When Gu Longyu finally caught up, Tianyi and Daoyi were already surrounded by the Rising Dragon Sect’s enforcers. Having not learned from Peak Master Gu’s failure, or perhaps hoping to persuade them verbally, the Rising Dragon Sect only sent Core Formation masters.

  Alas, they failed. Both physically and verbally.

  Tianyi stood on the ground, his breath slightly rapid. Daoyi stood next to him. Her clothes were ruffled, but aside from that, both of them were unharmed. In sharp contrast, the enforcers were lying on the ground unconscious.

  Bathing in the afterglow of victory, Tianyi and Daoyi had their guard down.

  Gu Longyu chose this time to act.

  “Young Master, it would be better to act after the two leave the enforcers’ presence. If they see us, it’ll be troublesome,” the leading Nascent Soul grandmaster deathsworn servant said.

  “A mere slave dares to dictate my actions,” Gu Longyu rebuked. “Shut up and watch.”

  Gu Longyu unsheathed his weapon, a treasured saber. With a few swings, countless saber lights flew out, but their targets weren’t Tianyi and Daoyi, but the downed Rising Dragon Sect enforcers.

  Despite being trained from childhood, it didn’t mean the deathsworn servants couldn’t feel shock. Never in their wildest imagination did they expect to see their master’s son killing his fellow sect members. But even if they did, all they would do was report it to their master. Whether Gu Longyu betrayed the Rising Dragon Sect didn’t matter to them. If Peak Master Gu ordered them to openly rebel against the Rising Dragon Sect, they would do so without a second of hesitation.

  The Nascent Soul grandmaster deathsworn servant no longer concealed himself and appeared next to the dead enforcers. Originally, he wanted to do some touch-ups on the corpses. Tianyi used a sword, while Gu Longyu used a saber. Although both were bladed weapons, the marks could easily be distinguished by a skilled expert, but to his surprise, all the marks on the enforcers’ bodies were indistinguishable.

  If the deathsworn servant hadn’t seen the young master kill the enforcers with his own eyes, he would have thought that Tianyi had done so from the evidence alone.

  “You! So you’re the one who’s been attacking Daoyi!” Tianyi roared, pointing a finger at Gu Longyu, who had leisurely walked out from his hiding place. “You must have been the one to frame her too!”

  Gu Longyu clapped his hands, but the congratulations were openly mocking. “Unfortunately, your prize is death.”

  “Why? Why did you attack Daoyi and frame her?!” Tianyi questioned.

  A playful and condescending look appeared in Gu Longyu’s eyes. “If you want to blame someone, blame yourself. Blame yourself for being weak. Blame her for having a heavenly water spiritual root, and blame yourself for catching my ire.”

  It was incredibly arrogant; the reasons appeared nonsensical to Tianyi and Daoyi, making both of them puzzled.

  Gu Longyu sneered. Clearly, they didn’t know what a heavenly water spiritual root meant. “Bumpkins.”

  He did not have mercy. He disappeared and reappeared less than ten meters away from Tianyi. A saber strike followed, which shot out a saber light.

  To Gu Longyu’s surprise, Tianyi actually reacted in time. Eight swords flew out of his sleeve and formed a defensive formation. When the saber light struck, the formation trembled but held strong.

  “I didn’t expect you to hide such a trump card even in that situation,” Gu Longyu said with narrowed eyes. He had reason to suspect that Tianyi had already sensed a third party watching them with unkind eyes. Or perhaps it was pure intuition.

  He glanced at the deathsworn servants. Although he was only an Acupoint Opening master, he did not think he was the reason, so it could only be the servants’ fault.

  In this short period, Tianyi released the sword in his hand, which floated and joined the other nine swords, completing the sword formation.

  “Young Master, allow us,” the deathsworn servants said.

  The two Nascent Soul grandmaster deathsworn servants could sense a hint of danger in Tianyi’s sword formation. They didn’t mind Gu Longyu gaining experience, but they placed his survival as their number one mission. If he died, their master would skin them alive, boil their bones, strip away their flesh piece by piece, and use them as alchemical ingredients to sate his wrath. They didn’t fear death, but as deathsworn servants, they could never forgive themselves for failing their master’s mission.

  “Shut up. Go capture the girl,” Gu Longyu said. Although he was only an Acupoint Opening master, he looked down on the deathsworn servants — even the ones in the Nascent Soul Realm. If they came to blows, he had the confidence to defeat them head-on.

  Without giving them a chance to react, he charged at Tianyi, saber readied. The deathsworn servants could only charge forward.

  Tianyi and Daoyi would not foolishly wait for them to surround them, so the two had already been retreating. Their retreat was far slower than Gu Longyu’s charge.

  “Out of the way!” He swung his saber down. Compared to the saber light projectiles, his physical swings were much stronger. The difference wouldn’t have been as much if he had entered the Core Formation Realm, but he had not. Gu Longyu expected the swords to be knocked away, but to his surprise, they held firm.

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  They didn’t just hold firm, but the swords left trails of light behind them, forming a web-like barrier that blocked the deathsworn servants’ spells. The spells blasted the formation, but it held strong. Not only that, but the force knocked the formation away, aiding their retreat.

  “Fools! Stop attacking with spells!” Gu Longyu ordered. What he could see, the Nascent Soul grandmasters could also see. Before he finished speaking, they had already pulled out their artifacts.

  Gu Longyu stared at Tianyi. The trailing lights were not sword lights, nor were they sword qi, the first signs of sword intent. Rather, it was something between sword qi and sword light. Given enough time, the sword qi-light would fully stabilize and evolve into sword light.

  Such talent on the path of the sword was astounding. Even Gu Longyu had to admire such talent, but the more talented Tianyi was, the more he wanted to kill him.

  “Daoyi!” Tianyi shouted from within the formation.

  The girl nodded, and a pipa appeared in her hands. It was an ancient, traditional stringed instrument resembling a lute. Her fingers flowed across the strings, forming a howling echo. The notes reverberated through the air, but they seemed to do nothing except add noise.

  At least, that’s what the deathsworn servants thought, but Gu Longyu detected more. He could feel a negligible impact on his soul. It was minor, but the impact remained. If he continued to listen, it would slow down his thinking and give him a headache.

  “Was Grandfather correct? Is she actually a traitor?” Gu Longyu thought. He had looked through the archives of the Rising Dragon Sect, and he was sure it didn’t possess such a technique. A girl still in the Core Formation Realm could never have created such a technique, meaning she must have obtained it from somewhere else.

  “Careful! Block against the sound. It’s a mental attack!” Gu Longyu was not a Core Formation master, meaning he should not have awakened his spiritual sense. However, he had a powerful soul, which allowed him to awaken immediately after entering the Acupoint Opening Realm, allowing him to transmit messages.

  The deathsworn servants didn’t know if he spoke the truth, but they still raised their guards and blocked the sound. It was better to be prepared than sorry.

  And so, the deathsworn servants attacked Tianyi’s sword formation. Gu Longyu stayed in the back, gathering energy. He had the confidence to break the formation, but it would be a lengthy process. Rather than expend more qi over a long period of time, he would rather spend a large amount of qi in an instant and destroy it here and now.

  The charge-up didn’t take long — less than a minute. His blade glowed with an ethereal light. It left an arc of light as it sliced through the air. When it struck the sword formation, it stilled, but only for a split second before the sound of shattering glass erupted.

  The saber knocked and bent the sword blocking it and sliced toward Tianyi. He had only enough time to grab a sword and hold it in front of him in a defensive manner. Gu Longyu’s blade struck, sending Tianyi crashing into the distance.

  Despite this, Gu Longyu frowned. He looked around him. The instant he broke the sword formation, Tianyi had already reacted. He used two swords to block the saber strike, while the other seven switched from defense to offense.

  Those seven swords penetrated the Core Formation master deathsworn servants. Tianyi knew that it was unlikely to injure the Nascent Soul grandmasters. Even if he did, their injuries wouldn’t be serious enough to debilitate them, so he focused on the Core Formation masters.

  Of the nine Core Formation master deathsworn servants, two of them died directly, two had their spiritual cores destroyed, and the remaining three were too injured to contribute much to the battle. Of course, it wasn’t only Tianyi’s efforts. The girl had suddenly raised the intensity of her mental attack, causing them to be unable to react.

  Now, only two of the nine Core Formation master deathsworn servants could still battle, but Gu Longyu didn’t count on their help. One of the Core Formation masters had low combat abilities and focused on auxiliary abilities.

  Tianyi pulled himself from the rubble, clutching his arm. It hung loosely and had a strange angle. The sword it once clutched had floated in front of him protectively. The other seven swords also flew toward him.

  Gu Longyu wouldn’t allow Tianyi to regain his bearings. The latter had brought him too many surprises. He even had a feeling that he wouldn’t be able to keep the two here. Who was he? He was the Dragon Emperor, the man who made three hegemonic forces unite against him. How could two little Core Formation masters stop him!?

  Just as it seemed that the saber would decapitate Tianyi, the sword floating by his side split into six! The six swords formed a weaker version of the nine-sword formation Tianyi used earlier. It trembled and swayed under Gu Longyu’s slash, but it didn’t break.

  Anger spilled from Gu Longyu’s eyes. Again, he failed. His arms blurred as he attacked tens of times in an instant. Those strikes also knocked away the seven flying swords that were trying to regroup. Because of their proximity, the deathsworn servants didn’t dare to unleash their spells, so they focused on Daoyi instead. Unfortunately, they made less progress than their young master.

  The battle progressed, and Tianyi and Daoyi were pushed to the edge. In the process, the two reunited. Protected by Tianyi’s sword formation, Daoyi released powerful mental attack after powerful mental attack. Still, their defeat was inevitable.

  “Daoyi, we have no choice! Use it!”

  An ominous premonition hit Gu Longyu. Disregarding everything, he did everything in his power to protect himself. Golden scales erupted all over his body, horns grew from his head, and a tail sprouted from his tailbone, making him look like a humanoid dragon.

  Immediately after, a shriek exploded. The shriek wasn’t heard through the air but by their souls. It was only thanks to his immortal-level willpower that Gu Longyu managed to stay awake. Even so, he collapsed onto his knees. The deathsworn servants fared much worse.

  The two Nascent Soul grandmasters lay on the ground, faces pale. The remaining seven Core Formation masters died. Although their bodies still breathed, their souls had shattered.

  Even Gu Longyu had a pale face. The golden scales receded, and he stood back up. He stared into the distance, where a white streak flew away. “Next time. Next time, I’ll definitely take your head!”

  Gu Longyu checked the two Nascent Soul grandmasters. In their current state, their souls might have perished if he scanned them with his spiritual sense. However, from his years of experience, he knew the two’s souls were damaged. Even if they were brought back alive, his father would need to expend a large amount of resources or time for them to recover.

  He didn’t linger any longer. After destroying the evidence, he brought the two unconscious deathsworn servants and nine Core Formation master corpses back to the Rising Dragon Sect.

  “Damn it. I didn’t expect two little Core Formation masters to give us so much trouble. It seems those charges weren’t just cause,” Peak Master Gu said upon learning of the incident from his son. “Yu’er, just wait a little longer. I’ll take action myself and help you improve your spiritual root.”

  “No need,” Gu Longyu said. “I plan to enter the Core Formation Realm immediately. I will avenge this shame myself!”

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