Chapter 18: The Heaven-Stealing Demon Venerable

A First-Grade Spirit Beast Bloodline already gave an extremely terrifying cultivation speed. So long as one cultivated step by step, one would basically be able to break through to the Saint Emperor Realm.

Across the entirety of Tiansheng Continent, there were likely fewer than twenty demon beasts with a First-Grade Spirit Beast Bloodline, and even they might not necessarily be able to break through to the Saint Emperor Realm.

So it could be said that the Heaven-Devouring Tiger’s bloodline grade was already among the very top on all of Tiansheng Continent.

If it advanced one step further, then it would become an Immortal Beast Bloodline.

Hearing that, Lu Xunxian looked at Wangcai and asked, “Do you have a way to raise it to an Immortal Beast Bloodline?”

“Can we not just buy one at Myriad Treasures Pavilion?”

Wangcai wore an ingratiating expression.

Clearly, he had no intention of paying for the Spirit Liquid himself.

Seeing that, Lu Xunxian looked helpless. This fellow really was as stingy as ever.

Just as he was about to refuse, two figures came running in from outside.

“Father, take us out to play!”

They were none other than Lu Xiaoyao and Lu Qingyun.

By now, the two of them already carried themselves like little adults as they clung to Lu Xunxian and coquettishly pleaded with him.

Lu Xunxian raised a brow.

“What? Don't you have classes at the academy?”

Over the past two years, under Xu Ruoshan’s care, the two little ones had learned many things at the academy and had also made quite a few friends.

Lu Xunxian was naturally happy to see that.

“The teachers at the academy said that even cultivation study needs a balance between work and rest, so they gave us a two-month break.”

Lu Xiaoyao tugged on Lu Xunxian’s arm.

“Father, can you take us out to play?”

“All right. Father will take you out to play.”

Faced with his son and daughter’s request, Lu Xunxian simply could not refuse. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Let us first go buy a few things at Myriad Treasures Pavilion. Wangcai happens to need something.”

“Hooray! Let Wangcai take us out!”

The two little ones jumped up excitedly.

Lu Xunxian glanced at Wangcai, and Wangcai immediately understood. He went to the front of the residence, and his body rapidly grew larger.

Before long, the group was flying at high speed on Wangcai’s back toward Myriad Treasures Pavilion.

As one of the three great merchant guilds of Tiansheng Continent, Myriad Treasures Pavilion had branch pavilions spread across the various Dao Provinces.

But what Lu Xunxian needed was simply too precious, so they could only go to Chengtian Province, the most prosperous place among the three thousand Dao Provinces, located at the very center of the Central Region.

At this moment, the Heaven-Devouring Tiger was at the peak of the Emperor Realm, and it was making no effort whatsoever to conceal its aura.

So as they flew along, quite a few great experts looked up in puzzlement, inwardly wondering where such a peak Emperor Realm great demon had come from.

Seated on Wangcai’s back, Lu Xunxian listened as the two little ones happily shared amusing stories from the academy.

He had thought they would not run into any trouble, but unexpectedly, Wangcai’s figure suddenly came to a halt.

Lu Xunxian frowned slightly and looked straight ahead.

There, a cultivator clad in black robes stood in their path, endless demonic qi billowing from his body.

“Demonic qi? A demonic cultivator? And a peak Saint Monarch demonic cultivator at that.”

With a single glance, everything about the other party was laid bare before Lu Xunxian.

The demonic cultivator’s face lit up with wild joy. Looking at the Heaven-Devouring Tiger before him, he let out a sinister laugh.

“Jie jie jie. To think I would run into an Emperor Realm Heaven-Devouring Tiger here. Since that is the case, you can become the catalyst ingredient for my medicine.”

The demonic cultivator was called the Heaven-Stealing Demon Venerable. At this moment, he was searching for catalyst ingredients to help him refine a Blood Pill that would be enough to let him break through to the Saint Emperor Realm.

And the Heaven-Devouring Tiger was exactly one of those ingredients.

He had previously found quite a few Heaven-Devouring Tigers, but most of them had been of too low a realm to satisfy his requirements.

As for raising one himself, that would require enormous wealth, and he had no time to wait.

Just when he was at a complete loss, fortune had delivered it right to his doorstep. He had unexpectedly come across a Heaven-Devouring Tiger at the peak of the Emperor Realm.

And judging by the feel of it, its bloodline grade also seemed to be quite high.

As for the three people on the Heaven-Devouring Tiger’s back, he did not take them seriously at all.

Two early Monarch Realm children and a mortal with no cultivation whatsoever. He could simply refine them into Human Pills to aid his own cultivation.

The disturbance here also drew the attention of quite a few cultivators, but the moment they realized it was a demonic cultivator, they fled in all directions in terror.

That was a demonic cultivator. On Tiansheng Continent, the righteous path and the demonic path were irreconcilable enemies.

Wherever demonic cultivators passed, living beings would be plunged into misery and not a blade of grass would grow.

Not to mention that this was a peak Saint Monarch demonic cultivator. Unless a Saint Emperor took action, no one was likely to be his match.

So as they fled, the cultivators silently offered their condolences to the Heaven-Devouring Tiger and the Lu Xunxian group on its back. Once targeted by a demonic cultivator, they had only one path left: death.

But just as he was about to make his move, the Heaven-Stealing Demon Venerable noticed that the Heaven-Devouring Tiger in front of him and the two little children on its back showed no fear whatsoever. They were even looking at him with playful expressions.

“Could it be... they have a backer behind them?”

“But I have no other choice now. If I do not refine my Emperor Pill soon, my lifespan will run dry and I will die!”

The Heaven-Stealing Demon Venerable thought to himself. Then he stopped hesitating and attacked first.

He was a demonic cultivator, and quite a few righteous-path cultivators had already gathered nearby. If he did not strike quickly, then by the time the Saint Emperors arrived, he would not be able to escape even if he wanted to.

But at that moment, the Heaven-Stealing Demon Venerable suddenly sensed something, and his expression changed drastically.

He looked up at the sky and saw the thick clouds parting at an astonishing speed as an enormous finger descended from the heavens.

The cultivators who had still been fleeing for their lives felt that terrifying aura and could not help stopping to stare upward in shock.

“What? Such a terrifying aura!”

“This is... a Saint Emperor’s technique?”

But a cultivator who had once been fortunate enough to witness a Saint Emperor in action turned deathly pale and shook his head without hesitation.

“No, this is definitely far beyond a Saint Emperor! I was fortunate enough to witness a Saint Emperor take action before, but compared to what stands before us now, that aura was like the stars compared with the bright moon.”

Even they, as mere observers, felt such terrifying pressure. There was no need to mention how it felt for the Heaven-Stealing Demon Venerable, who was directly locked onto.

At this moment, he felt his entire body go rigid, utterly unable to move.

“No... impossible! Who exactly are you?”

The Heaven-Stealing Demon Venerable looked at Lu Xunxian with a face full of terror.

He had already realized that the gigantic finger in the sky had to be Lu Xunxian’s technique.

Lu Xunxian’s expression remained indifferent, and he said nothing.

There was absolutely no need to explain anything to a dead man.

At last, the Heaven-Stealing Demon Venerable panicked and begged desperately for mercy.

“Senior, my elder brother is the Sect Master of the Southern Wastes Heavenly Demon Sect. I beg Senior to spare my life for my elder brother’s sake!”

Lu Xunxian remained unmoved. Let alone the Sect Master of the Heavenly Demon Sect, even if the man were an Immortal Realm cultivator, Lu Xunxian would still kill him all the same.

Just as the gigantic finger descended onto the Heaven-Stealing Demon Venerable, a black veil appeared around him, and a figure emerged from within it.

But that figure did not even have the chance to speak before it was annihilated by the descending giant finger.

Having done all this, Lu Xunxian spoke in a calm tone.

“Go.”

In the next moment, the Heaven-Devouring Tiger carried them onward once more toward Myriad Treasures Pavilion in Chengtian Province.

All around, countless cultivators had heard the Heaven-Stealing Demon Venerable’s final words before death, and every one of them wore an expression of fear.

“The Heavenly Demon Sect he mentioned just now... is it the same Heavenly Demon Sect that I am thinking of?”

“If it really is, then the whole of Tiansheng Continent is probably about to change.”

“Hurry and leave. If we do not go now, then we will die here as well once they arrive.”

Very soon, the area returned to its former desolation. Other than the finger mark Lu Xunxian had left behind, nothing else remained.