Martial Cultivator

The human race and the demon race had been enemies for thousands of years. In the long years of the past, the two sides had fought countless great battles. The hatred between them had long since become irreconcilable.

On the rare occasions of peace talks, most of them were peace bought by the human race at an enormous cost. As for the demon race, if they did not wish to fight, they could simply withdraw from the desolate north. After all, throughout history, there had also been times when human armies rode across the Onan River and fought their way into the Demon Domain.

Therefore, this time, when the demon race attacked the city, the defending soldiers did not show the slightest panic.

At a command from the defending general, several divine crossbows atop the city wall were slowly drawn open. A mysterious and terrifying aura gradually gathered from all directions, concentrating onto the bolts of those massive ballistics, ready to be unleashed.

The divine crossbows had been Great Liang’s earliest defensive weapon on the city walls. It was precisely because of their existence that the Northern Frontier Great Wall had avoided being breached in its wars against the demon race. If these divine crossbows had not existed from the very beginning, then no matter how tall or sturdy the Northern Frontier Great Wall was, it would not have been able to hold.

Once the first round of divine crossbows was ready, at a wave of a deputy general’s hand, dozens of bolts carrying terrifying force shot out all at once, like streaking comets crashing into the demon army.

With thunderous booms, the bolts slammed into the demon ranks, instantly blasting many demons into minced flesh. Outside Pine Pavilion Pass, numerous enormous craters appeared.

However, after this round of volleys, the demon soldiers seized the moment before the second round of divine crossbows was ready and began to scale the city.

The divine crossbows on the wall were limited, but the soldiers stationed there continued to release wave after wave of arrows without pause. However, compared to the divine crossbows, the power of these arrow volleys was naturally far inferior.

Several great demons exchanged glances, then leaped up together, carrying surging demonic qi as they charged toward the city wall.

However, a few of the more powerful divine crossbows had been held in reserve and had not been fired in the earlier volley. The ones operating these ballistae were not ordinary soldiers, but trained accompanying cultivators. Their cultivation levels were not low, allowing them to activate these weapons.

At this moment, as the great demons rushed toward the wall, those divine crossbows finally fired, shooting straight toward them.

The power of a divine crossbow was roughly equivalent to a full-force strike from a Great Beyond cultivator, and some bolts even reached the level of a Nepenthe cultivator’s all-out attack.

In past wars, there had been instances of great demons being killed by these bolts during sieges.

Thus, even great demons did not dare to treat these divine crossbows lightly.

A dense mass of demonic qi spread across the sky, transforming into several enormous hands that reached out to seize the incoming bolts. Most of the bolts were quickly caught, while only a few managed to slip through and plunge into the thick demonic clouds.

Even so, many of those that entered the clouds would still fail to achieve any result.

After another volley, a figure had already appeared atop the city wall.

It was a great demon of the demon race - tall in stature, dressed in black, with dense demonic qi swirling around his body. Any soldier who looked at him felt an immense pressure.

At that very moment, the sound of a cicada rang out across the city wall. Sword qi filled the air, and a dazzling streak of sword light flashed past, forcibly driving the great demon who had climbed onto the wall back down.

A sword immortal in green robes grasped his flying sword, Embracing Cicada, and stood atop the wall, sneering, “Come, bring it on! Find seven or eight great demons to attack together, otherwise it won’t even be enough to kill!”

With Liu Banbi’s appearance, the overwhelming sword qi immediately dispersed the demonic qi that had filled the wall.

As soon as Liu Banbi appeared, two great demons exchanged a glance and charged at him together. However, Liu Banbi simply raised his hand and thrust out a single sword strike, and that terrifying sword light directly forced the two great demons back.

“Didn’t I say it already? Bring seven or eight. One or two, can they withstand my sword?”

Liu Banbi had spent all these years in the northern lands killing demons. The sword dao emphasized a single word - killing. Among all the sword immortals in the world, perhaps Yu Xiyi was not the one with the highest sword dao cultivation, but when it came to killing demons, Liu Banbi dared to claim second, and no one would dare claim first.

Now Liu Banbi’s sword dao cultivation had already infinitely approached the great sword immortal realm. He was no longer someone easy to deal with. That sword strike he had just delivered contained his full strength, precisely to draw the other great demons toward himself.

Otherwise, Xie Nandu’s situation would become extremely difficult.

After all, although his own teacher was a Confucian Saint, truly at the end of Nepenthe, below there was still an Autumn.

His teacher was destined to be restrained. If even one or two great demons slipped through, the situation would become truly dire.

Sure enough, after Liu Banbi delivered that sword strike, several great demons had already realized that Liu Banbi’s realm was no longer what it once was. In a short time, two more great demons joined the battle, surrounding and attempting to kill Liu Banbi together.

Thus, a total of four great demons had now entered the fight.

Liu Banbi let out a cold laugh. The flying sword in his hand rang continuously like a cicada. He himself moved like an autumn cicada, darting through the sky filled with demonic qi, before appearing in front of one of the great demons and delivering a sword strike. Terrifying sword qi instantly tore apart a portion of the demonic qi.

The great demon who had first climbed onto the city wall now stood directly before Liu Banbi. Liu Banbi narrowed his eyes slightly and slashed out with his flying sword. A brilliant streak of sword light appeared.

That great demon’s expression turned grave. Demonic qi surged before him, layering upon itself as if to block the strike. However, Liu Banbi’s sword was too terrifying. In an instant, it tore through several layers of demonic qi and fell straight toward the great demon.

Blood sprayed across the sky. The great demon retreated again and again, and in the end, still managed to escape with his life.

Liu Banbi cursed under his breath. Behind him, the other great demons had already closed in. Having lost this best opportunity, he could only fall into a bitter battle.

However, when he glanced back, Liu Banbi still counted the number of great demons who had come to surround him.

Four.

Which meant that there was still one great demon who had not come to besiege him.

Liu Banbi sighed. As the senior brother, this was all he could do.

As for the rest, it would depend on whether his junior sister’s luck was good enough.

......

......

Below the city, Autumn had already made her move. The demon race princess drew Autumn Beyond the Tower from her hair bun, and in an instant, the flying sword returned to its normal size.

Gripping the flying sword, Autumn leapt onto the city wall and first delivered a sword strike toward a ballista not far away. One ballista was immediately shattered, and the cultivator operating it died on the spot.

The remaining force of that sword was quickly brushed away by a middle-aged scholar with a wave of his sleeve.

The academy dean stared at Autumn and sighed in admiration. “Strange, truly strange. A demon race woman has actually become a sword cultivator. That alone would be one thing, but she is in fact a genuine great sword immortal?!”

Autumn’s expression remained indifferent. “You should die.”

The academy dean chuckled. “So arrogant?”

Autumn said nothing more and directly sent out another sword strike.

Although Autumn’s sword dao realm did not quite match that of ordinary great sword immortals, the addition of demonic qi made her sword dao extremely strange and difficult to deal with. Sword qi and demonic qi intertwined, making it exceptionally troublesome.

Autumn wrapped the Dean in sword qi, and the two of them rose into the sky.

Though the Dean appeared calm on the surface, in reality, the leader of scholars under heaven was inwardly bitter. He had only recently fought White Jing, and his injuries had not fully recovered. Facing an ordinary demon lord would already not be easy, and now he had encountered this demon race princess.

But no matter what, he could only brace himself and fight.

The Dean took a deep breath. His aura surged like great river waves crashing against the shore, forcing back Autumn’s demonic qi. At the same time, he pulled off the jade hairpin from his bun and hurled it toward her.

Autumn remained expressionless and simply swept her sword across the jade hairpin, producing a series of sharp metallic sounds.

Each metallic clash made Dean’s expression grow more pained.

That jade hairpin was no ordinary item. It had been given to him by his own teacher before he became the dean.

For so many years, he had treated it as a treasure. If it were to be broken here, it would be enough to make his heart bleed.

At the same time, when the final great demon ascended the city wall, his foremost objective was to find that woman. This time, the army’s assault on Pine Pavilion Pass was not even primarily for occupying the pass, but to kill the woman within it. For that purpose, even paying some price was acceptable.

However, the moment he saw that woman, what appeared before him at the same time were countless flying swords.

There were simply too many.

Dazzling, impossible to take in at a glance.

But in truth, there were only nine swords. It was just that their speed was so great, leaving behind numerous afterimages, that it seemed as though there were countless flying swords.

And behind those nine flying swords, that woman stood atop the city wall, quietly looking at this great demon.