Breaking the Formation, Joining Forces

A man's voice rang out loud and clear within Old Lord Valley.

The Watchdog's tentacle pierced the clouds. An Immortal Way formation rose into the sky, its radiance casting the world in strange colors.

Li Tianqi stood before a stone stele in Old Lord Valley.

As his grandfather's roar rang out, Li Tianqi slowly removed his mask.

Three months earlier, Li Tianming had joined forces with Linghu Tiangong and brought many Li Family cultivators into Old Lord Valley. Li Tianqi had been among them.

He stared at the stele, feeling strangely nostalgic. Long ago, he had traveled with his eldest brother and Tianming to all sorts of peculiar places, mostly tombs. They had also worked as spies, charlatans, and killers.

But time spared no one, not even cultivators who lived for thousands or tens of thousands of years. Tianming had changed the most. The madman who once followed them around, struggling to hold on to his humanity, had become a fool, then someone Li Tianqi no longer recognized. At least Tianming could protect himself now. Before, Li Tianqi and his eldest brother had protected him.

His eldest brother had changed greatly too. He used to nag, had a whole host of old grandfathers protecting him, and had grown lazy once he became capable. But later he stopped being lazy. After a trip to the Western Border, he said that if he stayed that way, he might not even be able to protect Li Tianqi and Tianming.

Tianyue had never come back.

His eldest brother and Tianming had gone far, far beyond him.

And he had changed too.

Li Tianqi pressed one hand to the stele and rubbed his stubble with the other. A little maturity had crept into his devil-may-care manner. "I can handle this on my own. I've learned