Chapter 337: Eryke’s Plan!?
Eryke remained calm in the situation, his gaze falling on the woman in the blue cheongsam as he spoke casually, "Are you going to fight me too, granny?"
The woman glanced at the torn corpses and swallowed involuntarily. "No." Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Really? You don’t want to fight me?" Eryke asked, raising his brows.
"I... I don’t want to," she said with a shake of her head. "And I’m not a granny. I’m 35 years old."
"Ho?" Eryke arched his brows at her words. "Still, you can be called an aunty, since you’re nearly ten years older than me. Anyway, how is a woman like you able to reach such a level of Martial Arts?"
He could tell the woman wasn’t lying through the aid of his spell, Aura Farming. The spell was always active for him, practically a passive skill, steadily strengthening his Aura little by little. Up until now, his Aura had increased by 80%, not a bad number, per se.
But Eryke sensed something off about this woman, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
Suddenly, Grey contacted him. "She is thirty-five, but her soul is extremely old."
"Wait..." Eryke’s blue pupils dilated as his thoughts jumped to Chun Ma and the Heavenly Demon, how the Heavenly Demon sought to seize Chun Ma’s body.
He closed his eyes, steadied his breath, and looked at the woman again with a sharper gaze. "Did you take over someone’s body?"
"Yes." The woman spoke calmly under the weight of Eryke’s stare.
"You don’t seem afraid. In fact, you look proud of it." Eryke’s eyes locked onto hers. "Isn’t taking over another’s body frowned upon by the entire faction?"
"This is the Sound Sect’s legacy. To survive as one of the top three sects, we must be able to do so," she replied honestly.
Just as Eryke was about to respond, his hand suddenly shot up, catching an arrow aimed straight at his heart.
He looked past her, fixing his gaze on a man clad in full armor, bloodshot eyes blazing as he pointed his sword at Eryke. "Avenge the Grandmaster of our Thousand Iron Sect!" the man roared ferociously.
The Martial Artists of the Thousand Iron Sect erupted in fury. They stomped the ground, sending tremors through the earth, and raised their weapons as they charged at Eryke.
Eryke remained calm beneath their assault. His blue pupils swirled. "Should I kill them all?"
"They are not under my protection," the woman replied casually.
"You’re vicious," he remarked lightly. Behind him, the Sword Will stirred as his Aura surged outward, fusing with it.
"Aura Spell: SwordHeart."
All the attacks from the Martial Artists were disrupted and destroyed instantly. Eryke’s gaze shifted toward the Thousand Iron Sect members, their Will faintly visible within their bodies. They were all First-stage Martial Artists, not mere cabbages he could simply chop down.
Any Transcendent Martial Artist would struggle against so many First-stage opponents and killing them all would be a difficult task. Even Eryke would have struggled to kill them all before. But that was the past.
"The sword is my heart, and my heart is the sword," Eryke muttered calmly.
An invisible dome enveloped all the First-stage Martial Artists, and his Sword Will tore through them, slicing them apart like a hot knife through butter.
It took the span of twenty breaths before everything ended, leaving behind nothing but ruins, with flesh mangled into mush and blood splattered across the ground.
Eryke released his spell, no longer supplying mana, and sighed inwardly. "Well, that wasn’t fun." He turned back toward the Grandmaster of the Sound Sect. At this moment, her face was expressionless, yet the turmoil in her heart was so violent that she trembled involuntarily, "Do you know why I didn’t kill you?"
Startled by Eryke’s voice, she quickly shook her head.
"It’s because I can see that you are not a bad person."
"I have never heard of such an ability in this Martial World before..."
"This is because I am not from this world. I have a skill called True Eyes, which lets me see the true nature of anyone." Eryke looked up at the sky. It was a very handy skill, and paired with his Aura Farming ability, there was almost no chance of him ever being betrayed.
His gaze returned to her. "Now, both the Thousand Iron Sect and the Million Gold Sect no longer exist in this Martial World. Do you agree with me?"
"Yes." She nodded, relatively calm considering the situation she was in.
"Alright." Eryke nodded with a satisfied expression. "I want to visit your Sound Sect’s library to study your Martial Arts, and we’ll call it even for your people trying to attack me."
"...Yes." The woman nodded obediently once more.
"Hmm." Eryke paused thoughtfully. "And I will be declared the Sword Demon who ruthlessly slaughtered everyone. You will announce me as the public enemy of the entire faction."
"What?" This time, even her veteran soul was shaken. She looked at Eryke, disbelief flickering in her eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. I already have the perfect hero candidate, someone who will unite everyone to fight against me." Eryke grinned. This was the ideal chance for his righteous heart clone to shine.
"...Why are you doing this?"
"Because you guys are too weak." Eryke shrugged nonchalantly. The Demonic Faction had twelve Transcendent Martial Artists, and Gang Reyong was in the Shadow Faction.
But here, there was only a single Transcendent Martial Artist. They would be devoured alive if they did nothing.
Eryke had to return to Earth, so he couldn’t take the helm himself. The perfect candidate had already appeared in his mind, nobody was worthy to take charge except his clone.
If he could establish his Righteous Heart Clone as the leader of the entire faction, he would have a firm hand, completely controlling the Martial World.
Gang Reyong basically controlled the entire Shadow Faction, and once the Heavenly Demon fought Gang Reyong, Chun Ma might be able to take control of the entire Demonic Faction, while his Righteous Heart clone controlled this one.
This world was Eryke’s to take. The Martial World didn’t seem to welcome outsiders, Chun Ma had to face the calamity in which he almost died and Eryke’s own progress was halted by the world.
But this also allowed Eryke to strengthen his Sword Will without limits.
Gang Reyong wouldn’t have been welcomed either, if he hadn’t taken over the body, he would technically still be considered an outsider.
"Haha, how would the world feel if everything were run by my own fingers?" Eryke laughed, already delighted at the thought.
But hearing him laugh, all the women of the Sound Sect felt a chill run down their spines.
"By the way, who told you about my plan to attack the Million Gold Sect?" Eryke paused, his tone suddenly serious.
The Grandmaster fell silent, and with her, the entire Sound Sect went quiet.
"It... it was me." The zither-carrying woman nervously raised her hand, feeling the tremendous pressure bearing down on her.
"Oh, nice. Then you’ll be my assistant for now, until I return to Earth." Eryke pointed a finger at her and smiled.
"Eh? Eh!?"