Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal? Chapter 827: A Generous Gift

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The Spirit Void Old Ghost remained alive.

He simply unleashed a powerful array, enclosing every demon from the Hundred Thousand Mountains within its bounds.

At first, his plan involved refining all the demons completely, yet after deeper reflection, didn't this approach resemble exhausting a pond just to snag a few fish?

Such a strategy wouldn't suffice.

Maintaining these demons' lives could still supply resources for the Cangyun Realm's cultivators. His initial goal was to craft a present for the Moon Shadow Sect's Chen Sword Master. Should he eliminate every demon, the Moon Shadow Sect's cultivators would lack demonic beasts for materials, turning the gift into a curse that breeds hostility.

Thus, the Spirit Void Old Ghost opted for a compromise.

He decided to refine only those demons at the Emperor-class and above, while freeing all lesser ones back into the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Emperor-class demons were scarce to start with, and higher up stood the five Great Sages, reduced to mere Demonic Souls after their thrashing.

"Spirit Void Old Ghost! Our Demon Race holds no grudge against you, no hatred! We even... we even rendered you a service!

Years ago, when that old monk Burning Heaven almost slew you and you escaped to our Hundred Thousand Mountains for shelter, it was we who sheltered you!

If we'd foreseen this day, we would've swallowed you whole right then!"

The voice belonged to the Mountain-Moving Sage, ensnared in the grand array. Its features contorted, driven by fury and excruciating pain—much of its form was already absorbed into the Spirit Void Old Ghost's Soul Summoning Banner. Soon enough, full refinement by the Soul Banner would turn it into yet another puppet under his control.

With its demonic body intact, despite the Spirit Void Old Ghost's might, the array he established couldn't have confined it.

Not to mention the Soul Banner; it wouldn't have managed to extract its Demonic Soul from the demonic form.

Now, like a tiger stripped of its stripes on level ground, easy prey for hounds. Reduced to Demonic Souls alone, they stood no chance against the Spirit Void Old Ghost.

"Quiet your racket!" The Spirit Void Old Ghost huffed icily. "The ones who sheltered me long ago weren't you lot from the Hundred Thousand Mountains' Demon Race, and definitely not any of you!

It was your Demon Sovereign, Tu Shan Yue!

Besides, her safeguarding this old man's existence demanded a cost. If not, how could she have endured the siege from the great sects?

How could she have advanced from the First Tribulation of the Great Ascension Stage to the Second Tribulation in just one year? Lacking this old man's aid, she couldn't have achieved it!

We engaged in a fair trade of advantages.

With our mutual benefits now settled, it concerns you five creatures even less."

"How can it be unrelated?!" The Roc Sage bellowed in a raspy tone. "We serve as the Demon Sovereign's subordinates! Harm us, and the Demon Sovereign in the Immortal Realm won't spare you!"

"Tu Shan Yue has ascended to immortality. As an immortal now, she observes the divide between immortals and mortals. She won't intervene for you." The Spirit Void Old Ghost replied calmly. "What this old man pursues here is merely the jungle's law, the strong devouring the weak! If you seek fault, curse your frailty, curse your misfortune! Heh heh heh!"

The Spirit Void Old Ghost shaped a seal with his fingers. Dark Qi on the Soul Summoning Banner writhed like a serpent, lunging aggressively at the Roc Sage's Demonic Soul.

That dark-blue Demonic Soul once dominated the heavens, yet now it resembled a fly caught in a web, each desperate lunge only earning it gashes from the Dark Qi.

"In the past, you wreaked chaos over the Eastern Sea, consuming countless sect cultivators? Today, the reckoning arrives."

A chilling grin spread across the Spirit Void Old Ghost's face. His left hand gripped the carving knife without pause. Upon the peach wood, the Roc's wings filled out richly, the feather designs even carrying a trace of the demon sage's savage might.

The Dark Qi infiltrated the fissures in the Roc's Demonic Soul. Amid shrieks of torment, the Demonic Soul's resistance waned, dissolving into a strand of azure glow fully drawn into the Soul Banner.

With a flick, the Spirit Void Old Ghost sent the azure glow precisely into the wooden carving's brow center.

The rigid Roc carving abruptly awakened its eyes. A spark of the sage's pride flickered through, swiftly quashed by the Dark Qi, replaced by vacant submission.

Now came the Mountain-Moving Sage's Demonic Soul.

That bear-shaped Demonic Soul was nearly consumed by the Soul Banner. Amid the Dark Qi, only half its frame lingered, yet it bellowed defiantly, attempting to charge at the Spirit Void Old Ghost.

"Obstinate fool." The Spirit Void Old Ghost sneered coldly.

Multiple chains shot from the Soul Banner, pinning the Demonic Soul solidly in the air. The carving knife flew nimbly across the peach wood. The fissures on the black bear carving's brow mirrored those of the Roc Sage.

As the last stroke landed, the Demonic Soul shifted to gray vapor and fused with the carving. The black bear wooden figure's paw suddenly balled into a fist, its whole form radiating a crushing presence like tumbling peaks and boulders.

The Venomous Foe Sage's Demonic Soul proved the slyest. It tried unleashing a deadly toxin to erode the Soul Banner, only to be thwarted by the Spirit Void Old Ghost's array.

Dark Qi flooded like waves, enveloping the toxic haze in successive folds.

The Demonic Soul writhed in shapes of serpents or scorpions under torment, ultimately turning to a murky green ray that burrowed into the wooden carving.

The Black Wind Sage's Demonic Soul morphed into a raging gale, rampaging inside the array, but the Spirit Void Old Ghost crushed it down with the Soul Banner's might.

"Wind lacks fixed shape, but taming it is possible." He issued a wicked laugh. The carving knife etched intricate wind motifs on the peach wood as the Demonic Soul became a dark whirl and integrated into the carving.

Set upon the earth, the wooden figure whipped up eddying blasts, setting nearby foliage into a noisy sway.

Last came the Manifestation Sage's Demonic Soul.

This rhino-resembling Demonic Soul was the toughest. Even ensnared in Dark Qi, it projected immense savagery.

A shadow of solemnity crossed the Spirit Void Old Ghost's gaze. He wove seals with both hands. The Dark Qi from the Soul Banner erupted fiercely, encircling the Demonic Soul in thick layers.

As the carving knife lifted and struck, the armored rhino carving slowly formed.

Upon the Demonic Soul's change to crimson radiance and fusion into the carving, the rhino wooden figure emitted a deep bellow, shaking the ground faintly, though the Dark Qi's control swiftly subdued its energy.

Sealing the five mighty demon sages finished, the Spirit Void Old Ghost glanced at the flesh, blood, and Demonic Souls of the roughly dozen Emperor-class demons in the array.

"Gather—!" He lifted his hand for a seal. The Soul Banner's Dark Qi collected the gore into a churning cloud of blood fog while he chanted spells softly.

Beneath the chants, the blood fog shrank steadily, its luster intensifying. At last, it solidified into a fist-sized pill for an infant, fully scarlet, with swirling complex designs on its skin. A potent bloody aroma mingled with Spiritual Energy, thickening the atmosphere to a sticky density.

The Emperor-class demons' Demonic Souls, he drew entirely into the Soul Banner. The banner's Dark Qi thickened further, the cries of specters and wolves growing ever more sorrowful.

The Spirit Void Old Ghost stowed his carving knife, brushed sweat from his brow, and exhaled deeply.

Gazing at the five carvings and that pill nearby, a malevolent, ghostly smirk tugged at his lips.

"Chen Sword Master... this old man devoted half a month to forge five great demon sages and seventeen Emperor-class demons. This offering... it ought to please, no?"

"My plea to draw on the Moon Shadow Sect's Destiny Energy and Mountain Gate sparked the chain; resolving the sect's looming perils and crafting the five great demon sages as tribute closes it. Cause precedes effect in harmony. Even if Heavenly Dao twists fate, it shouldn't hound this old man too harshly..." He whispered to himself, eyes harboring a persistent, buried concern.

Ultimately, he extended his hand, securing the pill and carvings in his storage ring, then leaped onto the Soul Summoning Banner and shot skyward.

As the Soul Banner advanced, a vast dark gale instantly brewed, eclipsing the sun. Echoes of ghostly laments and wolfish howls pierced the clouds while he raced toward the Moon Shadow Sect.

...

Meanwhile, beyond the Moon Shadow Sect's Mountain Gate, Chen Huaian prepared to ride his sword toward the Hundred Thousand Mountains. The azure light had barely sparked from his fingers when he detected the fearsome presence hurtling from the distant skies.

He lifted his sight.

There, a turbulent black gale blanketed the firmament, surging ahead like a colossal monster.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss—!"

The gale bore the moans of myriad resentful spirits. Its crushing weight seemed to congeal the air around.

Moon Shadow Sect disciples fell into chaos, unsheathing blades in haste, faces drained of color as they gawked at the black gale.

"Enemy raid! Alert the Elders at once!" A voice bellowed in dread. That profound pressure from the souls made even motion laborious.

The black gale neared relentlessly, halting just outside the Moon Shadow Sect's Mountain Gate. Its descent boomed like thunder, the blast toppling nearby trees.

Dust cleared to reveal the Spirit Void Old Ghost materializing from the Dark Qi. The Soul Summoning Banner floated at his back, cloaked in Dark Qi, the spectral wails fading to quiet.

His eyes scanned the alarmed Moon Shadow Sect disciples, locking onto Chen Huaian.

The haughtiness in his stare evaporated instantly, yielding to a veiled deference.

The Spirit Void Old Ghost hastened ahead, clasping hands in salute to Chen Huaian, speaking courteously, "Chen Sword Master, recall how this old man mentioned half a month back that he would ready a gift?

The gift stands prepared now. This old man arrives expressly to offer this modest tribute, as a sign of esteem."

Chen Huaian arched a brow, eyeing the Spirit Void Old Ghost. The sword light on his fingers ebbed away gradually.

In the Spirit Void Old Ghost's spread left palm lay five wooden carvings, while his right clutched a blood-red pill sized like an infant's fist.

The instant these six artifacts met the air, a fierce Demonic Energy lanced upward, veiling the skies over the Moon Shadow Sect.

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