Imperial Cultivation

Chapter 1146: Chapter 1142: Lending a Hand

The old woman bent her fingers and flicked towards the sword tip. Seeing the golden light flicker, she realized something was wrong and quickly retracted her hand to dodge.

But the sword light was so swift that she had no time to evade and had to brace herself to flick out.

She had already gathered all her strength in her finger.

”Hiss!”

The sword tip easily sliced through her fingers, all five severed from her hand.

The old woman suddenly let out a tragic scream.

Chu Zhiyuan was prepared, but the other eight City Guards were taken aback.

They never thought the arrogant old woman would scream so miserably.

They thought her heart was as hard as stone, cruel to others and to herself.

Chu Zhiyuan was unaffected by the scream as the sword tip continued to spin, sweeping towards her throat.

As the old woman screamed, her actions did not stop, leaning back to dodge.

She dared not catch the long sword with her hands again.

Her hands, hard as iron, could block a Treasure Sword, yet couldn’t withstand the Shadowless Divine Sword.

The eight City Guards had the deepest experience of her hard hands and fingers.

Longswords like a shiny bright light that could cut iron like mud could not cut her slender hands and delicate fingers.

But Chu Zhiyuan could easily sever her fingers, was it due to the golden light?

Or had he cultivated some miracle technique?

They were unaware of Chu Zhiyuan’s identity, only judging him as friendly since he attacked the old woman.

This old woman was an evil demon, destined to be vanquished by all.

Suddenly, the sword aura at Chu Zhiyuan’s sword tip surged. Originally only one foot, it suddenly extended to two feet.

This additional foot easily slashed across the old woman’s shoulder.

Instantly, her right arm separated from her shoulder, causing her to scream again.

A misty shadow suddenly appeared at her feet, becoming illusory.

The next moment, she was already two zhang away, transforming into a wisp of light smoke, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.

The eight City Guards, seeing this, quickly wanted to pursue.

Chu Zhiyuan said, ”No need to chase.”

They stopped, turned, and looked at him.

Chu Zhiyuan said, ”The demoness of the Divine Movement Sect is uncatchable.”

”Divine Movement Sect?! Damn, it was the Divine Movement Sect!”

They clenched their teeth in hatred, completely giving up the chase.

The demons of the Divine Movement Sect were known for their qinggong, the peak of speed in the world.

Incredibly fast.

Thus they often dared to provoke the Imperial City, for if they couldn’t win, they could escape.

Provoke and then run, most of the time being unable to do anything about it.

”And may I ask who sir is...?”

”Chu Zhiyuan of the Heavenly Sword Sect,” Chu Zhiyuan cupped his fists and showed them his token.

They stood respectfully, cupping their fists and saying, ”So it’s a master from the Heavenly Sword Sect, our apologies, and thank you for your assistance, Mr. Chu.”

Chu Zhiyuan smiled, ”Even without me, there were colleagues like you to assist. I just couldn’t stand seeing evil demons rampant.”

”These evil demons should be vanquished by all!” they said angrily.

”Indeed,” Chu Zhiyuan agreed, bending down to pick up the severed arm and fingers.

By this time, the severed arm and fingers had already changed in appearance.

Gray and withered turned to white and tender, the severed fingers became delicate like white scallions, the severed arm like a lotus root segment.

A glance showed they were the jade fingers and arm of a young woman.

Chu Zhiyuan glanced at the severed arm and fingers, shaking his head, ”Turns out it’s a young demoness.”

”Demonesses of the Evil Sect, hard to determine their age, they look young but may be old hags,” a young City Guard said in a low voice.

Another City Guard said, ”Through evil skills, they often maintain their looks, clearly hundreds of years old but looking like they’re eighteen.”

Chu Zhiyuan asked, ”Does the Divine Movement Sect possess this capability?”

Another City Guard replied in a grave tone, ”Almost all demonesses of the Evil Sect possess this ability.”

Chu Zhiyuan slowly nodded.

That City Guard said, ”They consume essence blood to replenish their own, keeping themselves vibrant, thus perpetually youthful; this is their evil skill!”

Chu Zhiyuan solemnly said, ”If that’s the case, then I ought to go eliminate her first.”

”But she’s from the Divine Movement Sect, incredibly fast, can’t be caught.”

”That’s okay, as long as I have this severed arm and hand, I can find her, perhaps even locate the Divine Movement Sect’s lair.”

”Mr. Chu, are those words true?” a young City Guard hurriedly said, ”The Evil Sect has deep control over blood energy, our tracking technique can’t trace them through their essence blood, can you, Mr. Chu?”

Chu Zhiyuan nodded, ”I possess a miracle technique that can achieve this.”

”I wonder...” the young City Guard hesitated, and awkwardly asked, ”If it’s possible...”

Chu Zhiyuan smiled and said, ”If I can find her hiding place, and if there are any other Evil Demons of the Divine Movement Sect, then I’ll ask the City Guards to take action.”

”Thank you, Mr. Chu!” The eight people cupped their fists in gratitude almost simultaneously.

If it were an ordinary person, they wouldn’t believe anyone could track down the demoness of the Divine Movement Sect.

But a disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect is different, especially ones who are allowed to leave the mountain for missions; they must have a Miracle Technique to be able to say such things.

Chu Zhiyuan waved his hand and said, ”Everyone has a duty to exterminate Evil Demons, not to mention the City Guards. Our Heavenly Sword Sect has slain countless Evil Demons; a few more won’t make a difference... Well, I’ll go after them first.”

”Mr. Chu, let us go together with you.”

”...Alright.” Chu Zhiyuan gave them a glance and nodded in agreement.

Venerables are not rare in the Heavenly Sword Sect and are common in the Four Great Sects, but outside of them, they are indeed rare.

Even in the Imperial City, these eight Third Transformation Venerables are not commonly seen and are all elite members of the military.

At this time, a City Guard ran over from a distance to inquire about the situation here.

The eight City Guards stated their decision and instructed this guard to go and report it.

Chu Zhiyuan then led them to search for the whereabouts of the demoness.

The group headed south, chatting along the way, introducing themselves and getting acquainted with each other.

Chu Zhiyuan mentioned he was ordered to deliver a message to the Heavenly Sword Branch.

Unexpectedly, such a coincidence occurred, and he asked whether the Evil Demons in the Imperial City were so rampant.

They said it had only been like this over the past year; before, Evil Demons wouldn’t dare come within a hundred miles of the Imperial City.

Now these Evil Demons have grown stronger and much more rampant, making them hard to defend against and quite troublesome.

They were originally experts in the military but were transferred to the City Guard specifically to deal with the increasingly rampant Evil Demons.

Chu Zhiyuan’s expression turned solemn.

In his mind, he wondered if the rampancy of these Evil Demons was due to some change.

And is the Court’s suppression of the Heavenly Sword Sect also because of this change?

The group passed by a mountain peak, then turned westward.

After floating for about thirty miles, Chu Zhiyuan suddenly stopped and landed in the dense forest halfway up the mountain, perched on a tall tree, and used Sound Transmission into Secret to communicate to the eight people: ”It’s in the valley ahead.”

”Valley?” The eight followed him down onto the giant tree, glanced at each other, and then looked across.

They were situated on the mountainside in a vast ancient forest, each tree requiring two people to embrace its trunk, standing over ten meters high, straight and imposing.

Across indeed, three peaks flanked a valley, appearing lush and green with thick trees and dense grass, deep and verdant.

There were no signs of human habitation.

Chu Zhiyuan said, ”The demoness’s aura is within this valley.”

A young man used Sound Transmission into Secret to ask, ”Only her alone?”

”There are eight other Evil Demons,” Chu Zhiyuan replied, ”we need reinforcements.”

”Eight? How strong are they?”

”Not inferior to you.”

”Then we definitely need reinforcements!”

Among the eight, the leader named Ding Huanchun said solemnly, ”I’ll go gather reinforcements!”

Chu Zhiyuan nodded.

Ding Huanchun floated away without doubting if Chu Zhiyuan made a mistake.

Chu Zhiyuan secretly marveled.

It seems that the credibility and prestige of the Heavenly Sword Sect are extraordinarily high.

Despite the Court’s suppression, among the common people, military, or within the Imperial City, its prestige is exceedingly high.

Even Ding Huanchun, an elite of the military, did not doubt his words.

Thus, a quarter of an hour later, Ding Huanchun returned with twelve experts.

All were Venerables of the Third Transitions.

Chu Zhiyuan looked at them in astonishment.

These were twenty Venerables of Third Transitions; could it be the Court’s power is so astounding?

Ding Huanchun seemed to understand Chu Zhiyuan’s amazement and used Sound Transmission into Secret: ”Mr. Chu, to deal with the rampant Evil Demons, the Court has mobilized elite soldiers and invited many masters from various Martial Arts Sects.”

Chu Zhiyuan slowly nodded.

Indeed, the Dynasty is truly the Dynasty; the forces it can mobilize are indeed beyond what the Heavenly Sword Sect can achieve.

Ding Huanchun used Sound Transmission into Secret: ”Shall we proceed with our action?”

Chu Zhiyuan nodded: ”There’s nothing more to say, just surround them and prepare to catch them in a jar.”

”Not going directly in?”

”There are some traps inside; if we can avoid charging directly, we should not.”

Ding Huanchun said, ”The eight of us will act first, while Old Yu and the others hide in the shadows to lure them out.”

Chu Zhiyuan nodded in agreement.

This trick of baiting the enemy is indeed likely to succeed.

Ding Huanchun and the others floated up and glided downward, landing at the mouth of the valley.

Outside the valley mouth was a large river weaving through the mountains like a jade belt, passing by the valley and continuing downward.