Volcanic Age

"Kya!!"

While only the center of the tenth floor had collapsed, this time, things were different.

The entire ninth floor caved in as the courtesans on the upper floors dropped down to the eighth. The courtesans who had originally been on the eighth floor screamed just as loudly as those from the ninth at the sudden bolt of lightning.

A thick cloud of dust filled the air, making it nearly impossible to see as the courtesans coughed incessantly.

The pillars of the Southern Fire House creaked uneasily, struggling to endure the tremors from the consecutive punches.

"..."

The Murderous Harlot looked down from her perch on the tenth floor. Her face was pale, and her expression grim.

‘What the hell just…’

Everything had happened so quickly that her mind couldn't keep up. She wondered how the Silent Messenger was this strong.

The Murderous Harlot, looking down at the rising dust cloud, quickly stepped back when she felt an eerie sensation.

A sword sliced through the air, narrowly missing where she had just been standing.

The Murderous Harlot raised her head and looked at the sword's owner.

"Tough Bastard…!"

"You have good senses."

Unlike the Murderous Harlot with her horrid expression, Jiang Nengchu showed no particular emotion. He was still the same, blank and stony.

“If you surrender obediently, I’ll spare your life.”

"Hmph. Do you think I'm crazy? Like I'd trust you," the Murderous Harlot said, as if she didn't care about what he had to say, and thrust her palm forward, stirring up a palm wind.

Anticipating her move, Jiang Nengchu swung his sword sharply, creating a sword wind that canceled out the palm wind.

If one only considered their realms, they were quite similar. While Jiang Nengchu had the upper hand in terms of techniques and martial skills, in terms of absolute cultivation, he was still slightly inferior.

"The Xia Wu Sect Master is dead."

Jiang Nengchu glanced at the hole in the floor.

“I will lead the Xia Wu Sect now.”

“Hohoho!"

The Murderous Harlot threw her head back and laughed unpleasantly.

“Do you really think the Xia Wu Sect Master would die from something like this?”

Jiang Nengchu blinked in surprise at her confident attitude, which was completely different from her soured expression.

"None of you know how much of a monster the Xia Wu Sect Master truly is. The entire world has been fooled by the Sect Master. She isn't human."

Contrary to her confidence, she looked afraid of something.

However, that fear wasn't directed toward Jiang Nengchu, but the Xia Wu Sect Master herself, Vast Gate.

Not long after, Jiang Nengchu frowned.

Just as the Murderous Harlot had said, the dust cloud that had obscured their vision cleared, revealing the Xia Wu Sect Master.

"Please, please be satisfied with those brats down below…"

The Murderous Harlot's voice trembled unusually.

***

Vast Gate covered her face with her white, dainty, and pristine jade-like hands. The fierce eyes visible between her fingers stood out.

"How dare, how dare, how dare you! Not just anywhere, but my face!"

The raw anger in her voice was so intense, it made anyone pause just from hearing it.

Zhou Xuuchan could see her bloodshot eyes. Around them, skin that had lost its elasticity began to grow visible.

Just as he was about to strike her face, a white-tinted defensive qi shot out, blocking his blow.

No matter how powerful his blow had been, he wasn't able to break the barrier formed by Vast Gate's innate defensive qi. In fact, Vast Gate had been able to expand her barrier, pushing him back momentarily.

“You tenacious bitch!” Zhou Xuchuan cursed, sticking out his tongue.

Even though her spine had been broken and she suffered immense internal injuries, she had managed to avoid his finishing blow by reacting instinctively with her defensive qi.

"You!"

Vast Gate didn’t take her eyes off Zhou Xuchuan as she stretched out an arm to the side to grab a nearby courtesan.

“Kya–"

Something bizarre happened. The scream that was about to erupt stopped, and the courtesan who owned the voice instantly turned into a mummy.

Her once-black hair turned white like that of an old man, and her flesh was nowhere to be found, as if she had starved for decades.

At the same time, Vast Gate’s face also changed. Her skin, which had lost elasticity and wrinkles, returned to its original state.

Zhou Xuchuan muttered involuntarily upon seeing this.

“The Empty Hand Demonic Art (素手魔功)…”

A demonic art of extreme yin and extreme demonic qi!

A demonic art that every cultist would want, so viscous that it could be compared to the Six Great Demonic Arts.

The important part wasn't that her hands turned stark white when she cultivated or that her yin qi was comparable to the Frigid Ice Divine Palm of the North Sea.

No, those were just characteristics. What was truly notorious about this technique was its training method.

If yang meant male, yin meant female.

Since the source of the Empty Hand Demonic Art was yin qi, in order to absorb this needed yin qi, she had to source it from a woman.

Well, saying she had to 'source it' was putting it nicely. In reality, she stole it from them like she was using the Great Cosmic Absorption Art[1] and caused her targets to die.

This was the secret behind her eternal youth, even at over seventy years of age.

Moreover, the younger the prey, the better, especially if they hadn't yet lost their virginity.

“Don’t think that I will die so easily.”

Zhou Xuchuan glanced at Vast Gate from head to toe before looking up at the ceiling and shouting, "Keep everyone from approaching us, and if any of them look suspicious, deal with them!"

He felt the gathered presences start to move.

"Just who the hell are you?!" Vast Gate asked angrily.

"Who do you think I am?"

Zhou Xuchuan glanced at Vast Gate again with a sharp gaze.

wasn’t focused on her exposed flesh, revealed by the flowing hem of her clothes, but on her hunched back and hands that emitted yin qi.

"I've never heard of the Exalted Sword Immortal having a descendant. Moreover, one that cultivated a poison art to this degree?"

‘As expected of the Vast Gate Star.’

It wasn't for nothing that she was in charge of the Dark Heavens Association’s intelligence.

In terms of raw information, she had access to more than even Blessed Existence.

While she had only seen his technique once during a split second of desperation as he ambushed her, she had immediately recognized the technique of the Exalted Sword Immortal.

"What do you mean, who the hell am I? I'm the Silent Messenger."

As he spoke, he used the Thousand Catty Ballast to drive his body into the ground and stomp his foot.

Tai'e, which had previously plunged into the ground, bounced up into the air from the shockwave of Zhou Xuchuan's stomp and spun brilliantly before landing in his hand.

“Judging from the wrinkles that appeared earlier, it seems that you've consumed a lot of yin qi. Are you going to be okay?"

"Hmph, I was only a little wounded because I let my guard down. I'm perfectly fine…"

“Is that so?”

Zhou Xuchuan cut her off and flew forward. Even though he had just consumed a considerable amount of his qi, his movements were still like lightning.

"How reckless!" Vast Gate snorted as she slashed the sword that was coming at her neck with her hand, deflecting it.

“Ha!”

A white mist flowed from her hand and wrapped around the sword. Even one of the Three Swords of the Spring and Autumn Annals wasn't able to withstand the extreme yin qi of the Empty Hand Demonic Art, quickly getting covered in frost.

Flicker!

Although he slowly began to freeze, Zhou Xuchuan didn't care and unleashed the first half of the Twenty-four Sword Forms of the Plum Blossom.

Vast Gate skillfully blocked the sword strokes, recalling all the information she had about the previous and current Plum Blossom Swordsmen.

Her flickering hands, gracefully blocking each stroke without dodging a single one, were a sight to behold. Additionally, the extreme yin qi released from her hands gradually grew stronger, trying to freeze Tai'e.

Noticing that his sword was slowly turning into ice, Zhou Xuchuan quickly stepped back to increase the distance between himself and Vast Gate.

“Hohoho," Vast Gate laughed loudly as if asking how her skills were.

“Xia Wu Sect Master.”

Zhou Xuchuan swung his sword lightly, shaking off the frost that had accumulated on the blade.

"I respect your ability to pretend that nothing happened to you."

At first, he half-believed her nonchalance, but the exchange of blows just now had made it clear.

Vast Gate's body wasn't normal.

Even if it had just been a punch, hadn't it been a full-out attack while she was defenseless?

If that level of internal injury could be healed by merely absorbing yin qi, the Empty Hand Demonic Art would have been the strongest art in the world.

"Did you know that you haven't moved a single step since a little while ago?"

"..."

Vast Gate was about to say something before she closed her mouth. Instead, her face distorted horribly.

Her spine was broken, and it was difficult for her even to stand up straight.

Without forcefully adjusting her back muscles with her qi, she wouldn't have been able to stand.

Her internal organs, ruptured from the blow to her abdomen were also a complete mess, and the searing pain across her body was unbearable.

"Incredible. You really are impressive."

It wasn’t sarcasm. This was pure admiration.

"That's exactly why I hate you, Dark Heavens Association."

"What…?!"

Squelch!

Vast Gate’s eyes widened.

That one sentence made her doubt her own ears, and in her confusion, her already clouded judgment completely faltered.

Right as her eyes widened, Vast Gate felt a dagger pierce through her chest from behind, accompanied by a jolt of excruciating pain.

“Ugh!”

Vomiting blood, Vast Gate slowly turned her head around. There stood Little Ghost with an indifferent expression.

‘The one who had been hiding upstairs… no, if she's a bitch, then…!’

"Not a chance, Vast Gate."

It felt like a bolt of lightning struck her mind. In the midst of her second shock, this time, a hole pierced straight through her heart.

The sword that had been covered in frost pierced through her from the front, splitting the flesh on her back open.

The hand that was trying to grab Little Ghost soon fell limply.

“Who… who the hell… how…?"

As the one in charge of all intelligence, Vast Gate's shock was even greater.

The Dark Heavens Association was thoroughly under control.

The structure of the Seven Stars Division and the names of its leaders were only known by their titles. Few actually knew each leader's true identity.

Only a few people knew that Vast Gate was actually the Xia Wu Sect Master.

However, to think it wasn't an insider but an outsider who had revealed that fact.

The Violet Haze Sword Sutra or whatever didn't matter at all. The statement that Zhou Xuchuan had just made was one of the Dark Heavens Association's biggest secrets.

"I'll send the others along to the afterlife soon so you won't be bored. Moreover, when you see them later, tell the Archive that I enjoyed the elixirs."

Vast Gate's face, twisted with pain, gradually shifted to one of shock.

"Oh, and you were looking for the one who submerged the Tomb of the Ominous Demon, right? That was me."

She had to let the others know.

The man in front of her would later become their greatest threat.

However, she couldn't bring herself to voice her thoughts.

Flicker.

The Southern Fire House was on fire.

The pavilion, which had been decorated crimson as if it would burst into flames at any moment, was actually now fully consumed by fire, burning fiercely.

"Fire!"

The red flames swept around like the tongue of an evil spirit, engulfing the surroundings. Instead of moonlight, the surroundings were lit by the fiery blaze.

Although the onlookers tried to put out the fire, it spread so quickly that it left people speechless and unsure of what to do.

Fortunately, the buildings surrounding the Southern Fire House were far enough away that the flames did not spread to them.

"I heard someone had rented the entire brothel today…"

“What happened!”

"No! It was my dream to spend a night there!"

A few of the men among the onlookers looked extremely sad.

"Hey, don't you think it's his handiwork?"

“The Tough Bastard?”

"Isn't the fact that the Murderous Harlot resides in the Southern Flame House known to Everyone? Considering it's entirely been rented out, that means…"

Gulp.

The Arsenic Pig, the Viper Sword, the Murderous Harlot.

The Three Strongest who once ruled Zhengzhou no longer had any power, vanishing into the depths of the night.

There had been many battles over the throne of Zhengzhou in the past, but few had been as tumultuous as this one.

The Tough Bastard, Jiang Nengchu.

People only thought of his name instead of the Three.

There was no Pig, no Viper, no Harlot anymore.

The only one standing in front of them was the Bastard.

In the end, the fire that had illuminated Zhengzhou in place of moonlight all night long finally died down after the pavilion was completely burned to the ground. When dawn broke, all that remained were the ashes of the Southern Fire House, and corpses burned beyond recognition.

1. A reference to the Sun Moon Holy Cult from The Smiling Proud Wanderer by Jin Yong. ☜

Cyncoco's Thoughts

The title is a juxtaposition, as Zhou Xuchuan's earlier title was the Huashan fengchu, or Mount Hua's Phoenix Slayer, while this chapter's title is Vast Gate xingchu, which can be read as either the Fall of the Vast Gate Star, or the Vast Gate Star Slayer.

Then, do you think there might be a Vast Gate Star Shitter?ehehe.