Chapter 233: The Secret Realm Opens
Deep within the Ten Thousand Mountains, near the remnants of the demonic arrayâ
Kneeling in a pool of blood, Mu Baishuang gasped for breath as Chen Huaiâan slowly withdrew his sword.
âCough⊠cough⊠Sword Pavilion Patriarch? How did you find meâŠâ
She had taken every precaution to remain hidden, setting up five layers of formations to conceal her presence. Yet now, those formations lay shattered, their cores broken, still lingering with remnants of sword intent.
âFinding you? Wasnât difficult at all. A simple deduction of fate was enough. Did you think you were Lingpu, that old hag?â
Mu Baishuangâs pupils shrank sharply as she stared at Chen Huaiâan in disbelief. âLingpu⊠you killed Lingpu?â
âYes.â Chen Huaiâan nodded. âAn old dogâeasily slaughtered.â
Mu Baishuang was momentarily stunned. She had known Lingpu was dead.
A great battle had erupted deep in the Ten Thousand Mountains. With her weak cultivation, she hadnât even dared to go near. She only knew that after the battle, Lingpuâs presence had completely vanished.
The world still carried faint traces of sword intent, and back then, she had assumed Lingpu was slain by a great sword cultivator from True Martial Holy Land.
Now, she knew the truth.
What level of cultivation did Chen Huaiâan possess?
The aura he exuded was only at the peak of the Nascent Soul stageâŠ
So thatâs it. A cunning old fox, deliberately concealing his true strength.
No wonder the formation couldnât stop himâit had been cleaved apart with a single strike. No wonder she couldnât muster even the slightest resistance against him.
And to think she had been planning to take advantage of the chaos when the secret realm opened to launch a sneak attackâŠ
âAny last words?â Chen Huaiâan gazed at Mu Baishuang, whose life force was rapidly fading.
His previous strike had pierced her heart meridian, and his sword intent had shredded her meridians, organs, and internal structure completely.
On the surface, it seemed like just a single sword wound. But inside, her body was utterly destroyed.
This technique came from the tenth form of the
Green Lotus Sword Manual
ââMoon Rising Over Tianshan.â
With his modern-day mindset, it was easy to understandâit was basically a shotgun blast.
âSword Pavilion Patriarch? Heh⊠Donât get too cocky.â Mu Baishuang coughed up blood, her bloodstained fingers digging deep into the dirt. Every word she uttered carried an icy chill. âEven if you have unparalleled power⊠so what?â
âIn their eyes⊠youâre just⊠another⊠pieceâŠâ
The last words froze within her dimming pupils.
She collapsed forward into the pool of blood, hands outstretched toward the shattered stone tablet of the Heavenly Demon Young Lordâyet in the end, she failed to reach it.
âA chess piece, huh?â Chen Huaiâan mulled over the meaning behind Mu Baishuangâs words.
In the cultivation world, treating all beings as mere chess pieces was a common occurrence.
But even a pawn could break free from the boardâor flip the entire board over.
âIâd like to see who dares to use me as a chess piece.â Chen Huaiâan snorted coldly. With a flick of his sleeve, a burst of sword energy slashed apart the ruins around him. Then, riding his sword, he soared into the sky. Behind him, rocks crumbledâa makeshift grave for both Mu Baishuang and the Heavenly Demon Young Lord.
ăAcquired: Demon Cultivation Fragment x1, Dead Soul-Devouring Gu â Sub-Gu x1ă
â
Seated on
Shengxuan
, Chen Huaiâan waited. In fifteen minutes, the entrance to the minor secret realm would open.
<15> 5:45 AM: Li Qingran has rejoined the main Sword Pavilion forces and is heading toward the minor secret realm entrance.
Has found an excuse to leave the group and is now waiting near the secret realm with the demon cultivation girl.
Thinking about Master.
âŠ
âNot bad, he knows how to keep the Sword Pavilion out of trouble.â
Chen Huaiâan nodded approvingly at the log entry.
When the secret realm opened, a flood of cultivators would emerge. If Li Qingran left the secret realm alongside a demon cultivator, it would draw unnecessary attention. Slipping away to transfer her elsewhere was the right move.
If he really couldnât handle it, asking his masterâChen Huaiâanâfor help was always an option!
But why hadnât Li Qingran sought his help?
Did he not trust him?
Second-guessing each other was the worst thing between master and disciple.
Chen Huaiâan quickly took out the dead Gu worm he had obtained, shifting his focus.
ăSoul-Devouring Gu â Sub-Gu: The owner of the Main Gu can completely seize control of the Sub-Gu host. If the Main Gu dies, the Sub-Gu can only survive for one week. If the Sub-Gu dies, the host dies as well.ă
âUgh, demon cultivators will always be demon cultivatorsânothing but sinister tricks.â
Chen Huaiâan clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Mu Baishuang had been obsessed with avenging the Heavenly Demon Young Lord, never realizing he had only treated her as a tool.
Or⊠maybe she had realized, yet willingly played the role of his pawn.
A classic love-struck fool.
Pathetic.
Simping leads to nothing but misery.
If you're going to learn from someone, learn from Sword Pavilion Lord Su Qinianânow that man wasnât a simp, he was a warrior.
â
Fifteen minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
Chen Huaiâan straightened his posture atop
Shengxuan
, sitting upright in anticipation.
Buzzzâ!
A deep hum resounded from the minor secret realm entrance, drawing the attention of all the sects and cultivators present.
When the secret realm opened, numerous teleportation formations would activate, transporting cultivators out.
However, teleportation formations existed throughout the secret realmânot just at the entrance. The formations at the exit were simply denser.
As a result, every time the secret realm opened, there was always a chance that rare treasures would accidentally get ejected.
This was the moment cultivators had been waiting for.
Even if they hadnât entered the realm, they could still scavenge whatever got thrown out.
âOur senior brothers and sisters will be coming out soon! This year, we came preparedâweâll definitely get plenty of resources!â
âMy big brother promised to find me a Barrier-Breaking Pill! Once I have it, I can finally build my foundation!â
Many sect disciples and rogue cultivators were eagerly waiting.
As the secret realm entrance hummed for the third time, a massive spatial rift tore open in the sky above.
Violent winds howled, lightning crackledâa far greater commotion than in previous years.
However, according to past experiences, some cultivators should have started emerging by now.
Yet, after several secondsânothing.
Untilâ
A broken corpse plummeted from the rift, landing in a sectâs arena with a sickening
thud
, splattering blood and flesh everywhere.
Like a signal flare, the first body was soon followed by an endless cascade of corpses.
Bodies rained down like dumplings into the forests, sect grounds, even holy landsânone were spared from the carnage.
âH-How are there so many corpses?!â
âI donât know! There were always some, but never this manyâŠâ
âI see Senior Brother! I see him!â
Sect disciples took to the skies, rushing toward the falling bodies.
As they retrieved their fallen comrades, grief consumed them.
Every corpse was in a state of utter ruin, bearing clear signs of having been killed by demon cultivators.
Even Chen Huaiâan was momentarily stunned.
He quickly checked his
Yang Soul Mirror
âLi Qingran was still flying his sword.
He double-checked his survival probabilityâ100%. No issues.
With potential errors ruled out, he steadied himself, waiting.
Soon, the first wave of surviving disciples emerged from the teleportation formations.
Chen Huaiâan scanned the crowd, immediately spotting the Sword Pavilion disciples.
Their faces were pale, hauntedâthey had clearly survived a nightmare.
And then, his heart sank.
Four were missing.
Zhen He, Duan Feng, Xu An, and Yue Qianchiânowhere to be seen.
He maneuvered
Shengxuan
forward to meet the returning disciples, about to question them whenâ
A thunderous roar erupted from
Burning Purity Holy Land.
âSword Pavilion disciplesâharboring demon sect cultivators! The evidence is clear! Return our Holy Sonâs life!â