Time

Bai Xuanling stood in the vast sky, her expression quite relaxed. She looked leisurely at Chu Xingchen and lightly tapped her finger.

A speck of azure light darted forward.

Boom!

The ultimate sword intent wrought wanton destruction. Following it with one's gaze, for some unknown reason, what was clearly just a mere streak of azure now seemed to dye the entire firmament.

Annihilation, completely silent.

It pierced through layers of the crimson curtain, destroying everything as easily as melting ice and snow.

The Heavenly Demon's expression turned slightly ferocious. Crimson origin power surged out, rushing toward that streak of azure-green like a torrential ocean tide.

Looking back and seeing this scene, Huang Miao's heart instantly settled.

Bai Xuanling, now wielding Qingming, was perhaps a legend among legends.

With a light tap of her foot, Bai Xuanling's figure shifted, appearing right beside Chu Xingchen. She said in an even tone:

"How is it? Pretty impressive, right? Much stronger than Old Man Huang, isn't it?"

Chu Xingchen exhaled heavily:

"It is impressive, but why are you here?"

Bai Xuanling raised an eyebrow slightly: "Remember the token I gave you? I said it was to contact me in emergencies."

Hearing this, Chu Xingchen subconsciously looked at the token fastened to his waist.

Bai Xuanling had given this to him earlier. He hadn't fastened it to his waist with the actual intention of using it, but rather to display it as a deterrent—unless you could defeat Bai Xuanling, you'd better speak to him with the utmost politeness.

Seeing Chu Xingchen's surprised expression, Bai Xuanling's mood improved a bit, and she said rather smugly:

"I know you like to play the hero, kid. You don't actually need to trigger this thing yourself. I set up conditions on it; once they are met, it automatically alerts me."

Chu Xingchen gave a bitter smile:

"Sect Leader Lü didn't stop you?"

"As long as it's something I want to do, no one can stop me."

Bai Xuanling pressed her hand forward. Qingming trembled, and azure spiritual energy pulsed outward, directly cleaving through the crimson origin power.

With another flash of azure light, the sword returned to Bai Xuanling's hand.

Chu Xingchen looked over. At this moment, an azure Dao rhythm flowed across Qingming's surface, and an ultimately sharp sword intent surged, showing that this divine weapon was cheering with joy.

The Qingming that had been obscured by dust on the Hidden Sword Peak in the past was now revealing its true form.

Dressed in a luxurious armored robe, Bai Xuanling wore a faint smile on her lips. She stood casually, gripping Qingming. There was no sign of backlash from the fierce weapon in her eyes; instead, they held a somewhat teasing look as she gazed at the Heavenly Demon who had been forced into the distance.

It was as if she were saying—facing me, are you truly prepared?

Only now did Chu Xingchen come to a sudden realization. Having met a sword master like Bai Xuanling, how could a sword spirit ever easily look up to anyone else?

Facing the radiant and vigorous Bai Xuanling, Chu Xingchen found himself unable to say a word.

Bai Xuanling's arrival was naturally a good thing for him; at the very least, his chances of survival had greatly increased.

But...

How was he supposed to explain himself? And how could he accept such a gift with peace of mind?

Bai Xuanling didn't look at Chu Xingchen. Her tone remained calm as she said:

"Kid, when you reach my state of mind, you no longer act based on what you should do, but rather on what you want to do. I wanted to do this, so I did it. It has nothing to do with you."

"Your pills are very effective, I just didn't want to take them anymore."

Chu Xingchen exhaled heavily. He tightened his grip on Wanban and looked into the distance. At this moment, the five great Heavenly Demons were joining forces, their crimson origin power rising up to blot out the sky.

Through some unknown method, demons with fluctuating cultivation bases and auras were teleporting in from all directions.

By the mountainside.

Massive demonic creatures, resembling both octopuses and vicious beasts, were forcefully leveling mountain peaks with their bodies as they struggled to rush over.

According to intelligence, Bai Xuanling had once spotted these ferocious demonic beasts on the Endless Sea.

To think they even brought these things here.

Just as Xu Linglong had said, perhaps this operation involved staking nearly everything they could prepare.

It hadn't even been that long since the previous battle at the Southern Zhanbu Continent, a battle where they suffered a massive loss, yet they still keenly seized every possible opportunity.

Staking everything, not shrinking back in the slightest.

It truly showed immense boldness.

Sure enough, the demon race's past rampage across the world was due to their own extraordinary qualities.

If they were truly given ample time to develop, they would likely become even more troublesome.

Hearing Bai Xuanling's words beside him, Chu Xingchen suddenly chuckled:

"Why does that sound like your dying words? You're just short of saying you're entrusting Xie Lingyu to me."

"Wasn't she entrusted to you a long time ago?" Bai Xuanling said with a natural expression. "Otherwise, do you think you could just take advantage of my disciple? I would have chopped your head off with a single sword strike."

"Isn't there still Qinghe?"

"I gave Qinghe to Xie Lingyu."

"So you're saying you made all the preparations long ago?"

"A brilliant cultivator like me always plans three steps ahead for every step taken."

After finishing her sentence, Bai Xuanling looked coldly ahead and said:

"Lü Xuan is already coordinating. Reinforcements from the other sects are on their way. Time is on our side. Even factoring in the teleportation arrays, they have at most half a shichen. Any longer, and they will all be left here permanently."

Chu Xingchen exhaled heavily: "You should be able to hold out for half a shichen, right?"

"I can, but they might not."

As Bai Xuanling's words fell, only an afterimage was left in her place.

An azure light flared up. Although it was azure, it somehow felt incredibly scorching.

Chu Xingchen stared directly at Bai Xuanling.

He watched her cold expression as the Qingming sword in her hand seemed to transform into a wisp of azure light. The azure light spread, wantonly unleashing the power of destruction.

Compared to the sky-blotting crimson, that streak of azure was far more exquisite and breathtaking.

Chu Xingchen retracted his gaze, and the Wanban sword in his hand also lit up with a brilliant radiance.

At this moment.

Demons and demonic creatures with fluctuating cultivation bases were already surging toward him.

Right now, the Tribulation Transcendence cultivators were either blocking the Heavenly Demons, or obstructing the Heavenly Demons from joining hands to form the origin sky curtain.

After all, these Tribulation Transcendence cultivators understood one principle best: never let the enemy finish what they intend to do.

Some cultivators could free up their hands to block the demonic creatures, but with the number of demonic creatures clearly exceeding normal limits at this moment, it was naturally impossible to stop them all.

Chu Xingchen raised his sword, and a brilliant, icy-blue light flashed.

Heavenly water flowed across Wanban's blade.

Chu Xingchen tried to keep his figure in the center. The cultivation levels of the demonic creatures spilling over were not considered high to him; after all, those with truly high cultivation bases would be conveniently intercepted by the outer cultivators.

However, there were still Body Integration realm demons and Mahayana realm demons who forcefully pushed their way through relying on their cultivation.

The azure-blue light circulated as droplets of water mist spread out in all directions. Within each droplet, an icy gleam was fully revealed, slaying the surging demons.

Chu Xingchen's gaze swept across the battlefield. The supreme treasure of the Xuanqing Heaven Sect, the Hunyuan Innate Dao-Fixing Dual Qi Pearl, was also displaying its might.

It mobilized the clear and turbid Qi. These demons' cultivation bases had clearly been forcibly elevated by some method; they possessed empty power without the corresponding realm.

They couldn't detect the flow of the clear and turbid Qi at all.

Under normal vision.

The demons charging forward to slaughter suddenly dispersed into blood mist, or seemed to be crushed into paste by heavy weights.

Swath after swath.

Even the slightly troublesome Mahayana realm vicious beasts could be dealt with by Chu Xingchen using his own methods.

But...

The true danger was not these mere cannon fodder.

Rather, it was the Heavenly Demons still lying in ambush, waiting to launch a fatal strike.

Compared to frontal slaughter, it was precisely these individuals possessing pinnacle strength who, once they found the right opportunity...

Would launch the most lethal blow.

Chu Xingchen cast a sidelong glance.

Within Bai Xuanling's azure spiritual energy... a trace of crimson had begun to seep in.

Chu Xingchen knew very well.

Time was not on his side, either.

As long as he wasn't entirely heartless.