The Ten Thousand Kill Formation was a formation jointly created by the three sects and six factions of the Immortal Realm. Regardless of whether one was a direct disciple or an outer sect disciple, the first task after reaching the Qi Refining Stage was to master the Ten Thousand Kill Formation.
The Immortal Realm often used it to block the Beast Realm and protect the peace of the Immortal Realm.
The origin of the Ten Thousand Kill Formation lay in eradicating all forms of injustice and unfairness in the world. Yet, no one had anticipated that one day, this array would be aimed at her.
In the void, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and a fierce wind whipped Sang Dai’s hair. The silver hairpins on her head clinked together, and her blue robes billowed violently in the storm.
Lightning coiled around the Zhiyu Sword. The Tianyu Stone at the hilt, once lifeless, now glowed brighter with an eerie blue light. Powerful spiritual energy overflowed from the Tianyu Stone, and the Zhiyu Sword absorbed every trace of it.
The Zhiyu Sword grew increasingly radiant. At the same time, the clouds in the void thickened, lightning spread, and thunder roared deafeningly.
The Zhiyu Sword frantically absorbed the pure Guixu spiritual energy within the Tianyu Stone.
Guixu was the foundation of existence in the cultivation world. The spiritual veins of the Four Realms all originated from the Guixu spiritual vein. However, pure Guixu spiritual energy could only be absorbed upon entering Guixu itself.
And Guixu only acknowledged those who awakened a Heaven-grade spiritual root.
Sang Dai gazed at the formation below. Even though there were only a thousand people here, the power of the Ten Thousand Kill Formation remained formidable.
She looked at the disciples below—people she had once trusted.
She asked, “For an outcome that is not even guaranteed, you slaughter your own kin, sacrificing cultivators as offerings? Are these the elders you trust, your esteemed mentors, and the sects to which you pledge loyalty?”
“Do you know how many cultivators have perished in unknown places over the years? And will there come a day when one of you is sacrificed to the Guixu Immortal Domain?”
Sang Wenzhou shouted harshly, “Kill her! Do not heed her deceitful words!”
The disciples hesitated, but Sang Wenzhou took action himself, activating the Ten Thousand Kill Formation.
The enormous formation condensed into a circular disk, encompassing all the thousand-plus people present. Spiritual patterns circulated as countless sharp gales materialized within the array’s barrier, spinning rapidly. The slicing winds cut through the air with a sound that chilled the soul.
Sang Dai raised her hand to summon lightning. A bolt of lightning struck down from tens of thousands of feet above, coiling around the Zhiyu Sword.
Standing high above, she did not blink as she gripped her longsword and swung it horizontally. The luminous blue sword light, entwined with lightning, surged forward like an unstoppable force, clashing directly with the intent of the Ten Thousand Kill Formation unleashed by Sang Wenzhou.
The disciples who were maintaining the Ten Thousand Kill Formation were startled. Sang Dai’s sword light tore through the void, opposing the cutting winds. One was blue, the other gold—utterly irreconcilable. Though the Zhiyu Sword was not fully repaired, its blade still bearing cracks, the sword light it unleashed was so overwhelmingly pure and powerful that it could not be ignored.
At this moment, the spiritual energy Sang Dai used…
Sang Wenzhou gritted his teeth, desperately resisting Sang Dai’s sword light. “You can actually use Guixu spiritual energy?”
It was the purest Guixu spiritual energy, untainted and incomparably powerful, far surpassing the current spiritual energy of the world.
Sang Dai’s expression remained calm, her hand holding the sword steady. Only the brilliant sword light and the still-damaged Zhiyu Sword knew that her heart and lungs were already riddled with cracks.
Her mouth was full of blood, but she forced it down, speaking faintly, “Sang Wenzhou, you are wrong.”
The Nine Heavens Profound Thunder grew even heavier. This tribulation lightning, comparable to that faced in the Soul Transformation Stage, was actually being summoned by a cultivator with a half-shattered Golden Core. The lightning tribulation stretched across dozens of miles, determined to reduce everyone to ashes.
The gales clashing with the sword light were pressed into retreat, cracks gradually appearing.
Sang Dai’s hand was still holding the sword. The elders were in disbelief, feeling that everything before them was absurd.
How could someone whose Golden Core had shattered summon heavenly thunder?
When did Heaven-grade spiritual roots become so terrifying?
Sang Wenzhou gritted his teeth, and his gaze at Sang Dai was filled with hatred, as if he wanted to skin her alive.
Today, she absolutely cannot be allowed to leave. Sang Dai is too powerful. Since she has already learned the truth of what happened back then, she cannot be allowed to live!
While her Golden Core is still half-shattered, there is a chance to kill her. If she truly acquires the Immortal Velvet Grass to repair her Golden Core, it will be impossible to kill her then!
“Today, Sang Dai must not live! Her crimes are innumerable. Destroying the Guixu spiritual vein is an attack on the foundation of the Four Realms. She intends to sever the immortal path for all of us!”
People may not like someone for one reason, but they will dislike someone for one reason.
When interests are threatened, even the deepest hesitation will dissipate like smoke, leaving only unrestrained indignation.
“Execute the sinner and return justice to the Four Realms!”
“Yes!”
The Ten Thousand Kill Formation suddenly surged with power.
Sang Dai was forced backward by the pressure, nearly retreating to the cave entrance. Blood at the corner of her mouth could no longer be held back and spilled out.
A long radiance transformed into a silken shield around her, blocking the killing intent scattered by the fierce wind. The spiritual power of the Heaven-grade magical artifact surged into Sang Dai’s sea of consciousness.
The artifact spirit wailed in her mind.
If this continues, she will die!
The fierce wind pushed her backward relentlessly, and the summoned heavenly thunder gradually weakened, no longer as powerful as before.
Sang Dai heard the sound of her meridians snapping, and blood spread across her blue robes like blossoming flowers.
Her half-shattered Golden Core was protected by Su Xuan’s spiritual power, but now, even the powerful spiritual barrier he had left was beginning to crack.
“Master! Master!”
“No, this can’t happen. You will die! You will die!”
Changmang frantically transmitted spiritual power to her.
Sang Dai felt dizzy, her mind filled with the image of Ying Heng’s face.
On the day she forged her sword heart, Ying Heng had patted her head and personally tied a tassel to her Zhiyu sword.
“Dai Dai, to wield a sword is to protect the people of the four corners, regardless of whether they are humans, ghosts, demons, or monsters. All living beings are equal. You must slay the wicked and protect the weak. The sword in a swordsman’s hand is a shield for the common people, not a blade for slaughter. The sword’s edge must never be pointed at those around you. This is your sword heart. Do you understand?”
“But Master, what if they have done something bad?”
“Even then, you cannot show favoritism. Once a swordsman’s sword is influenced by personal feelings, it becomes difficult to impartially eliminate evil.”
“Will my sword always be this way?”
“As someone with awakened Heaven-grade spiritual roots, it should always be this way.”
“What exactly is a Heaven-grade spiritual root awakener?”
“They are the chosen leader personally selected by the Yaoling, destined to hold a high position in the future and protect peace in their domain.”
For one hundred and thirty years, her sword had cut down demons, slain devils, struck ghosts, and even executed immoral human cultivators.
But it had never been pointed at a comrade who fought alongside her.
Sang Dai gripped the sword hilt tightly, murmuring to herself in a low voice, “But Master, they were wrong.”
Thus, they must be executed.
Sang Dai closed her eyes briefly. Her left wrist pressed down forcefully, ignoring the frantic screaming of Changmang in her mind. She reversed the flow of her spiritual energy, forcing it into her dantian. The previously weakening heavenly thunder suddenly grew stronger and thicker.
The fierce wind aimed at cutting Sang Dai was forcibly halted. A small pool of blood had already gathered beneath her feet. Her entire body was in immense pain, but her expression remained calm and cold.
“Sang Wenzhou, you deserve to die.”
Boom—
The sky was filled with tribulation lightning striking Sang Dai, but it did not reduce her to ash, nor did it harm her in the slightest. On the contrary, her spiritual power was growing stronger and stronger!
Sang Wenzhou finally understood why she had suddenly become so powerful and terrifying, even though her Golden Core was shattered.
Heaven-grade spiritual root awakeners are protected by the Heavenly Dao. The Heavenly Dao grants them the strongest of everything.
Spiritual roots, talent, appearance.
All are exceptional—gifts of the Heavenly Dao’s favoritism.
Likewise, only Heaven-grade spiritual root awakeners could enter the Guixu Immortal Realm, and only they could utilize its purest spiritual energy. This was the Heavenly Dao’s undisguised bias.
Heaven-grade spiritual root awakeners could cultivate using the Guixu spiritual energy, which was the best replenishment for them.
Thousands of years ago, the Guixu Immortal Realm had been corrupted, and the Guixu spiritual veins became tainted. But the spiritual energy Sang Dai was using at this moment came from the Tianyu Stone, which stored uncorrupted Guixu spiritual energy!
She was using the Guixu spiritual energy within the Tianyu Stone to summon heavenly thunder. But how could she know how to use the Tianyu Stone?
Why? Why?
Why does a Heaven-grade spiritual root awakener so effortlessly receive the Heavenly Dao’s favor? Why can they use the Guixu spiritual energy? Why did the Yaoling choose Sang Dai as the inheritor of the Heaven-grade spiritual root?
She was just an orphan! He had given her the identity of the Sword Sect’s eldest young lady; all her glory should have been his to bestow!
Sang Wenzhou’s features twisted, his previously upright and rugged face now resembling that of a vengeful ghost. A faint black aura began to coil around him, a clear sign of being consumed by inner demons.
“Kill her! Kill Sang Dai!”
Sang Wenzhou’s roar even drowned out the sound of the cutting fierce wind.
The intent of the Ten Thousand Kill Formation grew stronger and stronger. Sang Dai remained unmoved, her wrist still pressing downward. The sword light emanating from Zhiyu became increasingly vast, materializing into an ethereal sword body glowing with pale blue light.
Changmang frantically tried to save its master while wailing in despair.
“Master, you’re going to die! You’re going to die!”
Sang Dai ignored it entirely, showing no hesitation in consuming the Guixu spiritual energy stored within the Tianyu Stone.
The spiritual energy within the Tianyu Stone was madly channeled into the Zhiyu Sword by her—this was the method Ling Yin had left for her.
Before she left, Ling Yin had told her how to use the Tianyu Stone.
Using blood as the curse.
The enormous Zhiyu Sword, with an overwhelming momentum, forced the intent of the Ten Thousand Kill Formation to retreat step by step.
Under the horrified gazes of everyone, Sang Dai swallowed the blood in her mouth and spoke in a cold voice:
“Sang Wenzhou, the Swordmaster founded the Sword Sect to protect the peace of the Immortal Realm. Anyone who uses power for personal gain and endangers the common people, regardless of their status, must be executed.”
“You’ve lived for more than a hundred extra years. Now, your time is up.”
In an instant, a massive bolt of Nine Heavens Profound Thunder crashed down heavily.
Dark clouds filled the sky, and lightning tore through the heavens. From the boundless heights, two streams of spiritual energy collided.
The oppressive force spread outward, and the overwhelming shockwaves rippled from the point of impact, echoing with heavy thunder that resounded throughout the entire Burning Heaven Realm.
A thousand miles away, within the eerie, flickering ghostly flames, two figures—one black and one red—swiftly moved through the spectral fire.
The dark red karmic flames burned away all the vengeful ghosts blocking their path. Su Xuan moved quickly, while Liu Lixue had to push his Golden Core to its limit just to barely keep up.
Gritting his teeth, Liu Lixue swallowed the blood rising to his throat and dodged the claws of a vengeful ghost beside him.
He couldn’t understand why so many vengeful ghosts had suddenly appeared, as if someone was deliberately surrounding and hunting them down—or perhaps the goal wasn’t to kill them but merely to obstruct them.
TL: Updated 13 chapters!
Hi fluffies! I forgot to post chapter 16 LMAO it’s up now, you can go back and read it.