Sword Shakes the Nine Heavens was not a Sword Intent, but a unique sword technique. By making the sword blade vibrate nine times, it could stack Sword Intent within a short window, exerting a power several times greater than normal. Both Blue Lotus Sword Intent and Thunderous Sword Intent could be dramatically enhanced through this technique.
It just so happened that he could test this sword technique on the evil monks up the mountain.
【Expended Noble Qi x800】
【Congratulations Host, Drawing a Prison on the Ground upgraded to Great Perfection】
Chen Ning used the remaining eight hundred points of Noble Qi to upgrade Drawing a Prison on the Ground. Having evolved into a Divine Ability, its power far exceeded that of ordinary Confucian techniques. Not only did the bounded area become immensely vast, but the invisible prison walls were also covered in a layer of pure Noble Righteous Qi. For demons and monsters, merely approaching it would inflict intense pain like a searing burn.
Very few half-demon monks of Qingtian Temple were left alive. Along the way, only a few Mermaid Ghost Infants who had long since lost their sanity remained.
【Slay Mermaid Ghost Infant, Obtain Noble Qi x30】
【Slay Mermaid Ghost Infant, Obtain Noble Qi x36】
With single sword in hand, Chen Ning led the bamboo-hatted Water Ghost all the way to the summit of Qingtian Temple.
...
Inside Qingtian Temple.
“Abbot, we really have no way of stopping him! That scholar's combat strength is far too terrifying!”
Several half-demon monks prostrated on the ground, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
“Useless trash! What good are you to me?!”
The Abbot suddenly glared with blood-red eyes and chopped down with his hand like a blade.
“Abbot, spare us!”
The half-demon monks cried out in terror. But before their voices even faded, their heads had already been severed.
Still unsatisfied, the Abbot actually gouged out the hearts of the half-demon monks and devoured them all. Only then did his blood-drenched lips curl into a grotesque smile.
“Though it's just as well. With these useless fools dead, all the mermaid hearts will belong to me alone from now on.”
Unlike the other half-fish, half-demon monks, the Abbot of Qingtian Temple—who had a hundred hearts buried inside his body—surprisingly maintained his human form. That was because he had long since moved beyond the half-human, half-demon state and completely devolved into a true demon.
“Speaking of which, it seems I haven’t fed today.”
The Abbot let out a sinister grin and turned his gaze toward the center of Qingtian Temple.
There stood a mermaid woman whose limbs were pierced by sharp blades, nailing her tightly to an iron pillar. The mermaid woman had waist-length hair and delicate, elegant features, originally a very beautiful girl. But after enduring so many years of torture, her face was deathly pale, and her spirit was completely frail and withered.
The Abbot walked over to the mermaid woman. His sharp fingernails sliced open her chest, directly gouging out a fresh, pulsating heart from within.
“So delicious! No matter how many times I taste this flavor brimming with youth, I never grow tired of it!”
The Abbot swallowed the heart in one bite, an expression of utter bliss covering his face.
“You... bastard...”
The mermaid woman's already frail face grew even paler. She wanted to voice her rage, but she barely had enough strength left to speak.
For over twenty years, she had been nailed to the pillar like this, enduring the daily agony of having her blood drained and her heart gouged out. Mermaids naturally possessed formidable regenerative abilities, and with the Abbot of Qingtian Temple using Buddhist magic daily to enhance her body's recovery, she couldn't even die if she wanted to.
Every single day, her body would recover and grow a new, fresh heart, forcing her to endure the subhuman torture all over again. Facing this purgatorial pain day in and day out, had it not been for a conviction she refused to give up, her mind would have collapsed long ago.
But would she really ever have the chance to see him again?
The mermaid woman had wished for this more than once. Yet deep down, she knew all too well how slim that unrealistic desire truly was.
Bang!
Right at that moment, a massive crash echoed from outside.
Upon the giant copper gate of Qingtian Temple, a clear fist print suddenly caved inward.
The Abbot sneered. “Hmph, here so soon? But this gate has been blessed by the Buddhist magic of Qingtian Temple’s past abbots. It's not something a mere scholar can break!”
Yet as soon as the words left his mouth, a second fist slammed violently onto the copper gate.
Boom!
In the next instant, a tempestuous gust of wind carried the heavy copper gate into the air. The gate, originally solid as bedrock, was sent flying by a single punch!
Chen Ning appeared outside Qingtian Temple. Following right behind him was none other than the bamboo-hatted Water Ghost.
“Husband!”
The mermaid woman's pupils contracted in shock, and her previously hollow, unfocused eyes suddenly burst with light.
The figure she had longed for across twenty years had finally appeared before her eyes!
For a moment, she even doubted if she was dreaming.
But quickly, the mermaid woman snapped back to reality. Enduring the searing pain, she shouted out a warning, “Run! This evil monk has buried over a hundred hearts inside his body! He's turned into an almost immortal monster—I'm afraid no one can kill him!”
“Want to run? It's too late!”
The Abbot of Qingtian Temple stared greedily at Chen Ning. For some reason, he felt an intense, unexplainable craving for human flesh and blood.
The hundred pulsating hearts inside his body seemed to whisper constantly in his ears.
Eat him! Eat him!
Human flesh and blood will make you even stronger!
“Delicious flesh!”
Drool trickled from the corners of the Abbot's mouth as his body rapidly inflated. His ugly torso, covered in fish scales, ripped straight through his red-and-yellow kasaya, completely devolving into a fish demon.
Chen Ning's face remained calm as he spoke coolly, “Fire Rule.”
The first layer of Golden Word, Jade Rule possessed four rules: 【Fire】, 【Ice】, 【Lightning】, and 【Sword】. Without needing any written characters or hand gestures, he could activate a rule simply by speaking the words.
Whoosh!
Roaring flames instantly engulfed the fish demon.
“You think a trick like this can hurt me? I became immortal long ago!”
The fish demon wore a fierce grin as it burst through the flames. But before it could get close to Chen Ning, a blue lotus bloomed.
The fish demon's arm was severed with a flash. Yet it paid no heed, lunging forward to bite Chen Ning.
“Worlds Apart in a Single Step.”
Chen Ning's figure flickered past, instantly reappearing behind the fish demon.
With a slash of the Noble Scholar's Sword, the fish demon's head was directly chopped off.
“Little scholar, is this all you've got? It barely even tickles!”
In the blink of an eye, however, dense threads of blood connected the fish demon's head and body. Under the pulling of these blood threads, its head and arm quickly flew back to its torso, and the wounds healed rapidly as if it had never been injured at all.
“Such powerful regenerative ability... Is he truly immortal?”
Chen Ning frowned slightly. “Then how about this?”
Chen Ning reached out his hand and directly grabbed the fish demon's head.
Bang!
In the next instant, the fish demon's head exploded like a balloon.
Yet upon that headless body, countless blood threads and hideous flesh tumors twisted and coiled, quickly forming a brand new head once again!
Rate on N.U.
