"Wait!" Just as the twelve blade-wielding warriors were about to strike, the second prince of the Demon Realm cast the woman's lifeless body aside and raised a hand to halt them. With a slight gesture, four demon guards dragged over Feng Yunwuji, whose body was mangled and barely clinging to life.
The prince stepped on Feng Yunwuji's face, grinding his foot with disdain. "Pathetic human. Always overestimating yourselves."
Spitting heavily on Feng Yunwuji's bloodied face, the prince stomped down again. A sickening crack echoed as his foot pierced straight through Feng Yunwuji's chest, the sole emerging from his back and sinking into the earth.
Feng Yunwuji didn't move. Only sheer willpower kept him from death.
"Is he dead?"
"Dead. Without a doubt."
"Hmph, too easy. That's what humans are—worthless without strength!" With another vicious stomp on his face, the prince turned and left with his four demon guards, vanishing into the mist.
The wandering master, Da Zizai, cast a glance at Feng Yunwuji's ruined chest, sighed, and vanished into the sky.
Time passed. The valley was silent once more. Only the body of the woman who had taken her own life, and Feng Yunwuji's corpse, remained under the vast sky.
CRACK!
A bolt of lightning tore through the sky. Clouds surged from all directions, layers upon layers of black thunderclouds churning above. Forks of lightning flickered madly between them.
As the clouds spiraled above, a vortex of blinding light crashed down, striking Feng Yunwuji's chest.
A pale gray mist rose from the earth, blanketing the entire area. A powerful suction lifted Feng Yunwuji's body into the air as the mist streamed into him like a whale drinking from the sea.
Feng Yunwuji's eyes flew open, revealing golden irises that shone beneath his lids. With a wave of his hand, the cascading clouds above were sliced apart, and waves of gray mist surged from the ground into his body.
A power even greater than before erupted from him. Expressionless, Feng Yunwuji walked forward, bent down, and gently picked up the woman's body.
The woman's eyes trembled faintly, and her deathly pale face managed a fragile smile. She wasn't fully gone—through sheer force of will, she clung to a sliver of life.
Looking at him calmly, she reached out with bloodstained fingers, dragging them across the ground. Slowly, shakily, she wrote. Then her hand stilled. Her sorrowful smile remained.
Feng Yunwuji looked down to see scrawled, jagged words in blood:
"Thank you. Thank you."
"Aaah!" he howled toward the sky, his grief erupting into a cry of rage and agony. His heart felt as though it were being torn apart.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." he murmured, numb with guilt, repeating the words as he carried her body into the swirling fog, step by step, toward the Sword Domain.
A single tear slid down his lifeless face.
BOOM!
Lightning arced across the Sword Domain's sky. From the distant horizon, black clouds surged forward. Beneath them, a pale-faced man with hollow eyes approached, carrying a woman whose face was drained of all color.
BOOM!
Another crash of thunder. Rain began pouring in sheets. The man walked through the storm, clutching the long-dead woman in his arms.
"Halt! This is the Sword Domain. Leave at once!" two disciples shouted, flying forward to confront him.
CRACK!
Two sharp slashes bloomed across their foreheads, trailing downward. In a spray of blood, the two fell silently into four pieces, lifeless.
Unfazed, Feng Yunwuji stepped over their corpses, deeper into the domain.
In the ancient age of weapons, the blade reigned supreme. The Sword Domain stood as proof. None had ever dared to ask: what if the sword reached its absolute limit? What if a sword could become utterly malevolent?
Today, the Sword Domain witnessed it firsthand—the most terrifying sword intent of the ancient world.
Like tidal waves crashing across space, boundless sword intent swept through the domain. Even seasoned disciples trembled as it tore across the sky. Countless blades shattered with a snap, reduced to dust in their hands.
Under immense pressure and the threat of death, Feng Yunwuji's Ninefold Life-and-Death Cultivation broke through to its fifth stage—a level reached by few even in the ancient era, where the sixth stage was considered the pinnacle. But that wasn't all. Witnessing the woman's humiliation and his own powerlessness ignited a fury in Feng Yunwuji's soul, causing his spiritual power to surge a hundredfold. His Sword Body pierced through the second tier of the Heaven Sword Realm and into the third—just a step away from the fabled Sword Sovereign Realm. No one in all of ancient history had reached such a realm. What powers lay beyond, no one could say. Yet even the third tier alone was enough to terrify gods.
In a blink, shadows flickered across the Sword Domain. Thousands of white-robed disciples poured in from all directions. In mere moments, tens of thousands had surrounded Feng Yunwuji.
"Hahahaha…" He laughed wildly at the heavens, though his voice trembled with grief. Suddenly, his laughter stopped. Bloodshot eyes swept over the disciples, filled with raw, murderous intent. A chill gripped every heart.
"You all deserve to die." The words dripped from his lips like venom.
Then, his form blurred. Zuo Dao—the invincible left path—struck.
Powered by the fifth stage of his cultivation, his attack split the heavens. A searing white blade of energy tore toward the crowd like a cataclysm, threatening to sunder the sky itself.
Thousands roared and drew their swords in unison. But even their combined force paled beside the might of that single blade. Though they managed to block it briefly, the residual energy still sent scores flying.
Feng Yunwuji became a blur, charging into their ranks. Still cradling the woman's corpse in one arm, he unleashed his sword with the other. Blood sprayed like rain. No one could withstand even one strike. Every blade that touched his shattered instantly. Invisible sword intent sliced throats before they could scream.
A streak of silver light darted through the disciples. Screams filled the air. When he finally stopped, thousands stood clutching their throats, blood spurting from their palms, eyes wide in disbelief as they fell lifeless to the ground.
A terrifying pressure suddenly surged from deep within the domain. A voice thundered above:
"Who dares bring chaos to my Sword Domain?!"