195: Chapter 195 Rest assured, the Heavenly Sword of Love never strikes the tangible flesh.

In the next instant, the violent, burning Blood-colored Baleful Aura surrounding Xiao Nianyin was extinguished like a fire being doused.

With a crisp crack, the ice-crystal longsword in her hand, which had held such terrifying power, shattered into pieces and scattered as ice powder.

The aura on her body deflated like a punctured balloon, withering and dissipating at an alarming speed until it finally returned to a state of absolute dead silence.

Her ice-blue eyes, which had been burning with madness and resentment, instantly lost all luster, becoming hollow and vacant before slowly closing.

Her entire body, like a puppet with its strings cut, fell limply from mid-air and hit the cold, shattered ground of the Law Execution Platform with a thud, remaining motionless.

Silence.

A deathly silence.

Everyone in the Hehuan Sect felt as if they were being strangled; they stared with wide eyes and agape mouths, looking in disbelief at the body on the ground that seemed to have lost all signs of life.

Their Sect Master...

The Saint Realm Expert Xiao Nianyin...

Just like that... pierced through the heart by ten thousand swords... dead?

Instantly killed by a Little Girl who looked only seven or eight years old, using a seemingly ordinary "Horizontal Slash" to borrow the momentum of ten thousand swords?

Without even being able to offer a shred of resistance or let out a single scream?

The shock was simply too immense, too inconceivable, leaving many people's minds blank and devoid of the ability to think.

"Sect... Sect Master?!"

Elder Kumu was the first to react, letting out a shrill cry of grief. Old tears streaming down his face, he stumbled forward to rush over, but was held back tightly by the equally pale-faced Venerable Youming beside him.

The terrifying power of the ten thousand swords suspended in the air was still present; who would dare to move recklessly?

The other Elders were also ashen-faced, their hearts aching as if pierced by needles.

With the Sect Master fallen, the sky of the Hehuan Sect... had collapsed! And in such a humiliating and desperate manner!

Even Xu Ruyu felt a massive shock in his heart, his pupils contracting.

Although he no longer had any affection for Xiao Nianyin and had even long intended to break ties with her, seeing this woman—with whom he had shared intimate skin-to-skin contact and who was once the master of a sect—have her heart pierced by ten thousand swords and her breath cut off before his eyes still made his breathing hitch. A surge of complex emotions welled up in his heart—is it just... over?

He subconsciously looked at the snow-haired Little Girl standing with her sword, her expression indifferent. This "Senior Qingtian"... was she actually so decisive and ruthless? To directly slay a Sect Master in public?

Just then, a warm, soft hand gently grasped his somewhat cold palm.

Xu Ruyu turned his head and saw that Madame Qingli had quietly arrived by his side at some point.

There wasn't much shock or sadness on her exquisite face; instead, it held a trace of knowing calm. She shook her head gently at Xu Ruyu and spoke in a tiny voice that only the two of them could hear:

"Don't worry, Xiao Nianyin won't die."

Xu Ruyu was stunned and looked at her in confusion.

Madame Qingli squeezed his hand to reassure him. Her gaze fell upon Xiao Nianyin, who looked like a corpse in the center of the Law Execution Platform, as she explained in a low voice:

"Senior Qingtian's 'One Sword of Emotional Heaven,' especially this first form, has always only slashed the 'Obsessions of the Human Heart' and the 'Delusions of the Seven Emotions.' It does not slash tangible flesh and blood, nor does it extinguish the Divine Soul's Origin."

She paused, and seeing Xu Ruyu's somewhat dazed expression, she added softly:

"Sense it carefully."

Hearing this, Xu Ruyu took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart. He pushed the perception of the True Explanation of Taixu Source Energy to its limit and cautiously reached out toward Xiao Nianyin's "corpse."

Indeed!

In his "Origin Perception," although Xiao Nianyin's Physical Body appeared riddled with holes and devoid of aura, the most core "Origin Vitality" of her life had not been completely extinguished. It was merely weakened to the extreme, like a candle in the wind, wrapped and sealed by a layer of soft yet resilient silver-white Sword Intent. Her Divine Soul had not dissipated either; instead, it had fallen into a state of deep, forcibly suppressed silence.

More importantly, he "saw" that within Xiao Nianyin's body, inside the Meridians and spiritual energy pathways that had become violent, chaotic, and filled with a predatory aura due to the Mystic Maidens Sun-Stealing Art, countless strands of minute yet pure silver-white Sword Qi were currently flowing.

This Sword Qi was not destroying; rather, it seemed to be... organizing, cutting, and purifying!

They precisely located the "mutation nodes," "roots of obsession," and "violent imprints" produced by cultivating the path of predation, and then silently severed, stripped, and annihilated them!

Rather than calling it a slaughter, it was more like... an incomparably overbearing "Sword Intent surgery" from the outside in! A "scraping the bone to cure the poison" targeted at the Dao Heart and the Foundation of her Cultivation Technique!

Xu Ruyu sucked in a breath of cold air, instantly understanding the meaning behind Madame Qingli's words.

The One Sword of Emotional Heaven did not take Xiao Nianyin's life; it slashed away the "predatory obsession," the "mad Heart Demon," and the "twisted Dao base" born from the Mystic Maidens Sun-Stealing Art!

The terrifying sight of ten thousand swords piercing the heart was, in reality, ten thousand strands of Sword Intent simultaneously invading her body to perform the most thorough and violent "purification" and "correction"!

What kind of subtle and terrifying control over Sword Intent did this require? What kind of profound understanding of the human heart, Cultivation Techniques, and the essence of the Great Dao was necessary?

When Xu Ruyu looked at the snow-haired Little Girl again, his gaze was completely different.

Where there might have been a few hints of subtle contempt or closeness due to her appearance before, it had now entirely transformed into deep awe.

Meanwhile, above the Law Execution Platform, the snow-haired Little Girl seemed completely indifferent to the reactions of the crowd below.

She casually tossed the Common Iron Blade in her hand back into the ocean of ten thousand swords. The blade let out a soft hum and obediently returned to its place.

She clapped her small hands as if she had only done a trivial little thing. Then, her gaze swept over the ashen-faced members of the Hehuan Sect before landing on Xu Ruyu. That familiar, slightly mischievous smile reappeared on her face:

"Alright, the nuisance is quiet for now. Xiao Yuer, where were we?"

She tilted her head, seemingly trying to remember seriously:

"Oh right, about making you the Sect Master! What do you think? The position is vacant now!"