Chapter 14 : A Town's Silent Demise

Eldrin Chen's pupils contracted sharply. He silently communicated with the Verdant Leaf Sword, preparing to strike at any moment.

He cautiously crept forward. Before long, he came upon a squad of corpses clad in black armor.

There were ten bodies in total. Their expressions were vacant, as if they had been struck down before they could even react.

"Not a Demon Beast [a beast that has cultivated demonic power and gained intelligence]."

The thought flashed through Eldrin Chen's mind, solidifying his suspicion in an instant.

The Black Armored Cavalry were warriors meticulously trained by the Chen Clan. Clad in heavy armor and possessing the strength of a thousand Jin-weight [one Jin-weight equals zero point five kilograms], a hundred of them fighting together could contend with a lower first-rank Demon Beast [a beast that has cultivated demonic power and gained intelligence].

An ordinary Demon Beast [a beast that has cultivated demonic power and gained intelligence] could not possibly have slain them before they could react. Furthermore, the flesh and blood of the Human Race is a great tonic for Demon Beasts [beasts that have cultivated demonic power and gained intelligence], yet there were no signs of bites or tears on these Black Armored Cavalry soldiers.

"It was a Demonic Cultivator [a cultivator who practices forbidden arts, often by sacrificing others or harnessing malevolent energies]."

"Has it only been three years since the Clan Patriarch was wounded, and already the Demonic Cultivators [cultivators who practice forbidden arts] cannot resist coming to take a bite?"

Muzhi Chen's gaze turned icy, a flash of killing intent passing through his pupils.

Yet swiftly, he suppressed the killing intent within his heart. The grand protective formation of Pingyuan Town ahead had already been breached; the defending cultivators and the Black Armored Cavalry were most likely beyond saving.

Gazing at Pingyuan Town so close at hand, Eldrin Chen hesitated for but a moment before deciding to turn back and seek reinforcements.

Yet at that very instant, he heard the sounds of weeping and wailing coming from within Pingyuan Town, and his footsteps involuntarily halted.

"There are still survivors."

In the span of a single breath, he strode forward and stepped into Pingyuan Town.

Within the vast expanse of Pingyuan Town, corpses with darkened foreheads were strewn everywhere, clear signs that their souls had been devoured.

Walking all the way to the town Central, the murderous glint in Eldrin Chen's pupils could no longer be contained.

Upon the training ground at the Central, the bones of Chen Clan clansmen were piled high. Upon a raised platform, a black-robed elder was refining a Black Banner [a sinister magical flag].

Seven demonic heads danced around that Black Banner, ceaselessly devouring the souls of thousands of mortals.

"Hahaha, my Seven-Soul Malevolent Ghost Banner [a banner that harnesses the power of seven malevolent ghost souls]!"

"It is nearly complete at last."

Gazing at the Black Banner, the old man's face contorted with a look of manic delight.

The Seven-Soul Malevolent Ghost Banner is an exceptionally vile Demonic Path magical artifact. This artifact can nurture seven malevolent ghosts, which can continuously devour the souls of ordinary mortals to advance their power.

Once this Demonic Treasure is fully forged, it becomes a top-tier first-rank magical treasure. Each of the seven demonic entities it unleashes would possess strength equivalent to the Vital Essence Refinement Late Stage.

With the old man's own Vital Essence Refinement Late Stage cultivation, augmented by this Seven-Soul Malevolent Ghost Banner, he would likely be able to contend against several ordinary Vital Essence Refinement Late Stage cultivators at once.

At that point, even a cultivator like Eldrin Chen, who was at the Vital Essence Refinement 9th Tier, would stand no chance against him. In fact, aside from the Patriarch of the Chen Family, no one would be able to restrain him.

"Such a Demonic Treasure, once he succeeds in forging it, will undoubtedly become a great calamity."

His gaze turning icy in the distance, Muzhi Chen acted without hesitation.

The Verdant Leaf Sword transformed into a dazzling streak of sword light that shot across the sky, aiming directly for the old man.

The Demonic Cultivator who dared to refine a Demonic Treasure within the territory of the Chen Clan was not unprepared. Though Eldrin Chen's ambush caught him off guard, a cyan shield upon his person erupted with a radiant barrier, blocking the strike from Eldrin Chen's Verdant Leaf Sword.

The man first revealed a flicker of surprise and suspicion, then glanced at Eldrin Chen and quickly grasped the situation.

"I wondered who it might be. To think it's just a little whelp," he sneered.

"Is the Chen Family truly so bereft of capable members?"

As the old man spoke, he summoned a Black Shuttle magical weapon. It transformed into a streak of obsidian light that shot across the sky towards Eldrin.

Eldrin Chen's brow furrowed in concentration. He channeled his spiritual energy, sending a golden radiance to meet the attack—this was the first-rank upper-grade magical weapon, the Golden Light Blade. It had been bestowed upon him by the clan patriarch, Alistair Chen, as a reward when Eldrin broke through to the Vital Essence Refinement 7th Tier.

The Golden Light Blade was a metal-element flying sword. While its speed was inferior to the Verdant Leaf Sword, its offensive power surpassed it by a significant margin. With a single decisive command from Eldrin, the golden blade intercepted and sent the Black Shuttle weapon spinning away.

In the opening moments of the clash, Eldrin Chen seized the upper hand. With practiced focus, he divided his mind, simultaneously commanding two magical weapons. He pressed the Demonic Cultivator relentlessly, forcing him onto the defensive.

After all, Eldrin was a cultivator of the Vital Essence Refinement 9th Tier, wielding two first-rank upper-grade magical treasures. In contrast, the Demonic Cultivator was merely at the Vital Essence Refinement 7th Tier. His only first-rank upper-grade treasure was the Cyan Light Shield talisman; that Black Shuttle Demonic Treasure was only first-rank middle-grade.

Though the Chen Family had declined, it remained a Foundation Establishment clan—one of the few dominant powers within a radius of several ten-thousand Li-lengths [one Li-length equals five hundred meters] around Yu County.

Had it not been for his desire to refine the Seven-Soul Malevolent Ghost Banner, this Demonic Cultivator might never have dared to be the first to test the depths of the Chen Family's remaining strength.

The disparity in cultivation and magical treasures caused sweat to bead on the old Demonic Cultivator's forehead. He could endure it no longer. Channeling his Seven-Soul Malevolent Ghost Banner, he sent the seven demonic specters flying towards Eldrin Chen.

These seven specters had not completed their advancement. Apart from the two leading ones which had reached the Vital Essence Refinement Late Stage, the rest were only at the Vital Essence Refinement Mid Stage. Yet, even so, if these seven specters managed to latch onto their target, even a Vital Essence Refinement Peak Stage cultivator would likely be drained to a withered husk.

At this critical moment, Eldrin Chen remained exceptionally calm. He first activated a Golden Armor Talisman to shield himself, then used a Fleetfoot Talisman to greatly increase his speed, evading the specters' pounce. Next, he unleashed a Fireball Technique, instantly incinerating one of the weaker specters into a wisp of smoke.

But this was not enough. In the blink of an eye, he directed his Golden Light Blade to parry the Black Shuttle aside, then sent it streaking directly towards the Demonic Cultivator's true body.

Seeing the Golden Light Blade flying towards him, the old man's heart filled with panic. While the specters of the Seven-Soul Malevolent Ghost Banner were powerful, they had a clear weakness: their speed was only comparable to a cultivator of the same realm.

With Eldrin Chen's agility, as long as he avoided being surrounded, he could easily dodge most of the specters' attacks. Furthermore, protected by the Golden Armor Talisman, they could not breach his defenses anytime soon.

However, his opponent's flying sword was swift as lightning. Although his Cyan Light Shield was a fine treasure, the gap in their cultivation meant it might not withstand the successive assaults from Eldrin Chen simultaneously controlling two flying swords.

In his fluster, he recalled the specters to his side, intending to entangle the Golden Light Blade.

And in that very instant, Eldrin Chen leapt into action, unleashing his trump card.

"Crimson Flame Talisman!"

The Crimson Flame Talisman [a high-grade talisman that unleashes a devastating crimson flame] was a premium treasure left behind by Seventh Granduncle, a sight that would make even a Vital Essence Refinement 9th Tier [the ninth and final stage of the foundational cultivation realm] cultivator blanch. As Eldrin Chen invoked it now, the battle was decided in an instant.

Crimson flames that could sear the heavens erupted, scattering the fiends in a panicked flight. In a single breath, they shattered the radiance of the Cyan Light Shield [a defensive magical treasure that projects a shield of cyan light]. Immediately after, the Verdant Leaf Sword [a sword as swift and sharp as a verdant leaf] sang through the air with a metallic ring, cleaving the old demon's head from its shoulders.

"Hah..."

With the battle concluded, Eldrin Chen could not help but draw a deep, steadying breath.

The fight had seemed straightforward, yet it held an undercurrent of peril. Had he been even half a day later, allowing the foe to complete the refinement of the Seven-Soul Malevolent Ghost Banner [a sinister banner that harnesses the power of seven malevolent ghost souls], not even he could have stood against it; his only recourse would have been to turn and flee for his life.

Once the fighting ceased, he thoroughly looted the old demon's treasures before turning his attention to assessing the situation in Pingyuan Town.

This demonic calamity had nearly wiped out Pingyuan Town's population of over three thousand souls. Searching the devastated town, he finally found only two survivors in the town guard's hall at the Central rear of the settlement: a pair of young twins, no more than five or six years old.

The two children, a boy and a girl, threw themselves into Eldrin Chen's arms and wept uncontrollably the moment they saw him.

He soothed them for a long while before finally learning their names. The boy was called Leo Chen, and the girl Ember Chen. Both had just turned six. They were the only children—the only souls at all—to have survived the town's destruction.