Shu Xin not only looked completely calm, but was even actively searching for the weaknesses of these Demon Slaughter Sect cultivators, biding her time to kill every last one of them.
Even though they were holding hostages, these Demon Slaughter Sect cultivators felt as if they were being stared down by a venomous snake, with not a shred of sense of safety left.
"You... you are supposed to be an upstanding cultivator from a renowned orthodox sect," one Demon Slaughter Sect cultivator shouted loudly. "I saw those junior fellow apprentices and junior fellow apprentices of yours respect you so much, there's no way you would just throw their lives away. You're just deliberately lying to us, how naive."
"Hmph." Shu Xin did not waste a single polite word, and directly struck the cultivator who had just spoken with her sword.
The spirit sword pierced through Meng Wenrui's abdomen, and by the way, also ran through the body of the demon cultivator standing right behind him.
"They are nothing more than junior fellow apprentices and junior fellow apprentices. Even if they were my own flesh and blood, there is no reason for me to surrender just to spare them. I thought you lot would understand this far better than I do." Shu Xin looked at them with a confused expression. "What, do you really need me to teach you that?"
The Demon Slaughter Sect cultivators looked into Shu Xin's eyes, which held no emotion at all, and realized that she was telling the absolute truth.
What in the world was going on?
Had the Dao Sect cultivators these days even stopped bothering to put up the most basic facade of decency? They attacked the second they decided to, killed people the moment they felt like it, and did not leave their opponents a single opening!
"Senior Sister is right, you will never use us to threaten her." Meng Wenrui collapsed to the ground, his face pale and haggard, but he actually laughed.
"Well said, junior fellow apprentice. Rest in peace, I will kill all these people to avenge you." With those words, Shu Xin did not hold back at all as she wielded two flying swords, completely ignoring the moves these demon cultivators tried to make, and launching nothing but lethal attacks.
The moment her flying swords made contact with anyone, that person would be reduced to nothing but dust, not even a single scrap of their body left behind.
It was useless even if these demon cultivators tried to hide behind her junior fellow apprentices and junior fellow apprentices to block her blades, she moved first without the slightest hesitation.
"She's a lunatic, this woman is even more deranged than us, run for your lives!"
"How did the Inquiry Sect end up spawning such a Killing God?"
"Go!"
In the blink of an eye, Shu Xin had already slain the vast majority of the Demon Slaughter Sect cultivators. There were no corpses left on the ground, but the thick stench of blood hanging in the air refused to fade away.
This demoness kills without blinking an eye.
These Demon Slaughter Sect cultivators had never in their lives met such a cold, ruthless Daoist female cultivator. Her strikes were so vicious that she did not even leave a sliver of their souls intact, and the threat she posed was no different from that of the old ancestors of the great demon sects.
This woman is truly a maniac.
"Xu Guan, how did you raise such a disciple? She acts more like a demon cultivator than we do!" The Demon Slaughter Sect elder, seeing the situation below spiral out of control, was so furious that he started yelling curses. "Has your Inquiry Sect finally gone down the same path as our Demon Slaughter Sect, to the point where your own fellow disciples will start killing each other?"
Xu Guan said nothing, and only focused all his strength on launching attacks.
Kill this old man first, he thought.
"Try to run, will you?" Shu Xin noticed the few remaining demon cultivators trying to flee, and immediately flew after them.
Her two flying swords blocked their path, cutting off every possible escape route they had.
"You people are so stupid. If I were you, the second I took the hostages, I would have killed one first to toughen everyone up. And if I decided to run, I would definitely kill all the hostages before I fled. You can't even call yourselves true desperate outlaws at this rate." Shu Xin pulled out a dagger from her sleeve, stepped on one demon cultivator's face, and sliced his throat hard with the blade. Blood gushed out immediately, but as a demon cultivator, he would not die from such a wound alone.
"Just like this, the imposing aura hits all at once."
The demon cultivator's blood splattered onto Shu Xin's face, adding a hint of eerie, otherworldly charm to her delicate, pretty features. "See? Now the hostages won't dare to make a single rash move, won't they?"
Right after that, Shu Xin stabbed the demon cultivator once more in his dantian, then again in his chest.
"I've heard that the cultivators of your Evil Demon Sect refine malevolent demonic qi within their bodies. I've already stabbed you so many times, yet I don't see a wisp of that demonic qi coming out. Could the rumors all be false?" Shu Xin peered down at the demon cultivator under her feet, a confused look on her face. "Hey, you tell me—where exactly do I need to stab you to make the demonic qi in your blood spill out?"
The demon cultivator pinned down by Shu Xin could barely speak at this point, his gaze fixed on her brimming over with nothing but pure terror.
This gruesome scene, witnessed by the two demon cultivators whose path had been blocked, made cold sweat break out all over their bodies.
"Looks like this one's no good—his cultivation base is far too lacking. I guess I'll just try it on the two of you instead." Shu Xin twirled the dagger in her hand, her gaze turning sharp as a blade. Before the remaining two demon cultivators could even react, two swords sliced through them from behind, cutting their bodies to pieces. A flurry of sword light burst out right after, grinding their bones and flesh into total dust.
"AAAAAAAH—"
The demon cultivator who had been stabbed over and over but still clung to life caught sight of Shu Xin turning her attention back to him. He had no intention of enduring her torment any longer, and decisively triggered a self-detonation.
"...Your Wenxin Sect is completely insane."
The way Shu Xin had acted looked to the Evil Demon Sect elder exactly like a natural-born demoness in the making.
He had brought along many cultivators at the Cave Realm level with him, yet they had all been killed so effortlessly?
"Master, have you finished dealing with this old man yet? Do you need me to give you a hand?" Shu Xin lifted her head, and flashed a thoroughly unhinged, twisted smile at Xu Guan and the Evil Demon Sect elder hovering above.
The Evil Demon Sect elder's mind jolted with shock, as if he had been struck by some overwhelming, powerful deterrent. His entire body stiffened completely for a split second.
Strike while he's vulnerable!
Xu Guan nearly fumbled his weapon in surprise, but he seized this once-in-a-lifetime golden opportunity. He poured all his spiritual power into his attack at once, shattering the demon elder's physical body completely, leaving only his wisp of a primordial spirit to flee for its life.
Wow, my esteemed Swordmaster, your performance as a deranged maniac is as brilliant as ever, you absolutely nailed the vibe. the Sword Spirit couldn't help but gush with praise. Remember back when we were laying low in that demon lair? The head demon there was so taken with you that he kept begging you to be his disciple.
With a performance like that, anyone who saw it would never believe she wasn't a demon cultivator herself.
Shu Xin wiped the blood off her face with a disgusted look. "I watched way too many gory, R-rated horror flicks back in the day. I picked up the mannerisms easily enough."
Back in the peaceful, modern world, so many hidden talents went unnoticed, to the point that most people thought they were just ordinary, unremarkable folks.
It wasn't until she arrived in this cultivation world that Shu Xin realized she had the makings of both a peerless unrivaled old demon, and a top-tier award-winning actress.
"Alright, you guys can get up now. Those wounds are only serious, they aren't going to kill you." Shu Xin tossed down a bottle of medicinal pills, calling out to her junior fellow apprentices. "You see now, right? When you're out traveling, don't act all close and affectionate with your companions. If you do, people will use that against you as leverage, just like what happened today. But don't panic even if you get taken hostage—just slash through your own people right along with the bad guys."
Yi Renjie and the others had all been cut up pretty badly by Shu Xin, and they were struggling to pull themselves up off the ground to take the healing pills, their faces pale and ready to cry.
"Senior Sister, can you please go a little easier on us? I swear I just caught a glimpse of our sect's Grand Master," Yuan Dawei, who had suffered the worst injuries, couldn't even sit up right now. He was leaning entirely on Cao Ru just to manage to swallow the healing pill.
Xu Guan also landed, looking at Shu Xin with a hint of appeasement in his eyes. "Shut your mouths. It's all thanks to your Senior Sister making a quick, decisive call that you're even alive after getting captured. Hurry up and start healing your wounds!"
For a split second, he had truly thought Shu Xin was about to kill him.
It must have been a delusion. Nothing but a delusion.
His eldest disciple was only at the Cave Heaven realm, after all. A cultivator at the Immaculate Purity realm was nearly impossible to kill. No one could ever be sure if what they had struck down was just an external avatar, or if the cultivator's true primary soul was even inside that body to begin with.
If that wasn't the case, he never would have put up with that elder from the Sinister Demon Sect for all these years.
"Master, the junior disciples still need time to heal, and you've got quite a few old enemies on your tail too," Shu Xin sighed. "It makes the most sense for you to stay here and guard them for now. Looks like I'm the one who has to do the heavy lifting to grab what we need. I'll go bring back all those people who know how to teach and farm—no, not grab, bring them back properly. If I don't hurry, they'll all get snatched up by someone else. We can't just sit around waiting for everyone to finish healing."
"Right, right, be careful on your way," Xu Guan replied immediately. "I'll stay here and protect all of them until they've mostly recovered."
Shu Xin nodded, then leaped into the air and flew off.
It was only once Shu Xin was far enough away that Xu Guan and his disciples all let out the breaths they had been holding.
"Master... you looked a little scared back there, didn't you?" Li Qinghe, who never knew when to watch his words, landed a direct, blunt jab at his master.
"I think Master was definitely scared too," Meng Wenrui snickered, then winced and twisted his face in pain when the movement pulled at his wounds.
"I second that," Yi Renjie chimed in with a laugh of his own.
"Disrespectful little brats," Xu Guan huffed, raising his hand to swat at them as punishment, but seeing how badly beat up all of them were, he let his hand fall back down. He couldn't help wiping the sweat off his forehead. "Didn't you all feel how terrifying your Senior Sister was just now? You lot wouldn't have picked up on it, but I could tell for certain she really had the ability to kill me back there."
That elder from the Sinister Demon Sect must have felt that same deadly pressure too, which was why he let his guard down and showed an opening.
Cultivators at the Immaculate Purity realm had already honed their foundations to absolute perfection, and they developed a faint premonition whenever something that could threaten their lives drew near.
Under normal circumstances, nothing could ever shake them that badly.
But Shu Xin had been genuinely terrifying just now.
She must have noticed how on edge all of them were too, which was why she left ahead of time, to give everyone a chance to calm their frayed nerves.
"Master, when are you going to head back and go into seclusion to cultivate?" Yi Renjie urged him. "I really think you need to work hard to raise your own cultivation level as soon as possible."
Back then Yi Renjie had thought the Immaculate Purity realm made someone nearly unbeatable, but after this trip to the Mysterious Spirit Dao Sect, he realized there were so many monstrously talented people roaming the cultivation world. Even Immaculate Purity realm cultivators could end up dead if they weren't careful.
And those demonic cultivators had no scruples at all. If their master didn't grow stronger, sooner or later their entire Inquiry Divine Sect would be wiped out without a trace.
"Of course I know that!"
...
"You left early just because you didn't want to scare them any more?" the Sword Spirit asked curiously.
"People deserve a little time to process their emotions, right? Otherwise, even if they later find out I did it to save them, they might end up with a demonic knot in their cultivation," Shu Xin shrugged. "Humans are like that — give them a bit of space, and they'll talk themselves around in no time."
[But have you ever thought about what happens if they never manage to talk themselves around?] the Sword Spirit pressed.
That was just how Shu Xin operated. At critical moments, her rationality was terrifyingly sharp. When faced with an impossible choice where every path led to certain death, she would let logic override sentiment without hesitation, and pick the option that posed the least overall threat.
This approach came off as incredibly cold, and easily drew misunderstanding from others.
"So what if they never get over it?" Shu Xin scoffed. "There's no shortage of people in this world. Why would I ever sacrifice myself just to care about what others think of me?"
[That's my girl,] the Sword Spirit praised wholeheartedly. [Only at times like this do I think you're worthy of being my Swordmaster.]
"Oh, then I guess I won't go kill those other demonic cultivators," she said casually.
[Oh my dearest Swordmaster, what nonsense are you spouting? There's no one else in all the realms who deserves to be my Swordmaster but you!] the Sword Spirit quickly backtracked, shifting its tone immediately.
Within the vast territory of Xuanling Dao Sect, nearly every halfway decent force in the entire cultivation world had gathered.
Even more cultivators were still pouring in, drawn by the commotion.
Everyone wanted to grab a share of the benefits left behind by this once-mighty colossus.
Yet a secret rumor began to spread quietly among a small circle of people.
Word had it that a powerful Evil Fiend with the ability to turn invisible had appeared on the Xuanling Dao Sect battlefield. This Evil Fiend killed demonic cultivators and Daoist cultivators alike. Almost everyone who crossed paths with this fiend was slain on the spot, and the very few who survived were left half-mad — even when their memories were searched, no one could make out what their attacker looked like.
Some guessed the fiend was an inner core disciple of the Blood Demon Sect. Others suspected they came from the Spirit Host Demon Sect, which would explain why no trace of their identity had ever leaked out.
And sure enough, a great number of demonic and Daoist cultivators in that territory had vanished without a sound.
Worse still, almost all the victims were top-tier experts from the Nine Great Sects and Ten Major Factions, while weaker cultivators had been left completely unharmed.
The truth of the rumor was fully confirmed when the leading elders of the Blood Demon Sect and the Yin Corpse Demon Sect both issued strict orders: all cultivators must travel in groups of no fewer than ten, and stay in constant contact with one another. No one was allowed to wander off alone.
Because every single cultivator who had gone off on their own had turned up dead.
Even the cultivators from Xiaoyao Dao Sect, Nine Heavens Dao Sect, and Myriad Dao Sect had suffered the same fate, with many of their people going missing.
"Seventh Junior Brother is dead all of a sudden?" Qu Yougu frowned. "Wait a minute, wasn't he still in seclusion punishment? Martial Uncle, how did he get out?"
The elder he was speaking to looked awkward. "He only made a small mistake. With all the resources here at Xuanling Dao Sect, and so many demonic cultivators running rampant, I thought bringing him out to earn merit to atone for his crimes would be a good idea. I never expected him to vanish out of thin air, and his soul lantern went out completely. This must be a targeted attack on our Myriad Dao Sect, nephew. You have to get to the bottom of this — he's my apprentice, after all."
"If you hadn't stepped in to protect him, I would have run him through with my sword long ago," Qu Yougu said coldly. "Three hundred years in seclusion was already a lenient sentence you forced through to save him. Now that he's gone missing, he probably messed with the wrong people again and brought this on himself. Who would go out of their way to target a disciple of Myriad Dao Sect?"
"Dear nephew, that's not how things are..." The elder was about to say more, but Qu Yougu had already made it clear that he was seeing the guest out. Left with no other choice, the elder stormed off in a huff.
At least he had done everything he could. When his disciple's clan came asking questions, he could easily prove that as the master, he bore no responsibility at all.
The exact same scene was playing out across every other Dao sect.
Some would put on a show of making a firm stand, only to take no real action at all, but the vast majority didn't even bother to pay the situation any mind.
What kind of time was this? Everyone was scrambling to seize resources and stake out their own territories, no one had the spare time to stand up for a single lowly disciple.
Besides, anyone who did a little digging would find that all the people who died were exactly the sort of scoundrels who deserved what they got. No one would grieve for them, save for the few cultivators who shared direct benefits with them.
Right at that moment, Shu Xin stared at the sword blade that was now roughly one-fifth clean, and let out a helpless sigh.
"These past days, we've killed no fewer than three hundred demonic cultivators at the Dao Infant stage and Cave Heaven realm, and there's also a hundred or so thoroughly wicked Dao cultivators who bit the dust too. Why aren't you getting any cleaner?" Shu Xin was stunned. All those were high-ranking cultivators, yet the cleanliness level of the sword blade had gotten stuck at exactly one-fifth and refused to move an inch further.
[...Uh, their cultivation levels are just a bit too low,] the Sword Spirit replied meekly. [I can feel it, that's the absolute limit. If I want to get the rest of my blade completely clean, I'll have to kill at least demonic cultivators at the Flawless realm from here on out.]
Shu Xin rolled her eyes in exasperation. "If I had the ability to take out Flawless realm cultivators, I'd be on the entire cultivation world's most wanted list before the day is out."
Killing demonic cultivators below the Flawless realm was no big deal. Everyone basically agreed those guys were just disposable cannon fodder. Cave Heaven realm cultivators were valuable assets on normal days, but on a battlefield like this, they were nothing more than high-level cannon fodder.
But Flawless realm cultivators were the core backbone force of every sect. There was only a handful of them in the entire world. The death of a hundred Cave Heaven realm cultivators wouldn't enrage the sects half as much as the death of a single Flawless realm cultivator would.
The Sword Spirit went quiet, it knew perfectly well the difference between getting a full good meal once and getting endless full meals for the rest of its life.
It was already more than good enough to have recovered this much. Shu Xin's cultivation level would keep rising sooner or later.
With the absurd amount of luck she had, the chance of her never running into a Flawless realm demonic cultivator was basically zero. All it had to do was wait a little longer, and that big, satisfying feast would come its way.
