Firmament Sword

Master Mao exclaimed from the side, “Holy crap, that undying old bastard is shameless! Even suppressed to the Initial Tier Ultimate Venerable, his realm is still the Celestial Venerable Realm. He’s leagues more experienced than Xiaodu, yet he actually used a term like ‘ask for guidance’…”

Xu Luo nodded beside him. “He is indeed quite shameless.”

The paralyzed middle-aged man and his companions were overcome with shame and anger. Having their ancestor insulted like this was even more unbearable than being insulted themselves.

But the decrepit old man was a true oddball. He showed no reaction to their taunts, seriously assuming an opening stance. He cupped his fist toward Du Qingteng and said, “Please!”

Even Du Qingteng couldn’t take it anymore. With a loud roar, he summoned his Ancient Inkstone. The Fountain Pen dipped directly into the Celestial Blue Fire and wrote the word “Slay” in the air, which then blasted toward the old man.

The old man tried to deploy a magic treasure, but when his Divine Thought flickered, he found nothing. He was shocked, remembering that all of his treasures had been stolen by that damned Blue-skirted Maiden. He couldn’t help but roar, “Unfair! How can you use a treasure to fight? We agreed to a fair fight!”

“To hell with your fairness! Go die!” Du Qingteng could no longer stand the old bastard’s shamelessness. He roared as the “Slay” character, formed from the Celestial Blue Fire, bore down on the old man.

PFFT!

The old man instantly spat out a mouthful of blood. His eyes looked ready to split with rage as he retreated in a hurry.

One of his arms had been severed by the “Slay” character!

The old man let out a bloodcurdling scream and roared, “You little brat, you dare injure this ancestor’s spiritual body? Be careful, you won’t make it out of these ruins alive!”

Du Qingteng was stunned for a moment. ‘It just occurred to me… this old guy… really could be a spiritual body.’

‘What truly mighty figure would risk their real body to enter a place like this, where their realm is suppressed?’

Lan snorted softly from the side and said, “He’s lying.”

Du Qingteng immediately burst into laughter. “Old bastard, I almost forgot! You used a Heaven-Deceiving Talisman to enter with your true body, didn’t you? HAHAHAHAHAHA! A spiritual body…? Even if it is a spiritual body, I’ll slay it today!”

The Celestial Blue Flame directly formed a Long Sword and flew toward the old man.

The old man’s power was suppressed to the Initial Tier Ultimate Venerable, and on top of that, he was heavily injured. He was no match for Du Qingteng at all.

He had agreed to the fight earlier because he’d forgotten all his magic treasures were gone, and he never expected Du Qingteng to possess such an incredible item.

Now, facing such a fierce and aggressive young expert, the old man’s Dao Heart, which hadn’t wavered for who knows how many tens of thousands of years… finally felt a flicker of fear.

‘It’s over!’

‘He knew in his heart that even if he was lucky enough to escape alive today, it would be impossible for him to advance any further and step into the Celestial Venerable Second Step.’

A wavering Dao Heart was the most fatal problem for any Cultivator.

But at this moment, a wavering Dao Heart… was no longer the most serious problem for the old man.

His very life was in peril, and that was what he needed to worry about most!

PFFT!

His other arm was also severed by the Long Sword formed from the Celestial Blue Fire. Blood splattered everywhere. The blood of a Celestial Venerable… a single drop could kill an Ultimate Venerable. It fell to the ground like a great mountain, boring bottomless holes straight through the earth.

The old man screamed miserably, then shouted, “Stop… stop! I give up! Let’s call a truce!”

“Truce my ass!” Du Qingteng commanded the Celestial Blue Fire, sending it burning directly toward the old man. He laughed maniacally, “Killing a Celestial Venerable! Unbelievable! Master Du is actually killing a Celestial Venerable today! HAHAHAHAHAHA! This feeling… is just so damn satisfying!”

Despair finally appeared in the old man’s eyes. He roared, “I am from a reclusive family of the West Sea Dao Platform! If you kill me today, the West Sea Dao Platform will not let you go! Even if you’re from the three great Holy Lands… you will pay the price for this!”

“What… you said you’re from the West Sea Dao Platform?” A look of surprise appeared on Du Qingteng’s face as he stared at the old man, his eyes filled with disbelief.

“Hmph. At a time like this, do I have any reason to hide anything from you?” The old man, both arms severed and blood gushing out, looked incredibly miserable with his deathly pale face.

Du Qingteng laughed. “Never heard of it!”

The old man was furious. Gritting his teeth, he wanted to charge forward and fight Du Qingteng to the death.

HISS!

The Long Sword formed from the Celestial Blue Fire decapitated the old man in a single strike. A torrent of a Celestial Venerable’s hot blood shot into the sky!

Then, a Phantom flew out of the old man’s body. Without a single threat or a moment’s hesitation, it flew directly into the distance.

“A Primordial Spirit!” Du Qingteng exclaimed in shock. “It really was his true body, otherwise where would a Primordial Spirit come from!”

He turned to Lan. “Quick, don’t let it escape! Or there will be endless trouble later!”

Lan just smiled and flicked her finger. A pinhead-sized, dark blue flame shot directly toward the old man’s wisp of a Primordial Spirit.

The old man’s Primordial Spirit let out a scream of absolute terror. The sound was horrifying, filled with endless, venomous hatred…

But it was futile.

The flame flicked by Lan burned it directly to ash!

“HAHAHAHAHA! Master Du killed a Celestial Venerable!” Only then did Du Qingteng finally let loose his wild laughter. He then walked over to the paralyzed people.

The few of them were terrified beyond belief. They looked at Du Qingteng, their eyes full of pleading.

Expressionless, Du Qingteng summoned the Celestial Blue Fire. A single burst of flame instantly turned the young maiden to ash.

The beautiful young maiden didn’t even have a chance to beg for mercy before she was reduced to a pile of ash.

Master Mao shouted from the side, “Good riddance! I hate little wenches like that the most!”

“Hmm?” Lan frowned slightly.

Master Mao instantly corrected himself, “I mean, I hate those black-hearted little wenches the most!”

Next, Du Qingteng burned the two young men to ash, leaving only the middle-aged man, who stared at him with a face full of despair and terror.

Du Qingteng said with a smile, “You don’t want to die, do you?”

The middle-aged man nodded vigorously. “Whatever you want… I’ll give you… just don’t kill me!”

“You see… I’m not into women. Otherwise, your young miss was quite a beauty, good enough to warm my bed, but I killed her anyway. Of course, I’m not into men either, so I didn’t spare those two.”

“So tell me… what can you possibly give me?”

Du Qingteng revealed a demonic smile. In truth, the reason he had killed the three young people first was that he could clearly see a soaring bloody aura around them!

It wasn’t their own vital energy, but a bloody aura accumulated from killing a certain number of people!

The bloody aura was very fresh, likely accumulated from people they had killed in just the last few days.

In just a few short days, at least several hundred lives had been lost at their hands…

‘Although Du Qingteng didn’t consider himself a saint—he wasn’t above robbing people on occasion—killing at the drop of a hat, especially the indiscriminate slaughter of innocents, was something he truly couldn’t do!’

That was why he had killed the three young people without a moment’s hesitation.

‘As for this remaining middle-aged man, it wasn’t that his bloody aura was any less than the other three. He just wanted to know where this group came from and what kind of background they had.’

‘Lord Du wasn’t completely brainless. Killing a Celestial Venerable—a true body, not a spiritual body like the one Luo Tian had killed—the consequences… if word got out, it would surely shake all of Jiuzhou.’

‘When that happened, if suspicion fell on him, his heart would pound with fear even with the backing of Holy Land Weiyu Mountain.’

“Whatever… whatever you want, as long as I have it… I’ll give it all to you! Divine… divine materials… precious artifacts… all… all kinds of treasures! Whatever you want, I’ll… give… give you!”

The middle-aged man’s lips trembled, and his whole body shook. A warm stream flowed from beneath him—he had actually pissed himself in fear…

Du Qingteng smelled the stench of piss and frowned, but he didn’t lash out. Instead, he became even more affable, squatting in front of the middle-aged man and saying with a smile, “I don’t want your treasures. You can keep those for yourself.”

“I’m just going to ask you a few questions. As long as you answer me honestly and don’t lie, I promise I won’t kill you!”

Two rays of hope shot from the middle-aged man’s eyes as he stared at Du Qingteng. “Really? You won’t lie to me… I-I’ll talk!”

“Of course I won’t lie. Master Du never lies!” Du Qingteng tried his best to widen his not-so-large eyes to show the man his sincerity.

“Then… you can ask. Go ahead and ask. I’ll talk!” the middle-aged man stammered. “I’ll tell you everything!”

“Very good. Where are you from? And don’t give me that West Sea Dao Platform nonsense. Master Du has never heard of it. Tell me something Master Du *has* heard of… the real stuff! That’s right, the real deal, not some watered-down story,” Du Qingteng said with a smile.

“O-Okay! I’ll talk,” the middle-aged man stammered. “Our family is indeed on the West Sea Dao Platform. It’s… it’s in the Sea Soul Province!”

“Our family is a reclusive one. This time, we… we came here led by Akagi Ancestor after receiving a message from a disciple who roams the world.”

“In our family, there are three other Celestial Venerable Ancestors. The strongest is Chibi Ancestor, who is at the Celestial Venerable Ninth Step!”

“Besides him, there is also Chi Lian Ancestor, who is at the Celestial Venerable Seventh Step, and Red Saber Ancestor… who is at the Celestial Venerable Fourth Step!”

‘Holy crap… that strong!’ Du Qingteng was startled. He hadn’t expected this family from the West Sea Dao Platform to be so powerful. The one he killed was actually the weakest…

The middle-aged man didn’t dare to gloat. He looked at Du Qingteng and said, “This humble one dares not hide the truth. The ancestors at home are in year-round seclusion and haven’t emerged for tens of thousands of years. Maybe… maybe they’ve already passed away.”

“As long as you let me go, I swear on my soul that I will never speak of what happened today! Absolutely not!”

“After I get out, I’ll immediately flee to a faraway place, live in anonymity, find some remote hovel to live in, and never appear before anyone again!”

At that moment, the middle-aged man might have been speaking from the heart. But humans are the most fickle creatures in the world. If he really got out… who could guarantee what he would do?

Therefore, Du Qingteng chuckled and patted the middle-aged man’s shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I said I wouldn’t kill you, so I won’t kill you. Master Du never lies!”

WHOOSH!

A blue flame instantly burned the middle-aged man to ash.

Du Qingteng said expressionlessly, “Master Du indeed doesn’t lie to people. But dogs… well, I might lie to them once in a while.”