Xuan Yuan Jue, however, seemed to know already. With a slight shift of his body, he turned around, only to catch the outstretched hand firmly. But when he saw the face of the person before him, his usually impassive expression twisted violently...

"Yu Luosha! How is it you?" Xuan Yuan Jue couldn't help but be startled. The one who had ambushed him was Yu Luosha, who should have died by his hand three hundred years ago?

But in that very instant of his outcry, another figure shimmered into existence from the void, lightly pointing a finger toward his heart...

The speed of this strike was terrifyingly swift. Even though Xuan Yuan Jue reacted instantly and avoided the vital spot, his shoulder was nevertheless pierced, opening a bloody hole from which a spurt of blood shot out.

What shocked Xuan Yuan Jue, however, was that the person who had wounded him was a woman—a woman so exquisitely beautiful that he knew he could never forget her face in his lifetime.

"Yulan? How is it you?" Xuan Yuan Jue exclaimed again. The woman before him was none other than Yulan, the Sect Master of the Hundred Flowers Gate, the Empress whom he should have killed three hundred years prior! Just like Yu Luosha, both should have met their end by his blade.

This time, however, Xuan Yuan Jue retreated several meters, coldly observing the two figures who should have long been dead.

"Hahaha, Xuan Yuan Jue, are you surprised? Do you think we should all be dead, and yet here we are, reborn?" Seeing the astonishment on Xuan Yuan Jue’s face, seeing the gaping wound on his shoulder, Yulan let out a cold laugh.

Xuan Yuan Jue remained silent, his eyes fixed intensely on Yulan and Yu Luosha, as if trying to discern whether they were truly real or mere phantoms.

"Haha, you never expected this, did you? It was the head of the Fang family who saved us. He paid an immeasurable price to bring us back! Not only did he revive us, but he used countless miraculous elixirs to fully restore our powers. Having experienced life and death, having suffered the betrayal of a loved one, I have understood so much more, and my power has continuously ascended. Xuan Yuan Jue, I have waited three hundred years just to ask you: why did you do it back then?" Yulan nearly roared the words out, clearly indicating the profound damage Xuan Yuan Jue had inflicted upon her three centuries past.

Watching the raging Yulan, Xuan Yuan Jue simply shook his head, offering no elaborate explanation. The moment he drew his sword back then, the bond of affection between them had been severed. His current surprise was merely at her continued existence; Yulan’s impassioned words could not stir a ripple in his now-calm heart.

"There is no 'why'!" Staring at Yulan, Xuan Yuan Jue uttered those few words coolly, his tone devoid of any emotion, as if the matters Yulan spoke of had nothing to do with him.

Seeing Xuan Yuan Jue's indifferent expression, seeing the placid gaze of his eyes, Yulan felt her heart tear apart once more, an agony a thousand times more painful than the sword thrust he delivered in the past.

Did he truly feel no remorse? Had he truly extinguished all feeling?

Following the pain, Yulan's heart finally died completely. The last sliver of lingering attachment shattered, replaced by a deep, searing, unforgettable hatred.

"Good, very good. If that is so, then today, do not blame me for showing no mercy!" Yulan said coldly, as streams of pale white light began to emanate from her body.

"Xuan Yuan Jue, today you are finished!" Yu Luosha stated coldly from the side, silver-white light also beginning to bloom around her form.

"If I could kill you three hundred years ago, I can surely kill you again three hundred years later!" Xuan Yuan Jue finally spat out these words, snatching at the void with one hand. An iron sword, utterly ordinary, materialized in his grasp.

Upon seeing this iron sword, the eyes of Dugu Ba Chen, who was currently locked in confrontation with Fang Zhentian in the sky, flashed with a subtle shift, though it vanished almost instantly.

It was Yulan, momentarily ignored by Xuan Yuan Jue, who suddenly spoke up, "That must be the battle sword of the Dugu family head from three hundred years ago. I never expected you to have kept it for so long. Dugu Ba Chen, did you not swear an oath to defeat Xuan Yuan Jue back then? Why are you joining forces with him today?"

Seeing Yulan’s smile, which was clearly laced with provocation, neither Dugu Ba Chen nor Xuan Yuan Jue showed any change in expression. At their level of cultivation, their mental fortitude was far beyond that of ordinary people.

How could common emotions compare to securing the future of the Dou Hun Continent? Oaths, personal grudges—set against the impending fate of the entire continent—were utterly insignificant.

"Rest assured on that matter. After annihilating you all, he and I will have our own duel!" After a long moment, Dugu Ba Chen finally spoke, and in his hand now appeared an equally plain iron saber, much like the Tianzun Blade of old.

It possessed no splendor, no embellishment; even the hilt was merely wrapped with a few scraps of cloth.

It was an iron blade emitting no aura of energy whatsoever. At their level of mastery, divine weapons were unnecessary; any blade in their hands became one.

When Xuan Yuan Jue and Dugu Ba Chen gripped the iron sword and the iron saber, their auras instantly transformed. Their entire forms seemed to vanish from the void, or perhaps meld entirely into the world itself, leaving only the iron sword and the iron saber to signify their presence.

"Battle!" Xuan Yuan Jue and Dugu Ba Chen roared in unison. The auras erupting from their bodies exploded outward completely—countless slashes of blade energy and sword energy shot forth, akin to the detonation of two nuclear bombs...

Sensing the incredibly dense torrent of sword and saber energy, everyone present, including Fang Zhentian, recoiled in astonishment.

Their bodies were involuntarily forced backward, yet a colossal blade-light manifested amidst the myriad streaks of saber energy, hurtling directly toward Fang Zhentian.

Fang Zhentian’s face shifted dramatically. He felt himself locked down by the blade-light; no matter how he dodged, escape seemed impossible. His only option was to resist with all his might.

A flash of blue light erupted from his hand, revealing a Fang Tian Hua Ji (halberd) glowing entirely with blue radiance. He channeled the power within him and struck out against the massive blade-light...

On the other side, an equally blinding sword beam ascended from the dense field of sword energy. It was a colossal sword-light, easily a thousand zhang long and tens of zhang wide. Its overwhelming sword intent enveloped Yulan, Yu Luosha, and all seven Martial Gods of the Ninth Heaven, including Fang Zhendong...

It seemed poised to annihilate them all in one sweep...