402: Chapter 402 Sword Demon Beast

Several translucent phantoms floated in space; these were the resentful spirits of Sword Cultivators from the Heavenly Sword Sect who had fallen in the Sword Abyss over generations. Their cultivation levels in life were at least at the Late Golden Core Stage, and even after death, their Sword Intent and resentment remained. Their eyes were hollow, neither attacking nor retreating, simply floating quietly like jellyfish in water.

Chu Lan approached Gao Feng: "Can they... move?"

"They can," Situ Lan whispered. "But as long as you don't attack first, they generally won't act. The resentful spirits here are different from the Sword Demon Beasts; they are just waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"Waiting for someone to kill the Sword Demon Beast so they can rest in peace." Situ Lan's gaze swept over those resentful spirits, wondering if her Grandmaster's spirit was among these floating figures.

At the end of the Meeting Hall was an even narrower passage, only wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side. The walls on both sides were carved with sword techniques, but most had been blurred by the erosion of Devilish Qi. Chu Lan leaned in to take a few looks before shaking her head: "I can't see them clearly anymore; they've been too heavily corroded by Devilish Qi."

After walking through this passage, the space ahead opened up again—the Sword Demon Beast's nest had been reached.

The Sword Demon Beast's nest was more spacious than any place they had been before.

The ceiling was immeasurably high, with stalactites faintly visible hanging upside down in the darkness. Purple-black Devilish Qi condensed on the stone tips, falling drop by drop and splashing with a faint corrosive sound upon hitting the ground.

At the edge of the central pit, the giant wolf finally emerged fully from the shadows. It was nearly two zhang tall and over five zhang long, with dark purple scales covering its entire body. Several bone spurs grew backward along its spine, each emitting an ominous cold light. It had six eyes arranged in a ring on either side of its skull, each burning with purple-black flames.

The Sword Demon Beast opened its massive maw, revealing rows of jagged, sharp teeth with purple-black Sword Qi swirling between them. It let out a low growl, and the Devilish Qi in the cave surged instantly like stirred pond water. The ancient Sword Intent floating in the air seemed to be awakened, spinning and condensing frantically before sweeping toward the group as an overwhelming wave of Sword Qi.

Lin Yue was the first to move. He stepped forward twice, crossed his hands in front of his chest, and slammed them down, shouting: "Rock Demon Prison-Suppressing Array—Rise!" An earthy yellow light exploded from his palms, spreading rapidly and condensing into a Rock Demon Phantom above his head.

The stone giant spread its arms, sheltering everyone behind it in its shadow, and slammed its fists into the ground. Formation patterns spread out in all directions from him, turning into a massive defensive net that enveloped the entire team.

The Sword Qi crashed against the Rock Demon Phantom, erupting in a piercing sound of clashing metal. Every strand of Sword Qi left a deep scratch on the phantom's surface. Lin Yue's body trembled as a result, but he gritted his teeth, his hands remaining steady.

"Chu Lan, bind its limbs!" Gao Feng's voice came from ahead.

Chu Lan crouched on the ground, her hands moving quickly in hand Seals as dozens of Iron Vine seeds flew from her palms, accurately shooting toward the Sword Demon Beast's four feet. As soon as the seeds touched the gaps in the scales, they grew frantically, silver-grey vines coiling around like venomous snakes layer after layer, their tooth-like thorns digging deep into the weak points between the scales.

The Sword Demon Beast struggled violently with its front limbs, the Iron Vines making a tooth-grinding creaking sound. A few snapped, but even more vines coiled back around.

Su Ning appeared beside the Sword Demon Beast using Spatial Teleportation. With her hands forming Seals and spiritual power surging, she condensed two silver blades and slashed fiercely at its left front leg joint. The Space Cutting was silent but left two deep marks on the scales, with purple-black blood seeping from the cracks, though it failed to completely sever the joint. The Sword Demon Beast roared in pain, twisted its neck, and aimed three eyes at Su Ning simultaneously.

Luo Li immediately plucked her zither strings, the sharp sound waves of the Armor-Breaking Melody piercing into the Sword Demon Beast's ears like fine needles. The sound waves specifically targeted metal-attribute defense; under the continuous erosion of the sound waves, fine cracks appeared on the Sword Demon Beast's scales, their luster dimmed, and its defensive power significantly decreased.

Tianxin threw out several star demon suppressing talismans. The Talismans stuck to the ground and rock walls, forming a simple demon-suppressing Formation. The golden Formation patterns pushed back the Devilish Qi around the Sword Demon Beast, preventing it from drawing power from the environment to replenish its consumption.

The Sword Demon Beast suddenly let out a long howl, and a circle of purple-black halo exploded from the bone spurs on its back. Wherever the halo passed, the Iron Vines were shattered into pieces. Chu Lan retreated several steps, blood overflowing from the corner of her mouth. The suppressed ancient Sword Intent erupted again, transforming into ten thousand streaks of sword light that shot toward the group.

"Ten Thousand Swords Return to Ancestor!" Lin Jingyu's expression changed.

Lin Yue did not retreat. The Rock Demon Phantom was riddled with holes by the volley of ten thousand swords, cracks spreading from its shoulders to its chest, and from its chest to its abdomen. The first layer of the Formation—shattered. He formed hand Seals again, veins bulging on his forehead as spiritual power poured out frantically to re-condense the Formation patterns. A second layer of the Rock Demon Phantom barely took shape, but its defensive power was less than seventy percent of what it had been.

The Sword Qi fell like rain, and the second layer of Formation patterns was soon torn apart again.

He bit the tip of his tongue, the sharp pain stimulating his few remaining drops of spiritual power to boil again, condensing a third layer of the Rock Demon Phantom. This time, the phantom was more solid than the previous two, but that was because he had injected his own life force into the Formation instead of just spiritual power. Blood began to seep from his seven orifices, and the blood from the corner of his mouth flowed incessantly. But he did not move, his knees slightly bent and his center of gravity low, standing his ground firmly. Because there were eight people behind him; for every step he retreated, a strand of Sword Qi would fall on them.

Yaoguang crouched behind him to the side, her palm pressed against his lower back as she channeled the Rejuvenation Technique into his body over and over again. A green halo enveloped Lin Yue's entire body, repairing his Meridians torn by the Sword Qi and replenishing the vitality he had poured into the Formation. Her own face grew paler and paler, her spiritual power consuming rapidly, but she did not stop.

Gao Feng faced the Sword Demon Beast head-on. The vajra sword hummed in his hand, the golden light within the sword marks pushed to the limit. He took a deep breath, and within his body, the War God Art, Star Battle Body, Nine Styles of Heavenly Sword, and Nine Styles of the War God all operated simultaneously, all his power gathering, intertwining, and unifying in his Dantian.

"War God Shatter—Fused Nine Styles of Heavenly Sword!"

He didn't shout it out, but the vajra sword did it for him. A massive sword beam of gold and white shot out from the sword tip, its momentum sharp yet heavy—unlike the style of any Sword Cultivator from the Heavenly Sword Sect. It wasn't pure "breaking," but a transformation of "defending" first and then "breaking." He had to protect his teammates behind him before he dared to strike with this sword.

The sword beam collided head-on with the purple-black sword pillar spat out by the Sword Demon Beast.

Boom! The entire cave shook violently; stalactites on the ceiling broke and fell, smashing into pieces on the ground. The Sword Demon Beast was pushed back several zhang by the sword beam, its four claws plowing four deep grooves into the ground. When the sword beam dissipated, a large area of cracks appeared on its chest scales, with purple-black blood gushing out. But it did not fall; the purple-black flames in its six eyes burned even brighter.

"Watch out, it's going to make a final deathbed struggle!" Su Ning's spatial perception captured the spiritual power inside the Sword Demon Beast's body contracting and expanding at an abnormal speed. That was a precursor to self-detonation; it was going to compress the Sword Intent and Devilish Qi within its body to the limit and then release it all at once.

"Everyone, get behind me!" Lin Yue used the last of his strength to shrink the broken Rock Demon Phantom to its smallest range, barely protecting a few people. Its defensive power was insufficient to protect everyone.

Gao Feng did not retreat. He thrust the vajra sword into the ground before him and spread his arms, pushing his Star Battle Body to the limit as purple starlight condensed into a visible layer of armor on his body. He didn't look back to see who was left unprotected; instead, he stared at the increasingly bright purple-black light ahead.

The Sword Demon Beast's body exploded with a bang. A tidal wave of purple-black Sword Intent surged toward them like a tsunami; the Sword Qi, Devilish Qi, and the ancient Sword Intent it had devoured turned into a shockwave that destroyed everything, tearing through every inch of air, every piece of rock, and every remaining Formation pattern in its path.

Lin Yue's Rock Demon Phantom shattered into dust in the first wave of the impact. He was sent flying several zhang, sliding down after hitting the stone wall and coughing up a clump of dark blood. But the shockwave did not stop, continuing to push deeper.

Gao Feng stood in front of everyone, using his body as a shield. The Sword Intent tide tore apart his protective starlight, sliced his skin, cut through his muscles, and carved sword marks onto his bones. Fresh blood was evaporated by the shockwave as soon as it gushed out, turning into a faint mist of blood. He did not move, his arms still spread wide.

It wasn't that he couldn't dodge, but that the people behind him couldn't. Lin Yue was already heavily injured, Yaoguang's spiritual power was exhausted, and Tianxin's Talismans had long been used up. Chu Lan leaned against the wall, unable to stand; Su Ning's Spatial Barrier had collapsed instantly in the tide; Luo Li held the flowing sound zither, using her body to protect the strings; Situ Lan and Lin Jingyu leaned on their swords, barely managing to stay upright.

Seven breaths, maybe eight. That all-destroying tide finally passed.

Gao Feng's knees buckled slightly, but he did not kneel. He used the vajra sword to prop up his body, maintaining his last shred of consciousness. Another deep sword mark had appeared on the blade, extending from the hilt to the tip, but it had not broken.

At the center of the Sword Demon Beast's self-detonation, a scorched black pit emitting green smoke remained. Something was glowing faintly at the bottom—a dark purple crystal the size of a fist, its surface shimmering with a purple-gold luster, where pure Sword Intent essence and Devilish Qi residue intertwined into eerie patterns.

Tianxin was the first to move, staggering over and crouching by the pit to pick up the crystal. Using the last intact Talisman, she wrapped it layer by layer, sealed it, and carefully tucked it into her sleeve. She didn't spare a second glance at the patterns on the crystal, but quickly walked back and stuffed the sealed Talisman bundle into Gao Feng's arms. "A Sword Heart Demon Core, pure Sword Intent essence. Take it back; it will be beneficial for your sword path cultivation."

Gao Feng did not refuse and placed the Talisman bundle in his robe.

Yaoguang stumbled toward Lin Yue, crouched down, and pressed her palm against his chest, once again activating her remaining Rejuvenation Technique. Lin Yue's eyelashes fluttered, and he vaguely heard a sentence: "You... almost died." His mouth moved, but he couldn't smile; at least he was still alive.

Su Ning propped herself up against the wall and began using her Positioning Function to confirm the route down the mountain. Situ Lan sheathed her azure phoenix sword and helped up Chu Lan, who was slumped against the wall, still clutching an Iron Vine seed she hadn't had time to plant.