“Chen Meng, Jian Feng, Ao Chu! And the rest of you, listen up. The reason our Sword King Sect has fallen so low is because of the Yuehua Sect. So, remember this: once you’re inside, no matter who from the Yuehua Sect you encounter, kill them if you can. Even if you don’t make it to the finals, it doesn’t matter. Jian Wuji alone is enough for the finals.
Especially remember, Ling Xiao must die! Kill the others if you can, but Ling Xiao absolutely cannot be spared. If you’re not his match, team up with others. In short, he must not come out alive.”
Chen Nanxing, the Sword King Sect’s leader, harboured deep hatred for Ling Xiao and the Yuehua Sect. Although he believed Ling Xiao would lose to the Holy Son in the finals and end up serving him like a slave, he thought that would be too lenient for Ling Xiao. Serving a delicate beauty, who would become the future Holy Emperor, was more like a blessing than a punishment.
So, he wanted Ling Xiao dead now!
Chen Meng naturally had no objections.
Ao Chu, a core disciple who had been in seclusion, had a friend killed by Ling Xiao and would not refuse either.
Only Jian Feng frowned.
He wasn’t treated well in the Sword King Sect, but he couldn’t disobey the sect leader’s orders. It seemed he had no choice but to act.
However, he wouldn’t resort to underhanded tactics. He would face Ling Xiao directly. If he lost, it was his own lack of skill; if he won, it was simply because Ling Xiao was inferior.
As for the other participating disciples of the Sword King Sect, they were entirely loyal to Chen Nanxing and would follow his orders.
Each with their own thoughts, they entered the True Demon Forbidden Land.
Golden Light Heavenly Venerate glanced at Chen Nanxing and whispered to Wu Xiang, “Sect Leader, I’m afraid Chen Nanxing will target Ling Xiao.”
“Not just Ling Xiao. That old man might go after all our Yuehua Sect disciples.”
Wu Xiang said coldly, “But that old fool can’t act himself. By doing this, he might end up losing both his wife and his soldiers!”
“True enough! Lan Yuer, Leng Hao, Dai Yuling aren’t easy to deal with, and Zhao Zhi is decisive in killing. As for Ling Xiao, he’s never one to take a loss. Anyone who provokes him will face bitter consequences.” Golden Light Heavenly Venerate recalled the events in Sword King City and smiled.
A praying mantis catching a cicada might not realise it isn’t a cicada but a monster disguised as one. If it gets eaten, it can only blame its own stupidity.
Upon entering the Black Dragon Vortex, Ling Xiao felt his body swept away uncontrollably by the fierce winds.
When he finally stabilised himself, he found himself alone, with no one else around.
He was now in a desert, where the scorching sun made it feel as if his body might melt.
Strangely, in such an environment, there were plants surviving.
“My goodness, so much Golden Leaf Wolf Tail Grass!”
When he looked closely, he was shocked to find patches of Golden Leaf Wolf Tail Grass.
It resembled wolf tail grass but had golden leaves and was much larger, able to survive almost anywhere.
Due to its tenacious vitality, it was extremely valuable for refining pills or spiritual liquids.
“There are over a hundred stalks over a thousand years old!”
Ling Xiao couldn’t help but marvel. One stalk was worth ten thousand low-grade spirit stones. He had purchased some in the Northern Han Capital before.
If refined into Golden Leaf Resilience Pills, they could replenish stamina and enhance survival in harsh environments, increasing their value tenfold. One pill would be worth a hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones.
And this was merely a low-grade yellow-tier pill, which Ling Xiao could refine.
Most importantly, even Heavenly Human Realm martial artists coveted it, as enhanced survival was critical.
With a wave of his hand, Ling Xiao collected over a hundred stalks of thousand-year-old Golden Leaf Wolf Tail Grass into his Mountain and River World for storage.
But as he prepared to leave and search elsewhere, he suddenly sensed something moving in the sand.
Boom!
The sand erupted into a storm over ten metres high, revealing a bizarre desert giant lizard.
This creature was enormous, with most of its body buried in the sand.
Upon appearing, the desert giant lizard whipped up a massive sandstorm and charged at Ling Xiao. Such beasts had no intelligence; their minds held only the instinct to kill.
Ling Xiao frowned slightly, and a qi sword shot out.
Clang!
Though it was just one true essence qi sword, this beast was only a ninth-level supernatural beast, not yet a beast king. Yet, it couldn’t be pierced, not even scratched, only dispersing the sandstorm.
“Such strong defence, but it’s useless!”
Ling Xiao shouted, combining two qi swords into one and infusing a trace of destructive will.
Pfft!
The destructive will was most potent for breaking and destroying. No defence could withstand such terrifying power.
The desert giant lizard was split in half, revealing a gleaming golden inner core as its blood seeped into the desert.
Ling Xiao stored the beast core in his storage ring and moved on.
Based on his judgment, other competing martial artists might face similar situations, but each would encounter different opportunities and dangers. Many had likely already been eliminated.
As he suspected, one by one, people were eliminated, using secret scrolls to escape after facing dangers they deemed too powerful.
But these matters didn’t concern Ling Xiao. He only needed to quietly complete his own path.
The True Demon Forbidden Land lived up to its name. After leaving the Golden Leaf Wolf Tail Grass, Ling Xiao had walked less than five hundred metres when trouble appeared.
Suddenly, a group of desert scorpions emerged.
Though small, their numbers were terrifying, tens of thousands swarming towards Ling Xiao like a tide.
“Nine-Vein Qi Sword: Rising Sun Sword Rays!”
With a wave of his hand, a sword light like a blazing sun appeared above Ling Xiao’s head. Countless sword rays shot out like a torrential rain towards the venomous scorpions.
Where the sword light struck, the scorpions shattered, leaving a mess. The survivors fled.
It seemed these scorpions had some intelligence, knowing they couldn’t defeat the opponent before them, so they escaped.
The True Demon Forbidden Land encompassed the imperial city of the True Demon Empire and hundreds of miles around it. Untouched by humans, it preserved the landscape from tens of thousands of years ago. The beasts here, though not as powerful as primordial giants, were still formidable.
Fortunately, Ling Xiao was strong enough. Otherwise, either the desert giant lizard or the venomous scorpions could have easily taken his life.
