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"Cough, cough..."

Amid the dust, Steller staggered back more than ten steps.

Blood streamed from the corners of his mouth.

His golden ceremonial robes had been torn to shreds.

Even the longsword in his hand had cracked.

He was injured.

And gravely at that!

Steller's eyes were filled with disbelief.

He had lost?

"Y-you... how could you possibly be so strong?" Steller asked, his voice trembling.

Haoyue slowly emerged from the dust, his miao dao in hand.

Steller's face alternated between ashen and pale.

Killing intent raged in his heart, but he was chilled to the core.

He, a mighty Peak Saint-level expert, had been utterly crushed in a head-on clash by a young man who had only just reached the Saint-level.

If he fought, he would likely die.

If he retreated, he might yet survive.

"Fine! Just you wait!"

Steller ground his teeth, his eyes full of venom.

Abandoning the fight, he instantly activated a spatial teleportation scroll, one of the Radiant Church's trump cards!

Brilliant white light enveloped him, and space warped violently.

In the next instant, Steller abandoned all his subordinates and teleported away, vanishing without a trace.

In the canyon, the church's remaining heavy-armored knights were scared out of their wits.

Haoyue's gaze was icy, his killing intent chilling.

Both he and Linley were among the church's most wanted fugitives. Their enmity with the church ran deep as the sea, leaving no room for mercy.

"Kill them all."

In moments, every last member of the remaining church force was dead. Not one survived.

Haoyue raised a hand and shattered the chains on the prison wagons. All five wagons were opened, and Barker and his four brothers were freed.

Just as everyone escaped danger, the air stirred faintly high above.

A black-clad middle-aged man with a languid, carefree manner slowly descended on a gentle breeze.

He was handsome and easygoing, but the aura surrounding him was as vast as an abyss, unfathomably deep.

It was none other than Cesar!

He had already broken through his bottleneck and ascended to the Deity-level, becoming the fifth Deity-level expert on the Yulan Continent.

He had not come specifically to rescue anyone.

The violent collision of Battle-qi and the Saint-level fighting in the canyon had sent fluctuations sweeping across a thousand miles, alerting Cesar, who had just broken through to the Deity-level and whose divine sense had greatly expanded.

Then he swept the area with his divine sense and detected Linley's aura, so he came over.

The moment he landed, Cesar looked at Linley, a familiar smile curling his lips.

"Linley, long time no see."

His tone was that of old acquaintances meeting again.

At the sight of him, Linley felt a wave of relief and hurriedly bowed. "Mr. Cesar."

The two already knew each other.

Cesar had once been obsessed with the art of stone carving and had sought Linley out to carve a portrait of him, leaving him indebted to Linley.

When Linley had wanted to assassinate the king, Cesar had also given him the formula for Hemolytic Poison, helping him carry out the assassination.

Only the two of them knew of those ties.

Cesar nodded faintly and glanced at Haoyue, surprise flashing in his eyes.

"A Tiger-Striped Warrior? A bloodline that vanished a thousand years ago. It really is very strong too."

He studied Haoyue for a moment, growing more astonished the longer he looked. "After transforming into a Tiger-Striped Warrior, you'd only just entered the Saint-level, yet you managed to drive off Steller, a Peak Saint-level expert. Young man, you're truly extraordinary."

Haoyue cupped his hands slightly and remained silent, calm and composed.

After the greetings, Cesar's gaze fell on Barker and his four brothers, and his brows rose slightly.

There was no mistaking the aura of an Undying Warrior bloodline.

"You must be descendants of the Armand clan."

Barker, the eldest, stepped forward and said gravely, "We don't really know where we came from. Lord Cesar, did you know our ancestor?"

"More than that."

A hint of remembrance appeared in Cesar's eyes, and his tone grew solemn. "Five thousand years ago, Amanda, the Undying Warrior, and I were brothers who had risked our lives for each other."

The five brothers trembled violently, their faces full of disbelief.

All five knelt and kowtowed together.

"Precisely because you are descendants of the Armand clan of Amanda, the Undying Warrior, one of the Four Ultimate Warriors, you were born with strong bodies and could easily reach the Eighth-level Warrior realm through physical strength alone."

"That was also why the Radiant Church wiped out your family and captured you, intending to use you as vessels for angels to descend."

Cesar nodded slightly. "I don't have your clan's Undying Secret Manual on me. On the eve of Amanda's death in battle, she entrusted the manual of her legacy to me, and I left it tens of thousands of miles away."

"Stay here and don't go anywhere. I'll fetch the manual for you and be right back."

With those words, Cesar's figure blurred.

A Deity-level expert could travel a thousand miles in a day!

A day later, he returned with an ancient black manual in his hand, its surface marked by the passage of time.

It was the Undying Secret Manual!

"This belongs to you."

Cesar solemnly handed the manual to the five brothers.

They accepted it with trembling hands, overjoyed, and kowtowed repeatedly in thanks.

With everything settled, Cesar looked at Linley and Haoyue again, his expression serious.

"I've just broken through to the Deity-level. I need to enter seclusion to stabilize my realm and gain insight into the Edicts, so I can't stay here."

"The Radiant Church will never let the Undying Warrior bloodline go. The five of them are too weak right now, and dangers surround them."

"I have a favor to ask."

Haoyue and Linley spoke in unison. "Please, senior."

"Please look after Barker and his brothers in my stead."

"Once they master the Undying Warrior transformation and have the strength to protect themselves, they can go out and make their own way."

Haoyue readily agreed. "Rest assured, senior. Linley and I will keep them safe."

Greatly reassured, Cesar nodded slightly. "With you two looking after them, I can rest easy."

Having made all the arrangements, Cesar lingered no longer.

"Take care on your journey."

The black-clad figure rose into the air and vanished at the far end of the sky in an instant.

In the canyon.

Barker and his four brothers bowed solemnly to the two men. "From this day forward, the five of us brothers will follow you both, our elder brothers, and never abandon you in life or death!"

Haoyue smiled faintly. "We've faced hardship together, so we're brothers."

From then on, the group gained five more Undying Warrior experts.

Haoyue, Linley, Sessler and his disciple, Bebe, Haeru, Barker and his four brothers packed their belongings.

In the glow of the setting sun, they set off south once more, their party heading for the O'Brien Empire.