Chapter 80: Strike Them Down!

The crowd’s faces erupted in joy as they watched Liu Ruyan being suppressed! Almost everyone currently observing the battle within the Ten Thousand Swords Sect supported Lu Jin. Although many had previously followed Liu Ruyan, the incident with Peak Master Pang had caused a massive shift: the disciples had immediately lost their trust in her and turned their support toward Lu Jin.

Long Xiwei was even more thrilled. Her heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally began to settle. It was clear that Lu Jin possessed the strength to contend with Liu Ruyan. From the moment he stepped onto the Life-and-Death Stage, he had remained calm; even during his “acting,” he had never shown the genuine panic that comes with true fear.

However, despite her relief, the two Corpse Puppets still stood upon the stage. Even the previous, terrifying aftershocks had failed to affect them. If Liu Ruyan deployed the puppets, could Lu Jin still maintain the upper hand? She feared that Lu Jin, who had only recently returned, might not be able to resist such entities. Her only hope lay in the Sect Master personally intervening.

“Lu Jin!”

Seeing the attacks of her Supreme Bone Sword neutralized so effortlessly, Liu Ruyan’s shock transformed into a twisted, hideous expression. If her intent toward Lu Jin was murderous before, it was now a towering, celestial rage.

“I underestimated you, but your arrogance ends here!”

As her words fell, two surges of energy: one gray and one black: erupted from her body. The two eerie forces merged, and under their influence, her very flesh began to transform. Her once-clear pupils took on a dual luster of gray and black. Her hair whipped like a storm, and her robes billowed. Most shocking of all: three black tails manifested behind her!

“What? What is happening to the Saintess? Why does she have tails???”

“What a horrific aura! That is Monster Qi and Demonic Qi!”

“How can this be? The Saintess was secretly practicing demonic arts! This is treason against the heavens!”

“No wonder her realm advanced so rapidly; she was cultivating the arts of monsters and demons!”

“The human race and demons are irreconcilable! She is not fit to be the Saintess of our Ten Thousand Swords Sect!”

The crowd was shocked and filled with righteous indignation, raising their arms in loud protest. Chu Tianxiong and the others also looked on with astonishment. They understood that disciples with rapid advancement, like Lu Jin and Liu Ruyan, likely held secrets, but the fact that she had delved into demonic monster arts was something they had not anticipated.

“Lu Jin, you should be proud that you have pushed me to this point!”

Liu Ruyan’s face was savage, resembling a bloodthirsty beast. “Heavenly Demonic Sword Art: annihilate him!”

Buzz!

Liu Ruyan’s techniques shifted abruptly. Her spiritual Qi rolled like a dark river, turning a shade as black as ink. Within that ink-colored aura, Monster Qi and Demonic Qi intertwined. Faint, ghostly shadows of demons seemed to surge within the mist, accompanied by the heart-shaking roars of devils that made everyone’s skin crawl.

“Heavenly Demonic Sword Art? It has quite the presence, so the grade must be high. It is just a pity that your cultivation time was too short. It won’t work!”

Lu Jin looked into Liu Ruyan’s wolf-like eyes, his gaze turning cold. He raised the Hell-Prisoner Calamity Sword and hacked forward again, chanting his own rhythm as he moved:

“Demons are supposed to be powerful, right?”

“Your ‘Heavenly Demonic Sword Art’ is nothing but a pile of trash!”

“Explode! Every bit of it, explode!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Under Lu Jin’s relentless assault, Liu Ruyan barely had time to reveal the true lethality of her technique. The layered waves of pressure, the condensed demonic sword, and the newly formed offensive patterns were all shattered, sword by sword.

Liu Ruyan was completely bewildered. The Heavenly Demonic Sword Art was a high-grade Heaven-tier manual! It was taught to her personally by the Fox Master, and she had experienced immense pain while fighting through an array of a thousand beasts to master it. Yet Lu Jin had crushed it so easily. She felt a wave of despairing frustration.

“Dammit! I will kill you! Corpse Puppets: destroy him!!!”

At this moment, Liu Ruyan finally lost control of her rage. She let out a roar as she burned a puppet-commanding talisman. The two Corpse Puppets immediately charged at Lu Jin with savage momentum.

As the puppets lunged, Liu Ruyan did not sit idle; she joined the fray herself. The combat power of the two puppets was enough to entangle an expert at the First Transformation of the Purple Mansion Realm. Lu Jin was confident he could handle them, but adding Liu Ruyan made the situation tricky. The puppets were tireless and felt no pain, and Liu Ruyan was treacherous: the aura within her likely held some hidden trap. Lu Jin remained cautious, refusing to leave anything to chance.

The Dragon-pattern defense activated once more, and the Great Transformation Dragon Art circulated rapidly through his veins. Simultaneously, the Hell-Prisoner Calamity Sword blazed with fire as he danced between the three opponents. Spiritual light crisscrossed, and the battle reached a white-hot peak in an instant.

The booming echoes were unceasing as the figures blurred across the stage. Lu Jin, fighting one against three, actually held his ground without falling into a disadvantage.

“Heavens! Senior Brother Lu Jin’s aura seems to be at the 3rd-grade Jindan? But how can he have such powerful combat strength? It makes no sense!”

“Senior Brother is a genius of the heavens! To hold his own in such a situation is inconceivable! It is like a myth!”

“Liu Ruyan is too despicable! She brought in two puppets as helpers. Senior Brother should call for backup too!”

The crowd watched the intense battle on the stage, their discussions filling the air. Wang Min’s voice from below the stage was drowned out by the roar of the crowd, but her words were captured by Long Xiwei. She was warning Lu Jin to use lightning to strike the puppets.

Hearing this, Long Xiwei’s gaze darkened. “If you can find help, so can others!”

As her voice fell, the spiritual light swirling around her fingers flashed and vanished. Within a few heartbeats, a gargantuan roar of a beast drifted down from the clouds. Along with that terrifying sound, a massive shadow of a thunder-beast descended from the sky, appearing in everyone’s sight!

“What is that? Why did a thunder-beast suddenly appear?”

“A thunder-beast? That is a Thunder-Devouring Mist Demon! Heavens! That is a beast that feeds on lightning from the high seas!”

“How could such a beast appear in the Ten Thousand Swords Sect?”

“That Junior Sister summoned it! Could it be here to help Senior Brother Lu Jin?”

The crowd cried out in shock, their eyes wide with awe. Wang Min’s eyes also shifted as she looked at Long Xiwei, nodding silently.

Kacha!

After the Thunder-Devouring Mist Demon appeared, its Monster Qi gathered, and crackling booms of electricity erupted across its body. It was a truly heart-shaking sight.

“Little Jin: blast those two corpses!”