One Sword Chilled Fourteen Provinces

Sang Ying had never heard that voice before. It was somewhat rough, and its tone was full of disdain, as if exasperated that she had failed to live up to expectations.

Sang Ying was astonished. Before she could react, her sword hand instinctively followed the voice's instructions, thrusting straight at Cold Crow Devil Lord's left chest.

The move was reckless, with no connection whatsoever to the sword techniques she had used before. Sang Ying had been certain the strike would miss and had already planned how to respond next.

To her surprise, Cold Crow Devil Lord moved straight into Sang Ying's sword, almost as if he had done so deliberately. The light spirit sword instantly pierced a hole in the left side of his chest.

Sang Ying concealed her astonishment and prepared to retreat again, lest Cold Crow Devil Lord seize her.

But the voice gave her no chance, continuing in her ear, "Three steps back, turn around and stab his right eye!"

Sang Ying's retreating footsteps halted. She considered it for only a second before following his instructions and advancing with her sword.

But a second too late was still too late. This time, Cold Crow Devil Lord narrowly dodged the strike, preventing Sang Ying from landing it.

"Alas!" The voice sighed. "Too slow!"

Sang Ying pursed her lips. She had to admit he was right; she really had been too slow.

"Three steps left, four right, attack his left foot!"

Sang Ying closed in again and wounded Cold Crow Devil Lord once more.

After three strikes, even Cold Crow Devil Lord grew furious. "I underestimated you. You truly are a young person of extraordinary talent, to have wounded me even in these circumstances. In that case, I won't hold back either!"

He turned his right hand over, and the long black whip vanished at once. A small, pitch-black flag appeared in his hand in its place.

"If such a formidable young person cannot be of use to me, then it's better for you to fall silent here and now!" Cold Crow Devil Lord gave the little flag in his hand a gentle wave, and several wisps of black smoke emerged from it.

Each wisp of black smoke had a hideous human face at its head. As soon as they appeared, they shrieked and rushed at Sang Ying. Sang Ying easily dispersed them, but in the blink of an eye, the black mist gathered again and attacked her once more.

Guided by the black mist, Cold Crow Devil Lord was no longer hindered by the trapping array and quickly found Sang Ying's position. Even with the voice's guidance, Sang Ying was driven steadily back as attacks closed in from several directions.

At last, even the voice sounded a little helpless. "Tell me, of all the people a little Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator like you could have provoked, why did you have to pick such a ruthless opponent? Now this is going to be troublesome!"

Though there was a hint of ruefulness in his tone, he did not sound troubled in the slightest. There was plainly a teasing note, as though he were enjoying the show.

Sang Ying gritted her teeth and ignored him, only to turn her head and find Cold Crow Devil Lord's five fingers hooked into a claw. He clawed viciously at her face, and she instinctively raised her sword to block.

With a crack, the spirit sword, already covered in damage, shattered.

Fortunately, Sang Ying dodged to the side, and the five deep claw marks appeared on her shoulder instead of her face.

This was the second sword to have shattered in her hands. Sword cultivators always regarded their swords as dao companions, which meant she had now lost two dao companions.

As Sang Ying dodged Cold Crow Devil Lord's attacks in a sorry state, she reflected that she somehow still had the leisure to let her thoughts wander at a time like this.

Sang Ying dodged him yet again, but Cold Crow Devil Lord showed no impatience. Instead, he tried to persuade her. "Little girl, I trust you can see that I truly don't want to hurt you. Otherwise, with a little effort, I could already have filled your body with poison. How about this? Come out obediently, and I promise to spare your life. You need only serve as my medicine person for thirty years, and I'll let you leave after that. What do you say?"

Sang Ying hid behind the stone pillar once more. After swallowing a mid-grade Rejuvenation Pill, she listened to Cold Crow Devil Lord state his terms while fishing the Realm Pearl out of her Storage Bag.

For now, her only option was to hide inside it. She could only hope Cold Crow Devil Lord would not be so persistent and would quickly leave the cave once he discovered she was gone. Otherwise, she really would die here! After all, she could enter the Realm Pearl only once every twelve hours.

Sang Ying clutched the Realm Pearl and closed her eyes, about to enter, when the voice spoke up again at just the right moment. "Running away already?"

Its tone was dripping with sarcasm, as though it regarded Sang Ying as a coward fleeing from battle.

Sang Ying had never thought there was anything wrong with retreating when the time called for it. Though stubborn, she was no fool. Knowing she was no match for her enemy yet fighting to the death anyway, having a chance to escape with her life yet being willing to, was what a fool would do.

But hearing the voice put it that way still displeased her.

She did not even have a sword now. What else could she do but flee?

Yet the voice seemed able to hear her thoughts, for it quickly said, "Without an iron sword, you don't even dare fight? Then why be a sword cultivator at all? Wouldn't you be better off learning to be a blacksmith?"

Sang Ying blinked and ventured a question in her mind. Then aside from an iron sword, what sword can I use now?

The voice answered her as expected. "If you were a true sword cultivator, even a branch in your hand would be an unstoppable sword!"

As it happened, there was a crooked branch right by Sang Ying's feet. Fortunately, it was thick at the top and thin at the bottom. She picked it up and swung it twice, finding it reasonably comfortable to wield.

"You are a sword cultivator. What you cultivate is both the sword and the heart. Do not be bound by external things; whatever you hold in your hand can be your sword. If you cultivate to the utmost, even you yourself will be a sword!"

"What matters most to a sword cultivator is not weapons or techniques, but the spirit to press ever forward and cut down all beneath the heavens! And the heart to do it!"

"Look at that Devil Cultivator. You needn't think of him as an enemy you can never defeat. Think of him only as a mountain waiting to be crossed. He is an obstacle blocking your path forward. You have no other choice but to cleave him apart!"

Sang Ying slowly tightened her grip on the branch.

"To a sword cultivator, there is no obstacle in this world that cannot be cleaved apart, much less a mountain that cannot be crossed!"

Her beautiful phoenix eyes flew open. Sang Ying had already forgotten the pain of her injuries; the figure before her filled her heart and eyes.

She drew out all the Spiritual Qi in her body and poured it into the branch. A bone-piercing chill spread wildly from it in every direction, enveloping the entire stone chamber in an instant. The white mist trapping Cold Crow Devil Lord seemed to condense into droplets under that chill.

And because of this, Cold Crow Devil Lord could finally see Sang Ying clearly.

She held a frost-covered branch in both hands, staring intently at him, her whole body rigid and motionless.

He could tell that something was amiss with Sang Ying, but his Nascent Soul Realm cultivation gave Cold Crow Devil Lord confidence. In his view, whatever Sang Ying did, she could not escape the fate of becoming his medicine person.

He sneered. "You certainly look the part. But I wonder how much skill you actually have?"

With that, Cold Crow Devil Lord hooked his five fingers into a claw and attacked Sang Ying again. But Sang Ying stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly as though she had not seen him.

His blue-black fingernails quickly reached Sang Ying's face. In another instant, they would pierce her eyes.

"Now! Strike!"

The voice rang out sharply, accompanied by the piercing hum of Sword Qi.

Cold Crow Devil Lord saw nothing but white and went dazed for an instant. When his senses returned, wind and snow filled the sky like biting blades, sweeping him out of the cave.

He did not know how far he had been sent flying. He only felt terribly cold all over, as though even his blood had frozen.

He spat out a mouthful of blood, its color stark against the snow covering the ground. When Cold Crow Devil Lord looked up again, the cave had become a world of ice and snow, and snow was falling even more than ten meters away.

Before he lost consciousness, the last thing he saw was Sang Ying walking toward him step by step, branch in hand, her back straight as a sword just drawn from its sheath!

"Let this strike be called Frost Chills Fourteen Provinces!"