Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal? Chapter 744: Taotie

"What... sort of sword is this?"

Corpse Emperor Jiang awkwardly tilted his head downward, his gaze fixed in shock on the deep sword wound that pierced right through his torso.

He had no idea when the strike had landed on him.

The speed of Chen Huaian's sword was blinding, its touch feather-light.

In fact, when the Sword Intent sliced through him, it merely resembled a soft wind caressing his features.

"This isn't a mere sword." Chen Huaian stated evenly, "It embodies this Venerable One's Dao."

"Dao... is it? Heh heh... Ha ha ha ha!" Emperor Jiang leaned heavily on the River Sinker sword for support and burst into wild laughter. In the background, the ancient battlefield and the Legion of Thousands dissolved away gradually, much like an oil painting washed by rain, leaving only foul blood trails that streamed steadily to the floor.

As the Domain vanished, both fighters reappeared on the ground level of the Demon Sealing Pagoda.

"At merely the Unity stage, you've grasped the Dao of the Sword." Emperor Jiang rasped out, "Excellent... truly excellent! Had I, the Emperor, possessed even a fraction of your talent in those days, maybe my realm and its inhabitants wouldn't have fallen to that endless drought... It was my own inadequacy as Emperor!"

"Such calamities as floods and droughts stem from the forces of nature. How could mortal strength oppose the heavens?"

Chen Huaian slid his sword back into its scabbard, watching Emperor Jiang in silence.

Without deploying his Domain, Corpse Emperor Jiang might have left today's clash's result hanging in doubt.

Yet he chose to activate it, turning the duel into a clash of wills and resolve.

In the Cangyun Realm, he had honed his Sword Dao, pushing his Sword Intent to flawless perfection.

Emperor Jiang held immense power, but his mastery over it fell short of true culmination.

"Heh heh... You fail to grasp it—was that really just a natural calamity?" Emperor Jiang staggered before dropping to one knee. His spirit was slowly pulling free, his strength draining away like leaking liquid, rendering his tone as ragged as a torn bellows, "My dominion lay in the auspicious southern lands of feng shui. Droughts had never plagued us before. It came because I, the Emperor, defied the skies and earth, scorned spirits and deities, prompting those false immortals to unleash their wrath."

"I crafted the blade 'River Sinker' to churn the Heavenly River and quench the world's parched lands. Upon its forging, the river's course inverted, and blessed rains poured down at last."

"Yet that downpour lasted an entire month. The drought morphed into a devastating flood, bringing immeasurable agony and myriads of fatalities... Ashamed before my subjects, ashamed before every creature, I, the Emperor, drank poison from my own sword and took my life."

"Still, I, the Emperor, harbored unquenched grudge. Through accumulated Virtue, I forged a body of ghost and god, survived incognito for millennia, and commanded legions of Yin soldiers to storm the celestial realms, routing those sham gods and buddhas in chaotic retreat... Ha ha ha!"

The frenzied guffaws shifted abruptly into a bleak inquiry, "But do you believe that sufficed as vengeance?"

Ghostly emerald fires flared chaotically in Emperor Jiang's eyes, flickering with boundless sorrow and bitter ridicule.

"Have you witnessed the heavens crumbling?" Terror twisted his features, "The firmament shattered, exposing an eye like a devouring void. None could withstand its stare. To lock eyes meant your essence shattered in an instant. Then, a dark finger descended from the ruptured sky. Evasion was impossible, resistance futile. No matter your might, confronting that digit reduced you to insignificance."

"So you lost?" Chen Huaian's brows furrowed.

Emperor Jiang fell quiet, simply lifting a hand to clutch the soul-binding nail embedded at his brow's center.

With every ounce of his remaining vigor, he attempted to wrench it free. He bellowed, he thrashed, yet all efforts proved fruitless.

He collapsed onto the floor, his form crumbling steadily into dust.

"I, the Emperor... have been bested..."

Emperor Jiang regarded Chen Huaian, icy spectral flames licking at the ashen half of his skull.

"Across endless loops of rebirth, I, the Emperor, have cut down hordes who sought to defy the 'Heaven's Might,' hoping to show my downfall wasn't mere chance. I, the Emperor, lacked the courage to face Heaven's Might once more, to behold that eye and finger anew. This marks my guilt, and my timidity as well."

"You stand apart." His mandible worked up and down, producing faint, halting words.

"I implore you to claim my sword, and for every soul beneath the skies—"

The lingering fires consumed his cranium, bursting into a whirlwind of drifting cinders.

From the ashes resounded Corpse Emperor Jiang's last thunderous cry, echoing ceaselessly through the vacant Demon Sealing Pagoda.

"Slay—! Heaven—!"

...

Corpse Emperor Jiang had utterly dissipated.

Solitary amid the remains rested the River Sinker sword.

A frosty aura traced its edge, while the blade's surface shimmered with a stellar stream, evoking the long-ago spectacle of it agitating the Heavenly River to nourish the world.

"Why resort to such extremes?" Chen Huaian lifted the consummate River Sinker sword, "We might have simply paused to discuss matters rationally."

Though Emperor Jiang omitted details of his subjugation's aftermath.

Its broad strokes could be inferred readily.

Impaled by the soul-binding nail, he devolved into a servant for the gods and buddhas, a tool in the Celestial God Clan's schemes.

Now, the River Sinker sword bequeathed by the Corpse Emperor stood as its perfected form, ranking alongside the Black Scales Sword as a Supreme Grade Spiritual Treasure.

"Very well."

Chen Huaian exhaled softly, caressing the blade tenderly, "Suppose this Venerable One does strike down that Heaven in your stead? Let it avenge the endless torment and myriad losses."

He tucked the River Sinker sword into his Storage Ring.

With Corpse Emperor Jiang slain, the Demon Dragon and Demonic Tiger vanquished too.

And the Fierce Beasts lurking in the Demon Sealing Pagoda's depths?

As Chen Huaian mulled this over, labored breaths suddenly erupted from behind.

He spun around to spot a colossal creature resembling a tiger, yet boasting enormous fangs and verdant hide, hunkered down nearby.

A gaze brimming with savagery and malice bored into him relentlessly.

Chen Huaian's fingers clenched around his sword hilt, bracing for combat.

However, the verdant behemoth displayed no urge to charge.

"I go by Taowu." The verdant behemoth rose and approached gradually, "I guard the Demon Sealing Pagoda's lower tiers and the Well of Heaven."

"I observed your duel with that ancient Emperor Jiang. I surrender my Demonic Soul willingly."

Taowu halted briefly, then added steadily, "I detect Qiongqi within your grasp, O Dragon Soul Inheritor."

Chen Huaian's pulse quickened.

This Fierce Beast had lurked close during his bout with Emperor Jiang.

Should it have intervened, allying with the Emperor, today's end would have spelled his doom for sure!

Fortune favored him; both this creature and the Corpse Emperor upheld honor and decorum, adhering to the codes of warriors.

"You choose not to battle this Venerable One?" Chen Huaian cocked his head.

The abrupt amiability from the Fierce Beast left him uneasy.

"You couldn't prevail against me." Taowu extended a claw to scratch its nose, declaring flatly, "I command the sentiments of all creatures."

"I can stir fury and rashness, twist allies into foes, drive the wicked beyond sanity."

"Beyond the Demon Sealing Pagoda swarm thousands of demonic beasts. Should they swarm you, even if you broke free, exhaustion would claim you. Then, were I to strike, what hope of triumph would remain?"

Chen Huaian weighed the odds in his mind.

Should victory elude him, a retreat to the Cangyun Realm for recovery would suffice, returning refreshed for the fray.

Once the Sect Summoning Token refreshed, his enforcers could be called forth.

Even a dozen Taowus would fall swiftly then.

Hope of triumph?

Absolute certainty!

Yet debating this with Taowu held no appeal. To spare the Fierce Beast's pride, given its compliant stance, he refrained from calling the bluff.

Swiftly, he drew the Purple Gold Bottle and directed it toward Taowu, "Listen up! You creature, if this Venerable One summons your name, will you respond?!"

Taowu eyed Chen Huaian, its lip curling faintly.

"Maybe... a fight would be preferable!"

...