Chapter 24  : Beryl Lotus Brilliance Sword

“My Lord, don’t tell me even with your powers you can’t make it in!” One Lord Amethyst Sword blurted out without thinking.

Qin Fangzhen stood up with a black face and gave him a hard whack on the head. “What nonsense! There is nothing that I, the Deputy Sword Master, can’t do!”

“Didn’t you just ask us to go get Deputy Sword Master Fang?”

Pow!

Qin Fangzhen whacked him again and then glared at him. “You heard wrong.”

He noticed that they were staring at him suspiciously.

Qin Fangzhen silently cursed and swore at this bunch of moronic subordinates. He stroked his beard thoughtfully and then said pompously, “Watch carefully. How can a mere Sword Aura stump this Deputy Sword Master?”

He walked to the door again.

He turned around and saw all his subordinates staring at him.

“F** k!” Qin Fangzhen was very displeased.

Looking at the sword energy in the courtyard, he could feel how terrifying it was just by standing at the door.

This was just the residual energy left behind by the other party’s attack. If it had been the actual force aimed directly at him, he reckoned that he would have gone across the bridge to Hell by now.

“Absolute Heavenly Python Force.”

He invoked this Heaven-rank Low-grade technique at its maximum strength and concentrated it to form another protective barrier around his body again. Once more, he entered the small courtyard, slowly but steadily.

The keen sword energy charged towards him again.

He was like a small boat drifting in the open seas, in danger of capsizing at any moment.

“Hold on now.” Qin Fangzhen clenched his teeth.

He pushed himself forward with much difficulty.

He was drenched in cold sweat, but his eyes were ablaze with determination.

A few minutes passed.

He had stagnated at the half-step into the Profound Realm all these years. The bottleneck had never once loosened for him. Now, under the galvanizing repelling force of this terrifying sword energy, he sensed an opportunity to break through.

“Heaven… Heaven-sent opportunity!” Qin Fangzheng was getting more excited.

Outside the door,

several Lords Amethyst Sword were gathered around.

The guy who had been whacked on the head earlier said, “My Lord wouldn’t be stubbornly holding on in there just to save face, right?”

“You’re out of luck. You’ll be in deep sh*t when he gets back!”

“Didn’t you see how the Lord got sent flying by the sword energy? Yet you still rubbed it in.”

“Don’t worry! It’s no big deal. It’s just a few months of toilet washing.”

Under the merciless mocking by his comrades, the Lord Amethyst Sword’s face crumpled up in agony and he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. “Is it too late for me to go in and apologize?”

Whump!

Inside the courtyard, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth suddenly shook and trembled simultaneously. A huge thunderous convulsion could be felt coming from inside.

With the courtyard as the center, all the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was being rapidly absorbed by a powerful force.

The subordinates rushed over for a look. It seemed that Qin Fangzhen was about to break through.

“Haha…” An ecstatic laughter came from the courtyard.

Qin Fangzhen marched out of the courtyard.

Bang.

The courtyard also collapsed at this moment, turning into a heap of debris.

“There’s nothing that I can’t do. How can a mere streak of sword energy stop me?” Qin Fangzheng shouted out boastfully.

“Judging from the residual sword energy and demonic aura, it seems that a powerful expert had exterminated some demons here not long ago.

“Congratulations, my Lord, for breaking through to the Profound Realm. From now on, the whole world is your oyster and may your aspiration to reach the zenith of martial arts be triumphant,” the subordinates hurriedly switched to bootlicking mode.

…

In his Jingwen Square home,

Xiao Ran sat on the daybed to check his gains.

After subduing the Thousand-year-old Ageless Hag and the three windigo demon brothers, the Golden Tome of Creation opened to two pages. One displayed the crimes of the Thousand-year-old Ageless Hag, while the other showed the crimes of the three brothers.

They might not be very smart, but their crimes were heinous.

They had committed more crimes than the Thousand-year-old Ageless Hag. If there was anything they could solve with brutal force, they would use force and not waste their breath.

Many innocent people perished at their hands.

He obtained 400,000 Mastery Points from eradicating the Thousand-year-old Ageless Hag and 30 years of soul evolution.

As for the three windigo demon brothers, they only contributed one thing: the Beryl Lotus Brilliance Sword (Consummate Numinous Treasure).

He added the 400,000 Mastery Points to the Phoenix Essence Sword Technique.

After the Attributes were refreshed,

Phoenix Essence Sword Technique: Dominating Refinement

His Spiritual Master Evolution made further advancement. However there were still seventy years before he could break through to the Earth Realm.

He drew out the Beryl Lotus Brilliance Sword. There was a lotus floral motif engraved on the blade and a double-bloom lotus engraved on the hilt.

The elegant blade was aglow with beryl-hued radiance. It gave off a soft low hum as the keen sword energy gently wafted outwards.

“I have gained an appropriate weapon now.” Xiao Ran remarked happily.

He swung his sword once or twice, and the sword energy effortlessly sliced through space.

He put away the Beryl Lotus Brilliance Sword, extinguished the oil lamp, and fell into a deep slumber.

On this day in the Celestial Dungeon,

the atmosphere was more oppressive and heavy than usual. Two more dungeon guards had their vitality corroded away by the foul sinister atmosphere, and their corpses were placed on the ground.

When Xiao Ran arrived, Little Zhou made a shushing gesture and pointed at the corpses on the ground.

“Bury them and inform the Ministry of Revenue to send the compensation payment to their families,” the lieutenant ordered with a stony countenance.

Four dungeon guards walked up briskly and hauled the two corpses away.

“I have just received news from the higher-ups. In 15 minutes time, an enforcer from the God Enforcement Division will come to take away the Sacred Progeny of the Sky Devil Sect,” the lieutenant said.

“My Lord, didn’t the Sacred Progeny of the Sky Devil Sect become retarded?” A dungeon guard asked.

“They intend to use him as bait. Display him at the marketplace and execute him after seven days.”

They were setting up a trap to lure the remaining members of the Sky Devil Sect into revealing their whereabouts.

It seemed like the previous incident had not gone down well with the God Enforcement Division. It was hard to imagine that they had to resort to such barbaric methods.

“The God Enforcement Division does not have enough manpower. The higher-ups want us to send some men over to maintain law and order. Which one of you wants to volunteer to go there?” The lieutenant asked.

All the dungeon guards lowered their heads.

Although the Celestial Dungeon was dangerous, at least they did not have to come face-to-face with death.

If they were to go over to help, the remaining members of the Sky Devil Sect might clash with the enforcers and hurt the innocent in the process. They would probably be wiped out in a single sweep.

Seeing that no one volunteered, the lieutenant began selecting names.

As the name selection was about to end, he read out two more names, “Little Zhou, Xiao Ran.”

“Ah! My Lord, I am not married yet.” Little Zhou put on a pitiful countenance.

“Didn’t you go on a blind date yesterday?”

“I-I…”

“Speak!” The lieutenant’s expression darkened.

“They were not human.” Little Zhou muttered grudgingly with his head lowered.

Everyone looked at him doubtfully.

Now that the cat was out of the bag, there was no way to hide it anymore. Little Zhou spilled out all the details. “They were all ghosts. There were three of them in total. Luckily, they were killed by the Divine Sword Guards who were passing by.”

“Haha…”

The oppressive atmosphere was instantly dispersed by the waves of raucous laughter.

Some people were on the verge of tears.

“Stop laughing! Be serious.” The lieutenant chided.

He patted Little Zhou’s shoulder playfully. “Was she beautiful?”

“My Lord, now you’re bullying me.”

Hahaha!

The lieutenant could not hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.

After a while the laughter subsided.

“This is not a matter of whether you are married or not. Besides you, there are dozens of other comrades who are going there. Some of them are single like you. At least you are luckier than them. You have been on a blind date.”

The barely subsided laughter erupted again.

After assigning the tasks, the lieutenant gave the chosen men 10 minutes to get ready before falling in again at the hall.

Xiao Ran entered the Purgatory,

and stopped in front of the Deluge Dragon’s cell.

Looking at Xiao Ran standing outside the cell door, terror welled up in the Deluge Dragon’s heart again. He struggled violently, causing the chains to rattle noisily.

“There are so many demons imprisoned in the Purgatory, and many of them have higher evolution levels than me. Why are you only picking on me?”

Xiao Ran opened the cell and entered.

“We get along well.”

The Deluge Dragon had nowhere to vent its bellyful of grievances and glowered at him resentfully.

He took out the three windigo demons’ corpses from his Seven Treasures Rainbow Jade Belt and tossed them in front of him. “You still feel aggrieved?”