Gu Longyu had long suspected that Yinian had already found him. He had no definite proof, and everything he sensed told him otherwise, but he trusted his instincts. So, he pretended that he had not noticed. Except for the first time he scanned with his saber intent, he only scanned with his newly reacquired immortal sense occasionally.

  He hadn’t even bothered hiding his actions of killing clones. Aside from the first few times when he kept his guard up after the kill, he subtly relaxed in the subsequent killings. That still didn’t lure his potential assassin out. At least, until today.

  In fact, this consideration was also one factor behind Gu Longyu waiting for his clone to undergo the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation. And now, he had successfully lured the snake out of its hole—or rather, lured it to strike.

  Gu Longyu could feel his clone’s soul essence entering his body, elevating his talent. If he could focus and guide it, the effect would be much better, but he paid it no mind. He turned around and unsheathed the Dragonbone Saber.

  Sparks flew as the sword tip met the ivory blade. Gu Longyu tilted his beloved blade, and the sword passed harmlessly.

  Yinian glared. While Gu Longyu didn’t respond, endless killing intent appeared in his pitch-black pupils.

  Golden scales covered Gu Longyu’s entire body. Two antlers grew out of his head, and a tail sprouted from behind him. Having finished his dragon transformation, Gu Longyu’s physical strength and speed skyrocketed. He immediately began his counterattack.

  A golden layer covered the Dragonbone Saber, and Gu Longyu attacked. Yinian did nothing but float backward. His speed seemed slow, yet before Gu Longyu knew it, Yinian had already retreated hundreds of meters away, his saber’s edge not even remotely close.

  That wasn’t all. Yinian’s body flickered out of existence, as if his very presence were a mirage. Gu Longyu naturally knew that Yinian’s presence was very much real. He expanded his saber intent to the maximum. Now that he had successfully crossed the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation, he no longer had to be so conservative with his saber intent. Using saber intent from hours to days on end was no longer an issue.

  Yet, unlike before, Gu Longyu could no longer sense even a hint of Yinian’s location. No, that wasn’t quite correct. It would be more apt to say that he could sense Yinian everywhere. Every inch of space—even underground—he could sense Yinian’s presence. It was as if Yinian had turned himself into a domain and covered everything, but the problem was that Gu Longyu could sense no such domain.

  Suddenly, an attack came from behind, and Gu Longyu deflected it. Immediately after, a sword slashed his back. The sword cracked his scales and drew a line of blood. So small was the gap between the two attacks that it seemed as if two different people had attacked him.

  For a moment, Gu Longyu considered whether Yinian possessed a clone. He also wanted a clone, but he could not find the right material. He was talking about a clone that was dependent on him, not a Dragon Emperor clone, which was intricately linked but ultimately capable of independence. Perhaps if Yinian’s threat did not hang over his head, he would have spent much longer as a mortal searching for the right vessel.

  Gu Longyu rid himself of unneeded thoughts. It seemed that fortune favored Yinian. It made him feel dissatisfied. Back in the Huang Realm, the heavens had always favored him. Perhaps he had been too reliant on luck, which ultimately made him underestimate the hegemonic forces, leading to his downfall.

  He wouldn’t make such a mistake again.

  Gu Longyu clashed with Yinian several more times. Well, “clashed” wasn’t quite the right word. He waited for Yinian to attack before immediately counterattacking. Sometimes, he would abandon all defense just to attack. However, while the sword struck him, his saber passed harmlessly through where Yinian should have stood.

  Is it a flying sword? Flying swords and other weapons controlled to attack from a distance weren’t rare, but more often than not, they did not have the same power as weapons wielded in hand. Of course, there were exceptions, but most of them were when they were used in a formation, like Tianyi’s nine swords.

  He decided to take a gamble.

  When the next slash came at him, Gu Longyu readied himself. The blade struck. Unlike the previous few times, it sank deeper into his flesh. His hand immediately struck like a snake, grabbing the handle. With the sword in hand, he didn’t feel a second or third slash. Gu Longyu concluded that Yinian only had one sword, and the series of almost instantaneous slashes were the result of the Law of Space.

  Gu Longyu’s grip tightened around the hilt. He wanted to pull this slippery loach out of its hiding space. After undergoing dragon transformation, few immortals should be his equal in terms of pure strength, but Gu Longyu discovered that he was met with strong resistance.

  The first clash of physical strength had been fine. Gu Longyu was more certain of his guess since he could feel intermittent struggle. If it had been a flying sword, the force should have been more consistent and continuous, unlike these rather jerky motions.

  He didn’t have time to ponder more as he discovered Yinian had considerable strength. No, not just considerable strength—Yinian’s physical strength had completely eclipsed his. Under his shocked eyes, Yinian wrenched his sword free. Blood spilled from Gu Longyu’s hands as the blade slipped between his fingers and palm.

  Had it not been for his strengthened bones, Gu Longyu felt his fingers would have been sliced off from that action. The blood soon stopped and coagulated. In less than an hour, they would heal. Unlike other martial immortals, Gu Longyu’s body healed remarkably fast.

  True dragons possessed powerful bodies, true—but that didn’t mean their regeneration was incredibly fast. Except for certain dragon subspecies with powerful healing powers, most dragons needed a long time to heal from wounds, often longer than the average demon or immortal. Gu Longyu had specially configured his martial immortal body for such fast healing. It wasn’t the best, and it lowered his defense and offense, but sometimes, better healing meant the difference between life and death.

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  Of course, it was not the fastest or best regeneration, so he still needed to stall for time.

  Gu Longyu did not plan to flee. Aside from exceptional cases, when fighting someone who majored in the Law of Space, either you made them flee or give up. Fleeing from them was the most foolish decision.

  In fact, Gu Longyu was waiting for a chance. Although Yinian had become a true immortal, he didn’t believe that the latter would be able to hold on for long before his time ran out.

  As Gu Longyu continued to withstand Yinian’s assault, he gradually adjusted himself to the attack pattern and rhythm. The injuries staining his body red became fewer and fewer. Finally, the Dragonbone Saber deflected the sword for the second time.

  Yinian obviously paused for a split second, not expecting Gu Longyu to catch his attack, but he swiftly resumed his assault.

  As time passed, Gu Longyu became more and more adept at withstanding Yinian’s strikes. Where once he would draw blood every few slashes, it became increasingly difficult until Yinian could only draw blood one-tenth of the time. Even then, at other times his sword cracked the scales but did not draw blood.

  When Gu Longyu felt his fingers and palm recover, he no longer held back. A massive tear opened in the sky above the continent. So vast was the tear that it covered the majority of the continent. Through the tear, onlookers could see a world of destruction. Even just looking at it stung their eyes, and those too weak would instantly have their souls damaged.

  Luckily, only cultivators could see the Dao Manifestation. If regular mortals saw it, a mass extinction would have occurred.

  Gu Longyu did not care about the benefits the Dao Manifestation brought to everyone else. The only reason he ascended to the Seamless Immortal Realm only now was because he had not wanted to be too high-profile at the Rising Dragon Sect.

  He had not planned on advancing to the Seamless Immortal Realm so soon, but now, he no longer wanted to hold back. Gu Longyu knew Yinian’s power would rise once he became a true immortal, but he never expected such an exponential increase. Yinian’s attacks had crossed the immortal monarch threshold.

  Don’t look at how he was becoming more and more adept at deflecting Yinian’s sword strikes. That was true, but Yinian’s strength was also rising. His sword strikes became more and more polished, as if an unpolished jade were going through a master jeweler’s hands.

  Gu Longyu didn’t want to think how much more powerful Yinian would become in their next encounter. He didn’t want to admit it, but Yinian’s growth was much more explosive than his. If it hadn’t been for the immaturity in the latter’s eyes, he would have thought Yinian was a reincarnated old fellow like himself.

  Normally, advancing to the Seamless Immortal Realm required the cultivator to find a quiet place not only to absorb the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, but to allow full attention on reconstructing their body based on their chosen worldly law.

  Gu Longyu didn’t have time to slowly absorb spiritual qi. Although he didn’t get many rare or important resources from his years of exploration, he had many items and pills filled with spiritual qi. Without an ounce of hesitation, he used them like pouring expensive wine down the drain.

  As for the focus and attention needed to reconstruct his body? Gu Longyu didn’t need them. His willpower far exceeded his realm, and his soul was incredibly powerful, allowing him to battle while reconstructing his body.

  The golden scales on his body lost their color and luster, falling off and immediately revealing a new layer of golden scales. Unlike the old scales, the new golden scales had black runic markings flitting across them. A single glance would convey an impact filled with destructive intent. As his scales were replaced, the two horns growing out of his head became more complex and magnificent, resembling a crown.

  Before, Gu Longyu would only exude an aura of destruction when attacking, but now, just standing there, he filled his immediate area with destructive power. Space twisted and cracked, as if his very presence destroyed its stability.

  Gu Longyu reared his head back and roared. His roar caused a sonic explosion accompanied by countless black vortices. He had purposely imbued the Law of Destruction into his action. His purpose was to destroy the stability of spacetime so that Yinian could no longer hide himself.

  He had tried to destroy the spatial stability earlier, but his slashes had only caused minor distortions at best. But now that he had reconstructed his body using the Law of Destruction, he no longer had to worry about its power hurting himself. Not only that, but the resonance from using the Law of Destruction and his new immortal body amplified the power.

  Sure enough, a distorted Yinian appeared. His body was stretched, as if someone had painted him and then pulled the paper he was on.

  “Die!” Gu Longyu roared as he slashed his saber toward his foe.

  An expression of panic filled Yinian’s face. His body started to thin, as if to disappear, but as Gu Longyu’s saber neared, the change stopped. Left with no other choice, Yinian raised his sword to block the saber.

  It was a devastating blow. The force knocked Yinian away and completely pulled him out of his special state. Yinian didn’t cough up blood, but a large gash appeared on his body, from which immortal qi of chaos leaked continuously.

  Contrary to expectations, Gu Longyu was not happy. He had formed his seamless immortal body, and it was not a preliminary body. He had already gained fifty percent comprehension of the Law of Fire and Metal, allowing him to directly become a second-step monarch, which meant his immortal qi was four times more powerful than that of an early immortal monarch and at least four hundred times more powerful than the average true immortal. Coupled with his deep understanding of the Law of Destruction and his powerful body, his attack should have transcended the peak of the Seamless Immortal Realm and reached the level of an immortal emperor.

  Yet, Yinian’s injury, although looking serious, was actually not that critical. Gu Longyu had no doubt Yinian could withstand at least another ten such blows—but would Yinian stay and let him attack? If he were Yinian, he would undoubtedly flee immediately.

  Even if that was the case, Gu Longyu did not want to let Yinian escape. He raised the Dragonbone Saber above his head, killing intent rolling off his body.

  But at this moment, a roar resembling a dragon’s filled the planet. The land and sky trembled. The trembling increased until it enveloped the entire Dragonsleep Planet, throwing spiritual veins and spiritual qi into disarray.

  Gu Longyu felt as if a powerful true dragon had descended. He disregarded the strange phenomenon. His only goal was to kill Yinian. He could worry about this later.

  At least, that was the plan. Yinian also cared not and fled, but a portal suddenly appeared in front of him, sucking him inside.

  Gu Longyu was stunned by the sudden change. Before he could think about it further, more and more portals appeared, all emitting powerful suction forces. One even appeared near him, forcing Gu Longyu to fly away. Unfortunately, the portal was too powerful, and like Yinian, he was also sucked into it.

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