Chapter 275. Empyrean Overlord, Sword God (3)

Blessed Existence muttered through clenched teeth, his voice seething with rage.

"He... was alive?!"

There's no way he wouldn't recognize that infuriating face.

No matter how many times he tried to deny the reality, it was no use. The brat's appearance and skills proved everything.

The Hero of the Righteous Faction, the Sword Dragon Zhou Xuchuan's martial skills were so unique that it would be impossible even if one tried to impersonate him.

Throughout the entire

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, the only people who could use the Violet Haze Divine Art were the Sect Master of the Mount Hua Sect, Zheng Huilian, and his martial instructor, Zhou Xuchuan.

While the Five High Elders of Mount Hua also knew the technique's sutras, they only knew them and were unable to use them.

Putting all of that aside, there weren't many who could take on and defeat an enemy of the Heavenly Demon's caliber in the first place.

"Zhou Xuchuan! Zhou Xuchuan! THAT BASTARD!!!"

Blessed Existence trembled with fury. His blood pressure spiked, his face turning red. His nails dug so deep into his palm that blood dripped from his wrist.

Just how the hell did he survive?!

He had exhausted every possible method to kill this one person. He had been willing to sacrifice his own forces, suffer heavy losses, just to make sure the brat died.

He had even brought out their rarely used secret weapon, Avaricious Wolf, and even gave the poison master permission to use his secret poison.

Blessed Existence had warned Avaricious Wolf several times and even demanded that the poison master confirm his kill.

He had felt strange about the entire situation as he couldn't check the body himself because of a variable at the end, but Avaricious Wolf had confirmed the poisoning and pierced through the brat's heart, so he had assumed that not even a god would have been able to save him.

Could Avaricious Wolf and Hong Gao have betrayed me?

There was no other explanation for what had happened.

***

Although Blessed Existence's heart may have been burning with anger, his head was somewhat cool. Despite the completely unexpected and absurd situation, he turned his thoughts to the battlefield.

Avaricious Wolf has already come too far to turn his back on the Association. There was no way that he would have done something like that in the first place...

Still, it wasn’t good to completely rule it out. He kept the possibility of betrayal in mind just in case.

No, maybe... it has something to do with the Coruscant Realm's Manifestation of One’s Path.

After learning that Blessed Existence had no interest in the Martial Path, the Dark Heavens Association Lord had taught him about the Coruscant Realm in relative detail.

If Blessed Existence had been a warrior, it would have been better to let him realize that truth on his own out of concern for straying from his path, but since that wasn't the case, he decided that it would be better to tell the strategist about the realm so that he could help him make plans.

While it was ridiculous that some brat who wasn't even thirty yet had reached the Coruscant Realm...

Wait. Has Zhou Xuchuan gone down to the Southern Jungles?

Blessed Existence thought back to the Head Archivist of the Archive’s trip to the Southern Jungles to check on the elixir of immortality, the Divine Pill of the Au Co Tribe.

Wait, there's no way—did he steal that too? That dog b...

He almost let out a curse.

“Zhou Xuchuan. What kind of resentment do you have that you have to block my path every time something happens?” Blessed Existence muttered.

“Just what sort of grudge did you have in your past life that you...”

Blessed Existence gritted his teeth and gave Zhou Xuchuan a resentful look, before turning away.

“I’m going back.”

Thwip!

The moment Warped Valor, the Heavenly Demon, was defeated, victory and defeat had been decided. It was a victory for the Martial Alliance and a defeat for the Demon Cult.

With the only person who could control them gone, the Demon Cult was out of the reach of the Dark Heavens Association.

On top of it all, with the appearance of the Money Crazed Sword Ghost, Wu Qu, even the slightest chance of winning had disappeared.

Wu Qu...

Blessed Existence engraved Wu Qu’s name in his mind.

It’s not that he didn’t know about him. On the contrary, one could say that he knew him well.

He had learned about him while researching his sworn enemy, Zhou Xuchuan. The man was a key figure within the Gold Will Merchants, which had disrupted the Association's plans in the past. So, there was no way that Blessed Existence didn't know who he was.

However, he never could have expected that the man would have been this skilled.

Blessed Existence was also shocked when he saw the Vice Cult Leader being cut down in a single stroke.

"Again, just like before..."

He had taken on many losses in order to succeed in the Great War of Good and Demonic. He had even thrown in a lot of tricks.

However, in the end, he failed.

Blessed Existence stopped walking and turned his head slightly to glance at Zhou Xuchuan regretfully. The brat didn't look all that great in the arms of his junior sister. His face was full of fatigue, and his complexion was pale.

The situation didn't look good for the brat at all. It was such a good opportunity to deal with him, it was a complete shame that he couldn't.

The main force that fled earlier will soon rejoin the Wudang Sect and return, so I can't approach rashly. There's no other choice.

A few experts, including the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, stood guard around Zhou Xuchuan. Breaking through their ranks would be no easy task.

It would be too risky for him to send the Seven Stars Division Soldiers who had been prepared for his escort and emergency situations.

Let's see who gets the last laugh, Zhou Xuchuan!

Blessed Existence turned around completely, just praying for success the next time.

Then, about thirty minutes later, the Martial Alliance members who had fled to regroup with the Wudang Sect returned to the battlefield as expected.

“Hmm?”

“How did this...?"

Roughly about half an hour ago, the Wudang Sect, who had been waiting nearby, realized that something unusual had happened when they saw the main force running toward them. As expected, the worst had happened.

So, they asked Zhuge Xiuluan just for the direction and route before moving only with the elites who were skilled at movement techniques and hurried over.

Thanks to using their movement techniques to such a degree that their feet almost caught on fire, they were able to arrive faster than expected. However, the situation they met when they arrived was strange.

"Kill them!"

“Get out of the way!”

“Ahhh!”

The Martial Alliance had about a thousand warriors left. But with the wounded among them, their real fighting strength was far lower.

In contrast, the Demon Cult still had the upper hand.

Not only did they have more combat-ready soldiers, but several Demon Heads remained standing.

It was obvious to anyone that the Martial Alliance should have been in danger and gotten forced back. However, seeing it for themselves, the situation didn't seem that serious.

The Martial Alliance was dealing with the Demon Cult in a stable manner.

"Now, I, the Northern Death Guardian, no! I, Yan Qiuyou, the Cult Leader," Yan Qiuyou shouted, reattaching his severed arm.

Wait, this isn't the time.

He panicked for a moment. Then, he quickly launched himself forward to help, the hem of his sleeves fluttering in the wind.

He ran forward, holding the sword he had drawn from his waist tightly, and was about to attack from the front when an even faster attack struck out.

"Will help you..."

Squelch!

Yan Qiuyou's head was split in half. It wasn't that he had been decapitated, but that a line had been drawn through his forehead, cutting the top of his skull off.

Cut cleanly horizontally, it revealed his brain inside.

The only weakness of the Imperishable Demon Art was the brain. If the cultivator's brain was destroyed, they would die.

Thus, here, the Northern Death Guardian Yan Qiuyou, died a meaningless death.

"Hmm."

Wu Qu expressionlessly turned his sword around and held it in place.

"Huh?"

The Wudang Sect experts were all dumbfounded, like a dog sitting in befuddlement as the chicken leaped onto the roof.[/ref]A Korean idiom that refers to when one is left without any recourse after one's goal suddenly fails.[/ref]

“This isn't the time to be distracted!”

The Taiji Sword, Yun Guang, looked at the bewildered Wudang Sect disciples and let out a stern shout.

"It's the Taiji Sword!"

"Reinforcements!"

Joyful shouts erupted and echoed across the battlefield. Some people sank to their knees, as if the tension in their bodies had finally been relieved.

While there were demon cultists who tried to take advantage of that opening, nearby comrades helped those who grew distracted.

“Come to your senses!”

“It’s not over yet!”

“Kill them!"

"Revenge for our fellow disciples!"

There were shouts and screams all around.

“Damn it..."

The sole survivor of the Four Great Guardians, the Eastern Illusion Guardian Ghostly Laughing Illusion Demon, hesitated and tried to escape.

We have to flee!

It wasn't as if the Demon Cult never fled.

Even beasts tended to run away when they sensed danger and realized that they had no chance of winning. The Demon Cult members were no different.

The Ghostly Laughing Illusion Demon looked around, and seeing that the Demon Cult forces were already falling back, he quickly turned around and fled.

Starting with his retreat, the Demon Cult members who had yet to be completely tainted by their demonic nature or had regained their senses due to the pain, began to escape. As their commanders, including the pinnacle of the Demon Cult, had all fallen, there was no way to control them.

Within half an hour, the three-thousand-strong Demon Cult had scattered like flies.

“Rah!!”

“We won!”

“The Martial Alliance won!”

And so, the Great War of Good and Demonic, which had resulted in countless sacrifices, had ended.

Hong Jin shed tears with a face filled with emotion.

“Namu Amitabha. It seems that the Buddha has truly helped us.”

It was a great blessing. The worst outcome had been avoided.

His heart had been uneasy after sacrificing over a thousand people. It had felt as though his heart was going to tear apart.

That was why he had run faster than anyone else, hoping that at least one more person would survive.

"To think that even the Great Hero Sword Dragon was still alive. This truly was a miracle..."

Suddenly, Hong Jin was shocked and couldn't continue speaking. He suddenly felt an ominous aura emanate from Hong Gao in front of him.

Senior... brother...?

Hong Jin couldn’t bring himself to call Hong Gao. The bloodlust he felt from the monk wasn't ordinary.

Thud. Thud.

His heart pounded ominously. It was so oppressive that he almost instinctively thrust out a palm. Even though they were martial monks, the amount of bloodlust flowing from his senior brother was beyond that of their stature. It was completely ominous.

"..."

With his back turned to Hong Jin, Hong Gao didn't say anything; he just bit his tightly shut lips as his face distorted horribly.

He almost looked like a Rakshasa. If Hong Jin could see what his face looked like now, not even the young monk would have been able to contain his shock.

“RAH!"

The ground shook once more, not from an earthquake, but from the cheers of the main force that arrived later.

Some people laughed in joy.

Some people cried in sorrow.

Some shouted in rage.

Some fell asleep due to their exhaustion, and some even collapsed.

There was even a man who had died holding onto his sword until the very end.

There were those who hugged their disciple brothers and sisters, their comrades, and sat silently.

In the meantime, Zhou Xuchuan closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.

Beneath a sky neither bright nor dark, the Martial Alliance flag fluttered.

"Ooof."

Just as he was about to lose himself in his feelings for a moment, someone suddenly hugged him from behind.

He was about to turn around to see what was going on, when one of the hands wrapped around his waist came up and grabbed his head, forcibly keeping it straight.

When his gaze turned to the front, he saw Luo Xiaoyue, who had a surprised expression and then smiled helplessly.

“Don’t be tactless and ask who it is. Moreover, while I'm a little jealous, I'll let it go this time."

The hand that had turned his head suddenly grabbed at his cheek, pulling at it violently.

Zhou Xuchuan screamed as if he was distressed, but he didn’t force the hand away. As his back became wet and he heard a sobbing sound, he didn't know what to do and just stood there for a while.

Instead, he lightly patted Tang Hui's hand.

After the news of the end of the Great War of Good and Demonic spread to the

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, the Seven Empyrean Overlords still remained as the Seven Empyrean Overlords.

This was because Zhou Xuchuan had taken the place of the Heavenly Demon.

The world now called him.

The Sword God.