Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal?

...

"Your Eminence, a major disaster has occurred!"

Deep within the Hundred Thousand Mountains, Tu Shan Yue, who had just finished setting up the grand formation, felt as if struck by lightning upon hearing these six words. She had barely returned to the demon race for less than two days. How could so many incidents keep popping up in such a short time?

Her fierce eyes locked onto the minor demon, gritting her teeth as she demanded, "What happened? Speak!"

"Your Eminence, didn't you order us to guard the spirit veins?" The minor demon trembled violently, its forehead pressed tightly against the ground as it kowtowed repeatedly, scales on its head scraping off and bleeding. "We all kept watch, even had all the minor demons surrounding and clinging to the spirit veins, but... the last three spirit veins we had left are... gone..."

"What?!" Tu Shan Yue was stunned.

This time, it had truly happened right under her nose. Moreover, while setting up the grand formation, her divine sense had been spread out, extremely sensitive to any disturbances in the surroundings. Yet even so, she hadn't detected anything. How could the spirit veins have been stolen so silently without a trace?

Unwilling to believe it, she followed the minor demon to investigate, with several demon sages anxiously trailing behind.

Tu Shan Yue glanced at the mountain's interior, her expression darkening. After finishing there, she went to inspect the Black Wind Sage's territory. These two spirit veins had also vanished without leaving any traces, likely taken by the same group that stole the Mountain-Moving Sage and Roc Sage's high-grade spirit veins.

"Could there really be cultivators in this world who've achieved the Dao through stealing?" Tu Shan Yue couldn't make sense of it. Stealing meant accumulating karma, and too much karma easily brought calamity. Whoever dared steal the demon race's spirit veins must have an incredibly thick skull!

"Your Eminence, what should we do? We don't have any high-grade spirit veins left now." The five demon sages looked worried, sighing repeatedly. To Tu Shan Yue, these sighs were no less than invisible pressure.

"We were already planning to investigate the humans in the Cangyun Realm," Tu Shan Yue clenched her fists, nails digging deep into her palms as she muttered to herself. "Now that the spirit veins have been stolen, this just makes our trip more convenient!" She suddenly turned, fixing the five demon sages with a murderous gaze: "If our demon race has no spirit veins, we'll take them from humans! Since the spirit veins were most likely stolen by human cultivators anyway, why hesitate?"

"Your Eminence, you mean...?!" The Roc Sage leaped up like a carp jumping out of water, overjoyed.

"Spread my command!" Tu Shan Yue flicked her sleeves, declaring fiercely: "Gather our forces! We march out of the Hundred Thousand Mountains with me!"

"Yes, Your Eminence!" The demon sages exchanged glances, unable to hide the excitement in their eyes. They had been thinking about how to persuade Tu Shan Yue to move against humans—now things were falling right into place.

Tu Shan Yue stood at the mountain peak, her gaze blazing. "Our demon race hasn't emerged for a thousand years, remaining dormant all this time because we chose to recuperate... not because we were afraid!"

...

Zhou Kingdom, capital city, Heavenly Demon Sect headquarters—Red Lantern House.

"From today onward, spirit stones will be distributed according to cultivation level: Golden Core stage receives a hundred high-grade spirit stones per month; Foundation Establishment stage gets a hundred mid-grade; Qi Refining stage receives a hundred low-grade. Those above Golden Core will receive allocations personally from me based on talent and needs!"

"Thank you, Ancestor! Long live the Ancestor!" A large group of female cultivators from the Heavenly Demon Sect knelt before Xiao Feng.

Under pressure, they had ultimately chosen to cultivate the Heavenly Demon Art that would give them bulging muscles. But now, hearing about the monthly spirit stone allocations, they couldn't muster even the slightest reluctance. They were even somewhat moved! The Ancestor might be strict, but he truly delivered on the spirit stones! This treatment probably matched that of the three great holy lands!

"Ancestor, although we now possess high-grade spirit veins, such extravagance may be unwise. They will eventually be exhausted..." The former madam of the Red Lantern House, now dressed in men's clothing—Young Master Yinyu—stood respectfully behind Xiao Feng, cautiously reminding him. "Moreover, you've recruited nearly all the young men and women in the capital. Even though they only receive one to ten low-grade spirit stones per month, their numbers add up."

Xiao Feng snorted dismissively. "If you want the horse to run, you must let it graze! Don't you understand such a simple principle?"

"But Ancestor, they're merely servants. There's no need to reward them with spirit stones."

"You only see them as servants, but fail to recognize they're also the foundation of our demonic sect."

"The foundation?" Young Master Yinyu was puzzled. "How so?"

Xiao Feng gazed deeply at the mortals mining in the spirit veins. "Although most talented cultivators in the Cangyun Realm come from cultivation families, with few mortals rising to prominence through their own efforts, if we trace back, aren't we all originally mortals? Mortals can't rise because their paths are blocked by those talented cultivators. In truth, among them are potentially gifted individuals who either get killed for obstructing cultivation families' interests or perish in resource struggles against so-called seniors."

Having risen from a mortal to become the demonic sect's ancestor, he knew full well how difficult this path was and understood mortals' potential.

"I'm giving the Heavenly Demon Sect an opportunity, and these mortals a chance. The Heavenly Demon Art doesn't demand exceptional talent—it only requires ambition and ruthlessness from its practitioners!"

Young Master Yinyu nodded vaguely. Born a prodigy in the demonic sect, he couldn't empathize with these mortals. But he believed he could be ruthless and ambitious—otherwise, he wouldn't have survived as a madam protecting the sect's remnants for so many years.

"Ancestor, with the Cangyun Realm's dwindling resources, what will we do when these spirit stones run out? Spirit veins don't regenerate within a thousand years."

"Then we'll take more by force," Xiao Feng said matter-of-factly.

"By force?" Young Master Yinyu was slightly stunned. "That would invite trouble."

"A demonic sect fears such things?" Xiao Feng scoffed.

But inwardly, he calculated—he'd only stolen one spirit vein from the demon race. They still had four left! As long as the demons retained spirit veins, they wouldn't risk leaving the Hundred Thousand Mountains. Thus, his Heavenly Demon Sect remained safe until he stole all their spirit veins.

With this thought, Xiao Feng clasped his hands behind his back, a smug smile curling his lips. This was what they called seeking wealth through danger! This was the strategy of veteran demonic cultivators! Youngsters, take notes!

...

Moon Shadow Sect.

With Chen Huaian and Li Qingran's approval, the fortune-telling girl set up her divination stall right at the spirit vein's exit. Moon Shadow Sect disciples who mined spirit ore would give her a portion for herself, keep some, and pay a small fee for divination. In return, she peered into the heavenly secrets for them.

At first, the disciples were highly curious about heavenly mysteries. But after having all foreseeable matters divined, their enthusiasm waned.

With no customers for half a day, the girl propped her chin in her hands, staring boredly at the sky. "Maybe I should divine for the Moon Shadow Sect..." She pouted slightly and sighed softly. Though she knew an expert like Chen Huaian's protection meant the sect likely faced no crises, her itching fingers still wanted to try.

The girl retrieved an ancient wooden box from her sleeve and carefully opened it. Inside lay a set of yellowed divination cards. Her fingers lightly traced the patterns as she closed her eyes and formed hand seals. The cards moved without wind, spreading into an eight-trigram formation. As she immersed her spirit, the surrounding air seemed to solidify, with only the cards' symbols glowing brighter.

Suddenly, Rice Bucket's fingers twitched. Her brows furrowed, and her face turned deathly pale. "Th-this is...?"

The divination showed "Well" (Water over Wind) overlapping with "Cauldron" (Fire over Wind), foretelling imminent catastrophe. More terrifyingly, the upper trigram "Water" represented the north, while "Fire" indicated the south—combined, this meant attacks from both directions. The "Wind" element signified assaults from all sides.

Beads of cold sweat formed on Rice Bucket's forehead as she delved deeper into the vision. Horrifying scenes unfolded before her—countless demonic beasts surging from the Hundred Thousand Mountains, blotting out the sky and sun. Leading them was a female demon in plain white robes with nine tails, her murderous gaze seeming to pierce through the heavenly secrets to meet Rice Bucket's own.

Where the demonic army passed, vegetation withered and rivers ran dry. Their targets unmistakably included... the Moon Shadow Sect!

...