Chapter 55: Shattering Life and Death

  The demon city was enormous, like an ancient mountain, covering a hundred miles around.

  In the ancient demon city, all the fairy pavilions were stained with blood color. The two Qitian walked in a corner of the North City, and a strong fragrance came from each fairy pavilion.

  On the stone path of the Demon City, Daoists and ordinary people mixed together, as if they had already become accustomed to it. Moreover, many Daoists were tasting dishes at the stalls of ordinary people, chatting incessantly in their mouths.

  "Damn it, these immortal mountains are too expensive! A bowl of hundred-year-old ginseng stew actually costs ten pieces of low-grade spirit stones, which is enough for me to buy three plants. It's just that the flavor, I couldn't forget!"

  "For crying out loud, don't mention it, my mouth is watering just thinking about those sacred peaks. They're not a place that us scattered cultivators can go to, you see, even the disciples of the three major sects rarely venture up there. They can't afford the cost either."

  Qitian was somewhat speechless, these scattered cultivators were like ordinary people in the market, their words had no restraint, but the unbridled and uninhibited nature of them made him unable to feel any disgust.

  As they walked through the Demon City, Qitian and his companion encountered several disciples of the Qingyun Sect. However, when they met face to face, they did not speak, merely brushing past each other like strangers.

  "It seems they have all entered the underground demon prison."

  Qitian nodded and said, "In the underground demon prison, hunting down the demon head can absorb its scattered consciousness to strengthen the sword's consciousness. If the sword's consciousness is strengthened, it will also be more sensitive to the heavenly way, which will help in breaking through the boundary."

  "Not bad, Master said that ordinary demon heads, even big demon heads can't do anything to us. Only when we encounter Asura do we need to be careful. Although Jiufeng Xiaobi is determined by hunting and killing demon heads, it's also a great opportunity. As long as you don't die, hunting enough demon heads will bring significant improvement in half a year."

  The Demon Castle suppresses the Demon Prison, and the entrance to the Demon Prison is in the central land of the Demon Castle. A huge blood gate is imprinted on the ground, with a crystal-like transparency and flowing red divine light. There are waves of bloody air surging out, but they are blocked by an invisible force and cannot spread out.

  Two people arrived at the Blood Gate, and there weren't many Daoists in front of it. Some ordinary people had set up wine stalls, with jars of strong liquor displayed. Many Daoists who had just walked out of the Blood Gate were covered in evil energy. They came to the wine stall, threw down a piece of low-grade spirit stone, and then grabbed a jar of strong liquor and started drinking heavily.

  After drinking a lot of liquor, the evil spirits on their bodies dissipated slightly, and then they grabbed another wine jar and left.

  His gaze was slightly solemn, and it seemed that the slaughter in the underground demon prison would exceed his expectations.

  "Once you enter the demonic gate, life and death are no longer under your control! Those who come out, those who can't come out, all have lost something."

  An ordinary old man squatted beside the wine shed, holding an old tobacco pipe and taking a puff from time to time. His eyes were somewhat dull, but seemed to have seen through all the vicissitudes of life. He gazed at the Taoists coming and going through the Blood Gate, occasionally sighing and muttering to himself. Some scattered cultivators heard his words and began to hesitate, feeling that there was great danger ahead, and they might never be able to come out again.

  Here, Qitian and the others saw some disciples of the three sects. They were majestic and powerful, divided into group after group, their eyes fixed straight ahead as they directly entered the Blood Gate.

  "A newborn calf usually needs to see a tiger once to know fear."

  The old man shook out the ashes from his tobacco pouch and refilled it with a new packet, lighting it on the warm wine stove.

  The two of them walked to the side of the wine shed, and the old man looked up at him with a glance. He didn't show the usual respect that ordinary people would have when seeing a Taoist, nor did he show any fear. He just squatted there, puffing on his old pipe one mouthful at a time.

  Yun Fei threw down a piece of Ling Stone and took two jars of wine from his partner's hand, handing one to Qi Tian.

  "Sir, how old are you this year?"

  The old man looked up at Qitian, shook his head and said: "I've been squatting here for 50 years, this is the first time a Taoist has asked me my age. Hehe, I'm 85 years old this year, not many years left, can live one day is one day, unlike you immortals who ask about the Tao to seek longevity, living much longer than us ordinary people."

  The old man paused, then continued: "Looking at your Taoist robes, I'm afraid you're also disciples of the Three Great Immortal Sects. Young people, it's better to be more steady, the Demon Prison is different from our human world, if something is gone, it's really gone. Those demon heads won't talk about reason, they only know how to eat, eat blood, eat human flesh, and are beasts that don't spit out bones."

  "Old man knows a lot."

  The old man shook off the cigarette ash, furrowed his brow and said: "I've seen it for decades, many people go in, many come out, every day there are people coming to collect bodies, but most of them can't even get back a single bone, they all rot inside or end up in the belly of some demon."

  The old man looked at Qitian deeply and said in a low voice, "Young people, the old undead have seen you with some human air, reminding you that this half month is best not to enter the third layer of the Devil's Prison. The old undead has seen dozens of years, and this half month, the most deaths are on the third floor."

  "The third floor!" Zitian's heart skipped a beat, and he nodded his head, "Thank you, old man."

  The old man shook his head and said, "I'm not dead yet, but I've lived long enough to see you two young people grow up. At my age, I've seen everything I need to see, eaten all I need to eat, done what I needed to do, made the right choices, avoided the wrong ones, and now this life is just about over. Today, I've said so much to you two, it's time for me to go back."

  The old man got up, his body hunched over, one hand behind his back and the other holding a tobacco pouch, slowly walking towards an alleyway, without looking back at Qitian and the others.

  Taking a deep breath, Yun Fei said: "Is this the state of breaking through life and death?"

  Qitian also had an epiphany, in the dan tian and qi hai, the sword fetus hummed and whirred, as if a sharp edge was about to burst out. The golden thread that had been dormant in the sword fetus was now slightly stirring, causing Qitian's entire sword body to feel a bit feverish. His life energy was surging through his blood vessels, every inch of his muscles and bones almost bursting with sharp energy.

  In an instant, the two walked up to the Blood Gate, and under their feet, the blood gate's bloody thorns rotated. A surge of bloody energy suddenly enveloped the two, and they vanished into thin air.

  When the two opened their eyes again, they found themselves in a blood-red valley.

  Woooo...

  There is a gloomy wind howling, cold air pressing down on people. In this instant, it's as if it were the depths of winter. With one breath, even the air condenses into tiny ice particles falling to the ground.

  The valley is not large, about ten miles in circumference, with many Taoists gathered inside. The valley walls are over a thousand feet high, piercing into the crimson sky, with three black characters branded on top.

  Demon Valley!

  As soon as they saw these three words, both Qi Tian and his companion were shocked, revealing an expression of incredulity.

  From these three ancient-looking characters, they actually sensed a clear and sharp aura.

  Not bad, it's the aura of sharpness, this aura of sharpness is too refined. As soon as they entered the Devil-suppressing Valley, they stirred up the sharpness all over their bodies, as if it was going to be sucked out.

  "This is the edge of the ancient sword path!" Qitian said in a deep voice, "I didn't expect that this Town Demon Valley was actually built by an ancient swordsman."

  Yun Fei sensed it for a moment, and sighed: "Yes, every inch of the valley wall here, I can sense a hint of sword rhyme, even after countless years, it has not completely dissipated. It's hard to imagine what kind of astonishing sharpness this Demon-suppressing Valley had when it was first established."

  Then, the two of them looked around and found that apart from nearly half of the scattered cultivators, they were disciples of their three major underworld sects. Almost everyone had a layer of killing aura surrounding their bodies, with bright eyes shining with divine light. Some even had killing aura condensing into substance, their Dao awareness overflowing, and the aura they emitted made Qi Tian shocked, almost on par with his own.

  In the Demon Valley, there wasn't a single demon head. Some Taoists sat cross-legged, absorbing spiritual stones to recover their Taoist powers. Others placed some Taoist materials, spiritual stones or spiritual pills in front of them, clearly intending to exchange them. Many Taoists lingered around, exchanging for what they wanted.

  Qitian looked out towards the outside of Town Demon Valley, the sky outside was a deep crimson, as if it was about to rain blood. Demonic shadows flashed by, and demonic sounds that could confuse one's mind were transmitted over.

  Behind him, the Purple Bamboo Sword almost leapt out of its scabbard. Qitian barely suppressed the turbulent aura of his sword and said in a deep voice, "Enter the first layer and hunt down the Demon Head!" (Please vote for recommendation for every book friend who has collected the Sword Ancestor. During the new book period, we need everyone's support. If you haven't collected it, please collect it now. I'll return with ten more updates!)