The Demon-Slaying Sword was still in Shadowed Spring.
That was certainly not because everyone in Liuyanzhu was a saint who would never pocket something that did not belong to them. It was because nobody could lift the sword.
Although many of those who had come to watch the spectacle had departed that day, a few capable spectators remained to the very end. Naturally, they saw Ren Yijue grievously wound the White-Jade Skeleton with the sword, then lose his mind and enter the Third Veil.
In fact, after the duel ended in such an unexpected fashion, someone had immediately tried to pull the sword free, only to go mad and then explode to death.
The other spectators, frightened by this, did not dare touch it. Instead they spread the news throughout Liuyanzhu. Over the next several days, no one knew how many people came to Shadowed Spring to try claiming the sinister sword that drove its victims mad. Without exception, none succeeded in lifting it.
Most died on the spot, bathing the sword in their blood. A very few barely managed to break free of its hold and escape death, though they were left so drained of energy that they might as well have suffered grievous wounds.
The few lucky survivors differed in cultivation, gender, and appearance. There was simply no common trait to be found among them.
Hua Hanyan had deliberately sought them out and questioned them, but discovered that they did not know how they had survived either. Each had only vaguely thought about letting go, then released their grip. That was all.
They thought of letting go, and so they let go?
Hua Hanyan did not dare test the sword herself. She had been looking for some gullible fool who could wade into these dangerous waters on her behalf when Bai Wujin conveniently appeared at her door.
Could this sword be pulled free and wielded through sheer brute force?
From the moment Hua Hanyan readily agreed to help him find someone, Bai Wujin realized that he had probably stepped straight into a pit. But with the abyss of the Heavenly Demon looming ahead, he would have to hold his nose and jump into any pit, however deep. Besides, for all Hua Hanyan’s unconventional and wanton behavior, and her occasional… er… peculiarities, she was, on the whole, a woman who knew how to conduct herself. She was capable and understood proper limits.
Probably… she knew her limits. Didn’t she?
As Hua Hanyan led him toward Shadowed Spring, Bai Wujin could not help wondering, Has Hua Hanyan stopped coveting my… hm, my level of cultivation and started coveting my actual fighting skills instead? If she wants to spar, should I fight with everything I’ve got? Or should I hold back and let her land a few blows? Women’s minds are hard to fathom, and Hua Hanyan’s even harder. If I beat her bloody, she’ll probably make a fuss, say I don’t know how to treat a beautiful woman with tenderness, and refuse to help…
He had always been frank and resolute by nature. It never occurred to him to wonder why Hua Hanyan would want to have herself beaten up in the first place. Instead he kept pondering how to conduct this hypothetical sparring match. Since he loved fighting, his steps grew ever lighter and more eager.
“We’re here!” Hua Hanyan said delightedly. “It should be somewhere nearby.”
Bai Wujin could not help muttering, “Of course I know we’re here. I know this place far better than you do. Go on, tell me how you want to fight. I’m ready for anything today.”
He had always loved battle and had fought countless people in Shadowed Spring. Even after spending decades in the Third Veil, he could still have found his way here with his eyes closed. His hands itched for a fight, and he was about to summon his blood-red halberd—
Hua Hanyan rolled her eyes. “What are you doing? Who said I wanted to fight you?”
Bai Wujin stared in confusion. “If we’re not fighting, why did you bring me here?”
“Demon Lord, Demon Lord, you haven’t changed at all over the years. Still utterly oblivious to romance, with nothing but fighting and killing in your head.” Hua Hanyan took his sleeve and searched with him for a while before finally arriving at the Demon-Slaying Sword. “I brought you here to look at this sword.”
Hua Hanyan did not possess a demonic body, so she could stand before the Demon-Slaying Sword without too much difficulty. Bai Wujin, however, found the sensation unbearable. He immediately leaped two steps away and cried, “What is that thing?!”
“Wh-what?” Hua Hanyan was suddenly at a loss.
Cold sweat poured down Bai Wujin’s body. He circled the Demon-Slaying Sword again and again, making several great loops without stopping, all the while studying the imposing weapon. He sensed an immense quantity of pure, clear spiritual qi hidden within its blade, yet it also gave off a powerfully resentful and murderous baleful aura, as though tugging at the greed buried deepest in his heart.
In an instant a multitude of fantasies turned over in his mind. He seemed to fall into darkness and see himself confronting the Heavenly Demon. He was gripping that Demon-Slaying Sword and severing the Heavenly Demon’s head.
Only when searing pain swept through him did Bai Wujin suddenly come back to himself.
The sword itself had not moved.
Only then did Bai Wujin realize that he had been approaching the Demon-Slaying Sword without awareness, and that its radiance had already begun destroying his body. At last he stopped.
The exposed flesh of his hands was repeatedly being destroyed and restored. Bai Wujin felt the sword light slicing him apart while the demonic power inside him continually repaired the damage.
Bathed in the sword’s light, he must have looked quite frightening, for Hua Hanyan seemed alarmed.
Bai Wujin withdrew beyond the reach of the sword’s radiance. A drop of blood fell from the center of his brow and slid down his nose, and he casually wiped it away.
For now his injuries were only superficial, a warning from the sword. If he truly gripped its hilt, he would likely either explode on the spot under the clash of pure and impure qi, or be controlled by the sword as its slave, running about in a murderous frenzy until he died of exhaustion.
“You cannot wield it.” Bai Wujin turned a piercing gaze on her. “Hua Hanyan, if you mean to possess this sword, you’re dreaming. I doubt anyone alive in this age could control it.”
Hua Hanyan dismissed the warning at first, but his appearance made her pale too. “That sounds terrifying. Is it really as grave as you say, Demon Lord? It’s… it’s only a sword. Even someone of your extraordinary power cannot master it?”
Bai Wujin was silent for a long time before replying gravely. “Though this is no ancient relic but a sword forged in our own age, it was made specifically to slay demons. Its forgemaster must either have sacrificed a great many cultivators in blood or offered up a genuine immortal to create such a divine artifact. I don’t blame you for failing to recognize its origins.”
Hua Hanyan’s smile had become rather strained. “What? A demon-slaying weapon? So many cultivators… a real immortal… How could that be? How could such a thing have been done without anyone hearing about it?”
But the sword was right before her eyes. Disbelief was no longer an option.
Hua Hanyan shuddered as she recalled the great forgemaster Wei Wenfeng, who had withdrawn into seclusion and disappeared, along with those illustrious righteous sects that had once pursued demonic cultivators in a frenzy. She swallowed unconsciously.
It was not entirely impossible that these righteous sects had remained quiet in public while secretly forging such a divine weapon.
Those madmen would do anything and sacrifice anyone for the sake of what they called the people of the world.
A pack of lunatics even madder than the demonic cultivators.
Bai Wujin murmured, “This demon-slaying weapon wasn’t made to kill half-demons like me, nor demonic cultivators like you, who don’t even count as demonkin. It was forged against the true demon race. This sword was born to slay the Heavenly Demon. Opposing it is like opposing the Heavenly Demon himself. Do you understand?”
Hua Hanyan blanched, her voice trembling. “The Heavenly Demon… They… I mean, wasn’t the Heavenly Demon killed long ago? Why would they still forge a sword? What are these righteous cultivators thinking?”
“Who left it here?” Bai Wujin demanded fiercely instead of answering.
Hua Hanyan asked tentatively, “Does the Demon Lord truly not know? Two people entered the Third Veil earlier. Didn’t you meet them?”
Two people entering the Third Veil…
Something stirred in Bai Wujin’s mind. He remembered the cold Daoist and his new little brother, and suddenly understood. But even more puzzling questions now flooded his thoughts.
Still, this matter could wait. Bai Wujin paused, then said, “Hanyan, I want you to issue an order in my name forbidding anyone from entering Shadowed Spring without permission. If they respect me enough to listen, so much the better. If they don’t, let a few more people die. Only…”
“Only what?” Hua Hanyan asked.
“Only that if some lucky fool wins the sword’s recognition, they’ll be driven by it and become its sword slave,” Bai Wujin said coldly. “This weapon bears an extraordinary depth of grievance. Perhaps the cultivators sacrificed to make it died resentful, allowing it to bewitch people’s minds. It was created to eliminate demons. If it gains a sword slave, things will become truly disastrous.”
If someone carrying a sword like this wandered around Liuyanzhu killing indiscriminately, there would be no need for the righteous sects to intervene. Liuyanzhu would face another calamity of annihilation.
The sword could simply change slaves, while the weapon itself would be difficult to destroy. In the end, the inhabitants of Liuyanzhu would be slaughtering one another.
Hua Hanyan’s face changed drastically. “What an insidious, vicious scheme! Those righteous sects actually dared send such an evil sword into Liuyanzhu. How shameless!”
Bai Wujin considered for a moment and answered calmly, “Don’t be angry just yet, Hanyan. Tell me every detail you know.”
That Daoist named Qian Xuelang had not seemed like such a malicious or vicious person. The demon had spent considerable time with him, and the pair had plainly fled into the Third Veil in a panic. If the sword had been something they carried with them, there was probably another explanation.
However extraordinary a divine artifact, it had limitations of its own. This sword, for example, was exceedingly selective, almost as if deliberately testing the character of anyone who approached it.
Left here, it undoubtedly posed a great threat to the demonic cultivators and half-demons of Liuyanzhu. Seen another way, however, it was also a tremendous aid against the Heavenly Demon.
The affairs of the world changed in countless ways. They could not all be judged alike.
While Bai Wujin and Hua Hanyan worried about the Demon-Slaying Sword, Ren Yijue was facing a problem of his own at the Earth-Mother Womb Pool.
As Qian Xuelang’s injuries healed, his sight was naturally recovering too. Ren Yijue wanted to visit him, but feared that Qian Xuelang would see his present appearance. Yet if he did not visit, the time they could spend together was already dwindling. They might miss each other entirely.
Over the past days Ren Yijue had been growing steadily more clearheaded, losing control only a handful of times. Yet fear had taken root in him, and he kept delaying, unable to face Qian Xuelang.
Qian Xuelang might care nothing for beauty or ugliness, but how could Ren Yijue not care about his own face?
Ren Yijue had not spent these days merely moping at home, however. He had taken the opportunity to search for the person he had glimpsed while in his demonic state. He suspected that it was this person’s guidance that had led him to the Earth-Mother Womb Pool.
Needless to say, the search had turned up nothing.
With no sun or moon visible through the demonic mist, Ren Yijue’s steps grew heavier and heavier. He feared that by the time he returned to the Earth-Mother Womb Pool, Qian Xuelang would have long since gone. But if Qian Xuelang was still there and saw what he looked like now, that would be dreadful too.
Besides, they had already made a life-and-death promise. Sooner or later they would have to meet. Ren Yijue, Ren Yijue, what is the point of all this wavering?
Yet even knowing that, he could not stop hesitating. If everyone could resolve worldly affairs with such swift decisiveness, wouldn’t everyone be the Jade Beauty?
Just as Ren Yijue was preparing to turn back, the distant demonic mist churned, and strains of music drifted faintly through it. Instinctively, he followed the sound.