Chapter 87: You Can Only Like Me (13)
“She’s been in seclusion for a month, hasn’t come out once, and we still have to watch over her here, so annoying, I heard there are many rewards for doing missions recently.”
“Haven’t we heard anything about Jiang Zhiyan lately?”
“No, her soul flame is burning steadily again, we don’t know what’s going on, and the Demonic Sword hasn’t been found either, no news at all.”
“The Northern Demon King even got the Sun and Moon Mirror back, how did Jiang Zhiyan even get in there, right under the ancestor’s nose?”
“Didn’t the ancestor say anything?”
“How would I know what the ancestor said?”
The two guards squatted by the door, whispering.
Song Jin’yue, inside the room, opened her eyes. She looked at herself in the mirror; the ink stain was still there, but it had faded considerably. She wanted to continue body refining, but from the fourth level onwards, she needed some external stimulation for cultivation, but she didn’t have the materials.
She had to leave. She stood up, opened the door, and walked out.
“Can I leave now?” Song Jin’yue asked.
The few people guarding her stood up and looked at Song Jin’yue. She was wearing a mask on her right cheek, covering the ink stain. Her cultivation level seemed the same as before, so they thought she hadn’t made any progress during her seclusion, their gazes filled with disdain again.
They suspected that her comprehending sword intent was just a coincidence, after all, some people did comprehend sword intent under pressure. If Song Jin’yue was truly that capable, she would have been famous long ago, and no one would criticize her for following Wei Jingqian around.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for cultivation materials,” Song Jin’yue frowned. “You keep saying Jiang Zhiyan imprisoned me, what are you doing now?”
“The elder is worried that Jiang Zhiyan will hurt you again, don’t take kindness for granted.”
“Then I don’t need it, I’m leaving,” Song Jin’yue said, holding her sword and about to leave.
The two guards exchanged glances.
“Wait a moment, we’ll report to the elder.”
…
Deep within the Demon Realm, a figure flew out of the lava, followed by a surge of molten rock. The lava quickly cooled in the air, volcanic rock falling like rain, randomly striking the demonic beasts below.
Jiang Zhiyan faced another heavenly tribulation.
The cultivation speed of demonic cultivators was always fast, and Jiang Zhiyan’s reckless cultivation method was even faster. Moreover, she had modified the Demon Lord’s cultivation technique to better suit herself.
This heavenly tribulation seemed to be intent on taking her life. The lightning struck her, its residual power creating several abysses in the already scarred earth.
Fortunately, Jiang Zhiyan had already reached the bottom of the volcano during her cultivation, and the pain there was no different from a heavenly tribulation.
She had ruined two sets of clothes in a single day.
Thankfully, she had brought many sets of clothes in her storage pouches.
After reaching the Nascent Soul stage, her field of vision had expanded considerably, basically covering the entire Demon Realm.
“Host, your eyes are red.”
“Mm.”
“It looks like you have pink eye,” the System said seriously.
Jiang Zhiyan: ?
“Do you even know how to speak?” Jiang Zhiyan said, speechless. She had disguised her eyes, the red color was indeed too conspicuous, but it definitely didn’t look like pink eye, it just made her look more villainous, adding a touch of evil, mystery, and madness.
Perhaps it was because her aura had changed after falling into demonic cultivation, even with normal eye color, she still didn’t look like a good person.
While she was adjusting her breathing, several divine senses came and went. This time, with her increased strength, she didn’t bother concealing herself.
Since the Demon Lord was sealed, the Demon Realm had been divided into four territories, ruled by the four Demon Kings. The Demon Kings had changed many times, but the Demon Realm had never been unified. Currently, the weakest was the Western Demon King, at mid-Nascent Soul, he was the most proactive in searching for the Demonic Sword and the first to come and investigate.
While Jiang Zhiyan was recovering, a heavy hammer struck towards her head. She instantly disappeared, teleporting a hundred miles away – to the Western Demon King’s hidden territory. Several pairs of eyes fell on this location, observing the battle, but none of them intended to interfere.
The Western Demon King’s plan was to kill her while she was weak. Jiang Zhiyan’s progress was truly astonishing, and if he couldn’t kill her, he would at least severely injure her. He never expected Jiang Zhiyan to chase him down right after enduring nine bolts of lightning.
He raised his hammer to block, and Jiang Zhiyan’s sword qi pressed down on him like a tidal wave, the aura of death shaking his mind. How could such sinister sword qi exist within a righteous sect?
He felt another sword appear behind him.
Judging by the style of the two swords, they were a pair, and she had actually formed contracts with both of them, both celestial-grade swords. Normally, a person could only form a contract with one high-grade spiritual sword.
The sword qi weaved into a dense net, like a cage, at an incredible speed. With an attack coming from the front, the Western Demon King didn’t have time to react and could only defend. He braced himself on the ground, black scales appearing on his body.
A formation appeared beneath Jiang Zhiyan’s feet, a black storm sweeping towards him, ghostly cries echoing around him, invading his mind, and unsettling him.
The Western Demon King couldn’t understand where this woman learned all these strange tricks. His scales were thick, and he didn’t feel the true power of the sword qi at first, inwardly relieved. But when hundreds of identical sword qi pressed down on him, it initially felt like ants biting, then gradually, they pierced through his scales, and all the sword qi poured into the wound.
He howled in pain. Demons had a fast recovery rate, but Jiang Zhiyan’s sword was faster. The sword qi didn’t dissipate after entering his wound, trying to directly invade his heart, forcing him to divert his attention to block it.
The Western Demon King was constantly on the defensive, with no chance to counterattack. Jiang Zhiyan’s attacks were precise and relentless, leaving no openings. She seemed to need no time to think, the formations and sword qi seamlessly connected, multitasking on three fronts.
“Actually, I don’t want to kill you,” Jiang Zhiyan said.
He looked up, Jiang Zhiyan’s breathing had evened out, and she took a few pills right in front of him.
Jiang Zhiyan raised her hand, and his eyes glazed over, he finally gave up resisting and knelt on the ground.
The sounds the Western Demon King heard weren’t just distracting him; they were actually a type of mental toxin. By the time he heard them, the toxin had already spread rapidly. This mental toxin was more difficult to detect than ordinary mind control, so the Western Demon King hadn’t noticed it. Demons focused more on physical combat, their mental defenses were only at the level of an average Nascent Soul cultivator.
“Very useful,” Jiang Zhiyan looked at him. “Take me to your capital.”
“Host, you feel like the future big boss of this world,” the System said, watching Jiang Zhiyan’s actions, clearly not those of a good person.
“I’m not a good person to begin with,” Jiang Zhiyan said.
Those several gazes were still on her. They had opened a water mirror since Jiang Zhiyan’s tribulation began, watching her breakthrough together.
“Why does it seem like her sword is still using spiritual energy?” someone asked, breaking the silence.
“Not fully demonic? But she looks completely demonic, she fell, but her sword didn’t?”
“Did she really form a contract?”
“How can she control celestial-grade swords without a contract?”
“Two celestial-grade swords is absurd, has anyone seen these two swords before? They seem to have appeared out of nowhere.”
“She refined them herself,” a person from the Wanfa Sect said.
“Huh?”
“She refined them at Tianyan Pavilion.”
The few people fell silent, exchanged glances, and finally looked at Jiang Zhiyan’s master, the Grand Elder of the Myriad Swords Sect.
The Grand Elder’s expression wasn’t much better than theirs, clearly having lost control of his emotions.
“Her formations are also quite good, what a pity,” the Sect Master of the Wanfa Sect said with a chuckle. “Did she fall into demonic cultivation because she was bored? I’ve heard about the Myriad Swords Sect’s cultivation methods, they restrict the development of geniuses.”
“She should have joined our sect, the Myriad Swords Sect only likes rigid and inflexible people.”
The members of the Myriad Swords Sect didn’t speak, a direct disciple falling into demonic cultivation was already a very shameful matter, and the fact that she displayed skills learned outside the Myriad Swords Sect after falling was even more shameful.
“I’ll personally capture her and bring her back,” the Grand Elder of the Myriad Swords Sect stood up.
“Alright, at a time like this, we’re all old, let’s be more composed. We still don’t know her true strength, don’t act rashly, let’s think of a way to cause chaos in the Demon Realm.”
…
Jiang Zhiyan wondered how long these people planned to watch. Enough was enough, thankfully, after watching her for about half an hour, they finally looked away.
The Western Demon King regained his ability to think, but the thought of “submitting to Jiang Zhiyan” had already been implanted in his mind.
When the Demon King needed to handle official business, Jiang Zhiyan couldn’t be bothered, so based on her experience, she created a “mental toxin.” Now it was perfect, she could use all his resources without doing anything herself.
She stayed at the Demon King’s palace, politely declining the servants he offered.
“You didn’t come looking for me, I’m very heartbroken, Miss Jiang.”
Hearing the Northern Demon King’s voice, Jiang Zhiyan twitched the corner of her mouth: “You’re very brazen, sending your divine sense directly into the Western Territory, aren’t you afraid of leaving traces?”
“I just wanted to reminisce with Miss Jiang, I’m truly grateful for your help in retrieving the mirror.”
“So when are you giving me my reward?” Jiang Zhiyan asked.
“I’ve prepared it long ago, it’s up to you when you want to come and get it.”
“If you’re so grateful, then show some sincerity and have someone deliver it,” Jiang Zhiyan said, flipping through the list of the Western Demon King’s assets, feeling pleased.
The System, looking at the materials, sighed inwardly, so many things, enough for Jiang Zhiyan to cause a hundred incidents.
“I feel like we can build a battleship,” Jiang Zhiyan said to the System.
“Take it easy…” the System said, speechless.
“Forget it, it’s too troublesome.” Jiang Zhiyan closed the book. She had been chatting with the System for a while, and the Northern Demon King still hadn’t responded.
The Northern Demon King was thinking, he didn’t want to make an enemy of Jiang Zhiyan, because his most powerful skill was mind control, but Jiang Zhiyan was somehow immune, and she clearly had many other tricks up her sleeve. Fighting her wasn’t worth it no matter how he looked at it.
He believed that the difference between him and the other Demon Kings was his ability to assess the situation, the other Demon Kings were just reckless.
“I’m here to form an alliance with you, your ambition isn’t small, you need allies.”
Jiang Zhiyan tapped the table twice.
At this moment, the System really wanted to answer for Jiang Zhiyan: “No, she has no ambition, her only ambition is to wake up her wife and leave quickly.”
“Ambition, huh…” Jiang Zhiyan said nonchalantly. “Of course, I also want to coexist peacefully with you, the Demon Realm can’t afford to lose any Nascent Soul cultivators right now, that’s why I didn’t kill him.”
“The team delivering your gifts will set off tomorrow, I’ll inform the other two of your intentions.”
“Happy cooperation,” Jiang Zhiyan responded.
…
“You can’t leave without the elder’s permission, even if you leave the courtyard, you can’t leave the mountain gate without their permission.”
Song Jin’yue, holding her communication jade, contacted Wei Jingqian.
[Song Jin’yue: I want to leave.]
“It’s best for you to stay here right now,” Wei Jingqian said, walking out of the adjacent courtyard.
Song Jin’yue frowned: “You heard me earlier?”
Wei Jingqian didn’t speak, just looked at her, his gaze no different from when he looked at the surrounding plants.
“I want to leave.”
“She broke through,” Wei Jingqian said. “This time, a single palm strike can kill you, it would be difficult to save you again.”
“She broke through again?” Song Jin’yue frowned, because she hadn’t received any response from Jiang Zhiyan, she suspected she was in secluded cultivation, but she had already come out, why was she ignoring her? Her mood suddenly plummeted. “I want to leave, I’ll take responsibility for my own life, even if I die, I can accept it, you don’t need to save me.”
Wei Jingqian frowned at her, he really couldn’t understand Song Jin’yue’s logic.
“Didn’t you not want this engagement? I’ve decided to transfer the engagement to her, it’s still within the Wei family, I don’t think you can stop me from looking for my fiancée.” A strong voice in Song Jin’yue’s heart urged her to go to the Demon Realm, although she didn’t know why.
Wei Jingqian: ???
Wei Jingqian, who rarely showed strong emotions since starting to cultivate the Path of Emotionlessness, looked slightly shocked. The other disciple was also confused.
He looked at Song Jin’yue, wondering if she had gone crazy, or if there was some other reason.
Song Jin’yue clenched her fists.
“Then you can leave,” Wei Jingqian turned around.
Song Jin’yue breathed a sigh of relief and immediately followed him.
“Senior Brother! But the elder said…”
Wei Jingqian ignored him. With the Chief Disciple leading the way, Song Jin’yue smoothly left the mountain gate of the Myriad Swords Sect.
“Your choice.” Wei Jingqian looked at Song Jin’yue and took out a magic weapon, handing it to her. “After all, I owe you this.”
“No need,” Song Jin’yue didn’t accept it.
Thinking about Jiang Zhiyan’s craziness, if she accepted it, she didn’t know what Jiang Zhiyan would do.
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