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This was a grudge match.

Guo Decheng's reputation among martial artists wasn't particularly good.

Martial artists of the past had placed great importance on martial ethics.

A killer boss like Guo Decheng, bought off by a warlord bigwig and used exclusively to assassinate political enemies and opponents, naturally couldn't have had much martial virtue. Someone so ruthless was naturally no respecter of teachers or tradition either. His reckless tampering with the forefathers' legacy was only to be expected.

Kuang Yimin was Guo Decheng's master.

His attitude toward this rebellious disciple, who had previously strayed onto the Outer Dao of evil and demons, was somewhat complicated.

He wanted to purge the school.

But he was already old, and this was his only decent inheritor. If he really killed him, where would he find a martial prodigy to inherit everything the forefathers had left him?

So the matter dragged on awkwardly.

Li Shuwen and Kuang Yimin were respectively known as the Divine Spear and the Spear King. In their younger days, they had admired one another during martial arts exchanges and could be called rare friends. Now that Li Shuwen, as a newly risen martial artist, had offered to cross hands with Guo Decheng, it was also at his friend's request.

If Lan Yi hadn't suddenly appeared.

Perhaps there would have been no way for the path Guo Decheng had taken to gain recognition. Now, to some extent, he could be considered someone who had abandoned darkness and turned toward the light.

Every family had its own difficult scripture to recite.

These entanglements among the martial artists were reported to Lan Yi by Shadow Heavenly General Zhao Sikong.

Never mind Guo Decheng. Martial artists like Zhao Jian, Liu Baiyuan, and Sun Lutang had all roamed the martial world in this chaotic era. Which of them didn't carry some entanglement and a few lives on their hands? That would have been the strange part. Zhao Sikong felt this information might be useful to Immortal Master Lan Yi, so he used the power of the mind to secretly gather intelligence.

Lan Yi neither supported nor opposed it.

Although he had no use for it himself, it was better for his subordinates to have something to do than to sit idle.

Doing nothing was an exceedingly terrifying thing.

Especially when martial artists who possessed Innate Qi had nothing to do—the destruction they could cause would be horrifying indeed.

"Big shot, can you take me with you?"

Seeing these martial artists, whose auras had almost solidified into substance and whose surging power could be felt even with his eyes closed, about to exchange blows, Xiao Hongzhuan immediately stopped after eating roughly eighty percent of his fill. He turned to Lan Yi and ingratiated himself sheepishly.

"Sure."

Lan Yi agreed readily.

Guo Decheng and Li Shuwen were going to cross hands.

He had originally intended to bring Xiao Hongzhuan along to watch. The Earth Fiend was something he was determined to obtain, and trading one meal for a life constellation was a bit too black-hearted. But if Xiao Hongzhuan took the initiative to offer a life constellation in exchange for martial arts, then it would be fairer to both sides. After all, what man of the Star Han could refuse a wuxia dream?

When Qi Cultivation Practitioners fought.

They obviously couldn't do it in the courtyard.

If they tore down the Governor's mansion, Immortal Master Lan Yi would definitely strike them with lightning.

They chose a military stronghold outside the city that had already been requisitioned by the martial artists.

Lan Yi separated out a Dharma Sword and adjusted its size, allowing Xiao Hongzhuan to sit on it while he carried him over. This naturally aroused the envy of the many martial artists. Only after Lan Yi vanished from sight did they speak fervently.

"Ultimately, immortals and mortals are worlds apart. Immortal Master Lan Yi has never shown the slightest courtesy to us people of the Lower Realm. If one obtained an immortal register, one would naturally be treated with new respect."

That was someone whose mind had been warped by the idea that immortals and mortals were worlds apart.

"I don't think so. That little immortal probably has something on him that Immortal Master Lan Yi wants."

That was someone clear-headed. Xiao Hongzhuan and Lan Yi both came from the Upper Realm, so perhaps they had some connection.

"Didn't the Fierce Heavenly General also have a life constellation? I never saw him receive such preferential treatment." One martial artist couldn't help voicing his confusion.

"How could that be the same? An immortal is still an immortal. In the Upper Realm, he might even have someone backing him. We haven't become immortals yet, and you already want special treatment? Once you become an immortal, won't you climb right onto Immortal Master Lan Yi's head?" another martial artist sneered.

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare! How could I speak such reckless words?" The martial artist from before turned deathly pale and waved his hands repeatedly.

Although Lan Yi had no literary inquisitions or punishment for words, if anyone showed disrespect toward Immortal Master Lan Yi, they didn't need to wait for the immortal master's wrath and thunderbolts. The martial artists brimming with Baleful Intent had plenty of ways to make the disrespectful die inexplicably in a ditch—and it would absolutely be ruled a natural death or suicide by gunshot!

That was power.

Even if Lan Yi himself didn't care in the slightest.

It would still spread into every corner and crevice, filling every place he didn't care about.

"Holy crap, big shot, you're amazing! Big shot, 666! You really took me flying!"

Xiao Hongzhuan lay sprawled on the great sword, his entire body trembling.

Lan Yi's flying sword had no protection and no thoughtful flight-attendant service.

Sitting on it was equivalent to drifting at the height of more than thirty stories with no protection whatsoever, in fierce gales, while looking down made one's vision swim and legs go weak.

Xiao Hongzhuan was both terrified and exhilarated!

"Big shot, why do you look a little familiar? I feel like I've seen you somewhere..." Xiao Hongzhuan, flushed with excitement, covered his mouth and focused all his attention on Lan Yi's sharply defined, masculine and handsome face.

He truly didn't dare look down anymore. This was more stimulating than bungee jumping, and his heart couldn't take much more.

"Maybe online." Lan Yi's voice was distant.

"Right! Online!" Xiao Hongzhuan made an expression and gesture as though he were offering Lan Yi a bowl of Iron Bull Beef Noodles. "Which post was it again? The one about the CMG observation..."

Cold sweat instantly broke out across Xiao Hongzhuan's forehead.

He seemed to remember...

The male protagonist of that post had apparently been viciously cyberbullied—so viciously that he had become an utterly unforgivable villain, the kind who would be tried in the women's restroom and sentenced to death on the spot.

"Go on. Why did you stop? Don't you still have a life?" Lan Yi was indeed in a good mood. Facing someone else from the main world with whom he could communicate, he even started joking.

A joke was a joke, but it was not merely a joke.

If he said the wrong thing, he might end up crashing to his death the very next second, just like Lao Da.

"Big shot, my admiration for you is like the surging waters of the Yangtze, endless and unceasing, and like the Yellow River bursting its banks, impossible to stop once unleashed! I support you. Those CMG people were practically begging to be killed—first they toyed with your feelings, then cheated you out of your money, and even slandered you and sent you to prison. Now you're wise and mighty, with divine arts perfected!"

"Once we finish the War Zone mission, I'll go back and kill them all!"

"If you don't despise me, big shot, I'm willing to acknowledge you as my adoptive father..." Xiao Hongzhuan had practically run through every word he'd spoken in the first half of his life.

"What kind of nonsense is this? Am I really that frightening?"

Lan Yi was still in a good mood and directly interrupted Xiao Hongzhuan, who was on the verge of tears.

You're not frightening?

Someone like you, with no relatives or friends, having lost your job and been covered in every kind of false accusation—those Tieba bros had already said you were the next Santa Claus. Who knew whether, while driving, you'd be shouting, "Brake, brake, brake, brake!" as you killed them all!

An invincible man with no ties holding nothing but a bellyful of grievance and bitterness.

And now he possessed such godlike power.

Xiao Hongzhuan didn't even dare imagine what Lan Yi would do after returning from the Artificial Divine Realm.

Thank heavens!

He wasn't a spineless simp. He supported the big shot!