"Achoo!"
A wave of dust suddenly rose within the Godslayer Palace of the Life Command Divine Hall.
This palace, steeped in solemn majesty, had blue-brown stone slabs blanketed in dust. Cobwebs hung where the walls met the beams and pillars. The dust that rushed at him did more than choke—it carried the breath of antiquity and the weight of ages.
"Someone..."
Hua Yuan stood with his sword slanted at his side, listening as the sneeze echoed through the giant's palace until it faded away.
Only after ten breaths did he move, when a loud grumble came from within the palace:
"So annoying! Who the hell is thinking about me?"
"If you're thinking about me, come in and see me directly. Don't pull those flirtatious little tricks outside—they're useless!"
I've been discovered...
Hua Yuan held his breath and focused, refusing to be baited into making a sound.
He was currently in ghost form, leaving no trace like a wild goose crossing the sky. Ordinarily, so long as he did not expose himself, few beneath the Holy Emperor could detect him.
Looking back along the path he had come from, he saw only a long string of human footprints on the blue stone slabs of the giant's palace. They were not his. If nothing unexpected had happened, they belonged to the person inside who had sneezed.
"The only one who arrived before me."
"Yue Gongli..."
That sneeze had sounded far too familiar. It had to be Yue Gongli, Moon Palace Slave's former Shadow.
Yet Hua Yuan had ventured alone into the Life Command Divine Hall, encountering countless illusions along the way. He had seen no fewer than ten Yue Gonglis.
After being tricked and stabbed the first time, he had become wary. Every Yue Gongli illusion thereafter had been successfully assassinated by