Chapter 623 529: To Save Ah Han, Ye Liyuan Is Willing to Fall into Demonhood

'How could a human possibly control such Evil Power? If one were to truly refine this thing, wouldn't they become a monster, just like a member of the Demon Race?'

'But that aura...'

Bei Lingyin swallowed, forcefully suppressing the horror in her heart. She silently warned herself not to dwell on it. The Hall Master's affairs were not for her to pry into.

She immediately composed herself and knelt on one knee before the figure on the throne. Her voice was steady and respectful as she spoke:

"Your subordinate, Bei Lingyin, pays her respects, Hall Master."

On the throne, the masked Yuan Tianming leaned forward slightly.

The red glow beneath his mask flickered, like a dancing will-o'-the-wisp.

"Rise. How goes the matter I had you investigate?"

Bei Lingyin rose slowly, but she dared not look directly into those scarlet, malevolent eyes.

"In response, Hall Master. I have located Ye Liyuan, Pei Yuhang's Dao Companion, as you requested.

She is currently in the Sinful Sword Abyss of the Dragon Roar Sword Sect. She has been deep inside for ten days.

It is said that the Sinful Sword Abyss is incredibly treacherous. Even those who enter to retrieve a sword must leave within seven days. Otherwise, they will be trapped there forever, corrupted by the swords' Evil Qi and transformed into a Sword Ghost."

"Ye Liyuan hasn't emerged for ten days... I'm afraid something has happened to her."

As Bei Lingyin spoke, she lowered her gaze.

'After traveling with Pei Yuhang for so long, I discovered that the White-clothed Sword Immortal is no hypocrite. He's actually quite pleasant to be around. No wonder Sister Yueqiu admires and adores him so much.'

'Now, his Dao Companion may have already perished. I can't imagine how Pei Yuhang will feel when he finds out.'

"That is all. You may leave... For the next few days, focus on monitoring the movements of the Xuanyuan Dao Sect and the other Major Sects. I will have someone else watch over the Endless Sea."

"Yes, Hall Master."

Yuan Tianming watched Bei Lingyin's departing figure, his deep, scarlet eyes narrowing slightly.

'Xiao Liyuan's Life Lamp hasn't gone out. She's not dead. Is she just trapped there by some accident...? Fine. We were master and disciple, after all.'

'For her infatuation with Yuhang's sake, I'll rescue her before the Abyssal Sea Palace opens and let her see him one more time.'

Before the words had even left his lips, he casually swiped his hand, and the space before him tore open like a thin sheet of paper.

He stepped into the void and, in an instant, arrived in the Southern Domain of the Cultivation Realm.

This was the entrance to the Dragon Roar Sword Sect. Its gates were majestic and towering, with Sword Qi that shot into the sky.

Yuan Tianming, however, paid it no mind. With his hands clasped behind his back, he strode right in as if he were taking a leisurely walk.

Yet the Sect Protection Array remained silent. Patrolling disciples and passing Elders alike seemed not to see him at all.

Even more bizarrely, wherever he went, people unconsciously parted to form a path, as if some invisible force was compelling them.

Soon, he arrived at the Sword Sect's Forbidden Land: the Sinful Sword Abyss.

Before him lay a desolate sword graveyard. Countless Broken Swords jutted from the earth at an angle, resembling a field of silent tombstones.

Around some swords stood emaciated Cultivators. Their withered, skeletal bodies looked as if they had been drained of all Essence Blood, leaving only an obsession for swords in their hollow eye sockets.

These were the Sword Ghosts, their bodies seized by the swords' Evil Qi.

ROAR—

Seemingly having caught the scent of a living person's blood, a Sword Ghost suddenly lunged. Its decaying body let out a piercing shriek as the Demon Sword in its hand, glinting with a black light, slashed toward Yuan Tianming.

Yuan Tianming merely gave an almost imperceptible flick of his sleeve.

In an instant, both the Sword Ghost and its Demon Sword seemed to be scoured by centuries of time. They decayed and weathered at a visible rate, ultimately turning into a cloud of dust that drifted away.

'Pathetic ants... Without achieving eternity, no matter how long you cultivate, you are all destined to become a handful of dust.'

Yuan Tianming continued forward. As his robes fluttered, the surrounding ghosts shrank back, as if feeling a tremor from the very depths of their souls.

In the deepest reaches of the Sinful Sword Abyss, a slender figure knelt before a pitch-black longsword. Her disheveled black hair cascaded down like a waterfall, obscuring most of her pale face.

Her hands were clamped tightly around the hilt, her knuckles a morbid, bluish-white from the strain, refusing to let go of the black sword.

Behind her, dozens of desiccated corpses lay strewn across the ground in various twisted poses, some still frozen in the act of crawling forward.

Their hollow eye sockets were all turned toward the black sword at the center, as if silently screaming of their unwillingness to die.

They were all Sword Cultivators who had come to the deepest part of the Sinful Sword Abyss, hoping to claim the strongest Evil Sword: the Linyuan.

Legend told that this was the personal sword of the world's last Saint, left behind when he ascended.

But after its master's ascension, the Sword Spirit within Fell into the Demon Dao. It began to wreak havoc and plague the mortal world, slaughtering tens of thousands of people each day to feed on their Essence Blood.

Later, the founding ancestor of the Dragon Roar Sword Sect suppressed the sword and obliterated the Sword Spirit within.

But even with the evil Sword Spirit obliterated, the sword's Evil Qi remained terrifyingly difficult to suppress. If left unchecked, it would continue to bewitch the hearts of men.

Thus, the founding ancestor plunged the sword into this mountain abyss and bound it with an Array, hoping that time would slowly wash away its Evil Qi.

Later, the members of the Sword Sect discovered that by throwing other swords with stubborn, evil natures into the abyss, those swords would be suppressed by the even more malevolent Linyuan Sword, preventing them from causing harm.

Over time, as more and more Evil Swords were thrown in, the place came to be known as the Sinful Sword Abyss.

Yuan Tianming arrived, his gaze piercing through the layers of Evil Qi to land on Ye Liyuan, who was desperately clinging to the Linyuan Sword.

He was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected Ye Liyuan to be able to resist the corrosion of the sword's Evil Qi and become locked in a stalemate with it.

'Indeed. Only darkness can control darkness. Even if I hadn't come, you might have been able to slowly tame this sword yourself after a decade or so...

You've been with Yuhang for so long, I almost forgot why I took you as my disciple in the first place.

What I valued in you was precisely the darkness and depth of your nature.'

'We were master and disciple, after all. This... is the last time your master will help you two!'

A speck of blood-red light condensed on Yuan Tianming's fingertip and shot toward the Linyuan Sword.

In that instant, this external force shattered the balance between Ye Liyuan and the Linyuan Sword.

The blood-red light rapidly eroded the Linyuan Sword's power. Sensing its weakness, Ye Liyuan began to push back with all her might, attempting to drive her Divine Sense into the sword's body in one fell swoop and complete its subjugation.

RUMBLE—

Suddenly, all the Evil Qi in the Sinful Sword Abyss began to churn and surge, forming a swirling vortex that was siphoned into Ye Liyuan's body.

It seemed the Linyuan Sword, knowing it was powerless to resist, had begun to channel the Evil Qi into Ye Liyuan's body in an attempt to turn her into a Sword Ghost.

As the Evil Qi invaded her, black, web-like markings crawled across her exposed arms.

The markings flickered in and out of sight with her every breath, as if in some strange resonance with the body of the sword.

AAAAAHHH—!!

Feeling her Divine Thought starting to crumble under the assault of the Evil Qi, Ye Liyuan let out a pained wail.

But Yuan Tianming would not let the Linyuan Sword succeed. With a flick of his finger, he shot a ray of Spiritual Light into the Sea of Consciousness of the faltering Ye Liyuan.

Liyuan, think! Who is the man you care about most?!

Don't let your will and Divine Sense collapse! Quickly, think of the name of the one you care for!

'I... The man I care about most...'

'The one I care about most... Ah Han...'

In a daze, a gentle male voice echoed within her collapsing Sea of Consciousness.

"Liyuan, I will always love you."

"Liyuan, you'll recover from your injuries, I'm sure of it. I won't let you wither away. I'll help you set foot on the path to immortality again... When that time comes, let's have a child."

"Don't worry, Liyuan. Even if your body is weak, I'll work hard to find a remedy and help you become stronger!"

...

"Listen to me, Liyuan... Once this is all over, I'll take you to the lantern festival to see the Spirit Birds."

"I will definitely return to your side. We made a promise."

Ye Liyuan's bloodshot eyes snapped open. She struggled to her feet, pressing her slender frame against the Linyuan Sword.

She was straining so hard that trickles of bright red blood dripped from her gums.

"I... I still have to find Ah Han... I can't fall in a place like this."

"Why don't you just let me control you, and become the power I need to find Ah Han?!"

"Help me... find the man I lost!"

"I need to apologize to him in person!! I need to tell him I'm sorry! I shouldn't have hidden behind a mask, deceiving you and using despicable means to become your Dao Companion!

I want to start over... with Ah Han!"

Ye Liyuan let out a shrieking roar. The fair skin on her hands turned to ash, inch by inch, under the scalding Evil Qi, yet she seemed to have lost all sense of pain.

The Linyuan Sword, sealed within the Sinful Sword Abyss, the Linyuan Sword that no one had successfully drawn for thousands of years—

She pulled it from the earth, inch by inch!

In that instant, the entire Sinful Sword Abyss began to shake violently.

Instantly, alarm bells began to ring wildly throughout the Dragon Roar Sword Sect.

"Quick, report to the Great Elder! Someone is pulling out the Saint's Legacy Sword!!"