I Swear I’m Not a Demonic Cultivator - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Hundred Herbs Valley? Never Heard of It

The Northern Border.

The teleportation light faded, revealing the figure of Valley Master Gu Xu of Hundred Herbs Valley.

Two and a half days earlier, upon receiving Great Elder Sun Qing’s Jade Slip, Gu Xu immediately decided to flee.

Goodbye, Mom! I’m setting sail tonight!

Hundred Herbs Valley? Never heard of it.

Gu Xu’s sole concern wasn’t Fang Zheng’s hostility, but rather the abbot of the Western Desert Buddhist Temple.

The Western Desert Buddhist Temple: the most powerful force in the Western Desert.

The world only knew the Western Desert Buddhist Temple as a Righteous Dao paragon with a ten-thousand-year legacy, and Abbot A Xin as the temple’s restorer.

Yet few realized the abbot’s private demeanor was quite the opposite…

Two centuries ago, simply because Gu Xu lacked sufficient Spirit Stones for a flying boat fare, A Xin had proactively loaned him twenty thousand Spirit Stones.

With compound interest piling upon compound interest, Gu Xu had no choice but to submit to A Xin’s manipulation, forcing the entire Hundred Herbs Valley to worship the Flesh and Blood Ancient God.

Now, upon seeing in the Jade Slip that Fang Zheng had devoured the Flesh and Blood Ancient God, Gu Xu immediately decided: Better the Fellow Daoist dies than this humble cultivator.

Hundred Herbs Valley.

The entire sect was abuzz with merriment.

Dozens of Hundred Herbs Valley Elders and Core Disciples, clad in verdant alchemist robes, had gathered in the main hall. Each one was enthusiastically leaving positive reviews for Three Kingdoms Kill.

A large group of disciples was in the midst of stripping off their clothes for a performance art piece.

This bizarre scene had unfolded because Great Elder Sun Qing had delivered the Jade Slip to Valley Master Gu Xu, while the other Jade Slips were sent to various Righteous Dao Sects.

As a result, every Righteous Sect in the vicinity knew about Fang Zheng’s actions, except for Hundred Herbs Valley itself, which remained blissfully ignorant.

The disciple guarding the Life Tokens drowsily awoke, picked up the Spring and Autumn Annals to play another round, and glanced sideways at the Life Tokens…

“Gaia—!!!”

The guardian disciple let out a desperate, helpless scream.

Outside, in the thirty-six “Medicinal Field” villages, all the stationed disciples’ Life Token connections severed, their Spirit Communication Stones falling silent as if swallowed by the sea…

Who could have imagined? Who could have imagined that merely fainting after being knocked unconscious would mean all the outer disciples were dead?

Too terrifying! Too terrifying! They dared not report this to the Elders, and the entire assembly could only continue their music and dance.

Boom—!!!

A deafening explosion reverberated from afar, detonating directly within the Divine Souls of everyone present!

In that instant, the entire Hundred Herbs Valley, along with the skies for a hundred li in every direction, was plunged into an all-consuming darkness.

A terrifying Demonic Might, tyrannical and absolute, descended from the heavens, crushing down mercilessly upon Hundred Herbs Valley’s Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation!

Buzz—!

The Sect-Protecting Grand Formation’s pale green barrier distorted violently, trembling and emitting a mournful wail under the unbearable pressure!

Inside the main hall, all disciples below the Golden Core Stage couldn’t even manage a stifled groan before the overwhelming force shattered their seven orifices, blood gushing forth from their eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth.

“En-enemy… enemy attack!”

The Enforcement Elder screamed in utter terror.

He and several other Nascent Soul Elders staggered out of the hall, their gazes jerking upward.

Above them, boundless Demonic Energy churned and surged across the sky.

A figure floated serenely at the heart of the swirling darkness.

He wore a simple green robe and possessed refined features, yet behind him loomed two terrifying demonic entities that froze their very Divine Souls!

A pitch-black banner rippled in the void, its surface shimmering with tens of thousands of writhing, tormented ghostly faces, their silent roars shaking the very fabric of existence!

A jet-black square seal hovered in his palm.

The seal’s surface was carved with nightmarish scenes of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, while crimson lightning, finer than strands of hair, crackled and danced around it, flickering into existence and vanishing.

Fang Zheng had arrived.

With his head lowered, he gazed down upon the flourishing Sect below, where Spiritual Energy permeated the air and immortal cranes soared through the skies.

This was Hundred Herbs Valley.

That evil source, which had nurtured a False God, enslaved thirty-six thousand mortals, and committed boundless sins.

As Fang Zheng gazed down at the panic-stricken, terror-stricken Hundred Herbs Valley cultivators below, his heart remained utterly still.

Only the resolute determination to act on behalf of Heaven’s will burned within him.

Fang Zheng spoke slowly, his voice soft yet amplified by Demonic Energy, resonating clearly in every corner of the valley, like the Demon Monarch of the Nine Nether proclaiming final judgment.

“Hundred Herbs Valley, your sins are grave.”

“Today, I, Fang Zheng,”

“have come to settle accounts.”

His words struck the Enforcement Elder and the others like a death knell.

“Demon Lord! Cease your arrogance!” the Enforcement Elder roared, preparing to strike, only to be stopped by a disciple engaged in performance art.

“Elder, allow me to handle this.”

The disciple donned his robes, turned around, and removed his mask, revealing a round face framed by a full beard. He spoke gently to Fang Zheng, “If the one who harmed me knew what I looked like, would they still have the heart to attack?”

At these words, the Human Emperor Banner’s power instantly doubled.

Countless disciples vomited blood in unison.

“All Elders! Join me in activating the Great Formation! We’ll fight him to the death!” the Enforcement Elder bellowed.

A crazed glint flashed in the eyes of the remaining dozen or so Elders.

They knew that today, it was either you die, or I die!

Several torrents of overwhelming mana surged skyward, pouring violently into the Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation.

The teetering green barrier instantly solidified, its brilliance surging as countless illusory ancient trees materialized. Bursting with formidable vital energy, they forcefully pushed back the encroaching Demonic Might.

Fang Zheng watched this scene, shaking his head slightly.

Stubborn to the bitter end.

Very well.

Let them witness the true power of judgment.

He slowly raised the Human Emperor’s Seal.

In his spiritual perception, he held aloft the sacred artifact of the Human Dao’s order. A golden radiance, ten thousand zhang tall, erupted from the seal—divine, solemn, accompanied by immortal music that resonated with the Heavenly Dao.

He poured his vast will into it—a will to eradicate all evil and restore clarity to the world.

“Suppress.”

One word.

The law follows the spoken word.

Yet, in the real world…

The instant Fang Zheng raised the jet-black square seal, the entire world fell silent.

In the sky, endless demonic clouds converged into a colossal vortex, devouring all light.

The jet-black square seal swelled against the wind, instantly transforming into a mountain-sized behemoth that blotted out the entire sky!

Upon the seal’s surface, the carvings of mountains of corpses and seas of blood came to life.

Billions of phantom Resentful Souls surged forth, coalescing into a gray river of death that coiled around the colossal seal, their ear-splitting wails capable of shattering even a Nascent Soul!

A pure, tyrannical Imperial Might—a force that sought to crush all beneath its heel, reducing everything to dust—locked relentlessly onto Hundred Herbs Valley below!

BOOM—!!!

The pitch-black colossal seal collided with the Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation in a thunderous crash.

There was no explosion.

No clash of opposing forces.

The green barrier, jointly erected by over a dozen Nascent Soul Elders, shattered upon contact with the seal, like thin paper pierced by a red-hot branding iron.

Without so much as a ripple, the domineering “suppression” force instantly pierced, crushed, and dissolved the barrier.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The Enforcement Elder and the dozen Nascent Soul Elders shuddered simultaneously.

Their protective Magic Treasures, Nascent Souls, and Dao Foundations were utterly pulverized into dust, from within and without, the instant the colossal seal descended.

Before they could even scream, their bodies crumbled like weathered sand sculptures, shattering inch by inch into flying ash.

Their Divine Souls were swept into the River of Death, becoming the newest members among its countless resentful souls.

One seal!

Hundred Herbs Valley’s millennia-old Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation and over a dozen Nascent Soul Elders were reduced to ash and scattered like dust!

With the Great Formation shattered, the earth-shattering Demonic Might surged unchecked, like a flood breaching its dam, crashing mercilessly into Hundred Herbs Valley!

“Ahhh—!”

“Demons! It’s demons!”

“Run for your lives!”

The thousands of Hundred Herbs Valley disciples completely broke down, scattering in all directions like madmen.

Fang Zheng retracted the Human Emperor’s Seal and watched quietly, his face utterly expressionless.

These fleeing disciples were merely festering sores on a malignant tumor.

Letting them escape would only spread their wickedness further.

To cut the weeds, one must eradicate the roots.

To purify, one must cleanse completely.

The emotion Fang Zheng called “compassion” welled up within him once more, overflowing.

He raised his hand and retrieved from his Storage Bag the Eternal Grace Holy Grail, its crimson surface stained an eerie blood-red.

His gaze locked onto a disciple running at the forefront.

As if sensing something, the disciple glanced back in terror, his eyes meeting Fang Zheng’s compassionate gaze, filled with pity for all humanity.

“The mortal realm is a sea of suffering,” Fang Zheng murmured, his voice flat yet clear, carrying distinctly to the disciple’s ears.

“I have come to ferry you ashore.”

Fang Zheng raised the Sacred Grail.

Hum—!

To Fang Zheng, the treasured vessel radiated a holy light that flowed like liquid holiness. From its mouth erupted a blinding, ten-thousand-zhang-tall beam of Sacred Light, instantly enveloping the disciple.

But to the disciple’s eyes, the vile vessel formed from writhing flesh suddenly opened its maw—a gaping mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth!

An irresistible, pitch-black suction force erupted!

“Ah—!”

A piercing, inhuman shriek tore through the valley.