Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

Without hesitation, as she took a step forward with her sword, the Cleansing Demon Desolation Record within her body circulated rapidly, and visible ripples spread outward from her body, quickly flowing into the sword.

The impure and holy body suddenly emitted a dazzling light. Duan Xingchen was truly like a starlight illuminating the night, blocking the way in front of the hut where Gu Asan was.

He slashed down with his sword.

Wherever the sword touched, the demon was instantly annihilated as if it had encountered its natural enemy. Its form turned into wisps of black smoke that rose up, only to be annihilated by the bright light.

—(Roar)

The sludge roared in agony, immediately shrinking back into its twisted and irregular body, not daring to approach Duan Xingchen even a step further.

However, to Duan Xingchen's surprise, just as he was about to give chase, the demon suddenly curled up into a ball, showing no intention of running away or retaliating.

This caused Duan Xingchen, who had raised his sword halfway in the air, to pause for a moment and stubbornly refrain from continuing to strike.

"What's wrong?" Gu Wangjun had already assumed a stance to stop the demon from escaping, but seeing Duan Xingchen suddenly stop wielding her sword, he asked, "What happened, Junior Sister?"

"..."

Duan Xingchen stared at the huddled, viscous mass of filth in front of him for a long while, then murmured, "Senior Brother, this demon... is a bit strange."

"eccentric?"

"It's afraid of me..."

Duan Xingchen silently lowered his sword, not understanding what kind of strange emotion was rising in his heart: "It's not the fear of a natural enemy, but more like... awe?"

Even Duan Xingchen himself wondered if he hadn't been sleeping well lately and if something was wrong with his brain after saying those words.

But that's just how it is.

Duan Xingchen could clearly sense that the huddled demon before him held a reverent attitude towards him, unlike the demons he had encountered before, who were filled with fear of the holy light and rage and madness.

It seems to still retain a sliver of reason?

I originally thought it was just a newborn demon that had no reason and only knew how to expand outwards, but now it seems that it is not like that.

It’s weird.

When Gu Wangjun saw his junior sister's furrowed brows and puzzled expression, his fists slowly loosened. Even so, he dared not let his taut nerves tremble, as he was unsure if there were any other demons nearby.

"So what do you plan to do?"

“I think we can try purifying it.” Duan Xingchen calmed his mind and recalled his previous insights when he was purifying his mind: “Buddhism has the power to transform things. Maybe I can use Buddhism to persuade it to change its nature.”

Upon hearing this, Gu Wangjun nodded: "That's fine. However, ordinary demons will only be reduced to ashes when they are persuaded by Buddhist teachings. This is not a bad way to eliminate demons."

After speaking, Gu Wangjun came to Duan Xingchen's side, his meaning clear—to protect her.

Duan Xingchen cast a grateful glance at Gu Wangjun, then stood before the curled-up black mud, clasped her hands together, and the holy light around her body was immediately tinged with layers of sacred gold, with endless majesty bursting forth from her petite body.

The Heart Sutra of Salvation is one of the three great Buddhist scriptures that can only be understood by cultivating a heart that desires to save all humanity, pushing kindness to its limit, and reaching the state of saving all things.

Duan Xingchen is one of the few cultivators who has thoroughly understood the Buddhist concept of saving the mind and awakened the Buddhist way of universal salvation.

Even in this incredibly long history, only a handful of people have been able to thoroughly study the three great scriptures. With Duan Xingchen's talent, when he was studying at the Buddhist temple in the Western Paradise, the abbot almost knelt down and begged Duan Xingchen to stay at the temple.

However, Xingchen's ambition was not in Buddhism; she only sought to attain a certain level of enlightenment. She herself did not have a deep interest in Buddhism.

Looking at Duan Xingchen, who was beginning to silently recite the Heart Sutra of Salvation, with the image of the Great Tathagata appearing behind her, even King Gu couldn't help but admire Xingchen's talent.

The dazzling golden light is a holy light that transcends all things, forming a wonderful combination with Duan Xingchen's own pure and incorruptible body, making the radiance it emits even purer and more sacred.

however.

Just as Duan Xingchen was about to recite the incantation for salvation, a young man's exclamation interrupted her.

"What's this……!"

Gu Wangjun and Duan Xingchen looked over at the same time and were surprised to find that Gu Asan was standing about ten meters away from them for some reason, as if he had just come from somewhere.

He stared dumbfounded and trembling with fear at the twisted, terrifying monster, then glanced in utter astonishment at the Great Tathagata incarnation behind Duan Xingchen, and was so frightened that he sat down on the ground with a thud.

Upon sensing the presence of an ordinary human, the initially terrified demon seemed to have found an easy target and immediately rushed towards Gu Asan's location.

It rapidly expanded its area, wanting to devour Gu Asan in one go.

Tsk.

King Gu curled his lip; now there was no way to convert him.

The moment he exerted force with his feet, he was already in front of Gu Asan. His palms were covered with his incomparably powerful spiritual energy, which had been tempered thousands of times, and he slammed his palms forward.

boom!

Layer upon layer of airbursts erupted, and the violent impact created a horizontal tornado that blew the entire city of Shanghai away.

Duan Xingchen quickly abandoned the idea of ​​spiritual salvation. Since he couldn't achieve spiritual salvation, he would have to resort to physical salvation.

With this in mind, he gripped the sword stuck in the ground, immediately held the hilt tightly, held his breath and concentrated, and the moment he opened his eyes, he slashed down with the sword.

A snow-white sword light slashed upwards from a floating island, leaving a beautiful arc in the dark night sky. At first glance, it looked like another crescent moon hanging in the sky.

The black smoke dissipated.

The result of physical purification was pure annihilation; in the blink of an eye, the demon turned into a cloud of black smoke and vanished.

"Are you okay?"

Gu Wangjun turned around and looked at Gu A'san, whose face was deathly pale and whose eyes were still filled with shock.

Why isn't this kid sleeping properly inside? Why is he out here instead?

Gu Asan was stunned for a while before he reacted: "N-nothing."

He struggled to his feet and was about to say thank you when a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Gu A-San, why did you leave so late..."

The person who came was none other than Gu Tianren, whose face showed a hint of fatigue.

Upon seeing Gu Tianren follow him, Gu Asan was startled: "Young Master, what brings you here..."

“I was cultivating halfway through last night when I encountered a slight problem, so I took a break. That’s when I saw you sneaking around outside, so I came to check on you.”

Gu Asan looked away in alarm: "I wasn't acting suspiciously."

"Then why are you wandering around here so late at night instead of sleeping?"

Faced with Gu Tianren's impatient questioning, Gu Asan stammered for a long time before slowly taking a steamed bun out of his pocket.

Gu Tianren was dumbfounded when he saw the steamed bun.

Gu Asan scratched his head and said awkwardly, "I was practicing swordsmanship, and late at night... I got hungry, so... I wanted to find something to eat."

"You really are..."

Gu Tianren didn't know what to say, so he could only look at Gu Asan's honest face and keep smiling bitterly.

Then he noticed that Duan Xingchen had already sheathed his sword, returning the magical artifact to its original coffin form.

At this moment, Gu Tianren realized that Duan Xingchen and Gu Wangjun were also there.

"You two..." Gu Tianren recalled the sword light that had unexpectedly pierced the sky earlier and couldn't help but ask, "Will you spar here tonight?"

"It's not a friendly sparring match."

Gu Wangjun realized that Gu Tianren must have misunderstood, so he explained the whole story to Gu Tianren.

Upon hearing that demons had invaded, Gu Tianren's first reaction was disbelief, followed by a puzzled expression: "Our Blue Feather Heavenly Palace has never been invaded by demons. As you have seen, without the seal of our palace, one cannot enter the Blue Feather Heavenly Palace."

“But it is indeed a demon, albeit a newly born one.” Gu Wangjun narrowed his eyes. “Could there be some other possibility…”

"..." Gu Tianren glanced at Gu Wangjun almost imperceptibly, and then said, "Brother Wangjun, are you saying that there are demonic cultivators in the palace? That should be unlikely, but... since Brother Wangjun is so sure that there are demons, then I will make a note of this matter for now."

"Thank you for your trouble." Gu Wangjun bowed to Gu Tianren, quite grateful that Gu Tianren had not directly suspected him.

Logically speaking...

As outsiders, Gu Wangjun and his companion suddenly discovered that a demon that shouldn't have appeared had appeared in the Blue Feather Heavenly Palace. To outsiders, this might seem like a case of the thief crying "whoever is the thief!"

After all, the Blue Feather Heavenly Palace has never been invaded by demons. As soon as the two of them arrived, demons began to emerge from the Blue Feather Heavenly Palace, making it hard for people to believe that they were innocent.

Gu Tianren was not unaware of this possibility, but he instinctively believed that Gu Wangjun and the other person would not be related to demons—even though Xingchen was a demon in her true form.

"Senior Brother."

Suddenly, Duan Xingchen's slightly trembling voice rang in my ears.

Gu Wangjun turned around and found Duan Xingchen standing blankly where the demon had disappeared, his face deathly pale.

He sensed something was wrong and rushed over: "Junior Sister, what's wrong... you look so pale."

"Senior Brother...look at this..."

Duan Xingchen's voice trembled, and there were even a few subtle sobs.

Her eyes welled up with tears, a look of disbelief mixed with an unconscious inability to connect the dots, resulting in a clear emotional fluctuation.

She raised her slender, fair right hand, and in her palm was a piece of cloth stained with a lot of black, as if it had been torn from her clothes.

Upon seeing this object, Gu Wangjun stared blankly and asked, "Junior Sister, what is this—"

"This is……"

Duan Xingchen took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and remained silent for a long time.

When she opened her eyes again, her mindset had clearly changed; her delicate body trembled as if she were in fear.

"A Daoist robe from the Holy Feather Sect..."

32. The Midnight Glowing Duo

The Holy Feather Sect was the hometown that raised Duan Xingchen, so Duan Xingchen couldn't possibly mistake the Daoist robes worn by its cultivators.

"Junior sister, are you sure this is really a Daoist robe from the Holy Feather Sect?"

Even so, King Gu still had doubts about it.

This was unavoidable, after all, the era they were in was the ancient era before even the Martial Emperor had been born, so where would the Holy Feather Sect come from?

Sitting on the bed, radiating a faint light that served as the sole source of illumination in the sealed, dark room, Duan Xingchen nodded. Looking at the particularly familiar fabric in his palm, he said in a deep voice, "I participated in the design of the Holy Feather Sect's Daoist robes. It underwent seven revisions in total, and this one is clearly the final version [Even if the Sect Master asked me to revise it, I would rather die than change it—final revision, third version]."

The lengthy name startled Gu Wangjun. "But if this is truly a Daoist robe from the Holy Feather Sect, why would it be here?"

"Or rather, why did it reappear after that demon disappeared?"