Chao Zhaoyue couldn’t help but think it over—was there any particularly famous person surnamed Yan in the cultivation world? But since Suisui had said so, they probably weren’t some nobody. Perhaps even an alias of some powerful old ancestor.
He had no idea that not only was it not some nobody—saying the name aloud might even frighten people.
Chao Jinsui naturally wouldn’t just wait around where she was. She had retreated into the forbidden ground purely to try going in once more.
First, most people couldn’t enter the trial grounds, which could buy time and prevent Chao Taichu from cutting the ground out from under her;
Second, the Kunlun Sword was a divine sword capable of splitting mountains and seas.
She believed her strength would definitely surge—at the very least, when facing the head of the Su family at the late Nascent Soul stage, she absolutely wouldn’t fall into a disadvantage.
When the time came, carving out a bloody path and coordinating inside and out with that demonic figure would be the proper course.
After all, Yan Xueyi absolutely could not reveal his true identity as a demon. Otherwise, the matter would escalate into a conflict between the human race and the demon race.
Yet when she thought of that sword, her mood darkened.
“Why won’t that Kunlun Sword acknowledge me?”
Chao Zhaoyue had already heard her recount what happened in the trial.
“No, aside from you, no one else will do.”
“Haven’t you seen it clearly yet? The only way to break the Ten-Thousand Swords Formation is the fifth level of the Kunlun Sword Art; and the Kunlun Sword Art was created by the old ancestor. This trial is clearly meant to find a successor for the founding master.”
Sword cultivators placed immense importance on the rank of sword arts. Who would cultivate such a cheap, low-grade sword art to the very peak? Even sword cultivators so poor they had no other choice—after learning the Kunlun Sword Art, how many could train it to the fifth level?
Such harsh conditions were already a way of selecting a successor.
“A successor?”
So close to the matter, yet she hadn’t thought of this at all!
“Yes.”
“Actually, the sword spirit wasn’t wrong—you’re too proper. Look, when the sword spirit wouldn’t let you take it, you really tried to reason with it and listened to its nonsense.”
She froze. “But it clearly said I wasn’t suitable.”
“No, you’ve clearly already been acknowledged as the old ancestor’s successor. Would the founding master casually let outsiders see those sword techniques and manuals?”
In a flash of lightning-like realization, she suddenly understood.
—This was the true third trial.
Chao Zhaoyue laughed freely.
“This sword hasn’t been drawn for ten thousand years—there must be a reason.”
Ordinary people couldn’t pass the first two trials. Those who did pass them—once the sword spirit said “you’re not suitable,” it would dismiss the sword cultivators. Those single-minded sword cultivators would leave in despair, utterly unaware of the treasure they had just missed!
So for ten thousand years, this sword still had no master, living freely and carefree!
She gritted her teeth. “Such a cunning sword!”
Chao Zhaoyue raised a brow.
“When something happens, don’t always reflect on yourself—blame others more.”
Chao Jinsui: “……”
Chao Zhaoyue spread his hands. “See, just like Xiaotu—we kidnapped her. Can we blame ourselves for not caring about kinship? Of course not, we should blame her for not striving, for not practicing her sword properly.”
As soon as the words fell, Chao Zhaoyue and Chao Jinsui both seemed as if their Ren and Du meridians had suddenly been opened. They looked at Chao Xiaotu at the same time—clearly, they had thought of the same thing.
Chao Xiaotu felt her scalp prickle.
—They had kidnapped Chao Xiaotu. Why couldn’t they try kidnapping that sword spirit too?!
Chao Jinsui suddenly stood up, startling Chao Xiaotu into a shudder.
“Didn’t that sword say I follow rules too rigidly, that I lack sharpness?”
She narrowed her eyes, her voice icy.
“If it refuses to go with me, I’ll destroy that place and throw it into the sword-forging pool to be smelted into a toilet brush!”
✦ ─ ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ ─ ✦
Outside the forbidden ground, Chao Taichu, who had been watching their movements all along, immediately stood up when he saw them move.
He signaled the disciples behind him to be on guard, light flickering in his eyes as he snorted coldly,
“Trying to force their way out, do they think we’re all dead?”
Chao Taichu knew very well that more than three hundred cultivators of the Su family were stationed outside the sect-protecting formation, fully prepared. For Chao Jinsui to try to force her way out would be nothing but a dream!
And adding one Chao Zhaoyue—so what? One against a hundred? They truly overestimated themselves.
He would just wait for this rebellious child to charge out, then come crawling back in disgrace to admit her mistake!
Hundreds of Kunlun disciples stood ready.
Yet Chao Jinsui did not force her way through as Chao Taichu had expected. She merely cast them a cold glance, then together with Chao Zhaoyue, the two of them carried Chao Xiaotu like a sack and actually rushed deeper into the forbidden ground!
The Great Elder wondered aloud, “What are they going there for?”
He and the Punishment Hall Elder exchanged looks, and the disciples behind them were all full of confusion.
Could it be that the Young Sect Master planned to hide inside the forbidden ground and drag things out with the Sect Master like this?
At that moment, Chao Taichu suddenly realized something.
He didn’t even care about his precious daughter anymore, his expression changing drastically. “Stop them! They ensures they must not reach the center of the forbidden ground!”
The first time Chao Jinsui entered the forbidden ground, Chao Taichu had not connected it with the Kunlun Sword.
As the Sect Master of the Kunlun Sword Sect, he had a faint sense of Kunlun itself. When Chao Jinsui first entered the forbidden ground, he hadn’t sensed the slightest disturbance from the Kunlun Sword at all;
But this time, he felt that something deep within the forbidden ground was stirring restlessly!
Others might not know of the Kunlun Sword’s existence—but how could the Sect Master not know!
Every Sect Master, upon assuming the position, would be told countless secrets of Kunlun. They would keep them sealed for life, then pass them on to the next Sect Master.
In the past, Chao Taichu was the only one in all of Kunlun who knew of the Kunlun Sword—had he never thought of taking it? Had he been concerned for Kunlun, unwilling to destroy this magnificent immortal palace?
Of course not!
If he obtained the Kunlun Sword and inherited the founding master’s legacy, what was the position of Sect Master of the Kunlun Sword Sect worth? To follow in the founding master’s footsteps and become the second Sword Saint under heaven—what would be difficult about that?
What cultivator does not pursue power!
Yet the Kunlun Sword trial left behind by the founding master was far too difficult, and there was even a sword spirit guarding it.
Unluckily, in five hundred years, he had never been able to step through that gate even once.
His steps faltered, tiger-like eyes blazing with fury as he hurried over but he was still one step too late—
He had been furious, unwilling to accept it, but since for more than ten thousand years no one had taken that sword, Chao Taichu had gradually stopped being so twisted, so obsessively fixated.
But now, he watched with his own eyes as that youthful daughter arrived before the giant sword formation and shouted, “Kunlun Sword! Open the gate!”
The gate he had sought for five hundred years without success opened just like that.
His eyes split with fury!
He almost immediately leapt forward to rush inside, but in the next instant, ten thousand swords shot forth at once!
He had no choice but to block with his own sword, and in that brief moment, the gate slammed shut before him.
With a loud bang, as if it were viciously mocking Chao Taichu—
What is mediocrity?
Every single thing you spend your life yearning for yet never obtain, she will acquire with ease.
She entered the Golden Core stage at eighteen, reached the Nascent Soul stage before a hundred—everything you spent a lifetime pursuing, she accomplishes effortlessly;
Even cultivating the most ordinary Kunlun Sword Art, she still shines brilliantly upon the path of the sword.
You suppressed her countless times, yet every act of suppression only gave rise to an even more dazzling, more radiant brilliance.
You wanted to use her as a convenient blade, but at some point, that blade stopped being so easy to wield.
You had originally planned to treat her as a discarded piece.
Now, that discarded piece has stepped through the gate you dreamed of all your life.
And you are shut outside.
Chao Taichu’s eyes were blood-red, his fingers clenched until they cracked.
All around was utter silence, although—they did not know what lay beyond that gate.
But from the Sect Master’s expression, everyone gleaned something: today, the Sect Master would absolutely not allow Chao Jinsui to walk out.
✦ ─ ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ ─ ✦
Demon Realm.
The Demon Lord’s lips curved upward. “So she still went to take the sword?”
Of course, obediently waiting in place for him to rescue her was never her temperament.
And he had an extremely strong premonition that this time, she would definitely take the Kunlun Sword!
The corners of the demon’s lips couldn’t help but rise, his whole body suffused with such exhilaration that he almost burst into laughter.
After all, how many times in the past had she rushed about for that sect, how many times had she fought him until their eyes ran red—wasn’t it all to protect them?
But now, she had truly let go.
—Then, doesn’t that mean he could abduct her to the demon race?!
Those phoenix eyes, usually gloomily beautiful, were now astonishingly bright.
For a moment, he even began to dislike the Demon Realm where he had lived for so long.
He used to think the Demon Realm’s jagged rocks had their own unique scenery. Now he only felt it was full of barren mountains and foul waters, nowhere near as picturesque as the cultivation world—what if she found it dull and looked down on it?
He used to think each of his subordinates was fiercely valiant. Now he only felt they were all brawn with no brains. Some weren’t just simple—they even had several extra heads, terribly unsightly. What if she found them unpleasing to the eye?
He used to think his demon palace was luxurious and vast—kick a demon from the east side to the west with one foot and they’d still be flying through the air for five minutes before landing. Now he only felt it was empty and desolate. She was so particular, what if she looked down on it?
The handsome demon’s expression shifted again and again, his gloomy gaze sweeping from east to west, brimming with disdain.
It made the demons below him shiver all over.
At last, he waved his hand and dismissed them all.
He quickly calmed down.
—She liked basking in the sun, her whole being like a warm cluster of light, but he could never make a sun rise in the Demon Realm.
This was his world—sunless, demons running rampant, only slightly better than the Ten-Thousand Demon Cave.
Would she like a place like this?
His steps halted, his gaze dimming for an instant.
Then he turned and vanished from the demon palace.
Demon General Moye was the last to leave the palace. Just after getting off duty, he had been planning to go gamble with a few familiar demon generals like Hongniang—after all, who among demons didn’t love gambling? Of course, the Demon Lord was different.
His Excellency was cold and detached, uninterested in beauty, uninterested in gambling, only fond of finding subordinates to beat each other up. As a result, in their spare time, all demons went out of their way to avoid him.
The next second, he suddenly saw a white figure fly past overhead in the distance.
Wait—how could there be a righteous cultivator here?!
Moye was startled and chased after him. The white-robed figure stopped, lifted his bamboo hat, revealing a cold, sharp jawline.
Moye turned pale with shock. “Your Excellency? What are you going to do?”
His Excellency: “Kill someone.”
Moye: But Your Excellency, that color stains easily when killing!
His Excellency cast him a cold glance: What do you know? If one is going to receive someone, naturally one must dress properly.
—Mainly because that sword cultivator said not to dress so demon-like.
Moye, very perceptive, immediately said he could accompany His Excellency and help hand him a blade or something.
Life in the Demon Realm wasn’t easy either. As a border city guard demon general, he was severely marginalized. The other demons excluded him, so he took the route of helping the Demon Lord handle private matters, building a bit of nepotistic connection.
Who would have thought that beneath the white bamboo hat, the Demon Lord merely lifted his chin slightly. “Those who meddle too much in private affairs die faster.”
Moye: …
Moye rolled away.
A thousand li away, a white figure wearing a bamboo hat descended like an immortal crane, landing steadily atop the highest treetop among the Kunlun mountains.
She had told him to come alone. He was indeed displeased that she did not trust the demon race—but if she would only trust him alone, what else could he do?
His tall, slender figure leaned against the tree trunk, like a young man waiting for his beloved.
He lowered his gaze to the Su family’s disciples in blue robes below the mountain and said casually,
“She even told me to wait for her signal before moving. Tell me, how is she so good at ordering people around?”
Xiao Yanjing fawned, “Exactly, exactly! Let’s not listen to her, let’s just charge in and kill our way through!”
His master immediately shot Xiao Yanjing a sidelong glance. “If you cannot endure small matters, you will ruin great plans.”
Xiao Yanjing: ?
He wasn’t truly so warm-hearted as to come save anyone—he had come to snatch someone away. What if she refused to go with him if he didn’t follow her plan?
In the next instant, countless white birds in the mountains were startled into flight!
One demon and one snake—almost identical demonic horns tilting slightly—both raised their heads at the same time, looking toward the Kunlun Sword Sect not far away.
—The Kunlun Sword had moved.
He raised a hand, pulling down the white bamboo hat to cover his demonic horns. With a light tap of his toes, he flew toward the mountain below.
