying man dares to ruin my plans."

After a flat remark, the young man slapped him away as if swatting a fly.

This Void Return Realm body cultivator had been his original choice, but now that he had a better one, he would extract the old thing's soul after he finished dealing with Xiaoning.

At the school, Xu Xing watched all of this, still not making a move.

In the sky, True Person Xiaoning watched as the fellow daoist who had come to save him was swatted away, his life or death unknown, and his heart grew even more conflicted.

He had been caught off guard just now, but having learned his lesson, he felt confident he could hold out for two minutes until the sect reinforcements arrived.

This Great Void Sword Qi was exactly the refining material he was in dire need of...

That fellow Daoist is a body cultivator; he won't have any issues taking a single palm strike...

Fuck!

"Fuck! You motherfucking poor ghost! You dead-broke bastard, why the hell are you refining a Ten Thousand Soul Banner! This Daoist will send you down to meet your mother today!"

All manner of bottomless, filthy profanities poured from the mouth of True Person Xiaoning, leaving even the demonic youth opposite him stunned.

"For a True Person to act like this, isn't it a bit beneath your statu—fuck!"

Suddenly, a purple light ignited between True Person Xiaoning's brows, and a magnificent sword intent soared into the sky.

Great Void Sword Qi!

Hum~

Everything in the entire city froze, turning into a black-and-white landscape, with only that streak of purple light growing increasingly blinding.

The movements of everyone in the school locked the instant the sword qi emerged; the only ones unaffected were Xu Xing and Zhang Yunlu.

"Don't look at me, look at them."

Hearing this, Zhang Yunlu shifted her gaze to the sky, her heart becoming increasingly certain.

"Slash!"

In the black-and-white world, the purple sword qi resembled a swimming dragon, roaring and surging as it prepared to tear the demonic youth to shreds.

Crack!

At the critical moment, the sky seemed to shatter, and a massive hand roiling with demonic energy reached out, crushing the sword qi in one grip and snatching toward True Person Xiaoning.

Above the Void Return Realm!

A great power had intervened!

The turn of events happened too quickly; True Person Xiaoning had no time to react and was on the verge of losing his life.

Suddenly, the previously crushed Great Void Sword Qi re-aggregated, becoming dozens of times more powerful than before, even causing that demonic hand to slow significantly!

The next instant, the sword qi descended.

Roar!

A sound, neither quite beast nor human, filled with agony, echoed out as the shattered sky returned to its original state.

The severed demonic hand shrank to the size of a normal arm and plummeted into a deep pit in the ground.

As for the demonic youth, his body and soul were shredded by the sword qi, dead beyond any hope of resurrection, leaving only the Ten Thousand Soul Banner floating silently in the sky.

In the school, the surrounding people remained in that frozen state, but Xu Xing turned to look at Zhang Yunlu.

"How does it feel, little girl?"

"I..."

Zhang Yunlu opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Everything had happened in the blink of an eye, with too many reversals occurring too fast. She had thought True Person Xiaoning was already formidable as a Void Return Realm great cultivator, yet that demonic cultivator was even stronger.

And that demonic cultivator, who was more powerful than True Person Xiaoning, had been utterly helpless against that sword qi.

The demonic hand that appeared at the end was clearly on an even higher level, perhaps even beyond the Void Return level, yet it had still been severed by the re-aggregated sword qi.

"What will happen to that demon who appeared at the end?"

"He should die."

Other immortal sects might be one thing, but to offend the Supreme Dao Sect and have an arm severed—the chances of that great demonic power surviving were slim to none.

"That sword qi..."

"Great Void Sword Qi, from the hand of a sword cultivator practicing the Great Void Sword Canon."

The Great Void Sword Canon—she had seen it on the Spirit Net; it was the supreme technique of the Sword Sect!

"So you are...?" Zhang Yunlu's voice trembled slightly.

"Exactly as you think."

Although Xu Xing had never explicitly stated his identity, he had no intention of deliberately hiding it either.

As the purple sword qi dissipated, the world began to gradually regain its color.

"This is a good era, I like it very much, so I will be staying in this city for a while." Xu Xing looked at Zhang Yunlu and smiled slightly. "If we meet again by fate, I will give you a rather decent little gift."

As his words fell, his figure vanished.