Du Yu’s heart pounded. It shouldn’t be like this! In his mind, after unleashing Unity, all things ought to have been extinguished. With only his Blade Qi, he could have shattered that demon god’s phantom and slain Ye Yu with a single flash of blade light. So why, even now—when the phantom had begun to warp—was there still not a single crack? And most troubling of all, Ye Yu’s face remained calm, not a hint of panic! This was utterly impossible. Had Ye Yu kept another ace up his sleeve?
While Du Yu racked his brains, Ye Yu moved. He lifted one hand before him—no divine seal, no complex hand signs—yet golden radiance burst forth around him and the demon god looming in midair. It was the first color to break the world’s black-and-white palette. The light flared so brilliantly that everyone instinctively shielded their eyes. Though they could not see, they heard crash!—the unmistakable sound of steel shattering. Had Du Yu’s Ghost-Head Blade broken?
A tremor ran through every godly warrior present. As the light faded, they dared to look again. Everything was still. Ye Yu hovered aloft; the enormous demon god still filled the sky; the warped space had vanished as though it had been a mere illusion. Or had it? Their eyes fell to the ground beneath Ye Yu—and there lay countless fragments of blade, shattered beyond recognition.
With a dull thud, Du Yu collapsed to his knees, golden blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. His skin cracked like splintered glass—an inevitable drawback of fusing a divine artifact with one’s body. The sacrifice granted him a 120 percent surge of power, but when the Ghost-Head Blade exploded, his body nearly followed. If he had not forcibly stabilized himself with his godly power, only a wisp of his soul would remain now.
Ye Yu’s lips curved in triumph. Above every godly warrior’s head, crimson numbers flickered again—another harvest of Submission Points. Though fewer than before, every point counted. The reason Du Yu’s Unity had failed was Ye Yu’s Dream-Realm Active Skill One Breath Golden Body, which granted invincibility for a single breath at the cost of an immense cooldown. What Ye Yu had not expected was to not only resist the attack, but to rebound and grievously wound Du Yu in the process—like a counter-shock effect. A hidden bonus so perfect it left Ye Yu grinning. Aside from the long cooldown, what could be improved?
Perhaps this time he would survive. Du Yu’s grievous injury would terrify everyone here; soon they’d flee, and Ye Yu could cheerfully seek out Xie Buyu for a surprise reunion. Everything would go smoothly! To turn such a desperate situation around—he truly was a genius!
In high spirits, Ye Yu called out, “Now do you understand the gap between us?”
Du Yu nodded stiffly and struggled upright, the cracks in his body widening. “So this... is the power of a God Sovereign?” he gasped.
A murmur rippled through the assembled gods. Ye Yu? A God Sovereign? It made sense: Elder Du Yu had been a God Lord, yet his full-power strike had been not only nullified, but reflected back to wound him severely. What else could Ye Yu be?
Old dog Gou Langtu fainted on the spot, unable to accept that his enemy stood at the God Sovereign level—if that were true, no corner of the universe would hide him. No hope of escape, no use running.
Ye Yu surveyed their despairing faces without answering Du Yu’s question. “A God Sovereign, huh? That’s [N O V E L I G H T] what you think. I never said it.” He chuckled. “Imagine away. I want my name spread across this Moon-Edge Pavilion so that when they see me, they hand over Submission Points at once. Heh heh heh!”
He waved his sleeve. “Enough. All of you, scram. Old dog Gou Langtu, you stay.”
At his decree, the gods of Moon-Edge Pavilion fell to their knees, crying, “Thank you, Supreme One! Thank you!”—their devotion dripping with irony, especially as they trampled the unconscious Gou Langtu beneath them.
Ye Yu frowned. “Hey, why isn’t Du Yu leaving?”
He glared at Du Yu. “Can’t you go?”
Du Yu shook his head, voice tinged with self-mockery. “In this state, what purpose is there in leaving? My Dao heart is shattered, my blade art collapsed—I no longer possess the courage to move forward. My fate is to remain a cripple. I swore to become a God Sovereign, but now I cannot. Better to die by your hand than live as a wreck. At least I’d fall on the path of the blade.”
With that, a phantom longsword formed in his hand. He gripped it and fixed his gaze on Ye Yu, ready for a final charge.
Ye Yu raised his hand. “Wait! Du Yu, you mustn’t do this. The future still holds hope. To die now is the most disgraceful choice. Besides, I told you I have ties with your clan leader—I don’t want to kill you!”
A simile flashed through his mind: a starving camel is still larger than a horse. Despite Du Yu’s grievous wounds, he was still a God Lord. And with One Breath Golden Body on cooldown, one slash from Du Yu would mean Ye Yu’s death. Cornered, Ye Yu tried to rekindle Du Yu’s will to live—but Du Yu was unyielding.
“Please... let me die a blade’s end, Supreme One. It is a swordsman’s rightful fate.”
Ye Yu bit back a rude retort, but before he could speak, Hanyue Xi spoke up from behind, “Ye Yu, grant him a dignified death. With his Dao shattered and his body broken, he may not survive the return. Better to let him fall in battle than waste away in the Blessed Cavern.”
