On the western mountaintop, a striking woman in a black dress heard the clamor and turned back. Her graceful figure trembled as she took in the sight, momentarily stunned.
"Well, it seems this youngster is quite powerful after all," she muttered, feeling a touch of awkwardness as she recalled her earlier dismissive words. "Still, his intelligence is sorely lacking. Going about it this way, he'll drain himself sooner or later and meet his end."
She couldn't deny that Yun Xiao had a striking presence, even among the talents of the Ten Thousand Swords Sea. None could rival even a fraction of his charisma. Yet she shook her head; intelligence, she thought, would have served him better here.
From her vantage point, she could see Yun Xiao carving through the masses of fiends below. The azure mountains turned crimson as he cut ten bloody paths through the throng of 100,000 monsters. If any sane army had witnessed such carnage, they would have retreated. But these twisted creatures, undaunted by terror, only grew more frenzied.
"Swarm him! Overwhelm him!" Yuexian's cold, harsh voice echoed through the throng, tinged with fear and anger at Yun Xiao's relentless advance. Under her demonic control, the remaining 90,000 monsters surged at him, forming a pile of twisted bodies that loomed over him like a grotesque mountain of limbs and claws. Above, more monsters twisted into a tornado of howling fiends, descending upon him.
"Yun Xiao!" The 3,000 Blue Soul sword cultivators, awaiting his command, watched with their hearts pounding in fear and admiration.
Then, from within the heaving mass of monsters, an azure light burst forth like an enraged dragon, cleaving through them. Each sword strike released a hundred-foot-long Azure Dragon Sword Gang, scattering blood and shattered bodies with each sweeping blow.
With every strike, hundreds of monsters fell in a burst of blood and bones. The mountain of fiends disintegrated around him, replaced by a storm of monstrous limbs and shards of bone. Yun Xiao didn't utter a single word. With each swing, he brought down hundreds of fiends, sending their remains flying through the sky like twisted fragments.
"Three years ago, when Zhao Jianxing and the Seven Swords fought, it was a sight to behold," someone muttered, "but Yun Xiao's power is… on a whole other level."
The sword cultivators held back, jaws clenched as they watched the scene below. It was true Yun Xiao fought alone, without support, where they might have offered help. But there was an energy, a presence, surrounding him. A supernatural force protected his body, making him impervious to the fiends' attacks. Not a scratch marred him as he waded through a sea of blood and bones.
"Three years ago, I fought alone against 120 top sword cultivators. I didn't exhaust myself then," Yun Xiao sneered, "and now, with the Blue Soul Treasure Pavilion behind me, you think 100,000 fiends can bring me down?"
From within his sleeve, he took a Heavenly Dao Buddhist relic and let it dissolve on his tongue. Instantly, his energy restored to full power. This artifact allowed him to replenish his strength effortlessly, unlike any other pill or elixir. With his strength renewed, he stared coldly at the masses.
"Consume me, will you? We'll see who lasts longer!" Yun Xiao declared, his voice like thunder. His gaze fell on the fiends below, fury blazing in his eyes. He would not let them scatter; here and now, he would annihilate them all.
"Master, senior brothers, and sisters!" he cried out, looking to the sky as his voice rang out like a war cry. "You slew 20,000 flying fiends, and now I will finish the rest!"
The flying fiends posed a deadly threat, capable of terrorizing thousands of mortal kingdoms from above. That day, Zhao Jianxing and the Seven Swords gave their lives to slay those fiends, ridding the world of an immeasurable threat. Yun Xiao honored their memory as he stood in the path of those same beasts, fighting for the people as they had.
"Today, I, Yun Xiao, shall use the blood of these 100,000 fiends to hold a memorial for their noble souls!" His gaze shifted to the banner raised on the distant peak, a symbol of the fallen heroes.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Yun Xiao tore through the monsters like slicing through vegetables, his sword a blur as he dispatched foe after foe. Though exhausted, Yuexian kept pressing her fiends into the battle, unaware of his secret—a Heavenly Dao Buddhist relic that kept his strength replenished. Fueled by her orders, the monsters continued their frenzied attacks, sacrificing themselves to drain Yun Xiao's energy.
Nearby, the woman in the black dress was incredulous. "Hasn't he run out of power yet?" she muttered, genuinely puzzled. "How is he lasting this long?" She glanced around as if to confirm that no one else could explain this "ridiculous resilience." Yet, even as others speculated about Yun Xiao's stamina, he showed no signs of slowing down.
Around him, the battlefield grew redder, a sea of blood and monstrous remains. He had slain 20,000 fiends, then 30,000, each strike transforming the landscape into a mountain of corpses. The onlookers gasped as his kill count continued to rise. To their astonishment, Yun Xiao fought not just with strength, but with relentless endurance, almost as if his dantian was boundless.
"His feats will be legendary," someone whispered. "He'll be recorded in the histories, this lone sword immortal who brought down tens of thousands of fiends."
But Yun Xiao was still at it, his sword cutting through 40,000 fiends, then 50,000, even as Yuexian's mind churned with anger. Each fiend lost was another frustration, but she commanded them to press on. "Pile him under the dead!" she ordered, determined to see him buried under her legion.
At 70,000, the black-dressed woman shook her head, barely believing her own eyes. "This guy's got some kind of sickness," she muttered with a mix of disbelief and reluctant admiration. She turned, slightly red-faced, and muttered, "Good thing nobody's watching me…"
But Yun Xiao had no time for doubt or pride. After slaying 70,000 fiends, he advanced into the heart of the monster nest itself, where the true demon forces lay. The fiends here were powerful, allies and confidants of Yuexian herself, their eyes glowing with malicious intelligence.
"My lord, we sacrificed 70,000 minions, but he's still coming," a monster growled to Yuexian. Her face darkened. "No more games. We end this now."
As her true allies—the most terrifying of her fiends—emerged from the darkness, Yun Xiao stopped, facing them head-on. In his eyes, a fierce determination blazed. Raising his sword high, he pointed it at the demon leaders.
"Come forth!" he roared. Three thousand Blue Soul sword cultivators, their swords raised high, answered his call. They took their place behind him, steeling themselves for the final battle, ready to follow Yun Xiao's lead into the heart of darkness.