Be the Hardest Working Demon Cultivator!

"As for whether he’s from the Sword Mountain Sect or not, I can’t be a hundred percent sure either, but there is one thing I can confirm: the identity of this swordsman is very extraordinary," Dongdong said with an expressionless face.

"That much is obvious without your saying it—such an exceptional flying sword..."

Tan Shuchang stretched out his hand and pointed slightly.

"Forged entirely from sunflower essence and Taiyi fine gold, someone really has spared no expense!" The girl’s face remained wooden, as if paralyzed, but her tone had suddenly taken on a faint, almost imperceptible change.

"Why do I get the feeling from your words that you seem to know who he is?" Tan Shuchang asked, his perception sharp.

Although he had switched his main cultivation technique from the Blood Refining Lotus Technique to the Cross Calamity Immortal Scripture, he could still retain some of the Lotus mark characteristics from the former.

After all, the ultimate realm of the Blood Refining Lotus Technique is to form one’s own massive array, refining and slaying living beings!

If one couldn’t control even the surrounding area at will, how could they form an array?

It was precisely because he couldn’t plant lotus marks in this area that Tan Shuchang’s perception of his surroundings was much fuzzier.

For instance, during his encounter with the old man, he could discern every detail about the man’s appearance and the depth of his profound cultivation. But with his current perception, Tan Shuchang could only sense that someone was hiding nearby.

As for more information about the person, he couldn’t detect it anymore.

However, his current level of perception was more than enough to pick up on the subtle change in the girl’s tone.

"I don’t know!"

With a wooden face, Dongdong tilted her head slightly and looked at Tan Shuchang: "Don’t talk nonsense."

"Hmm, you don’t know..."

Tan Shuchang replied nonchalantly, because it was clear that she knew who the person was but wasn’t in a position to tell him outright.

And how many people in the world could make Miss Dong of the Dong family hesitate to speak?

After all, she had even written down every detail of the hundred-year plan of the Sword Mountain Sect for him.

"Hmm?"

Upon this thought, Tan Shuchang suddenly had a movement in his heart.

Could it be that it wasn’t that she couldn’t speak outright, but that she couldn’t speak outright to him?

"The Son of the Heavenly Mandate from the Sword Mountain Sect’s grand plan?" Tan Shuchang quietly asked.

Dongdong glanced at Tan Shuchang upon hearing this but did not speak a word.

However, her action could essentially be taken as an answer.

Tan Shuchang understood, and in his surprise, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of admiration. The surprise was because he didn’t expect to encounter the Son of the Heavenly Mandate so soon on his stepping stone journey. The admiration, however, was because—the Son of the Heavenly Mandate truly lives up to his name!

Look at the entourage: to come with a magic artifact to a peaceful meeting at Luoja Mountain, and then to take action directly!

Only the Son of the Heavenly Mandate could show such disregard for Luoja Mountain’s dignity!

Indeed, he is a person groomed by a century’s planning of the Sword Mountain Sect!

Look at the prestige, the entourage, the awe-inspiring presence—such things are utterly out of reach for a meager loose cultivator like me!

"So, if I killed this Son of the Heavenly Mandate, the Sword Mountain Sect would probably go mad, wouldn’t they?" Tan Shuchang said coolly, his demeanor relaxed, showing no sign of anger, and even a hint of gentleness in his voice.

However, Dongdong, the only audience to his words, looked slightly uneasy because she knew that, despite the demon cultivator’s gentle words, when the time came to act, he would be more ruthless than anyone else.

Previously at Black Heart Mountain, there was a second senior brother ranked before him who was infamously cruel and merciless—killing fathers, mothers, friends, and lovers, casting aside all emotions and affections, all to cultivate a heart devoid of any sentiment or humanity.

She and several martial sisters in the Jiansha Sect had thought they were about to face another Heartless Old Man. However, when confronted with this Demon Cultivator, his second martial brother often had no choice but to step back.

Speaking the gentlest words, while delivering the cruelest blows—this damned Demon Cultivator beside her. Although she hadn’t witnessed it, she was certain that before the Heartless Old Man’s death, this Demon Cultivator must have repeatedly called him "Honored Master" with not a hint of malice in his voice.

Therefore, Dongdong whispered in advice, "It’s best not to unless you can take on a hundred Nan Jians like Su Huan’an."

"A hundred Nan Jians?"

Tan Shuchang felt a slight shock in his heart and couldn’t help asking, "Does Mount Discard Sword have that many individuals at this level?"

Although Nan Jian Su Huan’an had not cultivated for a full hundred years, his formidable strength had already surpassed many who had been cultivating for a century. Many had speculated that he had reached the level of that past master of the Demon Sect.

But if that were really the case, why then has Mount Discard Sword remained so listless to this day after having slain the Demon Sect Master?

"In the life of Cultivators, it’s always a hundred years of cultivation, and few survive beyond two Jiazi. A lifespan of one hundred and twenty years is already the limit for many cultivators, but Mount Discard Sword is different—they are the direct lineage of the Ancestor of the Dao," Dongdong said with a wooden expression on her small face.

The Ancestor of the Dao is a figure in the mythology of the Jiawu Realm.

It is said that one third of the cultivation techniques in the Jiawu Realm originate from this Ancestor’s legacy.

What is a legacy? It is the inheritance left by his disciples, which, when acquired and successfully cultivated by others, continues to be passed down.

To think that Mount Discard Sword was actually directly passed down by the Ancestor of the Dao!

"If it’s a direct transmission, then possessing incredible methods to extend one’s life is also within reason..." Tan Shuchang murmured softly, his expression becoming somewhat enlightened.

One hundred and twenty years is the limit of lifespan for most practitioners in the Jiawu Realm, but that is not the limit for the cultivators of Mount Discard Sword. As for why those individuals have remained quiet, most likely they are in serene cultivation.

After all, at that age, any excessive loss of power can lead to serious harm to the body.

A cultivator who has cultivated for a hundred years, at the age of one hundred, is at his peak. He is still at his peak at one hundred and one, and likewise at one hundred and two, but by one hundred and three, the peak begins to fade.

It’s not to the extent that their power is halved overnight, but by their mid-hundred-tens, even if the strength remains, they dare not use their full force.

If that is the case for those in their mid-hundred-tens, it goes without saying for those who exceed the limits.

And as Tan Shuchang was lost in thought, he suddenly felt a surge of dread.

At the same time, a cry of alarm sounded, "Watch out! Move away quickly!"

Tan Shuchang had already sensed it before the voice sounded, but even so, he could not dodge in time because, damn it, it was a burst of Sword Qi!

Sword Cultivators move with incredible speed, and their Sword Qi is naturally no exception.

And it’s even more formidable than its source.

Because in the world of cultivators, the only thing faster than a Sword Cultivator is a Sword Cultivator’s Sword Qi!

Without hesitation, Tan Shuchang’s body burst with a blood-red afterimage, followed by the stabbing of a blood-red sword with interlocking serrated edges from the void.

Clang!

Like swords colliding mid-flight, the two forces struck each other. The bizarre blood-red sword remained steady, but the later force, lacking support, shattered instantly. Tiny fragmented sword forces burst out, causing the cultivators on the street to groan in pain.

They had all been hit.

Tan Shuchang hadn’t managed to dodge, much less these cultivators.

But Tan Shuchang was unaffected. His gaze was locked in the direction from which the Sword Qi had come. The fierce ghost-murdering rules within that serrated blood-red sword were already beginning to take effect.