Xiao Mo received his second beating since coming to Tianyan Sect, and both were from the same person. His injuries didn’t affect his muscles, bones, or vital organs, but he felt pain all over as if he had been completely overhauled.
“Immortal, have I done something wrong?,” Xiao Mo held his head and took the blows. He sneaked a look at the white-clad Immortal on the other side, his eyes turning bloodshot. He hurriedly added, “I won’t say anything. If you want to hit me, just hit me. Please don’t be angry.”
He had heard that practitioners who got too angry were at risk of going down the wrong path. Since he practiced the body, he considered this beating a physical exercise.
Qi Heng unsheathed his sword, and as the sword with its thunderous aura emerged from its scabbard, the sky changed dramatically.
“Chengyuan.”
Xuan Wei, inside the jade pendant, was genuinely afraid that Qi Heng might kill Xiao Mo. He quickly intervened, saying, “Stop, he’s your junior.”
To help Qi Heng calm down, he even employed his secret technique – Mind Clarity.
Qi Heng felt a cool sensation in his spiritual sea, and then he relaxed his grip on the sword.
He realized that something was amiss with his current state. Considering his personality, he wouldn’t have come all this way to fight someone over a few words. Could it be that, just like in his previous life, the Heavenly Dao had sown a mental demon in him?
With that thought, the redness in Qi Heng’s eyes faded away.
“Eh?” Xiao Mo waited for a while and didn’t feel any pain. He quickly released his hands from his head and cautiously asked, “Immortal, have you calmed down?”
Qi Heng glanced at him in silence, and then he vanished on the spot.
“You fool!” Qi Heng’s disappearance prompted Xuan Wei to scold, “Do you really want to die? If he had decided to kill, you wouldn’t even be able to withstand a single sword.”
After scolding, Xuan Wei couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Both were considered talents, but in just half a year, Qi Heng’s cultivation had become so profound that not even he could fully understand it, while Xiao Mo remained an ordinary Qi Refining outer disciple after half a year. People really couldn’t be compared.
“Master, I just heard you talking,” Xiao Mo ignored Xuan Wei’s scolding and was more concerned about something else. “Master, you mentioned that I’m an immortal’s junior. Does that mean the immortal is also your disciple?”
Xuan Wei fell silent for a moment. “He used to be my disciple.”
But now, he didn’t know anymore.
“Oh, Master, you never told me that you are also from Tianyan Sect,” Xiao Mo exclaimed in surprise. “It seems like you know everything, and I even tried to guess your background.”
“You dared to speculate about my background?” Xuan Wei’s tone was displeased.
“That’s not important,” Xiao Mo wiped his face, which had previously had the appearance of a handsome young man but was now bruised and swollen. “My senior sister1although Xuan Wei said ‘he’, but what Xiao Mo heard was “she”. “He” and “she” is the same in Chinese must have shown mercy to me. She beat me up like this but didn’t have the heart to kill me.”
“Hold on—” Xuan Wei felt something was amiss. “You said ‘senior sister.’ Where did you get a senior sister from?”
“Immortal, Master, didn’t you say she’s your disciple?” Xiao Mo looked entirely nonchalant. “So, I naturally call her senior sister!”
Xuan Wei, who had survived the Nine Heavens Calamity, was almost driven to despair by Xiao Mo. “Xiao Mo, are you blind? Look at him closely. He’s a male cultivator!”
“Get your eyes checked. Look carefully, he’s a man, and he’s your senior brother!”
“What?” Xiao Mo was taken aback. “That’s impossible; he’s too good-looking for a man.”
More attractive than any woman he had ever seen in the mortal realm.
“He really spared you.” Xuan Wei gritted his teeth. “If it were someone else, you’d be beaten to a soulless pulp.”
Given Chengyuan’s current cultivation level, outsiders would undoubtedly address him as ‘Sword Lord’. Being a Sword Lord, being mistakenly recognized as a female cultivator by a mere Qi Refining disciple would be a source of embarrassment.
“Remember, he’s a man. If you’re going to address him, call him senior brother.” Xuan Wei emphasized.
“At least I have some master-disciple relationship with him. He won’t go too hard on you.”
“Oh.” An emotionally battered Xiao Mo replied with a sigh.
Unbelievable. His goddess turned out to be a man.
Qi Heng didn’t return to the Jade Sword Peak. Instead, he turned and headed for the Demon Abyss.
“Cackling, a cultivator has come.”
“Let me devour him.”
“Allow me to feast on him.”
Qi Heng stood at the entrance of the Demon Abyss, where a dark vortex rotated leisurely. All around him were various cries of despair.
Qi Heng restrained his aura, causing the surging demonic energy to intensify. In no time, a black hand grabbed his ankle. Qi Heng made no resistance, allowing them to pull him down.
Soon, he felt that he had landed at the bottom of the Demon Abyss.
Countless demons began to cheer and gather, and the demonic energy around them grew so thick it seemed like it would turn into liquid.
Qi Heng poured all of his spiritual energy into his sword and began absorbing the surrounding demonic energy. As the demonic energy on his body increased, a dark red demon mark appeared on his previously ivory forehead.
Since the heavens were wary, he would embrace the demonic essence.
The lower-level demons sensed that something was amiss and tried to escape, but a gust of wind turned them into a black sphere.
A long, chilly hand with a touch of jade caught them.
“You came willingly, and now you want to run?”
The demonic energy transformed into an elusive form, which was their true nature. Low-level demons didn’t have instinctive thinking, so they couldn’t fathom that the essence they had in their eyes was what their prey needed.
Countless thunderclouds gathered above the Demon Abyss, and one lightning bolt after another struck the abyss.
However, even a grave sin like a celestial being embracing the demonic essence couldn’t compare to the Nine Heavens Heavenly Thunder on Jade Sword Peak back in the day.
This revealed how much the celestial order in this world disliked the Sword Cultivation lineage.
Qi Heng summoned his spiritual sword and meditated, absorbing the demonic energy. Since the celestial order in this world had sowed a demonic seed in his Dao Heart, he would comply with its wishes.
A lightning bolt struck the Demon Abyss, and with a sharp crack, the world changed.
Countless black demonic energies ascended from the Demon Abyss, and the demons rejoiced.
“The Demon Lord has descended.” A divination Taoist spewed a mouthful of blood, saying, “The signs of a great calamity in heaven and earth are here. Go quickly to inform the Sect Master.”
Before he could finish speaking, the Taoist fell to the ground, unconscious.
As the heavenly thunder dissipated, it seemed like the celestial order had accepted the fact that someone had embraced the demonic essence.
Qi Heng stepped out of the Demon Abyss, and the dark mark on his forehead gradually faded away, leaving him looking the same as when he entered.
Back at Jade Sword Peak, the communication talisman of the peak started ringing.
“Lord Swordmaster Chengyuan, the Sect Master requests your immediate presence at the main peak.”
Qi Heng severed the communication talisman and placed a sign outside his door, indicating he was in seclusion.
He knew they would be discussing how to deal with the new Demon Lord and maintain the order of the world. However, the people in the cultivation world had yet to realize that the path to immortality had long been severed by the Heavenly Dao itself.
In his previous life, it took many years before this issue came to light. During that time, the spiritual energy in the cultivation world suddenly increased, and people initially believed it was a blessing from the Heavenly Dao.
However, the truth came to light when the first Nascent Soul stage cultivator fell. Upon investigation, they discovered that the number of Nascent Soul stage cultivators had dwindled to almost none. The abundant spiritual energy was, in fact, the essence drawn from the souls of those who couldn’t ascend to higher realms.
These cultivators were stuck at the critical point of ascension, neither truly immortals nor mortal practitioners. Year after year, they lived in despair, unable to complete the cycle of reincarnation.
One of the reasons Qi Heng had a deep impression of Xiao Mo was because he was the first protagonist he had encountered who defied the will of the Heavenly Dao.
In his previous life, he had exposed his inner demon in a vulnerable moment, leading to pursuit by the cultivation world. While fleeing in a panic, he was occasionally manipulated to facilitate Xiao Mo’s acquisition of opportunities, and ultimately, he left the world after shielding Xiao Mo from the Heavenly Dao’s threat.
He had exited the world too early in that life and didn’t have a chance to see if Xiao Mo eventually defied the Heavenly Dao.
Half a month later, Qi Heng received another message from the main peak: the Heavenly Dao Sect was holding an early recruitment ceremony.
“Sword Lord Chengyuan, you are the only one left in Jade Sword Peak. Do you wish to retain some miscellaneous disciples?”
Qi Heng didn’t refuse but expressed that he would attend as scheduled the next day.
Early the next morning, the Cloud Ascension Stairs were opened.
The outer disciples of the Tianyan Sect had to climb the 981 steps of the Cloud Ascension Stairs to qualify for the inner disciple selection.
Xiao Mo looked up at the towering Cloud Ascension Stairs, the top of which was shrouded in clouds and mist, making it impossible to see the end.
Next to him, other outer disciples had already started climbing, but Xiao Mo’s feet felt as if they were carrying a thousand pounds and he couldn’t move.
“What are you waiting for? Start climbing!” Xuan Wei urged. “Don’t waste any more time.”
“I don’t think I can do it,” Xiao Mo said, his legs trembling uncontrollably. “I’m afraid of heights.”
“What?” Xuan Weizi was momentarily stunned, then raised his voice in disbelief. “As a cultivator, you’re telling me you’re afraid of heights?”
At the cultivator level, flying through the sky and delving into the earth were everyday occurrences, and there was no such thing as a fear of heights.
“But I was born afraid of heights,” Xiao Mo gritted his teeth, feeling no shame whatsoever.
“You didn’t tell me either that becoming a disciple involves climbing such a tall staircase!”
Xuan Wei’s heart collapsed once more. How did he ever think that this child had limitless potential in the first place?
Unfortunately, he was afraid that Xiao Mo would have second thoughts, so he made a contract with him. Now that he’s on the ship, there’s no opportunity to get off.
Several outer disciples passed by Xiao Mo, one after another, climbing the Cloud-Ascending Staircase.
Xiao Mo looked up and saw that the staircase was crowded with people.
He couldn’t help but swallow hard. Several hundred people were climbing up if not thousands. Can this Cloud-Ascending Staircase really hold up with so many people?
Xiao Mo touched his jade pendant and whispered, “Master, is this Cloud-Ascending Staircase really sturdy? With so many people going up, won’t it break under the pressure?”
“You ignorant child!” Xuan Wei scolded. “This Cloud-Ascending Staircase has been in existence since the founding of our sect. How could it break so easily?”
“Since the founding of the sect?” Xiao Mo became even more worried. He had researched the history of the Tianyan Sect, and it had been around for over ten thousand years. A staircase that had been in existence since the sect’s founding, after so many years, even the best materials would wear out, right?
Xiao Mo became even more reluctant to go up, and to his dismay, one disciple fell from mid-air.
Xiao Mo, out of kindness, used his spiritual energy to slow down the descending speed of the falling disciple.
“Thank you for your assistance, brother,” the disciple said, getting up from the ground and giving a slight bow to Xiao Mo.
Xiao Mo was curious and asked, “How did you fall?”
The disciple awkwardly rubbed his nose and explained, “I reached the top and encountered the rumored illusion. I got frightened and lost my balance, causing me to fall.”
“Ah, I see,” Xiao Mo nodded in understanding. The disciple found it strange and asked, “Brother, why aren’t you climbing up?”
Xiao Mo didn’t mention his fear of heights but gestured to the ascending ladder. “I’m afraid it might break due to long-term wear and tear.”
The other disciple chuckled, “Brother, you’re joking. How could the ascending ladder…”
Before he could finish his sentence, there was a loud “crack,” and the people on the ascending ladder fell like dumplings, creating a tall mound of people below.
“Ah!” Another disciple fell, landing on top of the human mound.
Xiao Mo had kept his distance, avoiding the risk of being crushed, but the unfortunate disciple had been standing near the base of the ascending ladder and was unexpectedly crushed beneath the pile of people.
“Oh my goodness,” Xiao Mo muttered, covering his mouth and taking a step back as he observed the chaotic scene.
Is he some sort of jinx, saying things and then they happen?
Xuan Wei was stunned, unable to believe what he was seeing. “Th-the ascending ladder is made from Immortal Rope; how could it break?”
High above in the clouds, the various Peak Masters who were secretly observing these disciples were equally astonished. “The ascending ladder actually broke???”
Qi Heng remained silent, his hand resting behind his back, silently pondering the situation.
In his previous life, Xiao Mo definitely didn’t have a fear of heights. He remembered that once when he got injured during a chase, Xiao Mo had taken him on a long flight to a safe place for treatment.
![[Western Fantasy] What Kind of Character Did the Devs Give Me Anyway?](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/冥河摆渡者.jpg "[Western Fantasy] What Kind of Character Did the Devs Give Me Anyway?")
