Martial Cultivator

A father and daughter might not have shared a perfect tacit understanding, but blood bound them together. They understood each other very well.

In that brief span of time, Autumn had already figured out why the Demon Emperor had appeared here.

It dated back to long ago, when the Demon Emperor and Chen Chao had confronted one another at the Onan River. In the end, neither chose a fight to the death. Chen Chao headed south, and Autumn followed him south. At that time, the Demon Emperor had left a mark on her.

That mark originally served two purposes. One was that he did not want Autumn to simply die. The second, and more important reason.

To determine just how severe Chen Chao’s injuries truly were.

In the end, Chen Chao had cut down a demon lord amid the demon army and departed in grand fashion, while Autumn turned northward. The mark failed to discover the extent of Chen Chao’s injuries, but it did not dissipate either.

That was because the Demon Emperor was an extremely suspicious man. Even toward his own daughter, he was no different. Moreover, the current Autumn not only already possessed the beginnings of the ability to threaten him, but the relationship between them had long ceased to be that of a simple father and daughter. A crack had already appeared between the two of them.

The mark followed Autumn all the way south and eventually allowed the Demon Emperor to sense the aura of the divine medicine. At that point, this ruler of myriad demons could no longer restrain himself.

No matter how suspicious he was, when faced with a divine medicine, the Demon Emperor was willing to gamble.

What’s more, among the human race’s powerhouses, the Sword Sect’s Sect Master who was capable of threatening him was still recovering from his injuries and could do nothing for the time being.

As for Chen Chao, even if he was here, what could he do?

The only genuine threat was this guardian of the divine medicine.

Standing by the lakeshore, the Demon Emperor looked at the Divine Daughter, the woman who had once crossed hands with him, and said indifferently, ”Hand over the divine medicine to Us, and We will spare your life.”

Chen Chao’s face was pale, though not from fear. He glanced at Yu Xiyi. Although the latter could feel that overwhelming pressure, he still gripped the hilt of the Wild Grass.

Chen Chao had absolutely no doubt that if Yu Xiyi got hot-headed in a moment, he would draw his sword and challenge the Demon Emperor.

As for the result, it went without saying.

”Yu Xiyi, don’t fucking do anything stupid with that sword. You want to throw your life away?!”

Chen Chao spoke in a low voice, trying to calm Yu Xiyi down first. Otherwise, he genuinely feared that his friend would die before his eyes in the next moment.

Yu Xiyi let out a bitter laugh and replied quietly, ”Don’t worry, Your Father knows what I’m doing. This is the fucking Demon Emperor, not some random little demon you can meet anywhere. An old monster like this, if Your Father charge at him alone with a sword, wouldn’t that just be seeking death?”

Chen Chao said helplessly, ”Good. As long as you know.”

”But damn it, Little Chen, now that this old monster’s here, if we hand over the divine medicine, will he really leave us alive?”

If handing over the divine medicine truly meant keeping their lives, this Great Sword Immortal Yu might actually have done it. After all, there was plenty of time ahead. As the saying went, while the green hills remained, there would be no shortage of firewood. Previously, drawing his sword had been unavoidable. If he could avoid drawing it now, then he would.

In another hundred years or so, perhaps not even that long, he would be able to light a great fire beside this old monster and use flying swords to slice off pieces of his flesh one by one and roast them to eat.

Chen Chao noticed Yu Xiyi’s expression and immediately knew the fellow’s thoughts had wandered off somewhere strange again. He had no choice but to remind him, ”Pay attention to Autumn. That tigress might decide to stab me at any moment, and I can’t fucking block it.”

The two young men whispered among themselves, but the Divine Daughter heard every word. The Divine Daughter, who had lived for who knew how many years, said with feigned annoyance, ”I haven’t even said I’m going to fight yet, and the two of you have already planned everything out?”

Chen Chao looked at the Divine Daughter and said with a worried expression, ”If Elder Sister is willing to hand over the divine medicine, that’s not impossible either.”

The Divine Daughter frowned. ”Aren’t you afraid that if I fight that monster, I might lose my life?”

Chen Chao said in surprise, ”That can’t be, right?”

The Divine Daughter rolled her eyes at Chen Chao irritably, then patted the white deer’s head beside her before looking at the Demon Emperor opposite her. This Divine Daughter, who had not left the Divine Mountain for many years, said calmly, ”You want my divine medicine. Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill your daughter right now?”

Autumn was standing very close to the Divine Daughter at this moment, while the Demon Emperor was by the lakeside. If they truly came to blows, the Divine Daughter only needed a single thought to appear before Autumn. Given the killing power of a sword cultivator, killing Autumn would not be difficult.

At the very least, before the Demon Emperor could intervene, there was an eighty percent chance she would succeed.

The Demon Emperor remained silent and did not answer the question, but his will remained as resolute as ever. Though he had high hopes for Autumn, and though they were father and daughter, whether demon or human, how many things were there that truly could not be abandoned?

It was only a matter of whether the price was worth it.

The Divine Daughter sighed. ”Such a fine girl, yet you don’t cherish her at all. If it were me, I definitely couldn’t bear it. In all my life, I never managed to have a daughter. If I had one, I don’t know how happy I’d be.”

As she spoke, the white deer returned from afar. This time, it carried a flying sword in its mouth. The sword’s blade was snow-white, like a flurry of snow, and a flower was engraved upon it.

After taking hold of the flying sword, the Divine Daughter smiled slightly, ”As for the divine medicine, I’ve watched over it for several thousand years, so I won’t let you take it away. And as for the person you want to kill, he’s my foolish younger brother, so I can’t let you kill him either.”

”Ruler of myriad demons, your cultivation is not low. But all these years, I truly had nothing to do, so I could only keep cultivating. By now, I’ve acquired a few methods of my own. I’ve heard that the so-called Sword Sect’s Sect Master is considered the number one swordsman in the world, but I think he’s inferior to me.”

The Divine Daughter narrowed her eyes and smiled. ”Words alone prove nothing. Come and try.”

The Demon Emperor remained silent. He merely took a step forward. Vast demonic qi continuously spread outward, and under the pressure of the lord of all demons’ demonic qi, the restriction that had existed upon this Divine Mountain for countless years had begun to loosen.

The Divine Daughter watched this scene without finding it strange. Nothing could withstand the power of time. Seas change into mulberry fields and mulberry fields into seas, day after day passing by. It all seemed unremarkable while it happened, but after some time, when one looked back, one could only sigh in astonishment at how long it had truly been.

Now that it was loosening, allowing this Northern Frontier Divine Mountain that had once possessed such a glorious reputation to see the light of day again was only natural.

In fact, as someone directly involved, the Divine Daughter had probably been capable of forcibly breaking free from this Divine Mountain several years ago and leaving, no longer trapped here. But for the current her, it made no difference where she went. To her, heaven and earth were nothing more than a somewhat larger cage.

The one she longed for was already gone. Everywhere beneath heaven was the same.

Precisely because of this, she had remained here all this time, doing nothing.

Holding the flying sword, the Divine Daughter casually unleashed a sword. A rift immediately opened in the sky, and the oppressive aura that had always existed within the Divine Mountain instantly dissipated.

The Divine Daughter raised her sword and looked at the Demon Emperor, while the Demon Emperor also took a step forward. Vast amounts of demonic qi flowed like a river in an instant. At first it was relatively slow, but soon it became like ten thousand horses galloping.

From the very beginning this time, the Demon Emperor had no intention of holding back. This king of the demons had clearly resolved to obtain that divine medicine.

Sword intent surged within the Divine Daughter’s eyes. In terms of sword dao cultivation, in that era she might truly not have been among those two or three people, but after so many years had passed, the prodigies of her generation had long since returned to dust. She was not foolish. Remaining stagnant in place for thousands of years was probably something she truly could not do.

Streams of multicolored sword light continuously appeared, suddenly flowing before the Divine Daughter. Before those sword lights, it seemed that everything between heaven and earth would be cut apart.

The sword qi filling the sky merely existed quietly, yet it was enough to make one feel as though one stood amid countless flying swords. Chen Chao perhaps felt little, but Autumn and Yu Xiyi felt it with exceptional clarity.

Yu Xiyi in particular was shocked beyond measure. ”With this level of sword dao cultivation, even the Sect Master would probably be a bit weaker, right?”

Chen Chao had received the Sword Sect’s Sect Master’s sword dao insights and was also in the Fuyun Realm, making his judgment the fairest at this moment, ”That’s true for now, but after that battle, the Sect Master made further progress. After some time, he’ll probably surpass Elder Sister Divine Daughter.”

This actually touched upon a matter that cultivators had argued about endlessly: on the path of cultivation, should one spend countless years piling up a higher realm, or should one continuously temper oneself through experience, seeking out opponents to spar with and refining oneself amid life-and-death struggles?

The two sides had argued over this for many years. In the end, the former gained the upper hand, while the latter became extremely weak, gradually to the point where it could no longer really be called a school of thought.

However, every so often, an example would emerge to remind the many cultivators that no matter how much time one accumulated, it was ultimately not worth mentioning in the face of life and death.

The best example now was Chen Chao.

He had survived again and again amid life-and-death situations, then in an extremely short period of time crossed one mountain after another, all the way until now, his name already had a place among the names of the world’s strongest experts.

Yu Xiyi was somewhat dissatisfied. ”Can the Sect Master really advance that damn fast?”

Chen Chao said nothing. The Sword Sect’s Sect Master’s talent had always been extraordinarily high; it was merely overshadowed by the two emperors. As for the Divine Daughter, she was still somewhat inferior.

That was not to say there had been no figures in that era who could truly stand shoulder to shoulder with the Sword Sect’s Sect Master, only...

Chen Chao thought of those deities and fell silent.

However, the battle between the Divine Daughter and the Demon Emperor had already begun. The space before them had long since descended into endless slaughter, but both of them tacitly refrained from expanding the battlefield.

Neither was willing to damage that divine medicine.

The battle between the two would probably not produce a victor in a short time.

Chen Chao withdrew his gaze and looked toward the thatched hut not far away.

Autumn who was wearing the flower crown happened to be looking at Chen Chao as well.

There was a realm’s difference between them, but the current Chen Chao was probably not capable of withstanding even a single sword strike from Autumn.

Fortunately, Yu Xiyi was still standing beside Chen Chao.

Chen Chao sighed and said, ”Great Sword Immortal Yu, I didn’t get to see the last battle. This time, let’s see whether you, this great sword immortal, can display the bearing of a sword immortal!”

Yu Xiyi cursed under his breath. ”Damn you, do you really have to bring up the one thing I don’t want mentioned?”

Chen Chao smirked and could not be bothered to say more.

At this moment, Autumn looked at the Chen Chao before her and merely removed that flying sword, holding it in her palm.

When that pair of father and daughter exchanged glances earlier, there had actually been much contained within that look.

In that single glance, the Demon Emperor had said: There are many things that We do not care about. If they happened, then they happened. But it cannot continue like this forever.

So later, you are to kill him.