On Gujian Sect’s Luoxue Peak, the sword heart that Su Zhuyi had cultivated overnight was green.

But that was a sword heart cultivated by Songfeng sword qi – it was something she had obtained through opportunistic means and didn’t truly belong to her.

And now, that dark green sword intent truly belonged to her. It was as if ink had soaked through the greenness of the Songfeng sword, turning the originally emerald color into dark green. That sword intent carried an aura of destroying heaven and earth, shredding the layers upon layers of red leaves pressing down on her to powder. Those scattered leaf fragments flew through the sky like a red rain falling from heaven.

Kneel to you? In your dreams!

Admit my mistakes? What mistakes are there?

If I had to do it again, I would still kill. It’s just…

Next time, I will pierce his heart with one sword to take his life, not giving him any chance to breathe. The dark blue-green sword light in her hand struck out again, filled with a murderous aura, continuously cutting down the red maple trees and carving a path through the red leaf forest.

If you don’t yield, I won’t abandon you.

My requirements for you are already low enough. You have extremely high sword dao talent, yet even now, you only have this bit of weak sword light.

Broken Sword: “…Hmph.”

The red leaves were shredded, and the enormous pressure weighing on her body instantly disappeared. Su Zhuyi immediately became clear-headed. She first stretched out her hand, then poked out her head, and finally stood up from the pile of red leaves, looking down at the Broken Sword in her hand with a somewhat gloomy expression.

She had used the Broken Sword to block that Soul-Suppressing Nail. Although she blocked it, she only prevented the nail from invading her primordial spirit. The impact force had nearly broken all the bones in her body. Being pressed down by layers upon layers of red leaves had already made her suffer unbearably, but she hadn’t expected this Broken Sword to take the opportunity to set up an illusion to test her, nearly causing her to collapse.

In the illusion, even the weak force of those red leaves could have crushed her, because she would think it was real. Then she would have become the first cultivator to be crushed to death by tree leaves – how embarrassing would that be to tell others?

Su Zhuyi stood up and looked around. She discovered there was a formation barrier deep in this red maple forest, and the people outside seemed unable to enter. So she simply decided not to go out, avoiding any more underhanded moves from Dong Fushang Sect’s Donglin. She would wait until Qinghe arrived before making plans.

Standing deep in the maple forest, she waved cheerfully at her sect master and called out loudly: “Sect Master, I’m fine, don’t worry.”

After saying this, she planned to wander around and see if there were any secrets hidden in this red maple forest. Since the Broken Sword had carved out a path, she would walk along it and see. It was said that no one had been able to enter here before, so this time she had stumbled in by accident. She wondered if she could gain some benefits. Could she uncover the secret of that spirit spring that nourished the primordial spirit?

After walking forward for a while, Su Zhuyi saw that among these red maple trees, there was actually a thick parasol tree that would probably require ten people joining hands to embrace it. From within the parasol tree seemed to emanate a unique aura.

It was very powerful.

Every single leaf contained rich spiritual energy.

It was countless times more powerful than the tree spirit in Changning Village, like the difference between mortals and immortals. Could this tree be about to grow into a tree spirit of the level of mountain and river spirits? Only it didn’t have that clean and pure quality of mountain and river spirits, yet it wasn’t malevolent either. Instead, it gave people a very sorrowful aura that inexplicably made one want to cry.

Yes, want to cry. After staying by the tree for a moment, Su Zhuyi’s eyes became sore and she had the urge to shed tears.

Su Zhuyi frowned, staring at the parasol tree without acting rashly. She carefully circled the tree once, then began to miss Little Skull a bit. With such a large parasol tree, there might well be a spirit. If Little Skull were here, with its abilities, it would quickly become friends with these spiritual beings and easily extract some useful information.

After standing for another moment, Su Zhuyi felt her face was wet. She reached up to wipe her face and actually wiped away a face full of tears. She immediately felt extremely strange and stepped back several paces, somewhat afraid to approach this parasol tree.

Just then, she stepped on a piece of dead wood, making a cracking sound. A leaf fell from the parasol tree – just that one leaf, swaying and fluttering lightly downward. But Su Zhuyi felt she couldn’t dodge it no matter what. Even though she struck out with the Broken Sword in her hand, she still couldn’t avoid it…

Could she be killed by a tree leaf?

The parasol tree leaf pressed down on her head. Su Zhuyi suddenly felt the scenery before her eyes change, and then a voice by her ear asked her, “You, why are you crying?”

Su Zhuyi sat in place in a daze, thinking, “I, why am I crying?”

Not knowing why the tears had started, her face was already streaked with tears.

…

Outside the barrier, Duan Linshu watched Su Zhuyi emerge from the pile of red leaves. She seemed perfectly fine as she waved at him, then walked deeper into the maple forest and finally disappeared from view.

Duan Linshu was stunned, then extremely overjoyed. Su Zhuyi was fine – her primordial spirit wasn’t damaged. The way she just acted, where was the appearance of someone with primordial spirit damage!

But Donglin suddenly gripped the crossbow in his hand tightly. His Soul-Suppressing Nail couldn’t even deal with a Golden Core stage cultivator? How was that possible?

What method did she use to block the Soul-Suppressing Nail?

Although he knew this, Su Zhuyi had an immortal sword, with her current strength, even holding an immortal sword shouldn’t have been able to stop the Soul-Suppressing Nail. Could it be that she also had defensive treasures surpassing immortal grade on her body?

Donglin wanted to enter the red maple forest to drag her out, but unfortunately, he couldn’t break open that barrier either. With a dark expression, he asked those beside him: “What’s with this barrier? We could only enter near the Spirit Spring Pool before and couldn’t go deeper inside. Why can she enter the depths of the red maple forest?”

Dan Ruyun had been scared silly originally, but now mustered courage to say: “Wasn’t she knocked in by your immortal artifact?”

Donglin’s expression was already gloomy, and hearing these words, he coldly glanced at Dan Ruyun. Dan Qingshan then said lightly: “Children don’t understand things – as an elder, don’t hold it against her.”

“Hmph!”

“I don’t believe you can hide in there for a lifetime.” He stood outside the barrier with a cold expression.

Duan Linshu’s expression was grave. It seemed this Donglin wouldn’t let things rest. It was too difficult for him alone to protect Su Zhuyi – he must call for help now. Just as he was about to send a transmission, he heard the Yunxiao Sect master shout: “Still planning to call people? Are you trying to start a battle?”

“If the Demonic Path discovers this place, how much chaos will that cause?”

“We’re all righteous path fellow disciples – are we going to kill each other over this? When you’ve fought until both sides are injured, that’s when others will have opportunities to exploit!”

…

Just then, the ground beneath their feet shook, making everyone present look grave. They suddenly turned to look toward the valley entrance and saw a point of cold light suddenly appear. Though it was only a weak glimmer, it made everyone feel a bone-chilling coldness.

“Who?”

At the entrance, a young man in black clothes with black hair walked in carrying a sword on his back. He took one step forward and had already crossed thousands of mountains and rivers to appear directly before everyone. His aura was shocking, as if he wanted to completely freeze everything around him.

“Qinghe, how did you get here?” Gujian Sect’s Sect Master Duan Linshu said in surprise. He couldn’t fathom Qinghe’s strength, but he was used to Qinghe’s coldness, so he didn’t feel anything was wrong now.

“How did you get in?”

“Isn’t there a formation outside that requires five keys combined to open it?” Dan Qingshan was also surprised and asked directly.

Qinghe said coldly, “I broke the formation with my sword.” He looked toward Duan Linshu. “Where is my junior sister?”

“She called me to come here.”

Though the flying sword in his hand hadn’t left its sheath, people could feel a powerful pressure that made their whole bodies ice-cold, as if falling into an ice cellar. This, this was Qinghe, the disciple of Gujian Sect’s Luo Ying?

That Qinghe?

How did he do it? The feeling he gave people surpassed even Luo Ying! How many monsters had the Gujian Sect produced…

“Someone wants to cripple her cultivation?” Qinghe stared expressionlessly at the others. “Who?”

He wasn’t exerting pressure now, so anyone could speak. Dan Ruyun hid behind Dan Qingshan and pointed at Donglin.

Then…

Qinghe drew his sword.

The evil qi in his body was heavy – at most, he could only strike once, and only the first strike could disguise the sword qi. Back then, on Luoxue Peak, he had deceived the Yunxiao Sect elder with one sword strike. At that time, he still had Little Skull’s help, but through his suppression and practice over these years, he could now strike once, even without Little Skull’s assistance.

Not only could he only strike once, but he also couldn’t kill people, so his sword didn’t strike at a person’s body.

A startling sword light slashed at what Donglin held in his hand, directly splitting his crossbow in two. The immortal grade treasure, Soul-Suppressing Nail, was cut into two pieces by one sword strike?

“You…” Donglin spat out a mouthful of dirty blood. He glared furiously at Qinghe. “You, you dared destroy my immortal artifact.” He had already refined this immortal artifact into his life-bound treasure. Now that the immortal artifact was damaged, he was naturally severely injured.

“This is an immortal artifact?” Qinghe asked expressionlessly, then let out two cold laughs.

Dan Ruyun thought to herself: What kind of immortal artifact can be split in half with one sword? Calling it tofu dregs would be more accurate. She looked toward Qinghe, feeling that Qinghe was truly mighty and domineering. How wonderful it would be if I had such a senior brother protecting me, she thought.

Sensing someone’s gaze, Qinghe turned to look at her.

That ice-cold stare made Dan Ruyun instantly feel chilled throughout her body, and she didn’t dare look again.

Dan Ruyun’s mindset instantly changed: “Thank goodness I don’t have such a senior brother.”

“This matter will not end here for my Dong Fushang Sect!” Donglin was injured – fighting one against two would not work now. He could only leave harsh words, then collected Dong Richen’s remains and left angrily.

Since Qinghe couldn’t kill people, he looked toward the barrier ahead and asked: “Where is Su Zhuyi?”

“Inside.” Duan Linshu didn’t know what to say either. Having disciples who were too strong was a good thing, but when they were strong to an excessive degree, it also felt strange.

Why had Qinghe become like this after stealing the sword heart stone? Could there be some secret hidden in the Gujian Sect’s sword heart stone? He worried to himself, not knowing that the sect masters of the other sects were also experiencing tremendous turmoil in their hearts.

Luo Ying was the world’s number one sword cultivator – they acknowledged this.

Now, Luo Ying’s disciple was stronger than Luo Ying? He was only over three hundred years old in bone age. At first glance, he only had late-stage Golden Core cultivation, but the strength he had just revealed was not Golden Core stage. Only those with cultivation higher than theirs would make their true cultivation unfathomable, so this Qinghe was now stronger than those who had cultivated for over a thousand years?

“If I faced him, I wouldn’t be certain of victory either,” the Yunxiao Sect master thought to himself. Could it be that the position of the world’s number one sword sect really couldn’t be preserved?

He slightly raised his head to look at the sky, feeling a stifling qi blocked in his chest. After a long while, he finally let out a long sigh.

“Let’s divide up the red leaves and pool water first.”

“You few juniors also go take a look – see if there’s a way to enter that barrier.”

“There’s no reason she can get in while you can’t.”

“Right, everyone, go take a look.”

Dan Ruyun, Chang Yuege, and Qin Chuan looked at each other, then the three walked together toward the depths of the barrier. As a result, they saw Qin Chuan cross over without any obstacles, while Dan Ruyun and Chang Yuege were both blocked outside.

Qinghe had originally been standing still, but his mind turned, and he followed as well. Then he felt like he had stepped partway in, but also seemed stuck in the middle, wavering between both sides of the barrier. Why was this?