Martial Cultivator

But when White Jing appeared before the demon race’s royal city, a woman was already standing atop the city walls, silently watching him.

If the things White Jing had done over the years had already ensured that the demon race would never forget him, then this demon princess before him was the figure most frequently mentioned over these recent years.

When she was first born, no one paid attention to this princess who had not been born of the demon race’s empress. But as Autumn’s realm continued to rise afterward, gradually catching up to her elder brothers and even surpassing them, the entire demon race began paying attention to Autumn.c

The Demon Domain was not short of geniuses. Among countless races, there were always beings with extremely powerful bloodlines, creatures who were stronger than ordinary demons from birth, and thus easily rose to greatness.

Autumn carried the bloodline of the Demon Emperor, and was destined to be a genius as well. Yet no one had expected this demon princess to be such a genius, so much so that all the young talents of her generation were completely eclipsed before her.

By now, Autumn, who had reached the end of Nepenthe, was regarded by all demons as someone who would become the first female emperor in demon history once the Demon Emperor one day reached the end of his lifespan, so long as nothing went wrong

Now Autumn looked at White Jing, and White Jing had no choice but to stop as well, raising his head to look at this woman who was now praised by countless people.

Their gazes met, neither willing to look away, and they held this silent standoff for a full quarter of an hour.

After a quarter of an hour, White Jing finally withdrew his gaze first, looking at Autumn with a smile. “Is Your Highness the Princess here waiting for me?”

Autumn said calmly, “If you think it’s you, then it’s you.”

White Jing smiled. “I heard that Princess once followed that young martial artist for quite some time, yet he never killed you. Is there something unspeakable between the two of you?”

This was also something many demons had been puzzled about recently. After all, after that young martial artist left the Onan River, he continued south. Even if he no longer had the strength for further battles, he still killed a demon lord within the demon army.

But if he still had the ability to fight, then why did Autumn, who had followed him all the way south, not suffer a disastrous end at his hands?

Everyone knew that Chen Chao and Autumn had clashed many times since they were young, yet neither had ever been able to do anything to the other.

In such entanglement, who knew whether any strange feelings had arisen between them?

Autumn looked at White Jing without speaking, only removing her hairpin. The hairpin slowly transformed into a flying sword-sized blade, it was the flying sword Autumn had previously obtained, Autumn Beyond the Tower.

“White Jing, if you have questions, then come and test me. If you win, you will naturally get the answer you want.”

Autumn’s eyes turned completely snow-white. This demon princess remained expressionless, she would not explain these matters, nor did she deem them worth explaining. If someone felt that things were amiss and wanted an answer, then they could come and try.

Try this peerless female great sword immortal of the demon race.

White Jing smiled. “Princess’s temperament is quite like His Majesty’s, always drawing swords at the slightest disagreement. But Princess, you have only cultivated for how long? Do you really think you are already invincible? I heard that when Princess first fought that young martial artist, you even had the upper hand. How is it that later on, you became less and less his match?” “In the battle of the desolate north, you suffered a crushing defeat. Now that young martial artist has already stepped into a new realm, I’m afraid it’s impossible for Princess to ever catch up to him again, isn’t it?”

Autumn did not speak, but the demonic qi on the city walls grew increasingly dense. Within that aura, strands of sharp sword qi interwove like the coldest winds of the Demon Domain in winter.

White Jing could not help but frown. Having cultivated for so many years, he understood clearly: a rising genius like Autumn, if she had simply cultivated steadily to this point without any special means, would not have been someone to fear. But it was precisely because she possessed something others did not that she was dangerous.

Because it meant that once they truly fought, he might encounter unforeseen variables.

“Whether I’m invincible or not is hard to say, but killing someone like you who failed to even kill a woman who has yet to enter Nepenthe? It probably won’t be difficult.”

Autumn finally spoke. The moment she did, it felt as though a razor-sharp flying sword had been driven straight into White Jing’s body.

Previously, he had been sent south by the demon race’s High Priest to kill that young human woman. He had originally thought it would be an effortless task, but in the end, he still failed.

Although that was because someone was protecting her, failure was still failure, no matter how it was explained, it could not be erased.

To him, it was a humiliation.

Now, being brought up by Autumn, White Jing narrowed his eyes, a trace of killing intent already emerging.

Among ordinary demons, hierarchy was strict. But at his level, many of those rules no longer applied. Just like the other sons of the Demon Emperor, when facing someone like White Jing, they would still show him utmost respect.

Putting it bluntly, strength was still what reigned supreme in the Demon Domain.

......

......

But while White Jing was still weighing the pros and cons, a black figure appeared not far away - it was the High Priest of the Demon Race who had hurried over.

The High Priest of the Demon Race arrived, looked at White Jing, and shook his head. “White Jing, don’t act recklessly.”

Both publicly and privately, he did not wish to see White Jing do anything at this moment.

White Jing looked into the High Priest’s eyes. Regarding this old friend of his, he still trusted him deeply. Now that the High Priest had appeared here, he could read two layers of meaning.

The first was, of course, that war between the Demon Domain and the human race was about to break out, and internal conflict was the last thing that should happen. Since he had been the one strongly pushing for the southern campaign, he would certainly not allow anything to go wrong at this critical moment.

As for the second layer, he could also read it from the High Priest’s eyes: the Demon Emperor was not so easy to kill. Even a Demon Emperor already in a severely weakened state would absolutely not be so easily taken down.

In other words, even if he, White Jing, managed to kill the Demon Emperor with great effort, it would most likely end up benefiting someone else.

White Jing quickly smiled. “I’m just here to take a look. What’s there to worry about?”

The High Priest said nothing. He merely turned and looked at Autumn, asking, “Your Highness, how is His Majesty?”

Seeing that a fight would no longer break out, Autumn also had no intention of forcing a confrontation. White Jing held extremely high prestige in the Demon Sea, and if he were killed, it would certainly cause great trouble.

For the current Demon Race, he indeed should not be killed.

Autumn might not have much affection for the Demon Emperor, but she held the purest feelings toward the Demon Race itself.

“Royal Father is inside. High Priest, you may go see for yourself.”

After saying this, Autumn left the city walls, not giving the High Priest any further chance to speak.

......

......

Inside the royal city, on the throne, the Demon Emperor finally withdrew his gaze from the south.

Then Autumn walked in from outside.

This father and daughter stood at opposite ends at this moment - one by the gate, the other seated on the throne.

Neither spoke.

After a long while, Autumn finally said, “Royal Father, I am here.”

The Demon Emperor listened to this, gave a slight nod, then tiredly stroked the beast head carved on the throne, and said emotionlessly, “He is still alive.”

Autumn’s expression did not change. She merely raised her brows almost imperceptibly.

But she quickly suppressed all her emotions and said calmly, “I will do my best to kill him.”

The Demon Emperor looked at Autumn. No matter from which angle, this daughter of his was already outstanding enough. Without Chen Chao, she could have easily crushed all young geniuses of both the human race and the Demon Race.

But Chen Chao had appeared.

“You are not inferior to him in any way. Stepping into that realm will not be difficult for you, you are only lacking a bit of fortune.”

The Demon Emperor’s voice sounded out faintly, still without any emotion.

Autumn did not speak. Regarding “fortune,” she had in fact already obtained some things of her own.

After a brief silence, Autumn said, “I want to make a trip to the human race again.”

The Demon Emperor looked at his daughter but did not respond.

......

......

Inside the Sword Sect’s Sect Master’s cave dwelling, the Sword Sect’s Sect Master stood up. His complexion had turned somewhat pale. He already had injuries of his own, and having just fought a will incarnation of the Demon Emperor, he had become even weaker.

Chen Chao also opened his eyes at that moment, then suddenly coughed up a large mouthful of blood.

Yu Xiyi hurriedly reached out to support Chen Chao, asking with concern, “How is it? You’re not going to die, are you?”

Chen Chao looked at Yu Xiyi and gave a weak smile. “I’m not worried about dying anymore, but right now it’s still fucking worse than I expected.”

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master glanced at Chen Chao and said calmly, “The methods left behind by the Demon Emperor have been removed, but your broken house can no longer withstand even the slightest wind or rain.”

Chen Chao gave a bitter smile. “Just staying alive is already not easy. As for the rest, I’ll just leave it to fate. Fighting someone like that and still coming out alive is already good enough.”

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master smiled. “That’s not wrong. After all, you did come back with your life. As for the rest, we can talk about it later. There will always be opportunities.”

Chen Chao glanced at Yu Xiyi. The latter was momentarily stunned, then quickly reacted. Reaching his hand out, he took the Restoration True Pill from Chen Chao’s chest, and stuffed it into Chen Chao’s mouth.

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master glanced over and said, “You really do have quite a few good things. That Restoration True Pill was given by Yun Jianyue?”

Chen Chao shook his head. After swallowing the pill, its medicinal power immediately began to take effect, easing the pain throughout his body.

He struggled to sit up, looked at the pool of blood on the ground, then turned to glance at Yu Xiyi and sighed, “What a waste.”

Yu Xiyi snapped, “Then you fucking drink it?”

Chen Chao ignored him and instead solemnly bowed toward the Sword Sect’s Sect Master.

Because he could not stand, this was all he could do.

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master said nothing, accepting it calmly.

Not only because he had saved Chen Chao once, but also because when he withdrew from Chen Chao’s body earlier, he had left behind a strand of his sword qi within him.

That strand of sword qi served, on one hand, as a pillar supporting Chen Chao’s broken house.

On the other hand, it contained a hundred years of the Sword Sect’s Sect Master’s comprehension of the sword dao.

In doing so, he was essentially laying bare his entire lifetime of sword cultivation for this young martial artist to see.