Chapter Fifty-One: The Birth of a Heart's Demon

“Heaven’s Will, prepare to die!” The white tiger spoke in a human tongue, its cultivation vast as the sky and earth, charging toward him to kill.

Xu Zhong was startled, but immediately struck back with ferocity.

A flash of sword light surged from behind him, soaring forward—its sword aura swept across three hundred miles.

This sword light slashed directly at the white tiger.

Yet in truth, there was no divine beast before him at all.

His blade cut straight toward the divine egg.

The dragons and phoenixes circling the divine egg scattered in terror, feathers and scales raining to the ground.

But these were not true dragons or phoenixes, merely beastly apparitions formed by the white tiger’s divine aura, taking on a semblance of their shapes.

“You whelp, daring to snatch food from the tiger’s mouth.”

A cultivator, enraged, leapt forward. Four arms manifested behind him, shifting between fists, palms, seals, and hooked hands, and he struck out at the sword light.

The moment he touched the sword light, all four arms were shattered to dust.

He spat a mouthful of blood, fell silent, cast Xu Zhong a glance, and then packed up and left.

After him, the other cultivators awoke as well.

“Youngster, you have no honor—stealing while we were gathering energy. Let me subdue you!” roared a burly cultivator, his voice booming like a bell, rattling the very air.

He transformed, revealing his true form: massive, sinewy, his muscles coiled like dragons, wielding two mighty battle axes.

He was from the Giant Spirit clan, natives of the eastern sea.

Dunxuan recognized his origins.

This giant spirit brandished his axes—one cut through the yin ahead, one severed the yang behind, splitting the air with wind and thunder, the axes’ cold gleam chilling to the soul.

The sword light crashed like a torrent, but his axe cleaved its momentum.

The giant spirit’s eyes lit up with pleased surprise—“So this is all?”

But the sundered river of sword energy split into countless sword auras, overwhelming and boundless, surging toward him.

He seemed to stand beneath starlight, every pore of his body invaded by its brilliance.

A moment later, muffled booms resounded within him, blood flowing freely until he was drenched in red.

He grunted, channeled his inner power to refine away the sword aura, resumed human form, gathered his belongings, and left.

“Didn’t even bother to look at me—such arrogance,” he muttered bitterly before departing, glimpsing Xu Zhong’s half-lidded eyes.

“This one is ruthless, best not to challenge him,” said another cultivator, who had barely stood before being suppressed by the sword light.

He too spat blood and slunk away.

“He broke the rules first—let’s not stand on ceremony. Everyone, attack and kill him!” The golden-furred Hou shouted, wings sprouting from his sides—one wing stirring wind, the other thunder. As he flapped, wind and thunder rolled, his long tail like a divine sword, imbued with the energy of refined metal, cold and heavy as a deep pool.

The metallic force surged ahead, wind and thunder followed, melting all in its path.

At his call, the other cultivators joined in, working together to cut off the sword light descending from the heavens.

In an instant, Xu Zhong’s sword light was fragmented, piece by piece, hundreds of hands suppressing it.

“This is a misunderstanding!” Xu Zhong spoke.

The golden-furred Hou squinted at him. “Do you dare to open your eyes?”

Xu Zhong’s eyes were half-open, half-closed, carrying an air of insolent pride.

Behind him, Crown Prince Zhu Zhen, Ling Guang, and Dunxuan all distanced themselves from him.

“He has no background; he’ll likely be killed here,” Ling Guang whispered to the others.

“You think he has no backing?” Zhu Zhen gave Ling Guang a deep look. “Have you ever seen an ordinary man wield a sword light that spans three hundred miles?”

“But he doesn’t even know the basics.”

“Perhaps he comes from a reclusive human clan that has not emerged for ages,” said Dunxuan. “The human race is sly and cunning, favoring secrecy, only to suddenly reveal their strength...”

Zhu Zhen and Ling Guang nodded in agreement.

“This fellow is arrogant—calling this a misunderstanding?” the golden-furred Hou raged.

“I—” Xu Zhong began, but before he could speak, the Hou cast his spell.

He roared, thunder rolling from his lungs, then spat out a pool of lightning.

Countless bolts surged forth, bearing the weight of ten thousand tons, striking at Xu Zhong.

Xu Zhong drew spiritual energy into his lungs, echoing the Hou’s thunderous roar.

Lightning reverberated around him, and a moment later, pure bolts of lightning streamed from his nose and mouth.

The two bolts twisted into the pool of thunder, and its light vanished in an instant.

Xu Zhong darted forward, summoned the power of refined metal, and, shaping his fingers into a sword, slashed at the golden-furred Hou.

His sword reached three hundred miles.

Infinite sword energy gathered at his fingertips.

The Hou was shaken, about to resist, when a jade scepter flew from Xu Zhong’s storage pouch and struck him on the forehead, making his soul tremble and stunning him for a split second.

But in that instant, his long tail was severed.

Blood gushed out, congealing on the ground into a chunk of blood jade, teeming with vitality.

Xu Zhong produced a gourd, raised it high, and refined the severed tail into metallic essence, drawing it inside.

Yin and yang fused, faintly forming a divine sword, hovering over the gourd, absorbing endless sword energy to nourish itself—a superb sword embryo.

“I told you, it was a misunderstanding!” Xu Zhong, standing on the Hou, sword light dancing at his fingertips, half-lidded eyes exuding an air of disdain for the world. “Why won’t you listen?”

Dunxuan’s heart skipped a beat.

“His mind is lost, corrupted by inner demons.”

Crown Prince Zhu Zhen and Ling Guang felt the same.

At this moment, Xu Zhong radiated a demonic aura.

He gazed at the white tiger’s divine egg. “This divine egg should be fused into my Golden Sun Treasury.”

The Hou struggled in agony, his vitality stemming the bleeding, but the sword intent at his wound eroded his life force, blocking his tail’s regeneration.

“Everyone, attack together—kill him!” the Hou howled.

The others hesitated, daunted by both Xu Zhong’s swordsmanship and the mystery of his origins.

“Fellow cultivator, are you not too domineering? Have you not heard—heavenly treasures belong to the worthy.”

The cultivators nearest the white tiger’s egg awoke.

They formed a fivefold array, their elemental powers flowing freely, mutually generating and overcoming, a white tiger apparition taking shape behind them.

“You’ve drawn a magical art from the white tiger?” Xu Zhong gripped his gourd.

He sensed their formidable strength.

To approach the divine egg at all proved their abilities.

The speaker had not only gained a magical art, but was himself a white tiger beast; a cinnabar mark glimmered on his brow, within which lurked myriad vengeful spirits—one glance and you would see their fangs and claws.

“It’s Bai Heng of the White Tiger Clan. I’ve heard he was sealed for ten thousand years and only emerged eight years ago,” Dunxuan recognized him.

“In terms of talent, art, or heritage, he is far beyond Xu Zhong,” said Zhu Zhen, following Dunxuan’s lead.

Though he believed Xu Zhong had a strong background, before him now stood one of the four divine clans—the most elite.

Humans, without the Primordial Sacred Emperor, would be only a second-rate divine clan in the nine heavens and ten earths.

“Unless he is a direct heir of the Sacred Emperor, he will surely meet disaster today,” Ling Guang chimed in.

Bai Heng frowned, seeing Xu Zhong raise the gourd, his gaze growing ever more covetous.

“You’ve drawn arts from the white tiger’s egg—then I’ll draw arts from you!” Xu Zhong laughed low and struck without hesitation.

Behind Bai Heng, the white tiger avatar manifested, splitting into the five elements, yin and yang.

Spirit is wood, essence is fire; the two are born of one energy—wood as main, fire as use. These are the changes of essence, energy, and spirit.

Substance is metal, emptiness is water; metal as main, water as use. These are the changes of form and void.

Form and void, essence and spirit—meeting earth, they generate; without earth, they conflict. Thus is the change of yin and yang.

Upon this white tiger, the five elements and yin-yang turned endlessly.

It drew upon Xu Zhong’s essence, energy, and spirit; the triune fire atop his shoulders and head flickered like dying candles, the flames on his shoulders already extinguished, the one above his head dim and ready to fade.

Xu Zhong’s vision blurred with illusions—he saw near but not far, ahead but not behind, light but not darkness. Everything he perceived teetered between reality and illusion; he could not distinguish direction or truth.

Yin and yang threaded through it all, linking the five elements—their power targeting the soul.

In an instant, the five elements and yin-yang became the White Tiger’s Seven Constellations, their jaws gaping to swallow Xu Zhong whole.

Yet Xu Zhong seemed unaffected—on the contrary, he harnessed the white tiger’s power, forging its sevenfold yin-yang into seven sword lights, seven great rivers.

“Not good—by observing the divine egg and the stars, I comprehended the white tiger’s seven constellations, but he cultivates the Star River Sword, and is using my own constellations to channel starlight, forging them into sword light to strike me!” Bai Heng’s heart pounded.

“But just now, he released the Great River Sword’s intent.”

The Great River Sword is of the earth, the Star River Sword of the heavens—their principles connected, but not the same.

Precisely because Xu Zhong used the Great River Sword, Bai Heng had dared to act.

Yet his white tiger avatar was twisted apart by a single stroke.

At the same time, Xu Zhong summoned sword energy.

Each wisp was a flying sword.

Countless flying swords rose at his will, circling and converging into a single sword light, coiling around Bai Heng’s neck.

Bai Heng transformed fully, revealing his white tiger form.

Behind him, the seven constellations faded.

His belly roared, and potent metallic essences, one yang, one yin, spewed from his mouth and nose—like two great drums.

A drumbeat.

The yang-metal energy in Xu Zhong’s sword dissipated.

A second beat.

The yin-metal was also dispelled.

The two drums sounded as one.

The scattered metallic energies fused into a great sword, slashing at Xu Zhong.

Xu Zhong flinched, but reacted swiftly.

He produced the green lotus, spinning it gently.

Endless radiance burst forth, transforming into a rain of gold and silver petals, sweeping the metallic forces away like a storm.

Collision and annihilation happened in a single instant.

Both retreated a step, gathering their strength anew.

“If you continue, you’ll shatter the divine egg and force the white tiger within to emerge,” said a Xiezhi, stepping forward.

Just now, this Xiezhi had stood behind Bai Heng, suppressing the divine clans who’d wanted to join in slaying Xu Zhong, and the human cultivators seeking to aid Xu Zhong in killing the white tiger.

At his words, all eyes turned to the divine egg.

Within, the white tiger had opened its eyes, stirring gently, sending waves of metallic energy surging outward.

This tiger was fierce beyond measure, innate energy flowing through its form; once born, it would surpass the External Realm.

Bai Heng hesitated, about to withdraw.

Xu Zhong, however, prepared to strike as soon as Bai Heng retreated.

“Friend, your demonic thoughts run too deep.”

The Xiezhi shook his head, producing a sacred horn from his robes.

Clear as a mirror, it revealed the inner demons in Xu Zhong’s heart.

Manifested, these demons took the shape of a phantom Xiezhi, which charged at them with its horn.

In an instant, the demons vanished.

Xu Zhong awoke.

Everyone stared at him, leaving him bewildered.

At that moment, a tiger’s roar sounded in his ears.

He looked and saw the same white tiger he’d seen before.

A chill gripped his heart.

“The white tiger was real. Then that cry of ‘Heaven’s Will’ must have been real too. Could it be that I was possessed by Heaven’s Will itself?”