The sword's light flashed, and the ground was torn into millions of distinct wounds.
The sturdy concrete floor seemed as if it had been sliced by countless invisible steel wires, turning into white dust.
At that moment, a great fear of life and death welled up in Luo Hao's eyes.
No way to dodge! Even Qinggong, which could take her anywhere in the world, couldn't evade it.
Her Thousand-Mile Eyes, honed over years, saw no glimmer of hope for survival.
Even her own body seemed to give up resisting. The scene of her first time slaying a god with martial prowess replayed before her eyes.
Is this what it feels like to approach death?
"Cough, cough!"
Dust scattered, and Lu Yinghua covered his nose, staring at Luo Hao.
"Master?"
A sudden unease surged within him. Lu Yinghua's eyes widened, and he looked at Luo Hao in shock mixed with disbelief.
A gentle breeze blew, and Luo Hao's body turned into white sand, carried away by the wind and vanishing.
"Master!!"
Lu Yinghua screamed hysterically, tears streaming uncontrollably.
Yet, despite his loud cries, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upward.
He hadn't expected the most impossible scene to unfold before his eyes.
(But this is such a tragic thing, why do I want to laugh so badly?)
Meanwhile, the elders of the Holy Cult of the Five Mountains all showed expressions as if poisoned by arsenic. The leader they revered had perished.
What meaning was left in their lives?
Feeling over a hundred eagle-like gazes converging on her, Lilliana immediately showed an expression like she wanted to cry.
(No, why are you all staring at me?)
(I didn't do it!)
Lilliana could only try to shrink back and hide behind Aslan.
Aslan casually swept his gaze over the reactions around him. His eyes paused briefly on Lu Yinghua, and he raised an eyebrow, speaking in a teasing tone.
"Wow, your followers are quite loyal, huh? If you don't come out now, I'm afraid they'll attack."
Lu Yinghua's expression froze instantly. He showed a look as if poisoned by arsenic, like he had just seen his mother die.
Meanwhile, the elders of the Holy Cult of the Five Mountains around him immediately showed expressions of shock mixed with joy.
Ripples spread in a circle. Luo Hao, dressed in pristine white Hanfu, walked out, glanced at them, and said, "Good."
Then Luo Hao focused her gaze on Aslan and said with a slightly displeased expression, "Why hold back?"
Luo Hao didn't believe her superficial death-substitution art could escape a slash that came from countless dimensions.
Her death-substitution art could, at best, create a clone and hide her real body in a separate space temporarily.
At that moment, Luo Hao clearly saw how many separate spatial dimensions her opponent's sword had stacked.
Her petty death-substitution art was like a grain of rice's light before the sun in comparison.
At that moment, Aslan showed a hint of approval upon seeing Luo Hao.
"After all, letting a beautiful woman with extraordinary talent and heavenly beauty die before my eyes would be a bit of a waste."
"Don't flatter."
Luo Hao raised her brow, but her face didn't show much anger. Instead, she raised her hand solemnly and touched the sword scars left by Aslan.
Even the lingering sword scars, when touched by Luo Hao, still cut her skin with their sharp aura.
Even though she had used her Divine Authority, she was still injured.
"What kind of swordsmanship is this? It can even cut through space."
"What else could it be? Of course, it's swordsmanship that can cut space."
Aslan said without the slightest hesitation.
"How could such swordsmanship exist in this world?"
Luo Hao's eyes widened slightly, speaking in shock.
But then, Luo Hao recalled Athena's words to Lilliana when she was hiding in the separate space with her death-substitution art.
"No, you're not using swordsmanship at all!"
Luo Hao's eyes widened, glaring at Aslan with the resentment of a woman deceived by a scoundrel.
She had been racking her brain for swordsmanship powerful enough to cut space.
"Why isn't this swordsmanship?"
Aslan returned the glare, asking back with slight displeasure.
At that moment, Luo Hao withdrew her hand, recalling the various strange phenomena during her clash with Aslan, and said calmly, "What you call swordsmanship that cuts space is just your innate ability."
"I, who have mastered hundreds of swordsmanship styles to their limits, am certain that while your swordsmanship is refined, it can only be called decent."
Though her words sounded extremely narcissistic, Luo Hao's expression didn't change in the slightest.
It was as if she was proclaiming the truth of the world.
Giving Aslan the feeling of "no one in this world understands swordsmanship better than me."
"What's the definition of swordsmanship? It's the skill of using a sword, right?" Aslan said flatly. "Then, if I use a sword to perform a space-cutting slash, why isn't that swordsmanship?"
Just like the famous Ashina Swordsmanship, why couldn't it be called swordsmanship?
Is swordsmanship something so rigid?
"Just say it, was this slashed with a sword or not?"
"You… you're twisting the facts!"
Luo Hao's chest heaved heavily, clearly furious with Aslan.
But she couldn't defeat Aslan herself, which made her even angrier.
"Besides, just say it, can you break it?"
If she couldn't even break it, she still wanted to exclude his swordsmanship from the definition of swordsmanship?
"I can't!"
Luo Hao raised her head and chest, saying firmly.
"If you dare, don't use your abilities and face me in the purest swordsmanship duel!"
Luo Hao wasn't convinced! This was entirely an unfair defeat!
Aslan was cheating with his abilities—what could she do?
Hearing this, he looked at Luo Hao with a strange expression.
"Are you sure? No abilities, just pure physical swordsmanship?"
(If so, I'll show you what the Star Spirit Fist is and the true value of shattering a planet with physical strength.)
"Not sure."
Luo Hao finally backed down. Her instincts told her the other party had bad intentions. If she agreed, she might fall into Aslan's trap.
"See, I knew it."
Aslan spread his hands, slightly at a loss for words. He truly didn't understand Luo Hao's thinking.
At that moment, Luo Hao looked at his helpless expression, opened her mouth, but only sighed.
"This time, I've lost. Next, I'll take my own life and won't stop you from purging the God Slayer."
After that, Luo Hao shouted loudly.
"All followers of the Holy Cult of the Five Mountains, listen! From now on, all affairs of the Holy Cult are taken over by this King Arthur. You must respect him as you respect me!"
Hearing this, the elders behind her could no longer sit still. They couldn't help but raise their heads and shout with tears.
"Ruler of the Martial Realm, no! If you go, what about our ancestral legacy?"
"If you leave, what about our ancestral legacy?"
Hearing this, Luo Hao snorted coldly.
"Ancestors? I am the greatest ancestor! I created this teaching! Do you have any objections?"
"This matter is settled. Follow my orders!"
All the followers fell silent. Many moved their lips slightly, looking at Lu Yinghua with hesitant gazes, clearly urging him to step forward.
But Lu Yinghua wasn't that foolish. Clearly, Master had made her decision, and this was already the best outcome for the Holy Cult and himself.
He just needed to pretend to be deaf.
After suppressing the followers' objections, Luo Hao turned and looked at Aslan.
"I hope after I'm gone, you can stop those so-called righteous factions from attacking the Holy Cult of the Five Mountains."
Luo Hao knew well that, though the Holy Cult didn't do anything outrageous under her suppression, it was the supposedly honorable sects that hid their evils, and she had cleaned up quite a few of them.
But without her suppression, the Holy Cult would hardly have a good ending.
After all, they were her disciples and grand-disciples, and Luo Hao still had some attachment.
"Eh, wait. What do you mean 'not stopping me from purging God Slayer'?"
Seeing Luo Hao's abstract self-talk, Aslan finally couldn't help but complain.
"Do you really think I'm King of the End? I haven't even drawn the Divine Sword of Salvation or taken Rama's position."
"If King of the End appears, it would cause unimaginable destruction to the world's environment. It would endlessly drain Earth's spiritual energy. You guys don't know…"
Saying this, Aslan paused. He slapped his forehead.
Alright, he had been presumptuous.
"Fine, you really don't know. The last time King of the End appeared was fifteen hundred years ago."
Otherwise, why would Guinevere go to such lengths to create the Holy Grail? Wasn't it to replenish spiritual energy when King of the End awoke?
It was said that the Divine Ancestor's origin was also tied to King of the End. The Divine Ancestor was the Earth Mother Goddess whose divinity was stolen by the Divine Sword of Salvation.
And Guinevere's condition, her obsession with King of the End, seemed to be a result of the distortion caused by the Divine Sword of Salvation.
Is this the Divine Sword of Salvation? Why did Aslan feel it was more like a Demon Sword…
Draining Earth's spiritual energy, stealing the divinity of the Earth Mother Goddess, distorting her into a Divine Ancestor with boundless affection for the King.
No wonder Rama didn't want to wake up.
This Divine Sword of Salvation was indeed abstract.
"I only came to discuss with you how to handle that monkey kept by the Japanese."
Saying this, Aslan looked at Luo Hao with slight strangeness.
"Was my letter not clear? Or was my sincerity lacking?"
Luo Hao suddenly fell silent.
The atmosphere became extremely awkward. Even Luo Hao now didn't know how to face this.
How could she know that King Arthur, let alone King of the End, was genuinely seeking out a Godslayer like her to discuss killing a Heretic God?
Luo Hao stayed silent for a long time, only staring straight at Aslan.
In her eyes, there might have been a hint of pleading for help.
At that moment, Aslan cleared his throat and suddenly put on a serious face.
"Just kidding."
"I, King of the End, have naturally come to purge the Devil Kings roaming the earth and the Heretic Gods destroying it. But right now, manpower is short, so I specifically cut your hair instead of executing you, asking Luo Hao to assist in my law enforcement."
Saying this, Aslan reached out and took a strand of Luo Hao's hair.
"From now on, Luo Hao, you are mine!"
Seeing Aslan say such words, Luo Hao let out an imperceptible sigh of relief.
Thank goodness, her face was saved.
This was the first time in over two hundred years that Luo Hao had faced something so embarrassing.
As for whether she belonged to Aslan, that was a minor issue. After all, Aslan was the victor and had privileges over the defeated.
Even in the martial world, there was a saying about duels to win a partner.
The only slight pity was that Aslan was from the Western Regions, not Chinese.
Thinking of this, Luo Hao looked at Lu Yinghua with an expressionless face, her gaze implying I'll deal with you later.
Lu Yinghua instinctively knelt, his forehead slamming hard into the shattered concrete floor, even drawing blood.
At that moment, he was even prepared to be killed by his Master.
But the one thing to be grateful for was that he hadn't exaggerated anything. He only reported the information honestly and shared his guesses simply.
Even the specific execution was done with Luo Hao's tacit approval, reported regularly, without daring to make the slightest mistake.
Leaving decisions to Master and taking responsibility for mistakes at the right time.
That way, at worst, he'd only be beaten, not killed.
This was the survival wisdom and situational awareness he had gained over a dozen years under Luo Hao's dominance.
Of course, this was also thanks to the heroic sacrifice of his "Grandmaster" (Aslan, in Lu Yinghua's comical interpretation). Without the ladder provided by Grandmaster, he might have been stuck in a state of neither living nor dying willingly.
Lu Yinghua raised his head and looked at Aslan's back with a gaze full of gratitude.
There was even a hint of reverence in his eyes, like looking at a hero.
King Arthur, truly a formidable man. To think he could be interested in his Master, a woman with nothing but muscles in her brain.
In contrast, Lu Yinghua himself trembled at the thought of interacting with beautiful women. Even the maids at home… Well, there were no maids, not a single woman.
His phobia of women was severe.
And so, he admired Aslan even more. To think he could interact with so many beautiful women at once.
At that moment, Luo Hao turned around with an expressionless face, preparing to leave.
All the followers hurriedly bowed their heads and shouted, "Ruler of the Martial Realm, how can the legacy of the Holy Cult of the Five Mountains be taken by a barbarian!"
"Silence! I've decided!"
Luo Hao's face darkened. She directly used Taoist Magic to silence these followers. She was starting to suspect if her educational policies were wrong.
Why was their emotional intelligence so low?
In the Holy Cult of the Five Mountains, status wasn't determined by anything else but pure strength. After all, that was her teaching. The capable rise, the mediocre fall—simple as that.
"From today, you no longer need to call me The Ruler of the Martial Realm!"
Luo Hao waved her hand and left directly. But before going, she gave Aslan a meaningful glance.
As a gesture of gratitude and an invitation for Aslan to visit her residence, to show hospitality as a host.
And to discuss how to handle the Monkey God issue.
She had been to Japan and seen that seal. To break it, the divinity of an Earth Mother Goddess had to be sacrificed.
That was the most troublesome part. She couldn't possibly capture an Earth Mother Goddess and make her willingly sacrifice her life.