"Spare me..."
Seeing the sword light slash toward him, the old man was scared out of his wits and hurriedly begged for mercy.
However... it was already too late.
The sharp sword qi pierced through his brain. The old man froze, a trace of blood seeping from between his brows, before he swayed and toppled headfirst to the ground.
"This..."
"He really killed him? That was ruthless!"
Seeing the old man die before their eyes, the cultivators shuddered. They secretly glanced at Li Yu and, seeing that he did not seem inclined to pursue the matter further, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Supreme? That title is completely unfamiliar! Who exactly is he? With a wave of his hand, he turned a mortal into a powerful cultivator. Such a method is simply terrifying!"
The cultivators feared Li Yu to the extreme.
A disciple had merely cried, "Grandmaster, save me," and he had manifested himself. With a wave of his hand, he had created a powerful cultivator who easily crushed them all. Such divine abilities were utterly unheard of.
Mysterious and unfathomable! Profound beyond measure! A person like this was not someone they could afford to provoke!
"Zhou Yi..."
Seeing Zhou Yi actually kill someone, Li Xiaoman and the other students were also terrified.
Having lived in a society governed by law, the sight of murder was far too shocking for them. Every student looked at Zhou Yi with a trace of fear in their eyes.
"Liu Yunzhi, it is time we settled our accounts properly."
Zhou Yi turned around, his cold gaze fixed fiercely upon Liu Yunzhi. Watery sword light curled around his fingertips, carrying a biting chill like the depths of winter.
"I..."
Liu Yunzhi's face turned pale, and he staggered back again and again in fright. "Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi! We were classmates, after all. Are you really going to kill me? I..."
"Classmates?"
A cold sneer appeared on Zhou Yi's face as he raised the finger wreathed in sword qi.
"When you framed me just now, did you ever think of us as classmates? You wanted my life, yet I am supposed to talk to you about being classmates? Die!"
Sword light flashed and vanished. Liu Yunzhi fell in response.
"Ah!"
The students cried out and stumbled several steps back, staring at Zhou Yi in horror, seemingly unable to believe it.
"He wanted my life. Was I supposed to let him slaughter me?"
Zhou Yi snorted coldly, ignoring the expressions of the other students. He walked up to Li Yu, bowed, and said, "Grandmaster, this disciple has fulfilled his mission!"
"Very good!"
Li Yu smiled and nodded. With a gentle wave of his hand, a speck of radiance emerged from Zhou Yi's brow and landed in Li Yu's palm.
Zhou Yi's body trembled slightly as the Heavenly Book Spirit's report sounded beside his ear.
"Your Majesty, the Dao Ancestor has withdrawn his power. You have lost the Grand Void Sword Qi and your true essence power."
"It truly is... somewhat hard to let go."
His true essence power was gone. The Grand Void Sword Qi was gone. It felt as though his entire body had been hollowed out, leaving him empty inside.
Having felt extraordinary power, having possessed extraordinary power, only to suddenly lose it again—Zhou Yi could not help feeling somewhat disappointed.
"Your Majesty, bestowed power is ultimately external and not your own cultivation. Keeping it would do more harm than good. The Dao Ancestor did this for your benefit as well."
"I understand, of course."
Zhou Yi took a deep breath. The turmoil in his heart subsided, and he regained his usual composure.
"Not bad! Not bad!"
Seeing Zhou Yi adjust his mindset in an instant, Li Yu finally felt a measure of genuine appreciation for him.
"Sir..."
At this moment, an old man from Spirit Void Grotto-Heaven stepped forward and bowed to Li Yu. "Sir, greed clouded our hearts, and we offended your esteemed disciple. We are deeply ashamed. Your generosity is as vast as the sea; we are profoundly grateful that you have forgiven us. Now that this matter has concluded, might we be permitted to take our leave?"
"Hehe. There is no need for this."
Li Yu smiled and nodded to the old man, then pointed at Li Xiaoman and the others. "Their arrival here has something to do with me, so it would not be right for me to simply ignore them. They possess passable aptitude. You may accept them into your sect and grant them a future. What do you say?"
"Ah... yes! Yes! Yes!"
"This is wonderful! Wonderful!"
The cultivators had thought these promising seedlings would have nothing to do with them, but hearing Li Yu's words felt like a blessing falling from the heavens. They were overjoyed.
"Supreme Grandmaster, may we join your sect?"
Li Xiaoman looked at Li Yu with hopeful eyes.
"Ah! Yes! Yes! Yes!"
"Grandmaster, please accept us as your disciples!"
Thinking of Li Yu's divine abilities, and how Zhou Yi had gone from an ordinary mortal to slaughtering enemies in every direction in an instant, how could they not realize that Li Yu was the True God? Naturally, they wanted to enter Li Yu's sect.
"There is indeed no master-disciple destiny between you and me. Such matters cannot be forced."
Li Yu smiled and shook his head, then turned to Zhou Yi. "I have only sent an incarnation here. My true body is still roaming the sea of stars and will need a little while longer to return. You may wait here. Once my true body returns, I will speak with you further."
Without waiting for Zhou Yi's reply, Li Yu swept his gaze around the room and smiled faintly. "I shall take my leave."
As soon as he finished speaking, violet clouds filled the sky and vanished in a flash. Li Yu's figure disappeared.
"An incarnation came here while his true body roamed the sea of stars?"
"What kind of mighty being is that?"
Hearing Li Yu's words, the cultivators were dumbfounded. Such divine abilities were simply unimaginable!
"Um... Young Master Zhou..."
The bronze-faced old man looked at Zhou Yi awkwardly and raised his hand to slap himself across the face several times. "I offended you greatly just now. Please forgive me, Young Master Zhou!"
"I am terribly sorry!"
The sinister old woman forced a smile, looking eagerly at Zhou Yi.
"Well... Young Master Zhou, we did not know your background was so extraordinary. Please forgive any offense we caused."
The old man from Spirit Void Grotto-Heaven also forced a smile and repeatedly apologized to Zhou Yi.
They could hardly be blamed for offering apologies!
Damn it, an incarnation alone had scared them half to death. Now the true body was coming back—were they supposed to survive that?
"I already said before the Grandmaster that I would not hold it against you. Naturally, I will not pursue it. Rest assured."
Zhou Yi answered in an indifferent tone, but inwardly, he felt incomparably delighted.
I am a disciple of the Dao Ancestor! With such a great deity watching over me, who do I have to fear? Who would dare provoke me?
"Thank you, Young Master Zhou, for your magnanimity!"
The cultivators all bowed to Zhou Yi, respectful to the utmost and not daring to show the slightest negligence.
"What kind of luck did Zhou Yi stumble upon?"
Seeing this scene, Ye Fan felt somewhat envious, and his regret deepened.
He had encountered Li Yu first! Li Yu had stood in the road blocking his car, and Ye Fan had even cursed him out. If he had not cursed him back then and had instead treated him politely, would this opportunity have fallen to him?
"Why did he not accept me? I was clearly the one who met him first!"
Li Xiaoman also looked deeply frustrated. She had clearly met Li Yu first; Zhou Yi had arrived afterward. Why had he chosen Zhou Yi instead of her?
"Young Master Zhou, may I ask about your esteemed Grandmaster's origins? We are ignorant and poorly informed. Please enlighten us."
An old man respectfully asked Zhou Yi.
"You have never heard of the Grandmaster's title?"
Zhou Yi looked at the cultivators in surprise. "The Supreme Dao Ancestor! You have never heard of him? Limitless Supreme Pure Moral Celestial Venerable—have you never heard of him?"
"Dao Ancestor!"
Hearing that title, the cultivators cried out strangely and collapsed to the ground with a thud, their bodies going limp as sweat poured down like rain.
"We are still alive. We truly are lucky!"