With the ancient sword destroyed, the beams of light transformed from stars vanished as well. The shaking of the void chamber gradually subsided, leaving only the gray divine light that had yet to fully dissipate around Yun Che and Little Goldfish's angry yet helpless gaze.
It hovered in midair, its golden scales glowing faintly with its fluctuating emotions and its tail swishing uneasily. It was clearly wary of this human who refused to play by the rules.
"Fine, you win!" After holding it in for ages, Little Goldfish finally forced the words out, its voice tinged with exasperation. "I already said I was willing to submit, and you still hit me that hard! Aren't you afraid you'll destroy my physical vessel completely and end up with nothing?"
The corner of Yun Che's mouth lifted slightly. He withdrew his fist and lightly touched the cracks in the ancient sword with his fingertips, sensing the energy fluctuations that remained within.
"Destroying it would be perfect. It would save me the trouble of keeping an unruly sword spirit like you around. But from the looks of it, your physical vessel isn't all that fragile. At least it could still make some decent artifact refining material."
"You!" Little Goldfish nearly jumped in fury, but it dared not actually rush at him and could only circle in place. "I'm a sword spirit who's existed since ancient times! I've seen at least eight hundred prodigies, if not a thousand, and I've never met anyone as unreasonable as you!"
"Reason?" Yun Che scoffed, sweeping his gaze over the ancient sword on the verge of shattering. "Before absolute power, reason has always been written by the victor. You can either submit now or wait for me to dismantle you. Your choice."
Seeing the undisguised killing intent in Yun