Spectating the Angsty Romance of the Master and Disciple from the Sect Next Door Chapter 154

Retreat was not in Li Jin’an’s life creed; she only possessed an intense desire to advance.
Feared ‘Wu Zhaoxing’ interrupting her breakthrough to Mahayana stage?
Not at all. She chose to break through during combat, simultaneously breaking through and fighting Wu Zhaoxing.
Who said these two things couldn’t happen at the same time? She refused to believe such nonsense.
Offense was the best defense.
At the critical moment, how much power could a sword strike from a half-step Mahayana stage sword path paragon unleash?
Li Jin’an stood motionless, her expression serene. She slightly raised her eyelids, gazing at ‘Wu Zhaoxing’ opposite her, then arched a brow and smiled freely. Her aura surged wildly as she forcefully unleashed the most satisfying sword strike she had ever delivered.
A clear sword hum, like a dragon’s roar, exploded in the void. A flickering, fiery red sword light, like a swimming dragon, rapidly shot towards ‘Wu Zhaoxing’s’ brow.
The sky tilted.
No.
The entire dim Demonic Realm was illuminated by the blazing, sun-like firelight.
Literati of mortal dynasties often compared sword dancing to the wonders of calligraphy, but those observing the battle were willing to describe Jijin Sword Sovereign’s sword techniques with phrases like “floating like clouds, agile like startled dragons.” The curves of her flowing sword energy were as supple as a soaring dragon, naturally nimble as if brought to life by a painter’s final dot, wielded with perfect ease and inherent grace, yet without losing its dominant power.
It was also like grand and imposing cursive calligraphy, magnificent and powerful, like a startled snake in the grass, or lightning flashing between clouds. And yet, like a fierce Vajra glaring, or a strongman punching, vigorous, perilous, and towering.
Every stroke was central, like an awl drawing on sand, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, all encompassing, flowing in one breath, unified by a single sword.
Calligraphy on paper endures and renews itself through time, but Jijin Sword Sovereign’s sword technique, the moment it was unleashed, was already brilliant enough, carrying with it a profound aura of righteousness.
The onlookers were disheartened as if mountains themselves, and heaven and earth rose and fell for it.
A non-participating cultivator who witnessed this sword strike, his face illuminated by the firelight, murmured to himself, “It emerges from ghosts and enters spirits, elusive and unfathomable.”
Jiang Fengmian, who was still handling four Void Refinement stage demons with ease, exhaled a cloudy breath and added, “A talent that orders heaven and earth, a knowledge unrivaled through the ages.”
Of course, this unrivaled brilliance was only in the Way of the Sword; other aspects were another matter entirely.
Whenever people marveled at Jijin Sword Sovereign’s attainments in the Way of the Sword, she would always leap out to tell them that this was still an underestimate. She was limitless in the Way of the Sword, constantly ascending, never ceasing her advance.
Previously, she could fight alongside Li Jin’an and Xie Huaixue, entrusting her back to them. Now, she couldn’t; she could only huddle together with Ji Wuxu, Sword Lord Xiaoxiang, Jun Xing Sword Master, and others, merely making up the numbers, observing Li Jin’an’s battlefield from afar, completely unable to approach.
Don’t look at Jiang Fengmian as a Void Refinement Perfection stage cultivator; in a battle of that intensity, she would be no different from the countless cannon fodder on the battlefield.
Ji Wuxu, whose focus was always the most peculiar, was now too shocked to speak. Instead, she dumped all her demons onto the two elders from Divine Mechanism Sect and Spring Rejuvenation Valley, then stood on a prominent hill, craning her neck to watch, completely ignoring their curses.
She was seriously pondering whether she should also find a dao companion. She didn’t seek to surpass Jijin Sword Sovereign in the future, only to stop getting beaten to tears!
If one had poor mental fortitude, seeing Li Jin’an’s sword strike might truly drain their spirit. Of course, there were also ambitious individuals who, upon witnessing such a sword, would develop boundless aspirations for the Way of the Sword.
“Sigh, Jijin Sword Sovereign is already at the Mahayana stage, so Qingxiao Immortal Venerable…” someone whispered.
“Hiss!”
The more they thought about it, the more terrifying it became.
That pair of dao companions was truly terrifying.
When a group of Void Refinement and Unity stage Grand Elders, who weren’t even focused on fighting the demons, collectively drew a sharp breath, they almost sucked all the air from Three Realms Mountain into their stomachs, as if they had gorged themselves on nothing but thin air.
‘Wu Zhaoxing’ was horrified. In an instant, she was forced to reveal her true demonic form, attempting to use all her trump cards, but it was too late. Before her wings and arms could even spread, the sword light had already arrived before her.
Unable to escape, unable to dodge, she could only watch helplessly as she was engulfed by the sword light.
There was no other path but death.
Boom—
Fire trees and silver flowers exploded instantly, and combined with the illuminated Demonic Realm sky, it was beautiful like daytime fireworks, dazzling and colorful, adding a touch of beauty and dreaminess to this brutal slaughter.
Beneath the firmament, the east wind unleashed a thousand trees of blossoms in the night.
Brilliantly scattered like falling stars, clamorous like a fire attack.
Extreme scorching heat and high temperatures instantly engulfed ‘Wu Zhaoxing’s’ body. Thick smoke billowed, continuously burning in the void, emitting crackling explosions that reddened half the sky.
Li Jin’an’s aura continued to surge upwards, reaching an utterly terrifying level. The surrounding celestial phenomena were stirred and changed accordingly.
Dark clouds gathered densely, the cloud layers churned violently, strong winds swept across, and in a flash of lightning, a startling thunderclap exploded, like a ferocious beast roaring in anger.
The sky of the Demonic Realm was half blood-red, half shifting with turbulent winds and clouds.
At the moment her sword momentum was fully charged and she unleashed her magnificent strike, Li Jin’an’s aura reached its peak. She then withdrew the Blazing Radiance Sword with a backhand, no longer paying attention to ‘Wu Zhaoxing’ enveloped by sparks and thick smoke. Instead, in the void, she slightly closed her eyes, silently awaiting that most crucial second.
In a brief moment.
Li Jin’an suddenly opened her eyes. Her aura, which had been boiling, slowly settled, finally returning to tranquility. Her entire being was calm and profound, like deep water flowing silently.
This wasn’t a failed breakthrough; it was a return to simplicity and authenticity.
The Mahayana stage was no longer within easy reach; it was already a settled fact.
From then on, even without speaking of eternal life and vision, she could wander freely and unrestrained.
The world never doubted whether Jijin Sword Sovereign and Qingxiao Immortal Venerable could break through to the Mahayana stage. If those two couldn’t do it, then cultivators of their generation and the next would be in deep trouble, probably not even touching the edge of the Mahayana stage. In that case, Jingting Dao Lord and Chixin Sword Lord could truly say, “You are the worst batch of disciples I’ve ever taught.”
But belief was one thing, and conservative opinions on when they would break through were another. Those idlers from the Lingjing Sect, who did nothing but chase excitement, even collected everyone’s opinions and compiled them. The most optimistic guess was that they might reach the threshold of the Mahayana stage when they were fifteen hundred years old.
If the Mahayana stage was so easy to break through, it wouldn’t be so precious.
There truly weren’t many Mahayana stage cultivators on the surface in the cultivation world. Besides old-guard Mahayana cultivators like Jingting Dao Lord, only the Sect Masters of the overly wealthy Divine Mechanism Sect and Spring Rejuvenation Valley, who needed to deter those with ill intentions, were at the early Mahayana stage. The leaders of the remaining major immortal sects were all at the late Unity stage or Unity Perfection. Of course, this was only on the surface; in reality, no one believed it, as each sect certainly had hidden old ancestors.
Even so, in the absence of Tribulation Transcendence stage old ancestors, the Mahayana stage was the highest combat power on the Lancang Continent.
Otherwise, Xie Huaixue killing the previous-previous Demon Sovereign while he was gravely injured wouldn’t have caused such widespread shock, even if the injured Demon Sovereign was a definite Mahayana stage expert, not just some random passing dog.
And now, Qingxiao Immortal Venerable’s dao companion, Jijin Sword Sovereign, was about to kill another Mahayana stage Demon Sovereign.
From now on, regardless of whether the demonic clan had other Mahayana Demon Sovereigns, they would have to be careful not to fall into the hands of these two again. The speed at which Demon Sovereigns were replaced simply couldn’t keep up with the speed at which this dao companion pair killed them.
Although there were predictions regarding whether Qingxiao Immortal Venerable had already broken through to the Mahayana stage, no one had personally witnessed it. However, Jijin Sword Sovereign’s breakthrough to the Mahayana stage truly happened right before their eyes, unequivocally.
Now, there wasn’t enough air in Three Realms Mountain to breathe.
It gave everyone the feeling of witnessing history unfold firsthand, looking up in awe at a true hero.
A whale drinks but has not yet swallowed the ocean; sword energy already pervades the autumn sky.
Her robe corners lifted and fell with the wind.
Li Jin’an gently closed her eyes, let out a breath, and then proudly raised a brow towards the direction of the Dao Sect. She guessed that at this moment, Xie Huaixue, Jingting Dao Lord, Chixin Sword Lord, and the three younger ones were definitely gathered at Qingxiao Peak, closely watching the battle at Three Realms Mountain.
At such a triumphant moment, she simply had to revel in it a bit longer.
Suddenly, she turned around, gazing fixedly at the direction of the thick smoke.
Wu Zhaoxing’s corpse was flung out; the third eye was finally forced to reveal itself.
With this, all three vile protagonists had been dealt with, no longer able to gaze at Xie Huaixue with their filthy, sinister eyes.
There was nothing better than this.
Li Jin’an let out a refreshed puff of air, then cackled maniacally, even happier than when she had broken through moments ago.
No matter how many schemes the Heavenly Demon Clan had behind the scenes, Wu Zhaoxing’s death was a foregone conclusion; she could no longer stir up trouble.
The destiny imprisoned by the Heavenly Tome was finally half-broken; the other half was the Heavenly Tome itself.
As long as the Heavenly Tome was completely resolved, from then on, they could leap freely like fish in the vast sea, and soar like birds in the boundless sky.
“Jijin Sword Sovereign.”
Nothing else was appended, just a simple call of Li Jin’an’s honorific. The gender-neutral voice was full of confusion, utterly bewildered. It seemed to have been struck hard.
“Indeed, it is I, the Sovereign. What do you intend?” Li Jin’an asked, in a supremely good mood, glancing askance at it.
“You are a variable,” the third eye murmured.
Li Jin’an found this large eye not only sinister but also incredibly stupid. It always forgot her given name, as if it hadn’t fully woken up, constantly needing to reconfirm obvious things.
When she ignored it, it grew more excited.
“You are a variable.”
“You are a variable.”
“You are a variable.”
Three times in a row, its words carried no attack, merely sounding like a chant or incantation.
Li Jin’an frowned, about to bad-temperedly curse it.
However, the third eye didn’t give her a chance to speak. Its slit-like pupil suddenly widened like a gaping maw, swallowing Li Jin’an whole, then vanished from the spot without a trace.
A sharp gleam flashed in Li Jin’an’s phoenix eyes. Her last thought before being engulfed by darkness was: Xie Huaixue was right after all; the Heavenly Demon Clan would absolutely not behave themselves.
She just hadn’t expected it to be like this—eating people with an eye slit.
How disgusting. Couldn’t they use a more dignified method?
Jijin Sword Sovereign, who was always forthright, expressed extreme disdain for this.
…
“Ah… what?!!!”
After the third eye disappeared, the dozen or so Demon Lords and Demon Commanders also instantly disintegrated, as if their brains had been drained.
However, no one paid attention to this matter anymore. After recovering their senses, they all pulled out small paper cranes to send messages to the Dao Sect, and then notified their own sects of the news.
—After the Mahayana stage Jijin Sword Sovereign killed the new Demon Sovereign, she was swallowed by that eye of unknown demonic origin.
They simply felt their eyes weren’t enough; they couldn’t take it all in.
They hadn’t even fully processed the shock of Jijin Sword Sovereign’s breakthrough when they saw her kill Wu Zhaoxing. In the blink of an eye, both Jijin Sword Sovereign and the exploded third eye were gone.
“Why aren’t you all anxious?” Ji Wuxu poked the nearby Jun Xing Sword Master, then looked at Jiang Fengmian opposite her.
Jiang Fengmian looked up at the sky and sighed.
What was there to worry about?
Good people don’t live long; scourges last a thousand years.
With Li Jin’an’s tendency to stir up trouble, she wouldn’t just plague the cultivation world for a thousand years, but for tens of thousands of years.
She guaranteed that ‘eating’ Li Jin’an would be the third eye’s biggest regret in this lifetime, bar none.