fynovel Chapter 36 The Return Journey
Chapter 36 The Return Journey
The smoke from the battle at the Conferred God Platform finally dissipated three days after the Demon Lord retreated.
Bai Ze led the remnants of the demon race to clear the battlefield from the ruins. Beneath the collapsed half-mountain peak, they unearthed dozens of remains from the ancient war between gods and demons ten thousand years ago—broken swords of human swordsmen, fragments of armor from demon warriors, and several skeletons of half-demons still frozen in a charging posture, crushed under boulders. Bai Ze collected the remains with identifiable inscriptions one by one, cremated them according to ancient demon rites, and scattered the ashes into the sword-marked cracks at the foot of the Fengshentai Mountain.
The Netherworld Ship was anchored on the wasteland not far away. The claw-like cracks on its hull had been temporarily repaired, and the light of the demonic eye totem was dimmer than before the battle, but it was still pulsating slowly. Silver Scale was leading the remaining half-demon suicide squad members to inventory supplies below the ship. Her left arm was still in a sling, but her right hand could already deftly flip through the ledger.
Xiao Lie and Han Tie sat side by side on a boulder soaked in demonic blood and then dried in the sun. Xiao Lie's left shoulder was wrapped in thick bandages, with faint red bloodstains seeping through, but he didn't seem to care, intently sharpening the blade of his Crimson Flame Sword with a whetstone. Han Tie's right arm hung at his side, bandages wrapped from his wrist to his elbow. He clumsily replaced the tassel on his Golden Scale Sword with a new one with his left hand—the original tassel had been corroded into charcoal by demonic energy in the final battle. The two, unusually, didn't bicker, but quietly sharpened their swords and replaced the tassel, occasionally glancing up at the edge of the newly added giant pit on the Conferred God Platform in the distance.
Jian Xuan stood halfway up the Conferred God Platform, hands behind his back, gazing at the new rift that pierced the entire mountain. Behind him stood two Supreme Elders, the Iron Sword Sect Master, and the Lord of Luoxia Valley. These five powerful figures, whose mere presence in the mortal realm could shake an entire sect, stood together in silence. The Demon Lord had only temporarily retreated, not been killed. His demonic core remained intact, and once he recovered, he could return at any moment. The final barrier of the Nine Revolutions Demon Sealing Array, which had withstood for over ten thousand years, was torn apart by the Demon Lord's bare hands in less than half an hour after its activation. They had driven away a wounded beast, not a slain corpse. Beyond the Three Realms lay a vast extraterrestrial battlefield. If the Demon Lord retreated into the void to recuperate again, he would reappear even stronger than today—unless someone could actively pursue him before the seal completely collapsed and deliver the final blow on the extraterrestrial battlefield.
But that's a matter of another level. Right now, they've won the Conferred God Platform.
Su Qingyuan walked out of the crowd and slowly walked up the stone steps to the top of the Conferred God Platform. Ling Chen leaned against the cliff with his sword in his arms, looking at the smooth cross-section of the giant pit cut by the resonance of the three swords. His gaze was calm, as if he wanted to memorize the texture of every sword mark on the cross-section.
"What are you thinking about?"
"After the sword seal shattered, the back of my hand felt much lighter." Ling Chen looked down at the back of his hand, which was empty except for a faint old mark under the skin. "Ten thousand years ago, the Celestial Venerable placed all his trump cards on the seal, relying on the reincarnation of his remnant soul, the entrustment of his three servants, and the Nine Revolutions Demon Sealing Formation to stall for ten thousand years. He calculated all the escape routes, but he didn't calculate whether his reincarnation could reach the Conferred God Platform before the seal shattered. Now the seal has finally repelled the Demon Lord, the time limit has been met, and the promise has been fulfilled."
Su Qingyuan didn't speak, but simply bent down and placed the Frost Condensing Sword at her feet. She sat quietly among the rubble, keeping him company as he watched the sea of clouds below the cliff. Her white robes were still stained with the dust of the Conferred God Platform, the blood of the demon general, and the ice crystal powder splattered when the Frost Condensing Sword shattered, but she didn't wipe it away. In the sunlight, the ice crystal pendant on the tassel of the Frost Condensing Sword also glittered.
The mountain wind swept through the rift, fluttering the robes of the two men and making Bai Ze's reprimand of Yin Lin on the bridge of the Netherworld Ship in the distance sound intermittent—it was probably because Yin Lin had once again secretly checked the supplies while injured. Although Bai Ze's voice was hoarse, it was full of energy. Yin Lin's retorts grew softer and softer, while several half-demon team members nearby suppressed their laughter and pretended to be moving boxes.
Xiao Lie held the sharpened Crimson Flame Sword up to the sunlight, examined the blade, and then, satisfied, sheathed it. He then snatched the whetstone from Han Tie's left hand and began sharpening his spare short sword. Han Tie's left hand was still frozen in mid-air, momentarily stunned. Several inner disciples who had gathered around couldn't hold back their laughter any longer.
At the entrance to the mountain path, a disciple of the Qingyun Sect was loudly calling roll, checking the list of survivors. Each time a name was called, a circle was drawn on the register if someone responded; otherwise, an X was drawn. When the register reached the last page, there were two more lines of names marked with Xs than circles. The disciple's voice grew softer, and the surroundings fell silent for a moment. But then, a disciple whose name had been called but no one had responded emerged from the pile of rubble, covered in dust, with half a piece of dry ration still dangling from his mouth. The disciple and the disciple stared at each other for a moment, then both burst into laughter, breaking the surrounding silence.
In the distance, burly men from the Iron Sword Sect were carrying the bodies of the fallen onto hearses on their way home. Alchemists from Sunset Valley moved among them, distributing the last of their wound medicines to those who could still stand. A young female disciple from the Alchemy Hall was squatting by the roadside, carefully bandaging a wounded half-demon hunting dog. The dog licked her face, startling her and causing her to shrink back. Several fellow disciples from Sunset Valley around her laughed so hard they couldn't stand up straight.
As Ling Chen watched all this, he suddenly recalled the words the sword attendant had said while kneeling on the Conferred God Platform in her memories—"Your Majesty, this time, I have stopped him."
"The Sword Servant's severance hasn't shattered, the Flame Servant's inferno hasn't extinguished, and your frost hasn't broken." He turned to look at Su Qingyuan. "What they blocked, we didn't lose."
Su Qingyuan sheathed the Frost Condensation Sword, the ice crystal pendant on the tassel reflecting a dazzling light like shattered diamonds in the setting sun. She stood up from the edge of the cliff and pulled Ling Chen up from the ground as well.
"Let's go."
"Where to?"
"Back to the mortal realm. Elder Jianxuan said that the sealing inscriptions at Broken Sky Cliff stopped vibrating completely after the Divine Realm array base was activated. The Spirit Realm array base and the Holy Realm array base have stabilized simultaneously, and the cracks are slowly closing. If we don't withdraw within a month, the cracks will shrink to a certain extent and we won't be able to teleport anymore. Yinlin said that the half-demon stronghold at Ghost Cry Mountain needs to be rebuilt, and Xiao Lie and Han Tie's injuries also need to be treated back at the sect. Jianxuan said that the victory celebration banquet will be held at the largest restaurant in Qingzhou City, and he will pay."
"...When did Elder Jianxuan learn to treat people to meals?"
"His exact words were, 'The Qingyun Sect will pay half, and the Iron Sword Sect will pay the other half. That old bastard Luo Yue made a fortune in the battle at the Supply Hall, so he should pay his share.'"
Ling Chen couldn't help but laugh out loud. Han Tie, who was being scolded by Yin Lin on the bridge in the distance, sneezed and rubbed his nose for no apparent reason.
That night, the Netherworld Ship, carrying the Azure Cloud Sect, the Iron Sword Sect, the Sunset Valley, and the remnants of the demon race, returned through the rift in the Spirit Realm. The Conferred God Platform receded further and further into the distance at the stern, finally shrinking into a faint golden dot in the sky. That was the light of the divine realm's array foundation still in operation. The next time they would come—perhaps on the day the Demon Lord returned, perhaps on the day they were ready to launch their attack.
Ling Chen leaned against the gunwale of the Netherworld Ship's deck, holding the Broken Thought sword across his lap. The cracks on the sword still gleamed with a pale gold edge, and the deepest old wound, after being repeatedly repaired and damaged in battle, had developed another fine crack than before its departure. The Burning Heaven sword was stuck in a crack in the deck beside him, its dark gold patterns flickering in the night like a breathing lamp. Frost lay on Su Qingyuan's lap, its ice crystal pendant swaying gently with the slight rocking of the ship.
Su Qingyuan took out the Frost Condensation Fragment that had been lost in the battle of the Supply Hall from her bosom—she had kept it until now. The night sky outside the Spirit Realm Rift could see the starry sky of the mortal realm, and the fragment refracted a gem-like luster in her palm.
"Go back and find the weapon refiner in Sunset Valley to fix it."
"I thought you wanted to keep it as a souvenir."
"...Isn't the sword tassel, symbolizing severing all ties, enough of a souvenir?"
Ling Chen glanced down at the faded character "Nian" on the sword tassel, recalling the white-clad girl who smiled as she named the sword on the cliff edge, and chuckled softly. The three servant swords simultaneously emitted a faint resonance—not of fighting spirit, but of returning home.