Zhang Sanjian quietly sheathed his sword.
With a complicated look in his eyes, he immediately slouched down, which made him seem older. Gritting his teeth, he looked at the spot where the little girl had exploded.
'Am I saved?'
'But why don't I feel happy at all?'
'Why did that demon explode all of a sudden?'
At that moment, the dark mist slowly dispersed, and all of the demon's broken limbs began to turn into dust. It was an eerie and horrifying sight.
"Is…is this the end?" Everyone was stunned. It was as if they had not yet freed themselves from the state of fear and anxiety they had felt earlier. However, the marks on their ears were slowly disappearing, which surprised them a little.
"Was it a Master and Slave demon?"
Zhang Sanjian took a deep breath.
"Could somebody have destroyed its main body somewhere else? In that case, that little girl just now would be the secondary body. With the main body dead, the secondary body would die as well."
'I see.'
It seemed as if he had figured out what happened. However, new doubts arose.
'Who was it that killed that demon's main body?'
'One must know that, according to the power that erupted from the demon's secondary body earlier on, it should be at the Liberation stage!'
'In that case, even if the main body was weak, it would still at least be at the Qi Bending stage!'
'But right now, all of the Empyrean Sword Sect's disciples at the Qi Bending stage were gathered in the training ground.'
'Who was it that killed the demon's main body?'
However, although the incident had come to an abrupt end, at least the demon had been vanquished. Everyone in the Empyrean Sword Sect breathed a sigh of relief.
…
That afternoon, the patrolling disciples found the main body of the demon under the Empyrean Peak. It was a decayed rooster. By the time they found it, it had already rotted so much it had lost its shape. However, the cold, strange aura that was still on it allowed the disciple to confirm what it was at first glance. The disciples who had been marked immediately recognized the aura it was emitting. It was definitely the demon who had brought harm to the Empyrean Sword sect and killed five of their disciples!
When Zhang Sanjian arrived at this place, his face did not look too good.
"An Assaulting Sword Rhyme lingers. Such a strong murderous intent. Someone must've used an Assaulting Sword over here."
'Only an Assaulting Art would leave behind such a powerful feeling of murderous intent. A solemn aura lingered in the surrounding air.'
'However…'
'As of now, they had not gained control over the Assaulting Sword Pavilion. Only a very few within the Empyrean Sword Sect possessed an Assaulting Sword.'
'Most of them only had a Styling Sword. Not all of them were even equipped with a Riding Sword.'
'Besides, it seemed that only the handful of elders of the sect had mastery over Assaulting Art. However, all the elders were out exploring the dark mist and had not returned.'
"Thunder Sword Shifting... Sword Shifting of the extremely rare Thunder Element."
'Was there someone capable of this in the Empyrean Sword Sect?'
"Great master, is this the Master and Slave Demon? I never thought that there would be so many kinds of demons," one of the disciples said out of surprise.
"The great master must've already anticipated this Master and Slave Demon's existence. That's why he deliberately gathered all of us here at the training ground to separate the demon's main and secondary body, spreading their power thin, and then secretly dispatch a powerful Sword Cultivator to vanquish the demon's main body!"
"I never thought that we had a Sword Cultivator capable of Thunder Sword Shifting in our sect. The Thunder Element is really hard to come by!"
"It is no wonder that the great master remained idle for so long and wasn't flustered at all. I think he already knew that such an ace in the hole existed in the Empyrean Sword Sect!"
The surrounding disciples laughed.
'Ace in the hole, huh?'
Zhang Sanjian stood in place and tilted his eyes upward with a cold expression on his face.
Well, if you think someone like that exists, then I guess they really do.
It would be fine as long as the little ones kept their hopes up.
However, was the one who vanquished the demon really someone from the Empyrean Sword Sect? What kind of strength did that person have? He commands an Assaulting Sword and is capable of Thunder Sword Shifting.
'Why did I never know such a person existed?'
'Is this a person from outside?'
In fact, Zhang Sanjian had already had such thoughts. The Empyrean Sword Sect was not actually considered strong in the Empyrean Sword Domain, but they still managed to survive. That would imply that most of the other sects in the past should have survived as well—hence the reason why the elders were out there exploring. It was to see if they could unite with other sword sects. However, he was also a little worried. If they were to encounter a sword sect that held grudges against them...
It might very well lead to their sect being consumed.
It was likely that no one wanted to start a fight inside the dark mist. However, one must be vigilant so as not to be harmed. After all, for a sect, resources, techniques, and the three types of swords were extremely precious items.
And some sects even had sword forging masters. It could be said that once such sects were discovered, they would probably be swallowed up.
After all, resources in the dark mist were limited.
The fewer people there were, the better.
Currently, the one hundred disciples of the Empyrean Sword Sect had already placed a lot of pressure on the elders. The elders were constantly out in search of resources, while the junior disciples were out in the dark mist hunting down wild animals that had either survived or mutated to be used as rations for the disciples in the sect.
"You guys have to grow up as soon as possible."
Zhang Sanjian sighed.
Only when this group of disciples grew would the Empyrean Sword Sect have any hope of surviving.
"Rest assured, great master!"
"If you feel troubled, great master, we'll reflect on ourselves three times a day and cultivate hard so that we can have a magnificent literary piece for ourselves in the future just like yours."
'Hmm?'
Zhang Sanjian looked at them strangely.
'What magnificent literary piece do I have?'
"My name is Zhang Sanjian! The Eternal Night is as profound as the path of my blade!" the disciple exclaimed, extremely excited.
Zhang Sanjian quietly held down his Assaulting Sword.
'Are you seeking death?'
His complexion turned from black to white and then from white to green.
…
At that moment, Shen Changge had already returned to his room. The attack that he had delivered today had given him a lot of insight. That attack could be considered his first time tapping into powers of the Qi Bending stage and then unleashing an Assaulting Art!
That rotten chicken should have had a terrifying Cultivation Base as well. However, it died a clean death under his sword.
That attack that he delivered must have contained an immensely potent power!
He flipped through the History of the Empyrean Sword Sect and found the map.
"Logically speaking, by killing that demon and having its blood splatter on the ground there, it should have gotten rid of a portion of the dark mist. What is located there near the Empyrean Peak?"
He slowly opened the map.
He placed his finger on the Empyrean Peak on the map and then calculated the direction in his mind.
'Mmm...'
'It's the Small Scripture Repository!'
The Small Scripture Repository was the original location of the sect side's Scripture Repository. However, it seemed that most of the books and records were already moved away, and what remained now was just some low-level sword manuals.
But that did not prevent Shen Changge from checking in!
It seemed like he could unlock a brand-new check-in location yet again!
What Shen Changge lacked most now was techniques of various kinds.