Chapter 158: Black Flame Sword Qi

The demonized Chen Mu lowered his severed right arm, which was wreathed in black mist.
In the blink of an eye, a new hand grew out.
He pulled out the Seven-Star Sword and casually tossed it to the conflicted Lin Taixuan.
While shocked, the female Daoist cultivator felt a tinge of envy in her heart.
"If I also had a method to regenerate a severed arm, Senior Brother Lin wouldn't have to suffer so much."
Chen Mu reached out toward the throne on the high platform. The long sword on his left hand passed through the restless swarm of red-light bats and fell into his grasp.
"You little brat are utterly detestable!" Chen Mu glared at Su Ye through gritted teeth. "If you hadn't suddenly appeared, everyone would have died in the Ice Mirror Labyrinth.
I wouldn't have been lonely on the Yellow Springs Road either!"
"To die is to die, yet you still want to drag down the senior brother you respect so much," Su Ye said, pointing his Primordial Sword diagonally at the ground. "Forgive me for not understanding your way of thinking."
"A self-righteous little brat like you, relying on a bit of talent, feels the entire world should revolve around you," Chen Mu said, his tone turning even sharper.
"Someone like you shouldn't have been born into this world in the first place!"
"Quite the contrary. You are the one who should never have been born." The black flames on Su Ye's body were shrouded beneath his sword Qi.
"Enough talk, go to hell!" Chen Mu opened his mouth wide and spat out a stream of black mist.
The demonic poison hidden within the mist instantly corrupted dozens of red-light bats that had not dared to attack Su Ye.
"Mr. Su..."
"Say no more. I will kill him." Su Ye's intent to kill was absolute.
He left a trail of afterimages behind him.
Lin Taixuan concentrated his gaze and noticed that where the black flames burned, the space itself began to crack.
He could not help feeling secretly startled:
"Mr. Su... what kind of formidable art has he comprehended this time?"
Seeing the red-light bats flying toward the female Daoist cultivator who wore the Buddha-bone prayer beads, he reined in his focus and condensed a spiritual Qi avatar.
Golden light protected his body, defending against demons and evils.
The distant battle was obscured by the sky-filling red-light bats, making it completely impossible to sense.
"Junior Brother Chen is at the Flying Cloud realm, and now he has fallen and been demonized... I'm afraid Mr. Su is in grave danger." Looking at the countless bats, the female Daoist cultivator thought of her fallen senior and junior brothers, and the despair rising in her heart dragged her toward the abyss of sinking.
Lin Taixuan said in a ringing voice:
"Junior Sister, banish all thoughts of sorrow."
"But... how can I not be sorrowful?"
"Kill the Scarlet Glow Demon and avenge our fallen junior brothers!"
The female Daoist cultivator gazed into Lin Taixuan's angrily arched eyebrows.
Her courage, which had been slowly dissipating, seemed to sense something and returned once more to her sea of consciousness.

"You are merely at the Return to Origin realm, yet you had to show off so spectacularly in front of everyone... Tell me, how am I supposed to swallow this insult?!" Chen Mu's resentment, as his sea of consciousness collapsed, gradually took over his body.
"If I hadn't done those things, everyone would have died in Bullfight City," Su Ye said, his words mixed with a soul-shaking power.
"Of course, you were very eager to be buried in the same place as Senior Brother Lin."
"No, I..." Chen Mu hesitated for a moment. "I wanted even more to seize his body and occupy that perfect vessel."
"Someone like you still has the face to mock me." Su Ye's disgust for Chen Mu grew even stronger.
"However, I have changed my mind. There is an even more perfect vessel right before me." Chen Mu's crimson eyes stared fixedly at Su Ye.
"As long as I seize your body, I will possess those miraculous arts, as well as the renowned reputation of a sword immortal..."
"Seize my body?" A bright smile appeared on Su Ye's face. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"You're just a minor cultivator at the Return to Origin realm, with no sect protecting your back, and merely a village boy," Chen Mu smiled hideously.
"Even if I, your humble Daoist, seize your body, who would possibly care?"
"That is true," Su Ye smiled. "The Human Emperor has prepared hundreds of people to inherit the Mandate of Heaven; he won't care about the loss of a single individual. It seems I am truly destined to fall here this time."
"Rest assured, I will kill Junior Sister Chen and let her keep you company on the Yellow Springs Road."
"Your heart is truly venomous," Su Ye smiled. "Since I cannot defeat you, I will accept your possession. There is only one condition: spare your junior sister."
Chen Mu stared at Su Ye and let out a hearty laugh.
"People often say you are a rare chivalrous hero in the three thousand worlds, acting recklessly with martial prowess, daring to love and hate."
In Chen Mu's tone, there was a hidden trace of yearning for the future.
"I shall carry this chivalrous spirit and enjoy the glory you rightfully deserve."
"Senior Chen, since we are going to do this, please grant this junior a swift end. In case I regret it and go running to Senior Lin for help, it would all end up like fetching water in a bamboo basket—completely empty."
"Good lad, you've got guts!"
Chen Mu's soul consciousness flew out from his spiritual aperture, carrying a majestic force, intent on seizing Su Ye, whose cultivation was inferior to his own.
"I've been waiting for you." Su Ye's two fingers flashed with golden light as he quietly cast the Compassionate Soul-Guiding Crossing.
Soul consciousness entering a dream, trapped within a golden prison.
"Where... where is this?" Chen Mu's soul consciousness was trapped within a golden sphere of light, looking around blankly, unaware of his location.
"This is the burial ground for you, Senior." Su Ye looked up at Chen Mu's soul consciousness without a shred of pity in his eyes.
Ever since the small cliff behind Peach Blossom Mountain, not a single person who became an enemy of Su Ye had ever survived.
"Before you die, this junior will let you witness the black flame sword Qi of the Sword Demon."
Within the dream realm, the scenery of the real world manifested.
Chen Mu's body, abandoned by his soul, stood motionless.

Su Ye held his long sword and slowly approached the entirely defenseless body.
The fear of death swept over Chen Mu's soul consciousness like ocean waves.
With a thud, both his knees hit the ground.
"Mr. Su, I know I was wrong. Please give me another chance to turn over a new leaf. I will surely uphold the righteous path and protect all living beings in the world."
"Saying what people want to hear when begging for mercy is certainly a good strategy. Unfortunately, you provoked someone you shouldn't have." There was still not a flicker of pity in Su Ye's eyes.
"Aren't you a protector of the Buddhist faith?" Chen Mu's soul consciousness trembled with fear. "Buddhism speaks of boundless compassion. I am willing to lay down the butcher's knife and convert to Buddhism."
Su Ye could not help smiling.
When people reach the threshold of death, no matter how vicious they are, they will struggle with all their might to find a path to survival.
"If you had cultivated yourself and held to integrity, how could you have ever reached this day?"
"You are willing to spare me?"
"Sparing you is the King of Hell's business," Su Ye said softly. "My duty is to send you to meet him."
In the real world, Su Ye wielded the ancient bronze sword in his hand, executing a slanted slash at the indefensible Chen Mu.
The scorching black sword Qi instantly reduced his body of centuries of cultivation into fine dust.
Knowing that his demise was certain today and refusing to lower his head to Su Ye any longer, Chen Mu shouted angrily:
"Damn you, Su Ye, I curse—"
Sanskrit chants resounded from the distant sky, stunning Chen Mu's soul consciousness.
He opened his mouth in vain, unable to emit the slightest sound.
"I possess an art named 'Endless Desolation'; it is simply too tyrannical and only slays the most utterly detestable demons and evils. Of course, it also slays the irredeemably fallen. On behalf of your master and Lin Taixuan, I am purging you, this disgrace of the Cloud Sky Sect!"
As he spoke, Su Ye raised his right hand and clenched it fiercely.
Within the golden prison, black flame sword Qi erupted, incinerating Chen Mu's soul consciousness.
"Ah... Ah..."
Chen Mu's roars were filled with fury and unwillingness.
Su Ye stood calmly with his hands behind his back, witnessing the demise of an arrogant Daoist cultivator.
It truly fit the old saying:
There is a road to heaven, yet he refuses to walk it; there is no door to hell, yet he breaks right in.