The Rise of the Witch

Gui Ning knew that a monster had passed through her sword light and entered the cave, but she couldn't care less about that now.

Desperately squeezing out the last bit of divine thought from her sea of ​​consciousness, Gui Ning pushed the sword light to its limit. The sword light bloomed in all directions, its momentum fierce, its killing intent overwhelming, and its light dazzling, actually piercing through the black smoke...

The black smoke, along with the monsters within it, did not turn back, but instead surged headlong into the cave.

Gui Ning was too late to catch up. Before her appeared the leader of this group of monsters, the Devouring Demon King!

A giant toad, covered in jet-black scales, perched atop the mountain, coldly watching her before opening its mouth.

A powerful suction force appeared silently, and Gui Ning only noticed it when it enveloped her body.

Gui Ning used her divine sense to control the sword, its light enveloping her entire body. She tried to rely on the extreme speed of the sword to escape the sucking force, but no matter how she controlled the sword, her body, along with the sword light, continued to glide rapidly.

It slid into the mouth of the Devouring Demon King.

Unstoppable!

This Devouring Demon King truly possessed the power to devour the heavens. Its enormous maw, as large as a mountain, seemed to have come from a foreign void. Its body was invisible, only its massive mouth, like an abyss, devoured everything.

Gui Ning was like a fish swimming against the current, struggling desperately, but was constantly being swept away by the current... Slowly, she had already slid to the edge of that abyss-like gaping maw.

The sword was cold, and her heart was even colder. Gui Ning simply let go, pouring all her last bit of divine sense into the sword. The sword left her hand, transforming into a beam of light that seemed to transcend space.

  

One moment it was in Gui Ning's hand, the next it was already in front of one of the Devouring Demon King's eyes, and then it stabbed in fiercely...

"bite--"

The Devouring Demon King merely blinked, and the sword light pierced his eyelids, producing a crisp sound before the sword itself was sent flying.

Gui Ning's body was already halfway into the abyss's maw. Seeing this, despair finally welled up in her heart. This was her last resort.

The monsters shrouded in black smoke have already rushed into the cave; it's unknown how many people will ultimately survive...

If you can't hear screams, does it mean everyone is dead, or that you've lost your hearing because you're dying?

Gui Rui subconsciously looked towards the cave, and in that final moment, time seemed to stretch out for an extremely long time.

She saw someone emerge from the cave, dressed in white armor, with his hair casually tied back, holding a little girl in his arms, looking up at her.

At his feet lay the mangled corpse of a monster.

As if seeing her about to be swallowed by the giant mouth, the person's lips moved as if to say something, but it was unclear.

The next moment, the man leaped into the air and raised his hand.

The sword, which had been flicked away by the Devouring Demon King's eyelids, landed perfectly in his hand, and then suddenly grew larger... and larger still...

In an instant, the sword she had refined over decades and was intimately familiar with displayed unprecedented power in that man's hands, transforming into a giant sword dozens of feet long, comparable to a mountain peak.

The greatsword spun in mid-air and then stabbed down!

Cutting through mountains and cleaving peaks, it descends with unstoppable momentum!

The giant sword easily pierced through the body of the Devouring Demon King, along with the mountain beneath it, all the way to the bottom of the mountain.

The entire mountain, along with the Devouring Demon King, was cleaved in two by this single sword strike!

What a powerful sword strike that was!

Gui Ning couldn't help but be captivated, until suddenly everything went black, as if she had fallen into a swamp.

A stench assaulted her from all directions, and Gui Ning felt a hand grip her shoulder and pull her suddenly.

Suddenly, everything became bright and clear, and my mouth and nose felt refreshed.

Looking up, she saw a handsome, smiling face. One hand was around her shoulder, lifting her up, while the other held Yu Xi, who was bleeding from all seven orifices. The man smiled and said, "Isn't it quite warm inside?"

Excessive strain on her divine sense caused Gui Ning's mind to become muddled and dazed. She subconsciously replied, "Yes."

The man's smile faltered, and he muttered something under his breath: "...Frog...warm...women all like it..."

Gui Ning didn't hear what was said clearly; she couldn't hold on any longer and fell into a coma.

……

Unaware and unaware, living in a daze.

When Gui Ning regained consciousness, she heard a weak, crisp voice: "You really want to take me as your disciple?"

"You don't want to?" a clear male voice asked.

"I have a bad temper, and people don't want me to cultivate. They say I'm naturally strong, and if I start cultivating, I might accidentally kill someone..." The girl's voice was somewhat dejected.

The male voice chuckled and said, "If you accidentally kill someone, it means you haven't mastered your strength. It has nothing to do with your temper... I don't have a very good temper either."

"No, I think you're very kind and have a good temper."

"That was an act; you can act like that in the future..."

"Ouch—" Gui Ning felt a throbbing pain in her brain, as if someone was stirring her brain with a stick, and couldn't help but let out a groan.

The conversation abruptly stopped.

Gui Ning opened her eyes, and her vision gradually cleared. She saw a man and a woman, one big and one small, sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at her.

Yu Xi's face fell. The girl, who was originally quite healthy, now looked like a thin, sickly girl who had never eaten enough in her life, with a sallow complexion.

Gui Ning felt a slight pang in her heart. She knew that this was a symptom of overexerting her potential, severely depleting her body, and damaging her foundation.

"Auntie is awake!" Yu Xi's voice was weak, but it was filled with joy.

Gui Ning ignored Yu Xi and looked at the man: "Who are you?"

But the image of that sword that cleaved mountains and split peaks flashed through her mind. Such magnificence! She had practiced swordsmanship since childhood, but she had never seen such domineering and unparalleled swordsmanship. She would probably never forget it in this lifetime.

The man smiled and said, "My name is Xing Yang, a White-Armored General of the Demon Suppression Division."

"White armor... a general?" Gui Ning's tone was indifferent, yet full of suspicion.

Yu Xi quickly said, "Auntie, he really was sent by the Demon Suppression Division to support us, and he's so powerful! He killed all those monsters in no time, and even chopped up that giant toad..."

As she spoke, her excitement gradually faded, replaced by trepidation: "Auntie, he said he wants to take me as his apprentice..."

Gui Ning looked at the expectant look in Yu Xi's strange double pupils, remained silent for a moment, then reached out and touched her head, her movements awkward and stiff.

Feeling the strands of hair in my palm, it felt like stroking dry grass. My hand naturally fell onto her shoulder, but I bumped it against her bone.

Just how much of her physical essence has this girl overdrawn?

With her body in such a state, how much longer can she live?

Gui Ning subconsciously looked at Xing Yang, opened her mouth as if to speak, but couldn't utter a word.

Xing Yang understood what she meant and said with a smile, "It's alright, this girl has just lost some weight. I'll find someone to help her get some nutrition, and she'll be fine now."

Gui Ning: "..."

Overdrawing one's source and damaging one's foundation—can this be solved simply by "replenishing"?

Xing Yang looked at her pale face and said, "You don't look too well either. I guess you've been overworked... I don't know much about the Dao of Immortality, but I think you should replenish your energy."

Gui Ning closed her eyes, having nothing more to say.

Her spiritual power was damaged, and it would take her eight to ten years to recover.

Xing Yang continued, "Perfect timing. I'm going to the Ganwei clan next. My wife is there, and she has a spirit chef with her. You can come along and have her nourish you both."

Upon hearing the word "spirit chef," Gui Ning couldn't help but open her eyes.

If she had the nourishment of a spirit chef, it would indeed greatly shorten the time she needed to recover, and Yu Xi would also be able to restore some of her foundation.

The spirit chef needs ingredients, and right outside, there happens to be the corpse of a demon king!

Xing Yang continued, "Don't worry about this place. The Demon Suppression Division has already sent word that they will send people over to clean up those monster corpses and also help guard the area for a while..."

"good!"

Gui Ning spoke softly, interrupting Xing Yang, "Then I'll have to trouble you!"