Cohabitation with Sword Spirit

Chapter 513 - 14: Hatred

Concerning the life and death of the Demon Emperor, Wang Jiu originally did not feel so uncertain.

Because even if the previous conclusion was inferred from indirect evidence, after all, indirect evidence also holds weight.

But now, revisiting the old battlefield and reflecting on the details of the battle back then, Wang Jiu found it increasingly difficult to believe his own conclusions.

Did the Great Demon God Emperor really die?

Is it possible that they were both severely injured and, like himself, fell into a deep sleep?

Although the Demon-Pointing Sword’s scan of Xiangzhou showed that the Demon Race had been exterminated, perhaps it was just because the Demon Emperor’s sleeping place wasn’t in Xiangzhou? Or perhaps over the long years, he changed his form of life, rendering the scan ineffective against him?

This isn’t impossible either. During the decisive battle, when the Demon Emperor used the Nine Forms Demon-Defying Sword, the Celestial Divine Sword’s early warning system did not give a timely alert at all. That sword completely erased the Demon Race’s aura, as if wielded by a completely different creature, so much so that the Celestial Divine Sword couldn’t react.

Thinking of this, especially in connection with the slight reaction the Demon-Pointing Sword had to the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect not long ago, Wang Jiu felt even stronger doubt about the life and death of the Demon Emperor.

"Senior, come quickly, I found something important!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Jiu saw the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect standing at the edge of a high platform, beckoning urgently yet seriously.

"I found the whereabouts of the First Generation Sect Leader!"

Wang Jiu flew forward, following the direction the Sect Leader pointed, and indeed saw, outside the high platform, on a dark golden fragment floating in the chaos, a vaguely visible row of footprints.

The Sect Leader said, "Since crossing the Broken Immortal Wall, I’ve had a faint feeling that something familiar was here, but I could never pinpoint it... Just now, I tried scanning the area again with my Primordial Spirit, and finally found a barely traceable aura of the Saint Sect in the chaos outside the platform."

Wang Jiu looked at the row of footprints and asked, "How can you be sure it was left by the First Generation Sect Leader?"

"Because it’s the only possibility!" the Sect Leader said excitedly. "This Relic Number One, which is the Golden Cloud Peak Relic, has been under the Saint Sect’s management since the First Generation Sect Leader first discovered the entrance to it. Every entry and exit has strict records. And to this day, no record has ever shown anyone reaching this place, except during the First Generation Sect Leader’s last farewell at the end of his life."

Wang Jiu pondered for a while and admitted that this hypothesis was reliable.

Given the intensity of the Immortal Demon War, no survivors were likely in the core battlefield, and any footprints left on the Golden Cloud Peak high platform would only have been left by those who came afterward. Since the Saint Sect manages all subsequent exploration, the Sect Leader’s judgment carries the highest authority.

"With the First Generation Sect Leader’s power, could he have reached this place?"

The Sect Leader said, "If it’s along the path we’ve taken here... it probably wouldn’t have been feasible. Records show that although the first sect leaders were of remarkable talent and vision far above their contemporaries, they did not surpass the limits of their time. Their True Essence Realm, even by today’s standards, was quite weak. Just enduring the outer chaos tides of Relic Number One would have been very difficult. However, the outer layer of this relic is highly unstable, and it’s not impossible that a safe passage existed... It just so happened that during their last exploration, the two sect leaders found that passage. Moreover, records indicate that they possessed a significant number of Primordial Relics at that time, and perhaps it was with the protection afforded by those relics that they managed their journey."

This explanation was also reasonable. From Wang Jiu’s perspective, the area surrounding that dark golden fragment had a highly unstable spatial structure, suggesting risk, but also indicating that a shortcut might have existed here two thousand years ago.

But no matter how reasonable the explanation, it couldn’t dispel Wang Jiu’s current doubts about the First Generation Sect Leader.

Because when he saw the footprints, the Demon-Pointing Sword began to tremble again.

"Let’s follow and see."

"Okay, senior, stay close to me."

As the Sect Leader spoke, he once again reached forward, sweeping chaos outside the platform away to reveal a straight path.

Yet the journey took a long time. The dark golden fragment seemed only a few hundred meters away when viewed from the platform, but the space in the Chaos Ruins often twisted. The Sect Leader and Wang Jiu traveled for half an hour along the opened path, covering a straight-line distance of more than a thousand miles before finally reaching the dark golden fragment.

And the moment the Sect Leader stepped onto the dark golden fragment, he felt the surrounding space expand suddenly, and the ground beneath his feet instantly widened a hundredfold. It appeared as a mere foothold from afar, but in reality, it was an expansive space spanning several kilometers.

The dark gold color set the tone for this space, but it was not a monotonous plain like the Golden Cloud Peak. Instead, it was a landscape of undulating mountains and winding paths, with remnants of broken palaces visible at the edges.

Wang Jiu took just one look and recognized the place.

"War God Hall."

In the Jiuzhou Era, there exists a grand hall with a history of over five thousand years, housing relics from countless cultivators with legendary martial accomplishments. It was moved to the Golden Cloud Peak after its construction. During the Immortal Demon War, the War God Hall became a specimen exhibition for the Demon Race. Human beings displayed demon cadavers seized during the war to boost morale, and after the Celestial Divine Sword joined the battle, the War God Hall was expanded several times. Now, however, that once-mountain-like great hall is nothing but a fragmented remnant.

"Senior, the footprints lead right towards the ruin of the hall," the Sect Leader said as he flew ahead, regardless of any traps or mechanisms that might appear on the way.

To the people of the Saint Sect, the legendary stories of the First Generation Sect Leader have permeated them since their first steps into the sect. The two of them were hailed as the light of civilization during the Dark Era, guiding the survivors out of shelters to establish a new civilization on earth. Their fairness and farsightedness repeatedly astounded later generations, embodying legendary time-travelers.

Indeed, they were mysterious like time travelers. First of all, their origins were unknown, as if they appeared out of thin air. Their whereabouts at death were also a mystery; people only knew that their last sighting was at the entrance leading to Site One. Over the two thousand years since, the Saint Sect has conducted countless explorations of the ruins, partly aiming to locate the bodies of the First Generation Sect Leader, but even after two millennia, no one has found them. Even within the Saint Sect, the time traveller theory became popular, suggesting that the two leaders might have traveled from a far-future or far-past era to help humanity through a historical crisis, departing back to their rightful era once their mission was complete...

Now it seems the time traveler theory doesn’t hold, as the current Sect Leader has found the last footprints of the First Generation Sect Leader in the Primordial Ruins.

"Senior, I’ve found it!"

A moment later, the excited voice of the Sect Leader came from the ruins of the palace.

Wang Jiu flew over, deep in thought.

The location of the palace ruins was near the edge of the entire space, with the main part of the War God Hall lost in chaos. The surviving part was merely a side hall once used to display middle-level demon specimens, and the only part well-preserved was a single exhibition room.

The Sect Leader of the Saint Sect stood in the center of the exhibition room, in front of two piles of ash on the ground.

"Senior, here!"

Before he could speak, Wang Jiu had already approached and stood next to the piles of ash, activating the Demon-Pointing Sword once more.

These two piles of ash should be the remains left by the First Generation Sect Leader. The traces of the Saint Sect’s cultivation technique lingered for millennia, but the remains themselves appeared peculiar.

These were not regular cremation ashes but the result of a powerful compressive force grinding the body into fine powder and then leaving only residue post-filtration. By human societal norms, this treatment was more brutal than ground bones scattered to the wind. One wonders how pervasive their self-loathing must have been to choose such a self-destruction.

But the feelings of the First Generation Sect Leader no longer fell within the Celestial Divine Sword’s consideration. Once the Demon-Pointing Sword was activated, all questions should have been clarified.

The Sword Spirit observed the changes in the Demon-Pointing Sword earnestly. For the two remains so close by, the changes in the Demon-Pointing Sword were minimal.

This minimal change indicated that the remains themselves harbored no demon elements, although there were some causal ties with the Demon Race, open to many interpretations. Unfortunately, given the current level of the Demon-Pointing Sword, such details could not be discerned. Judging only by association strength, these two remains might have accidentally unearthed a demon relic, but nothing forming strong connections.

On the other hand, living on a Xiangzhou Continent where demons are long extinct yet having links to them is inherently strange...

While contemplating, the Sect Leader’s voice came from the side.

"This is... the final remains of the First Generation Sect Leader, along with lingering resentment."

The Sect Leader sighed, disrupting Wang Jiu’s thoughts and redirecting his attention beyond the Sword World.

Not far from the remains of the First Generation Sect Leader, there were two almost identical blood-smeared characters on the exhibition room wall.

Hate.

Even after thousands of years, even made hastily with blood, even though Wang Jiu knew nothing of calligraphy, it was clear these two characters were infused with genuine anger and regret.

More regret than anger. The character ’hate’ inherently encompasses regret, deeply manifest in these two blood characters.

The two First Generation Sect Leaders approached the War God Hall at the end of their lives, leaving behind a visceral hatred... For what?

"Probably, they witnessed the relics of the Immortal Demon War and were furious at the misfortunes of human civilization," the Sect Leader said. "Just looking at these demon bodies makes even someone like me, who didn’t experience the disaster, naturally feel anger."

Wang Jiu also looked at the demon specimens on the wall.

As this was a side hall, no high-tier demon corpses were displayed, but the exhibition hall’s items were still distinctive.

Among the demon species, the most cowardly and timid type, the auxiliary soldier, the painted demon.