Martial Cultivator

The second sect master of the Autumn Sound Sect failed to accomplish anything with his punch and immediately tried to retreat. But in that instant, he had already realized that the gap between himself and this young martial artist whose reputation was terrifyingly great was simply worlds apart.

The gap of a single realm was not merely a hair’s breadth; it was a genuine difference as vast as heaven and earth.

However, although the thought of retreat had arisen in him, he could not actually retreat. It was as though he had fallen into a muddy mire and could not pull himself free no matter what he did.

That young martial artist simply looked at him and asked with a smile, “Why are you in such a hurry to leave?”

Ripples appeared on the second sect master of the Autumn Sound Sect’s usually placid face. The aura within his entire body had already surged forth, and his clothes were now swaying endlessly along with the flow of his qi, like an enormous leaf rocking back and forth. Naturally, all he wanted was to leave this place, but the result was not what he wished for.

Chen Chao looked at the demonic aura within his qi, and his expression became somewhat ugly.

“You refuse to be a proper human and insist on becoming a dog of the demon race? Where is your backbone?”

As Chen Chao spoke, he reached out and grabbed the demonic qi within that aura, then pulled it out strand by strand.

For the second sect master of the Autumn Sound Sect, this process was undoubtedly a form of torture. Countless fine beads of sweat instantly appeared on his forehead, and endless agony occupied every part of his body in an instant. At this moment, if it had been possible, a cultivator at the end of Nepenthe like him would rather have died here outright.

“Once you do certain things, you have to pay the price. But it absolutely does not mean simply dying. I want to tell you this: if you dare to be a dog of the demon race, then your fate is to wish you were dead.”

Chen Chao said this very calmly, as though he were speaking of something utterly insignificant, but the coldness in his tone made it feel as though one had fallen into an ice cavern.

His entire body seemed to have been drenched in sweat.

The second sect master of the Autumn Sound Sect roared, “Chen Chao, killing someone should at least leave them with a clean death. You... doing things like this, are you truly not afraid of suffering Heaven’s retribution?!”

Chen Chao remained calm and unperturbed, saying calmly “What are you talking about? If you can be a dog of the demon race and stab your own people in the back without suffering Heaven’s retribution, then how could this official suffer some so-called Heaven’s retribution?”

Chen Chao narrowed his eyes and looked at this man whom he had met for the first time in his life and would certainly be meeting for the last time. He said indifferently, “If this official did not have much time to spare for you right now, someone like you would at the very least have to be subjected to a thousand cuts first.”

The second sect master of the Autumn Sound Sect stared wide-eyed, his eyes now filled with anger and fear. He had never encountered someone like this before.

“You are indeed a devil!”

Chen Chao did not answer him, merely saying, “You seem to be waiting for that thing in the mountain to come save you. But does it dare come?”

Chen Chao smiled to himself. “It wants to leave, but right under this official’s nose, can it get away?”

After saying this, Chen Chao had lost any interest in saying more to the second sect master of the Autumn Sound Sect. He merely reached out, pressed down on his head, and directly tore it off.

Blood instantly gushed continuously from his neck, and then his body crashed heavily to the ground.

Chen Chao said softly, “Keep an eye on his head.”

Before Yue Xin could say anything, Chen Chao instantly transformed into a streak of light and left this place.

Yue Xin raised her head, her mind shaken.

But before she could drift off into a daze, a tremendous boom came from the mountaintop, and then she watched with her own eyes as the peak of the rear mountain suddenly broke apart, with great swaths of falling rocks beginning to roll down continuously.

The entire Yin Mountain shook once again.

The earlier shaking had been caused by three thousand cavalrymen all ascending the mountain, whereas this time, it was the power of a single person that was enough to make Yin Mountain shake, and even... collapse!

And amid the rubble on the mountaintop, there was an ordinary-sized demon standing before Chen Chao.

That demon had the body of a bull, but its entire body was covered in green scales. It had four pairs of eyes, all of them filled with a blood-red color.

Just from its appearance, this demon was one of those so-called ancient exotic species with an extremely powerful bloodline. Such members of the demon race were blessed by the heavens, extremely powerful from birth, and even more terrifying once their cultivation reached a certain realm. Yet its situation at this moment was extremely miserable. Large patches of scales had fallen from its body, exposing the flesh beneath, and that flesh was covered in wounds as well. Blood kept flowing, continuously seeping down into the rubble.

Judging from the demonic qi it revealed, it was naturally a demon lord who had already reached the end of Nepenthe.

A figure like this could walk unhindered anywhere, at any time, but that was not the case at this moment.

It glared viciously at the young human before it. ”How did you get here?!”

In this territory of the human race, there were not many people who could leave it without any power to fight back.

But the one before it was an existence capable of contending with His Majesty the Demon Emperor. To fight him, wouldn’t that be a joke?

Chen Chao smiled calmly. “Do you think there is anything within Great Liang that this official could not find out about?”

The demon lord’s expression was complicated, and for a moment, it said nothing.

Although the young man before it was not the emperor of the human race, in many circumstances, he could be treated as the emperor of the human race, and there was nothing wrong with that.

“Since you were willing to leave the Demon Domain and come here, you should have thought that one day this official would discover where you were and then kill you.”

Chen Chao narrowed his eyes. “However, this official can also give you a chance to survive.”

The demon lord sneered. “Do you believe what you’re saying yourself? Wasn’t that fellow’s head torn off by you alive?”

Chen Chao shook his head and smiled. “You are different from him. He betrayed his own fellow race. There is no possibility of forgiving someone like that. But you are merely acting on behalf of your fellow race. Even though you failed to accomplish it, that is still worthy of respect.”

Hearing this, the demon lord frowned.

“The two sides merely serve different masters. However the other side is treated can be justified. The principle is very simple.”

“Actually, this official knows very well that someone like you is normally only interested in cultivation. Being sent here was something you had no choice but to do, wasn’t it?”

“Or rather, it should have been that High Priest who forced you.”

Chen Chao continued speaking. He wanted to persuade the demon lord before him here.

......

......

“What does Your Excellency want to ask?”

After an unknown amount of time, the demon lord spoke, its voice sounding somewhat weary.

Just as Chen Chao had said, how could an existence like it actually want to do these things?

Everything had been compelled by circumstances.

Chen Chao said, “Tell this official where the other members of the demon race who infiltrated Great Liang are, and this official will let you go, allowing you to return to the Demon Domain. This official can purge the demon race from Great Liang’s territory. Letting one fewer demon lord die is not something this official cannot accept.”

The demon lord smiled and sighed. “Your Excellency is still quite sincere. Since that’s the case, then I can betray my fellow race once as well...”

Chen Chao smiled as he looked at it and said, “If everyone thought like you, then where would there still be any wars?”

“We have indeed been lying low here for a very long time. It was the High Priest’s idea. He is an extraordinary man. Many times, I feel that he is more suited than His Majesty to rule the demon race, because he truly regards those fellows as his subjects. But if he became the Demon Emperor, there would simply be too many matters in the Demon Domain... I’m getting off track. That night, the High Priest summoned several of us and told us that we needed to establish hidden lines in human territory that the humans did not know about. This was for the sake of the day when there truly was a war to the death. Aside from me coming to Yin Mountain, there was also...”

Before the words had even left his mouth, the demon lord before him suddenly attacked, charging straight at Chen Chao. At the same time, demonic qi began to flow through the demon core within his body, like a surging river, giving the feeling that it was about to break through some kind of restraint.

But in the next moment, the long river of his meridians was as if a heavy snow had fallen, and the surface of the river instantly froze.

Everything turned from spring back into winter.

The demon lord looked in astonishment at the young martial artist before him.

The latter wore a smile. With just one hand pressed against the bull’s head, he stopped the demon lord’s attempt to detonate his demon core and severely injure Chen Chao, and even die together with him.

“Although I really wanted to get something out of you, this official also understands very well that perhaps you were unwilling to come here to carry out this task, but betraying your fellow race is probably not something that easy to do. And you agreed far too readily. This official isn’t a fool, how could I not see through it?”

The demon lord, whose demonic qi was completely restrained at this moment, gave a bitter laugh. “You are terrifying...”

Before he could finish, Chen Chao shook his head and interrupted him. “This official isn’t that terrifying. You’re just too stupid.”

The demon lord stopped struggling. His face was ashen, and at this point, there was nothing he could do except resign himself to his fate.

Chen Chao shook his head and said nothing more. He merely extended his index finger and tapped the demon lord’s head.

In an instant, a crack began to spread from where the demon lord’s horns were, extending all the way across his entire body. Then more and more cracks appeared on him, spreading across his whole body like a spiderweb.

He was like a piece of porcelain, about to shatter in an instant.

Chen Chao turned around, and behind him, the demon lord’s body split apart into pieces.

......

......

Although the commotion in the rear mountain was not small, compared with the front, it was still considerably quieter.

The three thousand cavalrymen led by Li Changling were no ordinary soldiers either. All of them were martial artists who had already embarked upon martial cultivation. After years of fighting alongside one another, their coordination on the battlefield was exceptionally seamless. Facing these cultivators now was not particularly difficult for them. Moreover, for cultivators of higher realms, there was Li Changling. Thus, before long, the battle in the front mountain came to an end.

Then Li Changling glanced into the distance, where Song Lian and Gao Qiu had actually already determined a victor as well.

What was unbelievable was that Song Lian had actually beaten Gao Qiu, an existence at the end of Nepenthe, to the ground in one furious burst.

Li Changling laughed loudly. “Old Song, after all these years, you’re still fucking fierce?!”

Song Lian had also come from the frontier army. It was only for certain reasons that he had gone south and joined the warden faction, so he could naturally be considered an old acquaintance of Li Changling.

Song Lian’s face was deathly pale. At this moment, he also exhaled a deep breath of foul air and said with a smile, “A fellow who reached the end of Nepenthe through an unorthodox path isn’t worthy of being taken seriously by this Song.”

Li Changling turned his head and glanced at Gao Xuan, then rolled his eyes at him. The meaning was very clear: You see? This guy, praise him a couple of times and he actually takes it seriously?

Gao Xuan merely brushed it off with a smile.