VHSTS CH11

Across the wide, flat wasteland, there were no mountains anywhere in sight—only scattered, uneven small ponds.

Gripping his sword in his right hand, Luo Jianqing furrowed his brows tightly, carefully scanning his surroundings. Shrill beast cries rang out from all directions, trailing Luo Jianqing like ghosts. A purple phantom coalesced into an illusory mist, moving at blinding speed—too fast for Luo Jianqing to make out its appearance, though he could roughly guess which demonic beast it was.

A sixth-grade demonic beast, the Phantom Demon Fox!

The fox clan had always been shrewd; among fifth- and sixth-grade foxes, those capable of speaking human tongue were commonplace.

“Young gentleman, why don’t you give nujia¹Nujia (奴家): An archaic, coquettish first-person pronoun traditionally used by young women in classical Chinese literature and drama when speaking to men (similar to “this humble girl” or “little me”). a little smile?”

“You human, why are you still holding onto that sword? It makes nujia’s heart flutter in fright.”

“Why don’t you submit to nujia instead? Nujia can spare your life.”

Silver-bell laughter echoed between heaven and earth; the sound waves struck like weapons, piercing sharply into Luo Jianqing’s ears.

“Green Lotus Sword Heart Formula!”

Luo Jianqing rapidly shifted his hand seals. The Shuangfu Sword slowly rose into the air, splitting into four sharp treasured swords that shielded Luo Jianqing within. The four identical blades vibrated continuously in mid-air, forming a blue-green barrier against which each of the demon fox’s spiritual attacks crashed.

The blue-green light screen trembled violently. Withstanding the first strike had already been difficult; by the second strike, it was swaying unsteadily on the verge of collapse. Luo Jianqing’s eyes turned sharp; flipping his hand, he retrieved Spirit-Gathering Pills and swallowed ten at once. Instantly, his spiritual power surged, reinforcing the light screen considerably.

At the same time, Luo Jianqing kept a vigilant eye on his surroundings, trying to pinpoint the beast’s location.

“Young gentleman, if you refuse to yield to nujia, nujia’s heart will break.”

A purple silhouette gradually materialized, taking form right in front of Luo Jianqing.

It was a purple demon fox standing as tall as a man, a massive purple tail swaying incessantly behind it. Though it had not yet achieved full human transformation, the seductive allure in its eyes was practically overflowing. Those eyes stared fixedly at Luo Jianqing’s face, sweeping over his body with an explicit, hungry gaze as if stripping away his clothes.

“You humans truly are stubborn and dense. In that case…” Every single word carried a potent spiritual attack. Luo Jianqing realized with shock that even though the beast had revealed itself voluntarily, he couldn’t launch an offensive and was forced purely onto the defensive. The demon fox covered its wide mouth and chuckled, “In that case, then… peel off that lovely skin and hand it over to me!”

Barely had its words fallen when the demon fox transformed into a streak of purple light and lunged at Luo Jianqing.

Luo Jianqing raised his phoenix eyes, curving his lips into a smile. The four blades merged back into the single Shuangfu Sword, landing squarely in his right hand.

“Sword Summons Thunder!”

Silver lightning crashed down from the sky with a deafening roar. The Thousand-Year Thunder Crystal embedded within the Shuangfu Sword drew in all the thunder and lightning power of heaven and earth. With a sweep of Luo Jianqing’s right hand, the lightning blasted straight toward the Phantom Demon Fox.

Caught off guard, the demon fox hurriedly blocked the strike, sustaining minor injuries.

“You brat—refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit!”

Demonic light flashed in the fox’s eyes; its purple tail suddenly expanded, stabbing straight toward Luo Jianqing in a split second.

The silver longsword and the purple tail clashed repeatedly in mid-air. Luo Jianqing struggled to fend off the tail’s assaults, which wove a dense web of attacks across the sky, leaving him no room to breathe.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The demon fox did not appear particularly adept at spiritual-power combat; although it had reached the Nascent Soul level, its direct combat strength was roughly on par with Luo Jianqing’s. The two remained locked in fierce battle for half a shichen, and Luo Jianqing had nearly exhausted his entire bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills. Just as he swallowed the very last pill, the demon fox suddenly lashed its tail, the tip shooting straight toward his chest!

In a flash of lightning and flint, a streak of golden sword light flared behind Luo Jianqing.

The demon fox’s tail was instantly severed in two. Before the beast could react amidst its wretched howling, another flash of golden light sliced clean through it, cleaving the demon fox into two halves as a round white neidan rolled out of its body.

Luo Jianqing froze completely, rooted to the spot in disbelief.

An indifferent voice sounded from behind him: “Jianqing.”

After a long pause, Luo Jianqing slowly turned around and finally laid eyes on that person.

Dressed in crisp white robes with cool, aloof features, the man bore an eight-petaled golden lotus sword mark between his brows. Even standing in such a desolate wasteland, his bearing remained pristine and untouched by mortal dust. He looked at Luo Jianqing with lowered eyes before slowly extending a hand toward him, a hint of urgency in his tone: “Jianqing, Weishi nearly arrived too late.”

Subconsciously, Luo Jianqing placed his hand over the outstretched palm.

The cold temperature was no different from what he remembered.

Luo Jianqing murmured softly, “Shifu…”

Xuanlingzi gazed peacefully at his disciple, curving his lips a moment later into an exceedingly faint smile. “As long as you are unharmed. That demon fox was at the Nascent Soul stage—you are far from its match. Had Weishi arrived even a fraction later, your life might have been forfeit.”

As his words fell, Xuanlingzi exerted a slight pull, drawing Luo Jianqing into his embrace.

A cool, clean fragrance like lotus blossoms instantly filled his senses. Luo Jianqing felt the embrace in a daze, hearing the man whisper softly beside his ear: “Jianqing, if anything happened to you, what would Weishi do?”

Luo Jianqing’s fingers trembled faintly as he wrapped his arms around the other man involuntarily. Greedily breathing in the familiar scent within this embrace, he listened as the man murmured lowly, “These ruins are highly unusual. Today Weishi will take you out first; once Taihua Mountain sends people to inspect them thoroughly, we will find out what went wrong here. Jianqing, Weishi forbids you from taking such perilous risks again. From now on, stay on Taihua Mountain and focus on your cultivation, so that… ngh, you…”

The Shuangfu Sword pierced straight through Xuanlingzi’s heart, not a single drop of blood staining the icy tip of the blade.

In an instant, heaven and earth shifted. Xuanlingzi Zunzhe vanished, transforming back into the demon fox. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, the purple demon fox already had one claw pressed right against Luo Jianqing’s back—barely three cun away from gouging out his heart!

Staring in disbelief, the demon fox gasped, “How… my illusions always target whatever you humans desire most deep in your hearts. Your cultivation is lower than mine—there’s no way you could have seen through it… How…”

Not a trace of emotion showed on Luo Jianqing’s handsome, indifferent face. He ruthlessly pulled out his sword and plunged his left hand straight through the demon fox’s dantian, extracting its purple neidan.

“You ask how I knew that was an illusion?” With his left hand still buried inside the fox’s body, Luo Jianqing lowered his gaze calmly and said flatly, “Because that person would never say such words to me. Even if I died, he would still stand atop his Yuxiao Peak without sparing me a single flicker of emotion.”

As his words fell, Luo Jianqing pulled out the purple neidan. Trembling with hatred, the demon fox mustered its final breath to spit out a cloud of purple demon mist, only for Luo Jianqing to raise his sword in defense—crackling with thunder, the Shuangfu Sword blocked the mist completely outside his body.

“I won’t fall for the same trick my little shimei fell for. Since you delivered yourself right to my doorstep, pay with your life to atone for what you did to my little shimei in my past life.”

Filled with resentment and regret, the demon fox slowly collapsed to the ground.

The corpse of a sixth-grade Phantom Demon Fox was a treasure in its own right, its pelt suitable for crafting magic treasures. Luo Jianqing swept his sleeve to store the carcass inside his storage ring. Inspecting the purple demon core carefully, he saw purple light swirling across its surface, faintly radiating a sinister, venomous aura. Though he felt something slightly odd about it, he ultimately stored the demon core inside his ring as well.

“Had you not been so eager for a quick victory and simply stalled me for another ke, I likely wouldn’t have been able to hold out.”

Glancing at the pool of blood on the ground, Luo Jianqing lifted his head without a trace of hesitation, drew his sword, and set off. Although he had just endured a life-or-death battle and hadn’t yet recovered his full strength, dealing with a brat at the second tier of Qi Refining was still more than effortless.

When Luo Jianqing flew back to the sunken basin from earlier, Li Xiuchen was sitting on a large boulder, catching his breath. Having apparently just finished killing the two demonic beasts, he failed to notice Luo Jianqing’s arrival.

Giving him not a second to rest, Luo Jianqing sent a streak of blue-green sword light shooting downward without a word, aiming straight for Li Xiuchen’s head!

A Golden Core cultivator’s presence was far beyond what Li Xiuchen could sense. He remained seated on the boulder resting, completely unaware that an Earth-grade treasured sword was hurtling straight toward his skull from above. Yet! Just as the blade was about to pierce Li Xiuchen’s head, Li Xiuchen suddenly shifted slightly to the side.

“Aaargh! It hurts so much!”

The Shuangfu Sword pierced clean through Li Xiuchen’s left shoulder and down his left arm, practically crippling his hand!

Luo Jianqing’s eyes contracted, instantly understanding the reason.

“The Heavenly Dao!”

That furious shout made Li Xiuchen whip his head around. Seeing Luo Jianqing, he froze for a split second before scrambling frantically to the side. Ignoring the agonizing pain drilling through his arm, Li Xiuchen yelled hurriedly, “Y-what are you trying to do?! You want to kill me?!”

Luo Jianqing didn’t answer. Transforming into a streak of blue-green light, the Shuangfu Sword returned to his right hand. His handsome face was as cold as snow, his emotionless gaze resting on Li Xiuchen as though looking at a dead object.

Suddenly, realization dawned on Li Xiuchen: “You want to kill me—you want to replace me as the protagonist?! Luo Jianqing, that’s impossible! I’m the protagonist! Put down your sword right now and team up with me, and I guarantee you’ll ascend to immortality alongside me in the future! I won’t kill you—I promise I won’t kill you in the future, alright?!”

Ignoring him completely, Luo Jianqing sent a streak of sword light shooting straight toward Li Xiuchen’s heart.

Li Xiuchen ran forward as fast as he could, yet how could he possibly outrun the lightning-fast Shuangfu Sword? Seeing the sword tip inches away from piercing Li Xiuchen’s heart, Luo Jianqing didn’t let up—pressing two fingers together, he unleashed three streams of sword qi from his fingertips, sealing off Li Xiuchen’s remaining three escape routes.

The tip of the Shuangfu Sword had already pierced through Li Xiuchen’s robes.

Luo Jianqing widened his eyes, waiting for that final moment to arrive.

Until… a deafening boom shook heaven and earth, and blinding white light flooded the entire space. When Luo Jianqing opened his eyes again, Li Xiuchen had already vanished from the Ten-Thousand-Zhang Wasteland. Staring blankly at the empty spot for a long moment, Luo Jianqing clenched his right hand, recalled the Shuangfu Sword, and pointed his blade furiously at the heavens.

“Heavenly Dao!”

In the very next instant, white light flashed over Luo Jianqing’s body, and he too vanished from the Ten-Thousand-Zhang Wasteland.

Pitch-black darkness surrounded him on all sides. Luo Jianqing’s expression was dark enough to drip water, his hand gripping the Shuangfu Sword tightly. He couldn’t see anything around him because he had been teleported into the sixth trial—the Tianxuan Trial.

According to Seeking Immortality, this trial was the easiest one to pass; one merely needed to stand still and wait for a brief moment to clear it.

Amidst the endless chaos, Luo Jianqing heard a bewildered, hoarse voice ring out. Rough and grating to the ear, the voice repeated the same words over and over, speaking incessantly as if never growing tired:

“Human or demon…”

“Human or demon…”

“Human or demon…”

There was only a single voice, yet it carried an ancient aura, echoing continuously throughout the void. With a dark expression, Luo Jianqing ignored the voice until it suddenly halted not far from him and murmured softly: “You are human.”

Luo Jianqing immediately slashed out with his sword, only to cleave through empty air.

Indeed—Li Xiuchen was human, so he had been teleported onward to the seventh trial.

“Human or demon, human or demon, human or demon…”

The voice drifted slowly toward Luo Jianqing’s direction. At this point, any further anger was futile; Luo Jianqing calmly put away the Shuangfu Sword, waiting to undergo this stage’s test. Soon, the voice reached his side. He faintly sensed something halt right in front of him, hearing it murmur questioningly: “Human… or demon…”

The voice cut off abruptly. After a brief pause, it suddenly turned shrill: “You are a demon!”

Footnotes:

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  Nujia (奴家): An archaic, coquettish first-person pronoun traditionally used by young women in classical Chinese literature and drama when speaking to men (similar to “this humble girl” or “little me”). ↩︎