Chapter 23: The Arrival of the Demonic Sovereign

Qu Hanpo froze.

What nonsense was this junior disciple, who had been quivering like a quail just a second ago, spouting now? ‘They shouldn’t be touched?’

“Hahahaha! That’s the funniest joke I’ve ever heard in my life!”

“You damn junior disciple, has a donkey kicked your brains out?” Qu Hanpo’s momentary shock lasted only a second, swiftly replaced by a more ferocious rage.

He hefted his Blood-Forged Saber, as wide as a door panel. Its potent, bloody stench almost solidified as it lunged straight for Shen Zhaoqing’s face.

“Not only will I touch them, but I’ll also, right before your eyes, take them one by one…”

His vile words were cut short. Shen Zhaoqing moved.

The colossal blade, capable of cleaving stone tablets, descended upon her. Yet, instead of retreating, she stepped forward, directly into its path.

‘What was she trying to do? Was she committing suicide?’ This absurd thought flashed through the minds of everyone witnessing the scene.

Even Gu Chang’an, pinned down by several fierce bandits, her shoulder bleeding profusely, had a flicker of despair and horror in her cold, star-like eyes.

“No—!”

However, Shen Zhaoqing neither sought death nor attempted to withstand the blow head-on.

In that critical moment, she performed a move that defied comprehension.

She merely shifted her body, twisting at an incredibly acute angle. With perilous precision, she evaded the blade’s most lethal trajectory.

Simultaneously, her right hand shot out like lightning—not to strike Qu Hanpo, but to… seize the wrist that gripped his saber!

That hand was fair and slender, even bearing a slight callusing from years of wielding a broom.

Compared to Qu Hanpo’s arm, thick as gnarled old roots with veins bulging, it seemed utterly futile, like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Yet, the instant that hand made contact with Qu Hanpo’s wrist, the intensely compressed, wine-fragranced warmth within Shen Zhaoqing’s dantian surged forth, thundering through her meridians!

It was neither spiritual energy nor true essence.

“Get. Over. Here!”

Shen Zhaoqing roared, her eyes blazing with golden fire as she stared intently at Qu Hanpo. Her arm yanked back sharply, then pulled.

Qu Hanpo felt an utterly bizarre and ingenious force emanate from his wrist. This power wasn’t brute strength; instead, it was like the most supple vine, effortlessly redirecting the immense power of his cleaving strike.

“Boom!!!”

The Blood-Forged Saber, thrown off course, slammed violently into the ground beside Shen Zhaoqing. It kicked up a cloud of dust and sent shattered rocks flying, leaving a terrifying, half-foot-deep gash in the hard rock.

Meanwhile, Qu Hanpo, having overexerted himself and been caught by Shen Zhaoqing’s peculiar force, stumbled. His entire body lurched, uncontrollably staggering two steps forward, leaving himself completely exposed.

Everyone appeared to be under a paralysis spell, staring dumbfounded at the incomprehensible scene unfolding before them.

Shen Zhaoqing had… deflected the Black Wind Fortress chieftain’s inevitable, full-force strike?! ‘What kind of martial arts was that?’

Even Shen Zhaoqing herself was bewildered, yet her confusion was fleeting, concealed behind an unchanging expression.

That moment had been a purely instinctive reaction born of desperation; she herself didn’t understand how she’d done it. It felt akin to winning an arm-wrestling match while completely drunk, a victory achieved in a daze.

However, this was not the time for analysis.

‘Capitalize on his weakness; take his life!’

A fierce glint flashed in Shen Zhaoqing’s eyes. Giving Qu Hanpo no chance to react, her other hand produced a hairpin from seemingly nowhere.

Gripping the hairpin, she put every ounce of her strength into a vicious thrust, aiming for Qu Hanpo’s face, now contorted in shock!

“Die, you bastard!!”

Qu Hanpo was utterly terrified. He never imagined that this ‘lamb’ in his eyes would suddenly transform into a ravenous, mad wolf.

He tried to dodge, but his footing was unstable; there was simply no time!

Just then.

The sky suddenly darkened.

No, it wasn’t the sky itself that had darkened. Rather, a shadow descended, enveloping everyone from above.

An indescribably cold and bone-piercing killing intent, like a frigid tide from the netherworld, descended without warning.

This killing intent was so pure, so terrifying, as if it had condensed all the malice and destruction in the world.

The suffocating pressure of the Immortal-Binding Array was instantly shattered and scattered before this overwhelming killing intent!

Everyone instinctively looked up.

Then, they saw a crimson sword-light, like a divine punishment, tearing through the hazy firmament.

It was a tear in the physical sense.

The seemingly impregnable light barrier of the Immortal-Binding Array was as fragile as thin paper before this crimson sword-light, effortlessly ripped open with a grotesque gash.

Endless crimson radiance poured from the rift, staining the entire Ten Thousand Beast Valley with an eerie, demonic scarlet.

****

The sword-light dissipated.

A figure, standing atop a lotus platform formed from countless blood-red petals, slowly descended from the tear in the sky.

It was a woman of ultimate beauty and ultimate peril.

Her long hair, as pale as frost and snow, cascaded casually over her shoulders, accentuating her ruby-like eyes, which shone with an even more bewitching allure, as if containing mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Her features were exquisitely carved, like a divine masterpiece, yet they held an aloof indifference that kept all at a distance. Her brows were sharp as blades, and a faint, almost imperceptible cold smile played on her lips, as if all creation were but dust in her sight.

A simple white battle robe could not conceal the supreme demonic might that commanded the world around her. A black and red cloak billowed behind her, rustling even without a breeze.

Ling Shuangjue.

The Mistress of Myriad Flower Blood Palace, the Sovereign of the Infinite Demonic Domain.

Her name, throughout the Three Pure Dao Alliance, was synonymous with death and taboo. ‘How could she be here?!’

“Demonic… Demonic Sovereign…”

The shock, fury, and ferocity on Qu Hanpo’s face instantly dissolved into bone-deep terror the moment he recognized the newcomer. The hand gripping his Blood-Forged Saber could no longer exert even an ounce of strength.

“How could Ling Shuangjue have been alerted?” For the first time, the gentle and dignified expression on Li Ruan’yan’s face drained of all color. ‘This wasn’t part of the plan!’

She had accounted for the Qingyun Sect’s reaction, for Gu Chang’an’s protectiveness, and even for the potential intervention of the Enforcement Hall.

Ling Shuangjue’s gaze swept coldly over the chaotic battlefield below.

Then, her eyes settled on the very center of the arena.

They landed on Shen Zhaoqing, who still held the bone hairpin, poised in a forward thrust.

She saw the dust smudged on Shen Zhaoqing’s face, the rip in her sleeve from shattered rocks, and the lingering anger and astonishment in her eyes, which still burned with golden fire.

Then, she saw Qu Hanpo, rigid with fear, facing Shen Zhaoqing, his Blood-Forged Saber less than a foot from Shen Zhaoqing’s cheek.

Ling Shuangjue’s brow furrowed, ever so slightly.

It was such a minute gesture.

Yet the temperature throughout the entire Ten Thousand Beast Valley seemed to plunge instantly to freezing point.

A killing aura, ten times more terrifying than before, erupted with a thunderous force!

“My subordinate,”

she began, her voice clear, cold, and utterly devoid of emotion, yet imbued with an undeniable dominance and authority that resonated clearly in the ears of everyone present.

“Is someone *I* claim, something you ants are permitted to touch?”

The instant her words fell.

She didn’t even glance at Qu Hanpo. Instead, she casually raised her right hand, adorned with an obsidian finger-guard, and flicked a finger towards him.

It was swift! Unfathomably swift!

Qu Hanpo had no time to react whatsoever; he couldn’t even register a thought of fear.

“Puff!”

A soft sound.

The crimson thread of light precisely pierced his glabella.

Qu Hanpo’s ashen eyes instantly lost all their luster, the terror on his face eternally frozen in that moment.

His massive body toppled straight backward.

Bang!

A heavy thud, stirring up a cloud of dust.

The chieftain of Black Wind Fortress, a late-stage Nascent Soul evil cultivator, the bandit leader Qu Hanpo, who had once suppressed Gu Chang’an within the Immortal-Binding Array.

Was dead. Slain with a single flick of a finger.