By the way, this is my Patreon! Please support it! With enough support, I'll upload more chapters each week (I plan to upload seven a day).
There are ten chapters available in advance!
https://patreon.com/Raven_Feather?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
--------------------------------------
Qing Xuanling's expression darkened when she saw that Cheng Yogun had vanished. She looked around in panic, but no matter how hard she searched, she found nothing. It was as if he'd dissolved into thin air.
But she knew that wasn't the case. The aura that had suddenly erupted around Cheng Yogun was cold and dark—like death itself. She'd sooner eat dog feces than believe someone with such an aura would simply flee.
She turned toward Qing Linxi—and in that instant, caught something in the corner of her eye that froze her blood.
At some point, Cheng Yogun had appeared just a few meters behind them. Yet for some reason, he seemed to be keeping his distance from her. Qing Xuanling didn't waste time wondering why—she immediately warned Qing Linxi:
"Behind you—!"
A cold wind brushed Qing Xuanling's neck. At the same moment, Cheng Yogun arrived directly behind Qing Linxi, thrusting his sword horizontally toward her lower back!
A sneer crossed Qing Linxi's face. She didn't bother turning her head—instead, she pivoted on her foot, effortlessly dodging the strike and driving her knee upward with force, slamming it into Cheng Yogun's abdomen.
Cheng Yogun's body curled like a shrimp as he was thrown several meters into the sky. But his expression didn't change at all.
No—in fact, he'd worn that same emotionless face ever since activating that dark, death-infused aura. Perhaps this was his true nature all along.
Midair, Cheng Yogun felt his entire body trembling from pain—but he remained unmoved. He calmly swung his sword horizontally and murmured: "First Movement: Brush of a Thousand Beasts…"
An ink-black slash extended from Cheng Yogun's blade. The attack split repeatedly in midair, contracting inward before transforming into dozens of beasts seemingly made of ink!
Qing Linxi frowned at the sight—but before she could react, dozens of metal-claw strikes shot from her side, smashing into the ink beasts.
Beside her stood Qing Xuanling, hands still forming seals, launching claw strikes infused with Metal Qi. Her expression was grim as she watched Cheng Yogun descend rapidly from the sky.
A single sword strike from Cheng Yogun had forced her to unleash over ten spells! The gap in strength between them was simply abyssal!
At that moment, Qing Linxi looked up, tightened her grip on her warhammer, and leapt—swinging it at Cheng Yogun as if batting a ball.
Cheng Yogun remained calm. He simply swung his sword again, this time creating a stone path beneath his feet. He kicked off it, propelling himself forward and narrowly evading the blow.
His movements—graceful and precise—were like those of a scholar calmly painting in his study, nothing like a bloodthirsty cultivator who killed without hesitation.
He landed effortlessly and slashed upward.
"Third Movement: Mountains Rise."
Cheng Yogun's black Qi slash suddenly transformed into an ink mountain that grew larger by the second, surging toward Qing Xuanling—who'd been momentarily distracted.
The attack—beautiful and mysterious—nearly struck her before she could dodge… until Qing Linxi's warhammer crashed down, shattering the ground and violently dispersing the ink mountain.
"Don't get distracted!" Qing Linxi's expression was grave. "This guy's mastery of the Ink Sword Sect's sword techniques has reached the level of Foundation Establishment elders! It's like fighting a Foundation Establishment cultivator who sealed their cultivation—any lapse could cost us our lives!"
Qing Xuanling's heart trembled in shock. She'd thought herself quite talented on the sword path—but it seemed Cheng Yogun was the true genius here!
She took a deep breath and nodded, taking the warning seriously.
Cheng Yogun watched their exchange indifferently and swung his sword again. His movements—calm and precise—mirrored a scholar painting in tranquility, nothing like a cultivator in the middle of a battle.
"Second Movement: All Rivers Converge to the Sea."
Like ink on canvas, Cheng Yogun's slash flowed through the air, forming dozens of rivers converging on Qing Xuanling and Qing Linxi's position.
They immediately dodged in opposite directions—but only a tenth of the ink rivers struck the ground. The rest split apart, flawlessly pursuing them.
Qing Xuanling gritted her teeth, forming seals to summon fire hawks and metal-claw strikes—but the furious ink rivers instantly devoured them.
The Sword Qi forming those ink rivers was simply too potent for her spells to affect!
She cursed herself for not learning more spells and unsheathed Memory. Her eyes sharpened, radiating battle will, and she spread her legs. The Qi in her body surged as she used the sixth movement of the Wanderer's Sword: Soft Block.
She wasn't sure if her idea would work—but she had no other options.
She gently guided Memory's tip toward the nearest ink river—and immediately, immense pressure slammed into her sword hand. Her eyes widened in surprise; she gripped the sword with both hands, increasing the force she exerted..
But to her shock, the ink river repelled Memory backward instantly—then surged toward her unimpeded!
Qing Xuanling flew backward, feeling countless shallow cuts form across her skin, sending waves of agony through her. She stumbled back, dazed.
'Damn it—none of my other moves can handle these ink rivers…'
She gritted her teeth. Soft Block had been her only hope—and it had failed spectacularly. She glanced at Qing Linxi, who'd already shaken off the ink rivers and was struggling against Cheng Yogun.
Determination flared in her eyes.
Her mind replayed her attempt to redirect the ink river. With no other method to solve it she had no choice but to refine her previous method while desperately dodging the attacks from ink rivers.
Qing Xuanling focused entirely inward, letting her body dodge unconsciously as she mentally replayed the redirection attempt.
She vividly recreated in her mind the attempt to redirect the ink river. The first replay revealed nothing—so she did it again. The second neither—so she tried a third, fourth, even seventh time.
More than five minutes passed like this. Qing Xuanling's body was caked in dirt and mud from rolling to evade attacks—but she was running out of stamina.
It was already impressive she could dodge unconsciously using pure instinct.
But in that exact moment—trapped between ferocious attacks—her mind worked furiously. On the eighth mental replay, a spark surged through her body.
Epiphany lit Qing Xuanling's night-black eyes.
"The original intent!" she blurted aloud. "Soft Block is a technique that follows softness to control greater force. But earlier, I tried controlling force with force—that's why my sword was repelled!"
"I was going against the original intention of the movement!"
She finally understood why she'd failed to redirect the ink rivers—but her thoughts went further.
"I've always converted my Five Elements Qi into Metal Qi for Sword Qi, since Metal resonates best with weapons. But Metal is too rigid and sharp! What if I used another element to generate Sword Qi…?"
She halted her cultivation technique—which had been producing pure, controllable Metal Qi—took a deep breath, and without hesitation, switched to generating Water Qi.
The Five Rotating Axes Art worked at maximum capacity, generating water Qi through the elemental generation cycle. Soon, pure, impurity-free Water Qi surged from Qing Xuanling's dantian, spreading through her body.
She wasted no time—immediately created Sword Qi from it. As she channeled Water-attributed Qi through the minor meridians needed for Sword Qi, she noticed the difference instantly.
Her Qi, which once rushed crudely and quickly through her meridians, now flowed with softly and smoothly. The change wasn't just internal. When she created Sword Qi, her eyes widened slightly.
Memory's Sword Qi remained as white and pure as before—but its energy was different. It was no longer purely cutting. Now, though its slicing power seemed reduced, it hid the essence of change—like water, never holding the same form.
'Now I should be able to…'
Qing Xuanling's focus snapped outward. The first thing she saw was ink rivers about to strike her.
But she didn't panic.
Calmly, she widened her stance and held Memory in her right hand alone. Gently, she touched the nearest ink river with the blade's tip—the same as before.
But unlike earlier—when she'd tried overpowering the river's force—she now yielded. She rotated her body, flowing with the river's direction.
But at the same time, her once-rigid Sword Qi now softly guided the ink river elsewhere—making it collide with another!
The difficult thing about some things was doing them for the first time. After her first attempt, she easily steered the remaining rivers to clash with each other.
Sweat poured from her brow, but her eyes blazed. What she'd grasped in this brief moment was monumental to her. She'd never considered using different elemental Qi in specific techniques.
Most cultivators with time to ponder such things were geniuses with triple or double spiritual roots who only knew techniques blending their elements simultaneously.
Meanwhile, cultivators with complete or mixed roots rarely had time for consider such things.
Of course, she doubted she was the first to discover this—ancient experts surely knew—but such knowledge was likely secret, passed only among great powers!
Understanding it herself was a huge achievement.
After catching her breath, she turned to Qing Linxi and Cheng Yogun. Though satisfied with herself, she knew urgent matters remained.
Their battle raged fiercer than ever.
Qing Linxi was covered in cuts, while Cheng Yogun's robes hung in tatters. Though their states seemed different, they weren't—after all, the damage that Qing Linxi could inflict was worlds apart.
Qing Xuanling had no doubt Cheng Yogun would be gravely wounded if hit again by Qing Linxi's hammer—while Qing Linxi, though battered, was far from being in bad condition.
The famed resilience of body cultivators was well-earned.
Still, Qing Xuanling admired Qing Linxi immensely. Even though Cheng Yogun clearly used a secret method to amplify his already-great power, she'd resisted—and held her ground.
'Though… hasn't it been a while since he activated that secret technique? How much longer can this power boost last?'
Her heart filled with doubts—but since thinking wouldn't resolve them, she pushed the questions aside and approached the duel, sword in hand.
Her recent epiphany with the Sixth Movement gave her confidence to interfere.
She reached them and struck Cheng Yogun with Nine Changes—launching six consecutive attacks.
Cheng Yogun paused briefly before smoothly swinging his sword, creating birds from his slash that clashed with Memory, forcing Qing Xuanling back.
He swung again instantly, unleashing dozens of ink rivers at her.
She smiled. apparently, they hadn't seen how she'd handled his attack earlier.
Qing Xuanling charged the ink rivers—but contrary to Cheng Yogun's (and even Qing Linxi's) expectations, she didn't collide with them or get injured. Instead, she weaved among them, brushing their edges with her blade's tip.
To their astonishment, Qing Xuanling redirected the ink rivers straight at Cheng Yogun!
For the first time since his death-aura emerged, emotion flickered in Cheng Yogun's eyes: surprise.
"You… improved mid-battle against me?" His mouth hung slightly open as he easily sliced the returning ink rivers. "Learning to turn my attacks against me—So fast, even though at first you couldn't do anything... Ha! Qing Xuanling, you really are a damn monster."
Cheng Yogun's emotionless mask finally cracked—revealing a hint of excitement.
Qing Xuanling felt disgusted by this and immediately clashed swords with him. Sparks flew—and she instantly retreated a step. Cheng Yogun's strength was overwhelming, almost as if he were a body cultivator too.
But someone exploited the brief opening Qing Xuanling created.
Qing Linxi—face scarred but grinning savagely—appeared behind Cheng Yogun, warhammer raised.
"Hehe—I knew you couldn't last long when two sisters team up!"
Her hammer descended, smashing Cheng Yogun and the ground, further cracking the already-shattered earth after several minutes of battle. A smoke cloud erupted, from which two figures flew out.
Qing Linxi emerged unscathed, watching Cheng Yogun stumble from the smoke—bruised and bloodied.
"My hammer's human-crushing techniques are pretty interesting, right?" Qing Linxi beamed.
Cheng Yogun's expression didn't change at her taunt—but he had to admit her techniques were impressive. The previous experience was as if his body had fallen into a meat grinder, about to become the meat that some mortals in the city used to eat.
He sighed heavily, blood trickling from his lips.
"Impressive, both of you. I've only used the Underworld Lord State a few times in my life—yet no one's cornered me like this while in this state. Such an achievement makes you worthy of hearing the name of the technique used by the person who killed you."
Qing Linxi sneered. "Brat, don't get cocky. You're obviously buying time to heal."
Though she said this, neither she nor Qing Xuanling attacked. Despite the danger, they wanted to know Cheng Yogun's power source. If the entire Ink Sword Sect could enter this state, it'd be catastrophic for the Qing clan.
The odds were low—but they needed confirmation, even at the risk of letting him recover.
He seemed to read their minds, as he indifferently pulled a pill from his sleeve and swallowed it naturally.
"People assume the Ink Sword Sect only allied with demonic cultivators recently—but there's something most don't know."
Cheng Yogun began on an apparently unrelated topic—but both women let him speak, eager to understand.
He didn't disappoint.
"Everyone knows the sect's ancestral techniques are the Celestial Sword Painter's Cultivation Art and the Cutting Brush Art. But in reality, the true foundation of the sect is neither of those—it's a secret mantra."
"The Underworld Sword Mantra."
Cheng Yogun's lips curled upward.
"It's not a cultivation technique or sword forms—just phrases we repeat when… killing humans."
Qing Xuanling's expression darkened as a bad feeling filled her chest.
"The Ink Sword Sect was demonic from the start. At some point, an ancestor obtained this mantra and passed it down. Initially, they refused to use it due to its clear demonic nature. But temptation soon won."
Cheng Yogun continued, a cold smile on his face.
"The first person to use the mantra discovered his Sharp Qi improved with every human he killed. In greed, he massacred an entire mortal village, elevating his Sharp Qi to Sword Qi."
"What happened next is obvious." A icy aura emanated from him. "So it's not that the sect recently allied with demonic cultivators—they've been demonic from the beginning."
Qing Xuanling's body trembled. She finally understood why the ink sword sect always produced someone who comprehended Sword Qi in the Qi Refinement realm—and why Cheng Yogun had committed that senseless massacre. It was all because of that damned mantra!
But one thing confused her.
What's this strange state you're in? You became overwhelmingly powerful suddenly—and it doesn't seem to be ending soon." Qing Xuanling eyed him skeptically. "I doubt the ink sword sect could sustain such power hidden even if they possessed it."
Cheng Yogun nodded. "Sharp as ever. You're right—the cultivators from Ink Sword Sect can't enter the Underworld Lord State."
"After all, they lack the cultivation technique that complements the Underworld Sword Mantra."