Chapter 46 – Eerie Sword Pavilion, Seven Kills Sword Formation

[Heretical Sword Fiend (Common)]

[Strength: Qi Training Stage Six]

[Characteristics: Can utilize certain swordsmanship from the cultivator’s lifetime, possesses heretical power]

Driven by his inherent caution, Lu Chen chose not to engage these Heretical Sword Fiends in close combat immediately.

He raised his left hand, forming a sword finger, and placed it horizontally between his eyebrows.

The next moment, streams of violet flames erupted from around his body, converging into twelve solid Violet Fire Flying Swords.

“Go!”

As Lu Chen uttered the command, the violet flying swords around him transformed into streaks of light, trailing brilliant fiery tails as they shot toward the group of Sword Demons charging at him.

In an instant, the twelve Violet Fire Flying Swords clashed with the Sword Demons.

Some of the violet flying swords directly slashed at the Sword Demons’ necks, while others pierced straight through their chests.

Regardless of the method, the moment these Violet Fire Flying Swords made contact with the Sword Demons, they erupted into towering violet flames, completely engulfing them.

“Eeeeee!!!”

One after another, the Sword Demons bathed in the raging flames, letting out miserable shrieks.

They frantically waved the Flesh Tumor Evil Swords in their hands, attempting to dispel the violet flames covering their bodies.

Yet this struggle not only proved ineffective but instead caused the violet flames on them to burn even more fiercely.

Watching the Sword Demons struggle, Lu Chen’s pupils transformed into continuously rotating azure lotuses, carefully observing every movement they made.

Initially, Lu Chen had thought these Heretical Sword Fiends’ existence was similar to the Corpse Fiends in ancient cultivator tombs, both being forms of corpse transformation.

Even though he had previously noticed these Flesh Tumor Evil Swords seemed neither fully sword nor fully demon,

He had merely assumed these evil swords had a symbiotic relationship with the reanimated corpses, without giving it much thought.

But after activating his Azure Lotus Eye, scenes invisible through ordinary means appeared before him.

This completely revealed the true nature of these Heretical Sword Fiends.

Though these Heretical Sword Fiends appeared humanoid in form, their true power source came from the bizarre evil swords in their hands.

These Flesh Tumor Evil Swords were far from symbiotic with the corpses.

They were parasitic, even directly seizing control of the cultivators’ original bodies!

Realizing this, Lu Chen’s expression grew even colder.

“Twisted creatures that toy with the deceased… truly disgusting…”

Lu Chen gripped his Ink Dragon Sword and actively approached one of the Heretical Sword Fiends.

The Heretical Sword Fiend, already tormented by the Purple Dawn Divine Fire, immediately charged at Lu Chen with a frenzied expression.

But before it could get close, a black light fell upon its arm.

Severing the arm connected to the Flesh Tumor Evil Sword.

“Eee!”

As the arm hit the ground, an ear-piercing, infant-like scream erupted from the Flesh Tumor Evil Sword on the ground.

Upon closer inspection, the source of the sound was actually the hilt of the Flesh Tumor Evil Sword.

A grotesque, distorted human face was clearly growing there.

And Lu Chen understood clearly – this was the true form of the Heretical Sword Fiend.

“Die.”

With these words, Lu Chen’s Ink Dragon Sword pierced straight through the distorted face on the Flesh Tumor Evil Sword, ending this twisted life.

The surrounding sharp, piercing screams completely vanished at that moment.

[You have slain a Heretical Sword Fiend (Qi Training Stage Six), gained 70 experience points, Soul Crystal Shard (White)*1]Due to the presence of other Heretical Sword Fiends nearby,

Lu Chen did not check the System prompt that had popped up on his panel at the moment, instead focusing on dealing with the remaining Heretical Sword Fiends.

Having already understood the nature of the Heretical Sword Fiends, and with his Purple Dawn Divine Fire seemingly highly effective against these Demonic Heresies,

the remaining dozen or so Heretical Sword Fiends did not pose much trouble for Lu Chen, quickly turning into lifeless corpses.

Once the square was completely quiet, Lu Chen finally had the chance to properly sort through his gains from this encounter.

In total, the twelve Heretical Sword Fiends had provided him with 840 experience points and six Soul Crystal Shards (White).

Roughly, two Heretical Sword Fiends would drop one Soul Crystal Shard.

Without any hesitation, Lu Chen immediately applied these Soul Crystal Shards to his yet-to-awaken Innate Divine Ability.

【Innate Divine Ability (38/100): Unawakened】

【Current Experience Points: 2002】

“There still seem to be quite a few Sword Demons on this square. I’ll deal with them first before heading to that eerie Sword Pavilion…”

Lu Chen looked up at the towering, incomplete Sword Pavilion in the distance, his eyes filled with caution.

If the Heretical Sword Fiends on the square were just an appetizer, then the eerie Sword Pavilion not far away was the key to this Instance.

Even from over a hundred meters away, Lu Chen could sense the faint Sword Intent emanating from within the Sword Pavilion.

This Sword Intent carried a chilling coldness, along with a hint of madness and killing intent, making Lu Chen quite wary.

Aside from this eerie Sword Intent,

another reason Lu Chen was reluctant to approach the Sword Pavilion casually was its bizarre “right-angled shape.”

From his perspective, the entire Sword Pavilion looked as if it had been diagonally sliced by a sword, with most of it sheared away.

Lu Chen couldn’t imagine what kind of existence could possess such power, capable of slicing off more than half of this fifty-meter-high, five-story Sword Pavilion with a single stroke.

Judging by the feat, the one responsible must have had at least Golden Core Stage strength.

Seeing traces of a Golden Core Stage existence’s handiwork in an Instance was not a good sign for Lu Chen.

After all, at his current level, he could barely handle Foundation Establishment Stage opponents with average talent and slightly weaker Aptitude.

As for the Golden Core Stage, even the most ordinary Golden Core Stage cultivator…

was currently beyond his reach, impossible to defeat even at the cost of his life.

“Qi Refining against Golden Core… the designers of this real game shouldn’t have created such an inhuman Instance, right…”

With that, Lu Chen began exploring the entire Sword Pavilion square.

After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, all the Heretical Sword Fiends on the Sword Pavilion square had been located and slain with a single sword strike.

He gained a considerable amount of experience points and Soul Crystal Shards.

【Innate Divine Ability (58/100): Unawakened】

【Current Experience Points: 3402】

“Now that the Sword Demons on the square have been cleared, and the areas beyond the Sword Pavilion square are blocked by a dark mist—whenever I approach, the game panel warns me not to proceed further—

it seems the only place I can go now… is that eerie Sword Pavilion.”

Thinking this, Lu Chen took a deep breath and walked up to the Sword Pavilion’s main door, pushing it open slowly.

Boom…

Accompanied by the heavy, decaying sound of dragging, the long-silent Sword Pavilion finally saw the light of day again, welcoming a new guest.However, the master residing within the Sword Pavilion did not seem friendly toward Lu Chen, the visitor.

Almost the moment Lu Chen stepped into the first floor of the Sword Pavilion, several sharp whistling sounds pierced through the air from all directions.

Without hesitation, Lu Chen vanished from his original spot using the Flowing Cloud Step, landing on an empty space nearby.

He looked up and saw seven Heretical Sword Fiends.

They stood around him in a special formation, completely surrounding him.

Six of these seven Heretical Sword Fiends were largely similar to the Sword Demons in the plaza—just ordinary Sword Demons.

But the leader was quite unique.

Not only was the decay of its flesh significantly less than the other Sword Demons, but the Flesh Tumor Evil Sword in its hand was also more solid, emitting a sinister crimson Qi around it. At a glance, it was clearly very different from ordinary Heretical Sword Fiends.

[Heretical Sword Fiend (Elite)]

[Strength: Qi Condensation Stage, Ninth Layer]

[Characteristics: Can utilize certain Swordsmanship techniques from the Sword Cultivator’s lifetime, form Sword Formations with other Sword Demons, and possesses heretical power]

Form Sword Formations?!

Looking at the status panel of this elite Heretical Sword Fiend, Lu Chen felt a deep sense of foreboding.

If it were just a simple case of many against one, even with an elite Sword Demon among them, it would pose no threat to Lu Chen in his current state.

But if they formed a Sword Formation, that would be entirely different.

Because this wasn’t a simple case of ‘1+1=2’—it was more like ‘1+1>2’!

Seriously? Not only are you ganging up on me, but you can also form a Sword Formation together?

Where is your pride as Sword Cultivators?

Come fight me one-on-one!

Of course, the Heretical Sword Fiends couldn’t hear Lu Chen’s inner thoughts.

Even if they could, they wouldn’t feel ashamed—they would actually take pride in it.

After all, for those of the Demonic Heresy, “honor” is a derogatory term!

“Screech!”

With an excited shriek from the elite Sword Demon, the seven of them charged at Lu Chen in a special formation.

Special Sword Formation—Seven Killings!

(End of Chapter)