Volume 1, Chapter 70 – Extermination (Two‑in‑One)

After waiting a bit, perhaps realizing something was off, Chai Jingyuan rose again and started dealing with the unconscious Benling disciples around him.

The way a cold‑blooded man like him “dealt” with people wasn’t as simple as a few kicks; he took the sword embryo and stabbed each disciple in turn, caring not whether they were truly out or feigning, clearly intent on draining them all.

As he reached the last three, he did find a fish that slipped the net; Bai Xiang heard Hao Chengzhuo’s bellow from over there, then two muffled thuds, followed by Hao Chengzhuo’s piercing screams.

“Ah… may you all die horribly…!!!”

At the wail, Bai Xiang quietly craned her head out and saw Hao Chengzhuo sprawled like a dead dog, Chai Jingyuan’s boot on his back while the Zhenyuan sword embryo punched through from his spine, drinking his essence‑blood.

“Quiet.” Chai Jingyuan’s voice was very flat. “This is just insurance; it’s not like I’m taking your lives right now.”

He wasn’t about to make the rookie mistake of leaving some lizard pretending to sleep nearby to covet a chance.

Not until Hao Chengzhuo was drawn shriveled of spirit and form, his face caved and skull‑like, did Chai Jingyuan give him a kick—something in his chest cracked sharp, he screamed, and passed out.

“Your cultivation is far too low—you barely even qualify to feed a sword embryo,” Chai Jingyuan sneered. “I’ll spare your lives; when Xuan’er forges her sword, you’ll feed the Demon Pool.”

“Understand?”

He turned and fixed his gaze on Zhao Xu and Xiao Ming, who at some point had rolled over and sat up.

“Will it be like him—eat more suffering—or will you obediently accept your fate? You know which to choose.”

“Y‑you can’t kill me…!” Xiao Ming hid behind Zhao Xu, shaking all over as she stared at Chai Jingyuan. “My father is Liang Qiusheng… If you kill me, you won’t end well either!”

“Oh.” Chai Jingyuan’s brows lifted. “Liang Qiusheng…?”

“Yes!” Xiao Ming nodded hard. “Y‑your plan with Senior Sister Chai—we can keep quiet… if you just let us go…”

Idiot woman!

Zhao Xu, up front, felt like dying.

Look at the timing, will you?

He killed even Master Liang, and now he suspects we overheard his secrets—how could he possibly let you go because of a two‑bit threat?

Pinching you earlier was my signal—to get you ready to strike with me. How in the world did you take it like this!

“Amusing.” Chai Jingyuan did, indeed, smirk. “Granted, killing you would be troublesome—but that was done by Yi Tianzhi, Right‑Flank Protector of the Demon‑Immortal Dao’s southern force. What has that to do with me, Chai Jingyuan, retired to nurse my health?”

“Once this is over, the world will only know that my child braved a demon ambush, cut a path through encirclement, and rose like the blazing sun as the new standard‑bearer.”

“Your deaths will certainly enrage Benling—but the demons will have bled out their southern strength here. Won’t they be enraged as well?”

Sword embryo in hand, Chai Jingyuan closed in step by step, smiling as he said, “Then the two sides will be at each other’s throats again; the war escalates, even Liang Qiusheng might die—who’ll keep digging for the truth here?”

So even the “Yi Tianzhi” identity was meant to be discarded?

It’s over!

Only now did Zhao Xu fully grasp his plan—and fully understand that the father and daughter would never leave witnesses.

Despair peaking, a reckless will to fight surged up; he pinched Xiao Ming’s arm with his left hand as a warning, then gripped his sword with both hands and shouted, “Kill—!” A mantle of ferocious blood‑qi surged around him; eyes bulging, teeth bared like a tiger’s phantom, he sprang at the enemy and swung down.

“Clang!”

Chai Jingyuan caught it with a casual lift, handling Zhao Xu’s follow‑up flurry as he warned, “I suggest you look back at what your ‘young lady’ is doing.”

Zhao Xu couldn’t help it and glanced aside.

With that single glance, his body froze for a beat before he roared.

“Liang Wanming!”

“What are you doing???”

Rеαd οո ΚαtRеаԁіոɡСαfe

The panicked girl had already run a dozen steps and was scrabbling hands and feet to climb to a higher cave. At his shout she jerked, and with a plop fell back down.

Scrambling up, she saw Zhao Xu’s shocked, disappointed face and hurried to explain, “I… I thought you were buying me time…”

“Hahahaha—!” At the scene, Chai Jingyuan couldn’t help but throw his head back and laugh.

“Eight years ago, Liang Qiusheng was ambushed on Yuhua Mountain’s peak—he fought to the death without yielding, fused his Aspect and condensed the Purple Core in one stroke, cut down demons by the dozen, and his renown was unmatched for a time! Who would have thought he’d have such a useless daughter!”

“I can’t match him in cultivation, but in raising a daughter—he’s not fit to carry my shoes!”

Eyes flaring, Chai Jingyuan gripped the sword embryo with both hands and raised it high before Zhao Xu’s face.

I’ll be merciful and end your suffering!

The blade split the air, about to cleave into Zhao Xu’s forehead.

Zhao Xu’s face went numb, with not a hint of resistance. But a warning pricked Chai Jingyuan’s heart; mid‑swing, he altered the line, flipped his wrist, and stabbed toward his own left armpit—where a black wooden sword had met it!

White hair?

He snapped his head around; in the gloom he made out the blade held by a white‑haired girl—his reflex snapped: “You’re Bai Xiang!?”

Her answer was her sword.

The wooden blade was caught; a notch burst from its edge, but Bai Xiang’s wrist set it humming and, in a way Chai Jingyuan couldn’t grasp, it slipped past the embryo’s edge and shaved obliquely at his throat.

What sword art is this?

Startled, Chai Jingyuan leapt back to steady himself—forgetting, for a moment, that Zhao Xu was right there.

“Old cur!” Jolted by the sudden clash, Zhao Xu saw Bai Xiang drive Chai Jingyuan back and threw himself in without thinking. “Pay back Master Liang’s life—!”

Bastard!

Chai Jingyuan cursed in his heart.

Zhao Xu alone was easy—but this Bai Xiang!

What on earth is that sword she’s using…?

From ambush to bind, Bai Xiang still didn’t say a word. She only pressed in, her wooden sword stabbing at his vitals from all sorts of vicious angles.

Whenever Chai Jingyuan tried to raise his blade to parry and use the congealed scarlet demonic aura on the edge to chop it through, the wooden sword would blur and quiver as if by magic—like a slick black fish—and in a blink be upon him.

The vibration didn’t just befuddle the eye and slip past his guard; sometimes, when Chai Jingyuan braced himself in advance, the wooden sword instead went stiff—ramming straight against the embryo with relentless tremors until his whole arm shook. He barely avoided being cut by Zhao Xu!

What is that… what the hell is that!!!

Handling two utterly different fights at once drove Chai Jingyuan to distraction—he’d had enough!

“Roar!”

Catching both blades again, Chai Jingyuan loosed a beastly bellow.

Blood‑red demonic aura erupted in a gust that flung Zhao Xu away. Hair and beard whipped in the storm; robes burst as muscles bulged; his frame, joints, and limbs stretched to twice their former length—and thickened as well!

“Clang!”

He yanked out his original side sword. The “demon” Chai Jingyuan saw Bai Xiang stubbornly holding her ground—his eyes narrowed, feral; he drove off his back foot, shattering the ground, and swept in—two swords at once flooding her blind spots.

Danger!

Zhao Xu’s eyes bulged; he could hardly bear to look.

But in the next second his dread turned to astonishment—he stared as Bai Xiang—rather than raise her sword to parry or hew—drew her feet in, stood straight, and raised her blade upright.

You…?

Reαԁ οո КatReaԁіոɡCаfе

Chai Jingyuan also sensed the change. He tried to follow his habit of caution and pull back—but it was already too late.

Less than half a meter from his demonized form, in the dark, the girl’s white hair flared—and from her sword burst an invisible ripple that drilled straight into his eardrums.

Vmmmm—~~~!!

Not good!

The vibrating tone flooded his ears, and Chai Jingyuan’s vision went black.

It was only an instant—but this was life and death!

A huge panic crashed in out of nowhere. He threw a hand up to shield his face, but still felt something sharp drive into his chest and churn hard inside!

Squelch!

At the same time his twin blades chopped down hard—the embryo in his right hand seemed to catch something too.

“Bang!”

A kick thudded into his chest; Bai Xiang yanked her blade free and opened distance.

“Hah… hah… hah…”

Both panted for breath, frozen where they stood.

On the left side of Chai Jingyuan’s demonized chest, she had punched a gaping hole—blood and meat sprayed out and pooled on the floor.

As for Bai Xiang—at the shoulder of her Blackwatersnake Max, a seam had silently opened, cutting the strap of the vest across her chest; blood seeped out.

Won…?

Both Zhao Xu and Xiao Ming watched—shock giving way to joy.

The left chest is the heart…?

Is this a win?

Zhao Xu was grinning when his vision blurred—the demonized Chai Jingyuan appeared before him in an instant.

No time to react—then the world spun.

He only saw Chai Jingyuan’s withdrawing motion—and a headless corpse.

“Thump!”

After lopping off Zhao Xu’s head with one stroke, Chai Jingyuan slowly turned, eyes now demon‑scarlet, and fixed them on Bai Xiang.

“You have a secret.”

He spoke to Bai Xiang, word by word.

“But it doesn’t matter.”

“This old man does too!”

With that, he surged at Bai Xiang again; his two swords swapped forms in a blur as he launched another round.

He truly was the real thing—a Three‑Tribulation great demon built for head‑on duels—nothing like a “mage” type like Lü Ran.

Under the onrushing storm, Bai Xiang felt pressure like never before.

Moments ago, by relying on the essence of the Shenming Sword, she’d been able to play it clever and avoid crossing blades with Chai Jingyuan most of the time.

But back then Zhao Xu had been there to split the burden!

Rеаd оn КаtReаⅾіnɡСαfe

Two people, two swords, against Chai Jingyuan with one—that huge edge, plus the ambush, still hadn’t wounded him. Now it was only her, and Chai Jingyuan had a second sword!

“Clang!”

“Crackle!”

Forced into another head‑on bind by the twin blades, Bai Xiang brought the wooden sword up to shield her face—only to watch a chip pop from its edge like a dart toward her eye.

“Bang!”

They broke apart again, and Bai Xiang’s breathing grew even rougher.

A cut opened on her left brow ridge, and a streak of blood ran down her face.

Chai Jingyuan locked onto her without a word; his warped demonized body sank lower and lower, and with both swords slanted up he advanced—like two gates of a cage sweeping over her.

This sword is at its limit…

She didn’t need to look to know her Cloud‑Pattern Wooden Sword had to be a cross‑hatched mess of chips.

Without true qi force, a mere thirty percent of invisible distortion over it can’t really defy fate.

The gap between her and the enemy was greater than the gap with Huang Qian—Huang Qian wouldn’t be moving fine with a punctured left chest. Her hidden finisher hadn’t landed!

A nearly certain‑death situation—and Bai Xiang grew only calmer.

Blood…

Pain…

Tension…

Fear…

Negative feelings pressed in like a nightmare demon on her Heart‑Aspect—but her will sat throned and unmoved, even finding them laughable.

It can’t get worse anyway…

Compared to being a useless thing lying in bed while others take the field—bleeding… is the gift of my new life!

At the same moment, Chai Jingyuan and Bai Xiang dove for each other.

Faster and faster—until they blurred and collided in the cavern!

Slow motion… Chai Jingyuan’s left hand lifted to block her thrust; his right chopped for her shoulder.

Wood and steel kissed in midair; the invisible distortion fuzzed—linking to Chai Jingyuan’s blade and wrist—and his body hitched for a beat.

Thump!

The slight, thin figure was flung away!

“Ssshh…”

Turning once in the air, Bai Xiang dropped low and landed steady; her thigh was sliced again, blood seeping through the seams of her battle suit.

Chai Jingyuan’s demonized body froze in place—his left hand, which should have shielded his face, stopped at his chest with the sword in it, and in his left eye socket jutted Bai Xiang’s wooden sword.

“W‑h… y…”

Glaring at Bai Xiang with his remaining right eye, Chai Jingyuan worked his lips.

“Because of The Scripture of Returning to Origin and Transforming Qi.”

Bai Xiang held her stance, breath evening.

“I simply bet that was your trump.”

Rеaԁ οո КаtRеаⅾіոɡСafе

“Metered output… not dying from a gouged heart depends on transplanted tissue.”

“Looks like I won the bet.”

“Heh…”

Chai Jingyuan’s pupils contracted hard. He tried to speak—but the light in his eye unraveled.

Boom!

His hulking demonized body collapsed, shaking the ground again.

Bai Xiang rushed to the corpse, glanced at the Zhenyuan sword embryo, snatched the other sword from his left hand, and drove it into his head to churn it to paste.

And thus another Three‑Tribulation demon fell to her blade; the greatest overt threat was broken.

No…

Even limited to this cavern, it still wasn’t over.

After a beat, Bai Xiang turned. With the bloodied iron sword in hand, she walked slowly toward the corner of the cave—where Xiao Ming was shivering.

“Y‑you… Bai Xiang?”

Xiao Ming’s expression was a bit stiff.

“You… you actually killed him! That’s wonderful… You saved us… When we get back I’ll tell my father… have him take you as a personal disciple… same as Senior Sister Chai—no… a hundred times better treatment than that slut Chai Xuan!”

But Bai Xiang only looked down at her from above, tipping the girl’s chin up with the blade’s edge.

“Why didn’t you join in just now.”

The calm tone, in Xiao Ming’s ears, was terrifying.

“I came calculating for a three‑point encirclement.”

“Your retreat nearly got me killed, do you get that.”

“I… I…”

With the blade pressed to her tender neck, Xiao Ming started to stammer.

She wanted to argue—that Zhao Xu’s signal was unclear, how was she to know what that pinch meant! Wasn’t everything supposed to go her way, like always?

But staring up at Bai Xiang—at a girl who should have been younger than herself—and at the faint, uncanny gold in the eyes shadowed by her falling hair, Xiao Ming’s mind went blank; no words would come.

And Bai Xiang wasn’t going to give her the chance.

With a wet pop, the tip of the blade pierced Xiao Ming’s throat.

It drove deeper through, then sliced up through the skull.

“…!???”

Xiao Ming’s eyes flew wide and met hers—then both halves of her face sloughed apart, splitting and falling in two.

For now, it was over.

Bai Xiang turned and flicked the blood from the sword.

Liang Wanming knew too much.

Even if Chai Jingyuan didn’t care, she wouldn’t let her walk out alive.