Li Qianren stood alone by the window at the Demon Suppression Bureau, deep in thought.
His earlier actions weren't without purpose; he had indeed guessed the enemy's intentions, but couldn't speak of it openly as it concerned the Bureau.
Why would a Transcendent Realm master unleash a sword strike in the outskirts of Wutong Prefecture late at night, destroying a mountain without harming anyone?
Was it for sword practice?
Certainly not.
He must have been sending a signal.
But what kind of signal? And to whom?
Li Qianren knew the answer without thinking. For dark organizations like the Blood Demon Cult, their greatest enemy was the Demon Suppression Bureau, so the signal was undoubtedly meant for the Bureau.
Or more precisely, it was meant for him, a Transcendent Realm master.
Was it a show of force?
While intimidation was part of it, there had to be deeper meaning behind it.
And Li Qianren understood that deeper meaning.
The key lay in the Single-Character Sun-Burning Sword technique!
Being a member of the Blood Demon Cult, why would the enemy specifically use a sword technique belonging to the Demon Suppression Bureau? It clearly indicated they had a spy within the Bureau.
Usually, having a spy was something kept secret - who would openly admit to it?
Yet they did!
Moreover, among the Bureau's many exclusive techniques, why specifically choose the Single-Character Sun-Burning Sword?
"I never expected the Blood Demon Cult to know the secret of the Single-Character Sun-Burning Sword," Li Qianren muttered.
The Single-Character Sun-Burning Sword wasn't just a simple Mystic-grade technique; it was merely a fragment, paired with another sword technique called the Single-Character Moon-Illuminating Sword, which was also incomplete.
The Single-Character Moon-Illuminating Sword was an Earth-grade technique.
Li Qianren had learned from ancient texts that both techniques were originally part of a Heaven-grade technique!
The Cross-Shaped Netherworld Flame Sword!
Legend had it that these two sword techniques could recreate the Heaven-grade technique!
Both techniques were now in the Demon Suppression Bureau's possession. Li Qianren had studied and even practiced them, but he knew clearly that these two techniques alone couldn't recreate the Cross-Shaped Netherworld Flame Sword.
The fragments were too incomplete; even combined, they were still missing a crucial part.
The enemy's deliberate use of the Single-Character Sun-Burning Sword clearly showed they knew the secret of the Cross-Shaped Netherworld Flame Sword, and must possess the final missing fragment. After all, only a legendary Heaven-grade technique would hold such attraction for a Transcendent Realm master.
Their target must be the Single-Character Moon-Illuminating Sword.
Being an Earth-grade technique, such techniques were extremely precious and were only passed down among generations of Heaven-rank Demon Hunters. The enemy surely didn't have it.
So their actions tonight were meant to tell him they were coming for the Single-Character Moon-Illuminating Sword!
How audacious!
A cold smile appeared on Li Qianren's lips.
On the surface, the enemy seemed arrogant, but what about in reality?
If they could easily take it, why announce their intentions so openly?
Li Qianren felt he had seen through their plot.
Think about it - if a thief openly tells you they're going to steal your treasure, what's your first reaction?
You'd certainly check if the treasure is still there and increase security to guard it day and night.
But once you check, you've fallen for their trap!
Originally, the thief didn't know where the treasure was, but your actions would reveal its location.
That was their scheme!
"Heh," Li Qianren sneered. "You want me to check the hiding place of the Single-Character Moon-Illuminating Sword? I won't fall for it."
"By using this method, you've actually told me that the current hiding place is safe and doesn't need to be moved."
Gradually, Li Qianren's thoughts expanded. He even considered turning the tables, using the Single-Character Moon-Illuminating Sword as bait to lure the enemy in, then setting up an elaborate trap to capture them.
This way, he could both eliminate a master from the Blood Demon Cult and obtain their fragment to complete the Heaven-grade technique! Killing two birds with one stone!
However, recalling the power of that sword strike from earlier tonight, Li Qianren felt cautious. This matter required careful planning and couldn't be rushed.
......
Having returned to the Demon Suppression Bureau, Gu Qingfeng was unaware that his sword practice had caused his superior to engage in mental warfare with thin air for half a day.
Like a child who had just caused trouble, he was still feeling nervous.
But more than that, he was ecstatic. The combination of the Single-Character Sun-Burning Sword and the White Bone Demon Fire was incredibly powerful! Much stronger than the White Bone Demon Fire alone!
The experiment was a complete success!
The White Bone Demon Fire was like a cannonball - previously, Gu Qingfeng would simply throw it like a shot put.
The Single-Character Sun-Burning Sword was like a cannon, and their combination was far more than just a simple addition of their powers.
However, Gu Qingfeng was also troubled. He knew that final sword strike was a moment of inspiration, a fortunate coincidence. If asked to do it again, he couldn't easily replicate it.
It was like practicing basketball - if you miss ninety-nine shots and finally make the hundredth one, can you say you've mastered the technique?
Obviously not. It would require extensive practice to achieve stable performance and truly master it.
But the sword strike was too powerful, causing too much commotion. Where could he practice?
There was no way to practice secretly!
After worrying for a while, Gu Qingfeng suddenly had an idea!
What if he replaced the White Bone Demon Fire with ordinary flames?
After all, wasn't he just practicing combining fire control with the Single-Character Sun-Burning Sword?
With his fire control ability, Gu Qingfeng could manipulate any flame as easily as moving his own limbs, so there was essentially no difference between ordinary flames and the White Bone Demon Fire for him.
The more Gu Qingfeng thought about it, the more excited he became, feeling like a genius.
Ordinary flames would cause much less disturbance, allowing him to practice freely!
However, Gu Qingfeng didn't start practicing immediately, as he had returned to his dormitory. Though he had a single room, there were many neighbors nearby.
Creating flying flames in the middle of the night would make people think there was an arsonist about.
So Gu Qingfeng could only lie in bed to sleep, but he was too excited and kept tossing and turning.
Finally, he remembered he still had a Cultivation Foundation Pill he hadn't taken. Thinking about his pathetically low cultivation level, Gu Qingfeng didn't hesitate to get up and take out the pill from his chest.
The Cultivation Foundation Pill was a medicinal pill needed for Internal Qi Realm cultivators' practice. Since those in the Qi Gathering Realm couldn't absorb much of it, making it wasteful, the Demon Suppression Bureau didn't distribute them to Qi Gathering Realm cultivators.
But Gu Qingfeng was an oddity who had obtained a Cultivation Foundation Pill early on.
He didn't care about waste anymore - given his natural aptitude, without taking some pills, he might never advance to the Internal Qi Realm in his lifetime.
Speaking of medicinal pills, Gu Qingfeng recalled a story about pills that a senior member had told him when he first joined the Demon Suppression Bureau.
Long, long ago, there were twin brothers with identical aptitude, practicing the same techniques under the same master, everything the same. Yet the older brother who practiced eight hours daily couldn't match his younger brother who only practiced seven hours.
What was the reason?
It turned out that the younger brother would always spare an hour to keep their master company, playing chess or helping water the flowers. Over time, the younger brother became the master's favorite.
So the master would secretly give pills to the younger brother.
With the help of these pills, even though the younger brother practiced less each day, his cultivation level still surpassed his older brother's.
This story taught them the importance of medicinal pills.
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
