74: trouble

In front of the nameless cave in the back mountain, Su Mengyao, as Shen Lian instructed, maintained a high level of vigilance every day, guarding within a ten-mile radius of the cave to ensure that no external interference would disturb Shen Lian.

Three days passed, and everything was fine; there were no signs of any external disturbances.

During this time, when Su Mengyao had leisure, she carefully recalled the Moves of the Songyue Sword Canon, and the more she recalled, the more she felt that the Sword Intent contained within this sword technique was something she had never encountered in her life.

She had a premonition that once she fully grasped the Songyue Sword Canon, she would definitely secure a place in the Dao of the Sword.

Suddenly, Su Mengyao sensed a violent Spiritual Qi fluctuation.

"Someone?"

As this thought arose, a sharp Sword Qi was already closing in on her vital points.

Su Mengyao, with keen agility, dodged to the side, avoiding the killing intent, and retreated ten steps.

"Hehehe, this female cultivator reacts quickly; she actually managed to avoid my Evil Flood Dragon's sword. She's qualified to be my Cauldron."

A heretical cultivation with fiery red hair and black Qi emanating from his body, carrying a dark demonic sword on his shoulder, appeared before Su Mengyao.

Su Mengyao immediately became alert: "Audacious demon, do you know what place this is? Is the Chess Sword Pavilion of the Southern Domain Sword Sect a place you can trespass upon?"

Evil Flood Dragon sniffed, greedily appraising Su Mengyao's appearance and figure.

"Not bad, it's been over a hundred years since this lord encountered such a top-grade specimen. It will certainly be exhilarating to harvest her later."

"Crude!"

Su Mengyao was enraged and embarrassed, pointing the wooden stick in her hand, treating it as a sword, at Evil Flood Dragon.

"Evil Cultivators and demons are intolerable to heaven and earth. Since I have encountered you, today I shall act on behalf of heaven and completely execute you."

"Hehehe hahaha..."

Hearing Su Mengyao's words, Evil Flood Dragon immediately burst into laughter.

"I thought the back mountain's defenses were weak, and I could use this place as a Breakthrough point,

to give those old geezers in the Chess Sword Pavilion a surprise. I didn't expect to encounter someone so ignorant of death."

With that, he rested the dark sword on his shoulder on the ground, and raised his hand, gesturing.

"Don't say this lord didn't give you a chance, as long as you can..."

Whoosh—

Before Evil Flood Dragon could finish speaking, Su Mengyao directly raised her hand, and a streak of Sword Qi shot forth.

Bang—

The instant the Sword Qi exploded, Evil Flood Dragon took half a step back, and a hint of solemnity appeared on his previously playful face.

"What sharp Sword Qi! A mere Qi Gathering Realm cultivator can force me, a Pill Formation Realm cultivator, back half a step. Very good, this is exciting enough."

But the next moment, Su Mengyao unleashed three more streaks of Sword Qi, and her figure moved swiftly as the Sword Qi shot out.

Evil Flood Dragon cast aside his disdain and raised his dark sword to defend.

Clang, clang, clang—

For thirty consecutive Moves, Evil Flood Dragon only defended, not attacked, effortlessly parrying all of Su Mengyao's sword Moves.

But the more they exchanged blows, the more astonished Evil Flood Dragon became.

"This sword technique is so strange; why does it have the effect of drawing upon natural spiritual energy?"

On the other side, Su Mengyao knew that her opponent's cultivation was far superior to her own, so she could only exchange attacks for defense and fight for survival.

This was her first true combat experience. Although the Songyue Sword Canon was incredibly powerful, she had only Cultivated it for a short time and could not form effective combat power.

After dozens of Moves, due to excessive consumption of spiritual energy and physical strength, the frequency of her attacks was no longer as sharp as it had been at the beginning.

"She's a good seedling for sword cultivation, and her sword Moves are exquisitely brilliant, but unfortunately, her cultivation is too low, and she lacks combat experience."

Evil Flood Dragon quickly saw Su Mengyao's weakness. After dodging a sword strike, the dark sword in his hand suddenly unsheathed.

Immediately, evil Qi entangled her, pressing down on Su Mengyao, making her unable to Move.

"I'm done playing with you. After this lord refines you into a Cauldron, I'll use soul-searching techniques to learn this sword art. Hehehe, now, accept your fate."

Evil Flood Dragon burst into laughter and shattered the wooden stick in Su Mengyao's hand with a single sword strike.

Su Mengyao was immediately forced back dozens of steps. When she finally steadied herself, a crimson bloodstain had appeared on her delicate jade cheek.

"Try this Move of mine, Crushing Slash."

Evil Flood Dragon was confident of victory. His furious Sword Qi, fused with Evil Essence, created bursts of explosions in the air.

Su Mengyao's jade brows furrowed as she watched Evil Flood Dragon approach her.

"Haha, has my sword momentum scared you speechless? Where's your heroic spirit from earlier, when you vowed to act on behalf of heaven?"

Just as Evil Flood Dragon's sword momentum closed within three feet of her... "Mistaken Sword - Horizontal Slice!"

Suddenly, Su Mengyao abruptly rose and conjured a rusty iron sword, piercing directly through Evil Flood Dragon's chest at his most complacent moment.

"Ugh—"

Evil Flood Dragon looked at his chest in disbelief, and the dark sword in his hand immediately loosened.

"Mistaken Sword - Skull Gouge!"

Su Mengyao didn't hesitate, directly catching the dark sword and using a new sword Move, derived from Mistaken Sword - Bone Gouge, to instantly sever Evil Flood Dragon's head.

"Pfft..."

Having completed all of this in one fluid motion, Su Mengyao, both physically and spiritually, had exceeded her limits and couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

However, looking at the headless corpse on the ground, a faint smile still hung on her face.

Killing a Pill Formation Realm heretical cultivation across two Realms gave her an indescribable thrill.

"I hope these mundane matters haven't disturbed Senior."

Su Mengyao glanced in the direction of the Immortal Cave not far away, then began to clean up the battlefield, and also collected the Storage Pouch from the heretical cultivation.

After everything was done, she once again sat down cross-legged not far from the Immortal Cave, closing her eyes to rest... Meanwhile, in a dense forest somewhere in the outskirts of Yunluo City, there were corpses of Chess Sword Pavilion Disciples everywhere.

At this moment, a female Chess Sword Pavilion Disciple was being held by the neck, lifted into mid-air by a man as fat as a pig, wielding a three-hundred-jin iron staff.

Not far away, Lu Qingyi and three other Inner Sect Disciples were tied with their hands behind their backs, their cultivation sealed, sitting in the grass.

In front of them stood a short dwarf, constantly scrutinizing them.

Behind the dwarf was a burly man, over two and a half meters tall, carrying a blood-stained axe.

"The Disciples of Chess Sword Pavilion are truly getting worse with each generation. They fell into our ambush so easily, tsk tsk tsk."

The dwarf drooled, sniffed vigorously at Lu Qingyi, then said to the burly man behind him: "Man Niu, notify Evil Flood Dragon and tell him I've finished here. Now I'm just waiting for his news."

Then he looked at Lu Qingyi, revealing a cruel smile: "As for you, you'll be the common Cauldron for our Twelve Evil Fiends, hahaha."

Lu Qingyi was completely at a loss from fright. She never expected that on her first mission, on only the fourth day, she would encounter such a situation.

Soon after she led the Disciples down the mountain, they encountered this dwarven heretical cultivation's provocation, so she led the Disciples in pursuit.

Unexpectedly, they fell for a trick, being lured by the dwarf into this mountain forest and ambushed.

This battle resulted in the deaths of over forty Outer Sect Disciples who followed her, and six of the nine Inner Sect Disciples who fought alongside her were also killed. It was a complete defeat.

Now, upon hearing that she was about to become the common Cauldron for this group of ugly monsters, she was immediately terrified and at a loss.

Just as the dwarf was drooling and planning to torment Lu Qingyi, Man Niu, who was in contact with Evil Flood Dragon, suddenly said: "Demon Rat, something's wrong. Evil Flood Dragon's Soul Life Tablet is shattered."

"What did you say?"

Hearing this, Demon Rat immediately turned and pounced on Man Niu, quickly climbing onto his tree-trunk-thick iron arm.

"Look, Evil Flood Dragon's Soul Life Tablet is indeed shattered."

"Damn it!"

Demon Rat immediately roared.

"How dare they kill my brother! I will never let them go!"

He glared hatefully at Lu Qingyi and the others.

"Tear them all to pieces to avenge Evil Flood Dragon!"