Guan Yue's movements abruptly faltered.
His gaze swept over the thirteen strands of blood-red killing intent suppressed by Lord Guan's divine might, then rose to the phantom green blade a thousand zhang long that had coalesced across the void above his head.
The killing intent formed from the thirteen blood pillars had not dissipated beneath the suppression of the green dragon crescent feng shui configuration.
They recoiled, trembled, and howled, but not out of fear. They were merging.
Like thirteen moths drawn to light, they struggled to cling to the thousand-zhang phantom green blade even as Lord Guan's divine might scorched them.
Thread by thread, blood-red venomous resentment flowed along the feng shui patterns coursing over the phantom blade, pouring backward into Guan Yue's body.
"You—!"
Guan Yue's tiger-like eyes suddenly widened.
At last, he understood.
Those thirteen blood pillars had never been meant to kill him.
They were a catalyst.
Bait.
A key.
As the righteous qi of the lord guan feng shui formation crushed and purified the lingering souls and resentment sealed within the thirteen blood pillars, they would release a pure power of origin.
That power would follow the feng shui channels of Azure Dragon Crescent Moon and force its way into Guan Yue's body, battering the realm barrier he had struggled so hard to suppress.
Forcing him to break through.
"What a vicious scheme..."
Guan Yue's face turned livid. An unprecedented aura surged from his body, piercing heaven and earth.
This was not killing intent, but something more terrifying.
It was the towering fury erupting from the very bones of the World's Number One Grandmaster as someone sought to destroy his lifetime of effort and obsessive thought.
The Green Dragon Crescent Blade in his hand shook violently. The green blade intent gathered along its edge swelled