In an instant, the light vanished, and the surging divine power around them fell quiet again.
At the same time, Ye Yu withdrew the hand seal and gazed calmly at the ruinous ground.
Behind a nearby boulder, Heng Xuanzhen held her breath and followed his line of sight down to the earth.
What was there?
[thud]
After a dull bang, a withered arm broke up through the soil.
It pressed against the ground and heaved.
A one-armed old man rose from the ruins.
Seeing him, Heng Xuanzhen clapped a hand over her mouth and fought to control herself.
She was truly afraid she would cry out.
That old man was the person she knew best—her master, Lu Nian?
How had Ye Yu summoned him?
He had fallen three hundred years ago. How in the world had Ye Yu awakened him?
Heng Xuanzhen couldn’t help glancing up again.
That glance left her even more astonished.
She remembered perfectly: her master Lu Nian had been a human cultivator who ascended to godhood. Why was he now wreathed in demonic qi?
Aside from lacking demon horns, every trait matched a normal demon god.
What god-art was this?
Why had she never seen it before?
While Heng Xuanzhen was thinking, Ye Yu had already begun circling the one-armed elder, Lu Nian, to examine him carefully.
Yes—the god-art he had just used was the technique he had created through sheer monstrous insight: Magic Conversion.
This art could summon the fallen back to life for ten days, with more than ninety percent of the body’s original strength.
Used well, it was a pure god-tier skill.
That was why Ye Yu had asked Tao Hua to invest.
Based on the initial trials so far, Magic Conversion did not care how long the corpse had lain.
As long as the divine body was roughly intact, it could be used.
And furthermore, as long as the target’s divine soul was not extinguished, he could even retrieve their memories.
That was a solid bonus.
The only flaw was that Magic Conversion had limits.
The converted divine body’s power could not exceed the caster by more than two major realms.
For that reason, Ye Yu had been so torn just now.
Too high a realm—unselectable. Too low—pointless.
That was why, in Heng Xuanzhen’s eyes, Ye Yu had kept hopping left and right.
He wasn’t toying with her; he was picking the right target.
Mm. This elder was a very suitable choice.
Never mind the missing arm—his strength sat solidly at the peak of the Heavenly God Realm.
That was the upper limit of what Ye Yu could convert.
And from this man’s memories, Ye Yu learned he had been a peak Gold God Realm sword god in life.
Only after a demon god cut off his arm had his strength been slashed down to the peak of the Heavenly God Realm.
But a regression in cultivation did not mean a regression in sword intent.
This man could still erupt with power far beyond his current realm.
For Ye Yu, this was a treasure found.
Mm, keep reading... what?
Lu Nian was from the Ancient Sword Gorge Divine Alliance, and his disciple was Heng Xuanzhen.
His final thought before death had been to hope the traveling Heng Xuanzhen would never return—and never seek revenge for the alliance.
After he finished skimming these lingering memories, Ye Yu went numb.
No way. No way.
Was the God Realm really this small?
He had picked a random Divine Alliance ruin, and it turned out to be Ancient Sword Gorge?
That lady sword god’s figure was still vivid in his mind. He wondered if she was dead now.
Forget it. She was an outsider ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) either way; it had nothing to do with him.
Now that he had produced a humanoid protector, it was time to put him to work.
Ye Yu immediately ordered Lu Nian to protect him.
Lu Nian nodded, then raised a finger like a sword and slashed toward the east.
The boulder exploded into rubble, and Heng Xuanzhen’s figure was laid bare.
Her robe might have blocked Ye Yu’s probing, but it could not possibly block Lu Nian at the peak of the Heavenly God Realm.
Seeing the long-familiar figure, Heng Xuanzhen couldn’t help murmuring softly, “Master...”
At the call, Lu Nian paused ever so slightly, then continued forward.
He stopped before Heng Xuanzhen and lifted his left hand, sword qi gathered but not released.
It wasn’t that Lu Nian held back because of old memories.
It was because he hadn’t received Ye Yu’s order.
Those subjected to Magic Conversion would unconditionally obey the caster. That was the basic rule of this god-art.
Ye Yu walked up slowly, eyeing Heng Xuanzhen with caution.
She looked badly injured—at least for now, she posed no threat to him.
He had meant to ask why she was here, but on second thought, it seemed unnecessary.
Strictly speaking, he was the intruder.
As Ye Yu considered how to deal with her, Heng Xuanzhen spoke first: “Kill me. To die under my master’s sword is a kind of homecoming.”
Ye Yu arched a brow, thinking to himself that this woman was forthright—no wasted words.
In all honesty, there was no enmity between them.
Heng Xuanzhen’s true hatred was for Tongtian Pavilion.
But Tongtian Pavilion was gone now. By rights, the hatred should be gone too.
Let her go, then?
Mm... better not. Safety Rule Number One: eradicate the roots.
Anyone harboring hostility toward him could not be left alive.
Just as Ye Yu hesitated—
A strange voice suddenly sounded behind him.
“Well, well, well—what are the three of you doing here? If this is a lovers’ tryst, aren’t we over the headcount?”
At that, Ye Yu turned. A man with a sly, soft look on his face was walking over at an unhurried pace.
Gritting her teeth, Heng Xuanzhen said, “Wei Tongbei, why come back now?”
“Junior sister, that tone with me makes me unhappy. You’re so badly hurt, why don’t you—”
The man called Wei Tongbei froze mid-sentence.
“Master? No... no, you’re not Master!
“How could Master have demonic qi on him? Junior sister, what did you do to Master?”
Wei Tongbei immediately suspected Heng Xuanzhen.
From his perspective, Ye Yu was just a peak True God Realm god-clan cultivator.
With that cultivation, he couldn’t stir any waves at all.
