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Faced with the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey King, Chu Yang unleashed a strike of the Southeast Yang Heaven Sword and transformed into something that resembled a real sunburst and entered a standoff against the demon.

The Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king squinted his eyes a little and murderous lights flickered in his eyes. Suddenly, he extended a paw and drew a circle in the void.

His body vanished into thin air, and it felt as if he took only one step before he appeared right in front of Chu Yang.

With that circle he drew in the air, the space around Chu Yang’s body began to distort as well. The sword radiance that resembled sunlight started to twist and tear apart.

The Southeast Yang Heaven Sword combined elements of offense and defense together. The sword radiance could be released outwards to strike the enemy, and could be retracted to seamlessly encircle the practitioner in layers of sunlight with himself safely protected in the center.

The Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey King, as a demonic lord stage individual, was able to understand and manipulate the secrets and qualities of space just like a human nascent soul stage cultivator could. However, even if he could shoot through the void to attack, he had to deal with Chu Yang’s defensive sword radiance, and the latter appeared like a porcupine that was rolled up in a prickly ball.

The circle that the demon monkey drew in the sky broke apart the void near Chu Yang as well – he went for the source of the problem to counter Chu Yang’s swordplay, and made it clear that a demonic lord stage demon could forcefully take down an aurous core stage human cultivator.

Chu Yang grinned at the sight as his sword stance transformed precipitously. The warm radiance permeating the skies disappeared, and only a shadow with dim but strong lights glimmered in its place; it had a deceptive quality that confused onlookers.

The eyes of the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king widened in an instant. In the perception of his consciousness, it was as if Chu Yang had vanished into thin air and was nowhere to be seen.

In the next moment, the dim shadow flew away with incredible speed and even rubbed shoulders with the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king. Chu Yang had escaped the area of effect of the Ghost Monkey king’s assaults just like that.

He glided towards a location a slight distance away from the battleground and the Chu Yang’s figure resurfaced from within the dim shadow, looking calm and composed. He had changed the Southeast Yang Heaven Sword into the Southwest You Heaven Sword and he himself transformed into a discreet shadow that pierced through the void, and even the abilities of the demonic lord stage Nine Netherworld Ghost monkey to bend space were unable to trap him.

He turned around to see the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king, who was just getting ready to pounce towards him yet again. Chu Yang simply chuckled to himself, sheathed the longsword and turned around to leave.

The Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king immediately realized what was going on and grew infuriated. He was just about to dive into pursuit when he felt a sharp pain at the top of his head and his whole body started to shiver.

There were traces of green light shooting out from the top of his head, and they came from a small hole the size of a needle.

However, this tiny hole seemed to leak out the life of the Ghost Monkey King and he felt like his life was swiftly coming to an end.

The Ghost Monkey king’s body continued to shiver as he looked inwards into his own body and discovered that even the top of his soul had a similar hole.

His demon soul had this very same hole and his essence was continually draining outwards.

The Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king could even feel his own consciousness disappearing with terrifying speed. "How can this be? When... When did this happen?"

An aurous core stage cultivator defeating and killing a demonic lord stage demon was not something completely unheard of, but this outcome was definitely rare and hard to come by. The Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king never thought he had to face something like this himself.

He was drawing his last breath before the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king had an epiphany. "Yes, it happened when he rubbed shoulders with me."

With that, the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king crumpled onto the ground like a ragdoll.

This harrowing scene fell into the eyes of Lin Feng, Wang Lin, Shi Tianhao and the others who had been watching in silence this whole time. The epiphany that the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king had in the last moments of his life was something that Wang Lin and Shi Tianhao immediately saw through.

Shi Tianhao tilted his head to the side. "Third Senior, do you think it’s similar?"

Wang Lin answered softly, "The Yuan Heaven Emerald Needle, and the dragon flames of the Azure Dragons."

Behind him, Yang Qing, Li Yuanfang, Luo Qingwu nodded together in agreement. "The concept of power is very similar, but it has been transformed into swordplay and can be considered a class on its own."

Luo Qingwu perceived the entire process of Chu Yang’s Southwest You Heaven Sword, and him using the Yuan Heaven Sword of the West to turn the tables and kill the Ghost Monkey king instead. She mulled over it for a moment and said, "So that’s the reason. No wonder master told me to study his swordplay, and it will be beneficial towards my cultivation of the Heaven-Given Six Unity Sword mantra."

"Still, it’s just the Heaven-Given Six Unity Sword Mantra. As a develop further, everybody will have come up with different moves..."

She was deep in thought when Shi Tianhao asked, "Little Junior, what do you think of this man’s swordplay?"

Luo Qingwu giggled. "Don’t mock me, little senior. Even though I’m focused on swordplay, I am far inferior to you and Third Senior. You are much more knowledgeable about swordplay than I am."

Shi Tianhao shook his head and said, "I have my own understandings and principles about swordplay. However, they tend towards master’s Heaven-Destroying Sword Qi, and is drastically different from yours. You came up with your own all by yourself, and master will only give you pointers about the foundations and process of your own understanding and will not influence it in any other way."

"Your cultivation of the Heaven-Given Six Unity Sword Mantra and the Great Four Appearances Saint-Slaying Sword may be inspired from other forms of swordplay, but your concept of swordplay is ultimately independent from all the other forms of swordplay in the world. Studying and learning is just a means to an end, and not the mantra itself."

Luo Qingwu was no longer smiling and was not hasty to respond. She chewed on his words momentarily before she opened her mouth. "He has already obtained the true lineage of that form of swordplay. However, his display of his skills shows that he’s just beginning on his path."

"During the Spiritual Conference of Mount Kunlun, he did a good job of hiding his true powers. This lineage of swordplay belongs to that of the Heaven’s Gate’s Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword, yet this is something that we already know. It shares an origin with the swordplay of the soul of the Spiritual Sky Elder of the Heaven’s Gate Sect who was cultivated in the Life and Death Netherworld Tao Fruit of the Emperor of the Dead."

Luo Qingwu continued, "One can only say he has reached a certain level of success when one has reached Spiritual Sky Elder’s level with the Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword. However, if one wishes to reach the peak of the mantra, there’s still more to be done."

"However, even though his cultivation of the technique is only in its infancy, it’s already extremely powerful."

Wang Lin said quietly, "The Celestial Treasure Wheel and the Great Heavenly Mantra are the fundamentals of the Heaven’s Gate as a sect. On the other hand, the Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword is a great invention by the Heaven’s Gate Sect afterwards to make themselves more powerful."

"Perhaps it has never been able to surpass the Celestial Treasure Wheel and the Great Heavenly Mantra. However, it has its own authenticities and belongs to another path. Along with the Great Heavenly Mantra, they widened the horizons and brightened the future of the immemorial Heaven’s Gate Sect."

"Allowing this form of swordplay to continue in its development could possibly have beneficial feedback effects for the Great Heavenly Mantra and cause the latter to improve as well. The invention of this form of swordplay by the members of the Heaven’s Gate Sect may have considered this possibility."

Shi Tianhao laughed and interrupted, "Too bad the Heaven’s Gate Sect met with an early demise. If the Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword was perfected and shown to the world, they might have been the ones to trigger the Saintly Celestial Cataclysm instead."

Li Yuanfang chimed in as well. "If his secret is revealed, he will fall under the radar of the Great Zhou Empire."

Yang Qing carried on the conversation, "He has friendly ties with us anyway. We will protect his secret for him, and if the Great Zhou Empire causes trouble for him for this very reason, we will be there to protect him."

Li Yuanfang and Luo Qingwu nodded their heads in unison and said, "That’s the right thing to do."

Chu Yang was the one who gave them the avatars that they had obtained that were exactly the same as their original bodies but only slightly weaker in mastery.

Approximately one year ago in the Greater World, Chu Yang roamed the world and managed to obtain a special magic item called the Soul-Printing Stone by chance. The stone could help cultivators below the nascent soul stage to forge an avatar that looked almost exactly the same as their original bodies.

Mantras and abhijna could be replicated perfectly, and even the channeling of consciousness, the mana energies and physical appearances were completely similar. This avatar was also able to rise in mastery with the original body. However, the level of mastery of this avatar would always be lower than the original body by one level and this avatar would never be able to reach the immortal soul stage.

Even though that was the unfortunate truth, these avatars would still come in useful if used appropriately.

Chu Yang hoarded nine of these Soul-Printing Stones in total. He used one for himself, and during the calamity of the Ethereal Mountain, he managed to deceive Li Botao.

He gave half of the remaining eight stones to Wu Yunliang. Wu Yunliang had protected his secret this whole time, and was not in a hurry to pass them down to his more outstanding disciples in the aurous core stage. Yunliang waited till after the battle of Mount Shu before he retrieved them for usage.

Chu Yang passed the other half to the Celestial Sect of Wonders. Of course, the ulterior motive in his young heart was to gift one to Luo Qingwu.

When Mount Yujing revealed itself and Xiao Yan and the others were making preparations for the impending battle, Luo Qingwu and Li Yuanfang had used one stone each. They were not about to participate in the battle directly, and intended to channel the power of the Yin-Yang Sea and the Two Elements of Creation Formation to preoccupy their adversaries.

The avatars that were slightly lower in mastery provided support from the side. Combined with Zhu Yi’s Soaring Dragon Spell, the final effects were relatively impressive.

Dao Yuting was gifted one as well but was not too hasty to use it. She was on standby to replace Yang Qing, but the latter eventually returned to the mountain and there was no need for her to put herself in harm’s way.

There was yet another stone that was meant for Yang Qing. However, Yang Qing returned to the mountain as a nascent soul stage cultivator, and no longer needed that anymore. The Celestial Sect of Wonders had two more Soul-Printing Stones, and intended to bestow them upon the younger generation of disciples as an award to the most outstanding ones.

Shi Tianhao laughed and said, "Let’s protect him right now." His gaze followed Chu Yang and immediately noticed that there was a vast blanket of power surging forth from the region of the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkeys, and it was coming dangerously close to Chu Yang.

It was clear that Chu Yang did his research on the geographical layout of his surroundings before embarking on his journey, and was meticulous in picking his path of retreat as well.

He retrieved what he came for, and ran towards the region belonging to the Crimson Gorilla Ape Demons after murdering the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king.

In the history of the Ancient Ape Demons, the Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkeys were never on good terms with the Crimson Gorilla Ape Demons. The two breeds could be said to have the worst relationship amongst all the other branches of the Ancient Ape Demons.

In normal times, the Ghost monkeys that would have come after him would probably still be in ones in the demonic lord stage, and he would even have a chance to escape in the ensuing chaos.

However, Chu Yang was clearly not in luck as the circumstances were special on this very day.

The Nine Netherworld Grand Sage overlooking the entire mountain was not the threat. In truth, he paid another look at Chu Yang after the battle but realized that there was something off about the entire thing and returned his attention towards Lin Feng’s direction; he was not too concerned about the in-fighting of his kinsmen.

Besides the Nine Netherworld Grand Sage, there were many other undying demonic soul stage demons who were on guard this whole time. With their level of mastery, no matter how insidious chu Yang’s Yuan Heaven Sword was, there was no way his trick would have been able to kill a fellow tribesman and escape their detection at the same time.

Wang Lin discreetly covered for Chu Yang, which was the reason why several other great demons reacted the moment that Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey king perished in battle.

Another Nine Netherworld Ghost Monkey, who was already in the undying demonic soul stage, leapt out from the top of the Nine Netherworld Peak and lunged towards the human that dared to murder his tribesman!

This Ghost Monkey was named the Black Freeze Grand Sage, and was initially paying attention towards the far end of the horizon with his tribe leader. However, he suddenly realized that his tribesman was unable to take down a lowly aurous core stage human cultivator. Instead, he was killed and instantly riled him up.

Chu Yang’s Southwest You Heaven Sword was profound and mythical, but the gap between him and his adversary was just too great and the Black Freeze Grand Sage caught up to him in no time.