"Hahahaha, I've already taught you a lesson just now... Stand up." Tongtian barked with a booming laugh, his index finger flicking outward. A thread of radiant energy pierced Liang Xiaoke's body, instantly knitting together every shattered bone in his form. The boy sprang to his feet only to collapse once more into three reverent bows before the Supreme Master.

Gratitude shimmered across his face. How absurd - he'd actually attacked Tongtian Zuming with treacherous methods! Even a minor saint could have obliterated him like squashing an ant, yet the Supreme Master had merely given him a taste of his own medicine.

"Have you mastered the Zhu Xian Sword Array?" The Supreme Master's gaze caught Liang Xiaoke's mix of excitement, gratitude and awkwardness.

"Disciple has indeed fully mastered it after years of study!" Liang Xiaoke declared proudly. For decades he'd studied the sword formation patterns until he could now fully manifest the array against even higher-level cultivators.

"Feh! You can barely summon the array yet you dare claim mastery? Where's your humility?" Tongtian scoffed, his casual use of such vulgar language leaving Liang Xiaoke stunned. Saints were supposed to be emotionless!

"Saints are merely mortals who've transcended their limits," the Supreme Master said coldly, tapping his skull with a hand. Four sword qi beams erupted from his back, piercing the heavens as the Zhu Xian formation materialized beneath him.

Emerald lotus blooms sprouted across the ground, each radiating razor-sharp sword energy capable of slicing through cosmos-level or universe-level cultivators. The void itself twisted and fractured under the array's influence - storms raged, lightning crackled, and the three titanium-golden sword peaks shattered like tofu under the onslaught.

Liang Xiaoke watched in awe as his understanding expanded like a sealed heaven opening to light. A monk emerged from within him with a compassionate smile before shattering into crimson energy that merged into his core. Then came the Daoist, then each of his five blood-bound servants - their dissolutions tearing through his spiritual barriers until...

...only one wall remained between him and transcendence. Before it stood the sixteen-year-old girl who had once been his arrogant disciple, now merely a pawn in his ascension.

"Master!" Gong Sun Lu urged anxiously as Liang Xiaoke hesitated before the final threshold. He had always seen her as just another tool - until now, when he realized she occupied an irreplacable space in his heart.

"If you perish without you," he whispered, cupping her face gently, "what's omnipotence worth? Gong Sun Lu... you're my woman. I won't let you die."

A vow. A truth.

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