Chapter 262: Night of Blood

“It’s useless,” Yuan Yuanzi suddenly spoke up. He had been silent for a long time, but now, he felt despair. “It’s useless, disciple. Let it be.”

“Master!!” Yang Hao had never heard Yuan Yuanzi sound so despondent.

“I still lost to you,” Yuan Yuanzi said to his millennium-old nemesis. “I’ll call you Supreme, but spare my disciple.”

Yang Hao felt a pang of bitterness. If he could move, he’d rather smash his own head in.

Yang Hao knew deeply how much hatred his master bore this enemy. It had never faded over a thousand years—the hatred of a destroyed sect and the grief of a murdered wife.

Yet for the sake of his disciple, Yuan Yuanzi had actually humbled himself so.

The Supreme smiled but tightened his grip on Yang Hao’s throat. Yang Hao immediately felt his limbs go limp, his breath reduced to a faint thread, his life force slipping away bit by bit.

“I won’t surrender!” Yang Hao forced out the words from the depths of his throat. “Master, don’t surrender!!”

“Whether you surrender or not, you’ll die,” the Supreme coldly replied, increasing the pressure.

Yang Hao instantly felt his blood freeze, his whole body stiffening. Summoning his last ounce of energy, he roared viciously: “Longsword still in hand!!”

It was like a death cry echoing through the vast Yuanlao Mountains.

If this place were still filled with the Longyou Legion and the Imperial Guard, there should have been a thunderous response shaking the mountains: “Haa!!”

“Haa!!” A voice indeed exploded from midair.

But it was only a single, thin female voice, yet filled with tragic determination.

Even the Supreme was startled. He released Yang Hao and turned to look.

Lan Ling, alone and wielding a single spear, had already pierced forward like a silver dragon. Her fearless charge was like an army marching into oblivion.

The Supreme was astonished. Even with his wisdom, he couldn’t figure out how someone else could have returned. Yang Hao was clearly the abandoned pawn of the escapees, sacrificing himself to protect everyone’s retreat.

So why would someone still come to save him?

But it was Lan Ling. As Yang Hao drifted downward, he looked at Lan Ling’s determined eyes and felt only bitterness.

“There are two kinds of love. If we can’t be together, then forget each other in the world,” Lan Ling had once said. “Now, let’s forget each other in the world.”

With absolute resolve, as if abandoning everything, she charged toward the Supreme.

That was how Emperor Yinglie and Feng Feng had charged—they were gone now.

Lan Ling was still determined to walk this path of no return.

The Supreme sighed, as if understanding the nature of love, and didn’t even bother to look at Lan Ling. He simply plucked the string of the bow in his arms.

The long string of the Yanrong Bow.

Lan Ling was like a discarded pawn, blasted away. A crimson rain of blood sprayed through the air.

“Lan Ling!!” Though nearly falling, Yang Hao still summoned his remaining strength.

He wanted to catch the woman.

The Supreme would never allow such an opportunity. He snarled lightly, his left palm suddenly expanding, actually blocking out the sky, directly aiming for Yang Hao’s dantian.

Yang Hao dodged desperately but watched helplessly as Lan Ling plummeted toward the Yuanlao faction.

At that moment, from beneath the cave dwelling, a pure energy surged upward, catching Lan Ling in midair, then flying rapidly into the cosmos at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.

“Sword Spirit!” Yang Hao suddenly recalled. In the Sword Grave, hadn’t the Sword Spirit still been hiding there? This Qilin soul had been concealed all along, and fortunately rushed out in time to rescue Lan Ling.

But he himself wasn’t so lucky. The Supreme completely ignored Lan Ling’s condition, that demonic hand still chasing Yang Hao.

Yang Hao carried Yuan Yuanzi and the millennium heritage of the Dan Ding Sect, which was what the Supreme valued most.

“Damn it! Let’s fight!!” Yang Hao realized he couldn’t escape. Under the pursuit of a Divine Realm expert, he had no way out at all. “Master, let’s fight together!!”

“Fight!!!” Yuan Yuanzi roared.

“Fight?” the Supreme laughed loudly. “With just you two? Back then, when I was a Scatter Immortal, you couldn’t beat me. Now I’ve advanced to a Flying Immortal. What do you have to fight me with?”

Yang Hao stopped fleeing. Instead, he floated toward the Supreme until they were side by side, then coldly said, “What’s so great about being a Flying Immortal? Don’t forget, there are Upper Divine Clans in this world. They are always stronger than you, much stronger!!”

“A bunch of caged fools!” the Supreme smiled faintly. “I’ll surpass them soon enough.”

“Is that so? Then…” Yang Hao’s eyes suddenly blazed with a brilliant light, completely different from before. “Then, try the wrath of the Upper Divine Clans.”

“What?” The Supreme was startled. He saw Yang Hao take off five rings. Those five rings had always been on Yang Hao’s finger, almost never removed.

The Supreme had been in the Divine Realm for so long that he didn’t know Yang Hao had been to the Hidden Divine Realm, naturally unaware of the rings’ origins.

But when Yang Hao took off those rings, the Divine Realm power faintly emanating from them made the Supreme’s expression change drastically: “Are those…”

“Just the caged fools you mentioned!” Yang Hao roared. “Taste the wrath of these fools!”

He didn’t even kiss the rings but threw all five Divine Rings at the Supreme recklessly.

In an instant, the five Divine Rings simultaneously unleashed all the power within them.

Each ring contained five uses of Divine Techniques—those sealed by the Dark Angel King,黑龙王, Flash God, Titan God, and Garuda, representing five Upper Divine Clans.

Enough to overturn the heavens.

And now, so much Divine power erupted together.

The explosion of divine light was like hell itself, creating a white mushroom cloud that boiled over Yuanlao Mountain.

Yang Hao desperately used his true energy to protect himself but was still violently pushed by the overwhelming energy, flung out of the planet, completely losing consciousness.

The Supreme was even more disheveled. Though he possessed the power of a Middle Divine Clan, such massive divine energy was like a dam bursting, all crashing onto his body.

If he let go and flew away, at worst, the planet would be destroyed by the Divine Techniques.

But Yuanlao Mountain was his base, where his disciples and the Yuanlao Council were. There was no way he could abandon it.

So the Supreme had no choice. He flicked his sleeve, wrapping the entire explosion around his body, letting all the Divine Techniques detonate within his sleeves.

When that white mushroom cloud rose, the Supreme’s face turned deathly pale, his divine light dimming and thinning.

After a long, long time, when the explosion of Divine Techniques finally subsided, the Yuanlaos cautiously approached. Only then did the Supreme suddenly recover. His white robe was blasted into black, each hole smoking, like a beggar barely holding on.

“Damn brat!! Damn Yuan Yuanzi!!” The Supreme completely disregarded his image as a Supreme God, pointing furiously at the cosmos. “No matter where you escape to the ends of the earth, I will kill you!! Kill you!!”

The Battle of Yuanlao Mountain was the most brutal battle in human history.

Though not as glorious as the Divine and Demon War, nor as thrilling as the slaughter of hundreds of thousands.

Yet, on the small Yuanlao Mountain, countless human experts left their lives. The highest martial artists accumulated over centuries of intelligent beings were slaughtered overnight.

After this battle, the martial arts standards of the universe rapidly regressed a century, returning to the desolate state of a hundred years ago.

The Yuanlao Council lost almost all its talent reserves accumulated over centuries. Even the Yuanlao Council’s building complex couldn’t be defended. Of the six hundred Saint Realm Yuanlaos, only two hundred remained. Of the nine executive Yuanlaos, two were killed, and Wu Yi was crippled, never to recover to the peak of Saint Realm.

But compared to the losses suffered by the royal family, it was like comparing small witches to great ones. The Galactic Empire royal family had never encountered such a complete defeat since its founding.

The highest imperial leader, Emperor Yinglie Jaran, died. The highest commander of the Imperial Guard, Feng Feng, died. The imperial princess, Xian Lan, died. The families of the seven ministers led by the Chief Minister of the Privy Council, the Chief Minister of the Interior, and the Chief Minister of Foreign Affairs were all killed during the Yuanlaos’ counterattack night.

The Imperial Guard and the Merchant Guild’s Great Swordsmen Corps were completely annihilated in this battle. Nearly ten thousand swordsmen left no corpses, only fields of black armor telling of the sorrow.

The Dan Ding Sword Sect also suffered losses no less than the royal family and the Merchant Guild. Yang Hao’s core force, the Hao Sword Corps, lost more than half. The inner hall of the Dan Ding Sect was completely wiped out. The Ten Sword Flow was annihilated. The Longyou Legion and the Qianlong Pavilion were left with only half their experts.

From then on, the once-mighty Dan Ding Sword Sect disappeared from the imperial stage. The disciples went their separate ways, and the few remaining experts followed Elder Hede out of the planet, their whereabouts unknown.

Twelve hours after the Battle of Yuanlao Mountain, the Yuanlaos launched a full counterattack. They easily captured the imperial city, killed the Imperial Guard and Feng Feng’s subordinates, and enthroned the crown prince as the new emperor of the Galactic Empire. From then on, the Yuanlao Council’s puppet regime officially stepped onto the imperial stage.

The Merchant Guild was also a target of the Yuanlaos’ raid, but the nine directors had already fled the planet, unknown whereabouts. However, the Merchant Guild’s rule over the merchants ended at this moment.

Historically, this day was called the Crimson Night, commemorating the nearly ten thousand experts buried on Yuanlao Mountain.

Though these people died without leaving names,

All future history books recorded their common title: “The Resisters!”

They were pioneers who resisted the Yuanlao tyranny and the Supreme.

Later historians studying the Crimson Night often felt puzzled because, after searching all the materials, they couldn’t find Yang Hao’s whereabouts.

The Crimson Night was the first recorded failure of “Undying War God” Yang Hao in history, but it was also Yang Hao’s only defeat in his life.

As researchers put it, it was the Crimson Night that exposed the Supreme’s full strength, leading to the later Dual God War.

Or rather, from this night filled with blood and grandeur, the curtain of the Dual God War had already slowly risen.

On a certain day after the Crimson Night, in the Eastern Outer Reaches, in the Naranado Hunter Star System’s main planet.

The Hunter Star in the Naranado Arm was an important port and transportation hub in the Eastern Outer Reaches.

This place was resource-poor, with no industrial or agricultural economy. The only thing it produced in abundance were the reckless adventurers of the cosmos.

Its original name wasn’t naturally called Hunter Star, but for a long time, cosmic adventurers and monster hunters used this planet as a supply transit station to enter the Eastern Outer Reaches for hunting. Over time, it became the base of interstellar hunters.

The development of the entire Eastern Outer Reaches was almost a history book of star hunters. From the first adventurer entering the Eastern Outer Reaches and discovering Angel Star, countless star hunters entered this untamed area.

Their hunting targets, besides Spirit Beasts like the Snow Night Lion, were more often people. The beautiful women of Angel Star gradually flowed into the noble class of the Galactic Empire through the smuggling channels of hunters.

Centuries passed, and the Eastern Outer Reaches were no longer the wilderness they once were. Although many Spirit Beasts still existed in many star systems, the core area of the Eastern Outer Reaches had already formed its own federation.

In the city of Hunter Space, the busiest place at night was naturally the Adventurer’s Bar. Hidden in a narrow alley, this bar looked old-fashioned, like a twentieth-century antique. It was the favorite place for top exploration team leaders and mercenary captains.

The reason these tough guys liked coming here was entirely because of the bar owner—a person even more formidable than them.

The bar owner was known as Ghost Blade Jack, recognized as the number one expert in the adventurer circles. Whether it was adventurer teams or interstellar hunters, they were all dangerous professions where just surviving to retirement was difficult.

Ghost Blade Jack not only survived himself but also kept his entire adventurer team intact.

Even more terrifying was that when they were still active in the East, Ghost Blade Mercenary Group was already the strongest team in the East, almost controlling the supply of most Spirit Beasts. Even today, no one had broken this record.

After retiring, Ghost Blade Jack simply settled in the East and opened this bar. Every night, the mercenary and adventurer leaders who stayed at the base would gather here.

Those rough guys would probably fight at the slightest disagreement elsewhere, but in the Adventurer’s Bar, they would at most just insult each other. Anyone who caught Ghost Blade Jack’s gaze would behave unusually well.

Although this one-eyed old man had retired, his Ghost Blade hadn’t dulled at all. In fact, some knowledgeable people said that Old Jack had actually reached the Saint Realm after retirement.

Even if the adventurers had several胆子, they wouldn’t dare provoke a Saint Realm expert.

Translation:

Even if the adventurers had several strokes of courage, they wouldn’t dare to provoke an expert of the Saint Realm.

Old Jack sat behind the bar, watching the drinking and noisy adventurer leaders, slightly frowning.

Recently, the days had been quite turbulent. Although the Crimson Night in the imperial capital hadn’t affected this place, the Star Spirit Republic Alliance, which governed the entire Eastern Outer Reaches, had already reacted rapidly.

Large numbers of Republic Alliance soldiers were stationed on Hunter Star, and notices were posted everywhere. The news frequently broadcast information about a mysterious person.

Since the establishment of the Star Spirit Republic Alliance, the East had become much quieter, but from an old hunter’s perspective, this was probably just the calm before the storm. Old Jack felt uneasy in his heart, sensing that the huge shockwave of the Galactic Empire would eventually reach here.

A ragged beggar walked into the bar. The previously noisy place suddenly fell silent. At least forty pairs of eyes stared tightly at the beggar.

This bar was basically filled with familiar faces. Even the least capable were top hundred adventurers on the rankings. But this beggar had long hair, tattered clothes, and visible burn marks, clearly not belonging to any well-equipped adventurer team.

The beggar seemed unaware of the stares, only finding an empty table to sit down and said indifferently: “Wine!”

“Ugh!” Old Jack responded, casually pouring a glass of black beer. With a flick of his wrist, the large wooden cup flew toward the beggar like a meteor.

“Wow!” Someone with good eyesight exclaimed. Old Jack was indeed still sharp. With a casual flick, he could condense such great force on the cup. If he came out of retirement now, to subdue a few beasts, he probably wouldn’t even need the Ghost Blade—just his hand strength could tear the beasts apart.

Old Jack clearly intended to embarrass the beggar. This was the rule of the Adventurer’s Bar. Any newcomer had to endure Old Jack’s initial challenge. After all, everyone in this bar was a famous expert. No one could just waltz in. If the newcomer couldn’t catch Jack’s wine cup or got splashed like a drowned rat, he would only be thrown out amidst a chorus of laughter.

But today’s challenge seemed a bit heavy.

“Old Jack is in a bad mood,” several familiar adventurer captains whispered.

Adding a few more layers of force, this heavy strike wasn’t something even a few years of training interstellar hunters could necessarily handle.

But before the crowd could finish admiring Old Jack’s hand strength, another round of exclamations erupted.

The beggar didn’t even lift his head. When the beer cup was still in the air, flying like a meteor, he raised his hand slightly. That large cup obediently flew into his palm like a kitten.

Even Old Jack was stunned. He naturally knew exactly how much force he had used, but to catch it so effortlessly, not even spilling a drop of wine—it was probably the first time since opening the bar.

Today was indeed the first.

The bar was silent for a few seconds, then became noisy again. Adventurers always admired martial prowess. This small display by the beggar was enough for him to sit here and drink peacefully.

Several tables of mercenaries nearby continued their previous topic.

“Have you received the bounty notice from the Yuanlao Council?” asked a scar-faced mercenary leader.

“Which one? There have been quite a few bounty notices recently,” replied a middle-aged muscular man with obvious beast bloodline, but the golden badge on his shoulder indicated he was the leader of a high-level team.

“Hehe, each one is a good price. This time the Yuanlao Council is really willing to spend,” the scarred man licked his fingers while counting the bounty notices in his hand. “The nine directors of the Merchant Guild, each one captured is worth one hundred million imperial credits, plus a broadsword blessed by the Yuanlao Council.”

“Huh!” The huge temptation made many adventurers gather around.

But the burly man wasn’t impressed. He used a dagger the size of his palm to cut off a piece of roasted meat from some unknown beast on the table, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed fiercely, then licked his fingers. “Those nine old directors I’ve seen are as cunning as foxes. Now they’ve hidden themselves somewhere in some distant territory—who knows where you’ll find them?”

The crowd whispered, most agreeing with the burly man’s analysis. Although the Merchant Guild directors were now wanted, they had been notifying merchants for centuries. These old guys still had their residual prestige, and adventurers dared not provoke them casually.

“What about this one?” The scarred man flipped out several pale golden bounty notices. “The Yuanlao Council is wanted everyone from the Dan Ding Sword Sect. A common swordsman is worth a million, a great swordsman ten million, a Saint Realm two hundred million. Capture ten people, and the empire will confer the adventurer team as the Imperial Royal Mercenary Corps.”

After finishing, the scarred man proudly looked around. He thought such a bounty was enough to attract people. Even if someone didn’t care about money, the title of Imperial Royal Mercenary Corps wasn’t easy to get. Once obtained, they could walk around the empire with immunity for smuggling and hunting.

But who would have thought, the people around chuckled, then teased each other, completely ignoring it.

Although the scarred man had just come to the East recently, he was still the leader of an organization, his face somewhat embarrassed, angrily saying: “Such a high bounty hasn’t been seen in ten years. Besides, you only need to catch a few swordsmen and great swordsmen. Don’t the people of the East have any guts?”

The burly man chuckled and continued cutting meat, educating the junior while doing so:

“A few swordsmen are nothing, but you must understand what catching these swordsmen means.”

“What?”

When the scarred man asked in confusion, Old Jack noticed that the beggar, who had been drinking silently, also turned his ear, seemingly listening intently.

“The Hao Sword Corps and the Longyou Legion are now within the Divine Prophecy Autonomous Territory; everyone knows this, but who dares to apprehend them?” The burly man, with greasy hands and sweating heavily, said, “The current administrator of the Divine Prophecy Autonomous Territory is merely an old bear named Hede. This old bear serves only as the spiritual leader of the former anti-empire alliance and is a veteran hero of the Left旋arm Battle. He has only recently advanced to the peak of the Saint Realm, and under Hede’s command, there are merely a few hundred Saint Realm experts. If you’re eager to die, you can try going after those tens of millions.”

Sweat dripped from the scarred man’s bald head down to his thick black neck.

He hadn’t heard of the others’ names, but Hede was a renowned figure. Having single-handedly defended the independence of the Western Outer Reaches, he was revered as a deity among adventurers. Upon hearing that Hede had reached the pinnacle of the Saint Realm, even those with considerable courage dared not hunt within the Divine Prophecy Autonomous Territory.

“You… how do you know so much?” someone asked the burly man in confusion.

The burly man plunged the knife into the fatty meat, his face filled with sorrow: “One of my brothers actually joined the Longyou Legion and died on Yuanlao Mountain during the Crimson Night.” The beggar trembled all over, but then downed several gulps of wine.

“If you really want to get rich, you might as well go after Yang Hao,” the burly man said somewhat angrily. “Whoever captures Yang Hao, the Supreme will accept him as his final disciple. After that, you could not only become a Yuanlao, but even a seat on the council is possible!!”

These few words from the burly man were clearly the result of intoxication and thoughts of his deceased brother, causing him to lose control of his tongue. This frightened the surrounding people, who immediately pressed their hands over his mouth and pointed at several notices on the wall.

“Are you crazy? Daring to speak ill of Yang Hao here!!” Several familiar figures hurriedly covered the muscular man’s mouth, pointing at the notices on the wall. “Don’t you see? The Star Spirit Republic has recognized Yang Hao as the savior. Whoever dares to insult him is like insulting the Supreme Emperor himself—it’s a grave crime!”

“I’m not afraid of him!!” The burly man was still defiant, but his voice had grown significantly quieter. Even a mighty dragon cannot overpower a local snake, especially here within the territory of the Star Spirit Republic.

The beggar couldn’t help but follow the people’s indication to look at the notices on the wall.

Obviously, the technological level of the Eastern Outer Reaches was far behind the core area of the empire. So here, announcements were still posted in the traditional way.

But these notices were perhaps too many.

There were at least a dozen electronic notice boards on the walls of the entire bar, prominently displaying Yang Hao’s appearance when he first became the western lord. At that time, Yang Hao was handsome, valiant, and tall, wearing a light blue imperial lord’s uniform. The silver shoulder cape was engraved with dragon patterns, shining on his body.

The notice read in large characters: “The Savior of the Universe—the Undying War God Yang Hao!”

Besides that, there were no other words.

It was said that these headless notices began to appear after the Crimson Night. At first, they only occasionally appeared in the capital of the Star Spirit Republic, but soon, the entire Eastern Outer Reaches were covered.

The Star Spirit Republic’s army conveyed high-level orders: anyone who insulted or slandered Yang Hao would be arrested and sentenced to a serious crime.

The muscular man was obviously highly respected among adventurers. He had spoken out of anger, and immediately several people who looked quite formidable stood up, addressing everyone in the bar: “Earlier, our Rust Wolf Mercenary Group leader was drunk and said a few nonsense words. Confucius Literature Net, everyone here is family. Please pretend you didn’t hear it.”

The Rust Wolf Mercenary Group was also famous among cosmic adventurer teams, having once had the glorious feat of eliminating all beasts on a planet alone.

Such a ferocious team naturally no one dared to provoke. The old hands in the bar raised their wine glasses, indicating they wouldn’t spread the word.

The eyes of two Rust Wolf mercenaries fell on the only outsider in the bar—the wanderer. That wanderer had always been drinking with his head down and hadn’t made any promises.

That wanderer was naturally Yang Hao.

After the Battle of Yuanlao Mountain, Yang Hao was thrown out of the planet by the massive shockwave from the Divine Ring explosion and floated in space for a long time. Yang Hao himself had already lost consciousness. Fortunately, Yuan Yuanzi took over the body in time, allowing the severely injured physical body to recover.

It took a full month for Yang Hao to recover, but his spirit was still somewhat depressed. The huge defeat, the insurmountable gap with the Supreme, and the carnage of his brothers on Yuanlao Mountain all made Yang Hao deeply blame himself.

Unconsciously, he had come to the Eastern Outer Reaches as a wanderer.

Hearing the Rust Wolf leader’s self-reproach, Yang Hao didn’t get angry. On the contrary, he felt he indeed owed those injured and dead brothers. Those people had entrusted their lives to Yang Hao, but in the end, not even a corpse was left.

But the two subordinates of the Rust Wolf Mercenary Group were very unfriendly. Seeing Yang Hao didn’t speak, they stomped over, slapping their palm on the table: “Beggar, did you hear what was said earlier?”

Their palm, as if cast in iron, left a deep imprint on the table.

Yang Hao’s expression didn’t change at all, just continued drinking.

“Pretending to be mute! Let’s see if you can keep pretending when you’re about to die.”

A muscular Rust Wolf mercenary pulled out a double-edged axe from his back and chopped toward Yang Hao’s hand holding the wine cup.

Adventurers were like this—simple, fighting at the slightest disagreement, all relying on fists to make a living.

Under normal circumstances, the Rust Wolf’s fists were always the biggest, but today there was an exception.

Just as people were lamenting the beggar’s seemingly delicate hands, their eyes suddenly blurred. When they looked clearly again, the two mercenaries had already been thrown out of the bar, lying on the ground unable to crawl up.

This caused an uproar in the bar.

All forty-some people in the room stood up. Although some didn’t get along with the Rust Wolf, they were all drinking companions. Being bullied by an outsider was unacceptable.

Especially the Rust Wolf leader, the burly man named Shalen, a highly respected expert in the circles, seeing his subordinates thrown out, his drunkenness completely sobered. He grabbed the dagger stuck in the roasted meat and charged toward Yang Hao.

But before he could reach Yang Hao, his wrist was already caught. Shalen was filled with anger, not caring who it was, he used all his strength to twist his wrist and stabbed toward the person pulling him.

But a sharp pain in his palm, the dagger was already in the other person’s hand.

“You!!” Shalen finally saw that the one stopping him was Old Jack. “Old Jack, you’re helping an outsider?”

“I’m helping you, fool!” Old Jack coldly shouted, throwing the dagger back to his counter. Even if others couldn’t see, with Old Jack’s standards, he had long realized that this wanderer was definitely not an ordinary adventurer, nor someone Shalen and his ilk could handle. Perhaps even all forty-some people in the bar combined couldn’t handle him with one move.

And this was Old Jack’s territory. Whether for face or friendship, Old Jack had to take this matter upon himself.

“Young man, please leave,” Old Jack walked to Yang Hao’s table, saying without any emotion. “You are no longer welcome here.”

“I just want to drink,” Yang Hao said indifferently. “If they want to kill me, I’ll fight. If they don’t kill me, we’ll coexist peacefully.”

“If you don’t leave, I’ll ask you to leave,” continued Old Jack, his tone merciless. “And if you still refuse even after I ask, then my Ghost Blade will make you leave. Young man, if you’ve often stayed in the East, you should have heard of Old Jack’s Ghost Blade. This Ghost Blade doesn’t trouble people lightly.”

A chill circulated in the dim, damp, alcohol-scented bar, making people instinctively step back.

The Ghost Blade wouldn’t trouble people, but it would kill.

Yang Hao put down his wine cup, looked up at Old Jack.

Old Jack, his face etched with the marks of time, met Yang Hao’s gaze but was momentarily taken aback by the striking handsomeness revealed beneath Yang Hao’s long, disheveled hair. He didn’t recognize who Yang Hao was, but that extraordinary aura, surpassing all others, was impossible to conceal.

“Saint Realm?” Yang Hao discovered Old Jack’s ability, smiling. “Fighting a Saint Realm should attract the Federal Army, right?”

Old Jack’s eyes flashed with fierceness. Though retired for many years, he hadn’t fought much, but that didn’t mean his killing intent had faded.

With a flick of Old Jack’s finger, a strangely shaped short knife, pitch-black with blood-red patterns only at the tip, appeared in his palm.

“Ghost Blade!” the surrounding people exclaimed, stepping back many steps. If it weren’t for wanting to see Old Jack fight, they would have fled outside.

The sharp blade light shimmered around Yang Hao. The Ghost Blade’s edge was like waves, sweeping toward Yang Hao.

Yang Hao smiled. He saw the subtlety in Old Jack’s blade techniques. A Saint Realm expert was indeed different. The Ghost Blade’s edge didn’t just cut through wind—it cut through space. Old Jack used the Ghost Blade to split countless spaces around Yang Hao, then used the cross-sections of space as unstoppable weapons.

What would happen if a person was interwoven between two different spaces?

The laws of space were set by the Creator God. Even Divine Clans couldn’t defy them, so there was only one outcome—being torn apart.

Old Jack had at least split twenty or more spaces, attempting to use this dense web of spatial fragments to crush Yang Hao into oblivion.