Starting as pearl divers, they have endless jobs.

Chapter 271 The Young Man Wields His Sword to Slay Demons and Awaits His Return
"what--!"

Wu Baxian screamed in agony, feeling as if a piece of his soul had been forcibly ripped off at that moment!
What kind of pain is that?

It's as if a part of a complete self has been forcibly torn apart.

This sense of incompleteness, which originates from the level of existence, is far more terrifying than any physical injury!
At the same time, Wu Baxian could clearly feel that an unhealable wound had appeared in the very essence of his soul.

An extremely strange power clung to the wound.

This power, like a maggot clinging to his bone, is constantly eroding and polluting the rest of his soul.

Wu Baxian tried to use his demonic energy to dispel this power, but was horrified to find that his demonic energy was as if it had encountered its nemesis the moment it came into contact with this power, and was easily assimilated and devoured by it!
Wu Baxian panicked completely.

He reincarnated a hundred times, studying almost every cultivation method in this world.

He was well-versed in everything, from the Confucian ideal of righteousness and integrity, to the Taoist ideal of tranquility and non-action, to the Buddhist ideal of compassion and power, and even the evil arts of unorthodox sects.

He was confident that any power belonging to this world could not harm his demonic soul origin, which had long transcended the rules of this world.

But now, his proud demonic soul has been wounded by a sword he can't understand at all!

Moreover, it is the most fundamental and primal wound!
This kind of injury cannot be repaired by time or rare and precious materials.

Unless he can find a treasure of equal level that can repair the origin of his soul, this wound will remain forever and will continue to weaken his power over time until he completely falls from his realm and ultimately dies from the dissipation of his soul.

The thought of the consequences sent a chill down Wu Baxian's spine.

He suddenly looked up, staring intently at the calm young man below who held an illusory longsword. The contempt and cruelty that had been burning in his eyes were gone, replaced by endless horror and...fear.

"What...what have you done?!" he roared hoarsely.

Below, whether it was the Empress and her entourage who had been forcibly captured on camera, or the surviving scholars from the academy in the distance, they finally recovered from the shock brought by this Heart Sword.

Although they couldn't understand the mystery of that sword strike, they could clearly see that the once invincible hundred-foot-tall demon god in the sky was now clutching his head, emitting a painful wail.

The terrifying aura emanating from him, the one that seemed to rule the world and dominate everything, quickly weakened like a deflated balloon.

"Success?"

"Chen Ye... he actually managed to hurt this demon!"

Master Yan and the others watched this scene with expressions of ecstatic joy.

Although they didn't know how Chen Ye had done it, that didn't stop them from being excited about this hard-won turn of events.

Empress Wu Zhao and the others stared wide-eyed at the tall figure above them, their hearts churning with turbulent emotions.

This man has created a miracle once again!

Faced with Wu Baxian's questioning filled with shock and anger, Chen Ye simply slowly withdrew his Heart Sword.

He could feel that the sword strike had almost drained all the power of desire that had gathered within him.

This sword of the heart, forged from the desires of all living beings, now seems much more illusory.

However, the results were significant.

Chen Ye looked at Wu Baxian, whose aura was weak and whose soul was injured, in the sky, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

"How does it taste?"

"you!"

Wu Baxian was so enraged by Chen Ye's contemptuous attitude that he trembled all over, and the excruciating pain from the depths of his soul almost drove him mad.

He stared intently at the illusory heart sword in Chen Ye's palm, and a sudden realization flashed in his eyes.

“I understand…I understand!”

He seemed to have figured out something crucial, and suddenly burst into a nervous laugh.

"That's it! That's it!"

"Your sword is neither an energy attack nor a supernatural spell!"

"This is an attack on the conceptual level! This is the manifestation of will!"

"You have gathered the will of all living beings in this world, forging their yearning for existence and their obsession with survival into a sword!"

"That's why it was able to ignore my defenses and directly damage the very essence of my soul!"

Wu Baxian, as expected of an old monster who has lived for countless years, deduced the principle behind Chen Ye's sword strike in just a moment.

But the more he understood, the greater his horror became.

How can we gather the will of all living beings and transform it for our own use?
This is something that sounds simple, but it's incredibly difficult to do.

More importantly, how resilient and powerful must one's own soul and will be to bear such a vast amount of will from all living beings?

He asked himself if he could reincarnate a hundred times and still not do such a thing.

So, who exactly is this young man?!

"You guessed right." Chen Ye didn't deny it; instead, he readily admitted it.

"Unfortunately, there is no reward."

He raised the Heart Sword in his hand once more, and chaotic light began to flow across its illusory blade again.

Although the light was much dimmer than before, the terrifying sharpness that pointed directly to the origin of the soul still made Wu Baxian feel a chill in his heart.

"stop!"

Seeing that Chen Ye was about to draw his sword again, Wu Baxian finally became afraid.

He had no doubt that if he were to be struck by another sword, even if he did not die, his soul and essence would suffer irreversible damage. At that point, let alone immortality, he would probably not even be able to maintain his current level.

"You can't kill me!" he roared, his voice trembling with fear.

"Oh?" Chen Ye raised an eyebrow, stopped what he was doing, and looked at him with interest. "Give me a reason not to kill you."

He didn't really want to let the other party go; he just wanted to see what other tricks this old devil could pull.

At the same time, he was also making the most of his time to recover quietly, striving for a fatal blow.

Seeing Chen Ye stop, Wu Baxian secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he endured the excruciating pain from the depths of his soul and forced a smug smile onto his face. But that smile looked particularly ferocious and terrifying on the twisted face of the demon god.

"Reason?" Wu Baxian gasped for breath, his voice hoarse. "The reason is that I have become one with the million souls of Nanhe County! If you want to kill me, it's the same as annihilating these million souls with your own hands!" He suddenly waved his hand, and the resentment and death aura that had not completely dissipated above the county city surged up again. In the shadows, countless painful and distorted faces floated up and down, emitting silent wails.

"Do you see them? They are me, and I am them!"

Wu Baxian's voice was full of threat.

"Your sword is indeed powerful, capable of severing my soul, but for every bit you cut away from me, their souls will dissipate as well! If you were to completely annihilate me, all the souls in this city would vanish in an instant, without even a chance for reincarnation!"

"So killing me makes you the executioner of a million lives in Nanhe County! Can you bear this sin?!"

For a moment, everyone's heart was in their throat.

"Chen Ye..." Jing Zhaoning couldn't help but speak, her voice hoarse, "Think it over!"

However, Chen Ye's face remained expressionless.

"You seem to have... made a mistake."

"What is it?" Wu Baxian's heart sank, and a strong sense of unease welled up inside him.

Chen Ye gently tossed the Heart Sword in his palm into the air. The illusory, chaotic-colored longsword slowly rotated above his palm, each rotation sending a shiver down Wu Baxian's spine.

"The deaths of these people were caused by you from beginning to end, so this sin is yours, Wu Baxian, and has nothing to do with me."

“Killing you and purifying these millions of vengeful spirits is a great merit for this world.”

"Even if you are guilty, it is your sin alone."

"So now you can set off with peace of mind."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Heart Sword pierced through Wu Baxian's brow without the slightest hesitation!
Wu Baxian's expression froze.

Fear, anger, resentment, bitterness... all eventually turned into a deathly silence of bewilderment.

His towering, hundred-foot-tall demonic body began to crumble inch by inch, transforming into the most primal black demonic energy, dissipating between heaven and earth.

But he did not die immediately.

"Why...?"

Wu Baxian's soul fluctuated violently under the confinement of the Heart Sword, transmitting intermittent thoughts.

He couldn't understand.

That is the karma of millions of lives, a heinous sin that could cause even a saint to lose their Dao heart and fall into the demonic path!

Why is he so indifferent?
unless…….

Unless he simply doesn't care about this world!
A thought flashed through Wu Baxian's crumbling remnant soul like lightning.

He suddenly looked at Chen Ye, "You...you're not from this world!"

Wu Baxian finally figured it out!

He finally understood why Chen Ye's power was so strange, why his will was so firm, and why he could ignore all the causes and rules of this world!

Because Chen Ye, like him, is an existence from outside the world!
Only forces from outside the realm can fight against forces from outside the realm!
Only beings that do not belong to this world could be so indifferent to the cause and effect of this world!

He had calculated everything, from the hearts of the people to the fate of the nation, but he had never anticipated that his opponent would be someone of his own kind!
Moreover, his opponent was stronger and purer than him!
"You bastard, you're from beyond this realm too, aren't you?!"

Wu Baxian's remnant soul let out a hysterical roar, but unfortunately his voice was blocked by layers of barriers and could not be heard at all.

As Chen Ye looked at Wu Baxian, who was about to be completely annihilated under his Heart Sword, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, revealing a playful smile.

"You only realize it now? It's too late!"

"Do not--!"

Wu Ba let out a desperate wail.

He still had many questions. He wanted to know Chen Ye's background, why he was here, and what his ultimate goal was...

But he didn't get his chance.

With a thought, the heart sword that had pierced his demonic soul's essence suddenly erupted with an extremely dazzling chaotic light.

"what--!"

With a scream that abruptly ended, Wu Baxian's demonic soul, which had reincarnated a hundred times and thought it could be eternal, was completely purified and decomposed in the sword light formed from the desires of all living beings, leaving not even a trace.

The once-powerful tyrant was thus annihilated.

At the moment Wu Baxian completely perished, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner appeared out of thin air. Then, the endless resentment and black light that were wrapped around it quickly faded away, turning into an ordinary black banner that drifted down helplessly from the sky.

Within the banner, those imprisoned souls were finally freed.

In an instant, countless translucent figures, some clear and some blurry, flew out from the banner, densely packed and obscuring the entire sky.

They were no longer the pained, twisted, and resentful figures they once were.

Under the baptism of the Heart Sword's all-purifying power, the pain and resentment on their faces disappeared, replaced by liberation and peace.

They bowed deeply to Chen Ye in unison, and then the million souls transformed into a rain of light that danced in the sky, slowly dissipating into the world.

Immediately afterward, the smog dissipated, and sunlight pierced through the rain of light, falling upon this desolate and ravaged county town, bringing a long-lost warmth.

"Win...win?"

"That demon... is he really dead?"

In the distance, Hou En and Qian Yi watched this miraculous scene unfold before them, muttering to themselves, still somewhat incredulous.

The teachers at the academy also looked at the rain of light with complicated expressions, and at the god-like man beneath it.

They felt a sense of relief at surviving the ordeal, and grief at the tragic deaths of their fellow disciples, but even more so, a sense of bewilderment and awe that defied description.

After confirming that the crisis had been averted, the officials who had been forcibly brought in collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, as if they had lost all their strength.

At the same time, a prompt appeared in front of Chen Ye's eyes.

The Ark to the Other Shore has been activated. Shall we return?

(End of this chapter)