Chapter Sixty-Six: Murderous Intent Under the Moonlit Night

Xu Zhong opened his mouth, and a fire dragon erupted forth.

In an instant, the entire room was lit by the dragon’s radiance.

The fire dragon surged forward, engulfing the streak of black light. The explosion that followed was immediately swallowed by a flickering formation—there was no sound, no flame, not even a glimmer of light leaking outside.

At that moment, Xu Zhong rushed forward like a gust of wind.

“Got you.” Xu Zhong exhaled sharply, sending out two blasts of breath.

These swirling blasts shot upwards, swift as lightning and fierce as thunder, truly astonishing.

A chilling laugh echoed from within the flames. Suddenly, green vines burst from beneath Xu Zhong’s feet, their barbed, poisonous tendrils closing in from every direction, transforming his position into a prison.

Within this cage, countless imps leapt at him, draining his vital energy and snuffing out his Samadhi fire.

Xu Zhong’s lungs swelled, and he let out a furious roar.

Within his chest, the Thunder God of Golden Lightning seemed to awaken, bellowing in unison with Xu Zhong.

Bolts of lightning appeared from nothing, blasting the imps into dust.

At the same time, a flash of sword light flew from his gourd, spinning at his command. The sword light fell like a torrential rain, swift and dense, slicing through innumerable poisonous vines as a sharp blade cuts through tangled hemp.

“Your magic is impressive, isn’t it?” After the sword light faded, a figure in black robes emerged. A foul, oppressive aura radiated from him, making Xu Zhong uncomfortable. He sensed a demonic intent—it was a cultivator corrupted and overtaken by his own inner demons.

The figure appeared suddenly before Xu Zhong, stretching out his five fingers, faint traces of blood light swirling about them. With a fierce grab, Xu Zhong felt his blood roil within him, subjected to an overwhelming force that threatened to drain every drop from his body.

Blood seeped from every pore, some of it even beginning to float in midair.

“Explode!”

The blood burst like fireworks, countless crimson meteors streaking past his eyes. Xu Zhong felt as if he were in a sea of fire; his blood boiled and burned, his skin splitting open, the blood flowing out as thick as molten lava.

This was the Blood Burst technique of the Blood Demon Sect.

If he didn’t counter it soon, his body would surely explode.

“Swift!” From his storage pouch, a treasured artifact—the Azure Lotus—flew out and spun gracefully in the air.

A rain of gold and silver petals swept toward the demon cultivator like a storm. Each petal radiated the essence of refined metal, sharp as a divine weapon.

Seeing the deluge of petals bearing down on him, the demon cultivator dared not linger; he ceased the blood burst spell.

He gathered his power, conjuring a protective divine light around his body.

Crackling under the force of the petal storm, the light shield shattered rapidly, but before it broke entirely, he summoned his own defensive treasure—a mysterious green jade pendant.

Suspended in the air, the pendant emitted a gentle light that solidified into a sturdy cocoon, enveloping the demon cultivator within.

When the storm of petals subsided, the demon cultivator emerged once more.

By then, Xu Zhong had already summoned the sword he had named “Cloudswallower.”

As the sword appeared, it drew from the countless starry sword auras stored within the gourd.

“Command!”

Xu Zhong tapped the sword hilt, sending the wooden sword flying.

Transforming into a streak of light, the flying sword was instantly infused with starry sword energy. Before the eye, the wooden sword multiplied, one becoming two, two into four, four into eight, until three hundred and sixty swords filled the air, interlinked and casting a celestial sword array, exuding an ancient and desolate aura.

This was the true power of a swordmaster of the Cloudswallower school.

“With the wooden sword as the core, it’s enough for the sword array,” Xu Zhong thought as he orchestrated the formation, making adjustments. “But relying only on sword energy for subsidiary swords is insufficient.”

The art of forming a flying sword array relied on overwhelming numbers; sword energy enhanced but did not replace true swords.

Now, sword energy had been refined into reality, manifesting as tangible flying swords, their forms shifting with their master’s will.

The stars of the heavens shifted, trapping the demon cultivator within.

He looked around as a tumultuous roar echoed; the three hundred and sixty swords seemed to become a river of stars pouring down from the sky.

The demon cultivator was startled, unprepared for Xu Zhong’s mastery of swordsmanship. He quickly recovered, spitting out a treasured pearl. Instantly, six jets of water surged upward, each containing a gleaming trident. These tridents, crystal-clear, appeared to be forged from some monstrous beast’s bones, with a stream of water running through them like marrow.

With a surge of spiritual power, six monsters emerged from the tridents’ watery veins, shielding their master from the sword array’s onslaught.

“Is that the energy of refined metal?” he muttered, discerning the dual essences of gold in the sword light.

Yet under the relentless sword array, the tridents shattered and dissipated. As he attempted to conjure more monsters, Xu Zhong made a gesture.

“Rise!”

The three hundred and sixty swords shifted once more, raining down as a breathtaking swordstorm.

Swords fell like rain.

The twin energies of metal were dense and potent; every flash of sword light struck like thunder.

The demon cultivator raised a three-colored water lotus. It first bloomed, then closed like a bud, with the demon cultivator enfolded within like a stamen.

As the sword light fell, three streams of light surged from the lotus, weaving into a protective dome.

The sword array shattered the dome, destroyed the lotus, and finally, a single sword light exploded upon the demon cultivator.

“Spin!”

Three hundred and sixty swords merged as one, and the Cloudswallower sword plummeted from the heavens.

The demon cultivator looked up, aghast.

This swordmaster was no simple foe.

He sensed the sword’s radiance sweeping for hundreds of miles, spinning down toward him.

The demon cultivator spat out a foot-long beam of black light, which blossomed into a shield of Primordial Mystic Water.

This water, forged from the essence of rivers, was as marvelous as the true fire of Samadhi.

A great river might yield only a single vial of it.

Its defensive power was legendary; under the torrent of sword energy, the entire room shook and splintered, but the water shield remained unmoved.

Within the shield, the demon cultivator calmly gathered his strength.

“Friend, I was in the wrong. I’m willing to compensate you,” he said warily.

“If I were weaker, I’d be dead by your hand. Now that I’m stronger, this is no misunderstanding. You will die here.” Xu Zhong withdrew the Cloudswallower sword, the gourd floating behind him, exhaling sword light. “To uproot evil, one must sever the root.”

Especially since his opponent had already harbored murderous intent.

“If you insist on this path, then it’s do or die.”

The demon cultivator ignited his own blood, his power surging to terrifying new heights. He summoned wind and rain, exhaled a hurricane, and inhaled Xu Zhong’s vital force like a vortex, accompanied by thunderous roars.

He hid behind the water shield, enduring Xu Zhong’s swordsmanship, while transforming his body in hopes of defeating Xu Zhong with brute strength.

“Swordmasters train only sword energy and techniques, not the body. Their attacks are fierce at range, but within seven paces, my fists are faster than their swords,”

He shifted his steps beneath the water shield—this was the famed Seven-Star Step.

Stepping as if the seven stars saluted the moon, each change in his stride brought a burst of speed, his breathing adjusting with each movement.

“Fall!”

He brandished his sword, channeling the intent of a great river.

With a true sword in hand, the sword light and energy from Xu Zhong grew sharper and more terrifying.

With a thunderous crash, a beam of starlight as thick as a barrel fell, transforming instantly into a star river.

The torrent surged, ravaging the space, tearing beams from the ceiling, ripping apart wooden walls, unstoppable and ferocious.

The sword energy pierced the clouds above. The formation outside seemed ready to be torn apart by this blow.

The shield of Primordial Mystic Water held off the surging sword energy, but the demon cultivator’s speed began to flag under its assault.

He burned his blood again, forcing his speed faster.

“Let’s see whose is faster—your sword or my speed.”

Xu Zhong watched the demon cultivator draw closer, then drew out a rattle drum.

A sound to calm the soul.

The drum sounded once, and the demon cultivator’s mind quaked as though struck by a massive hammer, dazed for a brief instant.

In that moment, Xu Zhong seized his chance.

He poured all his power into the Cloudswallower sword.

Beneath the star river, another great river surged forth—an illusion within truth.

Under the twin sword energies, the water shield cracked and shattered, unable to hold back the sword light.

The demon cultivator stood ten paces from Xu Zhong, gathering his strength to cross the sword river and smash Xu Zhong’s skull with a single punch.

With a deafening roar, the twin sword lights merged, overwhelming in their power. As they struck, the formation in the room was utterly obliterated, the chamber shuddering and unstable.

Only the swirling hurricane and jets of water eroded the sword light.

In the next moment, sword light—the demon cultivator collapsed, his body covered in ghastly wounds, deep to the bone, blood staining the floor. In the following instant, a burst of sword energy cleaved his body into seven or eight pieces.

“I’m in luck,” Xu Zhong remarked.

He strode over, picking up the demon cultivator’s storage pouch and scattered treasures.

A gem housing six spirits, a lotus, a shield of Primordial Mystic Water—though now bearing a scar from Xu Zhong’s sword.

He stowed these treasures away.

Then he rifled through the demon cultivator’s pouch.

It held many fine items.

Several jars of Transforming Essence Pills—over a hundred twenty thousand in number—a few bottles of cultivation-enhancing elixirs, two robes, and a manual detailing the Seven-Star Step technique.

The commotion was enormous; after the formation broke, the stench of blood wafted far.

Xu Zhong’s ears twitched—he heard hurried footsteps, at least a hundred people by his estimate.

“The Imperial Guard is quick indeed.”

But Fang Yuan and his companions arrived even faster.

By the time they reached the scene, only devastation and scattered corpses remained.

“What intense sword energy!” Li Feiyu thought to himself, “His swordsmanship surpasses mine.”

Boom!

The entire house collapsed.

Xu Zhong and the others tapped their toes, flying out of the inn. As they landed, they encountered the arriving Imperial Guard.