Chapter 299: First, a Sword

Yin Moon Town.

This small town, the closest settlement to the Millennial Ancient Kingdom, was once guarded by disciples of the Qiong Hua Sect. But after trouble began in the ancient kingdom, the disciples stationed here vanished. The sect then dispatched two Core Formation Stage Elders to investigate, only for them to disappear without a trace.

The loss of two Core Formation Elders was a critical blow to the Qiong Hua Sect, shaking the very foundation of their order. They couldn’t afford to ignore such a catastrophe. The Seven Patriarchs of Jade Purity were all Sword Cultivators, renowned for their ability to “reason” with others through their swordsmanship. Patriarch Guhe of the Great Void stood foremost among them.

The town was built against the mountainside, with much of it perpetually shrouded in shadow.

Blue flagstones paved the streets, which were eerily deserted and cold. Withered leaves rustled under the icy wind, and the weathered sign of an old inn creaked eerily. Ragged scraps of cloth drifted from the windows like beckoning Yin Souls. A few ashen-faced commoners shuffled through the streets, mechanically performing tasks etched in their memories, like living corpses.

Guhe, clad in a gray robe, stood atop the mountain, gazing down at the town below.

The unnatural stillness of the place was unsettling. A sweep of his Divine Sense revealed no living presence. The “people” moving below weren’t true life forms at all, but crude puppets crafted from swarming insects.

“This is the last place Elder Chen’an’s message originated from.”

The surviving disciples of the Qiong Hua Sect gazed at the old man before them with profound reverence, their eyes filled with awe. The terror instilled by the Millennial Ancient Kingdom vanished completely in his presence.

Such was the influence of the Seven Patriarchs of Jade Purity.

“Did Elder Chenyou also disappear here?” Gu He retracted his Divine Sense and asked calmly.

Now that he had arrived, he realized the Millennial Ancient Kingdom’s infiltration was far more severe than he had anticipated.

That Thousand-Eyed Centipede had truly gone mad.

It was brazenly disregarding the rules jointly established by the Four Great Immortal Sects. Not content with devouring all the inhabitants within the Millennial Ancient Kingdom’s territory, it now sought to expand into their lands.

“Elder Chenyou vanished on the other side of the mountain,” a Qiong Hua Sect disciple replied immediately to Gu He’s question. “Since that area lies within the Millennial Ancient Kingdom’s Earth Realm, we didn’t dare venture further.”

The other side of the mountain?

Gu He glanced in that direction before withdrawing his gaze.

“All of you return now. I will handle the rest.”

His robes billowed as spiritual energy befitting a Nascent Soul cultivator emanated from his body.

In that instant, all the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi in the area coalesced into a single mass, crushing down like amber and freezing the entire Yin Moon Formation within it.

Seeing this, the disciples swiftly fled. A battle between Founding Ancestors was far beyond their capabilities; a single misstep could cost them their lives.

Buzz!

The Great Void Sword hummed softly as Gu He Xu took a step, materializing above Yin Moon Town. The sword’s phantom image shimmered around him, and the solidified Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, as if summoned, frantically surged back, condensing into his palm.

Without a word of greeting, he immediately slashed downward.

Hiss!

Released from the oppressive pressure of the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, the crowd tilted their heads upward, hissing at Gu He Xu in mid-air. Though still humanoid in form, their voices now resembled the chittering of insects.

Every resident of the town had perished, their flesh devoured by caterpillars. Gu He had confirmed this grim reality during his reconnaissance on the mountain.

The insectile cacophony spread outward, their collective spiritual attacks coalescing into a sonic wave aimed at dislodging Gu He Xu from the sky. To insects, there is no fear, only prey.

In mid-air, Gu He grasped the hilt of the Great Void Sword.

An invisible wave of sword qi erupted from the blade, instantly bathing Yin Moon Town. All gray-faced figures caught in its path had their chests explode into bloody mist. Corpses were torn to shreds by the sword qi.

Hiss!

The blue-tiled streets of Yin Moon Town shattered, and several buildings collapsed. A furious roar echoed as a colossal caterpillar, over twenty meters long, burst through the earth’s crust and soared upward. Its body was jet-black, its claws and head glinting with dark gold. A row of fins adorned its back, and a dense cloud of Demonic Qi billowed from its form.

As it flew, a golden eye materialized on the caterpillar’s forehead and opened. A beam of golden light shot forth from the eye, aimed at Gu He, who still held the Great Void Sword aloft.

“A Demon Eye?” Gu He narrowed his eyes. This was no ordinary creature like the Imperial Preceptor of the Millennial Ancient Kingdom. Instead, it was a newly born caterpillar, a fusion of the ancient kingdom’s caterpillar Imperial Preceptor and the Thousand-Eyed Centipede of Ten Thousand Demon Mountain.

Gu He’s cultivation realm surpassed ordinary Core Formation cultivators but had yet to reach Nascent Soul.

This peculiar phenomenon reminded him of the Thousand-Eyed Centipede from Ten Thousand Demon Mountain.

The transformation of the Millennial Ancient Kingdom’s Imperial Preceptor was likely the work of that creature. The question was, how had it bypassed their surveillance to transmit its power?

Clang!

The Great Void Sword finally stilled its tremors and slid from its scabbard.

At that moment, the sword qi permeating the air seemed to boil over. Countless semi-transparent ethereal swords materialized above—ten, a hundred, a thousand, even tens of thousands!

The densely packed sword qi hung suspended over Yin Moon Town.

At the center, Gu He, wielding the Great Void Sword, stood like a Sword God. With a single, devastating slash, his blade descended.

Boom!!

The sword qi cascaded down, crashing into the golden beam erupting from the Centipede Demon’s eyes. The opposing forces collided mid-air, unleashing a shockwave that expanded outward in concentric rings.

Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi churned violently around the battlefield. As the endless barrage of ethereal swords descended, each destroyed blade was instantly replaced by a newly formed one.

“斩!”

The sword in Gu He’s hand flashed, its radiant sword qi blazing like a celestial river.

An arc of sword qi descended swiftly, cleaving the massive centipede below in two. The force of the strike carried on, slicing through Yin Moon Town and splitting it in half.

Green blood gushed from the severed body of the Centipede Spirit, its two halves writhing on the ground.

“This is… this is too strong?”

Two hidden presences couldn’t help but waver. Before they could react, a sharp sword qi had locked onto them.

“Damn it, run!”

Their bodies shattered into countless fragments like mist, scattering in all directions. One of them hurled a circular mirror into the air.

The sword qi flashed.

The mirror shattered mid-flight, but the lingering aura emanating from it made Gu He frown slightly.

“Ghost Temple remnants?”

He had eliminated a Ghost Temple operative while handling affairs with the Blackbird Clan, but it seemed there were still survivors. The problems plaguing the Millennial Ancient Kingdom were growing increasingly complex, involving Ten Thousand Demon Mountain and the Ghost Temple, with who knew how many more unknown players lurking in the shadows.

“Then I can’t let you escape.”

Gu He gripped the Great Void Sword, ignoring the scattered black qi as dense sword qi erupted around him once more.

“How does he still have so much power? Doesn’t the Great Void Sword drain his energy?”

“That hybrid caterpillar was pathetic. It couldn’t even block a single strike.”

The two fleeing figures sensed the approaching sword qi and felt their scalps crawl with dread.

“Great Void Sword Art Ninth—Mountain-Cleaving.”

Gu He’s voice echoed through the air.

The dense sword qi coalesced into a single, exaggerated blade of energy, a strike that truly seemed capable of cleaving mountains. Locked onto the pair, they felt the icy breath of death. Even as Ghost Cultivators, they knew this strike would obliterate them utterly, leaving not a trace of their souls.

“Old Ghost Guhe, we’ve already dealt with your clansmen—”

Thud!

Before the words could finish, a head flew skyward.

The remaining figure roared in fury, unleashing a desperate surge of spiritual energy. But his dying defense, fueled by all his strength, proved as flimsy as paper before the Great Void Sword.

The sword qi swept through, cleaving their bodies in two.

Against absolute power, no amount of furious roars or desperate outbursts could avail. Patriarch Gu He, wielding the Great Void Sword, possessed precisely such overwhelming might. The Seven Patriarchs of Jade Purity, who had suppressed the Southern Heaven Domain for over two thousand years, had forged their authority through countless battles.

After dispatching the two cultivators, Gu He’s figure blurred as he crossed the mountain range, heading toward the Millennial Ancient Kingdom.

Having come this far, he intended to resolve the matter once and for all.

Those Ghost Temple ants had dared to utter threats, but it mattered little now. Demons and monsters—a single sword strike would suffice to slay them all.

“Gu He, you have crossed the line. This is the territory of the Millennial Ancient Kingdom.”

The moment he stepped past the mountain’s edge, a deep, resonant voice boomed like muffled thunder, reverberating across heaven and earth. A square astrolabe rose from the ground, and black-and-white chess pieces, each resembling a celestial body, began to plummet toward him.

The foremost black piece, nearly fifteen meters in diameter, was enveloped in a ring of azure flames. Together with the chessboard below, it sealed off the area, creating a spiraling storm.

“The Prime Minister of the Millennial Ancient Kingdom? I thought that Centipede Spirit would come himself.”

The Great Void Sword in Gu He’s hand emitted a cyan glow.

His hair and beard flew backward, and his robes billowed wildly in the wind.

Sword qi crisscrossed the air, forming a dense, swirling storm of energy centered around him. This vortex was entirely composed of illusory blades.

The ground beneath his feet cracked, spiderweb-like fissures spreading across the earth. The surrounding sword qi tore into the earth, excavating a massive crater. As the earth-laden storm of sword qi expanded violently, it reached a critical point. Gu He, with a great divine power, compressed it into a single, towering sword shadow that pierced the sky.

The sword shadow merged with the blade in his hand. With a sweeping motion, Gu He unleashed a devastating strike.

The sword qi surged upward against the falling Chess Piece, halting its fiery descent. The flames parted as the blade carved an upward path, leaving behind a translucent shockwave in its wake.

BOOM!

A deafening explosion shook the mountain, burying swathes of trees under collapsing earth. The expanding sword qi leveled Yin Moon Town behind him, reducing it to rubble.

Dozens of chess pieces exploded in mid-air beneath the force of Gu He’s sword, even cleaving through the oppressive cloud cover above. Cracks like fractured glass spiderwebbed across the translucent chessboard, and a crisp, shattering sound echoed through the air.

With a muffled thud, a figure in official robes plummeted from the clouds, clutching a palm-sized chessboard—the Millennial Ancient Kingdom’s Fourth-Tier Magic Artifact and national treasure. Now, a sword-shaped gash marred its surface.

Gu He stood suspended in the void, watching the Prime Minister of the Ancient Kingdom fall with cold indifference.

“Impressive strength,” Gu He murmured. “To unleash a Nascent Soul-level divine ability with a Fourth-Tier Magic Artifact… but.” He clenched his fist, freezing all Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi in the surrounding area.

While Core Formation cultivators borrowed from the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, Nascent Soul cultivators reigned supreme over it. Unless they permitted it, no Core Formation cultivator within this domain could draw upon even a wisp of this vital energy.

This was the simplest, most brutal method:

Domination through sheer cultivation realm!

“After all, it’s not a Nascent Soul.”