I Swear I’m Not a Demonic Cultivator - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: A Heart of Benevolence and Righteousness

Azure Cloud Sect Main Hall

Sect Master Yun Lan gently polished a palm-sized Holy Sword with his fingertips.

He reveled in this sense of absolute control.

A split second later, a will shattered his spiritual defenses without warning, throwing his internal Spiritual Energy into chaos.

This was no mere telepathic message.

It was a Supreme Ancestor’s Divine Decree, emanating from the depths of the Forbidden Zone, where the elder had been in secluded cultivation for three centuries, burning his life essence to deliver this ultimate command.

Crack!

A crisp sound.

The miniature Holy Sword in Yun Lan’s hand shattered.

“The Holy Sword!”

“My Holy Sword!”

“My Holy Sword!”

The composure on Yun Lan’s face crumbled.

The Sect Master’s Seal flew from his sleeve, soaring skyward.

Dong—!

An ancient, resonant bell toll reverberated through every corner of the Azure Cloud Sect.

Immediately afterward:

Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!

Nine tolls!

The highest level of alert: impending sect annihilation!

A suffocatingly heavy azure barrier crashed down, completely enveloping the Sect. The Spiritual Energy nexus of the Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation shattered its gauge, the pointer exploding off the scale.

At the same moment, all Sect gates and teleportation arrays were forcibly sealed by the Power of Laws.

A cold, murderous order swept through the Sect, both within and without.

“All disciples, confine yourselves to your Cave Mansions! Anyone who ventures out will be executed without mercy!”

Countless disciples jolted awake from their dreams, their bowels and bladders emptying in terror.

In the center of the main hall, Yun Lan’s body trembled uncontrollably. He stared fixedly at the Holy Sword shattering in his palm, finally daring to touch the Divine Decree in his mind.

【Source… Outer Sect…】

【Dao of Annihilation…】

【Find… at any cost…】

Dao of Annihilation!

These four words crashed down like four divine mountains. Yun Lan, a Nascent Soul True Monarch, felt his legs buckle beneath him, nearly collapsing to his knees.

This Dao had been expressly forbidden by the Upper Realm Immortal Court, a taboo punishable by the execution of ten generations of clan members upon discovery!

“Guards!” Yun Lan’s voice tore through the air. “Summon Hall Chief He Tian of the Hall of Law Enforcement! Immediately! Have him report to me at once!”

After the time it takes an incense stick to burn.

The air in the Outer Sect was so cold it could freeze souls.

He Tian, Chief of the Hall of Law Enforcement, appeared with ten Golden Core Elders. Each Elder’s face bore the resolute expression of one prepared to die.

Before them knelt two figures.

Night Patrol Deacon Zhang Cheng, his face as pale as gold paper, his eyes vacant.

Outer Disciple Wang Er, his crotch stained with a dark, foul-smelling patch.

The moment He Tian saw Wang Er, his brows furrowed into a knot, and his fingers unconsciously rubbed against each other within his sleeve.

“Speak.”

He uttered a single word, his voice devoid of warmth.

Zhang Cheng’s lips trembled violently, his teeth chattering frantically, producing a rapid clack-clack-clack sound. What had he witnessed? A Cultivation Technique betraying its master, Divine Sense wiped clean.

“Frost…” he croaked, his voice piercingly inhuman. “Summer… Frost…”

“Cultivation Technique…”

“My existence… was a mistake…”

He Tian listened to these mad ravings without a word.

The Golden Core Elders behind him exchanged uneasy glances.

Only He Tian’s eyes flashed with horror. He understood.

This wasn’t a mere clash of Cultivation Techniques. It was a higher-order Dao declaring a lower-order Dao to be false.

It was the crushing force of universal laws.

This confirmed the two words in the Ancestor’s Divine Decree—Quietus Annihilation!

“Where?” He Tian spat out another word.

Zhang Cheng’s trembling finger pointed toward the Outer Sect’s square, dilapidated wooden huts.

At the same moment…

Fang Zheng awoke from his cultivation.

One word: Blissful!

His mind felt clear and refreshed, his entire body relaxed and at ease. The world, as perceived by his senses, was like a crystal that had been repeatedly polished, utterly pure and radiant.

The Myriad Souls Heart-Devouring Sword’s savage killing intent had been completely cleansed by the Quietus Non-Thought True Insight, leaving behind only a pure, condensed sense of power.

“Quietus Non-Thought True Insight, badass!”

He stood up, stretched languidly, his joints cracking with a series of sharp pops.

The surrounding stillness was absolute, so profound that not even a whisper of wind or the chirp of an insect could be heard.

Far from panicking, Fang Zheng grinned.

“This is exactly what I’d expect from a protective domain created by an Ancient Great Power for their secluded cultivation. The effectiveness is unparalleled!”

Just as he was basking in self-satisfaction, the System’s notification arrived as scheduled.

Ding!

Congratulations, Host! You have successfully comprehended the rudimentary form of a Domain! Current effect: Absolute Stillness. Keep up the good work!

The last shred of doubt in Fang Zheng’s mind vanished like smoke. He now felt utterly invigorated.

With both power and mental stability secured, it was time to test his sword.

“I must be able to control my strikes perfectly. During the Grand Competition, I need to strike Li Mu’s Dao Heart precisely, without harming him in the slightest. I, Fang Zheng, believe in Subduing with Virtue.”

He mentally patted himself on the back for his righteous compassion.

His destination: the waterfall behind the Back Mountain.

He pushed open the wooden door and stepped outside.

The moment he left, the invisible force field enveloping the cabin silently dissipated.

In its place remained only a patch of barren, ash-gray scorched earth.

At the center of this scorched ground lay a few black ice crystals, emitting an ominous dark glow.

He Tian and his group moved with agonizing slowness, each step feeling like treading on a knife’s edge. The needles of their Spirit Detection Compasses twitched madly, rendered completely useless. This indicated that the terrifying “Source” had only recently departed.

They finally reached the wooden cabin.

Everyone halted, their gazes fixed on the circular patch of scorched earth before the cabin. This wasn’t from fire nor corrosive poisons, but rather the residue left after all life force had been completely drained and wrung dry.

He Tian’s gaze locked onto the tiny black ice crystals, no larger than grains of rice, scattered at the center of the scorched patch.

A spiritual premonition, born from his Late-Stage Golden Core cultivation, made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

He gestured for the Elder behind him to remain still, then slowly crouched down.

Vast Golden Core Spiritual Energy coalesced into a thick, solid azure light armor on his right hand. With this hand, strong enough to crush magical artifacts, he carefully reached for one of the black ice crystals.

His fingertip touched it.

He Tian’s face paled.

There was no explosion, no shockwave—only a chilling “declaration.”

A “principle” belonging to no known category of Spiritual Energy surged from the crystal into his fingertip, burrowing into his meridians.

In the next instant, his century-old cultivation of the Azure Cloud Orthodox Method went berserk within his body!

Inversion! Collision! Self-destruction!

The sensation surging through his meridians wasn’t pain. It was as if each meridian was trying to tie itself into a fatal knot!

Pfft!

A mouthful of blood surged to his throat, only to be forcibly swallowed back down.

He yanked his hand back violently, stumbling three steps backward, his gaze fixed on his right hand in horror.

The azure Spiritual Energy armor hadn’t shattered.

But corpse-like gray-black splotches were spreading across its surface.

Then, like crumbling plaster, the armor began to peel away, showering the ground with gray-black dust.

The Spiritual Energy composing the armor was dying!

He Tian forcibly suppressed the chaos raging within him, his voice reduced to a hoarse whisper. His eyes burned into the black ice crystals formed from Zhang Cheng’s blood as he forced out the conclusion through clenched teeth:

“This isn’t demonic energy… it’s the corruption of the Dao!”

“The Source just left! The Dao Resonance hasn’t dissipated… he must still be within the Sect!”

“Immediately! Seal off all areas of the Back Mountain! Not even a fly is allowed to pass!”

At the very moment his roar rang out,

Fang Zheng hummed a tuneless Azure Cloud Sect entrance ditty, his mood buoyant.

He stepped onto the first stone step leading to the Back Mountain.