Martial Cultivator

In the wind and snow, a brief skirmish came to an end.

The woman who had wielded nine flying swords managed to pull through, wiping out the group of young demon cultivators with minimal losses. Gao Xuan pulled his spear from the corpse of one of the dead demons, letting the blood drip from its tip before walking over to Xie Nandu. Still shaken, he said, ”If you really failed to hold out, I wouldn’t have been able to laugh about it now.”

Xie Nandu shook her head and said, ”I suddenly realized something.”

Gao Xuan asked, ”What?”

Xie Nandu replied, ”It wasn’t meant for you.”

Gao Xuan paused awkwardly. The girl before him was indeed incredibly clever, but sometimes her words were far too blunt, leaving no room for pleasantries.

Xie Nandu surveyed the surroundings and retrieved her flying swords, leaving only the one named Desolate North hovering by her side.

The name of the sword matched the land they were in.

Gao Xuan could not help but glance at it a few times before asking with a smile, “I heard your nine flying swords are all companion swords of the Hundred Year Swords. Why not go for a true Hundred Year Sword?”

“Because I can’t wait a hundred years.”

It was yet another dull statement, but one rooted in reality. After all, in the eleventh year of Tianjian, the nearest Hundred Year Sword, Wild Grass, had been taken by Yu Xiyi. Waiting for the next one would naturally mean waiting another century.

Gao Xuan was rather speechless.

Xie Nandu glanced at him, took out a small booklet from her robes and handed it to him, saying calmly, “Everything I’ve seen and heard along the way, I wrote them down. It should be useful to you. Take it back with you.”

Gao Xuan raised an eyebrow. ”You want me to return to Coldgate Pass alone?”

Xie Nandu nodded and said, ”Their target is me. Now is the best time for you to head back to Coldgate Pass.”

After saying this, Xie Nandu turned to look at the other people from the academy and said, ”Senior Brother Wang, take them back with you.”

Wang Kuan gave a bitter smile. ”Junior Sister Xie, you want to venture deep into the desolate north alone, acting as bait for us. But you should know, if you die here in the desolate north, how could we face the Dean when we return?”

As the Dean’s final disciple and with scholars across the land regarding the Dean as their leader, how could they abandon Xie Nandu and leave on their own at this moment?

Xie Nandu did not try to persuade any further and said softly, ”There’s a chance you might die.”

Wang Kuan smiled and replied, ”At this moment, I feel like there’s no better way to die than in the desolate north.”

Wang Kuan then turned to look at Gao Xuan.

Gao Xuan said indifferently, ”I don’t know how many times I’ve come to the desolate north and always returned alive. This time won’t be any different. Besides, I simply can’t let a woman die in front of me.”

Men of the North, far from their families, have stood guard in this bitterly cold place for countless years. Is it not because while they live, they wish to protect their homeland and loved ones behind them from dying first?

Letting a woman die before a man, just saying such a thing would make people laugh their heads off.

Xie Nandu looked into the distance and softly said, ”Originally, I hadn’t planned to go deeper into the desolate north, but now I have no choice but to take a look.”

Gao Xuan watched as the girl spoke to herself, smiling faintly.

But in the next moment, Xie Nandu’s words wiped the smile from his face.

At that time, the woman had said that it was an opportunity to go see that person.

……

……

The battle in the desolate north had unknowingly dragged on for over a month. Many young cultivators on both sides, human and demon, had already perished. Some news, even if one tried to hide it, could no longer be concealed.

Yuan Ling was dead.

Killed by a young martial artist, not because the latter relied on numbers to surround and kill Yuan Ling, but in a one-on-one battle, where he genuinely killed one of the top three young geniuses of the demon race.

That martial artist was called Chen Chao.

From the Great Liang.

When the news first spread, the youngsters in the desolate north did not believe it. Regardless whether they were demons or humans, it was the same.

News from outside the Great Liang Dynasty tends to be more up-to-date, and many major sects were well aware of Yuan Ling, the young genius of the green ape race. Such a genius had long been categorized alongside figures like Yun Jian and Ye Zhihua - true geniuses.

But even so, he was dead.

Killed by that young martial artist with a notorious reputation in the foreign lands, and even within Great Liang, his reputation was not particularly well-regarded.

If it had just ended there, it might have been easier to accept, but the second piece of news was even more shocking.

Among the demons, although there had always been differing opinions on who ranked in the top three geniuses of the current generation, there was unanimous agreement on the strongest, which was none other than the only daughter of His Majesty the Demon Emperor. Unlike her brothers, this demon princess had been deeply cherished by the Demon Emperor since birth, receiving personal guidance from him. Moreover, with the royal bloodline flowing through her, she had long been recognized as the undisputed number one among her peers in the same realm.

When she was at Spirit Platform, she was the number one in that realm. When she reached the Bitter Sea, she was the number one in the Bitter Sea. Now, having reached the Great Beyond, she was naturally considered the true number one among the younger generation.

But even this demon princess, could not kill the young martial artist when she found him.

Although more details surfaced afterward, such as the fact that the princess had already been injured before seeking out the young martial artist, the reality that he could escape alive from her hands was enough to demonstrate how extraordinary he was.

Beyond these reports, there were many other rumors circulating.

The sword cultivator from the Sword Sect called Yu Xiyi, had slain many demons in the desolate north over the past days, but this had led to him being hunted by a group of young demon cultivators. Yet, even so, they still failed to kill him. Now, with just his sword, he continued to roam the desolate northern plains. From time to time, demon geniuses would fall to his blade.

It was said that this young sword cultivator’s Sword Dao realm was profound, and he had already begun to show signs of a sword immortal.

He was no weaker than Yun Jianyue.

Yun Jianyue and Ye Zhihua, after joining forces, also killed quite a few demons in the desolate north, including a well-known young demon who was slain by the two of them.

There was a more ambiguous rumor about a young monk who fought against a demon genius in the desolate north for three days without a clear victor. At that time, a field of lotus flowers appeared in the sky like a sea of lotuses, clearly visible even from hundreds of miles away.

The last piece of news was the simplest.

And also the most thought-provoking.

A female sword cultivator who wielded nine lifeblood flying swords had already ventured deep into the desolate north.

There were not many female sword cultivators in the world, nor were there many sword cultivators with more than one lifeblood sword.

A female sword cultivator with a total of nine lifeblood swords, there was only one such person in the world.

So, when this news spread, countless young geniuses began seeking the whereabouts of that young female sword cultivator.

Since such a human genius appeared in the desolate north, nobody wanted to let her leave alive.