77: Chapter 77: A single sword strike cleaves the mountain wall! Father and son massacre Xuan Yin Valley!

The pressure of the Golden Core Stage can make one's bones go soft even from a hundred zhang away.

Your hair stands on end, and your back is already soaked through.

You cannot stay long. A demon of this level has a perception range covering several li. Staying even one breath longer is gambling with your life.

You retreat silently, pressing against the dark side of the rock wall, backing out inch by inch.

Shen Tian is hidden in a stream three li away, soaking his whole body in ice water to suppress his body temperature. Seeing you appear, his teeth chatter, but he doesn't make a sound.

You pat the back of his head.

"Go."

Flying on a sword, you glide at a low altitude, never exceeding the height of the tree canopy the entire way.

That sentence from Valley Master Mo Jiuyou explained everything.

Huo Quji found out something and was silenced.

Xuanyin Valley has a Golden Core demon backing them.

The big picture is the big picture, but debts must be settled one by one.

You cannot touch a Golden Core Great Demon.

But those lackeys of Xuanyin Valley wandering outside, none of them are Golden Core.

—

Age 49, August 15th.

You take Shen Tian back to the Shen Residence in Yunzhou.

When you enter the door, Liu Qingqing is drying medicinal herbs in the courtyard.

She glances at you, then at Shen Tian.

She asks nothing.

"The food is warming in the pot."

She turns back to flip the herbs; her movements don't stop, but she flips them much slower than usual.

After dinner, you call Shen Tian to the study.

You take out a Rank 3 Flying Sword from your storage bag—the green feather sword.

The sword body is entirely green, light as a swan feather; it is a high-quality item you collected and kept at the bottom of your trunk in your early years.

Shen Tian takes the sword, his fingers trembling slightly.

"Father, this—"

"You used to clamor for a good sword every day. Take it."

You walk to the window with your hands behind your back, not turning around.

"Starting tomorrow, use the green feather sword to practice basic sword moves three hundred times a day. Practice against tree stumps, against stone walls, against your own shadow."

"When this sword feels like it has grown out of your own body, come find me again."

Shen Tian clutches the green feather sword to his chest and bows deeply.

"Yes."

He turns and walks out of the study, his steps much steadier than when he arrived.

—

Age 49, September to December.

You lock yourself in the reconstructed secret chamber, cultivating day and night.

The meridians modified by the Supreme Sword Bone naturally align with the flow of sword qi. Every wisp of spiritual energy flowing through the meridians is automatically polished into a sharp texture.

You begin to condense Sword Intent.

In the entire Eastern Region, ordinary cultivators usually have to reach the mid-stage of the Golden Core to even touch the threshold of Sword Intent.

You started at foundation establishment level 3.

You sit in silent meditation with your eyes closed.

In your mind, every sword strike, every dodge, and every bloody battle from the past twenty years is disassembled and reassembled frame by frame.

The massive amount of techniques accumulated from Sword Mastery, catalyzed by the Supreme Sword Bone, strips away the superficial appearance of the moves layer by layer.

On the tenth day, you vaguely feel something, like a string deep within your spiritual energy.

On the thirtieth day, that string begins to vibrate.

On the sixtieth day, within your dantian, besides spiritual energy and sword qi, there is an additional indescribable thing. It is not power, but something closer to a—will.

Age 49, November 27th. Late night.

You open your eyes and take out the jinhong sword.

The sword body emits a vibrating hum.

You get up and walk out of the secret chamber, out the back door of the Shen Residence, all the way to a deserted valley three li away.

Moonlight carpets the ground like scattered silver.

You lift the sword.

Thrust!

Buzz—!!!

A golden sword light soars into the sky from the jinhong sword!

It is not spiritual energy, not true essence.

It is pure, tangible Sword Intent!

The sword light explodes from the tip of the sword, crashing into the mountain wall ahead.

Boom!!

The entire mountain wall is sliced down the middle, creating a crack three feet deep and ten zhang long!

Debris flies, and dust soars into the sky.

Trees on both sides are snapped in half by the fierce wind.

You lower your sword and look at the crack.

Initial Sword Intent—it's done.

One sword strike, and the mountain stone splits.

Only this deserves to be called a sword cultivator.

You name this Sword Intent—First Rainbow.

Taken from the light of the jinhong sword that breaks through the long night.

And also from that line of dawn light outside the window when you clinked glasses with Huo Quji at his son's full-moon banquet three years ago.

—

Age 50, February 1st. Annual draw.

Green light.

Green trait—'Keen Ears and Sharp Eyes'. Hearing and visual perception range increased by thirty percent.

Stored in the warehouse, not equipped for now.

—

Age 50, May.

Under your high-pressure guidance for a full year, Shen Tian's cultivation has broken through two levels in a row, reaching Qi Refining Level 8 in one go.

Seventeen years old, Qi Refining Level 8. Among his peers in all of Yunzhou, he is in the top tier.

In the courtyard, Shen Tian holds the green feather sword. After finishing a sword routine, he stands still. The sword light from the final strike quietly curves in the air, bypassing the stone table and slicing off a withered leaf from the top of the wall.

That 'turn' has been practiced until it's in his very bones.

You stand under the corridor, holding a teacup, expressionless.

In your heart, you've already given your evaluation—he can be taken out now.

"Pack your things."

Shen Tian is stunned for a moment: "Where are we going?"

"Do you remember the person I had you look at on Kugu Ridge?"

Shen Tian grips the green feather sword tightly.

"I remember. Xuanyin Valley."

"That group has planted many spies outside." You pour the water from your teacup onto the ground. "It's time for the work of pulling out those nails."

—

Age 50, July to December.

The hunt begins.

You take Shen Tian and spend half a year conducting a systematic purge in the peripheral areas of Xuanyin Valley.

The first strike was on the post road outside Chifeng Valley.

Two outer disciples of Xuanyin Valley at Qi Refining Level 6 were escorting a batch of Nether Erosion Grass.

You stand in the distance and give Shen Tian a hand signal.

Shen Tian holds his sword and silently sneaks up behind the targets.

The moment the green feather sword is unsheathed, the sword move is the one that turns.

One strike through the throat, a clean withdrawal.

Before the second one could open his mouth to sound the alarm—

Shen Tian's second strike has already arrived.

The sword light cuts in from under the chin, piercing through the top of the skull.

Two corpses fall on the post road.

Shen Tian sheathes his sword. His hands are shaking, and his face is pale.

But he did not vomit.

You walk over, rummaging through the corpses' storage bags to find the Nether Erosion Grass and a contact route map.

"Your first time killing someone." You look at him.

"They don't count as people." Shen Tian's voice is raspy as he wipes the blood off the green feather sword. "Someone has to pay for Uncle Huo's life."

You say no more.

This kid will do.

From then on, the frequency of hunting became higher and higher.

Any Xuanyin Valley disciples below Qi Refining Level 9, you leave them all to Shen Tian for practice.

For the Foundation Establishment elders and elite disciples, you take action yourself.

The moment Phantom Raid is activated, the opponent cannot even see your face clearly.

A flash of sword light, and a head falls.

In the most ruthless instance, an elder of Xuanyin Valley at Foundation Establishment Level 2 was refining poison in a mountain stream.

You drop straight down from the tree canopy three zhang above his head.

The jinhong sword, wrapped in First Rainbow Sword Intent, shattered his protective spiritual light with one strike.

The elder's mouth opened, letting out a single syllable of a scream.

Then his head flew three zhang away.

From discovery to death, it was less than half a breath.

Shen Tian watches this scene from the shadows, a chill running down the back of his neck.

He suddenly feels that his old man, who usually smiles and braids his sisters' hair, is a completely different species from the person in front of him.

—

Age 50, December.

Half a year.

Xuanyin Valley lost thirty-seven outer disciples, nine inner disciples, and three Foundation Establishment elders.

The state of death for everyone was the same—killed with one sword strike, clean and efficient, leaving no survivors.

No traceable spiritual energy characteristics remain on the corpses.

Storage bags were emptied, and contact tokens were all intercepted.

No clues. No witnesses. No survivors.

In just half a year, Xuanyin Valley was in a state of panic, and all external missions came to a complete halt.

The scene on the light screen shifts.

Shen Ji sits up slightly straighter.

The simulator rarely switches to the enemy's perspective.

The last time it switched like this was when City Lord Chi Yunxiao's cultivation was shattered by heavenly punishment.

Every time the perspective shifts, it means something big is coming.

Age 50, December 29th.

Xuanyin Valley headquarters. Inside the mist-shrouded main hall.

Seven elders sit around a massive stone table.

On the stone table lie thirty-seven soul tablets, shattered in half.

Valley Master Mo Jiuyou sits in the main seat, his face gloomier than usual. He glances at everyone present, his voice cold.

"Half a year, forty-nine people dead."

"Even three Foundation Establishment elders couldn't block a single sword strike."

"Who is it? Have you found out yet?"

Silence fills the room.

An old man with a scar on his face speaks up with difficulty: "Great Elder, the opponent's methods are too clean. No spiritual energy residue, no technique marks, it is like..."

"Like what?"

"Like a shadow."

Valley Master Mo Jiuyou smashes the armrest in front of him with one palm.

"Even a shadow must have a master!"

He stands up, takes out a pitch-black message talisman from his sleeve, and pours spiritual energy into it.

The talisman burns, turning into a plume of black smoke that swiftly flies north.

The elders present recognize the style of the message talisman, and their expressions change simultaneously.

That is an exclusive message talisman for contacting the Demon Realm.

Valley Master Mo Jiuyou looks across the crowd and says word by word:

"Since we cannot find out ourselves, then we will ask those above... to help us find out."

Shen Ji looks at the last line on the light screen, the smile on his face slowly fading.

Demon Realm.

Golden Core Great Demon.

He spent half a year killing lackeys and finally muddied the waters—but what he stirred up was not mud, it was a dragon.

The light screen continues to scroll.

The next line appears.

Age 51, January 3rd.

A demonic aura comes from the north.