Chapter Eighteen: The Final Confrontation
“Yao Sansi, our Hundred Flowers Sect has no enmity with you. Why do you attack us?” The master of the sect, Zoran, stepped forward, a brocade flag raised in his palm, his brows knitted in fierce defiance. Beside him, four elder administrators summoned their treasured flying swords, their expressions grave.
“Why, you ask? Your Hundred Flowers Sect harbors the descendants of my enemy. If I cower and turn away, wouldn’t the world mock me?” High above, the Free Demon Lord brought his hands together, and as he slowly drew them apart, a blue treasured blade materialized, gripped firmly.
The Kalan Blood Blade!
Dense, white murderous aura coiled and surged upon the blade, vestiges of souls slain by its edge. The baleful energy dissipated in the air, scattering like vibrant fireflies.
The legendary blade, upon its appearance, seemed to steal the light from the world. The sheer aura and killing intent it radiated thrust most disciples present into terror, their bodies and souls trembling.
“How dare you run rampant in my Hundred Flowers Sect? Capture him!” The tri-colored banner in Zoran’s hand blazed, splitting into three, then nine, and in an instant, a sea of banners surged toward the demon lord like a tidal wave.
“Tricks fit for insects!” A thunderous shout echoed, as an azure brilliance swept across the night sky—a terrifying speed, a peerless force—descending upon Zoran!
A clear dragon’s cry resounded, shattering the ghostly lights, and with it, all the splendor of heaven and earth burst forth. Two beams crossed in the air, colliding fiercely!
The Free Demon Lord’s earth-shattering strike was far beyond Zoran’s ability to resist. In that fleeting moment of life and death, Fang Xiaotian intervened.
With a muffled cry, to everyone’s shock, the venerable inner sect elder was sent sprawling, blood spraying as he crashed to the ground. His Dragon Spring Sword was cleaved in two by the blue light!
Before absolute strength, even the greatest magical weapons are powerless.
Meanwhile, the four elder administrators attacked simultaneously, their flying swords slicing through the night in ripples toward the Kalan Blood Blade.
Three sharp clangs sounded in succession, and all four swords—each radiating a different brilliance—were shattered. The elders were struck down, coughing blood, utterly defeated. Such was the power of that blade!
Zoran, with nowhere to escape, closed his eyes in despair.
A pink lotus silently and mysteriously bloomed before him.
A low hum emanated, and the Kalan Blood Blade seemed frozen, unable to advance further before the lotus. Blue and pink halos rippled outward into the darkness.
“Yao Sansi! How dare you try to kill our sect master? You cannot be allowed to stay!”
A woman in a plain long dress emerged from the lotus. Her brows arched like the moon, her eyes sparkled like stars. Her beauty eclipsed all light, leaving everyone breathless.
“So it’s you! Forty years since the parting at Ten Thousand Demons Heaven, Dream Lan Fairy has blossomed into a great beauty. Ha ha…” Yao Sansi, instead of anger, laughed, recalling the Kalan Blood Blade.
This peerless woman was none other than Qin Menglan, the Lotus Fairy, head of Lotus Peak and one of the Four Great Masters of the Hundred Flowers Sect.
“Hmph! Evil fiend, prepare to die!”
Qin Menglan stepped upon a golden lotus, her moon-white palm flipped, revealing a spinning, gleaming green spike-shaped treasure nearly ten feet long.
“Sister, let me help you!” A powerful voice echoed from the sky, and the Free Demon Lord’s face changed abruptly.
“Master!” Fang Xiaotian, wounded by the sword’s energy, called out in delight.
In the pitch-black night, a middle-aged man strode through the air. His attire was simple, nothing remarkable, but where he passed, the air trembled and an invisible, sharp aura rippled around him.
---
“Yan Dongjue!” The Free Demon Lord’s pupils contracted, and with a shout, his black robe shattered, revealing a dark purple, gleaming armor beneath.
“It is I! Yao Sansi, you trespass upon Tianmen Peak—I cannot let you go unpunished!” Legend had it that Yan Dongjue’s strength surpassed even the current sect master, Jun Wuji, and his disciples were famed for their brilliance, forming the backbone of the Hundred Flowers Sect.
“Ha ha, today is just as I wished. Both of you—come at me together!” Yao Sansi’s words showed he did not regard the two as threats. Could he really withstand the combined strike of two supreme masters?
“Arrogant! Arrogant! Arrogant!” Yan Dongjue’s shout echoed through the mountains. Disciples clutched their heads, wailing in agony, and those watching from the trees dropped down like falling fruit.
Qin Menglan struck first! The Profound Yin Lotus Spike shot forward in a burst of stardust, aimed directly at Yao Sansi’s head!
Forged from thousand-year iron lotus, tempered with Celestial Frost and golden sand, the Profound Yin Lotus Spike possessed not only exceptional piercing power, but also the freezing effect on soul and flesh due to the Celestial Frost. Anyone struck would suffer frostbite!
Facing this deadly thrust, the Free Demon Lord showed contempt, intent on withstanding it head-on!
Qin Menglan did not expect to succeed with one strike—her goal was to distract Yao Sansi, leaving the final blow to Yan Dongjue.
The rapidly spinning spike stopped just an inch from the demon lord’s forehead, unable to advance further. Purple light and icy brilliance illuminated his brow, dazzling like the stars!
A metallic ringing sounded, and the Free Demon Lord staggered back three steps. Qin Menglan grunted, spitting blood, and the spike fell.
The outcome was clear in an instant—Yan Dongjue seized the moment.
“Ten Absolute Immortal Slaying Sword!”
The wind howled and clouds surged—heaven and earth changed color!
A white beam exploded in the tranquil void like heavenly thunder, striking down upon the demon lord. The white light swelled, and nine single-colored sword shadows crisscrossed, descending from the clouds. Sword shadows flashed across the sky, filled with the shrill sound of cutting air. Countless sword energies and killing intent flooded the world, relentless and unending, bombarding the Free Demon Lord.
An unstoppable force—after the strike, Yan Dongjue’s face turned pale, his body wavering, but he quickly regained his stance.
Heaven and earth fell silent, nothing remained in the eyes of the crowd but the endless rainbow sword energy.
“Yan Dongjue! Your Ten Absolute Sword is formidable, but it cannot kill me! Ha ha, try this—Kalan Heavensplitter!” Amidst the sword energy, a blurred blood shadow flashed, leaping a hundred feet out of nowhere.
“Senior, be careful!” At Lotus Fairy’s cry, the Kalan Blood Blade’s matchless brilliance poured forth, illuminating heaven and earth with blood-red and blue light.
“Heaven Extinguishing Reversal!” With these words, the supreme master of the Hundred Flowers Sect’s power was instantly drained, his face yellow as gold.
A streak of rainbow light appeared beside Yan Dongjue, like a multicolored water curtain, colliding head-on with the Kalan Blood Blade. Both masters groaned, thrown back dozens of yards.
The Heaven Extinguishing Reversal was Yan Dongjue’s self-defense technique, consuming vast spiritual power and true essence—used only in dire straits. That Yao Sansi could force him to use this hidden ace revealed the demon’s formidable power.
“Ha ha… The Hundred Flowers Sect is nothing special!” Standing atop the clouds, the Free Demon Lord, bathed in blood, laughed wildly—truly, such fiends could not be measured by ordinary standards.
“Scoundrel! Yao Sansi, if you had left earlier, I would have spared you. Now, you cannot escape!” From the nine heavens, a cold, authoritative voice reached into their minds. In an instant, a golden sword light swept forth, seemingly slow, but impossible to evade!
Heaven and earth, unmatched brilliance!
“Jun Wuji… you!” Blood light soared, staining the sky. A fine sword hole pierced the demon’s body, slaying both him and his demonic infant within!
---
This battle, beyond the comprehension of ordinary cultivators, ended in a flash.
In the square behind Tianmen Peak, the dead Yao Sansi’s face broke into a strange smile.
“Senior Brother, the sect master has finally emerged from seclusion.” Yan Dongjue murmured, barely audible, with a faint sigh.
“Master, I am useless and have shamed you.” Fang Xiaotian, holding his broken sword, looked despondent and sorrowful.
“Enough. Yao Sansi was no ordinary man—not even your uncle and I could defeat him. No need to blame yourself…” Yan Dongjue shook his head, then turned to Zoran, “Tomorrow, restart the furnace. I will send someone to assist you, and all damaged treasures will be sent to the inner sect for repair.”
“Yes, I obey Grandmaster’s orders,” Zoran replied.
“Then let us return to Gentleman Peak to report to the sect master. All disciples not involved, disperse.” Yan Dongjue nodded to Lotus Fairy, grabbed the Kalan Blood Blade, and soared away.
Qin Menglan lowered herself into the lotus beneath her feet. The flower shrank smaller and smaller, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
In a fragrant garden atop Gentleman Peak, a man in white robes sat upright, eyes closed, a faint ripple trembling between his brows. After a long while, his starry eyes opened slowly, and he murmured, “Was I overthinking?”
As the dust settled, Lin Feng and his companions, after witnessing this world-shaking battle, were filled with excitement and could not calm themselves. For most outer sect disciples, tonight’s experience would be something to boast about all their lives—destined to be a sleepless night.
At midnight, Lin Feng yawned and pushed open his small cottage door. Blackmane lay curled up in a bamboo basket at the entrance, sleeping soundly. Upon seeing his master return, he glanced up, then went back to sleep.
“What a lazy dog.” Lin Feng chuckled, having come to treat the creature as just a dog after these days. Indeed, Blackmane bore no resemblance to the legendary Howling Moon Wolf, acting more like a countryside mutt.
“Tomorrow is free, I’ll practice Longevity Skill twice before bed.” Lin Feng thought, then sat and began meditating, soon entering a state of total selflessness.
Moonlight drifted, shadows flickered outside, and a mass of dark light quietly slipped in through the door crack.
Blackmane opened his eyes in confusion, glanced around, whimpered twice, and fell back asleep.
“Little one, your body looks promising. With time, it could let me dominate the cultivation world. Ha ha, even Jun Wuji with all his cunning didn’t expect I’d have this soul-devouring possession trick up my sleeve!”
The dark mass was the Free Demon Lord Yao Sansi’s escaping soul. Thirty years ago, he survived a joint siege by thousands of cultivators overseas by possessing the body of a gravely wounded Golden Core stage cultivator. After years in hiding, Yao Sansi achieved Nascent Soul and emerged once more, sending disciples to hunt down old enemies. The ancestors of Nalanyan, third-generation disciple of Qiongshan Sword Sect, were among those who helped defeat the demon. Those wounded Nalanyan siblings fled into Qiyun Mountain, and the demon’s disciples dared not act within Hundred Flowers Sect territory, so they sent word to await their master.
When the Free Demon Lord arrived, he happened upon the outer sect’s grand alchemy event, and his meddlesome nature drew him into trouble. Ironically, though Jun Wuji’s world-shattering sword technique destroyed his body and nascent soul, his soul escaped and hid in a broken copper cauldron.
Jun Wuji, a sect master of thousands of years, would never easily believe the cunning demon was dead. So he used a soul avatar to lay a net around Tianmen Peak, waiting for Yao Sansi’s soul to walk into his trap for a killing blow.
Yet Jun Wuji underestimated the Free Demon Lord’s skill, or perhaps was too merciful, failing to anticipate Yao Sansi would attempt possession right on the spot, aiming to seize the body of a Hundred Flowers Sect disciple and plot against the righteous sect.
Lost in meditation, Lin Feng had no idea a century-old demon was coveting his body, preparing to possess him…
Please add to your collection…