Chapter Eighty-Nine: Discovering the Iron Mine, Soul Binding Across a Thousand Li, Fourth Update

His murderous nature was truly fierce.

Luo Zu had not expected Yang to be such a slayer.

For the Violet Abyss Sword to fall into his hands was a perfect match for his temperament and his name.

Thinking of the Violet Abyss Sword from the legends of gods and demons, that blade had created so many slaughters in one realm of heaven and earth, cutting down monsters and evil sects alike with ruthless efficiency.

At this moment, Luo Zu even wanted to forge another sword, a Green Lock, to make a pair of them, and then present it to the right man so that in future there could be a famed twin set of Violet and Green, the three heroes and two clouds.

Still, this journey of Yang’s had been entirely his own decision. Luo Zu had given no command, nor had he ever ordered him to plunge so headlong into the wild lands.

Yet Yang was determined to stage a sacrifice to the sword, first using the blood and souls of these demons to temper it, and only then to strike down the enemy’s chicken-headed foe.

Though he did not even know what kind of monster lurked beneath that mountain.

What he did know was that the master of the demonic horde would not be easy to deal with.

So he intended to gather force and momentum, then hurl out a life-and-death sword strike to kill that demon lord.

Each day the Violet Abyss Sword was nourished with his true energy and the flesh and blood of demons, until its blade gleamed with a chilling brilliance. A crimson thread had already seeped into the sword’s body, and at a glance it seemed to pulse faintly.

When Luo Zu came to receive Qing’s soul, he happened to look in on Yang and the Violet Abyss Sword.

Both were in excellent condition.

Yang was quiet, yet beneath that stillness there was a fierce, restless ardor.

As for the sword, its body was plunged into the grotesque head of a giant creature, half the size of a jar, drawing forth fresh blood and devouring the monster’s essence, energy, and spirit.

Luo Zu saw this scene, yet felt little joy.

This Violet Abyss Sword might no longer be fit to bring out into the world.

With such profound resentment, such monstrous hatred and killing intent, the moment Luo Zu revealed it he would likely be swarmed by the demon clans.

Unless, in the future, he gained great power and fully broke with the demon race, then drawing this sword would be no matter.

"Hm?"

Just as Luo Zu had taken away Qing’s soul, Yang suddenly sensed something. His divine awareness swept over at once, and the Violet Abyss Sword also fell into his hand according to his will.

With a few sharp whistling sounds, sword energy flashed out and struck Qing’s corpse thirteen more times.

Each strike was exquisitely measured, so that if one were to reckon it in the martial world, it would count as a profound sword art.

Thus, this sword would henceforth bear a name: the Thirteen Deathblows.

Yang casually stripped the skin from Qing’s remains and stored away the sword technique inscribed upon it, intending to send it back to the mountain sect another day to instruct the disciples there.

“This sword is born of heaven and earth’s intent, yet it is also naturally pure and true,” Yang praised.

But his expression did not relax; it remained grave.

For he had just sensed a strange spiritual fluctuation here, and guessed that some remnant soul of a surviving demon had been present.

Yet no sooner had he noticed it than that remnant soul vanished in an instant.

Perhaps it had escaped on its own, though it was more likely that someone had rescued it.

Moreover, when his Violet Abyss Sword had stricken, it should have drawn in the essence, energy, and spirit of those demons and transformed them into nourishment.

It was only because Yang’s own true energy was not enough for it to feed upon that he had resorted to this expedient, coming early to the wild demon lands.

In this way he could share the burden of offering and tempering the Violet Abyss Sword, while also destroying more demons at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

“What kind of demon was that?”

Yang thought further.

He released his divine awareness, wanting to seize the fellow who had thwarted him beneath his very nose.

He could not endure this matter, but what worried him even more was being ambushed by that creature during this expedition. If such a thing happened at a critical moment, then wouldn’t this journey into the wild lands be ruined at the last?

That he could least endure.

In an instant, sword energy spread outward like ripples on a calm lake, slowly and steadily radiating away.

This sword, if it were to be unleashed, could not be struck without profound swordsmanship and formidable cultivation.

He exhaled lightly, drawing the surrounding spiritual qi wholly into his ghost-immortal body, turning it through a great cycle and then merging it into his primordial spirit.

In this way, he replenished the true energy he had just expended.

“That can’t be right,” Yang said, watching as the sword energy spread a mile before gradually fading. He began to suspect that he had misperceived something just now.

But how could his instincts be wrong?

They could not be wrong.

Either the demon’s methods were extraordinarily clever, or its power of concealment was truly remarkable.

Only these two explanations made sense.

Nothing else would fit.

At the very least, it might have been the doing of the demon lord suppressed beneath the divine mountain in the far western lands.

If that truly were the case, Yang would already be doubting whether this expedition could yield any harvest at all, or whether he himself would be buried in it.

To entertain such thoughts was no good omen.

Yang hurriedly severed that notion from his heart, lest it disrupt the current momentum.

What he did not know was that Luo Zu was right beside him at this very moment.

Only Yang had failed to perceive Luo Zu’s abilities.

Luo Zu was not surprised by this, but the loss of Qing’s soul did make him feel it was a pity.

This also indirectly proved that a living being’s soul could not be endlessly reincarnated.

Once or twice should not pose much of a problem.

But three times, four times... ten times, and there would be many issues.

At present, Qing’s soul was exceedingly weak; if it took another sword energy from Yang, it would likely collapse on the spot. Then Luo Zu could verify whether the rumor that when a ghost dies it becomes a more dreadful wraith was true.

For now, Luo Zu did not immediately arrange for Qing to begin another round of reincarnation, lest he prove unable to bear it and collapse on the spot.

That would not do, after all Luo Zu had only just managed to catch such a demon soul for himself.

Thus Luo Zu drew in a few wisps of lunar essence and sent them into Qing’s soul to make up for the deficiency.

Once that was done, Luo Zu sent Qing’s soul back into the cycle of reincarnation.

Yes, Qing rested for about... three hours.

He truly ought to be grateful for Luo Zu’s immense kindness.

And while the contest within the gourd-world continued unabated, the Hollow Hill tribe also brought good news.

The second hunting squad had discovered a suspected mineral vein rich in iron and other common metallic elements.

“At last, some progress,” Luo Zu said, clapping in admiration.

“Chief, it’s about three hundred kilometers from us,” said the leader of the second squad, scratching his scalp.

The second squad’s leader was named Jade, a female Hollow Hill tribeswoman, though she cared little for cleanliness and seldom bathed.

Added to that was her work, which made her sweat quite a lot each day. Though she too had now reached the perfection stage of refining essence into qi, hunting in the Primordial Wilderness was truly strenuous exercise, even more grueling than running a marathon.

So despite her cultivation, she could not hide the moisture in her body; if sweat had to flow, it would still flow.

“As long as it’s not ten thousand miles away, it’s no big problem,” Luo Zu said carelessly, waving his hand.

Then his divine awareness spread out at once, directly reaching the mountain three hundred kilometers away.

At that moment, two members of the second squad were still keeping watch there.

“Cow, Fang,” Luo Zu’s thought fell, and his voice followed, entering the ears of the two team members.

“Hm?”

“Chief?”

The two were startled and quickly leaned back to back, gripping their stone spears tightly as they scanned their surroundings warily.

“It’s me,” Luo Zu replied.

Unfortunately, he could not conjure an avatar on the spot right now; otherwise he would have set things in motion immediately.

“Really the chief?”

The two were greatly astonished, but upon hearing that familiar voice, much of their suspicion faded.