Chapter 1: An Unexpected Turn Part 1

The towering Sangshan Mountain loomed beneath a sky black with clouds.

Gale-force winds rose from the bottom of the sheer cliff, their howls echoing across the summit like the cries of ghosts. The sound alone made one’s blood run cold.

The cultivation world’s greatest experts had gathered at Soul-Severing Cliff on Sangshan. Every one of them watched the man standing at the cliff’s edge, tense and wary. Not a soul dared approach him rashly.

“Devil, you can’t escape!”

“Zhu Sheng, you were the Sword Sect’s First Disciple, yet you let twenty-six innocent villagers die in Chatu Village for your own selfish ends. The heavens will not forgive you!”

“Immortal Lord Ziyuan, have you forgotten? The devil was expelled from the Sword Sect long ago. He’s no longer the illustrious Sword Sect’s First Disciple.”

“The Sword Sect is the greatest sect under heaven, known for its impartiality and righteousness. Even its outer disciples know right from wrong. How could it keep a devil who committed such an atrocity?”

“Exactly…”

The crowd seethed with indignation. Zhu Sheng lowered his eyes and calmly wiped the Budu Sword with a length of snowy-white silk.

Though he stood alone, his expression was utterly indifferent.

It was as if the person they were denouncing wasn’t him at all.

Or perhaps the gathering of so many experts had failed to stir even the slightest ripple in his heart.

For many of the younger disciples, this was their first time seeing Zhu Sheng. Even with tempers running high, they couldn’t help staring.

The Sword Sect’s First Disciple, Immortal Lord Wuyang, had been born to royal splendor, yet had devoted himself to the Dao. Even dressed in the plain, familiar robes of the Sword Sect, he was like a clear moon in the heavens.

Unmatched in grace. Untouchable.

What a pity…

“Devil!”

A furious shout, infused with formidable spiritual power, rang out. An old man with white hair and beard spoke in a grave voice.

“Though you were a promising young talent, if you shatter your own meridians today and offer your blood as atonement for the twenty-six souls of Chatu Village, we will consider the matter settled—for the Sword Sect’s sake.”

The old man was Elder Quegu. His cultivation was exceptionally profound, and he enjoyed great renown throughout the cultivation world. He was one of the leaders of the pursuit.

The crowd reacted in different ways to his words.

A young man stepped forward from among them and clasped his hands around his sword hilt in salute.

“The Sword Sect failed to teach its disciples properly and produced a savage devil like Zhu Sheng. We are deeply ashamed.”

He wore the Sword Sect’s uniform, though the embroidery on his lapels was simpler than Zhu Sheng’s.

The man—the Sword Sect’s Second Senior Brother—spoke clearly and loudly.

“Our Sect Master was so enraged by the news that his spiritual meridians were damaged. He has gone into seclusion. Before doing so, he erased Zhu Sheng’s name from the sect registry and ordered us to cleanse the sect of this stain.”

In other words, the seniors present needn’t show mercy.

The Sword Sect disavowed Zhu Sheng.

The wind howled louder. The Second Senior Brother’s voice wasn’t especially loud, but the spiritual force in it carried his words clearly to everyone present.

Zhu Sheng paused in the middle of wiping his sword and slowly lifted his eyes.

The gale outlined his slender figure, tangling his hair and ribbons in the wind. His gaze passed over the faces of the Sword Sect disciples, one by one.

Some faces matched names he remembered. Others didn’t.

A few of them had recently followed him around, poring over puzzling sword manuals and cultivation techniques, calling him their eldest senior brother with eager eyes.

Now, whether their faces were familiar or not, every one of them looked grim.

Zhu Sheng lowered his gaze again, as if lost in thought.

“The Sword Sect is truly righteous!”

Those who had still harbored reservations felt reassured now that the Sword Sect had made its position clear. They praised the sect for refusing to shelter a devil.

Everyone knew Zhu Sheng was a once-in-a-millennium cultivation genius, the Sect Master’s most prized disciple and the apple of every elder’s eye.

They had all believed that Zhu Sheng would ascend within a hundred years.

No one had expected him to turn devil in a single day and lose all hope of ascending to sainthood.

The Sword Sect was the foremost sect of the age. After exchanging a few polite words, the Second Senior Brother humbly returned their praise.

Pleased by his tact, Elder Quegu stroked his beard and looked at Zhu Sheng.

“Devil, what do you have to say for yourself?”

The wind cut through the cold air. Zhu Sheng seemed to have grown tired of listening. He raised the Budu Sword and pointed it directly at Elder Quegu, expressionless.

“I have nothing to say.”

The Budu Sword’s razor-sharp intent refused the elder’s demand that Zhu Sheng shatter his meridians and atone for his crimes.

“Stubborn to the bitter end!” Elder Quegu roared. He summoned his life-bound artifact and attacked Zhu Sheng.

Elder Quegu had reached the Tribulation Transcendence Realm. The moment his artifact appeared, gravel and sand flew in every direction. Disciples with shallow cultivation were blasted back more than a dozen steps by his domineering spiritual power, their faces pale.

Zhu Sheng stood directly in the path of that overwhelming power, yet his expression didn’t change. The Budu Sword rang out.

The two moved with incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, they’d exchanged more than a dozen blows.

Those with weaker cultivation could see only two streaks of light flashing back and forth. They couldn’t even make out the fighters’ figures, much less follow the battle.

When experts fought, the trees and rocks around them weren’t the only things to suffer. Even those who quickly circulated their spiritual energy to protect their hearts were shaken by the backlash. Several people vomited blood and collapsed.

“How is it? What’s happening?”

“He’s living up to his title as the Sword Sect’s First Disciple! Elder Quegu entered the Tribulation Transcendence Realm four years ago, yet Zhu Sheng hasn’t given an inch!”

“Zhu Sheng can actually stand even with a Tribulation Transcendence expert?”

The path of cultivation stretched on without end. Some people spent their whole lives reaching only core formation; reaching the Nascent Soul Realm within a century was already considered an extraordinary talent.

And between the Nascent Soul Realm and tribulation transcendence stood the Sublimation Realm.

People often said Immortal Lord Wuyang had a natural gift for the Dao, a level of insight and talent that was unmatched anywhere in the cultivation world. But hearing the stories was nothing compared to seeing him for oneself.

Only now did everyone truly understand why Zhu Sheng was hailed as the greatest talent of the millennium, the light of his sect.

Elder Quegu had spent three hundred and seventy-four years cultivating his way to tribulation transcendence.

Zhu Sheng was only twenty-three…

After a long while, someone finally spoke.

“The whole empire has poured its resources into him alone. Who knows how many rare herbs and spirit medicines he’s consumed over the years? Even the most foolish person could be pushed to core formation that way.”

Like a pebble dropped into a still lake, the remark brought another side of Zhu Sheng to everyone’s mind.

He was the emperor’s own son, the Crown Prince.

Many cultivators came from prominent families. Emperors and princes throughout the ages had sought the Dao, worshiped immortals, and searched far and wide for elixirs that might prolong their lives.

But Zhu Sheng was the only one who had cast aside immense wealth and power to devote himself wholeheartedly to cultivation.

So people remembered him as Immortal Lord Wuyang, the Sword Sect’s First Disciple, and forgot that he was also Crown Prince Sheng.

“That’s a fair point.”

“As Crown Prince, Zhu Sheng would naturally have had the empire’s treasures for cultivation at his disposal.”

Everyone felt better.

Zhu Sheng’s cultivation had to be thanks to the support of the vast empire!

One cultivator at the Nascent Soul Realm rebuked them indignantly.

“So what if he was the Crown Prince? That only makes him an accomplice!”

At that very moment, Zhu Sheng swept his sword across. Elder Quegu’s life-bound spirit weapon, raised to defend him, shattered with a sharp crack.

Elder Quegu groaned, spat blood, and plummeted from the sky.

“Elder!”

Someone flew forward on a sword and caught him. The Tribulation Transcendence expert’s face was ashen, and he was unconscious from his injuries.

A Tribulation Transcendence expert… had lost!

And he had lost to Zhu Sheng, who was only twenty-three!

“Zhu Sheng!” someone cried, glaring furiously at him. “Elder Quegu was your senior. How could you attack him so viciously?”

“How heartless can you be?”

“We must eliminate him, or he’ll become a threat to us all!”

Zhu Sheng faced their accusations with the calm of someone commenting on the weather.

“He tried to kill me. Why shouldn’t I kill him?”

Immortal Lord Ziyuan spoke angrily. “You brought this on yourself with your many evil deeds!”

Zhu Sheng raised his eyes to him. “Did you see me commit these crimes yourself?”

Immortal Lord Ziyuan snapped, “You’re twisting words!”

There was no point in arguing. Zhu Sheng looked away.

His unruffled attitude left the crowd fuming, but Elder Quegu’s serious injuries hadn’t even left a mark on Zhu Sheng. It was clear just how formidable he was.

Several days had passed since the tragedy in Chatu Village. The pursuers had received word that the Devil Zhu Sheng would be coming to Sangshan today, so dozens of top experts had ambushed him ahead of time. That was how they’d managed to corner him at the edge of Soul-Severing Cliff.

Victory had seemed close, but now no one dared step forward to face the devil.

The terrain around Soul-Severing Cliff was steep and treacherous, with little room for a large-scale fight.

After witnessing Elder Quegu’s defeat, no one present dared claim they could cut the devil down single-handedly.

This pursuit, though the attackers vastly outnumbered their target, had ground to a tense stalemate.

They feared Zhu Sheng and didn’t want to become the next Elder Quegu. But they were unwilling to give up now.

The fight to the death had only partly been about ridding the world of devils.

The various sects had gathered for the Dao, for fame, and for profit.

Some hoped to make a name for themselves by helping defeat the devil. Others coveted the rare treasures on their opponents.

Among those treasures was Zhu Sheng’s life-bound spirit sword, the Budu Sword, ranked first on the Famous Swords list.

Everyone had seen its power. Their eyes lingered on Budu with naked greed.

“Zhu Sheng!” The Sword Sect’s Second Senior Brother broke the stalemate. “Even if we have to raze Sangshan to the ground, even if it costs us our lives, we’ll stop you from terrorizing the world!”

After the Second Senior Brother declared his position, the other disciples hesitated, but in the end they drew their swords.

The hand gripping Budu shifted slightly.

The Second Senior Brother struck first, his blade flashing toward Zhu Sheng. In the blink of an eye, it was in front of him.