I Swear I’m Not a Demonic Cultivator - Chapter 16
Chapter 16: Let Me See What’s Going On
Outside the Demon Sealing Pagoda, it felt as if the heavens of the Azure Cloud Sect were collapsing.
The boundless Spiritual Energy that had once nourished all living things within the mountain gate was now draining away at an alarming rate.
The glow of the Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation visibly dimmed. In the Spirit Fields, the leaves of immortal herbs began to yellow and curl.
The Spirit Beasts paced restlessly, emitting low, anxious growls.
Panic, like a plague, spread among the tens of thousands of disciples.
Countless disciples rushed out of their Cave Mansions and gathered in the Martial Training Ground, staring blankly at the deathly silent Demon Sealing Pagoda.
There, they knew, lay the source of this calamity.
Just as fear was about to plunge the sect into chaos, a cold, aloof voice cut through the commotion.
“Let me see what’s going on.”
The crowd parted automatically, creating a path.
Li Mu, clad in white robes and wielding a longsword, strode forward with deliberate steps.
The arrogance befitting an Inner Sect Heaven Chosen now graced his face.
“Wow~ It’s Senior Brother Li Mu!”
“Could that be Li Mu, son of the Tower Guardian Elder?”
“It’s Senior Brother Li Mu! We’re saved!”
Li Mu strode forward, his aura as an Initial Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator radiating outward.
He wasn’t here to maintain order.
He was here to seize an opportunity.
With the Sect in chaos and spiritual energy depleted, this was the perfect moment for him, the Heaven’s Chosen, to turn the tide and restore his reputation!
“As you all know, Senior Brothers and Junior Brothers, I once famously endured a full incense stick’s time inside the Demon Sealing Pagoda,” Li Mu declared, his voice ringing with confidence. “This mere spiritual energy surge is nothing. I’ll enter the Pagoda, investigate the cause, and resolve the Sect’s spiritual energy depletion within the time it takes an incense stick to burn!”
The disciples, as if finding their backbone, gazed at him with reverence and hope.
“Excellent! With Senior Brother Li Mu here, we’ll surely weather this crisis!”
“We’re saved! We’re saved!”
Hearing the surrounding praise, a barely perceptible smile curled at the corner of Li Mu’s lips.
Without further hesitation, Li Mu transformed into a streak of sword light and, under the rapturous gaze of the crowd, plunged into the Demon Sealing Pagoda—now a forbidden place.
Inside the tower.
A suffocating stench of blood mingled with the fetid odor of dried corpses assaulted Li Mu’s senses.
He frowned.
His gaze swept across the first floor, revealing a carpet of demonic beast corpses, piled layer upon layer. Each corpse retained the final, petrified expression of mortal terror, as if they had witnessed some incomprehensible horror in their final moments. Not a single survivor remained.
Li Mu’s heart sank.
He ascended to the second floor.
Here, the room was empty save for scattered rubble and a massive hole in the ceiling. A bone-chilling aura emanated from the gaping abyss.
Li Mu took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his unease, and leaped upward.
Third floor.
The instant Li Mu’s eyes landed on the scene before him, he froze in place.
He saw the pulsating Azure Cloud Spirit Vein Heart, its surface writhing with eerie black demonic sigils.
And standing before the Spirit Vein Heart was a figure clad in grotesque black armor, wreathed in Demonic Energy, like a monster crawled straight from the depths of Nine Nether Hell.
“Fang… Zheng?” Li Mu’s voice was thick with disbelief.
He recognized the face—the face of the perpetually meek, talentless, and bullied nobody he remembered.
What was he doing here?
What was that armor?! How could he possibly wield such terrifying Demonic Energy?!
A barrage of questions exploded in Li Mu’s mind.
Fang Zheng, too, had seen him.
A look of delighted surprise spread across Fang Zheng’s square face.
“Senior Brother Li Mu,” Fang Zheng said, his voice warm and strong, radiating genuine camaraderie toward his fellow disciple. “You once humiliated and looked down on me, when my strength was lacking.”
“Now I challenge you, hoping you’ll acknowledge my belief in Heaven Rewards Diligence.”
Fang Zheng took a step forward.
Boom!
An invisible, overwhelming pressure, like a mountain collapsing into a tsunami, instantly engulfed the entire third floor.
Li Mu’s body froze rigid.
He felt as if he were being crushed beneath an ancient demonic mountain, making even breathing nearly impossible.
Cold sweat trickled down Li Mu’s forehead.
The person before him wasn’t Fang Zheng at all!
This wasn’t the same Fang Zheng he had casually defeated and humiliated just a week ago!
It was a being wearing Fang Zheng’s skin—a peerless ancient demon who had lived for countless millennia!
Yes! That must be it.
I must escape!
I have to warn my father, the Tower Guardian Elder!
Without hesitation, Li Mu frantically channeled his Spiritual Energy, pouring his entire lifetime’s Cultivation Base into the longsword in his hand!
“Azure Cloud Sword Art, Soaring Goose!”
He unleashed his most powerful strike.
A dazzling azure sword light, like lightning tearing through the night, carried an edge that could cleave through anything, thrusting straight at Fang Zheng’s chest!
He held nothing back.
This was a desperate, life-or-death strike!
Yet facing this all-out attack, capable of instantly killing cultivators of equal rank…
Fang Zheng merely raised his hand.
Fang Zheng didn’t even need to use any Cultivation Technique.
He simply mimicked the grandmasters he had seen in his past lives, extending two fingers and lightly pinching the incoming sword light.
The movement was effortless, graceful, and elegant.
Crack!
A crisp sound shattered the silence.
The invincible azure sword light shattered like brittle glass between Fang Zheng’s fingers, disintegrating into a shower of glittering sparks.
Li Mu froze in place.
He stared blankly as his Lifebound Flying Sword—his companion for decades—snapped into pieces, falling to the ground in fragments.
This… this is impossible…
A crack appeared in his Dao Heart at that moment.
“Senior Brother, your sword is too weak,” Fang Zheng said, shaking his head with a hint of disappointment. “It seems I must show you the true power forged through unwavering diligence in cultivation—the power Heaven Rewards Diligence.”
Still extending those two fingers, Fang Zheng casually flicked his hand in Li Mu’s direction.
A slender, almost invisible wisp of black energy shot from his fingertip.
No sound.
No visible force.
The black energy drifted lightly onto Li Mu’s body.
Then…
Li Mu’s agonized scream reverberated throughout the Demon Sealing Pagoda.
“Aaaaaaaah—!!!”
Li Mu felt a frigid, malevolent force, reeking of destruction, burrow into his body.
Like ten thousand ravenous maggots, it devoured his meridians, tore at his flesh, and tainted his very foundation!
Thud.
Li Mu crashed heavily to the ground, his body convulsing violently.
Summoning his last shred of strength, he lifted his head and glared at the Demon God who was slowly approaching.
The face he had once held in such utter contempt now wore a gentle, contented smile.
“Senior Brother, can you feel it?”
“This is what it feels like to be cleansed by the Collective Vow Power.”
“Rest assured, I acted with precision. I merely cleared the Demonic Obstacles from your body, ensuring your life remains intact.”
Hearing these words, Li Mu let out a series of rasping, gurgling noises.
Darkness descended before Li Mu’s eyes as he completely lost consciousness.
Ding! You have successfully completed the objective: Defeat Li Mu.
Congratulations, Host! You have received the reward: Formation Mastery Experience Card x1.
Fang Zheng nodded in satisfaction.
At that moment, the ground beneath his feet suddenly lit up.
Intricate, ancient golden runes emerged from the floor, instantly forming a massive teleportation Formation.
Rumble—!
The entire Demon Sealing Pagoda trembled violently as the Formation activated.
A powerful spatial force locked Fang Zheng firmly in place.
Fang Zheng froze for a moment, then burst into elation.
He understood!
This was the final reward!
The Sect was immensely pleased with his performance! Now, they were going to teleport him to a High Tier secret realm to receive even more sacred inheritances!
The Sect’s benevolence toward me is as vast as the mountains!
Meanwhile, on the other side…
Outside the Azure Cloud Sect’s mountain gate, space tore open, and a colossal demonic warship forged from ten thousand white bones shattered the void as it descended with brutal force!
Leading the charge was Holy Maiden Yun Shuishui.
The moment she set foot on the ground, her eyes fell upon the violent pillar of spatial teleportation surging skyward from the Demon Sealing Pagoda.
As she watched the Azure Cloud Sect Elders glaring at the teleportation array with loathing and hatred, alarm bells rang in Yun Shuishui’s mind.
These hypocritical bastards of the righteous path!
Unable to defeat the Demon Sovereign directly, they’re resorting to such vile and shameless tactics to banish him to some desolate wasteland!
“Shameless!” Yun Shuishui’s voice pierced the air, sharp with fury.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she unleashed her ultimate technique:
“Ten Thousand Demons Pay Homage to the Sect!”
Behind her, countless Demonic Cultivators poured their Demonic Energy into her body in unison, holding nothing back.
Yun Shuishui’s aura soared exponentially.
She slammed a palm strike towards the teleportation pillar with savage force!
“Stop this, at once!!!”
A pitch-black palm print capable of tearing the heavens and earth asunder hurtled across the vast distance, crashing into the teleportation pillar with cataclysmic force.
BANG—!!!
Space itself wailed in agony.
The laws of reality fractured and twisted.
The once-stable teleportation pillar buckled violently, its light flickering erratically.
Inside the pagoda,
Fang Zheng’s vision flashed white as he was instantly swallowed by an overwhelming spatial maelstrom, a chaotic torrent impossible to resist.
His teleportation destination was utterly derailed.
He vanished from the Demon Sealing Pagoda.