“Activate the Ten Thousand Killing Formation.”
“Sect Master!” Meng Ying suddenly looked toward Shaoyang Zhenren.
Xuan Lingzi’s expression changed, and he quickly shouted: “Master, please reconsider!”
Hong Su sensed something was wrong and asked Mendong beside her: “What is the Ten Thousand Killing Formation?”
Mendong’s voice trembled slightly: “…It’s a formation specifically designed to target the demon race. As long as one is of the demon race, once trapped in this formation, they will inevitably be reduced to ashes.”
Years ago, when Gui Diao Tang died at the hands of Qinghua Xianzi, his soul was destroyed. People in the cultivation world took his heart’s blood to create this formation. This formation doesn’t harm humans or fierce beasts—it only harms the demon race. As long as one is of the demon race, no one can walk out of this formation alive. Back then, after Gui Diao Tang’s death, most of the remaining demons that plagued the mortal world died within this formation.
If Zanxing truly is of the demon race… today, there would be no possibility of survival.
“Good!” Before Xuan Lingzi could continue pleading, Lingxin Daoren coldly said: “Activate the Ten Thousand Killing Formation!”
“Master.” Yueqin felt some reluctance: “The Ten Thousand Killing Formation is no trivial matter. Once the formation is activated, it cannot be closed until the ten thousand killings are complete…” In other words, the formation cannot be closed until the demons within the formation die.
“Yes, yes.” Li Danshu and Cui Yufu also said: “Sect Master, today’s matter hasn’t reached this point yet…”
“What do you mean it hasn’t reached this point?” Lingxin Daoren’s gaze flashed, looking at Li Danshu with barely concealed killing intent: “I suppose it’s because the disciples who died weren’t from your Taiyan Sect. How about I slaughter your entire Taiyan Sect today, then we can discuss whether it’s reached this point!”
Rongshuang stood opposite Shaoyang Zhenren, her beautiful face covered in frost, her tone equally cold: “This method is already the fairest one available.” She glanced at Zanxing, her gaze filled with undisguised disgust: “If we truly wronged her, entering the Ten Thousand Killing Formation won’t kill her, and I, Rongshuang, will personally apologize to her. But if she is of the demon race…” She sneered: “Then you should reflect on why a demon could infiltrate your sect and maintain a master-disciple relationship with you for so long?”
Fu Ronghua of the Yinfeng Sect wore a golden brocade robe that gleamed brilliantly. He had always maintained the appearance of a good-natured person, and even now he was the same, only smiling as he said: “That’s right, let Miss Yang try the Ten Thousand Killing Formation. After all, if she’s not of the demon race, she won’t lose a piece of flesh. Even if word gets out in the future, others won’t say we old folks bullied a young girl.” He looked at Zanxing with squinted, smiling eyes: “How about it, Miss Yang?” Though his words were polite, his tone carried an overbearing authority that brooked no refusal.
Zanxing didn’t answer.
The Milky Way cascaded like a waterfall, spreading magnificently overhead and sprinkling down countless starlight. The wind on Gufeng Mountain was eerily quiet, with killing intent lurking everywhere.
Shaoyang Zhenren waved his sleeve, and in an instant, countless pillars of fiery red light shot up from the vast mountaintop. These light pillars made the night as bright as day, like the bars of a prison cage. The central pillar burned fiercely, like a long column about to pierce through the heavens, capable of incinerating all things in heaven and earth in the blink of an eye.
“Divine Fire Pillars.” Mu Cengxiao’s brows furrowed slightly.
“The Ten Thousand Killing Formation is originally composed of forty-nine Divine Fire Pillars. Junior Sister is in danger.” Meng Ying gripped the Moon Soul in her hand tightly. “Once she enters this formation, death is certain.”
The formation was still some distance from Zanxing, but the moment it appeared, she immediately felt a chill. Though the fire pillars were still some distance away, her entire body felt as if it were being roasted, making her instinctively want to flee.
She turned to escape, but in the next moment, a black spike suddenly descended from the sky. This spike was originally only palm-sized, but as it fell toward Zanxing, it rapidly grew enormous, like a fierce thorn that pierced through Zanxing’s spine from top to bottom, nailing her to the ground.
With a “puff,” Zanxing spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, the pain from her spine nearly causing her to faint.
“Hmph,” Lingxin Daoren snorted coldly, withdrawing his hand from the previous action: “This is my Chihua Gate’s supreme treasure, the Dragon-Binding Spike. Back when your sect’s Qinghua dealt with the Demon Lord Gui Diao Tang, I lent her the Dragon-Binding Spike. I never expected that twenty years later, you would have the honor of tasting the Dragon-Binding Spike’s power. Even if you die, it’s not a loss.”
“This bastard!” Cui Yufu was so angry that veins bulged on his forehead: “The Dragon-Binding Spike doesn’t specifically harm demons—he’s doing this on purpose!” While the Ten Thousand Killing Formation wouldn’t harm ordinary people, the Dragon-Binding Spike was different. It was just a spirit artifact—anyone pierced by the spike would lose at least half their cultivation, let alone Zanxing, who was currently only at the Golden Core stage.
“This Dragon-Binding Spike could even restrain Gui Diao Tang, let alone you?” Lingxin Daoren suddenly swooped toward Zanxing, grabbed her by the collar like picking up cargo, and threw her into the Ten Thousand Killing Formation.
“Boom—”
In an instant, fire shot skyward. The forty-nine Divine Fire Pillars suddenly grew upward as if they had come to life. The flames from the central pillar flowed like water, rapidly covering the ground and forming a cage with the other fire pillars, firmly locking the person within.
A scream of “Ah—” echoed from within the formation, causing even unrelated disciples to tremble all over.
“Young Miss—” Hong Su, held back by those around her, was beside herself with grief.
“Zanxing Junior Sister!” Tian Fangfang frantically waved her Qianyang Axe, trying to rush into the formation, but before she could get close, she was bounced back by the formation.
“It’s useless.” Meng Ying murmured, “With our cultivation level, we cannot enter this formation.”
Mu Cengxiao’s Mieshen Saber could destroy ghosts and gods, but now it couldn’t cut through a single fire pillar of the formation. The moment he approached the formation, the flames from those fire pillars wrapped around the Mieshen Saber, preventing him from exerting even a bit of his Yuanli.
Mendong hugged Yueguang Daoren’s thigh, pleading desperately: “Master, please beg the Sect Master! She’ll die, she’ll die!”
The screams continued. Zanxing was trembling all over from pain. These Divine Fire Pillars surrounded her, making it impossible for her to take a single step out. The Xiaoyuan Pearl that had always protected her life was spinning frantically, trying to resist with its internal Yuanli. However, this black Yuanli seemed to add fuel to the fire—once mixed in, it only made the flames of those Divine Fire Pillars burn even brighter.
“She’s reacting.” Fu Ronghua’s gaze shifted.
Rongshuang looked at Shaoyang Zhenren, her expression calm: “It seems she truly is of the demon race.”
“So what if she’s of the demon race?” Lingxin Daoren watched Zanxing struggling continuously within the formation, his expression gradually becoming mad, saying viciously: “If she’s of the demon race, all the better! The Ten Thousand Killing Formation has killing moves at every turn, from one to ten thousand. Only when ten thousand killings are complete can the formation be closed. This contains Gui Diao Tang’s heart blood, specifically designed to counter the demon race. In the past, the better demons couldn’t survive past a hundred killings, and the weak ones died with just one killing. I wonder how many killings this demoness can endure?”
“She was able to remain undetected as a demon in the Taiyan Sect, which means she’s much more formidable than we thought. The demon race is cunning—we must not underestimate her.” Rongshuang said indifferently.
Zanxing felt as if her entire body was being roasted in fierce flames. For a moment, she suddenly thought of Yinli, that little merman in Li’er Kingdom who had bravely rushed into the demon-exterminating formation for his beloved. Had he also endured such pain at that time? But such agony was truly unbearable—how had he managed to endure it?
The smell of burning flesh gradually wafted out from the formation.
“Young Miss…” Hong Su had already cried herself into complete collapse, her gaze toward the formation filled with despair.
“First killing burns flesh, second killing burns bone.” Li Danshu’s usual joking smile had vanished, and he said through gritted teeth: “The power of the Ten Thousand Killing Formation—she simply cannot last until the end.”
Zanxing rolled within the formation. She tried to curl her body into a ball to reduce the areas being burned, but those fire flows seemed to penetrate everywhere. They entered her internal organs through her breathing, making it impossible for her to escape.
First was the flesh. She felt her skin being roasted by the fierce fire, with blood gradually flowing out. She didn’t know what she looked like now, but it was certainly thousands of times worse than Yu’s scars. Then she felt her bones slowly melting. She couldn’t feel the strength in her skeleton and couldn’t even change positions, only lying on the ground like a pool of stagnant water, letting the flames roast her body.
“Third killing burns Yuanli, fourth killing burns the soul…”
Her Yuanli was gradually draining away. Zanxing felt her body becoming like an emptied bag, an empty shell. Those flames then drilled deeper into her body, her soul seeming to be roughly torn apart and then burned to ashes. This profound pain seemed to extend to the Wuyou Stick beside her. The emerald green stick trembled slightly, as if awakening memories of the past, emitting clear, ringing sounds.
Yes, the Wuyou Stick had once been a sword, a sword with a sword spirit. That craftsman who was determined to avenge his daughter had made a deal with his soul to forge the sword spirit. When Chai Sang had jumped into that enormous furnace and had his soul refined by the fierce fire, it must have been exactly this kind of agony.
Zanxing painfully let out a roar, but her throat was burned, and she couldn’t even make a sound.
“…Fifth killing burns divine sense, sixth killing burns the Core.”
The flames roasted fiercely, as if they would never be extinguished. Zanxing gradually lost her sight and hearing. Apart from wave after wave of pain, she could feel nothing else. Her originally condensed Core, that verdant, vibrant Core, slowly withered and shriveled under the Divine Fire Pillars, finally melting completely into water, which was then evaporated by the fierce fire, leaving nothing behind.
Mu Cengxiao’s gaze tightened slightly: “Junior Sister…”
As fellow members of the Xiaoyao Hall, Mu Cengxiao knew Zanxing’s efforts better than anyone. Before the rooster crowed at dawn, he would go to Chuhong Terrace to cultivate. When the moon hid behind clouds at night, he would go to Chuhong Terrace to cultivate. The path of cultivation was lonely and bitter, and through countless mornings and nights, he could always see Zanxing during his cultivation.
That young miss from Yue City, who had been spoiled and domineering, always appeared casual and carefree on Gufeng Mountain, but only Mu Cengxiao knew how hard Zanxing worked in secret. He knew that because Zanxing hadn’t laid a good foundation in her youth, she desperately wanted to make up for it. She had studied the Qing E Nian Hua Gun over and over again, her body covered in bruises from the stick. To better understand Qinghua Xianzi’s inheritance, she had always worked very hard.
Now, under the Divine Fire Pillars, all her past efforts turned to nothing, becoming just a spark among the countless fire pillars, brilliant for an instant in the night sky before disappearing completely.