Chapter 314: Boundless Merit
All the guests in the hall felt like they were sitting on pins and needles. They were terrified. When Qin Yun said "Not one of you in this hall shall leave," many demons felt faint.
They were doomed!
They were truly doomed.
There was even a demon present that went limp in the legs. He fell from his seat to the ground, flipping over the surrounding alcohol flasks and cups. His utensils crashed to the ground but no one dared mocked the unfortunate demon. They felt too much like him to make a joke of it.
"Sword Immortal Qin, spare me!"
"These human fruits... no! Human infants. These human infants have nothing to do with us. Icedragon had his lesser demons kidnap them."
"It was all done by Palatial Lord Icedragon. It has nothing to do with us."
The demons shouted one after another.
While refuting and pleading, they secretly and fervently sent out messages for help.
"Master, save me! Save me! The human sword immortal, Qin Yun has managed to capture Consort Snake, Patriarch Crocdragon, Valley Lord Fountainjade, and Patriarch Wolf Mountain! He wants to kill us now. I’m in the North Sea’s Icedragon Palace!"
"Patriarch, save me..."
"It’s Qin Yun! The human Qin Yun is in the North Sea’s Icedragon Palace..."
All of them sent out frantic calls for help.
For them to be able to cultivate to their respective realms, they naturally had a faction backing them. Some were even from the Nine Lineage Fiendish Demons. There were others who were minions of particular Essence Soul realm fiendish demons of the Water race.
As they frantically sought help, the news rapidly spread.
Qin Yun thought nothing of it. He deliberately appeared in the middle of this feast instead of secretly capturing Palatial Lord Icedragon because he wanted to expose himself! He wanted to make it known to all! When spread, the news of him slaying five Paramount realm great fiendish demons would cause shock and awe!
"There is not a single good demon in this hall of demons." Qin Yun swept the area with his gaze. He compared them one by one to the intelligence gathered by the Inspector Heavenly Alliance. He could not help but scoff. "It’s true that one is marked by the company they keep. None of those that have a close relationship with the ice dragon are good."
"Sword Immortal Qin, is there no room for negotiation?" Icedragon said in a sullen voice. He was a Paramount realm fiendish demon, after all. They were right in the middle of his lair and he had yet to activate his array formation. He naturally wasn’t willing to die without putting up a fight.
As for the four fiendish demons that were bound by Qin Yun’s rope-like Dharma treasure, they looked at him coldly.
The four of them were already wallowing in despair.
At the same time, they knew how terrifying Qin Yun was. They knew how things were about to go for Icedragon. Resistance was futile.
"Escape!" Icedragon suddenly moved.
All the demons in the hall moved at the same time.
They scattered in every possible direction.
"No matter how powerful Qin Yun is, he’s only a sword immortal. There are so many demons here. He will take a while to kill us one by one. While he’s busy slaying, some of us will be able to escape."
"Everyone, flee separately. He can only kill half of us at best. Perhaps we might have a chance of living."
The demons held such hopes.
Icedragon was powering the array formation with all his might as he fled crazily.
"What a joke."
Qin Yun simply stood in his spot as his Dao domain instantly destroyed the Icedragon Palace’s array formation.
At the same time, whistling sounds were heard as large amounts of Sword Qi flew out from Qin Yun’s body. Wisps flew out in every direction, and each wisp of Sword Qi was extremely sharp. They easily penetrated the demons’ bodies. A wisp of Sword Qi would even form a curved trajectory that killed seven or eight demons successively. As they died, the demons could only look on, horrified. "He released so much Sword Qi, yet he is able to easily kill all of us?"
It happened in nearly an instant.
All the Connate realm demons in the hall died. Even Icedragon, who was trying to escape, lost his life after being penetrated by a wisp of Sword Qi.
Icedragon widened his eyes and found it unbelievable up to the moment of his death. "What? He did not even use his Dharma treasure. A mere wisp of Sword Qi is enough to kill me?"
It was considered normal for a sword immortal that had stepped into the Dao to kill other Connate realm demons with a wisp of Sword Qi.
However, it was terrifying to kill a Paramount realm great fiendish demon with a wisp of Sword Qi.
"Run!" When the shout to flee was made, the Water race female attendants ran in panic. However, when they fled the hall in a fluster, they turned to realize that all the high and mighty great demons that had the power to rule over their lives were dead. Instead, lesser demons like themselves were left alive.
"It’s said that Sword Immortal Qin abhors evil. He probably knew that we didn’t commit any evil."
"Sword Immortal Qin is a lot more benevolent than our Palatial Lord."
The Water race attendants could not help but have such thoughts.
When Qin Yun killed the great demons, he purposely spared the female Water race attendants. He was aware that the female attendants who served great demons would not engage in combat or cause destruction outside. They were often at their masters’ mercy, and could be killed at any moment whenever great demons vented their rage.
"Whoosh." Qin Yun put away his rope-like Dharma treasure. The four Paramount realm demons that had been bound were already dead. When Qin Yun killed Icedragon, his Dharmic powers had simultaneously struck the four and killed them.
With that, the dominoes started falling—
Many great demons in the world realized that the marks of Consort Snake, Patriarch Wolf Mountain, and company had simultaneously vanished from their transmission treasures.
"Obliterate."
He commanded with a thought.
All the corpses in the hall were decimated. Qin Yun also stored away some of their Dharma treasures.
"Time to leave." Following that, he left with the wind and began his return journey to Jiang Prefecture’s Grand Dominance.
...
In one day, Qin Yun slew five Paramount realm demons.
The news instantly spread throughout the world.
It made many demons in the world tremble in fear. Numerous cultivators gave their kudos!
"Haha, for Sword Immortal Qin to kill Paramount realm demons, it seems like he has made another breakthrough after stepping into the Dao."
"He managed to silently finish five great fiendish demons. Sword Immortal Qin’s present strength is probably comparable to Elder Sword in his prime."
"That might not necessarily be true. Sword Immortal Qin simultaneously killed five Paramount realm demons. That is impressive, but Elder Sword killed a fiendcelestial back then."
"Tsk. Sword Immortal Qin doesn’t mind offending the Nine Lineage Fiendish Demons. He slays the fiendish demons of the world out of a sense of justice. That righteous character of his alone is not something Elder Sword can compare with."
"Indeed! Speaking of which, I’m very impressed with Sword Immortal Qin too."
Many cultivators around the world had such discussions.
Fiendish demons wreaked havoc in the world. Many cultivators had a vendetta against the fiendish demons. What Qin Yun did excited many cultivators greatly. They were filled with reverence for him.
After all...
All the powerful fiendish demons that ruled over an area in the world, be it on land or in the water, had been killed by Qin Yun! The remaining ones had gone into hiding in the sects that backed them. Qin Yun’s strength was insufficient to do anything to a massive entity like the Nine Lineage Fiendish Demons.
"I would never have imagined that all the powerful fiendish demons who entrenched themselves in the various prefectures a decade ago could be killed at once."
"Sword Immortal Qin is truly formidable in the way he acts. Fiendish demons either hide in their sects or risk being slain if they wreak havoc outside."
"Boundless merit. He truly has boundless merit."
"In fact, the imperial government and the Daoist and Buddhist lands wish to rid the world of fiendish demons too. But due to the Heavenly rules, only mortal cultivators can fight fiendish demons at the mortal level."
Those that did not mind a deadly feud with the Nine Lineage Fiendish Demons, had the strength to wipe out the fiendish demons of the world, and were willing to do so... only came around once in a very long time in history!
Every appearance of one made the lives of ordinary mortals a lot better.
******
Grand Dominance’s Qin Manor was a place with special meaning to both humans and demons.
At that moment, many cultivators and demons were astounded by what Qin Yun had done, such as Nine Mountain Island Lord. He was cultivating in Cloudfiend Mountain and felt overjoyed after an initial fear when he learned of the news.
However, Qin Yun was not feeling very happy.
"What, the slaughter continues?" Qin Yun read through the news that appeared in his Inspect Heavenly Token. "The murderer is slaughtering village after village in the world. When all the humans that have been slaughtered are added up, the number is approaching two hundred thousand."
Qin Yun was filled with rage but he could not do a thing.
He was powerless because he could not find the murderer.
"What are all the immortals of the imperial government and the Daoist and Buddhist sacred lands doing?" Yi Xiao could not help but comment. "They have all sorts of tricks. Can’t they find one murderer?"
"It’s truly strange. The murderer is unbridled and has killed so many humans in such a short period of time. It’s enough to have many experts investigate the matter carefully." Qin Yun shook his head. "However, there have been no discoveries about the murderer all this while."
Not only was Qin Yun astounded.
The murderer that engaged in serial slaughters all over the world had attracted the attention of many human experts. They had attempted to investigate but all of them were surprised to find that there was no way for them to identify the murderer.
In fact, Hong Lingtong had come to this conclusion early on. He was not confident in many things but when it came to divining the future, he was confident that he was the best in the world. Yet even he could not divine the murderer’s identity, so it was unlikely anyone else could.