Martial Saint!

On the earth.

The blue-robed figure gazed into the distance.

The powerful wind created by the collision swept over.

Her gauzy veil hugged her form, outlining the wind's slender grace.

She gently exhaled a fragrant breath.

The Lightning Demon Venerable steadied itself.

Its eye twitched as it looked upon the fist wind that raged for hundreds of miles, the furrows plowed into the earth, and the mirage of green mountains stretching on and on.

If that punch had landed...

It feared its life would not be spared.

Luckily, it had been aimed at the Devouring Country Demon Venerable.

Second Brother's skin is thick and flesh is tough—he won't die.

"So it's you. Turns out you're the Yaochi Immortal."

The Lightning Demon Venerable recognized the blue-robed maiden, its aura bursting forth, lightning brewing within the clouds, gathering to strike.

"Want to fight? You're no match for me. Or how about waiting for that lion and coming at me together?" Yaochi Immortal said with a smile.

The Lightning Demon Venerable sensed and its expression changed.

Three thousand miles away, an Azure Lion was cloud-ascending, barreling away without looking back, its gorgeous mane torn open, demon blood gushing, demon energy leaking continuously.

The Devouring Country Demon Venerable was wounded.

And not lightly, either.

"Third Brother, run! She can destroy my domain with one slap. Even if we join hands, we're no match for her. Before the Demon Saint arrives, the three of us had best not split up."

He sent a voice transmission to the Lightning Demon Venerable.

The Lightning Demon Venerable's eye twitched.

"We'll meet again."

It turned into a bolt of lightning, ready to flee.

Behind the blue-robed girl, her aura pierced the heavens—a three-thousand-zhang-tall Divine Woman Dharma form, tall and domineering, clad in gold robes and crowned, stood between heaven and earth, parting the floating clouds.

The Goddess's jade palm extended from her sleeve.

The Four Seas and Eight Desolates all trembled.

A thousand miles away, the Lightning Demon Venerable's figure flickered wobbly into sight, its eyes dark and sullen, its demon energy manifesting a thousand-zhang Thunder Peng phantom, thirty thousand bolts of lightning leaping and dancing.

"You really think I'm afraid of you?"

The Lightning Demon Venerable suddenly accelerated—a thousand miles in a single breath. High-speed movement produced tens of thousands of shadow clones, each morphing into a peregrine falcon. Their paths wove a cage of green light, converging in an instant to a single point.

"Explode!"

Tens of thousands of shadow clones self-destructed simultaneously.

The central energy level—tens of millions cauldrons.

Facing such a powerful foe, the Lightning Demon Venerable dared not slack. Its first move was a Killing Move that ordinary Seventh Realm couldn't withstand head-on.

But that blue-robed maiden neither dodged nor avoided.

After the explosion, the Goddess Dharma form was riddled with holes.

"I'll blast your Dharma form to pieces!"

The Lightning Demon Venerable sneered coldly.

The next moment, its expression hardened.

The Goddess Dharma form was instantly restored.

"How could this be?"

Little did it know, Yaochi Immortal had long since elevated the Supreme Four Seas and Eight Desolate Earth Eternal Technique to the Divine Skills level—ageless, undying, with endless lifespan, even able to rejuvenate herself. Her constitution and recovery were so powerful that even among dragon kings of the same realm, she might not be outdone.

The Demon Venerable's face turned manic, unleashing wild demon energy with zero restraint—azure lightning energy formed a sun a hundred miles wide in diameter. The Lightning Demon Venerable vanished as if by teleportation, appearing before Yaochi Immortal together with its Great Sun.

"Explode!"

Extreme brilliance flared.

It was as if the world was about to collapse.

Heaven and earth were saturated with azure blue.

A net-like crater a thousand miles across emerged.

Dense clouds rolled, obscuring the light of the Three Suns.

Within ten thousand miles, all was plunged into temporary night.

"Huff—"

The Lightning Demon Venerable's chest heaved, both eyes bloodshot, feathers falling everywhere, muscles ruptured from demonic energy swelling within them.

The Goddess Dharma form was breaking apart.

"That's it? The Dharma form is the externalization of the spirit in battle. If it breaks apart, either your stamina is exhausted and you can't maintain it, or you're dead."

The Lightning Demon Venerable gathered lightning in its palm.

"Break!"

An energy beam shot into the explosion's heart.

Only to be slapped aside by a small hand.

It saw that Yaochi Immortal's petite frame had shrunken down to that of a little girl—her face childlike, but her hair all silver.

Impossible to say if she'd grown smaller,

or older.

The small girl moved, seizing the opportunity as the Lightning Demon Venerable panted in its attack's aftermath, bursting forth at a speed far beyond before.

Not much slower than Lightning Demon Venerable itself.

Puchi—

The Lightning Demon Venerable's eyes bulged—the tiny fist landed on its lower abdomen, and its body felt as if collided with a meteorite. Sour fluids and body liquids shook loose, its demon energy scattered in one blow.

"Damn, what the hell is with this woman?"

Its gaze was bewildered.

"I just wanted to test you with my Dharma form, but you went all out right away and blew it up."

Yaochi Immortal sounded annoyed.

The tender fist punched through the demon body.

She yanked a bloody intestine right out.

The scene was utterly brutal.

"Die!"

The Lightning Demon Venerable raised both hands, lightning converging as it struck downward.

Yaochi Immortal braced both hands, refusing to dodge, shouted sharply, then forced through the wave of lightning and tore the demon venerable apart.

Riiip—

Blood sprayed everywhere.

The Falcon Demon tore in two and flew apart.

Yet in the distance, it recombined into one.

For demon venerables, spending demonic power to instantly heal such wounds was basic stuff. Of course, if its head or vital spots got shattered, even it would find recovery impossible.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Yaochi Immortal flew in, fists and feet in tandem.

Their clash—every punch hit flesh.

Full of the minimalist tension of motion.

The shockwaves from their collisions blasted thousands of miles of the land into a scarred wasteland, battle smoke rising everywhere.

An hour passed.

Yaochi Immortal was drenched in demon blood.

She looked down at the falcon demon, barely alive on the ground.

The Demon Venerable's demonic power was depleted, no longer able to fight.

"That's all? So void."

Yaochi Immortal couldn't help but mutter.

Still, after thinking carefully, in terms of endurance, among Seventh Realm cultivators, there really might be no one able to match her.

"Hahahaha..."

The Lightning Demon Venerable laughed wildly.

Suddenly, it rose up in a final burst of life.

It wrapped its arms tight around Yaochi Immortal, squeezing fiercely.

Yaochi Immortal's face remained calm.

An earth-shaking explosion erupted.

"Let's die together, Yaochi Immortal. I will not die. Sooner or later, the Gods will restore me."

The Lightning Demon Venerable's aura vanished.

Yaochi Immortal stood where she was, bloodied and mangled.

"Tch. If you can't win, you self-destruct."

From her lower abdomen, a pool of immortal-qi-wreathed water brimmed with boundless vitality, in a flash restoring Yaochi Immortal.

Her appearance, too, reverted to that of a maiden.

Vaguely, her aura grew even more powerful.

"The divine soul has fled. Without a physical body, one's Seventh Realm cultivation can't be maintained—sooner or later, the soul will be scattered and perish."

With a wave of her sleeve, she vanished into the Void.

...

Days later.

The Demon Race's main camp.

The Devouring Country Demon Venerable and Mountain Forest Demon Venerable paced back and forth.

A Falcon Demon soul hovered about as well.

"Why hasn't the Demon Saint come yet?"

"Yaochi Immortal appeared in the Kun Gu Realm. That one was already at the Middle Stage of Seventh Realm before leaving the Xia Realm. Decades have passed now, most likely she's End Realm. Even when I used all my power, my domain shattered from a single punch. Third Brother wasn't a match either—only self-destruction let him barely let his soul escape."

The Lightning Demon Venerable's soul spoke resentfully:

"That Yaochi Immortal, her constitution, stamina, and recovery are all terrifying—she might have some undying Divine Skill. I nearly crippled her several times, yet she restored herself, each time in bizarre fashion."

The Mountain Forest Demon Venerable sighed:

"Temporarily halt the assault and summon the Demon Emperors. Otherwise, Lu Chenzhou will pick us off one by one."

...

Before the Imperial City.

The Three Suns Immortal and Cold Moon Immortal looked ahead.

"The Demon Race has pulled back its troops."

"Since the war began, they've lost twelve Demon Emperors—Young Friend Lu alone killed half of them."

"Xia Realm's experts have also arrived. I sensed a Heavenly Realm battle. Lightning Demon Venerable self-destructed."

"Corpse Palace no longer holds the advantage against us—these people from Xia Realm are truly formidable."

"It's just—who knows how to withstand the Demon Saint."

Buzz—

An electric flash swept through the sky.

Lu Chenzhou landed upon the earth.

He hurried along while cultivating Lightning Dao.

Now that the Demon Emperors had retreated to Corpse Palace, he was idle, so he decided to contact Yaochi Immortal to leave this realm.

"Greetings, Sages."

"Thank you, Young Friend Lu."

The Three Suns Immortal wore an admiring look.

Cold Moon Immortal silently regarded Lu Chenzhou.

"How are my companions?"

"They've been waiting for you."

"Is there a cross-border transmission array here in this realm?"

Lu Chenzhou had discovered on research that if there were no Cave Heaven Treasures, taking a group of people away would be unrealistic. Moreover, with his current realm, he couldn't travel the Void for long, and finding the Xia Realm was a vague hope at best.

Cold Moon Immortal asked,

"You wish to depart?"

"Yes."

"We do have a transmission array in the secret realm, but it links to a world that's been completely corrupted. We destroyed it long ago to prevent invasion."

Lu Chenzhou was startled.

Then how did Yaochi Immortal get here?

"No hurry to leave. The council has promised Three Suns Palace to find a way to resolve the Kun Gu Realm's crisis."

A figure emerged from thin air.

It was Yaochi Immortal.

Lu Chenzhou's eyes lit up.

"Greetings, Senior."

Yaochi Immortal nodded slightly.

"I've been watching you these past days. Not bad, though it's too risky to spar with a Demon Venerable."

Lu Chenzhou gave an awkward smile.

"True, but the gains were worth it."

He had comprehended the Lightning Dao and intended to use it as a basis to deduce Speed Extreme Dao and master the Three Great Extreme Daos.

The Three Suns Immortal and Cold Moon Immortal were inwardly tense.

This female fairy was at least Late Stage of the Seventh Realm.

Lu Chenzhou let out a sigh of relief.

With an Absolute Peak backing him, he no longer feared.

"The two of you, to the secret realm for a chat."

The Immortal waved her hand, and a doorway appeared.

...

Three Suns Secret Realm.

The Xia Realm grandmasters all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Greetings, Yaochi Immortal!"

Most of the grandmasters had never seen Yaochi Immortal in person. Now that they saw her, they found her awe-inspiring, like a goddess descended.

Lu Chenzhou recalled—

He had indeed met Yaochi Immortal before.

But he could never remember what she looked like.

He only recalled—a sense of great beauty.

Now he snuck a glance—Yaochi Immortal wore a veil, but her exposed brows and eyes were exceptionally beautiful.

Yaochi Immortal looked over.

"What is it?"

"Um... The Demon Saint is coming. I wonder what the council has arranged? Will my Eldest Senior Brother come?"

"Don't worry about it. Since we're in the Kun Gu Realm, we're actually safest. We're already marked by the Demon Saint. Unless we can return to the Xia Realm and be sheltered by the Great Curtain, every other world is turbulent. Now that the Forbidden Zone will stop at nothing to hunt us, we might as well lay an ambush."

The two conversed via voice transmission.

Lu Chenzhou thus learned a great secret.

Everyone rested in the secret realm for a day.

...

The next day.

The Three Suns Immortal took Cold Moon Immortal to find Lu Chenzhou and Yaochi Immortal. The old woman hesitated, then said, "Now that the Demon Saint is about to arrive, we can't just sit and await death. Fellow Daoist Lu, there's something I'd beg of you. If you can accomplish it, we may obtain a treasure to resist the Demon Saint."