Chapter 270: Killing Gongsun Jue, Killing Ling Xiao

Heavenly Capital Peak, Ascension Platform.

Gu Mo sat beneath the Enlightenment Tree, but his consciousness was engaged in a battle with inner demons within a chaotic space. He didn't know how much time had passed; it felt like either ten years or eight years, or perhaps just an instant.

He defeated the inner demon.

The inner demon, identical to him, collapsed to the ground. Its body began to dissipate, but it wore a faint smile as it said, "Gu Mo, you've defeated *your* inner demon, not *the* inner demon!"

Gu Mo frowned, looking at the inner demon.

Although he had fought and defeated the inner demon, he couldn't discern what it truly was. It seemed like a reflection of his own inner evil, yet also an amplification of his desires.

Indeed, just as the inner demon had stated, Gu Mo could clearly sense that this particular inner demon was born from his own thoughts, not the forbidden inner demon of legend.

"What exactly are you?" Gu Mo asked.

The inner demon chuckled, "Whatever you perceive me to be, that's what I am. Gu Mo, no one can escape the shackles of inner demons. As long as you possess emotions and desires, you cannot avoid me. This is the rule of the world's operation, and we will meet again."

With that, the inner demon completely vanished.

Simultaneously, on the Ascension Platform, beneath the Enlightenment Tree, Gu Mo slowly opened his eyes. The swirling dark mist that had filled his chaotic consciousness seemed to have never existed. Only the leaves of the Enlightenment Tree simultaneously emitted a soft, glowing white light the moment he awoke, and tiny specks of light, like fireflies, circulated around him.

He slowly rose, without disturbing a single fallen leaf beneath the tree. His eyes showed no hint of sharpness or the usual profound composure, only a clarity that was almost childlike in its simplicity. It was as if, in his eyes, all things in the world had shed their complex outer layers of cultivation techniques, realms, and karma, leaving only the most fundamental principle of "existence."

He took a step, directly treading on the void at the edge of the cliff. The Grand Void Sword silently appeared beneath his feet, carrying him towards the valley floor. There was no dazzling brilliance, nor the sound of wind and thunder, only a complete sense of freedom, as if to say, "Heaven and Earth are inherently a path, and my heart is a smooth road."

His robes stirred gently in the mountain breeze, but unlike their usual flapping, they resembled reeds swaying by a stream, exhibiting an unyielding calm amidst their dance. Passing birds did not shy away, and dew-laden leaves, carried by the wind, landed on his shoulder, incredibly, remaining frozen before sliding off. Drifting fallen leaves spun and flew around him.

When Gu Mo landed at the bottom of the valley on the Grand Void Sword, Gu Chuwinter, who had been sitting on a rock contemplating life, suddenly woke up. She joyfully leaped to her feet and exclaimed, "Brother, you've finished your seclusion... huh?"

"What is it?" Gu Mo smiled.

Gu Chuwinter circled Gu Mo once and said, "You must have gained a lot from this seclusion. Before, when I stood in front of you, I could clearly feel your deterrent power as the world's greatest. But now, how should I describe it..."

Gu Chuwinter thought for a moment and said, "Hmm, before, you *were* Gu Mo, the world's greatest. Now, it's more like Gu Mo *has* the title of the world's greatest!"

Gu Mo chuckled, "It seems that making you read more often has paid off; your words now have a touch of Zen."

Gu Chuwinter pouted and said, "Hmph, I'm more cultured than you!"

Gu Mo chuckled again and said, "Let's go... Hmm?"

Suddenly, an immense pressure, heavier than ten thousand tons, erupted from the rock fissures beneath their feet, as if an ancient beast, slumbering for eons, had abruptly opened its eyes and instantly locked onto Gu Mo.

The next moment, the entire Heavenly Capital Peak let out a muffled roar.

The weathered rocks on the western ridge writhed like living things. Brown telluric energy erupted from fissures in the rock layers, surging down the mountainside like burning earth dragons, frantically converging into the abyss at the valley's center. The originally picturesque valley suddenly began to emanate dark, inky miasma. The winding stream at the bottom of the valley astonishingly reversed its flow, coiling upwards like a towering black python, tangling with the dark clouds pressing down from the sky.

"Buzz—"

The void suddenly fractured into spiderweb-like patterns, and countless bronze-colored runes surged from the cracks, sweeping over the canyon walls like a tide.

Gu Mo was alarmed to find dark red blood light seeping from the rocks beneath his feet. The seemingly natural fissures in the cliff walls surprisingly formed a massive array eye totem: eight stone stalagmites shot skyward, each wreathed in terrifying phenomena—the tearing of space by metal weapons, the weeping of green wood with blood, floods carrying corpses, raging fires burning souls, and thick earth burying bones. These were precisely the "Soul Lock and Spirit Refinement" Five-Directional Killing Formation within the Immortal Slaying Array!

At the same time, the geomantic spiritual energy accumulated on Heavenly Capital Peak for millennia completely reversed. The cascading waterfall on the eastern side of the mountain gorge inverted into a black river of stars, every falling droplet transforming into the wailing of vengeful spirits. In the dense forest on the western side, ancient tree roots burst from the earth, entwining into countless skeletal hands that shrouded the sky, forming a dim cage. Even the perpetual snow on the mountaintop melted into crimson ice crystals, falling silently with purple lightning, coalescing into a ring of burning soul fire at the edge of the formation.

"Brother!"

Gu Chuwinter's face paled. She immediately pulled out the Gouchu Demonic Blade from her satchel. With a gentle wave, a bloody mist erupted from her eyes, and an eerie flame permeated the blade.

Gu Mo gently pressed her shoulder, smiling slightly, and said, "It's alright."

Immediately, he stepped forward. The Grand Void Sword flew to his feet, carrying him skyward. The sword itself bore no brilliance, yet like a swirling current of light, it lifted him towards the heavens, tracing an absolutely still arc in mid-air.

And at that very instant, thousands of bronze chains, inscribed with killing runes, pierced through the void from all directions. The reversed geomantic spiritual energy transformed into a black-and-red chaotic storm, forming an all-consuming vortex at the center of the formation, where even light distorted into a grotesque demonic face.

As the first bronze chain, shrieking as it tore through space, lunged towards his brow, Gu Mo surprisingly saw illusions of his own Dao heart shattering within the chain's engravings. The remnants of the inner demons he had just vanquished now, empowered by the grand formation, materialized, grinning silently at him.

When the monstrous face, covering the void, emerged from the chaos, all light on Heavenly Capital Peak was absorbed into thick ink. Its green-faced, fanged outline ripped through the clouds, and its pupils churned with the crimson patterns of the Immortal Slaying Array.

At that very moment, Gu Mo reached out, and the Grand Void Flying Sword fell into his palm.

With a slight turn of his wrist, he didn't draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, nor did he condense a lethal sword intent. He simply swung out his first sword strike as casually as a common person waving a sleeve.

When the sword light emerged, the void first fell silent, then thousands of illusory sword intents erupted. There were powerful sword auras capable of splitting mountains and cracking stones, intricate sword threads that could coil around a finger, swift sword shadows chasing stars and catching the moon, and even the clear light that pierced through illusion when he had just vanquished the inner demon—countless distinct sword intents merged into one at this moment, transforming into a faint, almost nonexistent white ribbon that lightly brushed across the demonic face's brow.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a faint sound like glass shattering.

The demonic face covering the void split open from the center with spiderweb-like fissures. The phenomena formed by telluric energy and array patterns instantly turned to dust. Even the sky-obscuring chaotic dark clouds were sliced through by this sword, creating a clear hole. Dawn light streamed through the fissure, illuminating Gu Mo's figure, suspended with sword in hand.

Without even a glance at the dissipating demonic face, he raised his wrist again.

The second sword was slower, lighter than the first.

As the sword tip swept across the void, it astonishingly created ripples like water patterns at the abyss at the core of the array.

The bronze chains that had just been drawing telluric energy snapped inch by inch. The black-and-red storm formed by the reversed geomancy violently rolled back, and the killing runes on the eight stone stalagmite array eyes melted away like ice and snow meeting the sun.

"Boom—!"

The roar of the Immortal Slaying Grand Formation shattering erupted half a breath later.

The cliff walls throughout the valley suddenly burst with thousands of golden-red cracks. The telluric energy, forcibly distorted by the formation, surged skyward like unbridled dragons, pulverizing the remaining array patterns covering the peaks. Rolling boulders were pulverized into dust by the dissipating sword intent in mid-air, falling like a shower of starlight. Gu Mo's figure, holding his sword, remained fixed in the void amidst this inverted vision of heaven and earth.

The moment the Immortal Slaying Grand Formation shattered, he immediately sensed the person controlling the formation was on Dragon Tiger Mountain, roughly ten *li* away.

Instantly, he tossed it away. The Grand Void Flying Sword suddenly left his palm, transforming into a silver rainbow wreathed in fireflies, and plunged into the valley. The sword carved a crescent mark in the morning mist, and before it touched the ground, it had already supported Gu Chuwinter, carrying her upwards.

Gu Mo did not look back. He merely waved a sleeve casually. The next moment, his figure, like a fallen leaf lifted by the mountain breeze, lightly swept towards the ridge bathed in twilight. Amidst the layered sea of clouds, he trailed two ethereal, traceless streams of light, one following the other, flying towards Immortal Water Valley.

At this moment, within the Altar City in Immortal Water Valley.

Zhang Xisu, sitting cross-legged, had just traced the last array pattern on the sand-plate artifact with his fingertip when his throat suddenly tasted sweet, and a crimson mist of blood, accompanied by fragments of the sand-plate like shattered jade, erupted from his mouth.

The artifact, forged from ten-thousand-year-old cold iron, exploded with a roar. Violent spiritual energy tore through the ground like a spiderweb, launching him into the air. His purple Daoist robe billowed like a torn sack before he ultimately plummeted face-first into the dust, his disheveled hair still flecked with scattered cinnabar.

"Impossible... My Immortal Slaying Grand Formation was improved, how could Gu Mo have broken it so easily... Impossible... This is impossible..."

The dying Zhang Dao-yi turned his head to glance at the mentally broken Zhang Xisu and couldn't help but laugh, saying, "Senior Brother... I told you, don't be a frog at the bottom of a well... The main reason Ling Xiao was killed back then wasn't because of the Immortal Slaying Grand Formation, but because I, Zhang Dao-yi, activated it, hahaha..."

"Fake, it's all fake!"

Zhang Xisu spat out a mouthful of blood, his face extremely pale, his eyes filled with confusion.

At this moment, Ling Xiao, however, raised his head with a smile, murmuring, "They're here!"

As his voice fell, two streaks of light appeared in the sky, rapidly descending from a gap in the clouds; they were Gu Mo and Gu Chuwinter.

Gu Mo landed first, directly on the dilapidated ritual platform. Gu Chuwinter followed closely, dismounting from the Grand Void Flying Sword with her satchel on her back. She looked around, then spotted the dying Zhang Dao-yi, quickly ran over, and fed him a medicinal pill, saying, "Old Heavenly Master, are you really going to die?"

Zhang Dao-yi: "..."

At this point, Shen Yao quickly stood up and pointed at Zhang Xisu, saying, "Hero Gu, Zhang Xisu colluded with Gongsun Jue." He then pointed at Gongsun, who was standing not far behind Ling Xiao, looking ragged and disheveled, and said, "That's Gongsun Jue." He then pointed at Ling Xiao and said, "This person is Ling Xiao, the world's greatest before Jiang Ruoxu. I don't know if he truly reincarnated!"

Gu Mo looked at Ling Xiao, cupping his hands in greeting, "Are you truly Ling Xiao, Your Excellency?"

Ling Xiao returned the gesture, saying, "Understood from a mundane perspective, I am indeed Ling Xiao." As he spoke, Ling Xiao scrutinized Gu Mo from head to toe, saying with some surprise, "Child, you are truly exceptional. Besides myself, you are the first person I've encountered who has seen through the essence of divinity and humanity."

"So you were the last one," Gu Mo said. "What's your current situation? Are you truly reincarnated?"

"No," Ling Xiao replied. "Whether true reincarnation exists in this world, I'm not certain, but I hope it doesn't. Otherwise, my plan to eliminate martial arts cannot proceed."

Gu Mo asked doubtfully, "If it's not reincarnation, then what's your current state? Weren't you killed by the Immortal Slaying Grand Formation back then?"

Ling Xiao chuckled, "Didn't you also kill a Jiang Ruoxu in the capital of the Jiang Kingdom?"

Gu Mo realized, "Thirty-three years ago, only your physical body was killed."

Ling Xiao nodded slightly and said, "Back then, although I was the world's greatest, I hadn't yet reached the Ascension Realm. Well... I was close, just half a step away from shedding my mortal body and ascending beyond.

It wasn't that my cultivation wasn't sufficient, but rather that I knew I couldn't contend with the inner demons. So, I stopped at the precipice of half-step ascension. Subsequent events proved I was correct; inner demons are beyond human ability to defeat. A few years after my 'death,' Jiang Ruoxu became the new world's greatest. He successfully broke through to the Ascension Realm, and as everyone knows, he ultimately succumbed to cultivation deviation.

As for myself, because I had to suppress my cultivation realm while fighting, I was caught off guard and trapped by the Immortal Slaying Grand Formation. Due to suppressing my realm, my cultivation was reduced to less than one-tenth, and my physical body was destroyed by the formation. However, the impact was minor. I possess a martial art called the Great Nirvana Divine Art, which allows me to be reborn from death. At that time, I calculated that I would need exactly thirty-three years to complete my nirvana, which is why I told Dao-yi that I would come back thirty years later to claim my life from him."

Gu Mo nodded slightly, saying, "I see."

Ling Xiao asked with a smile, "Do you have any more questions?"

Gu Mo shook his head slightly.

Ling Xiao said, "Then it's my turn to ask. Are you willing to join my discipleship?"

Gu Mo chuckled, "Are you trying to convince me to join your martial arts elimination plan with your rhetoric about ending suffering in the world?"

Ling Xiao smiled and said, "I know you don't agree with my assertion that 'the world's suffering comes from martial arts,' but it is indeed the truth. The suffering in the human world originates from war, from division, from this chaotic era that has been unable to unify for seven hundred years.

Do you know why, for a full seven hundred years since the pre-Qin dynasty lost its grip seven centuries ago, this chaotic age has been unable to unify?"

Gu Mo shook his head slightly.

"Because of the inner demon," Ling Xiao said. "The inner demon's birth originated seven hundred years ago when an extraterrestrial demonic star fell to earth, inherently possessing demonic properties. The three major sects of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism of that era all realized something was amiss and intended to destroy it. However, the last emperor of the pre-Qin dynasty, Emperor Qin Li, was bewitched by its demonic nature and secretly swapped the demonic star.

Soon after, Emperor Qin Li became grandiose and tyrannical, leading to widespread suffering among the populace and outbreaks of rebellion everywhere. The pre-Qin dynasty was overthrown, and the world fragmented. The demonic star, leveraging Emperor Qin Li's desires, gained sentience and became the inner demon.

The inner demon's growth is terrifying. As long as it continuously devours the minds of cultivators, it grows stronger, and the more powerful the cultivator, the better the effect. And it is in times of chaos that heroes emerge. Therefore, the inner demon will not allow the world to unify. Whenever a talented strategist is on the verge of unifying the world and an era of peace is about to arrive, the inner demon will bewitch that strategist, guiding their greed and plunging the world once again into conflict and war.

Looking back at history, one can see that the more chaotic an era, the more martial arts experts emerge. And in the past seven hundred years, martial arts have been pushed to an unprecedented level, far surpassing any previous era in history, with numerous masters reaching the ascension level. The inner demon, meanwhile, waits quietly before the Heavenly Gate of Ascension, patiently awaiting cultivators who reach the Ascension Realm to provide it with nourishment.

I know that eliminating martial arts cannot change humanity's inherent flaws. After all, human nature tends towards evil, with selfishness, greed for power and wealth, and various other deeply rooted flaws. True equality for all and the elimination of all suffering in the world are impossible to achieve. However, eliminating martial arts *can* eradicate the inner demon.

As long as there are no martial arts or cultivators in the world, and martial arts decline, the inner demon will lose its sustenance and disappear. Then the world will not remain in constant chaos as it is now. It's a natural trend for the world to unite after long periods of division and divide after long periods of unity, but looking at history, when has there ever been a chaotic era lasting seven hundred years? Dynasties last no more than three hundred years, yet chaos has persisted for seven hundred—how utterly absurd!"

Gu Mo nodded slightly and said, "Hearing you explain it like this, some things I couldn't understand before now make sense."

"So, do you agree?" Ling Xiao asked.

"No, I don't," Gu Mo replied.

"Why?" Ling Xiao asked. "I know your martial arts are very high, and you might think of killing the inner demon with personal force, but I tell you, that's impossible. The inner demon is formless, intangible, and traceless; there's no way to kill it. I also know that my concept of eliminating martial arts is difficult to implement, but one must try, mustn't one? Eliminating martial arts is the only way to eradicate the inner demon. No matter how unreasonable or unimaginable it may seem, we must pursue it—to end this chaotic era, this absurd chaos that has lasted for seven hundred years. This isn't just saving the common people now; it's saving humanity for eternity!"

Gu Mo shook his head slightly and said, "You may think you are great, or that you are ushering in peace for all ages. However, I can't help but feel that you haven't managed to avoid the inner demon yourself. Your ideology seems to be influenced by it, because aren't your actions precisely stirring up greater conflict?"

Ling Xiao chuckled faintly, "Chaos for one generation versus chaos for ten thousand generations: the disaster is in the present, but the benefit is for eternity!"

Gu Mo said, "But you cannot unify the martial arts world, let alone the entire realm. You would only add another force to make the world more chaotic. And conversely, even if you successfully unify the realm and finally achieve peace, the moment you begin to eliminate martial arts, the world would immediately plunge into new chaos, entering a new era of disorder!"

Ling Xiao did not deny it, but affirmed, "You are absolutely right. That's why I thought of inviting Dao-yi, inviting Gongsun Jue, inviting Zhang Xisu... and now, inviting you. The martial arts elimination plan cannot be accomplished by one person. I need the prodigies of an era to cooperate with me; I need exceptional talents like you to help me. I cannot do it alone, but ten, a hundred, or a thousand like-minded individuals working together can complete the martial arts elimination plan!"

Gu Mo smiled and shook his head slightly, saying, "I'm sorry, but you can't convince me."

Ling Xiao bowed slightly and said, "No matter. Although I intend to eliminate martial arts, I never deny that martial arts is a good thing. When persuasion fails, one can simply overpower." He gazed at Gu Mo and chuckled, "Child, I'm going to hit you now!"

With that, Ling Xiao looked down and casually picked up a wooden stick—a small, broken piece of wood that had fallen from the collapsed ritual platform, no bigger than a ruler.

The rain in the Altar City had been falling in slanted streaks, and water seeped from the cracks in the bluestone bricks, winding along the terrain. Ling Xiao twirled the wooden stick between his fingers; as his thumb brushed against its rough texture, his wrist subtly flicked.

The flicking force was as light as flicking dust from a cuff, yet as the wooden stick was tossed half an inch in his palm, the slanted raindrops suddenly froze in mid-air. Pea-sized water droplets hung three inches from Gu Mo's hair, and even the strings of rain became glistening glass pendants, locking the entire Altar City into an amber silence. The copper bells under the eaves stopped swaying, and even the wind weaving through the distant stone forest solidified into bluish-gray patterns, adhering to the mottled stone walls.

Ling Xiao's figure dissolved into a translucent phantom at his original spot, appearing in front of Gu Mo the next moment. The small wooden stick, whistling through the air, smashed towards Gu Mo's temple. There were no bursts of lightning or fire, no howling gales. The motion was as plain as a village boy swinging a stick at a dog, almost comically simple. Yet, the air where the wooden stick passed rippled faintly, as if space itself had been forcibly creased by the blunt instrument.

Gu Mo's hand, which had been hanging at his side, suddenly lifted.

Time remained frozen; raindrops hung motionless before his eyelashes, and even the reflection in Ling Xiao's pupils solidified into an inky silhouette. At this moment, Gu Mo's black boot cut a blurry white streak, its tip striking Ling Xiao's chest precisely. There was no deafening roar, only an extremely soft "thump," like the sound of tearing cloth being infinitely prolonged.

Ling Xiao's body flew backward like a kite with a broken string. In the afterimage created by his billowing robes, faint azure soul light seeped out, as if his soul had been kicked free from its form. The first raindrop fell precisely at this moment. The instant it hit Gu Mo's shoulder, the frozen rain curtain across the sky abruptly came alive. The "patter-patter" of rain violently burst forth, the copper bells swayed once more, and the wind swept fallen leaves through the stone forest—the frozen time and space from moments ago seemed like nothing more than an illusion refracted by the raindrops.

When Ling Xiao's back slammed against the stone wall three *zhang* away, a "crack" mixed with a muffled thud exploded. Spiderweb-like cracks spread from the impact point on the bluestone bricks, and tiny stone fragments silently fell into his hair. He knelt on one knee, propping himself up with the wooden stick. Blood beads seeped from between his fingers, dripping along the wood grain into a puddle, spreading a circle of dark red.

"Impressive!"

Ling Xiao uttered a word of praise, then flicked his fingertip. The less-than-palm-length wooden stick shot through the air like an arrow released from a bowstring.

Instantly, the fine rain seemed to be stirred by an unseen giant hand, twisting and condensing wildly in the air. Pea-sized raindrops suddenly transformed into sharply angled barbs, and slender rain streaks eerily stretched into menacing wooden staffs. Thousands of these "weapons" hovered in mid-air, their surfaces shimmering with a dark azure glow. The sound of them tearing through the air was like the shriek of a malevolent ghost. These wooden sticks, condensed from raindrops, carved black fissures in the void, as if intent on ripping space apart. Carrying terrifying wind pressure capable of splitting mountains and cracking stones, they surged towards Gu Mo like a towering black tide, covering everything. The entire sky was obscured by the densely packed wooden sticks. From a distance, it seemed as if Ling Xiao had single-handedly conjured a vast army made of rain, each stick exuding an an aura of destruction, producing a sharp, space-tearing sound as it pierced the air, aiming to grind Gu Mo to dust.

Gu Mo's lowered palm lifted and pushed slightly forward. A hazy, glass-like mist of light spread out from his palm as its center, causing the thousands of approaching wooden staffs to ripple faintly at the edge of the mist. The instant his palm base gently pushed, the light mist rapidly expanded like an ink drop spreading across a lake. The staffs that first touched the light mist emitted "crackling" sounds, their profound black bodies disintegrating inch by inch into silver threads of rain. Thousands of silver threads interwoven in the air, forming a swirling web of light, reflecting the dark azure of the Altar City walls. Only the original small wooden stick was violently repelled by the light mist, its body trailing a bluish-black wake as it carried an air vortex, shrieking like tearing silk as it shot towards Ling Xiao's face.

Ling Xiao's toes dug crescent-shaped indentations into the slippery bluestone. His entire body twisted sharply to the left like a broken branch. As the wooden stick grazed his cheek, blood beads splattered like crimson plums in the rain. When it struck the stone wall behind him, the stick, with its remaining momentum, embedded itself into a brick joint. Spiderweb-like white marks first seeped onto the bluestone wall, followed by fine stone dust silently falling. The embedded end of the wooden stick continued to tap lightly against the bluestone, and disturbed raindrops coalesced into trembling beads on its tip.

"Hold him!"

Ling Xiao wiped the blood from his cheek. His pupils reflected the golden core circulating in Gu Mo's palm. Before his words fully fell, Gongsun Jue had already stepped forward like an arrow released from a bowstring. His dark Xuan-colored Daoist robe billowed like a sail with his roar, and the bluestone bricks beneath his feet cracked into spiderweb patterns from his stride. Behind him, twelve grey-robed cultivators simultaneously formed hand seals. Threads of blood shot from their fingertips, outlining an arcane array on the slippery ground. It erupted with a sudden hum, and a pitch-black vortex, three *zhang* in diameter, forcefully condensed in the void.

Dark black energy waves rolled at the vortex's edge. The Taotie Array's suction force, like a colossal tempest, tore through the rain curtain. The forcibly twisted rain threads solidified into silver streams in mid-air, all coiling back into the vortex. Even distant icicles hanging from eaves were bent and distorted. At the same time, Ling Xiao's figure vanished within the rain.

The next instant, he appeared above Gu Mo, pointing a finger towards Gu Mo's forehead. His finger seemed to transform into an inverted hundred-zhang green peak, clouds and mist rising between its jagged rocks, descending with the crushing force of the five great mountains.

At this moment, Gu Mo merely smiled faintly, reached out, and the Grand Void Sword settled into his hand.

He didn't even raise his eyes to look at the swirling black vortex. With a light flick of his wrist, as if simply waving a sleeve, he swung two swords.

As the first sword was swung, undropped raindrops still clung to the silver-white blade, yet the moment it sliced through the air, it erupted with a dragon-like sword cry. The shadowy vortex of the Taotie Array ripped open like tearing silk, and the sword qi, like a bolt of white silk, swept through. Gongsun Jue's body trembled. A thread of blood seeped from his temple, and before the blood droplet could fall, his entire body exploded into two halves, as if cleaved by an invisible blade. The splashing blood congealed into crimson ice crystals in the rain.

At that very instant, a system prompt sounded in his mind:"Killed Seven-Star Wanted Criminal.""Received Star Reward—Max Level Dao Heart Seed Demon Great Art.""Claim?"

In this moment, the Dao Heart Seed Demon Great Art immediately reached grand completion, achieving the realm of a Demonic Immortal in one fell swoop.

The second sword was a skyward strike. As the silver gleam shot up from the ritual platform, it astonishingly ironed all the falling rain into straight silver lines. The hundred-zhang inverted mountain peak formed by Ling Xiao's finger developed glass-like cracks the moment the sword qi touched it. Amidst the luminous dust of the crumbling mountain shadow, Ling Xiao's retreating figure shattered the rain curtain. Bloodstains on his robes were still dripping with rain, yet he spun in mid-air, then vanished instantly, showing no reluctance whatsoever, simply fleeing.

Gu Mo's robes still held the luminous dust from shattering the mountain shadow, but his figure suddenly dissipated like a drop of ink dissolving in clear water. A circle of faint white ripples exploded in the rain curtain; he had astonishingly darted into the high sky in an instant.

His black robes cut a smooth arc through the clouds. Every step created glass-like cracks in the void, and ripple-like spatial distortions spread outwards with each rise and fall of his foot, freezing the slanted raindrops into still silver lines. The Grand Void Sword in his left hand was still dripping rain. He lightly flicked his wrist as if brushing away a spiderweb, and the silver gleam trailing from the sword tip astonishingly split the rain curtain in half.

Before that space-tearing sword qi had fully dissipated, Ling Xiao's figure materialized within the trail of light. A bowl-sized bloody hole had erupted on his back. His rain-soaked Daoist robe was shredded into rags by the sword qi, and blood mixed with shredded flesh gushed out, tracing a crimson path in the air. When his entire body slammed onto the bluestone slab like a kite with a broken string, the ground astonishingly formed a spiderweb-like crater. Splashing mud and blood droplets splattered onto a stone monument three *zhang* away.

Gu Mo's figure vanished instantly again.

The moment Ling Xiao's back touched the ground, he had already solidified on the ground, like a shadow. As the Grand Void Sword pierced out, wreathed in cold mist, its blade didn't even make a whisper of wind. Only its tip plunged precisely into Ling Xiao's heart on the left side of his chest. His thumb pressed lightly against the hilt's end, twisting it. The sword quivered, shattering Ling Xiao's heart meridians. Blood beads welled up along the sword's spine, forming crimson lines as they were washed away by the rain. Ling Xiao's body stiffened slightly, dying instantly.

However, at that very instant, Gu Mo suddenly sensed a peculiar energy fluctuation, very unique, akin to martial arts true intent, yet also like spiritual power. In that precise moment, a wisp of black mist suddenly diffused into his pupils, like a drop of thick ink falling into clear water, instantly dyeing his eyes into unfathomable black pools.

Simultaneously, the world within a thirty-*zhang* radius instantly turned black and white. The slanted raindrops first solidified into silver-white threads. The bluish-gray of the bluestones, the dark black of the stone monuments, and the crimson of the splashing blood all instantly faded into the plain white of an ink wash scroll. Blood droplets suspended in mid-air lost their fluidity, like frozen glass beads. Only the swirling black mist in Gu Mo's eyes was the sole contrasting color in this black and white world. When he looked up, a translucent figure emerged from the rain curtain, unmistakably Ling Xiao.

Gu Mo, as if stepping into an ink wash painting, instantly appeared before Ling Xiao, asking in surprise, "Is this the state after ascension?"

Ling Xiao smiled faintly, "You can understand it as a ghost or a soul, either works. Gu Mo, in this state, you cannot kill me!"