Chapter 13: Another Challenge Approaches

The matter of the practice field in the back mountains ended just as abruptly as it had begun.

For several days, everyone noticed that the outsider seemed to have vanished, leading to a flurry of speculation.

Some said he had been killed by a fourth-order spirit; after all, a great deal of blood had been spilled at the time.

Others said the man felt the spirit grades of Sanqing Mountain were too low and had left out of disdain.

There were even those who suggested the outsider might actually be an insider from the Sanqing Palace.

In any case, there were many theories, and no one knew which one was true.

The back mountain practice field returned to its usual tranquility, where Ke Dasheng had sealed the fifth-order monster used as a lure.

Meanwhile, in the Sanqing Blessed Land, An Zhi seemed to have nothing to do other than reading books and regulating his breathing.

The Spirit Snake could only keep him company, for they both noticed that Fan Jin had been watching them extremely closely these past few days, making it impossible to get anything done.

An Zhi stroked the Yuhua Sword; though he was eager to try it out, he was helpless as Fan Jin sat right there in the courtyard.

"Snake Treasure, what should I do? He used to love going out so much, but he hasn't stepped foot outside once in these past few days."

"Also, why hasn't the Patriarch come to see me lately?"

"I wonder if there are still spirits in the back mountains, and if there will be ones with even higher levels next time."

...

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Five days later...

Yujing Peak soared into the clouds as if touching the stars, standing upon the earth like a sharp sword.

The Yujing Sword of the Three Heroes of Sanqing originated from this peak. It was seven feet long, belonged to the element of lightning, and appeared blue. Capable of slaying demons with lightning strikes, it was suitable for demon hunters ranked "Qianqian" and above, and together with the Yuxu Sword and the Yuhua Sword, it was known as the Three Heroes.

To the east of Yujing Peak lay a cave dwelling, surrounded by overgrown weeds and trees, with the inscriptions beside it now illegible.

Suddenly, Yujing Peak shuddered.

An Eight Trigrams Array instantly appeared on the stone door of the cave dwelling. As the tremors grew more intense, the array was shattered into pieces.

Far away in the main hall of Sanqing Palace, Elder Taiqing had already perceived everything.

"Ke Dasheng, quick! Cracks have appeared in the Yujing Peak Eight Trigrams Array. Beware of the Blue Cat Five-Demon taking the opportunity to escape!" Elder Taiqing issued an urgent command to Ke Dasheng, who was stationed below the main hall, to provide immediate reinforcement to Yujing Peak.

Yujing Peak sealed a sixth-order monster known as the Blue Cat. It possessed over three hundred years of cultivation and currently had five lives remaining. Its fur was entirely blue, which was why it was called the Blue Cat Five-Demon. It had been sealed in Yujing Peak for forty years.

"All disciples, follow me immediately!" Ke Dasheng quickly led his men toward Yujing Peak.

Upon hearing the news, Luo Ling, who was at the back mountain practice field, also swiftly led the female disciples to reinforce Yujing Peak...

After rushing to Yujing Peak, they saw that the stone door of the cave dwelling was on the verge of collapsing. The disciples quickly deployed the Demon-Trapping Sword Array to temporarily seal the cave. Seeing this, Ke Dasheng found the answer.

Due to forty years of erosion from rain and wind, the inscriptions at the entrance of the cave were no longer legible, and the sealing incantations were losing their effectiveness.

"Junior Sister, take your people to trap it quickly. I will return to request the Buddha's Dust," Ke Dasheng knew that to rewrite the sealing charms, one needed the Mountain-Suppressing Buddha's Dust, which could only be summoned by the Sect Leader, Daoist Yuxu.

Luo Ling replied with confidence, "Don't worry, Senior Brother."

After Ke Dasheng left, facing the continuously collapsing stone door, Luo Ling immediately set up the array again, channeling waves of spiritual power into the door.

*Bang, bang, bang...*

*Bang, bang, bang...*

As the sounds of impact grew louder, the vibrations at the cave entrance became immense. The new disciples under Luo Ling grew frightened and timid; they had never encountered such a situation before, and some began to lose their focus.

"Everyone, hold your ground! Senior Brother will be back soon!" Luo Ling could clearly feel that the spiritual power being channeled to the door was insufficient.

Against such a ferocious demon beast, mere shouting was useless; some of the female disciples actually began to retreat.

*Awoooo...*

A roar erupted from within the cave.

This single sound caused the already frightened new disciples to break; they withdrew their spiritual energy and slowly backed away.

"Who is it? Hold the line! We must hold the line!" Luo Ling felt her strength waning. A female disciple beside her had actually drifted from the front to the back, clearly disrupting the flow of spiritual energy in the sword array.

*Awoooo...*

"You mere small fry think you can trap this Venerable One? Hahahaha!"

*Boom!*

Following a dull thud from inside the cave, the stone door exploded outward with a loud bang.

The disciples using the sword array were thrown to the ground one after another, coughing up blood.

Luo Ling quickly rolled and scrambled to her feet.

At that moment, a giant feline creature appeared at the cave entrance. It was entirely blue, and having been sealed in darkness for forty years, it seemed to relish the sunlight, stretching its head toward the sun at the threshold.

Some veteran disciples had seen such beasts before, but the new disciples were utterly terrified. It was their first time seeing such a massive, blue, monstrous cat—especially as it opened its bloody maw to yawn toward the sun.

None dared to move recklessly; the new disciples slowly retreated in a defensive posture.

"Don't retreat! Capture it immediately!" With that, Luo Ling leaped into the air, swinging her long whip.

The whip instantly lengthened with the transmission of spiritual power, striking the cat demon's body with a single lash.

"Meow..."

The sound was not cute, but terrifying. It caused the cat demon, who was enjoying its long-awaited sunlight, immense pain. It also noticed them; its eyes glowed green as it glared fiercely at the demon hunters, its blue light becoming increasingly dazzling.

The new disciples were scared witless. The cat demon hadn't noticed them before, but that single whip had drawn its direct wrath.

The cat demon was enraged and immediately lunged toward the group.

The disciples could not rely on each other against the enraged beast. Luo Ling stepped forward to meet the challenge, activating her [Nirvana Mystery].

The Nirvana Mystery triggered the spiritual power of the whip, causing the whip to carry flames that would trigger second and third rounds of damage upon striking a demon.

Thus, a great battle broke out between Luo Ling and the cat demon.

But unfortunately, because the cat demon was too excited, it quickly wounded Luo Ling, killed five disciples on the spot, and fled.

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Sanqing Blessed Land,

An Zhi was in the courtyard helping Fan Jin fish two turtles out of the pond. Fan Jin walked in from outside, leaning on his cane.

"Uncle, Uncle, did these turtles drown?" An Zhi held up a motionless turtle before him.

Fan Jin stood frozen for a moment before saying, "The cat demon of Yujing Peak has escaped. Luo Ling was injured in the fight, and five disciples died. Sigh..."

Looking at the turtle in his hand, An Zhi's appetite for the situation vanished. "Huh?"

Seeing that An Zhi hadn't understood, Fan Jin looked at him sternly and asked, "What 'huh'? I said the cat demon of Yujing Peak has escaped." Having said that, he sat in the rattan chair in the courtyard looking very angry.

A demon! Having been confined in the courtyard for many days, An Zhi's heart actually raced with excitement at the mention of the word "demon."

Entering the house,

"Snake Treasure, there's another demon," An Zhi said to the Spirit Snake, who was sprawled over ancient texts. "I just heard the old man say the cat demon escaped. Even Luo Ling got hurt, and five disciples died."

"A cat demon? The Blue Cat?" The Spirit Snake poked its head out from the books in surprise. "Good! We're going tonight."

An Zhi was worried. "It's very fierce. Even Luo Ling was injured, and people died."

The Spirit Snake's two antennae acted like radar; after spinning them around, it said, "Heh, it's actually not as scary as you make it out to be. The Blue Cat Five-Demon isn't actually powerful; it's just a bit hard to kill."

"You know about this demon?" An Zhi asked with a furrowed brow. "How do you know everything?"

The Spirit Snake was stunned for a moment, then continued, "There is a book called *The Record of Subduing Demons*. If you actually read, you'd know things instead of just chopping wood and catching fish."

According to the Spirit Snake's description, the Blue Cat actually had nine lives. Years ago, Daoist Yuxu fought it several times and nearly collapsed from exhaustion, only managing to destroy four of its lives. That was why it was called the "Five-Demon." Ultimately, Yuxu could only seal it in the cave of Yujing Peak.

"Ah, even the Sect Leader couldn't handle it?" An Zhi was even more shocked, doubting his own ability to succeed.

The Spirit Snake encouraged him, "Precisely because it's difficult, if you kill it, you can advance directly to Demon Hunter. You have the Yuhua Sword, after all."

True, he did have the Yuhua Sword. An Zhi turned and pulled the sword out, inspecting it from all angles.

"But... but the old man hasn't left the house for days. He just sits outside in the sun every day," An Zhi expressed his concern. The man was clearly guarding him; he certainly couldn't just run off.

The Spirit Snake hopped onto the windowsill, looked into the courtyard, and smiled. "Heh, if nothing goes wrong, I expect he will start going out again tonight."

"You think he's doing it on purpose? To let me go?" An Zhi guessed.

The Spirit Snake nodded. "Otherwise, why would he specifically tell you this news? And as for the Yuhua Sword—why did it recognize you?"

...

(End of Chapter)