Chapter 81: Drawing the Sword to Sever the Sky—Killing the Soul Without Harming the Body
After leaving the tavern, they walked straight down the street and turned left at the first intersection. Sure enough, Liu Yi saw a small, pitiful blacksmith shop—Cross Ironsmith.
As soon as A Niu reached the door, he shouted, “Master, master! Someone is looking for you!”
Before long, an old voice came from inside, “I won’t see anyone. Yao is already so sick—why do you still try to attract customers? You really don’t understand.”
Hearing the voice, Liu Yi said, “I don’t know your name, sir. What illness does Yao have? Maybe I can cure it.”
The old voice replied, “What are you joking about? You carry such a strong killing aura—clearly a swordsman. What ability do you have to heal? I think you’re better suited for killing.”
Liu Yi remained unfazed and continued, “Whether it’s possible or not can only be determined after a check. Besides, I came here to ask you to help me craft a magical weapon. I’m confident I can get it done.”
There was a pause from inside, then the door suddenly swung open with a bang. An old man in his fifties stepped out—white hair and beard, deeply sunken eyes, and a long, prominent scar on the right side of his face. He wasn’t tall and rushed straight at A Niu, grabbing a metal rod nearby and starting to beat him while shouting, “Did you go out drinking again? You keep causing me trouble. Let me beat you to death!”
Liu Yi watched the old man’s ridiculous behavior with a slight change in his expression and said, “Please stop, sir. I truly need your help.”
The old man looked at Liu Yi’s attire and asked, “Who are you? There’s never been anyone like you in the martial world.”
Liu Yi replied, “I’ve just started my career and am not a famous figure.”
The old man stared at him and said, “I haven’t crafted weapons in decades. I’ve almost forgotten how. Besides, Yao is seriously ill now, and I have no mind for such things.”
Liu Yi said, “Could I take a look at Yao’s illness? Maybe I can really cure her—who knows?”
The old man said, “You’re really persistent. I’ve already invited many experts and even miracle doctors, but none were useful. Fine, follow me. If you can truly cure Yao’s illness, not to mention crafting a weapon, I’m even willing to let you craft something for me.” With that, the old man led the way.
Liu Yi said, “I’ll do my best.” Then he followed the old man inside, through the dark room, to the backyard. Under the sunlight, on a broken bed, lay a girl in green clothes. Her face was dark, her body stiff and motionless, like a dead person.
The old man said to Liu Yi, “That’s my daughter, Ye Yao. Two months ago, she went to the Flower Sea for fun and somehow ended up on some mountain. When she returned home, she was like this. It seems she’s poisoned, but the doctors say it’s not. I’ve had many skilled cultivators check her, but none could diagnose the problem. They can only use silver needles to temporarily protect her heart meridians and feed her a little food daily. If you’re capable, give it a try.”
Liu Yi slowly walked over and looked at the girl in green. She was quite pretty, but there seemed to be a trace of dark energy around her brows—something ordinary people couldn’t see, but Liu Yi could, as he had entered the path of demons. That dark energy was the demonic aura unique to the path of demons. Liu Yi’s right hand, clad in black gloves, suddenly clenched into a fist, pointing downward. Instantly, all the surrounding dark energy gathered into a vortex in the palm of his right hand. At that moment, he gently rotated his hand, and the dark energy in his palm formed a thread that shot straight into Ye Yao’s body…
Liu Yi closed his eyes, shutting out his six senses, and used his supreme spiritual awareness to sense everything happening. As the dark energy wandered through Ye Yao’s body, it suddenly seemed to collide with something—though there was nothing around. Liu Yi stopped abruptly, grasped his sword with his left hand, and shouted, “Which demon dares to stand in the way of this Demon Lord?” His roar echoed through the darkness.
Suddenly, a transparent object appeared before him, gradually forming a huge, transparent face that floated in front of Liu Yi. The transparent face replied, “Who are you, coming to disrupt my plans?”
Looking at the transparent face, Liu Yi suddenly remembered the Ghost Clan mentioned by Nie Ren in his dreams. He thought to himself, “Could it be the Ghost Clan?” Indeed, the Ghost Clan had the ability to possess other people’s bodies. Nie Ren had also said that every ghost in their clan had cultivated for over a hundred years before becoming a vengeful spirit. If they possessed a body, the soul of that body would die within a hundred days, and the body would become that vengeful spirit’s eternal new body.
Liu Yi glared at the vengeful spirit and shouted, “Dareful little ghost! You disregard the pact of the three realms and cause chaos in the human world!”
The vengeful spirit looked at Liu Yi and burst into laughter. “Can you really do anything about it? I’ve already obtained his one soul and three essences. In another month, this body will be mine, haha!”
Seeing the vengeful spirit, Liu Yi felt an endless rage surge within him. Why did all races treat the weak with oppression using their strength? A red light flashed violently in his eyes as he said, “Do you know who I am?”
Upon seeing the red light in Liu Yi’s eyes, the vengeful spirit seemed frightened and said, “Who you are doesn’t matter. Even the Dark Path of Demons can’t do anything to me now. My soul has merged with hers—no one can stop us.”
Liu Yi said slowly, word by word, “I suppose the people of your Ghost Clan only know of the legends of the True Demon.”
The True Demon race was one born alongside the gods, and there was only one member of that race—Nie Ren, the True Demon who fought against the gods. Therefore, all those on the path of demons must follow the True Demon without any resistance. Although Liu Yi had just entered the path of demons, the powerful demonic aura emitted by his “Lanerfina Qing” cultivation method already proved he was a descendant of the True Demon. Yet now, the path of demons no longer recognized the existence of the True Demon. So, Liu Yi would begin anew with revenge, aiming to unify the path of demons.
The vengeful spirit instinctively drifted backward and said, “So what? Our souls have already merged. If you kill me, she will die too.”
A red glow flashed in Liu Yi’s eyes as he said, “Have you heard of ‘Sword Drawn to Cut the Sky’ from the ‘Four Sorrowful Techniques’? It kills a person’s soul without harming their body.”
The vengeful spirit seemed truly frightened and exclaimed, “How is that possible? That’s a legend from thousands of years ago. It can’t be true.”
Liu Yi burst into wild laughter, the red light in his eyes flashing nonstop before suddenly stopping. “Just wait for your death,” he said. With that, he moved swiftly and disappeared into the darkness.
Meanwhile, outside his body, Liu Yi opened his eyes, retracted the dark energy in his palm, and stepped back three times…
The white-haired old man approached and said, “Well? Your martial arts skills are indeed high, but you can’t cure this illness.”
Liu Yi didn’t reply. He turned sideways, facing Ye Yao at a 45-degree angle. His left hand gripped the long sword at his waist, while his right hand, clad in a black glove, slowly approached the sword hilt. Suddenly, a hurricane swept around Liu Yi. His black leather coat flapped in the wind, and his silver-white hair danced wildly. The stronger his right hand got closer to the hilt, the fiercer the wind became. The clear sky was instantly replaced by swirling dark clouds. Gradually, under the effect of the twelfth level of the “Lanerfina Qing” meditation technique, Liu Yi’s body began to emit green light…
A Niu shouted loudly, “Master, what’s going on? Why is the wind so strong? It was still sunny just now. How did it turn cloudy so quickly?”
The white-haired old man shook his head and said, “That’s not cloudiness. That’s the aura of evil…”
At the same time, centered around Liu Yi, more and more dark clouds gathered above Lotus Town, converging densely above the Cross Blacksmith Shop in a vortex-like pattern. July in the town was shocked and said, “Such a powerful demonic aura…” He stood up, and his “Dancing Moon” sword flew out, chasing after the gathering clouds.
Tianjiao looked at the four guards and said, “Brothers, I don’t know what’s happening. He’s about to draw his sword again. Let’s go take a look…”
Unexpectedly, at the moment Liu Yi drew his sword, so many people were paying attention to the demonic aura in the sky.