Chapter 116: Nine Swords on the Battlefield

High above the battlefield, Ji Yan still had not moved.

Even when the puppet dropped from the sky to interfere with the fight below, her hands remained at her sides. Her gaze stayed fixed on the five Demon Kings and the Demon Lord opposite her.

Her indifference, however, ended where the six figures before her were concerned.

"That corpse can do as it pleases. But if any of you dares to interfere, I’ll kill you before you take another step."

Her cold voice was intimidating. Even so, the Demon Kings exchanged glances, as if silently reminding themselves: This is war.

They had no particular attachment to Chensha or even its master Bai Guquan, but their assault was a collaboration with the Netherblood Palace, whose backing in the Immortal World was rumored to be formidable. Allowing one of its important pieces to be destroyed right before their eyes would hardly be acceptable.

Or so they thought until their gaze landded on the Demon Lord.

Cang Kui remained perfectly still, his expression unreadable as he watched the battlefield. He showed no intention of intervening, nor did he appear particularly concerned about the fate of the puppet and its master.

The Demon Kings hesitated.

If even Black Calamity wasn’t making a move, there was little reason for them to be the first to test Ji Yan’s threat. Whatever his reasons, they could afford to wait a little longer.

For now, the battle below would continue without their interference.

-----

Far below, Gu Yuan exhaled slowly and looked at the puppet.

He had overwhelmed it, but it was tougher than he had expected. Its body had endured blow after blow, and even his Blood Moon Severance had yet to finish it off.

If he had mastered saber intent, would he have taken it down faster? The thought crossed his mind, but he soon dismissed it. There was no point dwelling on what he hadn’t achieved. He needed to finish the fight with what he had.

Gu Yuan’s figure suddenly blurred.

Using the Heavenly Shadow Traversal. He moved at a speed the puppet could no longer follow, a pale streak that swung around it, once, twice, until he stood at its flank, and the crimson crescent that had been swelling behind him finally broke free.

Blood Moon Severance!

The crimson crescent flashed across the battlefield, cuting the puppet in two.

The two halves fell apart almost slowly, toppling in opposite directions. They struck the earth with two dull thuds, and for a long breath, nothing at all moved around them.

Several nearby cultivators stared in disbelief.

"Wasn’t that puppet equivalent to a Void Realm cultivator?"

"He really defeated it?"

The shock was especially pronounced among those who had witnessed the fight from beginning to end. They had seen the puppet’s relentless attacks and the damage it could inflict, only to watch Gu Yuan gradually turn the tables before ending the battle with a single decisive strike.

But Gu Yuan paid none of them any attention.

He didn’t stop to celebrate his victory. His gaze had already passed beyond the fallen puppet, beyond the cultivators and demonic beasts still fighting, toward the distant figure he had been pursuing from the beginning.

Bai Guquan.

The Crimson Fire was still chasing the Corpse Furnace Sect Master. Gu Yuan had intended to finish off the puppet and immediately go after him, and now that it was dealt with, there was nothing left to delay him.

Except, the scene before him wasn’t what he had expected.

Bai Guquan was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the Crimson Fire was pursuing what appeared to be another puppet.

Gu Yuan frowned.

What was going on? Had Bai Guquan sent another substitute to distract him, or was there something else at play?

Before he could make sense of the situation, Ji Yan’s voice suddenly rang in his mind.

[Stop searching. He teleported away, and you won’t find him.]

Teleportation? Gu Yuan recalled what he had read. At the Void Realm, cultivators could tear through space and travel through the void, though only over very short distances.

But Bai Guquan was merely at the Embryo Realm. Forget traveling through the void, he shouldn’t even have been capable of teleporting in the first place.

So, he must have used some kind of treasure.

Gu Yuan sighed. Should he have left the Crimson Fire to deal with the Sixth-Grade Puppet while he went after Bai Guquan himself? No. He should have been more careful from the very beginning, especially after learning that the man would flee at the slightest sign of danger.

Well, there was no point dwelling on it now.

His gaze swept across the battlefield. Wherever he looked, demonic beasts and cultivators lay scattered across the ground, their blood staining the earth. Yet something else caught his attention. Despite the sheer number of corpses, the familiar signs of their remaining life force being siphoned away were nowhere to be seen. The blood, too, remained where it had fallen instead of disappearing through some unknown technique.

Gu Yuan watched a pool of blood spread beneath a dead demonic beast before shifting his gaze away.

At least that problem had been dealt with. With Bai Guquan gone, there was no one left to continue the strange process of draining the battlefield’s corpses.

Gu Yuan put the matter aside and turned his attention to the ongoing battle.

His first target was the Fifth-Grade Puppet Bai Guquan had left behind. Rather than waste time chasing it himself, Gu Yuan controlled the Crimson Fire, directing it to burn through the puppet and finish it off.

Then he moved, assessing the battlefield.

The most dangerous situation was at the front, where a Stormfang Wolf was running rampant. As a Seventh-Grade demonic beast, it possessed strength equivalent to a Unity Realm cultivator. Seven peak masters, alongside Luo Yunjin, were working together to hold it back. Luo Yunjin had even brought out the Black Desolation Banner, a treasure Gu Yuan had heard about many times but had never seen in action.

Even with all of them working together, they were struggling. Their defenses were gradually giving way, and the wolf’s relentless attacks left little room for them to retaliate.

How much longer could they hold on?

Gu Yuan couldn’t say.

Should he go help them?

He quickly dismissed the idea.

There was still Ruxi, who was also at the Unity Realm. She was occupied now, protecting the sect and killing every demonic beast that slipped past the disciples and elders. If he lessened her burden by dealing with the weaker demonic beasts, she could shift to where she was needed more.

Having settled on a course of action, Gu Yuan immediately put it into practice.

He took out the Ninefold Shadow Swords, the nine short swords he had received as a wedding gift, and with a surge of spiritual power, he sent them flying into the battlefield, their blades splitting apart to strike at the demonic beasts around.

The Ninefold Shadow Swords couldn’t match the Heavenfall Saber in raw offensive power, and Gu Yuan was no swordsman. However, he didn’t need them to deliver overwhelming attacks. Against weaker demonic beasts, their power was more than sufficient, and their ability to attack multiple targets at once made them far more practical than swinging his saber through a crowded battlefield.

More importantly, he could control their movements without risking the collateral damage that his stronger attacks might cause to the cultivators fighting nearby.

The nine swords flashed through the air, cutting down one demonic beast after another. Some fell before they could even approach the sect’s defenses, while others were struck down in the middle of their attacks, giving the cultivators around them a chance to recover.

Gu Yuan didn’t let the corpses accumulate.

Whenever a demonic beast fell to his swords, its body disappeared into the Orb of Creation before it could hit the ground. He continued moving through the battlefield, directing the nine swords to wherever they were needed most while quietly collecting the spoils of his efforts.

Bai Guquan, the Corpse Furnace Sect Master was no longer around, but that didn’t mean he could afford to be careless.

After all, a battlefield full of demonic beast corpses was exactly the sort of place where a corpse-refining cultivator could cause trouble. Gu Yuan had no intention of leaving his enemies such a convenient opportunity.