Chapter Twenty-Three: The Demonic Black Blade and the Divine Sword of Execution

"Human… you’re such a nuisance." Taking advantage of the moment, Xiao Yuan Zhuang leapt onto the back of the fiend, and as she looked up, she saw the evil god standing there. The evil god saw her as well, and fluent Mandarin flowed from his mouth—a language he had acquired by devouring human souls and extracting their knowledge.

Even though he had learned the human tongue, his voice remained inhuman. It was a sound no mortal could ever possess, one imbued with boundless resentment and darkness. Just hearing that voice made the hairs on Xiao Yuan Zhuang’s body stand on end.

“Monstrous fiend, you dare show yourself and kill in broad daylight? A year from today will be your death anniversary.” The moment she saw the evil god, Xiao Yuan Zhuang felt a wave of killing intent surge from deep within her heart—the wrath of the wandering immortal maiden, Xiaoyan Huang, directed at all creatures that harmed mankind.

Now, when she faced a being akin to a monster that preyed upon humans, Xiaoyan Huang’s murderous intent was ignited. Xiao Yuan Zhuang sensed the divine power within her boiling, yet not a single trace of energy was consumed. On the contrary, her strength grew, and even the Immortal-Slaying Sword in her hand seemed to sharpen. It appeared that Xiaoyan Huang’s killing intent itself acted as a kind of status buff, much like a boon in a game.

“My death anniversary? I think it’s yours you should be worried about.” For a brief moment, the evil god faltered before Xiao Yuan Zhuang’s awakened killing intent. But then, recalling the existence of a certain ‘person’, his courage was swiftly restored.

“Come and try, then.” As the words fell, the Immortal-Slaying Sword in Xiao Yuan Zhuang’s hand was already thrusting toward the evil god’s vital point.

She had learned from Wen Hui that once a person was possessed by an evil god and lost control of their body, their soul would be devoured. So Xiao Yuan Zhuang showed no mercy, aiming straight for the kill.

In truth, attacks on the human body’s weak points had no effect on the evil god’s true form, since they were more like spiritual entities only temporarily inhabiting human vessels. However, if the host body died, the evil god would be forcibly expelled and revert to its spiritual form. In that state, these beings were at their most fragile; there was no need for Divine Armored Warriors to use any special means—simply exposing them to a strong electric current or chaotic magnetic field would suffice to annihilate them. Of course, divine power itself was their nemesis.

Thus, to deal with an evil god, all one needed was to kill the host, force out its spirit, and then finish it off with a sweep of divine power.

It sounded simple in theory, but reality was far more complicated. Each evil god typically possessed the power to summon fiends. And if an evil god wished to hide, only those Divine Armored Warriors with special sensory abilities could hope to find them; ordinary humans had almost no chance of detecting such beings.

“Don’t underestimate me.” Facing Xiao Yuan Zhuang’s assault, the evil god fought back. The dagger he’d used to attack Wen Hui was still in his hand, the blade still stained with her blood. But now, the dagger looked strange—no longer its original silvery sheen, but black as if dipped in ink. The skin on the evil god’s face was similarly blackened. Evidently, the host’s body hadn’t fully transformed under the evil god’s possession, all for the sake of wielding this black blade.

A metallic ring sounded as the weapons clashed. The Immortal-Slaying Sword and the black dagger parted instantly. Despite the ancient sword’s razor edge, the evil god’s ordinary steel weapon did not shatter. Surprise flickered in Xiao Yuan Zhuang’s eyes.

Even the fiend before her, with his half-black, half-yellow face, seemed astonished, his gaze fixed on the Immortal-Slaying Sword. That sword was no ordinary divine armament.

If it were, even a peak-level Divine Armored Warrior would find their weapon tainted after repeated clashes with the black blade. With each blow, the contamination would deepen, eventually even spreading to the guardian deity and inflicting grievous wounds. But Xiao Yuan Zhuang’s Immortal-Slaying Sword remained completely unaffected.

What the evil god did not know was that a wandering immortal’s sword could not be so easily defiled. Each celestial sword possessed its own essence and spirit, making it impervious to all but the most primordial filth, such as the blood sea waters born from Pangu’s navel at the dawn of creation.

Normally, when a guardian deity is gravely wounded, the Divine Armored Warrior suffers as well—at best, their combat ability drops; at worst, their divine rank plummets. Such incidents had happened more than once. Therefore, when facing an evil god, Divine Armored Warriors either ended the fight quickly or avoided clashing weapons altogether.

Xiao Yuan Zhuang had no idea of the black blade’s effects. Later, when she heard the stories from veteran warriors, she broke out in a cold sweat. But knowing that Xiaoyan Huang’s Immortal-Slaying Sword was immune to the blade’s corruption put her mind at ease.

Her prior training had come only from the army’s basic education unit, which at most provided a brief overview of fiendish threats. Evil gods were scarcely mentioned, since ordinary soldiers rarely encountered them, and if they did, they had little resistance and were swiftly possessed. As for fiends, knowing their weaknesses and abilities might just allow a soldier to survive an attack or even slay a few lesser ones.

Though surprised that a mundane weapon in the evil god’s hand could withstand her ancient celestial sword, Xiao Yuan Zhuang had no time for distraction. No sooner had her sword disengaged from the evil god’s weapon than the fiend’s attack followed.

Standing atop the fiend’s back, dueling the evil god, Xiao Yuan Zhuang had calculated that the fiend shouldn’t be able to attack her. Even with four arms, it shouldn’t be able to reach its own back. Yet she had underestimated it. Once she’d landed, the fiend twisted around to continue its assault.

But the fiend’s rotation was nothing like a human’s. Its lower half remained rooted in place, four legs braced solidly, while its upper body twisted all the way around. The fiend, whose form was reminiscent of a centaur albeit far stranger, now looked even more grotesque—the unnatural contortion of its torso made it appear as if its body had always been reversed from birth, with its back now laid bare like an exposed underbelly.