"Master, why have you brought me here?" After leaving the Bai family hall, Dugu Bachen snatched up Ye Jingyu, shot forward, and in mere breaths, arrived on this small island. The sheer speed terrified Ye Jingyu, his little heart hammering against his ribs. Had Dugu Bachen not used his own aura to shield him from the friction of the air generated by their velocity, even his body might have been torn to shreds...

Finally reaching their destination, Ye Jingyu found himself on an isolated isle surrounded by an endless, vast ocean, filling his mind with bewilderment...

"What for? To practice my blade, of course..." Dugu Bachen merely snorted in response...

"Practice my blade? But I'm in the middle of a war! My subordinates are still waiting for me outside Lingyan City!" Ye Jingyu complained bitterly. He still had a large contingent of troops waiting in Lingyan City! Sima Xuan had suddenly betrayed them; he didn't know how they were faring, especially Bieli...

And what about Chi Yixiu and the others? Had they managed to escape...

"Nonsense. Even if you became a Grand General, even if you commanded a million troops, do you truly believe you could defeat me?" Dugu Bachen let out a heavy, dismissive sound...

Ye Jingyu fell silent, his mind conjuring the image of a million-strong army—a spectacle of terrifying grandeur, an absolute sea of bodies. But then he pictured that million-strong force arrayed against the man standing before him...

The instant he recalled the earth-shattering blade aura, the vision of all creation reduced to mere blades, Ye Jingyu harbored no doubt: the outcome would be his utter ruin...

"Power is certainly a tempting thing, but it offers nothing as concrete as one's own strength. Only by elevating one's personal might can one truly survive in this world," Dugu Bachen observed, seeing Ye Jingyu's somber expression, and spoke again, softly...

"I understand, Master, but..." Ye Jingyu thought of his subordinates, his sworn brothers, Little Tao Tao, Ni Bo, everyone by his side. Finally, he thought of Luo Ling'er, waiting for him in Yunjing. How could he abandon them...

"There are no buts. In three years, the Douhun Great War will commence. For these three years, you are forbidden to leave this island, unless you can break through to the Martial Saint realm," Dugu Bachen stated, utterly crushing all of Ye Jingyu's lingering fantasies...

"Ah..." Ye Jingyu froze at the proclamation. Forbidden to leave for three years—what state would the world be in then? What would become of the war between the Shu Yun Kingdom and the Tianyuan Empire? Most crucially, what about Luo Ling'er? Without him by her side, who knew what Luo Xiaofeng might do to her? If Luo Xiaofeng tried to force her into a marriage, who could possibly stop him?

Before witnessing the might of a Martial Saint, Ye Jingyu might have clung to the fantasy that Little Tao Tao’s presence offered enough power to challenge even a Martial Saint. But the sheer destructive force displayed by Bai Tianyu had utterly shattered that illusion. Unless Little Tao Tao could evolve again, how could they stop Luo Xiaofeng...

As for Ye Jingyu breaking through to the Martial Saint realm himself, he hadn't even allowed himself to consider it. Yes, he was a genius, and yes, he possessed the superb cultivation technique, the Baxuan Jue, but others spent their entire lives striving and might never even touch that threshold. What basis did he have to believe he could break through...

If given ten years, Ye Jingyu felt confident, but breaking through to Martial Saint within three years? That was simply ridiculous talk...

"Of course, you have another option..." Seeing Ye Jingyu’s crestfallen expression, a slight smile finally touched the corner of Dugu Bachen's mouth...

"What option?" Ye Jingyu's momentarily despairing eyes instantly lit up, gazing at Dugu Bachen with intense hope...

"Defeat me..."

"Pfft..." Ye Jingyu nearly spat out a mouthful of saliva, his look of expectation instantly transforming into one of utter despair...

Having witnessed Dugu Bachen's terrifying dominance and almost unbelievable power, Ye Jingyu already regarded him as the idol he admired most. To defeat one's idol—at least at his current stage—was not even a thought Ye Jingyu entertained...

Furthermore, Martial Saints were instantly annihilated in Dugu Bachen's hands. If he could genuinely defeat his Master now, he would already have attained the Martial Saint realm and be long gone...

Wasn't this just deliberately tormenting him...

"Master, is there truly no room for negotiation whatsoever?" Ye Jingyu pleaded, his face contorted in misery...

"What do you believe your own strength amounts to?" Dugu Bachen ignored Ye Jingyu's turmoil and instead posed the question...

Ye Jingyu paused, carefully recalling his own combat experiences. At his current level, he could absolutely contend with a Grandmaster. Unless it was a peak Grandmaster, he held an undeniable advantage; even against a peak Grandmaster, provided he utilized his Spirit Arts, he possessed a definite chance of victory... Inconceivably, his strength had already reached an impressive level. However, when confronted with a Martial Saint...

The moment he thought of a Martial Saint, he remembered Bai Tianyu, and the helplessness he and Liang Xiaoke had felt back then. His expression immediately dimmed once more...

"Correct. While you can now slay masters at the Grandmaster level, this is based entirely on your ability to strike from ambush. You possess the Profound-Grade Soul Artifact gifted to you by that old immortal, yet you cannot unleash even a tenth of its might. You have the soul power of the Spirit Manifestation realm, but apart from casting a few sluggish Spirit Arts that can never hit their target, you know nothing. You possess inherent advantages over ordinary individuals, yet against a Grandmaster, these amount to nothing. As for your Martial Dao—a Xiantian Martial Master in this impending chaotic era doesn't even qualify as an ant. Do you truly believe you are strong?" Seeing Ye Jingyu remain silent, Dugu Bachen spoke, sentence by sentence, each word falling like a heavy iron hammer, striking deep into Ye Jingyu's heart...

Yes, although he could kill Grandmasters, it was always through calculated trickery. Even his Spirit Arts were used carelessly. Other Spirit Manifestation Soul Masters could easily contend with Grandmasters, but what about him? He possessed strength superior to the average Soul Master, yet he still relied on ambush tactics to eliminate a Grandmaster. Why was that?

It was because he was not proficient in using his Spirit Arts, or perhaps, because he had consistently hidden his secret of being a Spirit Manifestation Soul Master. But what was the use of guarding it? Facing truly powerful opponents, such a trump card wasn't even a card worth holding...

And without the Zhentian Seal, without immense power, without vast soul energy, he was merely a Xiantian realm Martial Master...

In the former Shu Yun Kingdom, a Xiantian realm expert might be considered first-rate. But after coming to the Tianyuan Empire this time, he realized that the so-called Xiantian realm was as worthless as a running dog. In Dugu Bachen's estimation, a Xiantian realm expert didn't even measure up to an ant...

Stripping away everything else—it turned out he was nothing at all...