“It's that Lord Warden Commander!”

The man spoke with certainty. “I’ve already figured out the sequence of events. The Demon Emperor came here because that young Lord Warden Commander was breaking through his realm. The Sword Sect’s Sect Master rushed to the battlefield in order to protect him during the breakthrough and resist the Demon Emperor. Now that the Sword Sect’s Sect Master has already been defeated, then the one currently battling the Demon Emperor should be that young Lord Warden Commander.”

“Think about it carefully. If that young Lord Warden Commander can battle the Demon Emperor, doesn’t that mean... he has already broken through?”

The man folded his arms and lamented emotionally. “Truly incredible.”

He tried his best to remain calm, but how could the cultivators listening to these words remain calm themselves?

That’s right. Back when that young martial artist had first burst onto the scene years ago, he had already shocked them all beyond belief. Before his appearance, the young geniuses of the world had been the Twin Pillars of Daoism, the sword cultivator Yu Xiyi, and those young talents outside the secular world. When he first appeared, he had stood behind all of them.

But afterward?

It became a story of unstoppable advance.

It was the story of a young martial artist carving his way through endless life-and-death battles and seas of blood.

Upon that road, he passed one person after another, watching the backs of countless people before eventually making countless others look upon his own back instead.

But if it had only been that, then perhaps people would merely have been shocked and emotional about it. Yet who could have imagined that at this age, he would actually fucking reach this point?

Breaking through and becoming an end of Nepenthe cultivator at this age might be shocking, but it was definitely not too outrageous.

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master had spent more than thirty years going from Nepenthe to the end of Nepenthe. Daoist Wuyang of Infatuation Daoist Temple had spent more than twenty years. The Great Liang Emperor had not taken long either, probably just over twenty years as well.

Yun Jianyue and Yu Xiyi probably both did it within ten years.

But breaking past the end of Nepenthe and reaching the rarely seen Fuyun Realm? The Sword Sect’s Sect Master had spent over a hundred years.

But Chen Chao?

Counting it all up, it had not even been ten years yet.

That was what left everyone speechless and utterly stunned.

“Isn’t this too ridiculous?”

Someone slowly spoke while rubbing his cheeks, saying in disbelief, “Damn it, how old is he?”

No one answered the question, but everyone already knew the answer in their hearts.

Not even thirty.

A Fuyun cultivator who was not even thirty years old. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

“Well, this is good too. Since the Lord Warden Commander has broken through, maybe he can repel the Demon Emperor. For us, that’s definitely a good thing!”

“Right! Since Lord Warden Commander has broken through, then there’s still hope!”

As people spoke, they looked up at the heavens. At this moment, almost everyone was silently praying, praying that the young Lord Warden Commander could repel the Demon Emperor.

Otherwise, after the Demon Emperor truly became intent on killing, they genuinely did not know who else could stop him.

......

......

Compared to before, the battlefield within the sea of clouds had long since become completely different.

The clash between the two towering dharma idols could be said to have victories and losses on both sides. Chen Chao’s towering dharma idol had once been blasted back several hundred miles by the Demon Emperor’s dharma idol, but immediately afterward, Chen Chao halted the decline and punched the Demon Emperor back dozens of miles instead.

Seeing this scene, even the Sword Sect’s Sect Master could not help but sigh with vicissitudes of emotion. Earlier, no matter how he delivered his sword strikes, he had failed to achieve such results, yet this young martial artist had only just broken through and could already accomplish this.

Although this was under the premise that the Demon Emperor was already injured, it was still extremely shocking.

Such a thing was not common.

As the two dharma idols continuously fought, their battlefield shifted again and again. Eventually, they had already reached the central region of Ying Prefecture before turning south, seemingly about to enter White Deer Prefecture.

A streak of sword light hurried along and finally arrived above the sea of clouds. Just as that great sword immortal was preparing to unleash a sword strike in one burst of momentum, he heard a voice.

“Yu Xiyi, do not act recklessly!”

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master looked toward the travel-worn Yu Xiyi who had just arrived and said in a deep voice, “This is not something you can interfere in!”

Yu Xiyi was unwilling to accept it. “It’s not like I’ve never killed a Fuyun cultivator before!”

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master did not think much of these words, but Cao Chong’s eyelids twitched upon hearing them. What? Was this sword cultivator’s killing prowess really so monstrous that he could even leapfrog cultivation realms to kill Fuyun cultivators?

The Sword Sect's Sect Master shook his head and said, "He is not Daoist Wuyang. Let alone one of you, even if seven or eight more came, none of you would be qualified to step onto this battlefield."

The gap between the Demon Emperor and Daoist Wuyang could roughly be described as having the Sword Sect's Sect Master standing in between them.

If Yu Xiyi rashly barged into the battlefield at this moment, he would likely be severely wounded in an instant, and after that, very possibly die there.

Although Yu Xiyi no longer held much admiration for the Sword Sect's Sect Master, at this moment, he was still willing to listen to what he had to say.

Yu Xiyi gritted his teeth and asked, "Then what about that bastard Chen Chao? Can he retreat from before the Demon Emperor unscathed?"

The Sword Sect's Sect Master glanced at Yu Xiyi. "No matter what the outcome is, it is not something you can interfere in. If you truly want to interfere, then properly train your swordsmanship. Once you reach this realm too, you can do whatever you want, and I will not stop you."

Yu Xiyi coldly replied, "Can you stop me?"

The Sword Sect's Sect Master said nothing, only turning his head to look elsewhere, where a dark red figure had appeared.

A young daoist with an otherworldly bearing, dressed in a dark red daoist robe, arrived here and bowed toward the Sword Sect's Sect Master. "This humble daoist greets Sect Master."

The Sword Sect's Sect Master nodded and shook his head. "We can only watch."

Yun Jianyue thought for a moment. Unlike Yu Xiyi, he was not so agitated, and merely asked, "Sect Master, if Chen Chao is defeated afterward, if the few of us join forces, can we make the Demon Emperor stay behind, or force him to retreat?"

The Sword Sect's Sect Master seriously considered the possibility, then shook his head. "This gentleman and I no longer have the strength to fight again. Counting the two of you, it still would not be enough to keep him here. But if one or two old daoists from Infatuation Daoist Temple came, and were willing to risk their lives, then perhaps we can give it a try."

He naturally knew the foundations of Infatuation Daoist Temple, but regarding those old daoists who had broken into the Fuyun Realm, he still did not consider them meaningful reinforcements.

In his view, although those old daoists possessed high cultivation realms, their combat strength was actually about the same as Cao Chong's. If he himself had been at his peak, facing two or three of them would not have been a problem.

Yun Jianyue frowned. This possibility was practically impossible. He knew those old daoists with terrifyingly high seniority would absolutely not act lightly.

"So we can only place all our hopes on Chen Chao now?"

Yun Jianyue sighed softly, somewhat dispirited.

The Sword Sect's Sect Master glanced at this young daoist, who had essentially been personally raised by Daoist Wuyang yet possessed a completely different temperament, and said, "The situation may not necessarily become that bad. The Demon Emperor also does not wish to fight to the death. Within the demon race, there are quite a few great demons who want to drag him down from the imperial throne. If he returns to the demon race seriously injured, his circumstances will not be good, so it is very likely he will eventually stop and leave."

The hardest people in the world to kill were existences like the Demon Emperor. At all times, the Demon Emperor left himself a path of retreat, and would rarely fight others to the death.

The easiest to kill were people like Chen Chao. He had no path of retreat. No matter when it was, he could only keep enduring.

______