Chapter Eighty-Eight: May the Holy Maiden Keep Safe

The hundreds of swords that had been drifting in quiet suspension were likewise stirred into fury, their tips snapping one by one to point at the attacking beast.

The creature roared again and again at Night Abyss, stumbling backward step by step. Countless blades faced it, their cold gleam shining through the dim sword domain like scattered stars.

Night Abyss swayed as he raised a hand. A crimson radiance rippled across the blades.

With a whoosh, they all surged forward to cleave at the beast that barred his way, descending like a storm of ten thousand arrows as a drizzling rain of swords filled the sky.

Seeing the sword rain crash toward it from above, the beast had nowhere to flee. A tremendous surge of demon power shook the earth, flinging away the nearby trees and stones. A semicircular barrier of demon energy rose around it, enclosing the beast, which continued to roar fiercely at Night Abyss as though warning him not to come any closer.

But the sky-darkening rain of swords fell all the same. The entire mountain forest thundered with the impact, and dust shot into the air in towering clouds as rocks, soil, and timber scattered in all directions.

When the dust cleared, a grisly scene lay before them. The tiger-headed, serpent-tailed beast was riddled with blades, and within a ten-meter radius around it the ground was densely packed with swords.

It was clear that the barrier it had raised moments earlier had failed to withstand Night Abyss's blades.

It had been pierced to death by ten thousand swords.

The red sword intent clinging to the blades stuck in the beast's body was actually slowly drawing out its blood.

After a moment, the beast visibly caved inward, reduced to a withered husk. Every trace of flesh and blood had been completely devoured by the sword intent.

Once it had finished feeding, all the swords rose at once and flew back into Night Abyss's sword domain.

"More wine," Night Abyss slurred.

"Here, senior." The Saintess handed him another flask.

Night Abyss took it and drank at once, as though eager to pour himself senseless.

He staggered as he walked, spilling a little wine with every step from the flask in his hand.

The crimson sword intent gradually returned to his body, and the sword domain began to shrink as well, from twenty meters to ten, then five, until it too finally flowed back into him.

With a thud, Night Abyss lurched and crashed heavily to the ground.

The blue longswords around him, along with the swords of the women of the Moonfall Sacred Land, lost the support of the crimson sword intent and, with a series of clatters, all fell to the earth.

"Senior?" The Saintess called to him.

Night Abyss seemed already sunk into sleep.

He slept with blissful sweetness, his mouth making soft, snoring sounds. It was obvious he had passed out completely drunk.

In his sleep, Night Abyss reached up and scratched his cheek as though swatting away a mosquito.

The women of the Moonfall Sacred Land, who had all been standing twenty meters away from Night Abyss, now walked over in graceful steps and bowed to the Saintess.

The leading woman asked, "Saintess, this man looks like an ordinary mortal in every way. Why do you call him senior?"

"Could an ordinary mortal have done all that just now? That tiger-serpent beast was on the verge of forming a demon core. If any one of you had encountered it alone, you would have needed considerable effort to kill it. You all saw it yourselves just now: he killed such a beast in an instant. Does that look like the work of an ordinary mortal?" The Saintess looked at Night Abyss, who was lying face-down on the ground, snoring soundly.

"This servant was blind." Another woman said, "But even so, why did the Saintess treat him with such respect?"

"This senior carries the aura of the Nine Sacred Lord on him. More than that, there are two other presences no weaker than the Nine Sacred Lord, both unimaginably powerful. Their auras are so concentrated and undiminished that this senior must have recently encountered two experts on par with the Nine Sacred Lord," the Saintess explained. "Also, have you noticed? We cannot see through this senior at all. I suspect his strength may be little less than that of the Nine Sacred Lord."

"Oh."

The women behind her all murmured in realization. If that was the case, then everything the Saintess had done made sense. A senior whose strength was not far below that of the Nine Sacred Lord would indeed be terrifying beyond measure.

No wonder Night Abyss had not attacked them within the sword domain. So he had looked down on striking at juniors, lest it make him seem lacking in the bearing of an expert.

There was even another possibility: Night Abyss might well know their Nine Sacred Lord. Perhaps he had recognized them as members of the Moonfall Sacred Land, and that was why he had not moved against them. Otherwise, it should have been impossible for them to enter and leave his sword domain so freely.

Each of the women of the Moonfall Sacred Land was making her own conjectures in silence.

"You should return first and inform the Sacred Lord of the Sacred Land that I will be cultivating beside this senior for a period of time before going back," the Saintess said after thinking it over.

"But Saintess, all of this is only our own speculation. If this senior is not friendly with our Moonfall Sacred Land, then wouldn't your safety be in great danger?" one of the women stepped forward and said.

"Yes, Saintess, we should leave. Cultivating beside this mysterious senior is indeed a very dangerous matter."

Another woman stepped out as well.

"Yes, Saintess, please come back with us!"

"Saintess, return to the Moonfall Sacred Land with us!"

"Saintess, either we leave together or stay together!"

"Saintess, we are responsible for your safety. If something should happen to you, how are we to answer to the Nine Sacred Lord?"

"Saintess..."

The other women of the Moonfall Sacred Land all spoke up one after another in persuasion.

"Go back first. I'm fine. This senior has not shown the slightest hostility toward our Moonfall Sacred Land. If he had any such intent, even all of us combined would still be no match for him," the Saintess said lightly, not at all concerned.

"All right, go back first. I will notify the Sacred Land side. It will not be your concern."

She raised a hand to stop one of the women, who had just opened her mouth to speak.

"Very well."

The women answered helplessly. Though the Saintess had only recently taken up her position, she was not the sort to act without the slightest basis.

Since the Saintess said so, she must have her reasons. Moreover, this senior truly had shown no hostility toward them at all.

If he had even a trace of it, none of them would have been able to stop Night Abyss.

"Saintess, please keep yourself safe. If you encounter anything unavoidable, be sure to crush the spatial jade pendant the Sacred Lord gave you. It will teleport you safely back to the Sacred Land."

"Take care, Saintess."

All the women of the Moonfall Sacred Land spoke at once. Then they rose on bands of rainbow light and flew swiftly away, vanishing into the far horizon.