Unlike the admiration and praise from the Sword Song Sect’s leader, the Patriarch of the Zhiqin Sect frowned almost imperceptibly:
"Why did Xu Wanci ultimately choose the shattered Nine Heavens Sword?"
"If she wanted a spiritual sword, the Treasure Vault holds countless ancient divine swords, including the greatest divine sword of all time—the Tai’e Sword. Why did she pick the Nine Heavens Sword?"
The Sword Song Sect’s leader stroked his beard and replied,
"Naturally, it’s because her Dao heart is unwavering, unswayed by external temptations."
"With such resolve and spiritual awareness, this girl’s future is boundless."
"Unswayed by external temptations?" The Zhiqin Sect’s leader mused thoughtfully. "Earlier in the Treasure Vault, Xu Wanci seemed momentarily dazed."
"She didn’t appear entirely steadfast."
Hearing her words, Ning Menglan closed his eyes with a hint of resignation:
He was perhaps the one present who understood Xu Wanci’s lifelong pursuit the most.
When he saw her choice, he too was puzzled—until he recalled the legend.
Ning Menglan slowly opened his eyes and said calmly,
"Legend claims the Nine Heavens Sword can pierce the heavens and reverse fate. With such power, its selection is hardly surprising."
At this, the Wuji Sect’s leader laughed heartily, as if hearing a joke:
"Every ancient divine sword has awe-inspiring legends attached to it."
"Take the Tai’e Sword—it’s said that wielding it can elevate one to godhood. Yet how many sword deities have there been throughout history?"
"You and I both know these are just myths in the end."
Ning Menglan sighed faintly, his gaze toward Xu Wanci tinged with complexity:
"Yes, just myths."
---
In the Ancient Battlefield.
The disciples of the Taiqing Sect finally regained their senses, realizing everything they had experienced was an illusion within the formation.
Recalling how they had lost themselves in the fantasy, many wore expressions of shame.
When they looked up, they saw Xu Wanci walking toward them step by step.
Her face was calm and composed, her blue robes untainted by even a speck of dust. The hidden lotus patterns on her skirt shimmered faintly with each step, exuding an ethereal detachment that set her apart from everything around her.
In her right hand, she held a spiritual sword radiating overwhelming sword intent, its mere presence forcing the dark mist to retreat.
Seeing the Nine Heavens Sword in Xu Wanci’s grasp, Chu Qingchuan seemed to understand something. His hands clenched abruptly, emotions swirling in his eyes.
Beside him, Shen Wenxin remained oblivious to his turmoil. Ignoring her own disheveled state, she bounded toward Xu Wanci with unrestrained joy:
"Wanci, Wanci! You saved us, didn’t you?"
Without waiting for an answer, she nodded vigorously to herself.
"It must be you! The moment I was expelled from the formation, I heard the cry of a sword!"
Her eyes flickered between the chillingly radiant spiritual sword in Xu Wanci’s hand and the retreating dark mist, brimming with gratitude:
"Wanci, if not for you, who knows how long we’d have been trapped in that formation..."
Xu Wanci retrieved a vial of spirit-replenishing pills from her storage pouch and handed it to Shen Wenxin, her voice cool:
"It was merely coincidence."
Shen Wenxin froze for a moment before carefully accepting the pills, tucking them away like a precious treasure into a hidden compartment of her pouch.
By then, the other Taiqing Sect disciples had also realized Xu Wanci had saved them. They hastily bowed in gratitude:
"Thank you, Senior Sister Xu, for saving our lives."
Xu Wanci sidestepped the gesture, her tone indifferent:
"The sun is setting. We should find the Divine Remains and rest for the night."
After exiting the Treasure Vault, most disciples were either spiritually depleted or suffering from erratic qi fluctuations, their bodies marred by injuries.
In their current state, they stood no chance against high-tier demonic spirits.
And as night approached, the Ancient Battlefield grew ever more perilous.
Chu Qingchuan stared at Xu Wanci for a long moment before swallowing his thanks.
Instead, he retrieved a compass from his storage pouch and addressed the disciples behind him:
"Stay close and remain vigilant."
"Yes!"
Along the way, the group encountered numerous fourth and fifth-tier demonic spirits, all slain by Xu Wanci and Chu Qingchuan.
After Xu Wanci dispatched a sixth-tier demonic spirit, they finally arrived at the Divine Remains.
At the heart of the darkness stood a seated skeletal figure.
The bones emanated the overwhelming pressure of a late-stage Transcendence cultivator, dispelling the surrounding shadows and carving out a safe haven for all to enter.
Thousands of years ago, the Taiqing Sect’s Grand Elder had fought in the Ancient Battlefield until his last breath.
Even in death, his remains had guarded generations of Taiqing Sect disciples who ventured here.
Xu Wanci stepped into the Divine Remains and bowed deeply to the skeletal figure.
Beside her, Chu Qingchuan and the disciples behind them all paid solemn respects.
Once they rose, the tension in the disciples finally eased.
They settled in small groups, meditating to recuperate.
Yet their gazes kept drifting toward Xu Wanci in the corner, reverence gleaming in their eyes.
In their hearts, her stature had risen—perhaps even surpassing Chu Qingchuan’s.
---
The next day.
As the first faint light touched the horizon, the Transcendence aura of the Divine Remains began to fade.
The disciples rose, their eyes shining as they looked toward Xu Wanci.
Feeling their expectant gazes, Xu Wanci turned and studied them thoughtfully:
"What tier of demonic spirits do you wish to hunt today?"
One disciple blurted, "Fifth-tier!"
Another countered, "Fifth-tier isn’t enough! We should aim for sixth-tier!"
"Exactly! With Senior Sister Xu and Senior Brother Chu here, sixth-tier spirits are nothing!"
Shen Wenxin shot them a disdainful look before turning to Xu Wanci with earnest concern:
"Wanci, ignore them."
"Whatever tier you find, we’ll hunt. Don’t overexert your spiritual sense!"
Xu Wanci gave a slight nod and extended her spiritual awareness ahead.
Her heart sank as she detected a presence far stronger than before:
An eighth-tier demonic spirit!
She remembered—in the original timeline, the Taiqing Sect disciples had encountered this eighth-tier demonic spirit at noon on the second day.
Though already wounded, it remained lethally powerful.
To slay it, many disciples had suffered grave injuries, and one had perished, unable to shatter their entry talisman in time.
It was Chu Qingchuan who, in the final moments, had sacrificed a drop of heart’s blood to forcibly unlock the second page of the Divine Tome, vanquishing the spirit.
But the cost was severe. After claiming the eighth-tier spirit’s soul crystal, he too had activated his talisman and left the battlefield.
This battle had been nothing short of devastating.
At this thought, the Nine Heavens Sword—which had transformed into a bracelet around Xu Wanci’s wrist—flashed with spiritual light and materialized in her hand.
She tilted her head slightly to glance at the group behind her. Noticing Chu Qingchuan’s instantly solemn expression, she asked, word by word:
"An eighth-grade demon soul—can we handle it?"
Her words sent a shockwave through the disciples. Their eyes widened in disbelief.
An eighth-grade demon soul?!
How could such a thing appear in the outskirts of the Ancient Battlefield?
Was Senior Sister Xu joking with them?!
The combat prowess of an eighth-grade demon soul was nearly equivalent to that of a Mahayana-stage cultivator.
Even with Xu Wanci and Senior Brother Chu leading them, their combined strength could only barely take down a seventh-grade demon soul at best.
But when they saw the creeping tide of black miasma spreading toward them, reality struck like a thunderbolt.
This demonic aura—it truly was an eighth-grade demon soul!
Many of the disciples paled, yet not a single one reached for their Formation Beads to escape.
Behind them lay the skeletal remains of the Grand Elder.
The Sacred Bone Grounds could repel demon souls of seventh grade and below, but it was powerless against anything stronger.
Thousands of years ago, the Grand Elder had shielded the entire cultivation world from chaos.
For millennia since, his remains had protected countless Taiqing Sect disciples who ventured into the Ancient Battlefield.
They could not retreat now.
To defend the Grand Elder’s bones, they had to fight!
Meanwhile, outside the Ancient Battlefield—
Ning Menglan abruptly stood, his voice sharper than ever.
"Wasn’t there a barrier formation? How did an eighth-grade demon soul slip into the outskirts?!"
"This one is severely wounded, its strength barely surpassing a seventh-grade. That’s how it bypassed the formation," the Sword Resonance Sect’s leader explained with a frown.
But an eighth-grade demon soul was still an eighth-grade demon soul. Even injured, it was no trivial foe.
Not far away, Jiang Ze clenched his fists, his gaze locked onto the scene projected in the air. His eyes burned with suppressed darkness—and worry.
Back inside the Ancient Battlefield—
Xu Wanci and Chu Qingchuan spoke in unison:
"Lure it away!"
Their eyes met, each recognizing the gravity in the other’s gaze. Chu Qingchuan’s hands ignited with the Thousand Extinction Flame as he barked orders:
"We can’t fight it here. Draw it as far from the Sacred Bone Grounds as possible."
With that, he hurled a blast of flame at the demon soul. Before leaping into action, he warned coldly:
"You all know how deadly an eighth-grade demon soul is. Crush your Formation Beads now if you want to live."
"Those who stay, prepare to fight to the death."
The Taiqing Sect disciples’ resolve was unshaken. Without a word, they gripped their lifebound artifacts and charged forward.
Xu Wanci had no time to dwell on their responses. She kicked off the ground, her sword’s edge gleaming as she shot toward the demon soul.
An eighth-grade demon soul had already taken a semi-human form, its body wreathed in black mist. Only its hollow, pitch-black eyes were visible, but its aura flickered with gaps—proof of its injuries.
Just as in the original records, this demon soul was indeed weakened.
Yet even so, when her Nine Heavens Sword slashed at its chest, the strike barely left a mark. Instead, the backlash of demonic energy shattered two of her defensive artifacts and seared her right hand.
Her gear was high-grade, though its power was suppressed in the Ancient Battlefield. For the demon soul’s miasma to overwhelm it so easily…
This level of danger surpassed even what she’d faced in the Guiyin Formation.
Xu Wanci didn’t press the attack. She retreated the instant Chu Qingchuan’s Thousand Extinction Flame engulfed the demon soul.
The all-consuming fire only managed to singe a tiny breach in the miasma.
Meanwhile, the Taiqing Sect disciples launched a coordinated assault.
Wood-attribute cultivators entangled the demon soul’s movements, wind specialists hurled razor-edged gusts, while sound cultivators disoriented it with sonic strikes and talisman masters bombarded it with explosive seals.
Though their attacks barely dented the creature, they steadily herded it away from the Sacred Bone Grounds.
But after just an incense stick’s worth of time, many disciples were gasping, their faces drained from channeling so much spiritual energy. Their movements slowed.
Then—the demon soul seemed to snap.
Its miasma erupted violently as it swung a fist at the nearest disciple, Ye Yu, too fast for her to even crush her Formation Beads.
Just as Ye Yu braced for death, a blue blur yanked her into a protective embrace, whisking her away as the demon’s fist cratered the ground where she’d stood.
The impact sent shards of miasma spraying toward the group.
Xu Wanci, still holding Ye Yu, pivoted her sword like a shield, deflecting every projectile.
Ye Yu stared dazedly at her savior’s profile, her heartbeat wild with adrenaline.
Xu Wanci set her down, pressed a defensive artifact into her hands, and said flatly:
"Stay safe. If you can’t go on, use the bead."
Before Ye Yu could reply, Xu Wanci was already darting back into the fray.
Spotting a flicker of vulnerability in the demon soul’s defenses, Xu Wanci lunged, her sword aimed straight for the weak point at the base of its skull.
She ignored the corrosive miasma biting into her skin.
The moment her blade struck, multiple defensive artifacts shattered on her body.
Yet her sword only pierced an inch deep.
The demon soul roared, its power surging again as three more disciples fell, grievously wounded by the backlash.
Xu Wanci staggered back, barely dispersing the residual force.
She’d underestimated it.
Even wounded, an eighth-grade demon soul was no pushover.
Locking eyes with Chu Qingchuan, she commanded coolly:
"Use the second page of the Divine Refinement Tome."
He blocked another wave of miasma with his flames, grimacing. "At my current level, I can only open the first page."
"Supplement it with heart’s blood and pour in all your divine sense," Xu Wanci countered, shielding another disciple. Despite the chaos, her voice remained icy calm.
"All Taiqing Sect disciples—I need you to stall it for one breath."
She turned to Chu Qingchuan.
"In that instant, I’ll seize its full attention. You’ll have one shot."
The moment Xu Wanci spoke, Chu Qingchuan had already forced a drop of his heart’s blood to his fingertip.
As a Nascent Soul cultivator, his spiritual power and divine sense could only sustain the use of the Divine Refinement Tome once. If he failed, he wouldn’t even have the chance to escape.
Yet, there wasn’t a trace of hesitation in his eyes.
Xu Wanci would never deceive him.
He closed his eyes, and in the next instant, the Divine Refinement Tome materialized before him.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw that everyone was ready. His voice was sharp as he commanded:
“Now!”
The moment he spoke, all the disciples of the Taiqing Sect channeled their spiritual power simultaneously. Their combined energy coalesced into a thick, rope-like force that lashed out and coiled tightly around the demonic soul.
The moment the demonic soul was ensnared, the spiritual energy corroded instantly.
At that exact moment, Xu Wanci, sword in hand, struck like lightning toward the demonic soul.
Sensing the threat, the demonic soul swung its massive hands down toward the figure before it.
Meanwhile, Chu Qingchuan had already extended his divine sense to the second page of the Divine Refinement Tome, stained with his heart’s blood. Compressing his divine sense to its limit, he finally managed to flip the page.
The character for “divine” on the page drifted like a gentle breeze, silently piercing the back of the demonic soul’s head, seven inches down.
The eighth-grade demonic soul instantly dissolved into a swirling mass of demonic energy, and a pitch-black soul crystal clattered to the ground.
At the same time, Xu Wanci, struck by the demonic soul’s final attack, felt countless protective artifacts shatter across her body.
The violent surge of demonic energy sent her reeling. She drove her sword into the ground, skidding backward before finally coming to a stop.
Now, she was a picture of disarray—her robes torn in countless places, the intricate lotus patterns embroidered into the fabric nearly obliterated, save for a single remnant at the hem.
“Did we… win?”
A dazed voice broke the silence.
Hearing this, the others finally snapped out of their stupor. Some collapsed to their knees, while others simply lay flat on the ground, utterly drained.
Chu Qingchuan, too, was spent—his divine sense exhausted, his face deathly pale.
His gaze landed on Xu Wanci, who was kneeling on one knee. Suppressing the pain in his mind, he asked:
“Are you alright?”
Xu Wanci shook her head slightly.
“I’m fine.”
Outside the ancient battlefield.
Even among these seasoned cultivators, the scene before them elicited deep admiration.
Yet, beneath that admiration lay a hint of something more complicated.
The Taiqing Sect already had Chu Qingchuan—a figure formidable enough to inspire envy and wariness.
And now, there was Xu Wanci.
Before entering the ancient battlefield, they had dismissed her as a pampered disciple, sheltered by the Taiqing Sect. Though blessed with good fortune, they assumed such coddling would prevent her from achieving greatness.
But now…
They recalled the sheer strength of her divine sense, far surpassing that of ordinary cultivators. They remembered her unshakable resolve, her calm and collected demeanor even in the face of mortal peril.
Had she belonged to their sects, they, too, would have shielded her, fearing the covetous eyes of rivals.
In their eyes, Xu Wanci’s prowess had even surpassed that of Chu Qingchuan, once hailed as the foremost genius of their generation.
A sliver of doubt crept into their minds:
Was Chu Qingchuan truly the one foretold in the prophecy a century ago?
Jiang Ze’s gaze remained fixed on Xu Wanci.
He watched as she coolly engaged the eighth-grade demonic soul, probing for its weakness. He saw her save her fellow disciples at the brink of death. And he witnessed that final, breathtaking sword strike.
In her, he saw a soul of steel—unyielding, formidable, and utterly captivating.
Only when he confirmed she wasn’t gravely injured did he finally relax—only to realize his own heartbeat had gone wild.
Ji Wang’s gaze, however, was unlike the others.
His eyes lingered on Xu Wanci’s tattered robes, on that single surviving lotus pattern at the hem. A hoarse edge crept into his voice as he muttered:
“How did she know how to use the Divine Refinement Tome?”
He turned sharply, his expression dangerous.
“Did the Taiqing Sect teach her its secrets?”
Ning Menglan didn’t so much as flinch. His mind still reeling from the close call, he had no patience for Ji Wang’s suspicions.
“The Taiqing Sect has no knowledge of how to wield the Divine Refinement Tome,” he said flatly.
“It must have been fate’s doing.”
Ji Wang forced down his doubts at the answer.
He must have been overthinking things.
Just then, the sect master of the Sword Cry Sect suddenly exclaimed:
“Disaster!”
Back in the ancient battlefield, before the Taiqing Sect disciples could even catch their breath, the demonic energy of the eighth-grade demonic soul had yet to dissipate when another wave of black mist surged toward them.
Shen Wenxin’s voice trembled slightly:
“Another… eighth-grade demonic soul?”
Then, the disciples of the Zhiqin Sect came into view.
Forty of them stood in formation, barely holding off the demonic soul’s assault.
They were desperate. Their camp had been devoid of demonic souls, forcing them to venture farther out—only to stumble upon this wounded eighth-grade demonic soul.
Though it was already injured, an eighth-grade demonic soul was still an eighth-grade demonic soul. Even with their combined efforts, they could only barely survive its attacks.
Now, their spiritual power was nearly depleted.
Were they really going to leave the ancient battlefield empty-handed?
Just then, the demonic soul, already on the verge of breaking free from their formation, suddenly sensed something. Its maw gaped wide as it inhaled the lingering demonic energy nearby.
In that instant, everyone inside and outside the ancient battlefield shot to their feet.
“No!”
A soul crystal only contained half of a demonic soul’s power. The other half dispersed into the ancient battlefield, eventually reforming into new demonic souls years later.
But now, this eighth-grade demonic soul had absorbed nearly half the power of another eighth-grade demonic soul.
It was about to ascend.
A ninth-grade demonic soul was the equivalent of a Tribulation Transcension expert!
They stood no chance.
Chu Qingchuan barked an order: “Crush your entry pearls and get out of here!”
“The pearls aren’t working!” a disciple gritted out.
A ninth-grade demonic soul had the power to create its own domain. They were no longer in the ancient battlefield—they had been pulled into the demonic soul’s realm. Naturally, the entry pearls were useless.
Outside the ancient battlefield, all the Tribulation Transcension elders rose, channeling their power to breach the barrier sealing the battlefield.
But it would take seven breaths to reach them.
By then, the ninth-grade demonic soul had fully formed—its face now bearing human features, even expressions.
With a single wave of its hand, demonic energy blasted outward, sending every disciple within a hundred meters flying, their bodies slamming into the ground dozens of meters away.
The impact was devastating. Many lost consciousness instantly.
Six breaths were all it would take for the ninth-grade demonic soul to slaughter them all.
Xu Wanci swallowed the blood rising in her throat.
The original story had never mentioned a ninth-grade demonic soul.
This was because of her.
The butterfly effect of her existence.
She suddenly clenched her fists, enduring the pain coursing through her entire body, forcing herself to cast aside all guilt and fear as she frantically searched for a solution.
A ninth-grade demonic soul...
She didn’t know the weakness of a ninth-grade demonic soul, but she knew what all demonic souls feared!
In the original text, when the "Refinement God Tome" struck an eighth-grade demonic soul, it hadn’t targeted its weakness.
Chu Qingchuan only learned of its weakness after leaving the ancient formation, from the elders of the Taiqing Sect.
Fearing any mishap, she had urged him to attack the demonic soul’s weak point back then.
But the second page of the Refinement God Tome could barely kill an eighth-grade demonic soul.
To slay the ninth-grade demonic soul before her, she had to open the third page!
When Chu Qingchuan had opened the third page, he had already reached the Divine Transformation stage and tempered his divine sense with the Three-Leaf Lotus.
Now, even opening the second page was already a struggle for him.
Xu Wanci spread her hands, her eyes filled with determination:
The Refinement God Tome might not recognize anyone else’s divine sense.
But what about hers? Tempered by the Three-Leaf Lotus, perhaps her divine sense now bore a faint resemblance to the Immortal Venerable’s.
Moreover, the strength of her divine sense should already surpass that of a Divine Transformation cultivator...
Even so, she only had a twenty percent chance of success.
But in their current situation, there was no time to consider other methods.
She turned her head and called out urgently to Chu Qingchuan in the distance:
"Give me the Refinement God Tome."
Without hesitation, Chu Qingchuan mustered the last of his strength, drew the tome from his sea of consciousness, and handed it to Xu Wanci.
At that moment, the ninth-grade demonic soul began gathering its power. One more strike, and everyone here would perish.
Xu Wanci paid no attention to her surroundings—she poured all her divine sense into the Refinement God Tome.
Within her consciousness, she saw a distant point of light.
She rushed toward it recklessly, but it only grew farther and farther away.
In the blink of an eye, she felt her divine sense completely drained.
But she couldn’t give up.
The Three-Leaf Lotus silently nourished her exhausted divine sense, and just then—as if sensing something—the point of light seemed to pause.
Seizing the opportunity, Xu Wanci stretched her nearly depleted divine sense forward a few more meters. Almost there—just a little further—
Finally...
She touched the point of light.
Everyone watched as a gentle yet overwhelming radiance burst from Xu Wanci’s forehead, and then—
The third page of the Refinement God Tome opened.
A pillar of brilliant light shot into the heavens, illuminating everything around them before slowly forming the character for "Tome."
At the instant the ninth-grade demonic soul’s demonic energy erupted, the "Tome" character from the third page drifted like a leaf toward the demonic soul—then swallowed it whole, leaving not even a trace of its soul crystal behind.
Xu Wanci’s spiritual energy and divine sense were utterly spent.
She collapsed to the ground, her face deathly pale, her head bowed, completely drained of strength.
Amid the dark, heavy sky, a slightly solidified wisp of consciousness silently observed her every move.
Then, it dissolved into the boundless void.
