Slaying Demons: Starting with Upgrading my Calligraphy-Chapter 445 - 396: Shocking Change!

All the hairs on his body stood on end. The Bone Staff Elder suddenly shook the bone staff in his hand. The remaining six skulls atop it lit up at once, belching out a dense fog of ash.

The ash fog, tinged with silken sparks and heavy with the scent of death, sought to turn every living creature within range into piles of dry bones.

With a slight shift of his gaze, Qi Xiu summoned the Haotian Mirror with one hand. Its snowy light instantly pierced through the approaching dense ash fog.

But in the blink of an eye, the Bone Staff Elder, who had just been in front of him, had somehow already reached the stone door. Bending over and glancing back at Qi Xiu, he then dove headfirst into the stone doorway.

Is this their special mission?

Qi Xiu stepped up to the stone door, scrutinizing it intently.

It wasn’t particularly tall, about five or six meters high, and appeared to be carved from a giant piece of green rock. Its surface was covered with Sword Traces of all sizes and depths, as if countless Sword Cultivators had carved their Dao Paths upon it.

This stone door...

His eyes focused on the mottled and weathered Sword Traces on the green rock surface, and Qi Xiu’s gaze sharpened slightly.

Being proficient in the "Heaven and Earth Myriad Imperial Sword Skill" and the "Gourd Sword Skill," he now considered himself a barely qualified practitioner of the Sword Dao.

To others, the crisscrossed Sword Traces on this door might seem random, as if someone had scribbled on it without much thought.

But in his eyes, each of these Sword Traces was infused with a chilling and boundless aura of slaughter.

And moreover... they all came from one person!

Could it be that the one who left so many Sword Traces on this stone door... was the ancient and unparalleled Sword Cultivator who slaughtered all the gods—Li Zhexian?

His expression changed; Qi Xiu felt it was increasingly likely.

The Valley of Deceased Gods had been created by this peerless Sword Immortal, and this stone door, hidden deep within the valley, must be intensely connected to him.

If this stone door really is related to that Sword Immortal, what lies hidden behind it?

Looking at the stone door before him, Qi Xiu’s brows slowly furrowed.

The Demonic Evil Cultivators had appeared inexplicably in the Valley of Deceased Gods, well-prepared, and even deliberately used their own lives to entangle the Human Cultivators within the valley. The two leading Great Demons were even charged with a special mission.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Qi Xiu immediately stepped toward the stone door.

No matter what these Demons or the people behind them intended to do, the Valley of Deceased Gods was his place of enlightenment, where he would achieve his Dao Body. Before the Great Tribulation of Dao Body fully began, he had to personally extinguish all hidden threats.

As he stepped through the stone door, Qi Xiu’s vision abruptly shifted with the changing light. A strong, musty odor assaulted him, making him feel as if he had entered a box sealed for countless eons.

His gaze shifted. As the swirling light and shadows before him gradually dissipated,

Before him, under an azure sky and white clouds, lay a stretch of flat, open land dotted with contiguous homes. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

A verdant, lush willow tree, its branches gnarled and strong, with slender, drooping twigs, nearly shrouded the entire village.

A gentle breeze wafted through, rustling the willow leaves. They danced in the wind before falling into the babbling stream that encircled the village, flowing towards a serene distance.

Inside the village, all was peaceful and tranquil. Children played in groups of two or three, elders rested under the trees, and chickens and dogs roamed freely.

Outside the village, oxen lowed, farmers wielded long whips, and brawny young men bent over to transplant rice seedlings, their joyous laughter and exclamations occasionally breaking the air.

This was...

Observing the idyllic scene before him, which resembled a paradise, a flash of purple sparked in Qi Xiu’s eyes. Within his black-and-white interwoven vision, the peaceful, harmonious mountain village remained largely unchanged.

Only the grand willow tree standing in the center of the village transformed in Qi Xiu’s eyes, revealing a young man in a simple, elegant robe, his face wreathed in smiles.

"After so many years, outsiders have finally arrived."

With a sudden flicker, the man appeared out of thin air before Qi Xiu, his pair of jade-green eyes examining him with a touch of curiosity.

Are you... a Divine Origin?

Sensing the overwhelming and pure divine aura emanating from the robe-clad man before him, Qi Xiu’s eyes showed a trace of realization.

Divine Origin was like the soul of the Human Race. Gods were mostly born from heaven and earth, lacking souls, while Divine Origin was a quality akin to a soul. However, compared to the souls of living beings, a Divine Origin was the very essence of a god. Besides Consciousness, it also contained the vast majority of the god’s power.

"Correct. My name is Qingyun. I am the god who presides over thirty thousand willow trees." The robed man nodded. He seemed to harbor no wariness towards Qi Xiu—or perhaps it was because he hadn’t seen an outsider in so long—as he directly stated his name and origin.

So, what was hidden within the stone door were the Divine Origins of those gods.

Upon hearing this Divine Origin named Qingyun speak, Qi Xiu’s expression flickered slightly.

If Li Zhexian truly intended to slaughter all gods in the world, why, after slaying their physical bodies, did he not also obliterate their Divine Origins? Why suppress them separately within this stone door instead?

Could there be some other hidden secret in all this?

"Since you’ve come, you are a guest. Please, come to my place and sit for a while." With a smile, Qingyun extended an invitation to Qi Xiu. Then, as if fearing Qi Xiu might refuse, he pointed towards the massive willow tree ahead:

"It’s right there, not far."

Having temporarily lost the trail of the Bone Staff Elder, Qi Xiu pondered for a moment, then nodded.

"Very well, then I shall impose."

"Not at all, not at all."

Seeing Qi Xiu agree, the smile on Qingyun’s face grew wider. The two then walked towards the willow tree.

"Might I ask if you have seen an elderly man carrying a bone staff pass this way?" Qi Xiu casually inquired of Qingyun as they walked towards the willow tree.

"An elderly man with a bone staff? No, I haven’t seen such a person. Why, is my friend in a hurry to find him?"

Arriving beneath the willow tree, Qingyun lightly waved his sleeve. The wide, sturdy trunk immediately opened up, revealing an elegant and tranquil inner chamber.