Junior Sister is skilled in subduing demons.

Chapter 207 Finally reunited
Smoke rose from the chimneys of the Deng people's village on the riverbank, and Rimai Yongga's escorting party disappeared at the end of the Shu Road.

Shen Anzhi looked at the group of 298 surviving civilians. Every face was etched with the exhaustion of surviving a disaster. The wounded on the stretchers were still groaning, and the herbs in the medicine baskets emitted a bitter smell.

"Sister Anzhi, it's time to go." Ge Wensong patted the fluffy Tuantuan beside him and looked at Shen Anzhi, saying, "Sister Anzhi, let's go quickly. We need to rejoin them as soon as possible. They need the Demon-Slaying Sword."

Anzhi nodded, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the runes on the Demon-Slaying Sword.

Behind us, the ancient Shu Road is shrouded in mist, like a giant python that devours life.

"Let's go." Anzhi turned around and continued on his way, but found that Tuantuan was not jumping and skipping along as before.

After finding this guy in the pigsty of a farmer in Zizai Yading Village, he became taciturn and didn't even bother to look up when Anzhi handed him a barley cake.

The road back to Shu was more treacherous than the way there.

The demon soldiers seemed to have noticed the passage, and the poisonous weeds along the way grew even more wildly.

"Watch out!" Ge Wensong's sword suddenly flew out of its sheath, the sword light cleaving through a poisonous fern that suddenly sprang up. The fern spirit's leaves flew towards him like sharp blades, but were smashed to pieces by a black and white figure.

“Tuanbao.” Anzhi exclaimed in surprise.

Tuantuan had somehow rushed to the front, pressed down on the fern spirit's root with its uninjured right paw, opened its mouth and bit down hard, the sound of its fangs piercing through the rotting flesh echoing through the canyon.

Anzhi was surprised. Tuantuan's fighting style had changed. It was no longer the brute force that charged around recklessly. Instead, it knew how to avoid the poison sacs and bite the core of the plant spirit.

"Tuantuan, well done!" Anzhi tried to pat Tuantuan's head, but it dodged away abruptly.

Tuantuan shook the grass clippings off her head and said, "Don't touch me."

Anzhi's hand froze in mid-air, as if it had been frozen. Ever since they left the bamboo forest, this guy had been either jealous of Ge Wensong or resentful that he had ridden it. So he angrily said, "You unfilial son, you, you..."

"Alright, alright, alright." Seeing this, Ge Wensong quickly smoothed things over, taking out a snow lotus fruit from his pocket and handing it over: "Are you tired? Eat something and rest."

Tuantuan didn't even lift her eyelids. She turned around, picked up the bronze fragment from the ground, and walked forward on her own, her steps unsteady but unusually firm.

"It, it, this damn monkey, how did you manage to get it?" Anzhi's voice trembled as he looked at Tuantuan's aloof back and suddenly felt a terrifying sense of unfamiliarity.

This was no longer the chubby beast that used to cling to her neck and act cute in the bamboo forest; it was clearly a small beast that deliberately raised its spikes, using indifference to conceal something.

“Perhaps it has grown up.” Ge Wensong held Anzhi’s shoulder, the warmth of his fingertips seeping through the fabric: “You understood sin when you were circumambulating the mountain, and learned responsibility in the flames of war. It has followed the monkey through so many dangerous places, it must have changed.” Wensong paused, then continued with a light laugh: “Didn’t you notice? When it was fighting just now, it kept protecting us behind it.”

An Zhi was stunned. Recalling the battle just now, Tuan Tuan had indeed intentionally or unintentionally stood between them and the poisonous plants, and not a single drop of poison had splashed on them.

“It just… didn’t know how to express itself.” Ge Wensong picked up a poisonous leaf with teeth marks from the ground; the serrated edges had been bitten flat. The wind swept through the canyon, carrying the stench of decaying leaves. Anzhi watched Tuantuan’s receding figure, its broken claws leaving shallow marks on the ground, but it never looked back.

Perhaps this is the growth of living beings; at some point, they must put away their dependent tails and protect those they want to protect in their own way.

On the desolate plains north of Qiang City.

Shen Anzhi and Ge Wensong were dumbfounded. Everywhere they looked, there were layers upon layers of corpses. Some were wearing Shu army armor, some were wearing coarse linen clothes of civilians, and there were also many dark blue-black bodies of demon soldiers.

“It hasn’t been that long…” Ge Wensong’s voice trembled, and the long sword in his hand trembled slightly. The once prosperous North Gate had become a living hell.

Tuantuan sniffed with her nose and let out a low whimper.

Its paw gently touched a curled-up little corpse. The child was still clutching half a barley cake in its hand, and the teeth marks on the cake were strikingly similar to the bite marks that Tuantuan usually left.

"Don't touch it!" Anzhi quickly pulled it away, because these corpses possessed the malevolent aura of the Blood Demon.

Just then, a group of soldiers in black armor emerged from the pile of corpses. The general in the lead saw the demon-slaying sword at An Zhi's waist and his eyes lit up: "Is that Miss Shen? Immortal Lingjizi and Miss Zi are waiting for you in the central command tent!"

The central command tent of the Ba-Shu allied forces was surrounded by the flags of the Shu army, their surfaces stained black with blood, yet still stubbornly fluttering in the wind.

Outside the tent, on the open ground, the wounded soldiers sat or lay down, and the military doctors were washing their festering wounds with strong liquor, their screams echoing throughout the area.

"Anzhi!" Zi Lingxuan's voice came from inside the tent. She hurried out to greet him, her hair disheveled, her skirt stained with mud, and her once bright eyes now bloodshot: "You've finally come!"

As Anzhi stepped into the tent, she was met by a gentle gaze. Lingjizi was sitting at his desk, stroking his beard. His Taoist robe had several scorch marks, indicating that he had just been through a fierce battle. When he saw Anzhi enter, his tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed: "Girl, I've been waiting for you."

"Senior Lingjizi!" An Zhi felt a surge of warmth in her heart; the fatigue and fear of the past few days seemed to be dispelled by this call. She instinctively raised the demon-slaying sword in her hand. "Senior, I've got it..."

"Let me take a look at you first." Lingjizi waved his hand, gesturing for her to come closer. He extended his withered fingers and gently pressed them on her wrist. After a moment, a hint of relief flashed in his eyes: "The purification of the sacred mountain was indeed effective. The corrosive energy in your body has dissipated. It seems that after circling the mountain three times, you have truly understood."

Anzhi then noticed that several elders from various sects were also standing inside the tent: the monk Tongda from Cihang Temple, Xuanfeng Yichen from Qingcheng Mountain, and several Shu Mountain sword cultivators she had never seen before. Their gazes were all fixed on her, filled with scrutiny and anticipation.

"Whether you understand it or not is no longer important." Monk Tongda clasped his hands together, the prayer beads spinning between his fingers. "What's important is that this demon-slaying sword has recognized its master." He looked at the sword in Anzhi's hand. The blade was as black as night, with silver light flowing through its texture. The runes that had once bound it were now lying obediently on the blade.

Lingjizi finally took the Demon-Slaying Sword, his fingertips brushing over the snake-shaped runes on the blade: "The ancient seal has been broken. It seems that the bloodline connection of the Xuanyuan Sword Master has finally manifested in you." He handed the sword back to Anzhi, his gaze becoming solemn: "The Black Python has broken through the three lines of defense at the North Gate, and the God-Slaying Blood Demon is devouring the Shu Mountain barrier. We... I'm afraid we won't be able to hold out for much longer."

The air inside the tent froze instantly. Zi Lingxuan gripped the Emei Dagger tightly, her knuckles turning white: "We fought the demon soldiers for three hours. If it weren't for the Qiang tribe's chief Rimai coming to our aid, we probably wouldn't have been able to hold this pass."

"Please follow me to the back tent for a discussion." Lingjizi stood up, and the map on the table was spread out, with the locations of the demon soldiers marked in cinnabar densely packed on it...