Content fidelity note: The original includes sexualized descriptions of characters who appear underage and a consensual adult dual-cultivation scene. These passages are conveyed non-graphically; the central narrative and cultivation facts remain.
All seven demonic cultivators had finally been eliminated. Xu Ziqing sighed in relief, recalled his vines, and swept his sleeve through the hall, clearing away the remains of the battle.
Only then did he turn to the captives who had been thrown aside earlier.
As he feared, the other captives had been deprived of so much vital essence that, once freed from their restraints, their lifespans were exhausted.
Xu Ziqing examined them carefully, unwilling to abandon hope, but they had been drained for far too long to recover.
Fortunately, two were still alive: the pair who appeared to be boys of twelve or thirteen.
They were naked, huddled in a corner and trembling.
Xu Ziqing hurried forward and covered them with his outer robe. “I…”
He found himself unable to think of words that would not cause more distress.
The two boys resembled each other closely and had unusually fine features. Xu Ziqing expected them to grow into outstanding young men.
Xu Ziqing’s heart ached at the thought of boys who seemed so young suffering such a terrible ordeal.
Fortunately, their vitality was still vigorous. They seemed to have been brought here recently and had survived.
Xu Ziqing had only one outer robe, not enough to clothe them both. He took another clean garment from the corpse of a demonic cultivator, handed it to them, and turned his back while they dressed.
After about seven or eight minutes, a timid voice said, “S-senior… we’re ready.”
When Xu Ziqing turned, he found the boys clothed, though the large garments hindered their movements.
Fear still lingered on their faces.
After thinking a moment, he asked, “Which sect are you disciples of?”
They were identical twins, each with the fine aptitude of dual spiritual roots. Despite how young they looked, both appeared to have reached Foundation Establishment. Xu Ziqing assumed their sect must have cherished them.
Since they had survived, Xu Ziqing could not abandon them. He would have to arrange to send them back.
His gentle manner reassured them a little. They explained that they belonged to their family’s direct line, had only just established their foundations, and had been traveling with their parents to enter a sect when disaster struck.
Xu Ziqing understood.
With such talents, they could likely have joined a great sect’s inner ranks directly. But they had been seized before arrival, and their parents were probably dead.
He sighed. “Do you have any other family?”
The twins shook their heads. “Only the two of us remain in the direct line. The collateral branches have probably taken over. We can’t return.”
Xu Ziqing frowned.
That complicated matters. Perhaps he would have to bring them back to his sect and leave their placement to its authorities.
Before he could explain, the cavern suddenly shook violently.
A tremendous wave of force struck, collapsing half the chamber and exposing the sky.
Xu Ziqing reacted at once, gathering the boys and moving several zhang away in a breath.
The remains of the dead prisoners were buried by falling stones before he could retrieve them.
The twins clutched at his arms, frightened and trembling.
Before he could reassure them, overwhelming pressure swept over them, so dense it almost suffocated him.
He hurriedly circulated his true essence and looked up.
Three figures hovered in the sky. One stood upon sword intent, facing the other two. The atmosphere was extraordinarily tense.
Xu Ziqing’s pupils contracted. His senior brother was facing two half-step Nascent Soul cultivators!
Anxiety seized him. Yun Lie could match several late Golden Core cultivators, but half-step Nascent Soul was a different matter.
The gulf separating Golden Core and Nascent Soul was vast. These were cultivators who had already set one foot into the next stage and could use some of a Nascent Soul ancestor’s powers. An ordinary peak Golden Core cultivator could not compare.
Earlier, after separating from Xu Ziqing, Yun Lie had entered the deepest part of the den and found another grand hall, the stronghold’s most secret chamber.
In the innermost hall, the two male leaders were naked and engaged in vigorous, mutually responsive intercourse on the bed.
No other cultivation cauldrons were present. Yet this was not merely an intimate encounter: true essence circulated continuously between the two men, revealing that they were performing a dual-cultivation technique.
The energy within them swelled, and their auras continued to rise, as though they might break through at any moment.
Yun Lie immediately identified both as half-step Nascent Soul cultivators, each poised to become a true Nascent Soul ancestor.
Yun Lie had no desire to wait for them to finish their sexual encounter. He immediately struck at them with a blast of killing intent.
The two demonic cultivators sensed Yun Lie’s arrival immediately, even in the midst of their encounter. Without taking the time to separate fully, they sprang up and donned their cultivator robes.
Their fight destroyed part of the hall and carried all three into the open air.
One half-step Nascent Soul leader sneered, “What nerve, brat! You’re only at middle Golden Core, yet you dare interrupt this ancestor’s pleasure? I’ll beat you until your flesh splits apart. Only then will my anger be appeased!”
The other said, “Your mastery of the sword is quite impressive. If you beg us for mercy and offer yourself to our bed, this ancestor might spare your life and take you as a favored bed companion. How does that sound?”
Both addressed themselves arrogantly as ancestors, yet their insults were calculated. Neither rushed forward foolishly; they intended to disturb Yun Lie’s composure.
Xu Ziqing understood their tactic and still felt anger on his senior brother’s behalf.
He also noticed that the ten years of cultivation had advanced Yun Lie to middle Golden Core.
Yun Lie remained unmoved.
Standing on sword intent, he released pure killing intent like flowing mercury, sealing everything within a hundred zhang and forming a near-impenetrable cage.
“Enough words.” His voice was icy, his face free of fear. “You deserve death.”
A black-gold giant sword appeared from his brow and swept downward with the weight of a mountain.
A piercing shriek split the air. Space itself seemed to distort along the sword’s path.
The two half-step Nascent Soul cultivators retreated and each produced a massive black seal.
Boom! Boom!
The first seal was split apart immediately. The second rose to meet the attack.
A crack opened in that second seal as well.
Perhaps the strike had lost momentum, for the sword intent lodged in the crack without cleaving the artifact through.
Yun Lie summoned it back with a thought.
The black-gold shadow shifted into hundreds upon hundreds of long swords that surged toward both enemies.
The two cultivators sneered. Each took out two black banners.
Each banner stood over ten zhang tall, crowned by a ghostly head and carrying forty-nine skull ornaments. Demonic qi and ghostly shadows swirled around them.
Once the four banners appeared, their cloth expanded to cover an enormous area.
The banners swept backward, enveloping the black-gold swords and tightening around them.
The trapped sword intent battered the fabric, but the supple material yielded without breaking and prevented it from escaping.
Demonic and ghostly qi entangled the sword intent, forcing the two powers into a stalemate even though sword intent could take tangible or intangible form.
The two opponents were half-step Nascent Soul cultivators with considerable reserves of true essence and powerful magical treasures. Even Yun Lie’s sword intent could not shatter them casually.
Their opposing forces pulled endlessly against one another.
Below, Xu Ziqing shielded the two boys and withdrew several dozen zhang.
The banners emanated terrifying demonic qi and ghostly flames. A touch might corrode him beyond resistance.
At Essence Transformation he could not withstand them.
Yun Lie’s expression did not alter. He opened his mouth and released a tiny sword.
It was shorter than a forearm, with a slender, astonishingly sharp blade. Freezing power radiated from it, threatening injury without contact.
Even before Yun Lie fully launched it, sword qi rose all around.
From far below, Xu Ziqing felt its killing intent brush his face and a cold like deep frozen water seep through his bones.
He had to get farther away!
Alarmed, he withdrew until the chill subsided.
The little sword seemed forged from pure killing intent, as though it could freeze and cleave everything.
The two demonic leaders exchanged a wary look.
“A life-bound sword!”
Both had struggled through real battles to attain half-step Nascent Soul, unlike the lesser cultivators who relied entirely on shortcuts.
Yet they had never encountered a life-bound treasure as dangerous as this little sword.
From what material could it have been forged?
Greed joined the fear in their eyes.
The black qi around their banners thickened, as though about to swallow the trapped sword intent completely.
Yun Lie pointed. The little sword sprang forward.
Whoosh!
The surrounding demonic and ghostly qi dispersed at contact, melting away like winter snow in sunlight.
With the evil energy stripped away, the banners’ dark material was laid bare.
The little sword continued onward and pierced straight through the cloth.
A sharp tearing sound rang out. The banners’ built-up strength collapsed.
The two leaders were furious. They had faced hardship before, but never been so badly checked by a young opponent.
They had spent tremendous effort refining these treasured banners; losing them so quickly was intolerable.
It also made them realize that their enemy could not be defeated easily.
Exchanging a look, they gritted their teeth and cut open their brows.
A colorful glow rose, and an extraordinarily profound, powerful, intangible structure appeared above each of them.
Xu Ziqing cried out softly, “They also have… embryonic Minor Cosmoses!”