Chapter 28: Young Xue Wuyou took her away.

"You don't actually think that the Immortal Slaughtering Powder can only be effective through external servers, do you?"

Yu Heng smiled with her face upturned, the skin at the corners of her eyes withered and rotted like a flower, revealing hideous white bones.

“I’ve already smeared it all over my body. Every breath you take is in contact with it.” She casually wiped the blood from the corner of her eye, her smile widening. “Sorry, I put too much here. Did I scare you?”

The fragrance was pervasive, and even the bright lights that blocked her sense of smell were of no use. She could clearly feel her spiritual power gradually draining away, and she could barely control the Spirit Binding Rope. Even Su Yiqing collapsed beside her, staring at Yu Heng in astonishment.

Legend has it that even a tiny bit of the Immortal-Slaying Powder is enough to cripple a brilliant cultivator on the spot.

"Are you crazy? There's no antidote for the Immortal Slaughtering Powder. You won't live much longer doing this...!" Hua Deng slumped to the ground, coldly raising her eyes.

"There's nothing I can do."

Yu Heng sighed, the Spirit-Binding Rope slipped from her body, and she stood up, looking down at the bright lights.

"You should know that your Daoist partner is a monster. His true energy can withstand most of the world's elixirs. But the Immortal-Slaying Powder is different. It was specially developed 20,000 years ago when immortals still existed, specifically to poison immortals."

She bent down to stroke Hua Deng's face, and more and more of the Immortal Slaughtering Powder seeped into Hua Deng's body, causing him to vomit a mouthful of blood.

“Even though I only have a counterfeit with insufficient power, you are not Shen Zhou himself. Even if you have cultivated with him and obtained a few strands of his true energy, you still cannot resist the corrosive effects of the Immortal Slaughtering Powder.”

Yu Heng tightened her grip and used force, but the next second she was jolted away by a sharp pain.

She paused, looked at her fingertips, and then touched the lantern again. She touched it, but she couldn't use magic; any attempt to harm the lantern would be repelled by this invisible force.

Although the lantern had lost its strength, it still looked relaxed, sitting on the ground watching her: "Isn't it fun? This is the power of money."

Yu Heng's eyes twitched, and she began to remove the defensive magic items on her body. She removed the hairpin, the hair ornament, the necklace and the jade pendant, but there was always something blocking her way, and she couldn't do anything to the lantern.

In a fit of rage, Yu Heng threw away all the magical artifacts and even tore apart Hua Deng's black-white fan.

While she was focused on dealing with the magical artifact, Hua Deng finally gathered some spiritual power and silently recited the incantation that Chen Zhou had taught her.

With a slight movement of the fingertips, a resounding clang was heard.

Baby Number One burst forth from the sky and suddenly appeared behind Yu Heng!

Unable to dodge in time, Yu Heng was pierced through the collarbone as she turned to block. She gritted her teeth to heal her injury and used the white silk to fight against the immortal sword.

Hua Deng didn't understand swordsmanship, but Shen Zhou's sword didn't need her to control it at all. It attacked Yu Heng relentlessly, and its sword moves were exactly the same as Shen Zhou's, sharp and unstoppable.

Yu Heng struggled to defend herself, her face contorted in a grimace. She grabbed Su Yiqing and pulled her in front of her, coldly shouting, "Put your sword away, or I'll kill her!"

Baby Number One's offensive suddenly stalled.

Hua Deng clenched his fist under his sleeve.

She still had a chance to be reincarnated, but Su Yiqing died, and that was the end of her life.

"Mmm!" Su Yiqing shook her head desperately as her mouth was covered. Hua Deng and Yu Heng faced off for a moment before sheathing their immortal swords.

Yu Heng bound her with a white silk ribbon, fed Su Yiqing a sleeping potion, and carried her with one hand while lifting Su Yiqing with the other, to the legendary place where heaven-level magic treasures were kept—the Hidden Moon Cave.

Along the way, the streetlights saw many people who had been drugged, and guessed that they were the disciples who were supposed to be guarding the magic treasure with Yu Heng.

Hidden Moon Cave was damp and dark. A lantern was placed on a stone, and ice-purple flowers bloomed on the wall next to it, alluring and decadent.

Water dripped from the stone roof above, and there was a semi-circular gap in the middle of the roof, so the moon could not be seen, but the moonlight shone down from above, making Yu Heng's face look pale and cold.

She fed Su Yiqing another dose of medicine, and this time Su Yiqing vomited black blood, which was obviously poison.

She never intended to let Su Yiqing go from the very beginning.

The bright lights were powerless to stop her; her spirit was nearing its end, and she could only barely prop herself up, her eyes red and brimming with tears.

Then she saw Su Yiqing secretly raise one hand and make an "OK" gesture.

Hua Deng: "..." She held back her tears.

The cauldron is indeed not easy to kill.

Currently, her situation is more difficult. Within her body, Shen Zhou's true energy is devouring the Immortal Slaughtering Powder, while the Immortal Slaughtering Powder is constantly regenerating, entangled and colliding with the true energy, raging wildly.

She forced herself to ask Yu Heng, "What do you want to do?"

Instead of answering, Yu Heng asked, "Do you know about the Ten Thousand Swords Sect?"

Hua Deng's eyes flickered, as if he had guessed something. Yu Heng said softly, "My younger sister, Yu Wan, was a direct disciple of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect. Later, she died, and I was very angry, so I wanted the person who killed her to die. Is that right?"

Hua Deng suddenly snapped to attention: "Wait a minute."

Why do you want him to arrest me? I don't know anyone from the Ten Thousand Swords Sect!

She roared inwardly, and spoke with the most sincere tone she had ever used: "You're right, revenge is the best revenge, so go find Shen Zhou, really, I absolutely support you."

Yu Heng chuckled and said, "Do you think I can beat him?"

Hua Deng: "..."

Can a villain not be so self-aware? I still prefer your arrogant and unruly self.

“You are his Daoist partner. Killing you will cause him heartache, and the effect will be the same,” Yu Heng said.

"I feel it's different," Hua Deng said with a forced smile.

In order to survive, she decided to be honest: "Our relationship as Daoist partners is actually fake. I've only known him for a month."

"You think I'd believe such a clumsy lie?" Yu Heng said indifferently. "If he didn't care about you, why would he stay for you? And why would he confront Pei Jianming in front of everyone at the Qingyang Sect for you?"

Hua Deng, like an emotionless robot, said dryly, "Because I gave him money."

"?" Yu Heng paused, a look of confusion in her eyes.

Hua Deng cried out in despair, "Because I give him 100,000 spirit stones every month! 100,000! Do you know how much 100,000 spirit stones are piled up like?!"

Yu Heng slowly said, "You mean, he's only with you for money?"

The lights nodded frantically.

However, Yu Heng sneered and said decisively, "Absolutely impossible!"

Hua Deng: ?

No, why is it impossible?

Yu Heng resumed her arrogant demeanor, giving him a look that said, "Save it, don't try to fool me," and said to herself, "Shen Zhou is not the kind of person who would bow down for money!"

Hua Deng: "??? Are we talking about the same person?!"

"I think," Hua Deng finally found her voice after a long pause, and said cautiously, "you might have some misunderstanding about him?"

Yu Heng responded with a disdainful snort, unconvinced.

She naturally assumed that in the cultivation world, strength was equivalent to wealth, and as long as one was strong enough, there was nothing one couldn't obtain. How could a master like Shen Zhou possibly be short of money?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

Seeing her expression, Hua Deng was so desperate she almost laughed.

The saying "Medical cultivators don't know how poor sword cultivators are, and a poor sword cultivator can impoverish three generations" perfectly encapsulates this saying.

"Stop wasting your breath. You only have one choice now," Yu Heng said. "Give me your divine sense."

"Divine consciousness?" Hua Deng didn't understand.

Yu Heng stared intently at her: "You are the only one who has a chance to kill Shen Zhou. Even if you can't kill him, you can make him wish he were dead."

Hua Deng: "Wait a minute? I'll kill Chen Zhou, really?"

Yu Heng was completely absorbed in her plan: "I know you can't bring yourself to do it, but that's okay. As long as you give me your divine sense, I can control you and use your body to kill him with your own hands. You won't feel pain if you close your eyes, and I will spare your life afterward."

Hua Deng gradually understood, and she remained silent.

Yu Heng's face turned cold: "You don't agree?"

"Agree?" Hua Deng tilted his head, his clear black and white eyes flashing with a dark light. "Why should I agree?"

Yu Heng said, "You'd better know your place, or else I—"

"What?" Hua Deng chuckled, his tone utterly sarcastic. "Trying to control me? You think you're worthy? Spare my life? Go ahead and try killing me now."

“…Miss Hua, judging from your tone, you don’t seem to be afraid of death.”

"You may as well give it a try." Hua Deng still smiled, a smile that could be described as provocative in the cold light of the cave. "Living like this is probably more pitiful than dying."

Yu Heng's face flushed with anger: "You have no idea what Shen Zhou did. He slaughtered the entire Wan Jian Sect. He's a veritable Yama!"

“I know, I’ve known all this for a long time.” Hua Deng remained unmoved. “To tell you the truth, I don’t care.”

"So what if the people of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect are all dead? So what if your sister is dead? Do I even know them? Is it necessary for me to be sad for them?"

"If you think of me as a benevolent person with a heart for all living beings, then let me tell you, you are wrong!"

Under Yu Heng's furious glare, she took a breath and said, word by word, "I'm just an ordinary person. I don't have that much pity. I only care about the people who have helped me and the people who have been good to me—you should know who that includes, right?"

Anger surged within her as well, and she said coldly, "It certainly won't include you, you despicable scoundrel!"

"Despicable?" Yu Heng's gentle facade shattered completely, her voice as if laced with poison. "I'm despicable, but isn't Shen Zhou despicable too? Since you're so devoted to him and can't distinguish right from wrong, then don't blame me for being impolite!"

She simply summoned a wisp of her divine sense and directly entered Hua Deng's consciousness palace. Doing so carried a great risk of causing Hua Deng's primordial spirit to perish, but she couldn't care less about that.

She entered the brightly lit mansion, which was even more beautiful than she had imagined; it was a paradise-like scene.

Unfortunately, this beautiful scene will no longer exist after today.

She found the spirit of the lantern, a luminous sphere, and quickly flew over to it.

She is about to devour Hua Deng's primordial spirit.

Just then, another person appeared beside them.

A human figure that is incredibly clear.

The white-clad man who appeared out of nowhere faced her calmly and casually raised his sword.

He cleaved her consciousness in two with a single sword strike!

Yu Heng let out a miserable scream.

*

Inside the Ziyang Palace, Shen Zhou seemed to sense something.

He crushed the head of a guy next to him and touched his own forehead with his index finger.

Even before coming to the Qingyang Sect, he had placed a wisp of divine sense into Hua Deng's consciousness. Barring unforeseen circumstances, this wisp of divine sense would remain quietly dormant, undetectable even to Hua Deng.

Of course, he had no intention of telling Hua Deng at all. Possessing someone's divine consciousness is equivalent to having control over that person. Even if Shen Zhou had a way to avoid this influence, the divine consciousness is connected to its master. Hua Deng is so restless that she would definitely provoke this divine consciousness all day long, making him unable to concentrate on cultivation.

Now, this wisp of divine consciousness has stirred; someone has broken into Hua Deng's consciousness palace, intending to kill her.

Shen Zhou lowered his head, blood flowing past his feet. The traitor from the Immortal Alliance, whom he had personally bound, was still before him, on the verge of death. He had deliberately spared his life to lure out his accomplices.

Jinze chimed in from the side, "It's a good thing you showed mercy. As long as this man is alive, his men will become lambs to the slaughter, obediently offering their necks for execution..."

Bang!

Before he could finish speaking, the spy who had been granted a pardon suddenly exploded into fireworks on the spot.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Jinze looked up in disbelief, but was startled by the fierce look in Shen Zhou's eyes.

That expression wasn't just ugly, it was downright murderous.

He had never seen Shen Zhou like this before.

Even during the most brutal battle four years ago, when they killed hundreds or thousands of people, Shen Zhou didn't even flinch.

He asked quickly, "What happened?"

Shen Zhou did not answer and vanished from the spot in an instant.

All that remained was the chilling aura of blood and killing intent that made Jinze's body go cold.

Jinze paused for a moment, and as he hesitated to lift his foot to leave, he noticed something had fallen on the ground out of the corner of his eye.

A camellia that once belonged to Chen Zhou is now lying scattered on the ground, stained with blood.

...

"Aaaaaaah, Shen Zhou, you deserve to die!"

Unaware of what had happened, Hua Deng felt a sharp pain in her dantian, and then Yu Heng covered her face and collapsed to the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices and wailing incessantly.

Hua Deng was inexplicably pleasantly surprised: "I have this cheat code?"

"Shut up! That's a wisp of Shen Zhou's consciousness left in your consciousness!" Yu Heng roared, her head throbbing with pain. "He actually cherishes you like this? How laughable!"

The last few words were practically spat out through clenched teeth; even gritting one's teeth wouldn't be enough to describe it.

Hua Deng had a vague idea, and when she confirmed it, she immediately patted her chest and exclaimed, "I'm going to give Chen Zhou a raise when he comes back."

Yu Heng couldn't hear her at all. After panting for a while, she managed to heal some of her injuries. She looked up and said ferociously, "Fine, then I'll show you how Yu Wan really dies, and let you see the real Shen Zhou. I don't believe you'll still be on his side then!"

What?

While Hua Deng was momentarily stunned, Yu Heng reached out her hand, holding a bright, pearl-like object. This object entered Hua Deng's mind, causing her to briefly become dizzy.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself in an unfamiliar wilderness, and in front of her stood a huge, ferocious beast with its blood-red maw wide open, attempting to devour her whole.

Then she heard "herself" speak: "Demon beast, take this!"

A distinctly different female voice.

Recalling Yu Heng's words, Hua Deng suddenly realized that this was Yu Wan's memory.

During the day's training, Yu Wan was injured, and the demon beast's realm was higher than hers. The disparity in strength between the two was too great, and her sword was knocked away by the sharp claws, causing her to fall to the ground in despair.

Just as she looked up, about to use the teleportation talisman, a red hair ribbon floated down from the sky.

Then came the man's scream: "Aaaaaah! What the hell is this place?!"

Then, a dark shadow crashed to the ground and fell into the haystack.

Yu Wan blinked blankly, maintaining her tilted-head posture. The hairband fell in front of her eyes, followed by a hand—a slender, elegant, and remarkably beautiful hand.

With one hand supporting the hair ribbon, he gently lifted it upwards, while with the other hand, he wielded his sword and cleaved the monster's body in two with a single strike.

The owner of the hand landed gracefully, stood with his sword in hand, and turned his head to face the wind.

He was dressed in black, with a cold and stern expression, and every bone in his body was as upright as a pine or bamboo.

Hua Deng recognized it.

This is Chen Zhou, who was still called "Xue Wu".

Compared to his later maturity and sharpness, the boy's features were still somewhat soft. Beneath his arched eyebrows were sharp black eyes, extremely handsome and extremely indifferent.

He was only thirteen or fourteen years old, but he was already very tall. He especially liked to look down at people, and he was arrogant and haughty.

This time, however, he didn't look at Yu Wan beside him, but turned around and kicked the back of the person in the haystack.

"Xue Zifei, what are you doing? Get up! And take your things back, they're filthy!"

He threw the hairband in front of Xue Zifei.

Hua Deng was utterly stunned, never expecting that Shen Zhou back then would have such a personality. She looked at Xue Zifei through Yu Wan's eyes, somewhat curious about who this legendary master of Shen Zhou was.

The man lifted his face and subconsciously smiled, but he had fallen so badly that his hair was disheveled, his face was covered in mud, and only his two rows of white teeth were visible, so much so that Yu Wan coughed twice.

However, for some reason, Hua Deng felt that those eyes were vaguely familiar.

"Xiao Wu, you're running too fast. Your teacher is too old to keep up," the man said, supporting himself on his knees as he stood up, expressing his dissatisfaction.

Shen Zhou said impatiently, "What good is your Nascent Soul stage cultivation?"

Xue Zifei argued: "I—"

Shen Zhou interrupted him and said sternly, "Why are all the other elders Nascent Soul cultivators, while you are only a Core Formation cultivator? Can't you reflect on yourself and put more effort into your cultivation?"

Xue Zifei exclaimed "Hey!" and reached into his chest, pulling out a flattened oil paper package: "What are you so concerned about... Come on, have some snacks!"

He handed the crumbly osmanthus cake to Chen Zhou.

Shen Zhou looked even more disgusted and frowned: "I told you I don't like osmanthus flavor, where's your chestnut cake?"

Xue Zifei reluctantly took out chestnut cakes from his storage ring, muttering, "There's only one bag left, and I don't think you really like them..."

Upon seeing this, Yu Wan couldn't help but smile slightly.

She had long admired this talented junior brother who had joined the sect later, and couldn't help but interrupt their conversation, bowing and saying, "Many thanks to Seventh Elder and Junior Brother Xue for saving my life. I am from Yu—"

As if he hadn't heard her, Shen Zhou snatched the whole bag of chestnut cakes and flew away on his sword without looking back.

Yu Wan was stunned and at a loss. Xue Zifei quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, my junior brother. I will definitely teach him a lesson when I get back! Please don't take it to heart."

Yu Wan shook her head and said it was nothing. Xue Zifei summoned his immortal sword and chased after Shen Zhou, leaving quickly.

"Xiao Wu, don't just eat it all yourself! Can't you share a bite with your master?"

Hua Deng and Yu Wan stared at their retreating figures until only wisps of smoke remained in the distance.

The boy who had not yet truly become Shen Zhou vanished into the distance with the gentle breeze that swept through the mountains and fields.

...

Outside the secret gate of Xiashan, three elders stood guard together.

One of them seemed to sense something, looked up, and muttered, "Why did I feel a fluctuation of spiritual energy just now? Did someone sneak in?"

A man nearby laughed and said, "Don't worry, this secret realm was personally blessed by Sword Master Qiu Ce. How could anyone possibly sneak in?"

Upon hearing this, the man smiled and said, "That's right, it seems I'm getting senile."

At this moment, inside the secret realm.

The cave's barrier had been breached, and Shen Zhou's divine sense searched every corner but found no trace of Hua Deng.

He emerged from the cave and came to a bonfire that had long since died down. She had cooked here, but had only eaten half of it and hadn't had time to clean it up yet.

Someone took her away.

Strangely, at this moment, what he recalled was the girl's voice from last night, tinged with alcohol: "At that time, I was really scared. I thought I was going to die."

His eyelashes fluttered, and after many years, he raised his right hand towards the sky—

“Lie Tian”.

The countless stars suddenly went out.

The moon and stars all disappeared, the sky was pitch black, and the secret realm was plunged into complete darkness.

In the woods, Pei Jianming, who was fighting with wild monkeys, was shocked and exclaimed in horror, "Has another powerful demon emerged from the mountain this time?"

“It doesn’t seem so.” The younger brother looked up cautiously. “There is something blocking out the sky.”

Something is blocking out the sky.

This realization caused all the cultivators and demons in the secret realm to stop what they were doing and look up at the clouds in fear.

They could see nothing; the night was bottomless, and panic filled everyone's hearts, spreading an oppressive atmosphere in all directions.

The elders outside the secret realm were equally panicked. They felt the formation tremble and could no longer remain calm. They shouted in unison, "Quick! Something is attacking the secret realm! Call the sect leader!"

Just as everyone was filled with doubt and surprise, the secret realm suddenly returned to peace.

The stars and crescent moon reappeared, the spiritual energy of the secret realm began to flow again, and the oppressive atmosphere suddenly eased and disappeared.

At the very center of the secret realm, atop the towering clouds atop the mountain, Shen Zhou stood majestically, a jet-black sword appearing in his hand.

With a flick of his wrist, the sword spun, gliding through the air with flashes of light. Though it was a sword, it possessed an inexplicable depth and brilliance, as if one could glimpse the Milky Way beyond the heavens and witness the movement of countless stars.

Shen Zhou slowly raised his eyes, the sword blade pointing forward, a cold white light flashing in his pupils.

His divine sense traversed thousands of miles, and his Heavenly Eye covered the entire secret realm. Beyond the sky and within the yellow earth, no slightest movement could escape his gaze.

Through layers of black and white paintings, his gaze settled, a fleeting red light reflected in his eyes, his breath faint.

He tightened his grip on the sword and said, "Take me to her side."

The longsword rang out with a clang, its blade transforming into black lightning that pierced through time and space at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye!

In just a moment, it stretched across the entire secret realm!