"A cultivator?"
"Can you withstand this saber strike?"
The saber's light traced a line through the night, dividing yin from yang, cleaving dusk from dawn.
It rose without a sound and fell without a whisper.
Heaven and earth seemed to lose their colors in that instant, leaving only that gray-white blade light stretching across the long street, like a boundary dividing life from death.
As Lu Guan's words rang through the night sky, the saber light swallowed Yuan Guanshan's vision whole.
Then... there was no then.
Split in two, head severed from body.
The old ape crashed to the ground, its head rolling aside, its face savage and its eyes bulging wide, unable to close even in death.
Its expression held fury, bewilderment, and resentment, but not a trace of acceptance.
Shameless bastards!
It had thought this would be a simple fish-frying match.
Yet first, it had encountered a Pacification Commissioner who had no martial honor and chopped off its arm the moment they met.
Fine, so be it. After all, the man had not dared kill him and could only let it in.
Even with just one arm, it could still crush these small fry.
And just as it had expected, no matter how astonishingly talented its opponent was, all beneath the inner landscape realm were ants, left to its whims.
But just as it was about to strike the killing blow, things had taken a very different turn.
A gold-badge Demon-Slaying Envoy had appeared out of nowhere, locking down the workings of heaven and earth's Qi, utterly disregarding the Fruitless Cave backing it, and even trying to kill it.
Then, before it could plot its escape, the ant it had been trampling underfoot had actually risen up too.
How could it tolerate that?
Most, most, most unbelievable of all-
Would someone kindly explain how a gang condensation realm martial artist could mobilize the workings of heaven and earth's Qi and unleash power belonging to the inner landscape realm?
Wasn't this using cheats?
All its doubts vanished without a trace as the saber light fell.
[Early inner landscape realm ape demon, poor aptitude, cultivated for one thousand three hundred and twenty years, extracted five hundred and twenty years of effective cultivation] [Remaining cultivation: five hundred and fifty-nine years]
"Whew-"
Lu Guan gasped for breath, his face deathly pale, his entire body seeming hollowed out.
In fact, that was precisely what had happened.
All the Gang Qi in his body had been drained in an instant, comparable to having dozens of demonesses siphon off his vital essence at once. From the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, not one part of him was free of weakness.
The figure behind him dispersed.
He planted his saber against the ground, forcing himself to remain upright.
Beneath the night sky, the bright moon hung high.
The youth was drenched in blood, looking utterly wretched, yet the one that had ultimately fallen into a pool of blood was a great demon of the inner landscape realm.
At the end of the street, Yu Qianqian's lips curled slightly as she stared straight at Lu Guan, not forgetting to tell the man beside her:
"Uncle Chen... I told you he was a genius!"
Chen Jingchou stood rooted to the spot, unable to recover for a long time. He did not even respond to the woman's words.
He looks like him... so much like him.
He narrowed his eyes, studying Lu Guan's profile over and over. The more he looked, the more something seemed off.
"Commandery Princess," he suddenly said, his tone solemn, "tell me the truth. Is this Lu Guan His Highness the Prince of Yan's illegitimate son, living away from home?"
Celestial Person One Saber Slash was precisely the signature supreme art with which the Prince of Yan of You Province had made his name in his youth.
Its reputation resounded throughout You Province. Across all of Great Li, countless people wished to learn it but could find no way in.
As far as he knew, the Prince of Yan had hidden this divine ability within a martial art called Four Symbols Heaven's Will Saber.
How had the youth before him learned it?
Taking into account the identity of the noblewoman of Great Li beside him, it was hard not to let his imagination wander!
And when he looked closely, the youth's profile really did seem to bear some resemblance to His Highness the Prince of Yan!
"Uncle Chen, what are you saying?!"
Yu Qianqian's beautiful eyes widened as she looked at Chen Jingchou in disbelief, her face flushing crimson.
Yet the man looked perfectly composed, wearing an expression that said he understood everything. "How else would you explain this... young highness knowing Celestial Person One Saber Slash?"
He lowered his voice, as though afraid someone might overhear.
"After all, learning a martial art of this caliber isn't something that happens overnight."
Recalling that the Prince of Yan's heir was often ill, Chen Jingchou suddenly felt he had discovered something extraordinary.
The heir was bedridden year-round. If the Prince of Yan had another son elsewhere, one with exceptional talent and a strong, healthy body...
The youth before him might one day attain indescribable nobility!
Looking at the man before her, whose thoughts had clearly gone astray, Yu Qianqian let out a long, helpless sigh. "I taught him."
"What?"
"I said, I taught him Four Symbols Heaven's Will Saber." Yu Qianqian rolled her eyes at him.
"I gave him this martial art to repay him for saving my life, but I only taught him Four Symbols Heaven's Will Saber. As for Celestial Person One Saber Slash..."
She paused, her gaze full of curiosity as she looked at Lu Guan. "I truly don't know how he learned it."
As for speculation about illegitimate sons and the like, she could only say that Chen Jingchou's imagination ran far too wild.
Her father had never even taken a secondary consort. How could he possibly have done something so outrageous?
"Hmm?"
Chen Jingchou blinked, clearly not having expected this answer from Yu Qianqian.
"Forgive my frankness, Commandery Princess, but you have been away from home for only half a month, much of which you spent in the hands of demons. How long could you have known this youth?"
"Two hours."
Understanding what he meant, Yu Qianqian held up one finger and said earnestly:
"From before I began teaching him Four Symbols Heaven's Will Saber until he grasped its basics, only two hours passed."
At her words, Chen Jingchou nodded thoughtfully.
Although he had never practiced this martial art, something the Prince of Yan had learned in his youth must have been a prized art of the gang condensation realm, with a demanding threshold.
To grasp the basics of such a martial art in two hours-wasn't that comprehension a little too terrifying?
No wonder Commandery Princess Luyang valued him so highly.
"At the time... he seemed to be only in the true Qi realm," Yu Qianqian added.
"!!!"
Chen Jingchou's eyes widened, and he could not help saying, "Please don't joke with me, Commandery Princess."
The youth had clearly displayed a perfected gang condensation realm cultivation just now. He was obviously an expert who had spent years immersed in that realm.
And now you're telling me he was still in the true Qi realm a few days ago?
Yu Qianqian frowned. "Perhaps he concealed his cultivation realm?"
That seemed to be the only possibility.
Otherwise, clearing the gang condensation realm in a few days-was that still human?
Only upon hearing this did Chen Jingchou suppress the shock in his heart.
Now that made sense.
Still, from Yu Qianqian's earnest attitude, he also confirmed that Lu Guan was not the Prince of Yan's illegitimate son.
Disappointed though he was, his heart surged with excitement.
What a fine talent!
In just a few sentences, an image of Lu Guan had taken shape in his mind.
A youthful genius who hated evil like a mortal enemy, who had not only perfected Four Symbols Heaven's Will Saber within a few short days, but had even extrapolated Celestial Person One Saber Slash from it!
A genius capable of learning a divine ability while still in the gang condensation realm-looking back over a thousand years of Great Li's history, there were only a handful of such people, foremost among them the Prince of Yan.
And every one of those people, without exception, had become a pillar holding up the heavens.
Even without hoping that he would become such a pillar, having mastered the workings of heaven and earth's Qi ahead of time meant that, at the very least, his attainment of the inner landscape realm was already nailed fast to the board!
At this thought, Chen Jingchou straightened his robes and headwear, put on an amiable expression, and slowly stepped forward.
Weighing his words, he said kindly:
"Young friend, would you be willing to join our Demon-Slaying Envoys?"