World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 495: Clearing the Last Hidden Danger

Inside a cliffside pavilion on the Pure Yang Sword Faction's rear mountain.

The curtains swayed in the light breeze, gently stirring the heart of the jade-like beauty within.

Sitting by the window, Mu Wanxuan looked into the distance. Mist drifted across the endless plains. Fields and towns lay before her eyes, yet they seemed like a world wrapped in a different kind of peace.

She had set a small table in a corner and placed her soul lamp on it. This way, every time she woke from meditation, she would see the lamp first and learn of her junior brother's condition.

Just as Huai Jing had said, she had to prioritize her cultivation. Not a single day could be wasted. The extraterrestrial immortals' intrusion had already proven that Earth's cultivation world could end up in danger at any moment. The sooner she became an immortal, the sooner she'd be strong enough to protect this world and share some of the weight on her junior brother's shoulders.

The powerful enemies she had seen in her dreams made new immortals look like infants, though.

After some time, she sighed softly.

She crossed her legs, combed her long hair, and then wondered what she could do to calm herself down. With her mind always drifting toward Wang Sheng, she naturally found it difficult to concentrate and meditate.

A moment later, she took out her fully charged phone, but she swiftly put it away again. She then took a blank booklet from her storage artifact and set out a brush, ink, paper, and an inkstone. After sitting in thought for a while, she finally wrote a line.

Junior Brother has been gone for three hundred and sixty-six days... I miss him.

Her lovely cheeks flushed. She added a drawing under the words.

o(*////////*)o

o(*////////*)o

Mu Wanxuan smiled faintly and closed her eyes, letting her mind settle in the drifting breeze. Gradually, she entered a calm state of cultivation.

***

A day on Earth was a hundred days in the endless space; a month was eight years.

Wang Sheng left the Buddha statue and stepped into the dark, deep, and silent "forest." He roamed and searched the ancient battlefield, which stretched for tens of millions of li, like a ghost, getting ever closer to Ziyun's Primordial Spirit.

Ziyun seemed to sense danger. Every so often, she would move to a different hideout, preventing her from recovering.

Wang Sheng felt pressured as well. Danger lurked all over the ancient battlefield, forcing him to remain cautious. Moreover, each use of the Rewinding Light Art consumed a great amount of immortal power. He would run out of alchemical pills eventually.

Fortunately, within this region of destroyed celestial bodies, many areas still had remnants of spiritual power and primal qi. Wang Sheng could use them to restore his immortal power.

Immortals of the Heavenly Court once passed through this ancient battlefield to get in and out of the Realm of Exiled Immortals. They also fought two massive battles against their opponents' armies here.

This region used to be a ring of stars similar to an asteroid belt. However, when the two sides' strongest combatants fought, they threw in over ten planets used as troop carrier ships. They also casually drew in other planets and smashed them like bricks. Eventually, all that remained was a gigantic graveyard of celestial bodies.

The Heavenly Court's soldiers and generals clearly fought fiercely. Though the two battles claimed countless lives, their enemies accounted for the majority of the casualties.

From what Wang Sheng had seen, most of the corpses floating in the area were in long robes or short garments. He rarely saw bodies in the standard armor of the Heavenly Court. Few had been stripped of such armor, too.

Neither side had the time to clean the battlefield afterward. Despite all the corpses and ruins scattered all over the area, the immortals of the Heavenly Court moved on to other fronts, while their enemies pursued them closely.

Since then, this place had become a playground for unaffiliated practitioners.

Many unaffiliated practitioners came after hearing rumors. They searched for treasure or anything of value. Many more were killed in the struggle for profit, adding new corpses to the battlefield.

Before long, the dozen or so outlying planets that still had primal qi became well-known "markets" for unaffiliated practitioners. Crowds poured in to hunt for treasure in staggering numbers.

Though this "graveyard" had been around for over a hundred thousand years, Wang Sheng still came across unaffiliated practitioners every month or two, either traveling together or alone. Relying on the Shadowless Shuttle, he'd always pass them without any interaction.

He focused solely on searching for Ziyun's Primordial Spirit. Still, he learned a lot.

For one, most cultivators cared little for the corpses here, but they searched them for strange celestial insects or eggs. According to Yaoyun, celestial insects were quite useful and came in many different species. Most fed on the flesh and spiritual power of immortals, which made them something of a "local specialty" in this place.

Ziyun herself had used three different celestial insects against Wang Sheng. The last one, which she had refined into an avatar that could house her Primordial Spirit, had been extremely valuable.

Cultivators could generally count a trip to this ancient battlefield as profitable if they could find a good-quality celestial insect or two that were actually useful. Finding a nest of eggs or capturing a rare species would be considered a great fortune.

However, even this place couldn't sustain over a hundred thousand years of so many cultivators competing for its countless treasures. Finding an intact one had become a luxury.

It had been so long since this place hit its highest number of concurrent visitors. Most who had survived their treasure hunts had already left.

Many cultivators still lived and trained here, though. With the right skills, they could live fairly well.

Hunting insects had become the primary trade in this region since it offered stable and considerable income. Celestial insects could be traded for Spirit Stones and Immortal Stones, the universal currencies. Aside from insect hunting and treasure seeking, cultivators also foraged for the rare medicinal herbs that could survive in this unusual environment.

In the twenty years he had spent wandering the place, Wang Sheng often saw cultivators fighting each other over a herb or an insect. Ultimately, one of them either died or fled in disgrace.

Some crooked cultivators made a living by killing for treasure here. Everyone exploring the area had to stay on high alert.

As Wang Sheng flew deeper into the ancient battlefield, traces of Ziyun's Primordial Spirit became easier to find. According to his and Yaoyun's calculations, she was likely hiding somewhere nearby.

This region stretched on for thousands of miles. Searching for an insect in such a vast area was no different from looking for a needle in the sea, but Ziyun had broken into Earth and had seen what it was like. They absolutely couldn't let such a major threat recover and escape.

Even if it meant scooping out the sea one ladle at a time, Wang Sheng intended to drain it dry. Besides, he and Yaoyun could use the Rewinding Light Art; they just had to keep following the trail.

Ziyun's Primordial Spirit would never dare show herself in front of other cultivators. For corrupt cultivators, A Primordial Immortal's Primordial Spirit was no more than a rare treasure that could fetch a fine price.

In the twenty-first year of chasing Ziyun, Wang Sheng finally confirmed the general area where she was hiding. However, a stone stele now blocked his Shadowless Shuttle. Two lines of ancient script were carved on it.

Celestial Wind Sect's Restricted Land. Intruders will be killed.

Wang Sheng had seen many steles like this. Most cultivators searching for treasure here detoured the moment they spotted one, and many stayed even further away from them.

Not all of them belonged to the Celestial Wind Sect. Some read "Phoenix Fire," others "Silver Cage," and so on.

These marked areas were territories of the major immortal sects that had settled in the qi-producing planets around the ancient battlefield. They lived off the battlefield and had cordoned off forbidden lands, where powerful beings had fallen, for treasure hunting.

Wang Sheng thought for a bit. The best Ziyun could do now was certainly hide somewhere that a great power had claimed and blocked public access to.

In a slightly heavy tone, Yaoyun gently warned, "Be careful. Many of the corpses of strong cultivators here still give off pressure."

Some of the fallen powerhouses could even be Heavenly Court immortals she once knew.

Wang Sheng sighed quietly. He guided the Shadowless Shuttle around the stele and probed the area within.

His cultivation realm hadn't improved much since he couldn't find the time to comprehend the Dao during his twenty-plus years of chasing Ziyun's Primordial Spirit. However, his Dao Heart had been heavily refined.

This ancient battlefield truly tempered a cultivator's state of mind. When Wang Sheng ascended to immortality on Earth, he believed that cultivation and the search for the Great Dao were ultimately matters of willingness and resolve. But here, he saw very few immortals. Most were small cultivators below the Grand Immortal-Ascension Realm.

Upon reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, many cultivators began risking their lives to catch insects and look for herbs to supply immortals. They often suffered the most casualties, sometimes even dying to the celestial insects they sought.

Ziyun had likely risen from such an environment and cultivated until she was just half a step away from the True Immortal Realm. She counted as one of the ancient battlefield's successful unaffiliated practitioners, except she had forged a venomous nature and believed killing for treasure was perfectly justified. In the end, she paid the price.

Those who killed would be killed. Qing Yanzi had taught Wang Sheng that principle long ago.

Wang Sheng snorted coldly. "Hmph!"

The Shadowless Shuttle stopped abruptly, then turned back toward the stele. He flew over and spotted a narrow gap behind it, inside of which was a tiny beetle.

If not for Yaoyun's reminder, he would have overlooked the stele itself.

He stepped out of the Shadowless Shuttle and lifted Spiritless. With a steady heart, he thrust the sword into the crack, cutting the beetle cleanly in half.

A sweep of immortal light flared. Ziyun emerged within it, her expression twisted with malice as she silently hurled curses at Wang Sheng.

Instead of responding, he just let her rage.

Sword radiance churned, and Ziyun's Primordial Spirit exploded. To Wang Sheng, the amount of Primordial Spirit power scattering through space like fireworks was quite sizable.

He exhaled in relief. After over twenty years, he had finally removed the threat. The hunt had ended.

It didn't make him feel anything but a faint sense of disbelief. Though they had fought fierce and difficult battles, it ultimately took him just one sword strike to finish her.

Finally, his deep fatigue heavily bore down on him.

He had spent over twenty years using the Rewinding Light Art and chasing her from the Moon all the way to the heart of this ancient battlefield.

Wang Sheng breathed in slowly. Just as he was about to turn away, every hair on his body bristled. His Primordial Spirit shuddered, and his spiritual intuition surged in alarm.

Run!