Chapter 634: Soul-Annihilating Sword Ma Ruoxi

The number of disciples the Qingfeng Sect could mobilize was only enough to control Qii Mountain and the two closest counties—this was their limit.

Forcibly bringing all twelve counties under their banner would only lead to constant mistakes and oversights.

How many disciples could the Qingfeng Sect assign to each county? A hundred? A thousand?

Any single county had tens of thousands of Cultivators, if not more.

Even with a thousand disciples, they would be spread so thin across the various ore veins, spirit lands, lakes, and medicine gardens that they would have little to no real control.

The local Tribulation Cultivators, banking on this very fact, attempted to negotiate a truce with the Qingfeng Sect.

They offered to recognize the Qingfeng Sect’s status as the Upper Sect and pay tribute as required, but only if the right to govern the counties remained in their hands.

Unfortunately, several rounds of secret communications were all sternly rejected. There was no possibility of negotiation.

All Tribulation Cultivators were to surrender unconditionally and await the Qingfeng Sect’s judgment, which would decide whether they faced death or atonement through penal servitude. This was the will of True Monarch Bai.

Leaving Qi Yue and Lu Songx behind in Sanchuan County to reestablish order, Ma Ruoxi set out alone, her sword her only companion.

For three months, she traveled through the ten remaining counties, specifically targeting the most notorious Tribulation Cultivators.

She issued challenges at their gates and struck them down on the roads. It reached a point where the local Tribulation Cultivators would flee back to their Sects, hoping to hide behind their Arrays to escape her.

Ma Ruoxi would simply charge their Mountain Gates, one woman with one sword. All who stood in her way were scattered, and none could withstand a single blow.

More than five Core Formation Tribulation Cultivators had died by her hand, and as for the Cultivators below that level, they were simply innumerable.

In just a few short months, her name echoed throughout Liang Country. Everyone knew the Qingfeng Sect had a new female Cultivator, a disciple of True Monarch Bai, who was known as the First Sword Cultivator of the Northern Domain.

She was described as strong-willed and hating evil as a personal enemy. The mere mention of her name was enough to make Tribulation Cultivators turn pale.

Her relentless slaughter was too much for many groups of Tribulation Cultivators to bear, and they began searching for an escape route.

When Qingfeng Sect’s True Man Zhou Suqing appeared with a dozen Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Array Hall and a thousand Qi Refining Disciples, the Tribulation Cultivators in two more counties were completely eradicated and the territory brought under their rule.

‘Every time I draw the sword, it’s like seeing through Master’s eyes, experiencing for a moment what his Sword Control is like. My progress in these last few months has been greater than all the gains from my last thirty years of honing my Sword Dao.’

Upon the shimmering, turquoise surface of a lake, several white cranes descended lazily from the sky and began to swim about.

Ma Ruoxi stood on a jagged, peculiar rock in the center of the lake. Behind her lay the body of an ugly, short Cultivator in a black robe.

The man’s eyes were wide open, and his body bore nine sword wounds—a rare sight for any Tribulation Cultivator who died by Ma Ruoxi’s hand.

When the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword was drawn, death came in a single strike; there was never a need for a second.

After grasping the Refining Sword into Silk Realm, Ma Ruoxi could finally comprehend the subtleties in the transformations of the Thunder Radiance, no longer relying entirely on instinct as she had before.

The gap in their Sword Dao Realms was still as vast as the Celestial Abyss, but mastering Refining Sword into Silk had at least given her a seat at the table. It was no longer like trying to understand a meal she wasn’t even present for.

She even felt that if this continued, her Sword Dao Realm would begin to bolster her Cultivation, helping her break through to the Mid-Stage Core Formation sooner.

The Tribulation Cultivator she had fought today was an old Demon, the Nine-Child Yin Demon, who had plagued the Liang Country Cultivation Realm hundreds of years ago.

He had later taken refuge under Blood God True Man, only to run into Ge Cang, the bane of the Demon Path. A single Qiantian Primordial Yang Divine Thunder Net had shattered his prized Divine Technique.

After barely managing to escape, he had vanished without a trace.

Everyone had assumed he died from the backlash of his Demon Skill, but who would have expected him to reappear in the Central Province so many years later?

More than two hundred years had passed, and the Nine-Child Yin Demon had now reached the Mid-Stage Core Formation. He had also re-refined his nine naked infants.

Relying on this Divine Technique, he had actually managed to use one of the naked infants to die in his stead, saving his own life from the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword.

Recognizing the strangeness of his Divine Technique, the Thunder Radiance of the next sword strike transformed directly into eight strands of Sword Silk, piercing through the eight remaining naked infants.

After a bloodcurdling scream, boundless resentful energy shot into the sky as nine spectral infants pounced upon the Nine-Child Yin Demon, gnawing him to death.

Then, the resentful energy surrounding the nine infants dissipated, and each revealed an innocent smile before scattering into motes of light.

“That was exhausting! Little girl, your Cultivation is too low. I have to expend a sliver of my origin every time… I was perfectly happy absorbing Clear Spirit Qi in my box. What a huge loss this has been!”

“This disciple is slow-witted. I have burdened you, Senior Sword Spirit.”

Ma Ruoxi blushed. Her brilliant battle record of the past few days was all thanks to the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword.

She was merely the Sword Holder, with a front-row seat to the action.

As a Sword Cultivator, she knew full well that the Flying Sword her master had lent her exceeded the capabilities of a Tier Four Flying Sword in every way.

Its degree of Spiritual nature, its ability to communicate, its human-like emotions—no Tier Four Flying Sword recorded in any text was capable of such things.

Furthermore, even if other Nascent Soul Sword Cultivators lent their Lifebound Flying Swords to junior disciples for protection, they could at most seal the power for one, or perhaps three or four, strikes.

Yet the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword had been swung far more than ten times during Ma Ruoxi’s campaign across the Central Province.

All these signs led her to an irresistible conclusion: the Flying Sword before her, formed of pure lightning, was actually a Tier Five Flying Sword.

In her mind, with her master’s Sword Dao Talent, it was perfectly believable that he could attract a Tier Four Flying Sword during his Foundation Establishment Stage. Therefore, it wasn’t impossible for him to have made a Tier Five Flying Sword acknowledge him as its master during his Nascent Soul Stage.

“Alright, alright! Three more strikes at most, and then I’m definitely going back to my master… unless you have a Top-Grade Spirit Stone. In that case, I could be convinced to stay with you a little longer.”

The sword’s body, formed of Thunder Radiance, flickered back and forth, assuming different shapes.

“I have several hundred High-Grade Spirit Stones in total, but not a single Top-Grade Spirit Stone. Does Senior Sword Spirit have any need for them?”

Ma Ruoxi rummaged through a slime-covered High-Grade Storage Bag, breaking through the Spiritual Mark left on it by the Nine-Child Yin Demon only with great difficulty.

There were few Spirit Stones inside. Besides a set of banner flags, it was filled with gruesome white bones, souls, and all sorts of materials for the Demon Path.

There were finger bones as thick as an arm, a three-eyed skull, and a spine with spikes growing from its sides…

There were all kinds of Demon Beast bones, as well as a large pile of white bones that appeared to be human, enough to make one’s skin crawl.

As for the souls, there were more than ten Ten Thousand Souls Banners, each of which required ten thousand souls to refine.

There were also many jars and bottles, and through their walls, one could hear the wailing and roaring of the souls trapped within, even the faint sounds of them bumping against the sides.

These were powerful Divine Souls, which the Nine-Child Yin Demon had specifically stored separately.

Ma Ruoxi had reaped a handsome harvest killing Tribulation Cultivators along the way. These Core Formation Cultivators had plundered the wealthy Central Province, and as the leaders of their groups, they carried the spoils of their entire organizations.

The combined wealth from all their storage bags added up to a truly astonishing sum.

Even for a True Monarch’s Disciple, she felt the wealth was too much to handle; it was more than a mere Core Formation Cultivator like herself could bear.

If it were all converted into Spirit Stones, the total would likely be equivalent to at least ten years of the Qingfeng Sect’s income.

‘In any case, these spoils were only won because I borrowed Master’s Flying Sword to kill these enemies… After I go back, I’ll just hand all of it over to Master. Then I won’t have to worry about how to deal with it all.’

Once Ma Ruoxi had made up her mind, the anxiety in her heart faded away.

Even so, she couldn’t find a single Top-Grade Spirit Stone among the loot. Her luck was just bad, she supposed.

Otherwise, with so many Sects and Cultivation Families in the Central Province having been plundered, the number of Top-Grade Spirit Stones wouldn’t be huge, but it was impossible that there were none at all.

While wiping her sword clean, Ma Ruoxi considered her next destination.

By now, the Tribulation Cultivators had started to actively avoid her; she had visited several places in a row without encountering a single one.

The Nine-Child Yin Demon had simply been unlucky. It seemed he had just come out of seclusion and hadn’t yet heard the news that a female bringer of destruction had arrived in the Central Province.

Upon seeing a female Cultivator at the Early-Stage Core Formation, he had gotten the idea to add a new main soul to his Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

That was how he had ended up biting off more than he could chew and died without even knowing what hit him.

‘The Tribulation Cultivators are starting to group together, closing the distance between their bands. But that doesn’t matter to me. As long as I can find them…’ “Who’s there? Show yourself!”

The Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword in her hand had suddenly pulsed with a warning. Though she herself had sensed nothing, Ma Ruoxi trusted her Flying Sword implicitly.

“Such sharp Spiritual Sense, to be able to detect us.”

A ripple spread through the air, and five Cultivators appeared around the Spirit Lake, forming a tight encirclement.

“Soul-Annihilating Sword! Surrender now! You won’t be getting away today!”

There were five Core Formation True Men, and each had a Talisman affixed to his body. Ancient script was drawn upon them, and they were burning slowly.

“When did I get the nickname ‘Soul-Annihilating Sword’?”

Ma Ruoxi turned around, not giving the five Cultivators—all at the Late-Stage Core Formation—a second glance. She was more puzzled by her new nickname, which was neither pleasant-sounding nor particularly intimidating.