Gu Longyu stared at his prisoner. She was in the middle of the room, bound by chains. The chain ends were stuck in the walls, making her float in the air.

  Honestly speaking, Daoyi was actually quite attractive. Women with heavenly water spiritual roots were naturally attractive, but Gu Longyu felt that Daoyi had something they didn’t. If it weren’t for the fact that she was already with his clone, he would have wanted to conquer her. As it was, he had no interest in sloppy seconds.

  He stilled. For a moment, Gu Longyu felt a powerful killing intent emanating from somewhere. It disappeared just as quickly, making it feel like a hallucination. He glanced at Daoyi. Not only was she chained, but a blindfold sealed her eyes too. Those chains weren’t just hard; they also acted as a seal. Daoyi was in suspended animation, knowing neither consciousness nor light.

  Gu Longyu released his spiritual sense and detected nothing. Frowning, he even used his saber intent. Intent was a very malleable tool. Because it carried his will, he could easily weaken it enough to act as a radar. Only those with an intent or powerful perception would be able to sense it. Although it couldn’t do everything spiritual sense could, it had its own advantages.

  “Was it my imagination?” Gu Longyu said to himself. His saber intent radar had detected nothing. However, he didn’t think it was his imagination. For the foreseeable future, Gu Longyu kept his guard up, but nothing happened.

  Eventually, Gu Longyu forgot about the incident. By then, months had passed, and his clone still had not appeared.

  Originally, Gu Longyu wasn’t so impatient. The least valuable thing for a cultivator was time. Conversely, it was also the most valuable thing. Gu Longyu spent the time polishing his cultivation base so that his potential would grow even greater in the future.

  Yet, he had a sinking sensation that something inevitable was coming his way. Chased by this feeling, Gu Longyu grew impatient. He announced to the world that he would execute Daoyi a year later.

  Gu Longyu had inflicted heavy injuries on Tianyi, and he estimated it would take a long time for them to heal. If he were Tianyi, he would wait until his injuries healed before confronting his wife’s warden. Now he had to gamble. Would Tianyi value his wife’s life over his own, or would he callously shed her life?

  If it was the latter, Gu Longyu felt it would be more troublesome. As for which option he would choose, he’d like to think the former, but only when he was put into such a situation would the world know.

  Few people knew Daoyi’s identity, and Gu Longyu’s words didn’t explain it at all. All those speculations and rumors were flipped on their heads once his words spread. They couldn’t understand why he would capture a woman only to execute her months later. Did he tire of her, or did she do something unforgivable?

  Few people originally cared about the matter, but because of Gu Longyu’s current fame, many people knew about it. While searching for Tianyi and Daoyi, he had been challenged by many geniuses of his generation who didn’t believe the rumors. Some challenged him publicly, while others did so in private. Gu Longyu went easy on them, viewing them as mere children compared to himself, and only taught them a lesson if they angered him.

  Some of the defeated geniuses went back and revealed the truth, while others kept it a secret. No matter what, they viewed Gu Longyu as a target to surpass and defeat. So they tasked the people around them to keep tabs on the reborn Dragon Emperor.

  Because of his actions, a few of the geniuses he defeated traveled toward him. Not everyone was clueless, and they could discern he wanted to lure someone out.

  As the countdown neared, Gu Longyu didn’t show any impatience. He had a gut feeling that Tianyi would come. The closer it was to the deadline, the more it meant that his injuries had not fully healed. And at this point, Gu Longyu didn’t care if it was underhanded.

  A week before the deadline, a thunderous roar shook the foundation of Gu Longyu’s abode. “Come out and die, Longyu!”

  If the onlookers hadn’t noticed Tianyi yet, they definitely did now. Many of them rushed from the nearby city or encampments.

  Despite being yelled at, Gu Longyu showed no anger. He appeared outside and stared at Tianyi. Outwardly, he could not see any injuries. If anything, he was sure that Tianyi had healed his injuries. It wasn’t because he scanned Tianyi, but because the latter’s cultivation had risen. Now, he was an intermediate soul nourishing grandmaster and an early nascent soul grandmaster.

  The most troublesome aspect of injuries was that they hindered a cultivator from advancing in realm.

  Gu Longyu didn’t waste any words with Tianyi and immediately attacked the latter. Originally, he wanted Tianyi to come closer, but it seemed that it was his wishful thinking. I should study formations more when I have the time. Otherwise, even a mere clone could see through my concealment.

  To Gu Longyu’s surprise, Tianyi had improved massively. His sword qi had fully matured into sword light, more than doubling his power. The life-threatening battle before must have caused his potential to explode, drastically increasing his power.

  To the onlookers, it appeared as if the two were evenly matched. And Gu Longyu had to admit that in terms of geniuses, Tianyi had already surpassed all those who challenged him. Of course, although the growth was much faster than he expected, it could only prove the excellence of his clone—and himself by extension.

  Finally, Gu Longyu took action.

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  He only took so long to give a false impression to the third parties present and to gauge Tianyi’s current power. Without warning, he appeared behind Tianyi almost like teleportation. He did not slash Tianyi with his saber, as the extra moments would give the latter enough time to react. Instead, he kicked him—kicked Tianyi toward his mansion.

  Tianyi desperately resisted. This only confirmed Gu Longyu’s suspicion that the latter already knew he had planted a formation in advance. Unfortunately, he could only glean partial information and not discern its true nature. Otherwise, Tianyi should have immediately fled farther away after attracting his attention.

  Gu Longyu did not keep up the suspense either. “Dragon Gu Jar Formation, activate!”

  The Dragon Gu Jar Formation was a simple formation with only one purpose. Because all of its purpose was focused on this one aspect, the only way to break through was through brute force.

  When Tianyi tried to break the formation, Gu Longyu only watched. After all, his actions would only drain his own energy. Only after Tianyi failed several attempts did Gu Longyu speak up. “Don’t bother. Only one of us can leave here alive.”

  Tianyi turned silent for a moment before pointing his sword at Gu Longyu. “That person will definitely be me.”

  Gu Longyu said nothing and tightened the grip on his saber. At this point, there was no need for words. And so, the two engaged in a duel of saber and sword.

  Outside the Dragon Gu Jar Formation, the onlookers were stymied by the sudden shift in battle. A few brave ones tested the formation, but just because the trapped participants inside could not break it from within did not mean it was easy to break from the outside. Helpless, the daring cultivators could only wait.

  After about half a minute, the formation vanished. The once-lush landscape could only be described as a desolate wasteland now. Of the two figures, only one remained, with the other vanishing completely.

  Contrary to the audience’s expectations, Gu Longyu did not look happy. Some of them couldn’t help but guess that he had failed and his target had fled. Others looked at his injured state. Indeed, countless burn marks covered Gu Longyu’s body. Countless charred scales fell off, revealing his ash-covered robes.

  However, Gu Longyu wouldn’t have cared if that was it. Although he felt the danger of losing his life from Tianyi’s last attack, he survived. No, he was angry because of the nature of Tianyi’s last attack.

  It was a self-detonation.

  To absorb his clones, he or other clones had to deal the final blow. Of course, as the original, Gu Longyu could absorb some of the clone’s soul and blood essence just by being in the vicinity. The problem was that Tianyi destroyed himself; his soul and body vanished in the explosion. It wasn’t just a regular self-detonation, but an extremely powerful one at that.

  That self-detonation was far more powerful than any that Gu Longyu had seen before. Not only did it allow Tianyi to unleash power equal to that of a true immortal as a grandmaster, it also contained an element of soul attack. Had he not cultivated the soul path, his soul would have been severely injured. Even now, it was in a weakened state.

  Gu Longyu exhaled red and black vapors from his mouth, soothing his injured body. Still, it would require dedicated recuperation to return to his peak. If he wasn’t careful, he might leave behind a sequela.

  The Dragonbone Saber blurred. A moment later, two halves of a corpse plummeted to the ground. Gu Longyu scanned the crowd that had gathered with an unamused gaze. He recognized the person he had just bisected. It was a genius from a rival sect whom he had spared. Unlike the other geniuses, that one likely held a grudge and wanted to kill him in his weakened state.

  This was like before; if these geniuses or anyone else dared to show killing intent, Gu Longyu wouldn’t show mercy—consequences be damned. Besides, it wasn’t like the relationship would change much just because of the death of a few geniuses. He might attract public outcry, but those geniuses took action first.

  Of course, the most important aspect was power. If he did not have power, these forces could still ignore logic and truth to punish him.

  Under the crowd’s gaze, Gu Longyu returned to his abode. The first thing he did was check up on Daoyi. After killing Tianyi, he decided to eliminate the grass by the roots. Daoyi must hate him to death, and Gu Longyu didn’t want such a person to live when he had the chance to easily kill her—especially a soul cultivator.

  But when he entered the chamber, the chains hung limp against the walls, and Daoyi’s figure was not seen.

  Gu Longyu raised his guard to the highest level, but soon, he relaxed. A quick inspection allowed him to piece together the truth. The lingering sword intent in the air reminded him of the talismans in Tianyi’s hand. In other words, Tianyi had given his accomplice those talismans in order to rescue Daoyi while he attracted attention. It explained why Tianyi had shown none of the talismans during their fight.

  He could guess that Tianyi likely planned to retreat after rescuing her. Unfortunately, Gu Longyu had prepared the Dragon Gu Jar Formation, foiling Tianyi’s plans.

  As for the accomplice’s identity?

  Gu Longyu guessed it was his son. After all, who else could be more trusted than your own flesh and blood? The risk that a third party would flee with the powerful talismans after getting them was too great. Although the child’s cultivation base was unknown, it shouldn’t matter as long as he could activate the talismans.

  After some deliberation, Gu Longyu chose not to chase the two fugitives. For one, his injuries hadn’t healed, and number two, he didn’t think Daoyi and her son would grow strong enough to defeat him. Perhaps she might not even reach the Unity Realm while he had already reached the Immortal Realm.

  He didn’t stay at the abode any longer. Its sole purpose was to attract Tianyi’s attention. Now that it had fulfilled its mission, Gu Longyu left. He returned to the Rising Dragon Sect to recuperate.

  Without Tianyi’s threat, Gu Longyu felt more relaxed. As expected, the sect the genius he bisected belonged to made a fuss, but nothing came of it. The Rising Dragon Sect even commended him. Not that Gu Longyu cared.

  Life returned to normal. If there was a downside, it was that Gu Longyu couldn’t find any of his clones. After his injuries healed, he left the sect many times, hoping to discover any traces, but he always came up empty. During this time, many geniuses challenged him, and more assassins came after his life.

  As he rose to prominence and the chances of his Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation seemed more and more certain, the Rising Dragon Sect’s rivals wanted to kill him before he became another sharp blade of their enemy.

  Gu Longyu dealt with them all, growing weary of their presence, almost like buzzing flies.

  Two years later, while searching for his clones, he felt a dense killing intent. He sighed and looked toward the source. He blinked.

  The source was a boy no older than fourteen. He wore moonlight-colored robes, a silver coronet adorned his head, and he carried a beautiful sword in his hand, but the most remarkable feature was that pair of bedeviling eyes.

  “My name is Yinian. You killed my father, prepare to die.”

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