Evergreen Saint Venerable, Renowned Across Green Province

The Spatial Rift closed behind him.

Lin Changqing appeared above a wilderness, with an endless expanse of open plains beneath his feet.

He swept his gaze across the surroundings and confirmed that this was the first location marked on the map.

Near the Cangling Mountain Range, at the border between Green Province and Xu Province.

According to Zhou Zheng's notes, a Demon King that had only recently broken through to the seventh tier was entrenched here, leading tens of thousands of Demons and occupying the forests across a hundred-mile radius.

The nearby villages and towns had long since been slaughtered clean.

"This is the right place."

Lin Changqing withdrew his gaze but did not make a move immediately.

A question suddenly occurred to him.

Since his current identity was that of a reclusive Martial Saint who had emerged to slay Demons, he ought to have a mighty, domineering title.

He could not very well introduce himself everywhere by saying, "I am Lin Changqing," could he?

That would be far too lacking in presence.

He needed an honorific title!

Something like "Grand Void True Person" or "Primal Chaos Patriarch"—the kind of title that announced a great figure at first hearing!

Lin Changqing pondered for a while, then his eyes suddenly lit up.

"I've got it!"

His surname was Lin, and his given name was Changqing, so he might as well call himself the Evergreen Saint Venerable.

Simple, direct, and easy on the tongue.

The words "Evergreen" carried the meaning of pines and cypresses remaining forever green, while also echoing the "Changqing" in his name.

Paired with the suffix "Saint Venerable," it gave him the full air of an untouchable powerhouse!

"Evergreen Saint Venerable... it's decided!"

Lin Changqing nodded in satisfaction, then drew in the boundless saintly pressure surrounding him.

His aura swiftly receded, and the Purple Gold radiance dispersed into the air.

He now looked like an ordinary young martial artist.

At most, he was just a little too handsome.

Then his body flashed, transforming into a streak of light as he flew toward the depths of the Cangling Mountain Range.

Deep within the Cangling Mountain Range.

In a valley occupied by Demons, black mist billowed and the stench of blood rose to the heavens.

Several thousand Demons were gathered there, feasting on the humans they had just hunted down.

Severed limbs and broken arms littered the ground.

Upon a massive stone platform, a Demon three zhang tall, covered from head to toe in dark crimson scales, sat upon a throne piled high with bones.

It held the thigh bone of a human fifth-rank martial artist in its hand and crunched away at it.

A Seventh-tier Demon King.

It suddenly frowned and looked toward the entrance of the valley.

A young human stood there.

He wore an ordinary black robe, with a blue-green longsword hanging at his waist, his expression cold and indifferent.

"A human? Alone?"

The Demon King froze for a moment, then split its blood-filled maw in a grin.

"Hahaha! Has someone delivered a snack to this king?"

The surrounding Demons also let out piercing, monstrous laughter.

Lin Changqing said nothing.

He glanced at the severed limbs below the stone platform, and his eyes grew several degrees colder.

His right hand closed around the sword hilt.

"A pack of beasts."

Before his voice had even faded, his figure had vanished.

No, he had not vanished.

He was simply fast to the absolute extreme!

The instant the Green Peak Sword left its sheath, azure sword light bloomed like a lotus, spreading outward from him in every direction.

There was no sound from the sword light, nor any earth-shattering explosion.

There was only a blue arc sweeping silently across the entire valley.

Then Lin Changqing appeared at the other end of the valley and sheathed his sword.

Behind him.

Every Demon stood frozen in place.

The Demon King still wore its broad, laughing grin, but a thin line of azure light had appeared across its neck.

Then that line grew brighter and brighter.

Boom!

A massive head rolled to the ground.

Immediately after.

The bodies of several thousand Demons throughout the valley exploded at once!

Their bodies turned to ashes from the inside out. The instant the sword light had swept over them, they had already died completely, without even a drop of blood splashing out.

The only living beings left in the valley were more than a dozen survivors locked inside iron cages.

There were men, women, and two children.

They stared blankly at the scene before them.

The Demon army that had filled the valley just moments ago had simply... vanished?

That Seventh-tier Demon King had been slain before it could even react?

The cage doors were blasted open by an invisible force.

Lin Changqing stood in the distance and did not approach.

He merely said calmly, "The Demons here have been eliminated. Go down the mountain on your own."

A middle-aged man crawled out of a cage and asked in a trembling voice, "May I ask... may I ask your benefactor's honored name?"

Lin Changqing turned around, leaving behind only his back.

"I am... the Evergreen Saint Venerable."

As his words fell, he took one step forward, and his figure vanished directly into the valley's morning light.

The middle-aged man stood dazed before the cage, repeatedly murmuring that name.

"Evergreen Saint Venerable... Saint Venerable?"

His eyes suddenly widened.

"A Martial Saint! A Martial Saint! That person just now was a Ninth-Rank Martial Saint!"

All the surrounding survivors shuddered.

They had actually been saved by a Martial Saint?

And judging by that honorific title, it seemed they had never heard of him before.

"A reclusive Martial Saint! He must be a reclusive Martial Saint who has only just emerged into the world!"

The middle-aged man dropped excitedly to his knees and kowtowed three times heavily in the direction where Lin Changqing had disappeared.

"Thank you, Saint Venerable, for saving our lives!"

His voice echoed through the entire valley.

Yet Lin Changqing had long since gone far away. He was already on his way to the next marked location.

His goal was clear: go to the most dangerous places, kill the strongest Demons, and leave behind the loudest name!

The second location: Pi Mountain Prefecture, Xu Province.

A demon tide led by an Eighth-tier Demon Emperor was besieging a city.

A huge breach had been smashed through the city walls, and the defending troops were retreating step by step.

The general defending the city had already prepared to die with it.

At that critical moment.

A streak of azure sword light flew in from the horizon, crashing into the center of the Demon army like a meteor.

Boom!

An azure shockwave spread outward from the point of impact, and every Demon within several miles turned to ash.

The Eighth-tier Demon Emperor tried to flee in terror, only to be caught by a second streak of sword light that pierced straight through its head.

Everyone atop the city walls saw that figure standing in midair.

"I am... the Evergreen Saint Venerable."

The same words, the same tone.

Then he turned and left without another word.

The third location: Black Wind Mountain, Yan Province.

A Demon nest hidden deep in the mountains.

Several thousand Demons were cultivating inside the cave, preparing to swarm out and slaughter the nearest county town.

The cave roof suddenly exploded.

A streak of azure sword light descended from the sky and cleaved the entire mountain in two.

Half the mountain collapsed, burying every Demon beneath it.

In the distance, several hunters being chased down by Demons fell to their knees, staring at the fleeting figure in midair.

"I am—the Evergreen Saint Venerable."

The fourth location.

The fifth location.

The sixth location.

Lin Changqing swept through the marked locations on the map, one after another.

At every location, he went straight for his ultimate move.

Under the overwhelming might of his Ninth-Rank Martial Saint Peak cultivation, no Demon could withstand even a single strike of his sword.

They could not even see what he looked like. All they saw was a flash of azure sword light.

Then every Demon was reduced to dust and ashes.

All that remained was one name—the Evergreen Saint Venerable.

And one line—"I am the Evergreen Saint Venerable."

Simple and brutal, but astonishingly effective!

The survivors were profoundly grateful and spread the four words "Evergreen Saint Venerable" throughout the nearby towns.

Martial artists, common folk, government soldiers, scouts from the Demon Suppressing Division...

Everyone was discussing that name.

"Have you heard? That Seventh-tier Demon King in the Cangling Mountain Range that had only recently broken through was cut down with one sword strike! The one who did it is called the Evergreen Saint Venerable!"

"Your news is outdated. There have also been reports of that venerable one acting in Pi Mountain Prefecture! An Eighth-tier Demon Emperor—one sword strike apiece!"

"My cousin saw it with his own eyes at Black Wind Mountain! He said the sword light came from the sky like a meteor, and the entire Demon army was wiped out in an instant!"

"Who exactly is this Evergreen Saint Venerable? Why have we never heard this title before?"

"He is probably a reclusive Martial Saint who has only recently emerged into the world!"

"Wonderful! Great Yu has gained another Martial Saint to stand guard over it. Let's see how those Demons can keep acting so arrogantly now!"

"The Saint Venerable is merciful and compassionate! He has come to save us common people!"

In just a few days, the four words "Evergreen Saint Venerable" spread throughout all of Green Province.

They became the hottest topic of the day.

But Lin Changqing knew that this was not enough.

It was not enough to be famous in Green Province alone. The system required his prestigious name to resound throughout the entire Great Yu Dynasty.

The Great Yu Dynasty had Fourteen Provinces and one hundred twenty-six prefectures, and Green Province's nine prefectures were merely one part of it.

There was no internet here, nor were there mobile phones. News could only be conveyed through relay stations, fast horses, Flying Eagle messages, or certain special methods.

Although he had deliberately left behind his name for people to spread, it would still take at least several days for word to reach the other provinces and prefectures.

If he waited like this... the progress would be far too slow.

He needed to think of a faster way!