Yang Yi, despite being somewhat of an amateur when it came to romance, possessed a near-professorial understanding of women, and thus immediately grasped the true meaning behind Xuanyuan Bing's words.

Heaven knew, and Earth acknowledged, that she had fallen in love with him.

"Hah! The Dragon Lord of the Black God Gang actually has a confidante on the verge of death. Not bad, not bad!" Zhou Tian offered praise laced heavily with jealousy and resentment.

Yang Yi completely ignored him, focusing instead on the composed Xuanyuan Bing, as if trying to decipher some hidden message in her eyes. But all he found was a vast emptiness; no matter how closely he looked, he could not ascertain what Xuanyuan Bing was truly thinking at that moment.

What Xuanyuan Bing did in those final three seconds caused a wave of guilt to wash over Yang Yi—yes, guilt.

Guilt for not having pursued her with a sincere heart from the start. A high-grade rogue, a refined rogue, should elevate his own taste, improve his caliber, enhance his virtue, zealously pursue every supreme beauty, and win her over with genuine feeling.

But now, Yang Yi felt his career as a rogue had been a colossal failure. "It's too much of a failure. Still, perhaps there's still time to make amends."

Watching Xuanyuan Bing slowly embrace him, Yang Yi could feel the depth of her affection—it had transformed from purposeful curiosity to aimless wonder, from mystery to deeper enigma. It wasn't just through her body language that Xuanyuan Bing was expressing the turmoil of her heart.

"Yi! May I call you that?" Xuanyuan Bing asked.

(The last three seconds counting down!)

"You may!" Yang Yi embraced her back, deeply moved.

(The last two seconds counting down!)

"I actually realized I fell in love with you long ago, but now it seems everything is too late. Perhaps this is what they call love arriving late." A hint of moisture bloomed in Xuanyuan Bing's beautiful, icy eyes, carrying a trace of coldness so profound that the tears seemed to freeze before they could even touch the ground.

(The last second counting down!)

"No, I won't let you die before me," Yang Yi declared just as—

Boom! Boom! BOOM!!!!

A wave of scorching explosion erupted, punctuated by Yang Yi’s furious curse: "Damn your mother, even in TV dramas, they wait until the lines are finished before the explosion, and the character doesn't stop breathing until the scene cuts! Why the hell here doesn't follow that rule? It's unnatural!"

Boom... The explosion showed Yang Yi absolutely no mercy, granting him no opportunity whatsoever. Six consecutive blasts effectively buried the area.

It had to be said, these timed bullets produced by the Huaxia Dark Vault were impressively potent. At the current explosive yield, they rivaled hand grenades, and with six detonating simultaneously, the resulting area of effect was massive. Within a hundred meters radius of the mass grave, everything was reduced to dust, and thick smoke instantly billowed outward.

"Brother Yi!!!" Fatty Lin shrieked hysterically, his face etched with utter disbelief.

"Dragon Lord!" the Black God Guards and Feng Eleven cried out in shock.

Meanwhile, the members of the other factions standing nearby watched with cold eyes. Their inner thoughts were a mystery, but it was clear that if Yang Yi died, they might finally gain the opportunity to break free from the Black God Gang's iron grip. That, of course, depended entirely on confirming Yang Yi's demise.

As the sound of the explosion subsided, dust filled the air, and dense smoke began to brew. Fatty Lin was undoubtedly the first to charge toward the blast zone, followed closely by everyone from the Black God Gang, all frantically searching for Yang Yi to confirm his status.

"Let's go, let's go take a look too!" Hong Gang said to Zheng Shen, the leader of the Fourteenth Faction.

"Go!" Zheng Shen didn't hesitate. While Yang Yi's death would benefit them, using the current chaos to retreat their forces to headquarters would buy them precious time. However, if Yang Yi survived, those who had just agreed to cooperate with him knew that stepping back now would place them precariously close to the edge of oblivion.

"Brother Yi, Brother Yi, Brother Yi!"

Fatty Lin darted around the grave site like a frantic leopard, his cries echoing loudly, almost as if he were searching for a beautiful woman streaking by. But after a moment of desperate searching, his face suddenly turned ashen, and his voice began to tremble.

"Black God Guards, Black God Guards!"

"Here!" The Black God Guards responded instantly to Fatty Lin's call.

"Search immediately within a two-hundred-meter radius! Alive if seen, a corpse if found!" Fatty Lin shouted with strained effort.

"Yes!"

"Brother Yi, Brother Yi, you absolutely cannot be gone. If something happens to you, how can I face Grandfather? Brother Yi, don't abandon Fatty!" Fatty Lin’s face was dreadfully pale, mumbling under his breath, illustrating the extent of his anxiety.

The Hong Kong triad members standing nearby offered no help in the search; they simply watched. Anyone could guess what they were thinking. Yet, they couldn't really be blamed; having only just agreed to cooperate with Yang Yi moments ago, there was no true affection involved, and his survival or death had little bearing on them.

After running and muttering for a while, a sudden flash of inspiration struck Fatty Lin. He stopped abruptly and roared, "Six Paths of Reincarnation!"

"Six Paths of Reincarnation?" Hearing Fatty Lin's shout, Hong Gang and Zheng Shen muttered the name in unison, then exchanged a look, as if they had instantly understood each other's thoughts.

"Cough, cough... cough, cough...!"

Just then, a few coughs echoed out from within the thick smoke, immediately drawing everyone's attention, especially that of Fatty Lin, Feng Shi, and the Black God Guards.

"Damn it, what the hell is that?" Yang Yi's voice drifted out.

Immediately, all the Hong Kong gang members standing outside—those not yet formally under the Black God Gang's banner—sucked in a sharp breath. What kind of person could survive an explosion like that? And still be able to speak? Most incredibly, he sounded as if the explosion was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

"Brother Yi!" Hearing the voice, Fatty Lin jolted. Looking into the swirling plumes of smoke, he immediately yelled to the Black God Guards: "Everyone use your internal energy, maintain an external release state, and dispel this smoke!"

"Damn it, kid, you think I'm not tired enough?" Yang Yi retorted crossly upon hearing Fatty Lin's voice. He commanded, "Everyone retreat one hundred meters! We talk when we can see faces."

"Yes!" The Black God Guards immediately complied, backing away.

It must be admitted, that explosion was truly infernal; it generated smoke of unbelievable density.

"Alright, it's nothing now," Yang Yi said gently, patting Xuanyuan Bing, who was closing her eyes in his embrace.

"Uh... how could..." Xuanyuan Bing lifted her head, which now looked rather endearing, and looked at Yang Yi in confusion. "What exactly happened?"

"Hehe, this is the difference between the Grandmaster Domain and your powers as Adepts. Furthermore, this was a domain manifested by three Grandmasters simultaneously. It's nothing these bombs can compare to—it's child's play!" Yang's boast was quite insufferable.

In truth, the man was pushing himself to the limit. No matter how formidable Yang Yi's Level Two Grandmaster Domain was, especially incorporating the domains of two Level One Grandmasters from the Six Paths surrounding him, the level of injury and concussion sustained meant Yang Yi and the Six Paths were all wounded. Their internal Zhenqi was depleted, and their vital organs were severely rattled. It showed just how much he was forcing himself to endure.

Indeed, the combination of a Level Two Grandmaster Domain and two Level One Grandmaster Domains was overwhelmingly powerful. Although Yang Yi and his companions paid a heavy price, at least their lives—the lives of eight people—were saved, which was considerable in itself.

To resist the attack of one hundred grenades, a Grandmaster Domain would require a Level Four Grandmaster. To withstand the assault of several hundred bombs, the highest realm of the Grandmaster Domain would be necessary. Of course, even with a supremely powerful Grandmaster Domain, one could not simultaneously resist several thousand bombs. If Yang Yi had trained that far and attempted to block thousands of explosives, he would likely be vaporized without even a single hair remaining.

"Are the six of you alright?" Yang Yi asked the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

"Reporting to the Dragon Lord, we are fine. Only our Zhenqi is completely exhausted, and our internal organs have sustained some damage."

"Alas, next time you deploy the Grandmaster Domain, do not raise your internal energy all at once; it will cause far worse injury!" Yang Yi sighed, thinking privately, I am likely the prime example.

"You think there will be a next time?" Xuanyuan Bing lightly punched Yang Yi's chest, her expression resolute. "I absolutely forbid a next time."

"Fine. Fine. No next time, no next time." Yang Yi winced as Xuanyuan Bing's soft punches struck him. Under his current strained condition, these light blows felt disproportionately powerful, sending jolts of sharp pain through him. "Let's move over there first."

"En!" Xuanyuan Bing agreed, then suddenly stopped. She asked, "What you didn't finish saying earlier, I want you to tell me now."

"Uh!" Yang Yi looked stunned, then offered a foolish smile. "What did I say earlier?"

"You..." Xuanyuan Bing was instantly annoyed by his counter-question.

"Hehe!" Yang Yi gently pulled her into his embrace. "Relax. Everything from before disappears now. This is our new beginning. I will love you well."

"Yi!" Hearing those words, Xuanyuan Bing felt a pang in her heart, and a tear escaped her eye. But at the same moment, she sensed Yang Yi's instability and quickly asked, "Yi, are you alright?"

"Pfft!" Yang Yi could hold it in no longer and spat out a mouthful of blood, his voice weak as he managed, "I'm fine."

"You're spitting blood and still say you're fine." Xuanyuan Bing, being a delicate and pitiable beauty, possessed a captivating appearance even in her concern.

Though no one else was watching, Yang Yi saw it and couldn't help but smile faintly. "Don't worry, there's no major issue yet. Once we sort things out, I’ll just need to adjust my breathing back home."