No spiritual root? I devour the origins of all paths.

Chapter 35 Heavenly Venerable

When the Demon Lord's aura spread from the depths of the Conferred God Platform, the entire mountain trembled.

It wasn't an earthquake-like shaking, but a deeper tremor, as if the mountain's very spiritual veins were being torn apart from within by some force. At the same moment, the myriad sword marks on the Conferred God Platform emitted a piercing shriek; it was the sword intent, personally carved by the Celestial Venerable ten thousand years ago, sensing the aura of its nemesis, issuing a final warning to its new master. The remnants of the demon army besieging the ice wall ruins at the foot of the mountain suddenly stopped simultaneously, then scattered to both sides like a receding tide, scrambling and tumbling towards the outside of the mountain. Even the fearless demonized beasts tucked their tails between their legs and burrowed into the rubble.

That wasn't a retreat. That was fear. Their master was about to emerge.

Ling Chen stood beside the divine realm array base atop the Conferred God Platform, the sword imprint on the back of his hand burning hot, almost scorching his skin. The fine crack that had just appeared at the core of the sword imprint lengthened with every breath, as if something was gnawing at the last line of defense of the seal from within. Deep within the mountain, at the bottom of the inverted golden light tower, relit by the resonance of the three swords, the previously activated sealing laws began to crumble one by one. The sound of each law shattering was like a taut string being severed by a sharp blade; with each broken string, the aura of the Demon Lord intensified.

"The final foundation of the Nine Revolutions Demon Sealing Array has only been activated for less than half an hour, and the sealing laws are not yet fully stable. The Demon Lord was forcibly suppressed once by the resonance of the three swords, and he is determined to break through the last barrier before the seal is fully formed, no matter the cost."

Before Elder Mo finished speaking, the ground atop the Conferred God Platform exploded with a deafening roar. A jet-black beam of light shot forth from the depths of the mountain, cleaving half of the peak in two. From within the beam, a figure slowly rose. The person was extremely tall, clad in a black robe that trailed to the ground. His face was so handsome it was almost otherworldly, his skin as pale as paper, yet his lips were as red as if he had just drunk blood. His eyes were a pure, dark red, without pupils or whites, only two swirling abysses, as if gazing into them for too long would suck one's soul in.

He stood in mid-air, looking down at Ling Chen with a lazy and indifferent expression, as if he were looking at an ant that had accidentally climbed onto the table.

"Heavenly Venerable. Ten thousand years have passed, and the physical body you chose is far inferior to the last one. Peak Qi Gathering? Not even reaching True Qi Condensation? I remember when you sealed me back then, you were surrounded by myriad Daos, and you cleaved the heavens with a single sword."

He tilted his head, a playful smile playing on his lips.

"How can we fight in this shabby state?"

Ling Chen didn't answer. He drew his sword, the pale gold edging on its blade glowing intensely under the pressure of demonic energy. The Heavenly Blade flew out from the Myriad Dao Returning to Ruins Diagram, automatically hovering above his left shoulder, its dark gold patterns lighting up in concentric circles. Su Qingyuan leaped onto the Conferred God Platform, stepping on the remnants of the ice wall, and stood beside him. The tip of the Frost Condensation Sword touched the ground, its icy blue sword intent condensing into an extremely cold domain around her, the remaining fragments of stone and ice in the air crackling and freezing at the domain's edges.

The Demon Lord's gaze shifted from Ling Chen to Su Qingyuan's face, then to the Frost Condensation Sword in her hand. He recognized the sword. The Ice Servant's sword. Ten thousand years ago, that woman knelt on the Conferred God Platform, using her life essence to activate the final barrier of the Nine Revolutions Demon Sealing Array, trapping him within the seal for a full ten thousand years. He stared at the Frost Condensation Sword for a moment, then suddenly smiled—not a sinister smile, but a kind of almost pleasurable, condescending admiration. Then he extended his pale, slender index finger and pointed it into the air.

A beam of black demonic light shot from her fingertips, so fast that even the Eye of Truth could only catch a fleeting afterimage. Su Qingyuan parried with her sword, the icy blue sword intent on her Frost Condensation Sword colliding with the demonic light, producing a crisp sound. She was forced back seven steps, her boot heels carving two deep grooves into the stone slab, and a new fine crack appearing on the old wound on the Frost Condensation Sword. The gap between a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator and a Demon Lord was simply too great.

"Still as stubborn as ever." The Demon Lord's tone was like commenting on a small animal he remembered. "It's a pity it's not as formidable as it used to be."

Ling Chen's sword arrived. With the Severing Thoughts preceding the Burning Heaven, the blade intent of the Nine Heaven-Splitting Slashes merged with the sword intent of Returning Thoughts, the chaotic sword light carrying the residual force of the three swords' resonance slashing down. The power of this sword strike spanned two entire realms between Qi Gathering and Void Realm, not his own power—it was the Myriad Paths Returning to the Ruins Diagram burning its life essence to support his meridians, and the nearly shattered sword imprint on the back of his hand pouring all the last remaining Heavenly Venerable sword intent into this strike.

The Demon Lord neither dodged nor evaded, extending two fingers to trap the blade of the Broken Thoughts Sword. The chaotic sword light exploded at the Demon Lord's fingertips, golden and black forces devouring each other, emitting a hissing sound like a branding iron being plunged into water. The cracks on the Broken Thoughts Sword groaned under the strain of the stalemate, and the deepest wound on its spine began to ooze fine powder anew. The Sword Servant's sword was at its limit; even the sealing enhancement wouldn't last much longer.

At the foot of the mountain, the main cannon of the Netherworld Ship suddenly opened fire near the ground, the golden beam striking the Demon Lord directly in the back. The Demon Lord swayed slightly, his two fingers still tightly gripping the Severance of Thought, but he merely tilted his head and cast a cold glance in Bai Ze's direction.

"Bai Ze. You've served the human race for ten thousand years. Your demon emperor predecessors must be restless in their graves."

Bai Ze ignored him. All the demonic runes on the Netherworld Ship that could still light up lit up, the demonic eyes at the bow widened, and the second round of cannon fire was charging up. The brightness of the beams of light was so dazzling that even the half-demon suicide squad members dared not look directly at them.

On the left flank, Jian Xuan slashed Shi Kun back dozens of feet with a single sword strike, then turned and rushed towards the Conferred God Platform. The old man, wielding his sword worn smooth from battle, had already crushed the rubble into dust before his peak Nascent Soul stage sword intent even reached the ice wall ruins at the foot of the mountain.

On the front lines, Xiao Lie and Han Tie charged up the mountain path from the left and right, stepping on the loose stones. Their twin swords, Crimson Flame and Golden Scale, combined to shatter the two demonic cultivators who had failed to ambush Ling Chen, along with their protective demonic energy. Both were wounded—Xiao Lie had a deep, bone-revealing claw mark on his left shoulder, and Han Tie's entire right arm was wrapped in bandages soaked in demonic blood, but his hand never left the hilt of his sword.

Just then, Su Qingyuan attacked again from the flank. She used the narrowest crevice on the left side of the ice wall ruins—the Demon Lord had been distracted by her, and although Duan Nian was under control, Ning Shuang was still there, and her left hand could still grip the sword. The icy blue sword light pierced the Demon Lord's left rib at an extremely tricky angle, the icy sword intent instantly freezing half of the demonic energy's circulation. The Demon Lord's expression changed slightly, he abandoned Duan Nian with his left hand, and struck Ning Shuang's sword with a backhand. Su Qingyuan and her sword were thrown back, her back hitting a broken pillar of the Conferred God Platform, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth. But the final curve of her lips was not of pain—she saw it. The moment the ice sword pierced her, the demonic energy circulation within the Demon Lord's body experienced a very brief pause. It was an internal imbalance that spontaneously occurred the moment he forcibly broke through the last remnant of the seal. Each time he devoured demonic energy to replenish the energy consumed in the struggle, the meridians in this area would automatically pause for a fraction of a breath to suppress the backlash.

"His seal is located where the demonic energy is most concentrated during his attack—right in the center of his heart! Attack his heart!"

Ling Chen transferred the Severing Thought to his left hand and drew the Burning Heaven Sword with his right. Within him, the Myriad Dao Returning to Nothingness Diagram, the resonance of the Three Swords, the Heavenly Venerable's Origin, and the remaining power of the Sword Seal were simultaneously activated to their limits. His two swords crossed in the air, drawing a half-finished golden-red arc of light. Su Qingyuan, supporting herself on the rubble, stood up. The tip of her Frost Condensation Sword pierced the ground, and the hundred-foot ice wall rose again, this time not for defense—she intended to block all possibilities of the Demon Lord's retreat. Jian Xuan's sword intent had already reached within a hundred feet of the mountain's foot; a peak Nascent Soul cultivator's all-out attack was on its way to the summit of the Conferred God Platform. The Netherworld Ship's main cannon completed its third charge, and the light of its demonic eyes locked down the Demon Lord's escape route.

The Demon Lord finally abandoned his languid demeanor. He formed hand seals, and his demonic energy condensed into a black cocoon of light, rapidly healing the gap in the seal at his heart. But just as the cocoon was about to close, Ling Chen's twin swords arrived. Burning Heaven first, Returning Thoughts broke through the defenses; Severing Thoughts followed, Rifting Winds cleaved the core. The twin swords pierced the closing gap in the cocoon one after the other—Burning Heaven's intense heat prevented the demonic energy from regenerating instantly, while the tip of Severing Thoughts followed closely, piercing the demonic core deep within the cocoon. The sword imprint detached from Ling Chen's hand, transforming into a final, dark blue sword beam that entered the spine of Severing Thoughts, plunging into the Demon Lord's heart along with the resonant light of the three swords. The dark blue sword beam exploded completely the moment it struck the demonic core, dissipating into countless specks of light above the Conferred God Platform—the final sword intent personally inscribed by the Heavenly Venerable ten thousand years ago was extinguished in this single strike.

The Demon Lord let out a deafening roar. The black cocoon of light was torn apart from the inside by the resonance of the three swords, and the shockwave from the explosion shattered an entire layer from the top of the Conferred God Platform, sending debris raining down in all directions like a meteor shower. Su Qingyuan used Frost Condensation to create an ice shield in front of Ling Chen, the debris striking the shield like a downpour against a window. Smoke and stone dust obscured everyone's vision, and no one could see whether the Demon Lord's retreat was due to being defeated or a deliberate withdrawal. When the dust slowly dissipated, only a massive crater, tens of feet wide and bottomless, remained on the ground at the top of the Conferred God Platform. Several pieces of still-burning black robes were embedded in the edge of the crater, and fragments of the shattered Demon Core lay scattered among the rocks. The Demon Lord himself was nowhere to be found. He wasn't killed—in the final moment, as the seal was broken, he tore through space and escaped.

But everyone was still there. Jian Xuan stood halfway up the mountain, sword in hand, demonic blood still dripping from its blade. Xiao Lie helped Han Tie crawl out of the rubble, both covered in dust, but the light of the Crimson Flame Sword and the Golden Scale Sword remained. Yin Lin led the remaining suicide squad of half-demons out of the collapsed mine tunnel, her left arm wrapped in bandages, a corner of the ice crystal pendant around her neck shattered—the talisman given to her by Ning Shuang had blocked a fatal attack for her, at the cost of half her armor being blown apart. The Netherworld Ship slowly landed at the foot of the mountain, several hideous demonic claw cracks appearing on its hull, but the demonic eye at the bow still emitted an indomitable golden light.

Bai Ze stood on the bridge and saluted the summit of the Conferred God Platform. The old Demon Emperor's hand trembled slightly, not from exhaustion, but because he had never witnessed the Demon Lord being forced back in a direct confrontation even on the battlefield of gods and demons ten thousand years ago.

Su Qingyuan helped Ning Shuang sit down beside Ling Chen without saying a word. She looked down at the newly added cracks on Ning Shuang's sword, then looked up at the lingering afterglow of the three swords' resonance in the sky, and sighed very softly. The Sword Servant's Severed Will hadn't shattered, the Flame Servant's Burning Heaven was still there, and she still held Ning Shuang in her hand. The three swords were united, and the seal, though incomplete, was not destroyed. The Demon Lord was injured and had fled, unable to break the seal again for a short time—they had won this battle.

Ling Chen looked down at his empty hand. The sword imprint had completely dissipated with the final strike, and the dark blue sword light that had merged into the spine of the Broken Thought Sword was now just a few faint wisps of light, soon to be completely exhausted. The core of the mortal realm's array foundation shattered into specks of light in his hand. The final barrier of the Nine Revolutions Demon Sealing Array was no longer the ancient seal, but himself. Old Mo's voice rang out, aged and calm, carrying a hint of barely perceptible pride: "...The Heavenly Venerable once said that the Nine Revolutions Demon Sealing Array wasn't meant to suppress the Demon Lord for ten thousand years with sword intent, but to buy him ten thousand years after his reincarnation. Ten thousand years is enough."

Ling Chen sheathed the Severing Thoughts and Burning Heaven swords, rising from the rubble. His hands were empty, but the Myriad Paths Returning to Nothingness Diagram in his dantian continued to slowly rotate. This scroll had withstood the backlash from the divine realm's array foundation, and after a direct confrontation with the Demon Lord, nearly thirty percent of it was damaged, but it still remained. As long as it remained, his path was not over. He stepped down from the Conferred God Platform, the rubble echoing hollowly beneath his feet, his shadow stretching long in the morning light. Three swords flickered alternately behind him, like three stars that refused to be extinguished.