The fiend had usurped Lu Jin's lifearc and modified it for its own use. The bodies of the fiend followers that An Jing had killed began to twitch at the fiend's call as if they were about to awaken.

If the whole of Keensight had gotten sacrificed, a peak Clearing Realm fiend that could soon break through to reach the Void Divine Treasures Realm would send near a million dead souls toward the northwestern border. That would surely count as a minor fiend calamity of some sort, even if it paled in comparison to the Hanhai Fiend Calamity.

"Hahahahaha! You've awakened the embryo of the esteemed lord! The plan might have failed, but you'll die all the same!" Lu Jin's soul cried, together with the rest of them. His soul seemed larger than the rest. He even hovered next to the deathtame fiend who formed him into a sword.

The fiend followers who had just experienced their own deaths laughed and mocked away. "Foolish brat of the Heavenly Demon Cult, you might've saved the city, but who will come to save you? This place has become the esteemed lord's arcane domain! It is completely sealed off from the outside! Nobody can help you now! Being able to die with a genius of your caliber is the greatest joy I've experienced!"

The deathtame fiend waved its sword, unleashing a lightning-fast slash that contained dense, deathly fiend qi. The slash quickly covered fifty zhang of distance and closed in on the unmoving An Jing.

"Oh?" He looked up fearlessly with a swordstaff of blood in his hand that had appeared without anyone noticing. "So, nobody will come to my aid, huh? In other words, nobody will be here to witness what happens next."

"Umm..." Lu Jin's soul shuddered. He watched as the domineering air around An Jing rose rapidly and felt a hint of fear. He had underestimated the youth far too much. How many trump cards did he still have hidden when he was fighting me?! Actually, it wasn't much, just a single lifearc. An incomplete celestial arc.

With a swing of the swordstaff, he conjured some blood lethal qi that easily scattered the incoming sword qi. Then, a crimson celestial body that constantly dripped with fresh blood and a much less eyecatching platinum celestial body appeared behind his head. He stood amidst a sword formation of blood lethal qi. "Very good."

A magma-like power spread through his veins to his whole body. Good. Very nice. My blood feels like it's boiling. Let's see whether I can slay a heavenly fiend today!

Lu Jin's soul was still marveling at the twin celestial bodies and wondered at the possibility of this being a divine arc as An Jing stomped hard on the ground, causing snow to burst into the air and planting a crater where his foot landed. The next instant, he launched himself into the air with Armorpierce Impetus and Profoundstep combined, shooting toward the fiend like an arrow.

He wasn't using his sword case, explosives, defensive mantle or other artifacts. His greatest strength lay in his martial skill—his sword! Blood lethal qi surged in his swordstaff, increasing its weight by hundreds of jin in an instant. The momentum of the heavy weapon coupled with his immense strength made it seem as if he could cut off the head of the deathtame fiend easily.

The fiend attempted to raise its sword to parry the attack, only for An Jing's sword staff to rapidly change direction to circle around the sword; it was as if its weight changed to a fraction of nothing, violating all inertial laws as it pierced into the fiend's shoulder.

Fiend qi came bursting out as the aberration backed away haggardly. An Jing pressed on, increasing the weight of the swordstaff's blade once more and cutting through all of the fiend's defenses, severing its sword-wielding arm. Such was the power of Embodied Arsenal, which allowed him to add or remove weight to his ability-weapon at will. A martialist of the same level wouldn't be able to do anything against it, let alone a fiend.

The deathtame fiend seemed to lack any sign of sentience. It should've been born after absorbing the souls of Keensight's citizens. What ended up manifesting was a hollow shell. The combat techniques and tactics it employed had been adapted from Lu Jin to begin with.

As far as An Jing was concerned, Lu Jin was marginally better than the instructors of Direlife Manor, but not by much. It was already commendable that he managed to hold up against An Jing for quite a while. Even then, Lu Jin was a bare-handed fighter, but the heavenly fiend wanted to use swords. The gap that resulted from their incompatibility was something a much more skilled fighter could exploit!

However, An Jing misunderstood what the had fiend intended to do. The fiend's sword and arm had fallen to the ground, but its eyes suddenly pulsed with sentience right before its defeat. "So... it's you! Arcane domain... Ceremonialize."

The arm that fell to the ground made a hand sigil before disintegrating as if signalling something to come. Then, fiend qi poured out explosively, much to An Jing's shock! Something's not right!

Grand Chen's authorities had retaken one of the three occupied terrestrial-vein nodes, but the two remaining ones began to glow dark purple. The massive amount of energy from the terrestrial veins poured toward the arcane domain with such force that the ground where it passed through cracked and popped unevenly, causing many stores to collapse. Countless cries of terror rang out across the city.

Darn! That fiend sword wasn't actually a weapon! An Jing finally knew why the deathtame fiend wanted to use a sword. It wasn't meant for fighting; it was a ritual sword! The reason the fiend had remained in place after its birth was that it was trying to guide the corrupted terrestrial-vein energy to unleash an ability to kill An Jing!

Let's see who kills who first! He used ten streams of Evenstar lethal qi and his Imperial Sky and Earth Arts to muster his power. His enemy had gone all out, so he had to too! The sword he had dreamed of appeared in his mind's eye. It was a sword that had cut through nine fiendish firmaments and parted the universe and all landmasses. The dream he had witnessed almost seemed real. The time and place of the dream overlaid upon reality as he drew the sword of his mind from its mental scabbard to slay the heavenly fiend!

With a loud hum, the swordstaff in An Jing's hand projected a blade of lethal qi that was longer than six chi, enhanced by Yvelbane's sword intent to form a brilliant blade of crimson light. He slashed it down toward the deathtame fiend that was laughing for no apparent reason.

Blood lethal qi flashed and everything seemed to quiet down. The glowing sword projection that seemed almost corporeal stretched out. Lightning-like fractures began to spread in the air, leaving a burnt smell around them.

The fiend made no action to resist it. Even if it did, it would be pointless. Its body was cleaved into two halves! The fiend wouldn't die that quickly, nor would its fiend qi scatter. However, An Jing could sense that the immense terrestrial-vein power was about to flood toward him while he was still trapped within the dark-purple arcane domain. There was no escape for him!

"Run! Go to Skysource! The arcane domain can stop you, but it can't stop my Grandvoid Pathway!" Yvelbane yelled.

"I have no choice!" Even though this might expose the Grandvoid Pathway to the heavenly fiend, he would die from the terrestrial vein's power or the self-destruction of the arcane domain if he didn't use it. There was no need to weigh the cost and benefit of the decision. Right as he was just about to summon Yvelbane's hilt and open the Grandvoid Pathway, something unexpected happened.

"If you really need help, say so! Did you plan to wipe them out on your own?!" You Ruhui said through the piece of burning jade in An Jing's arm. "If I hadn't sensed the heavenly fiend's presence, I wouldn't have noticed the overactive terrestrial veins! Don't worry, I'll fix them!"

Not long after the princess's message, the rampaging terrestrial-vein energy subsided gradually like a bawling child who calmed to a sniffle in a mother's embrace before falling into a peaceful slumber. Both An Jing and the heavenly fiend were stunned as they witnessed the violent energy deep down in the terrestrial veins return to complete tranquility.

"To think that she had this kind of power," An Jing mumbled, before snapping out of it. Damn it! I might've managed to not reveal the Grandvoid Pathway, but You Ruhui blew her cover!

The dying heavenly fiend also noticed that fact. "To think... you two were connected..."

Its eyes turned dark gold as it gave An Jing one last, deep look before it scattered into dark-purple ghostflares that were surrounded by a ring of light, looking like a lifearc totem.

***

Somewhere in the distance, You Ruhui slumped weakly into the arms of Madam Huai. "Who the heck is he?! He really uprooted a base of the True Fiend Cult and killed a heavenly fiend! I think the only ones who can match up to him at that age are my big brothers and sisters... It's no wonder our lord father said that we should never look down on the common masses... But why did he die? He never looked down on them either... Why?"

"Sleep, child," Madam Huai said, cradling the fatigued girl whose mind was wandering. "You've done all you could. Now, rest. Rest well."