I Have an Omen System-Chapter 42 - 41: Thunder Blood Sword Demon

The moment he saw Qin Xuan, Cao Da jogged over, holding out the Ancient Bronze Long Sword with both hands and reporting his discovery.

"What? Tang Tianhe is dead?" Qin Xuan said, startled.

"Yes. We found Steward Tang’s remains while patrolling nearby. It seems he was killed by a spy from the Blazing Fire Sect." Cao Da was the first customer Qin Xuan had when he opened the Blood Loan Money Shop.

Back then, his loan had been on the verge of default, but the Blood Loan Ghost Child had forcibly transferred it to Qin Xuan, saving his life.

Speaking of which, the kid was ridiculously lucky.

He was average-looking and had no great talent for cultivation, yet he always seemed to stumble into the most unexpected circumstances.

Just a short while ago, while serving as a Blood Disciple for a senior sister from the Inner Sect, he had somehow caught her eye—it was unclear if it was due to the delicious taste of his Spiritual Blood or some other special talent.

With a single casual word, that senior sister paid off all of Cao Da’s loans, allowing him to live comfortably as her kept man.

However, he was quite respectful toward Qin Xuan.

Qin Xuan’s eyes narrowed slightly, the light in them flickering.

Cao Da didn’t know how Tang Tianhe had died, but Qin Xuan knew perfectly well. It was, without a doubt, Zheng Qi’s handiwork.

Qin Xuan asked, "Is this Junior Brother Tang’s Lifebound Longsword?"

Cao Da nodded. "That’s right. As per Sect requirements, we were just about to sink it into the Blood Pool. Does Steward Qin want to take a look?"

This was a tradition in the Blood Demon Sword Sect. Whenever a member fell, their longsword was to be sunk into the Blood Pool Sword Tomb.

"No, thank you. To think even old Tang is gone," Qin Xuan sighed, feigning sorrow.

"I know, Steward Qin. Out of the batch of us who joined together, almost everyone is dead except for Senior Brother Xiao Ran and Junior Brother Zhao..." Cao Da let out a long sigh.

’Hmm... Xiao Ran isn’t dead yet?’

’How is that guy so hard to kill?’

Qin Xuan asked, "Junior Brother Cao, you just mentioned Xiao Ran?"

Cao Da replied, "You haven’t heard, Steward Qin? Xiao Ran snuck into the third floor of the Scripture Pavilion and was discovered by the Sect Leader, who had just come out of seclusion to find some scriptures. Now he’s been cast into the Soul-Devouring Demon Abyss to suffer the ultimate punishment: his soul devoured by a myriad of demons!"

Hearing this, a jolt went through Qin Xuan.

’The Scripture Pavilion?’

’No wonder my Golden Finger warned me not to enter the Scripture Pavilion again... It’s because the Sect Leader himself was going there!’

’But I didn’t go to the third floor of the Scripture Pavilion at all.’

’Could it be that this is just a cover story... Did Xiao Ran also enter that mysterious loft?’

As Qin Xuan puzzled over this, Cao Da continued, "I heard that our Sect Leader came out of seclusion to find a specific text in the Scripture Pavilion. When he couldn’t find it, an investigation revealed that Xiao Ran had secretly taken it."

"Unfortunately, the scoundrel refused to confess, even on pain of death, so the enraged Sect Leader threw him into the Soul-Devouring Demon Abyss."

Qin Xuan gave an awkward smile. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

For some reason, Qin Xuan had a feeling that Xiao Ran was taking the fall for him.

’It probably has nothing to do with me. After all, I only went to the second floor, not the third...’ Qin Xuan thought, feeling a little guilty.

...

After returning, Qin Xuan made a special trip to the Scripture Pavilion.

He wanted to find that forgetful and socially awkward senior sister to ask if the Foundation Establishment-level Bone Shadow Soldiers were ready, and to make good on his promise to visit her often.

However, to Qin Xuan’s surprise, when he found the black book numbered 3,650, the passage seemed to have been sealed.

He could no longer enter that mysterious loft!

"Fuck! It really is because of you, you son of a bitch, Xiao Ran!"

...

「Inside the Soul-Devouring Demon Abyss」

A Yin Wind howled, like thousands of Fierce Ghosts and vengeful spirits wailing in unison. The shrill cries pierced the heavens, enough to make one’s blood run cold.

Chilling streams of Demonic Qi surged from the abyss’s depths, coalescing into a tangible black mist. The mist swirled in mid-air, forming the shapes of twisted, struggling souls of the damned. They flickered in and out of view, looking as if they might break free at any moment and descend upon the mortal world.

"Master, am I really the Son of Destiny, chosen by fate?"

Xiao Ran asked, his eyes lifeless as he began to question his entire existence.

Nether Iron Chains pierced through Xiao Ran’s hands, feet, and shoulder blades, pinning him tightly in the depths of the Demon Abyss.

Legend had it that the Soul-Devouring Demon Abyss was formed from the condensed resentment of the hundreds of millions of souls slain by the disciples of the Blood Demon Sword Sect.

The abyss was as deep as hell and as black as ink, capable of devouring any living creature.

Powerful waves of corrosive energy, like a myriad of frenzied demons, viciously tore at Xiao Ran’s mental defenses. The surging power crashed against his fragile eardrums, causing an excruciating pain that felt as if they would burst.

An intensely dense, dark Evil Qi, like innumerable venomous snakes, bored into his seven orifices. Bright red blood trickled from his nostrils and the corners of his mouth, staining his robes.

"Well... theoretically, yes."

A white, misty soul emerged from the ring-pendant on Xiao Ran’s necklace, coalescing into the form of a white-haired old man.

"But reality has clearly deviated from that. Your luck should not be this abysmal. Just where did things go wrong...?"

Elder Chen’s brow furrowed. He pinched his fingers together in a divination attempt, feeling that something was deeply wrong, yet he was unable to calculate what it was.

"Heh..." Xiao Ran gave a foolish, self-deprecating laugh.

’In all the stories, which Son of Destiny ended up like me?’

Every minute of every second now felt like an eternity in Purgatory. The slightest lapse in concentration, and he would be utterly consumed by the endless darkness.

Aside from that one time he fell into a ravine and found a Crimson Fruit Tree, his fortune had borne no other fruit.

When choosing a Cultivation Technique, that bastard Wang Jian forced him to swallow a Qi Blood Pill, causing him to suffer a cultivation deviation while practicing his Demon Skill.

He went to the Elder Alchemy Room only to be burned beyond recognition. He snuck into the Scripture Pavilion, and despite clearly feeling a scripture calling to him, he turned around and was discovered by the Nascent Soul Sect Master.

After that, it only got worse. He was thrown into the torturous Soul-Devouring Demon Abyss and tormented to the point where death would have been a mercy...

’Thank goodness I actually managed to steal a scripture from the Scripture Pavilion. Otherwise, this all would’ve been for nothing!’

’Whatever. When Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil...’ Xiao Ran tried to console himself.

"Master, can you understand that scripture?" Xiao Ran asked, his face full of hope.

Elder Chen shook his head slightly. "This scripture is more profound than any I have seen before. I can only vaguely make out that it appears to be the work of the Ancient Buddhism Sect."

"However, this script has been lost for tens of thousands of years. Even I won’t be able to decipher it anytime soon."

"Is that so..." Xiao Ran’s eyes dimmed as he sighed in disappointment.

HISS... Apparently, the effort of speaking had aggravated his wounds, and Xiao Ran couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

"By the way, Master," Xiao Ran asked, gritting his teeth against the pain, "I did steal a scripture, but why is that old geezer, the Thunder Blood Demon Monarch, so intent on framing me? Why did he ask if I had entered a mysterious loft?"

"I didn’t know before, but now that I think about it, it must be related to a certain rumor about the Blood Demon Sword Sect."

Xiao Ran asked, "A rumor?"

"Correct." Elder Chen’s gaze was profound. "Rumor has it there is a supreme being within the Blood Demon Sword Sect, one whose power is boundless. A being whose strength surpasses even the Emperor of Daqian, who is backed by the fortune of the dynasty. Every Sect Leader of the Blood Demon Sword Sect must gain this being’s approval before they can officially take charge of the Demon Sect."

"Otherwise, how do you think the Blood Demon Sword Sect has managed to stand firm in Daqian for so long without falling?"

"Could it be... that supreme being is in the Scripture Pavilion?"

Xiao Ran was shocked. "But I swear I never saw it!"

The white-haired old man said, "But as the current Vice Sect Leader of the Blood Demon Sword Sect, Dugu Hong has most likely never seen it either, which is why he’s so desperate..."

Xiao Ran asked, "Master, why do you say that?"

The white-haired old man explained, "Dugu Hong obtained the legacy of the Thunder Blood Sword Demon by killing his own master. This is common knowledge among the upper echelons of the Daqian Dynasty."

"The Blood Demon Sword Sect’s cultivation is fundamentally based on the Lifebound Longsword. If his sword isn’t a Blood Sword passed down from a Demon Venerable and obtained from the Blood Pool Sword Tomb, how could it possibly recognize him as master?"

"I suspect this is the real reason he remains in seclusion all year round!"

Realization dawned on Xiao Ran.

Just then, the strange, surging Demonic Qi within the Demon Abyss suddenly began to roil, and a purple-robed Demon Monarch wreathed in flashing Thunder Arcs abruptly appeared.

Upon seeing this, the misty form of Elder Chen hastily retreated back into the ring-pendant, vanishing as if he had never existed.

"Xiao Ran, have you thought it over? Did you or did you not enter that mysterious loft."

The purple-robed Demon Monarch’s eyes were as deep as an abyss, and an endless sea of blood seemed to churn within them. Upon closer inspection, however, one could see that the Thunder Arcs covering his body were faintly uncontrollable, writhing about him like rampaging snakes of lightning.

Xiao Ran sneered. "Sect Leader, are you that afraid of its existence?"

"You’ve really seen it?" The purple-robed Demon Monarch’s pupils shrank. He seized Xiao Ran by the neck, thunder crackling across his body as his Divine Sense invaded Xiao Ran’s sea of consciousness, threatening to run rampant.

"Did it falsify and tamper with your memories like this...?"

"Tell me, where is it now!"

...