Meeting Gan Long

To people like them, the Eight Prohibitions were a legendary Forbidden Domain, a height countless favored children of heaven could never reach. In an entire ancient land of life, there might only be one or two people capable of entering the Eight Prohibitions—or perhaps none at all.

The younger generation of the Eternal Star Domain was stirred into excitement, all of them shouting madly. Being able to follow someone like this was an immense honor.

"The Eight Prohibitions... that is a realm countless people wish to attain. Even I am only below the Eight Prohibitions." The man seated beside Xu Changqing spoke bitterly and glanced at Xu Changqing.

Yet Xu Changqing's expression remained calm, without the slightest ripple, as though this were nothing unusual.

In the Big Dipper Star Domain, several people possessed the strength of the Eight Prohibitions, both openly and in secret.

Among those Xu Changqing knew of were the Buddha Son and the Bodhi Maiden of Western Desert, along with certain special factions, such as the Feathered Divine Son and a Saint Spirit.

The only ones who could enter the Divine Prohibition were him and that woman.

Boom!

A vast Saber Intent suddenly erupted from the battlefield, sweeping through like a tornado. The sharp Saber Intent turned into raging winds that made Gan Long's entire body tremble. His clothes shredded, while dense wounds appeared across his body at a visible rate.

"You have endured several thousand exchanges. You are qualified to follow me." Divine light bloomed in Lin Qianyu's eyes. Her black ponytail whipped wildly, while her black robes fluttered fiercely under the Saber Intent.

She stood in midair like a War Goddess, divine light shining from her eyes as she stared intently at Gan Long, whose complexion was gradually recovering.

Her Miao Dao pointed at the half-crouching Gan Long. The sky darkened, and countless saber energies formed a giant dragon behind Lin Qianyu. The enormous dragon head stared fixedly at Gan Long, spewing endless Saber Intent.

Gan Long's expression was incomparably ugly, his face pale, but he still nodded. "I keep my word."

A hundred years ago, he had encountered the newly risen Xu Changqing—and lost.

A hundred years later, he had encountered Lin Qianyu in the Eternal Star Domain—and lost again.

It was as if he had some grudge against experts of the Eight Prohibitions.

"Hah..." Gan Long cast aside the thoughts in his mind, drew a deep breath, and closed his eyes. He muttered, "This is my strongest move. Back then, I used it against that man."

Xu Changqing watched Gan Long gather strength with great interest. Back then, Gan Long had relied on that move to cause him no small amount of trouble, even forcing him into a disadvantage for a time. But things were different now.

Back then, he had only been a Dragon Transformation Cultivator and was not particularly powerful. But now, it was different.

"Qiankun stirs, heaven and earth shatter. Fists like Mount Tai, shaking ten thousand ravines, heavy as the mysterious yellow."

Dao Sound burst forth, and the heavenly sound of the Great Dao shook the Starry Sky. Golden ripples spilled from Gan Long's mouth as the space around him began to distort, dense black holes appearing within it.

Holy light bloomed from his fists, drawing down the radiance of stars beyond the domain. It was as if Immortal Light were flowing into his fists.

A massive number of runes erupted from the crown of his head. In the end, starlight converged and flowed into the black holes around him, constructing a hazy great world.

A profound aura rippled outward in all directions. The instant those ripples spread, they cut off Lin Qianyu's Saber Intent.

Boom!

A stream of clear energy surged into the sky as his blood energy instantly condensed inward. Endless profound laws and principles all gathered within Gan Long's fists, turning them violet-gold, like Immortal Gold, seemingly incomparably hard.

Nine starry skies appeared behind him as well. The nine starry skies layered atop one another and moved along with his fists.

Kill!

Gan Long shouted and charged directly toward Lin Qianyu in midair. His combat power seemed to have increased severalfold. He merely took one step, yet instantly arrived before Lin Qianyu.

Then, his violet-gold fist smashed forward, while a universe behind him descended along with the motion, suppressing everything.

For a moment, the entire arena was filled with starlight, as though a real Starry Sky had been severed and refined into the arena.

That incomparable aura pressed down upon her, and Lin Qianyu instantly felt as if she were carrying a primordial divine mountain on her back. It was unimaginably heavy.

After watching for a moment, Xu Changqing knew Gan Long was about to lose again. There was no helping it—the Eight Prohibitions were simply this abnormal.

Clang... clang, bang...

Sure enough, after Gan Long threw nine punches, his essence, energy, and spirit began to decline. Lin Qianyu was injured as well. Her tiger's mouth had split open, and even her face had been swollen from the blows.

But flesh had been carved from half of Gan Long's face, one of his hands had been severed, and three fatal, savage saber wounds had appeared across his chest.

A long Miao Dao rested against his neck, blood dripping from its tip.

"You lost." Lin Qianyu looked at Gan Long with cold eyes, the long saber in her hand trembling lightly.

Gan Long's iron fists were simply too terrifying. They had struck her physical body so hard that it was wracked with intense pain.

At this point, Gan Long had calmed down. He accepted his defeat openly and said, "I lost. As agreed, I will follow you into battle across the Starry Sky."

Hearing this, Lin Qianyu put away her saber and healed the wounds on her body. She turned around, leaving Gan Long with a valiant, heroic back. "Keep up. I'll take you out."

Gan Long rose from the ground and stood in the center of the arena, surrounded by countless spectators, facing Xu Changqing.

He looked at the white-haired man with his hair parted seven to three and felt certain that this aura belonged to that man.

His Divine Body was the Qiankun Body. Back then, he had fought Xu Changqing fiercely and was extremely familiar with Xu Changqing's aura. Even if Xu Changqing's aura had changed or become restrained, the original aura that belonged to him would never change.

He faced Xu Changqing, opened his mouth, but said nothing. Though the two had once been enemies, he no longer wished to harm Xu Changqing by exposing him.

Seeing this, Xu Changqing stood up and walked straight out through the passage.

Outside, in a desolate forest far from the city, Xu Changqing stood quietly in midair, having returned to his original appearance. His white hair draped over his shoulders and swayed gently in the breeze.

Naturally, he could sense that Gan Long no longer harbored hostility toward him and had something he wanted to say.

Xu Changqing also wished to learn about certain things.

"So it really is you, Wuqing!" Gan Long's face revealed a complicated expression when he saw that incomparably familiar face.

"The once-unrivaled Holy Son of the Qiankun Holy Land has now become nothing more than a supporting leaf." Xu Changqing recalled how high-spirited Gan Long had been back then and compared it to his current state.

It was like comparing a crown prince from a mortal dynasty to a learned scholar.

"Let the past remain in the past..." After saying this, Gan Long fell silent.

"What do you want to tell me?" Xu Changqing asked. He looked at Gan Long, who was still bleeding, and occasionally glanced toward the void.

He had long known that someone had followed them, but he was unafraid.

"Back then, your son and I set foot on the Starry Sky Ancient Road. At a junction on the Trial Path, he and I were forcibly separated. I came to the Eternal Star Domain, but I do not know where he went. He should have gone onto the Emperor's Road, perhaps entering another star domain."

"During these years in the Eternal Star Domain, I never regarded them highly. In the end, because of my constitution, they captured me and reduced me to a sparring partner..."

Gan Long spoke bitterly. Leaning against a great tree with a jug of wine in hand, he stared blankly at the Starry Sky and muttered to himself.

Perhaps seeing someone from his homeland had made him more talkative.

Only now did he understand that saying: after leaving one's homeland, seeing an old acquaintance again was something worth being happy about, whether that person was an enemy or a mortal foe.

"Get to the point." Xu Changqing frowned. He had not come here to reminisce with Gan Long. Someone was still watching from the shadows.

"I know you are going to fight your way onto the Emperor's Road, so I came to find you and give you a formation disk that can teleport you to the Trial Path. The formation disk is useless to me now." Gan Long revealed a self-mocking expression as he said this.

Since he had already chosen to follow Lin Qianyu, the coordinates were optional to him.

"Why?" Xu Changqing asked in confusion. They had clearly been enemies before, so why was Gan Long giving him a passage formation disk for the Ancient Trial Path?

Gan Long shook his head without speaking. He merely took a one-meter-wide five-colored formation disk from his Sea of Bitterness and tossed it to Xu Changqing. "This was refined by an elder of my Holy Land."

"Now, it can only be used for one trip."

"Why didn't you use it while you were here?" Xu Changqing asked.

At this, Gan Long's eyes filled with fury, and his voice became incomparably low. "How could I use it? My entire cultivation had been bound by special ropes. Unless it was during battle, when all my cultivation could be unsealed, I was an ordinary mortal without cultivation the rest of the time, available for them to draw blood from!"

If not for Lin Qianyu's immense influence and renowned name, those people from the great factions might never have allowed him to leave.

"Oh, right. In some time, a great opportunity will appear in the Eternal Star Domain. I heard that something left behind by Emperor Daoyan has surfaced, though no one knows what it is. With your cultivation, you should be able to obtain it," Gan Long said.

He had his own reasons for treating Xu Changqing so well.

Because once they entered the Emperor's Road, the two of them would inevitably face each other again. He only hoped that Xu Changqing would show mercy then.

This was purely a relationship of interests. Gan Long wanted to live, while Xu Changqing wanted to grow stronger.

Xu Changqing naturally understood. He turned around and vanished from where he stood in an instant, but his voice continued to echo through the desolate forest. "You are clever, but if you face me, I will not show mercy."

"If you encounter me on the Emperor's Road, you can avoid me."