Lu Yu was shocked by his body technique, crossing tens of thousands of meters. What kind of body technique is this?
The Fire Feather Pheasant felt its bloodline power was about to be exhausted. Continuing would burn its vitality.
She had a trace of thin Fire Phoenix bloodline. Even if the bloodline power was exhausted, under the influence of the Fire Phoenix bloodline, it would recover, possibly even stronger. But vitality is lifespan; burning lifespan is irreparable.
Watching the diminishing fiery clouds overhead and the increasingly thick black clouds around, the Fire Feather Pheasant was prepared to escape at the risk of severe injury.
Suddenly, a giant jade-green Taoist ruler stabbed into the black cloud, which shrank visibly as the jade-green ruler was tainted black by demonic qi.
Noticing the reduction of demonic qi above, Ling Yuyan looked up and saw the jade-green Taoist ruler spanning the sky.
"Yuqiong! It’s Dean Zhou’s divine weapon. Dean Zhou is here?" Ling Yuyan looked into the distance and saw Zhou Chisheng with a white beard holding the other end of the Taoist ruler Yuqiong, standing mid-air.
Sensing the inexplicable disappearance of demonic qi, the Demon General ignored the alien force within its body and flew toward the black cloud.
The Heavenly Poison Centipede attempted to stop him, but a green shadow of the ruler smashed the Demon General’s head first, driving him into the ground and leaving a deep pit.
Zhou Chisheng retracted the Taoist ruler Yuqiong, which absorbed the demonic qi cloud, transforming from a vibrant jade-green to a dark ruler exuding an eerie aura.
The former was like a crystalline jade ruler, the latter like a decayed black coffin.
"Dean, Yuqiong absorbed so much demonic qi..." Ling Yuyan looked worriedly at the Taoist ruler Yuqiong in his hands.
"It’s fine." Zhou Chisheng interrupted her, knowing what Ling Yuyan was worried about.
Divine Soldiers are treasures that only Core Formation Realm experts can refine.
Upon breaking through the Qi Sea Realm to the Core Formation Realm, a Martial Cultivator would choose to refine a weapon, heavenly material, or some other divine object as their Dao foundation.
The more divine the refined object, the stronger the Dao foundation, allowing one to reach higher realms and stronger combat power.
The Martial Cultivator could harness the power of the refined Dao foundation, and when Zhou Chisheng broke through the Qi Sea Realm, he chose to refine a jade-green bamboo over 5,000 years old, gaining the power of endless vitality.
Zhou Chisheng’s vitality is endless. Although he is only in the Core Formation Realm, he has already lived for six hundred years.
The normal lifespan of a Core Formation Realm Martial Cultivator is just over three hundred years, with the longer ones only reaching four hundred years.
But with Zhou Chisheng’s ability of endless vitality, he could live at least a thousand years, perhaps even longer.
He was a surviving camp officer from the Kugu Ridge battle over five hundred years ago.
He chose the millennia-old bamboo that could extend his lifespan, rather than a Dao foundation that could increase his power and take him further on the path of cultivation.
Because he wanted to keep watch over the Sealed Demon Forbidden Area, guarding the Demon General suppressed by his elder brother, waiting for someone who could destroy it to appear.
For this, he waited at Beifeng Academy for five hundred years.
He didn’t wait for the person who could destroy the Demon General, but he received news of the Demon General breaking the seal.
Upon hearing the news, he rushed to Kugu Ridge immediately.
Not waiting for the one who could destroy the Demon General, but instead, news of the Demon General breaking the seal gave Zhou Chisheng a chance to fulfill his long-held wish.
This time, he intended to complete what his brother couldn’t, helping fulfill his brother’s final wish.
Yuqiong has been tainted by demonic qi, rendering Zhou Chisheng’s further progress impossible unless he could cleanse the demonic qi within Yuqiong. Otherwise, he would stop here in his life.
But Zhou Chisheng did not regret it. Having lived so many years, his only wish was to destroy the suppressed Demon General.
For that, sacrificing his path to immortality was no problem.
Since he couldn’t wait for someone else to destroy it, let him fulfill this wish himself today!
Gripping the Taoist ruler Yuqiong, now tainted black by demonic qi, Zhou Chisheng, white beard flying upward, faced the Demon General flying up from the ground, and swung down relentlessly.
Yuqiong enlarged and smashed down on the Demon General’s head, bending the sharp horn on his head. This time, the Demon General wasn’t sent flying; he stood firmly in mid-air, black qi emerging from the empty, dark eye sockets.
"You..." The Demon General spoke for the first time, his voice cutting like a knife, almost unintelligible, sounding as if unused to speaking, the tone gravely distorted to barely discern the word "you."
After a moment, the Demon General continued: "Weaker... than... him."
Zhou Chisheng knew who the Demon General referred to, the human general who led the troops to defeat the Demon General, none other than Zhou Chisheng’s elder brother.
Being weaker than his brother, Zhou Chisheng did not deny the Demon General’s words.
To him, his brother was unmatched. If "he" hadn’t died, Zhou Chisheng had no doubt that "he" would have become the Grand-General of the Zhou Dynasty.
Zhou Chisheng never doubted his brother’s potential to reach that realm.
"Weak... dead..." The Demon General uttered two harsh words, and innumerable Jade Flower Sword fragments popped out from his body, their purifying moonlight power exhausted, expelled by the Demon General.
The Demon General raised his hand, several Demon Qi Long Spears stabbed toward Zhou Chisheng, who, watching him, suddenly laughed, using Yuqiong to shatter the Demon Qi Long Spears, absorbing the demonic qi into Yuqiong.
Though indeed no match for his brother, the Demon General now wasn’t the same as before; it was merely a heavily injured demon newly escaped from the seal, yet to regain its power.
Yuqiong smashed downward on the Demon General’s head; the Demon General’s right hand turned into five spears aimed at Zhou Chisheng, who conjured several spiritual power-formed Yuqiong shadows to block his fingers.
Yet, Yuqiong did not hit the Demon General’s head, merely striking his shoulder, leaving a small dent that soon healed.
Seeing this, Zhou Chisheng realized that although the Demon General’s power had drastically decreased after the seal broke, he was still beyond Zhou Chisheng’s ability to kill; the Demon General’s body was too strong!
Even in his prime, wielding the Demon-Breaking Saber that restrained demons, his brother couldn’t kill the Demon General, only using the Saber to heavily injure and suppress him at Kugu Ridge.
Now, the Demon General’s strength is almost depleted, but Zhou Chisheng still couldn’t destroy the body.
Unless the Demon General’s body was utterly destroyed, it couldn’t be killed.
Zhou Chisheng had known this from the start.
A look of helplessness appeared on his face; he had hoped to fulfill his centuries-long wish by slaying the Demon General weakened after centuries of suppression.
But now, the Demon General still wasn’t something he could slay.
Zhou Chisheng’s expression hardened as he resolved, sending the Taoist ruler Yuqiong soaring skyward, enlarging continuously.
Yuqiong revealed its original form, a thousand-year-old bamboo.
The bamboo descended upon the Demon General, pressing him into the ground. The Demon General struggled mightily, yet unable to counter the wounds, he was weakened significantly, suppressed inch by inch into the earth by the bamboo.
The Demon General’s figure vanished, leaving behind a hundred-meter-tall bamboo, Zhou Chisheng seated cross-legged below.
"Since I can’t kill you, I’ll suppress you here in my lifetime."
"I... will... come... out..."
Listening to the Demon General’s words, Zhou Chisheng recalled a fortune told by little Yuyan long ago.
"Chisheng, with the ruler there is life."
At the time, he thought it meant he could live on with the Taoist ruler Yuqiong refined from the millennium bamboo.
Now he had a new understanding.
The base of the bamboo behind him was being dyed black by demonic qi, with the blackness crawling upward.
When the entire bamboo turned black, it would be when he lost the power to suppress the Demon General.
"Go back! If you wish to save me, reach the realm capable of slaying the Great Demon, then return."
Zhou Chisheng looked at Ling Yuyan appearing in the distance, speaking with a serene expression.
Ling Yuyan stopped upon hearing, watched for a moment, then turned and left.
"I will come! Definitely!"
Zhou Chisheng, who watched her grow up as an elder, was like a grandfather to Ling Yuyan.
Lu Yu, hearing the voice transmitted to his ears, tightened his grip on the Demon-Breaking Saber.
Not only to Ling Yuyan, Zhou Chisheng was also speaking to Lu Yu.
Lu Yu vowed to return, to resolve the trouble he had stirred up.