93: Chapter 93 Nine Nether Demon Emperor

Being unyielding was for others; facing a Quasi-Emperor and an Imperial Weapon, bending a little wasn't shameful.

Gu Sheng was very satisfied. "Very good. Since you've become an employee of Great Xia, go to work now."

He pointed to the west. "The Nine Nether Magic Sect of the Western Desolation is causing trouble at the border. Take some men there and bring back Nether Ancestor's head. Do it well, and Great Xia will provide plenty of wine and meat."

Jian Wuji's eyes lit up when he heard he was going to fight. What a Sword Cultivator feared least was fighting. "Rest assured, Pavilion Master Gu, this old man will go and wring that Devil Head's head off to use as a chamber pot right now!"

He turned around and kicked Jian Jiu in the buttocks. "What are you still kneeling for! Call the men and head to the Western Desolation to hack people!"

The group of Sword Cultivators from Sword Burial Abyss rushed off in a swarm. Taichu Main Peak became quiet once more.

Xia Qingyue looked at the empty mountain path and let out a long sigh of relief. A major problem that had troubled Great Xia for several days was not only resolved the moment Gu Sheng appeared, but they had also gained a group of Advanced thugs for free.

"Thank you, Pavilion Master Gu." Xia Qingyue bowed.

"We each get what we need." Gu Sheng stood up. "Great Xia's Foundation is not yet stable. Now that the Heavenly Dao's suppression is gone, the Central Region will become increasingly chaotic. Hurry and repair the Formations of Taichu Main Peak and connect the Great Leiyin Temple's earth veins. Strength is the only hard truth."

Xia Qingyue nodded in agreement.

The Western Desolation border.

Nether Ancestor was sitting in a bone tent drinking wine. The trip to the Northern Plains had brought him a windfall; after buying the Ancient Emperor's corpse, he had refined a portion of its bone and blood, significantly improving his cultivation.

"Old Ancestor, Great Xia hasn't replied yet." A demon general knelt on one knee.

"What's the rush?" Nether Ancestor sneered. "Great Xia is currently overwhelmed with problems. The former site of the Taichu Holy Land has been occupied by Sword Burial Abyss; they can't even look after themselves. When they can't hold out any longer, they will naturally deliver the resources obediently to our door."

Just as his voice fell, a loud explosion came from outside the tent.

A sharp Sword Qi directly split the bone tent in half.

Nether Ancestor flew out of the ruins, looking disheveled and fuming with rage. "Who dares to run wild on the territory of the Nine Nether Magic Sect!"

In the sky, Jian Wuji stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at Nether Ancestor. Behind him were several hundred Sword Burial Abyss Disciples standing on flying swords.

"Nine Nether Magic Sect? It's exactly the Nine Nether Magic Sect this old man is hacking today." Jian Wuji was suppressing a belly full of fire; having been bullied by Gu Sheng and Chen Changsheng at Taichu Main Peak, he had finally found a punching bag.

When Nether Ancestor saw clearly who had come, his heart skipped a beat. A Half-step Quasi-Emperor!

"Senior, we don't know each other; could there be some misunderstanding?" Nether Ancestor quickly lowered his posture.

"Misunderstanding my ass! You offended the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, and this old man is ordered to take your head in exchange for wine!" Jian Wuji didn't bother with nonsense, forming a sword with his fingers and slashing down heavily.

A Sword Astral over a thousand feet long tore through the sky, heading straight for Nether Ancestor.

Nether Ancestor was scared out of his wits, immediately burning his Origin to flee as a streak of bloody light.

"Want to run?" Jian Wuji snorted and gave chase.

The Western Desolation border instantly turned into a Shura Field. The Sword Cultivators of Sword Burial Abyss pounced on the Disciples of the Nine Nether Magic Sect like wolves and tigers. The Sword Intent they had suppressed for many years was finally released.

The yellow sands of the Western Desolation were plowed into thousands of crisscrossing deep trenches by the Sword Qi.

Jian Wuji led the charge on his sword, continuously swinging the iron sword in his hand. With every Sword Astral that fell, rows of magic cultivators collapsed. This group from Sword Burial Abyss had been suppressed for too long and had just been beaten down by Gu Sheng and Chen Changsheng together, so their tempers were at an absolute low. Now that they had caught the Nine Nether Magic Sect, they were treating them entirely as stress-relief sandbags.

"Jian Wuji! Do you really intend to drive us to extinction?" Nether Ancestor's hair was disheveled, his blood-red robe was torn into rags, and there was a sword wound on his back deep enough to see the bone.

As a dignified Saint, he had no room to even fight back before a Half-step Quasi-Emperor.

"So much nonsense." Jian Wuji picked his ear. "This old man owes the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion three hundred years of hard labor. Taking your head back might reduce my sentence by two years. If you don't die, this old man won't be able to sleep peacefully."

The iron sword was raised again.

The Sword Intent locked onto Nether Ancestor's Primordial Spirit. There was no escape.

Nether Ancestor stopped his steps, turned around, and bit the tip of his tongue to spit out a large mouthful of essence blood.

"You forced my hand!"

His hands quickly formed seals, and the mouthful of essence blood transformed into a weird rune in mid-air. Immediately after, he pulled out a pitch-black token from his robes and crushed it with force.

"Ancestors of Nine Nether above! Your unworthy descendant faces the calamity of sect extermination, I respectfully invite the Ancestral Master to descend!"

Black mist surged from the broken token, quickly swallowing the surrounding yellow sand. The sky turned dark.

The Laws of the Western Desolation began to vibrate violently.

A large hole broke open in the originally clear sky, and a hand covered in black scales reached out from the hole, grabbing the edge of the Void Realm.

Jian Wuji's Sword Astral struck that hand, but it didn't even leave a white mark.

"What kind of ghostly thing is this?" Jian Wuji stopped and tightened his grip on the iron sword. That pressure reminded him of the feeling of facing Chen Changsheng at Taichu Main Peak.

No, it was even stronger than that. This was a pressure that crossed realms.

The black mist dissipated, and a tall phantom stood in mid-air. He wore a black and gold imperial robe and a Flat-topped Crown; his face was blurred, and only a pair of purple eyes emitted a cold, indifferent light.

Nine Netherworld Demon Emperor.

A legendary figure who had already ascended to the Upper Realm in ancient times.

Nether Ancestor fell to his knees with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly: "Ancestral Master, save me! This old scoundrel wants to destroy my Nine Nether Lineage!"

The phantom did not look at Nether Ancestor but instead looked down at Jian Wuji.

"Ant of the Lower Realm, you dare to touch this Emperor's Legacy."

The voice wasn't loud, but it made the blood and qi of all the Sword Cultivators present surge. Several Disciples with weaker cultivation fell directly to one knee, using their swords to prop up their bodies to keep from collapsing.

Jian Wuji spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

"Is Ascension such a big deal? It's just a projection; do you really think you're the true body descending to the mortal world!"

He gripped his sword with both hands, releasing his Half-step Quasi-Emperor cultivation without reservation. His Natal Flying Sword turned into a streak of light, piercing straight toward the phantom's brow. This was his strongest strike.

The phantom raised a finger and lightly tapped forward.

The fingertip collided with the sword tip.

There was no deafening sound. Jian Wuji's Natal Flying Sword shattered inch by inch. That finger's momentum remained undiminished as it tapped against Jian Wuji's chest.

Jian Wuji was struck as if by lightning; his entire body flew backward, smashing through a dozen sand dunes before finally becoming embedded in a giant rock, his fate unknown.

With one move, he had severely wounded a Half-step Quasi-Emperor.

Nether Ancestor was ecstatic, standing up and pointing at the remaining Sword Burial Abyss Disciples: "Ancestral Master's Divine Might! Kill them all!"

The phantom, however, did not act.

Those purple eyes suddenly looked past the yellow sands of the Western Desolation toward the distant Central Region. The Heavenly Dao Laws were like transparent threads in his eyes.

Central Region, Heavenly Saint City.

In a side hall of the Great Xia Imperial Palace, Ji Ruxue was meditating. Over the past few days, she had used the dragon vein qi of Great Xia to steadily improve her cultivation.

She opened her eyes and looked up toward the direction of the Western Desolation.

Across a distance of ten thousand miles, two gazes met in the void.

Ji Ruxue's breathing hitched for a beat. That figure wearing the black and gold imperial robe—she would recognize him even if he turned to ash. In her previous life, the Nine Netherworld Demon Emperor had joined forces with several other powerful experts to set up a killing Formation in the Beyond Heaven, forcing her into a desperate situation. If she hadn't left behind a wisp of her remnant soul to undergo Reincarnation, she would have long since perished.

"Nine Nether," Ji Ruxue spoke coldly.

The phantom above the Western Desolation also saw Ji Ruxue's face clearly. A flicker of emotion flashed in his purple pupils.

"You actually didn't die." The Nine Netherworld Demon Emperor's voice crossed ten thousand miles, sounding directly in Ji Ruxue's ear, "Empress Yaoguang."

Ji Ruxue stood up and walked out of the side hall. The clouds above the Great Xia Imperial Palace were pushed aside by an invisible force.

"Since you haven't died, how could I be willing to die?" Ji Ruxue looked directly at those eyes in the void, her tone as calm as a still pond.

"Reincarnated and recultivating, only at the Void Refinement Stage." The Nine Netherworld Demon Emperor's voice carried a high and mighty indifference, "Back then, even at your peak, you were defeated by my hand. Now, with this ant-like body, what do you have to contend with me?"

"To kill you, it's enough." Ji Ruxue did not back down at all.

The tide of the Golden Age was already unstoppable.