Chapter 149 Shifang Nether Soil Lord — Picking Up a Demon Race Big Shot

After Lian Mu and Ji Mingyue finished plotting to kidnap the Feng Clan’s alchemy cultivator, a patrolling senior brother escorted them back to their quarters.

As long as no elders were around, disciples wandering outside would be immediately targeted and forcibly sent back to Elegant Seasons Peak.

This time it wasn’t Xiao Jin, so Lian Mu was in a much better mood. As soon as she returned to her bamboo hut, she shut the door and locked the windows tight.

She rummaged through the cabinet and found that tower-shaped luminous stone, now covered in dust. Ever since she learned someone lived inside it, she hadn’t carried it around again.

Lian Mu tapped the luminous stone a few times — no response. So she dug out Green Bean, squeezed its shell, and made it squeak loudly.

“So noisy.”

A voice finally came from inside the luminous stone.

Lian Mu immediately said, “Senior, I have a favor to ask.”

She squeezed Green Bean again, making it squeak even louder.

Suddenly she felt dizzy, her grip loosened, her vision darkened, and when she opened her eyes again, her surroundings had changed.

A pitch-black space with no visible end. In the darkness, countless eyes watched her but dared not come near.

A wisp of black mist approached from behind, forming into the upper body of a handsome young man in white, who leaned close to her ear. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you?”

Lian Mu didn’t turn around. “If you wanted to, you would’ve done it long ago.”

Xuan Che drifted before her, expressionless. “You want a favor but bring no offering. Is this how you ask for help?”

“I forgot. Next time, I’ll make it up to you,” Lian Mu said. “Senior, you’re demon race, right?”

Xuan Che sat cross-legged in the air, looking like he was waiting for her to explain.

Lian Mu glanced around. The red eyes in the darkness still stared at her. She could feel the restless demonic beasts.

To control so many demonic beasts… he had to be demon race.

“You’re not completely foolish.” Xuan Che said coldly. “So? Here to eliminate me on behalf of your righteous sect?”

Lian Mu said, “With your power, I’m certainly no match for you.”

“Good self-awareness.” Xuan Che said. “Knowing I’m demon race, aren’t you afraid I’ll infect you with filth?”

“My master says someone like me can’t fall into demonhood, so I’m not worried,” Lian Mu replied.

Xuan Che’s face didn’t change. “Your master has sharp eyes. But I recall you took part in the Immortal Sect Grand Competition. If the other sects find out about me, your cultivation path ends here.”

“I’m not afraid — why should you be?” Lian Mu said. “You’ve stayed here for so long. Even if I throw away this stone now, you can’t wash your hands clean of it.”

Anyway, since she had it, she might as well use it. She could hide a stone just fine.

“Heh.” Xuan Che sneered. “You’re quite bold. Colluding with demon race means expulsion from the sect, by Immortal Sect rules.”

“Senior, you talk too much. Staying here can’t be good for you, right? I looked at the runes under the luminous stone — you’re not dead. You’re sealed inside, and your cultivation is suppressed.”

“Even if you train for another few centuries, I wouldn’t lose to you with just a tenth of my power,” Xuan Che said. “Trying to threaten me with the seal won’t work.”

Lian Mu said, “I can’t kill you, but I can hand this tower over to the Four Great Sects.”

Xuan Che raised an eyebrow, scanning her up and down. “You’re good at threats… what do you want?”

Lian Mu thought, As expected, then said, “It’s actually no big deal. I want to borrow a piece of land.”

“You want territory from me?” Xuan Che’s face was blank as he thought for a moment. “That depends on whether you have the skill.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a ball of black mist formed in his hand, gradually shaping into a sword. The sword was silvery gray, half a man tall, with a moon phase diagram carved along the blade. At the top, the crescent moon glowed faintly.

Lian Mu recognized it at a glance. She’d seen it in the library pavilion — it was ranked seventh among the Ten Great Swords: the Moonlight Sword.

How could such a sword be in a demon race’s hands?

No… a demon race who wielded a famed sword must have an extraordinary identity.

“You’re the first to dare fight me for territory.” Xuan Che raised the Moonlight Sword. “Defeat me, and you’ll be the new lord of Shifang Nether Soil.”

Lian Mu: “???”

Lian Mu: “Wait, what I meant was—”

A greenish sword flew out of the darkness and landed in Xuan Che’s left hand. He glanced at it, his expression disgusted. “This is your new sword?”

“Take it.” Xuan Che flipped his wrist and tossed Wealth Bringer to Lian Mu. “A sword cultivator should settle things a sword cultivator’s way — less talk.”

“I truly can’t kill you, but I can beat you up. I don’t like bullying kids. If you can lay a hand on me, you win.”

As soon as he finished, he charged with his sword.

Since he attacked first, Lian Mu had no choice but to draw her sword too.

“Your spirit blade — I know its weakness,” Xuan Che murmured as he blinked behind her. “The demonic beasts are the key to summoning it.”

Lian Mu sidestepped, but he anticipated her move, sweeping his sword to block her path. As she stopped, the blade turned upward, cutting off her second escape.

Lian Mu’s fingers hesitated. “…”

So fast.

“Your spirit blade restrains demon race, but if you can’t summon it, what’s the use?”

Xuan Che’s face remained calm, as if she wasn’t worth his attention at all.

“That pack of demonic beasts only listens to me. I won’t give you the chance.”

Lian Mu parried several strikes, her footwork quick yet chaotic, barely escaping his siege.

“Senior, you misunderstand me.”

Her wrist bones felt like they were sparking. Wielding one sword felt like handling two — each strike seamless, no gaps. She couldn’t see his sword, only sensed it by the wind it stirred.

“Misunderstand? Isn’t your courage to provoke me based on that spirit blade? This sword of yours would have shattered with a squeeze. If you hadn’t been lucky in the Pangu Illusion Realm, you’d never have beaten the guardian beast, let alone me.”

Xuan Che’s strikes grew fiercer, the full moon on the Moonlight Sword beginning to glow silver.

Lian Mu had heard of the Moonlight Sword’s unique power: using spiritual power to resonate with the moonlight stored in the blade. When the full moon lit up, it reached its supreme state.

The cold, silvery blade slashed toward her shoulder. Lian Mu finally got serious. Frowning slightly, she grabbed the Moonlight Sword’s edge with her bare hand.

“Trying to lose a hand?” Xuan Che showed no mercy and pressed down hard.

The blade split her palm open, but Lian Mu clenched her fist in an instant, crushing the blade into drifting black mist.

Xuan Che’s eyes widened in surprise. He pulled the sword back — the blade was now half gone.

Without hesitation, Lian Mu thrust her sword tip at the red mark between his brows. Xuan Che caught her sword with two fingers, black mist swirling as the Moonlight Sword restored itself.

Lian Mu felt her sword pinned by his grip. She chopped downward, splitting his hand open from fingers to forearm.

Xuan Che didn’t dodge. No blood spilled; instead, black mist gushed from the wound, twisting a few times before his arm reformed.

Lian Mu’s sword grazed his cheek. With her bleeding hand, she channeled spiritual power to hold the falling blood in midair, then shot it at him like an arrow.

Xuan Che finally moved his feet, stepping back two paces, but one blood drop still struck his robe and ignited.

Black mist and flames flared up. Xuan Che immediately severed the burning arm, which was then devoured by the ground below.

Xuan Che’s severed shoulder grew a new arm. He flexed his fingers and said calmly, “Haven’t seen you for a few days and you’ve improved quite a bit. I’ll grant you that you’re qualified to be my opponent, but you probably haven’t fought someone like me before—do you have any idea what a thousand years of cultivation means?”

Lian Mu: “…”

So he really had a thousand years of cultivation—no wonder he was so strong.

“Even if you chop me down to just a head, my body will regenerate on its own.” Xuan Che leaned close to her. “Don’t waste your—”

Pa!

Lian Mu took advantage of his moment of posturing and slapped him hard across the face without hesitation, knocking the lower half of his face askew.

She looked at her own hand. “I touched you.”

Xuan Che had assumed she’d realized the gulf between them and wouldn’t dare make a move—he hadn’t expected her to strike. His calm expression finally cracked.

“Xuan Che, I won,” Lian Mu said. “You said it yourself—if I touched you, I’d win. A bet’s a bet.”

“…”

His face twisted for a while before he forced it back into place. His eyes were full of murderous rage as he gritted his teeth. “That was a sneak attack.”

Lian Mu said, “A sneak attack is a valid tactic. Xuan Che, let’s talk this out. I’m not here to steal your territory. And you didn’t really want to beat me up, right? If you did, you’d have flattened me with your first strike.”

“I just want to borrow this piece of land to grow some spirit plants.” Lian Mu pointed to the black mist beneath their feet. “You have plenty of demonic beasts here—it’s perfect for what I want to grow.”

Xuan Che glanced at the seeds she produced and fell silent for a long time. Then he said, “What do you take this place for?”

Lian Mu said, “I’ll just borrow a small patch. It won’t affect you. Once I’ve repaired my dantian and don’t need spirit replenishing pills anymore, I’ll give it back.”

Now that this luminous stone was useful to her, she didn’t care if a demon race big shot lived inside. Once she’d drained its value, she’d just hand it over to the sect—after five years, what’s another month or two?

“Aren’t you lonely in here by yourself? I’ll plant some things to keep you company,” Lian Mu said. “You reminded me about the spirit-blood fusion before, so I know you’re not a bad person. If you get bored later, I can come in and spar with you a few rounds.”

Lian Mu added, “You won’t lose anything either way.”

Xuan Che’s face was blank. “A bet’s a bet. You can have a plot of land. But since you sneak attacked me, as compensation, you have to pay me tribute—food.”

“No problem…” Lian Mu suddenly remembered something. “Wait, just now you said if I beat you, I’d become the new lord of Shifang Nether Soil. So you’re…”

“You really think you could beat me for real?” Xuan Che said. “Back when I ruled Shifang Nether Soil, you didn’t even exist yet.”

Lian Mu fell silent: “…”

Crap. She’d really stumbled on an actual demon race overlord.

She gave the man opposite her, whose face looked like a corpse, a long look and tightened her grip on her sword: “…”

Forget it. She’d be heading back to White Tiger West soon anyway. Once she stole the secret technique to repair her dantian, she’d hand over the luminous stone immediately.

For now—she’d just have to play along and survive.