Xie Xingye was so focused on how his opponent seemed to be at his limit that he didn’t even notice that the Water Prison had lowered.

Seeing Qinghe's wall of defensive talismans finally bursting apart, the burnt pieces of paper powerlessly fluttering in the air, Xie Xingye smiled.

This Feng Qinghe was more skilled and resourceful than he'd imagined, putting up a fight against him for so long. He should've expected this of his Chunyi's son.

However, no matter how clever he was, it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to hold on forever with his recently risen cultivation that had not yet had the time to even stabilize. And now that he had finally reached the limit of what he could do in his condition, how could Xie Xingye not take advantage of it?

And so, hefting up his saber, he imbued it with his spiritual force and sliced the air, sending out a black arc of power hurtling at Qinghe.

Looking up from where he was crouched on the ground, his legs gone too weak from blood loss to support him, Qinghe grit his teeth and mobilized his own spiritual force for defense. He had already had to dissolve his spiritual artifact since he was unable to keep feeding it his energy.

Due to the constant strain on it, his core was in horrible agony right now. If he spent even an iota more of his spiritual energy, he was sure that his core would break. But preserving his life was far more important, and so Qinghe prepared to do whatever he had to.

But before he could do anything rash, a pair of familiar backs stationed themselves in front of him, gripping tightly onto their respective spiritual weapons as if ready to slaughter everything in their way.

Waving their daggers, they sent out a pair of glowing arcs of their own, one charged with ice-based energy and the other crackling with lightning currents.

As the huge black arc collided with the pair of smaller, it was pushed off-course and slammed to the side, cracking the ground where it fell and sending out a cloud of dust.

Looking at how those familiar figures stood in from of him protectively, Qinghe felt both happy and anxious.

“Jin-er, Yin-er, what are you doing here?” Qinghe called out, his voice hoarse and weak.

“Senior Brother, you’re not in fighting condition anymore. You should retreat,” Fei Jin spoke, with Fei Yin nodding in support.

Qinghe let out a strained chuckle. He didn’t even have the physical energy to get up right now, where would he find the strength to run?

“Feng Qinghe, you really are so bothersome. Look at the state you are in. Why aren’t you taking any medicine yet?” Jing Shui’s admonishing voice came from behind.

Turning his head, Qinghe widened his eyes at the unexpected arrival of his friend, but still answered truthfully, “If I use even a small pittance of spiritual energy right now, even if it was to sense and retrieve something from my spatial storage, I’m afraid my cultivation core will crack.”

Seeing how his friend had been pushed to this condition, Jing Shui pressed his lips together in anger, his brows tight as he glared at the demonic deity who only looked on at them with sharp amusement and a smile of realization as if something interesting had just occurred to him.

With an hmph of disdain, Jing Shui chose to disregard him for now. After all, it was more important to treat his injured friend so that he'd still be alive enough to listen to his scoldings afterward when all was said and done.

Bending down, Jing Shui quickly rummaged in his storage space and brought out several high-level pills that were the best of what his sect had to offer.

Unreservedly handing out the whole bunch to Qinghe, Jing Shui commanded fiercely, “Swallow all of them!”

The corners of Qinghe’s lips twitched, wanting to curve up in a smile, but he controlled himself and dutifully began consuming the pills.

Qinghe felt the familiar warmth produced by healing pills quickly spread through him, but though his physical injuries were beginning to recover, the jagged pain in his core did not subside in the least.

“Are these the people who are dear to you?” Xie Xingye’s voice suddenly sliced through to reach them.

Hearing the meaning behind those words, Qinghe felt like the healing warmth in his entire body was replaced with a rush of icy dread.

“If I leverage their lives in favor of your retreat, would you accept my previous conditions? Or should I start killing them one by one until you agree?” Xie Xingye asked curiously.

Qinghe clenched his hands into fists. This was why he had chosen to do this alone! He did not want his loved ones to get hurt because of him!

Gritting his teeth and pouring some strength into his voice, Qinghe replied, “I will not allow you to touch them. You do not get to threaten me by using their lives.”

Tilting his head, Xie Xingye only smiled wider, the sword in his hand swinging out carelessly to send several more arcs at once.

But this time, Qinghe remained unperturbed, because he could already sense help coming.

Sure enough, just as the black arcs were about to reach them, a sturdy wall of earth abruptly burst out of the ground to rise in front of the group as a shield.

A series of booms sounded out as the arcs struck the wall of earth, causing it to crack and waver, but not fall.

Every single person witnessing this scene was shocked.

To be able to bear the direct attacks of a deity and still stay standing, just how strong must that wall of earth be? And just how strong was the person who had created such a shield?!

Standing beside Qinghe, Chen Xiande heaved heavy breaths due to his frantic sprint. Thankfully, despite his speed that was much slower than that of the twins, he was able to make it in time.

In a firm voice, Chen Xiande began giving out orders, “Fei Jin, Fei Yin, clear all errant ghouls from our surroundings. Brother Jing, please take care of my junior brother and try to heal him as much as possible so that he can at least walk to one of the medical encampments while being supported. In the meantime, I will try to delay the demonic deity to the best of my ability.”

The twins immediately sped away to do as told. After all, in his condition, if Qinghe was bitten even once by a ghoul, he might just die due to the infection. They would not allow something so preventable to happen.

Jing Shui also nodded and began taking out more and more powerful pills from his storage space, relentlessly making Qinghe gulp down every one of them.

And as he had said, Chen Xiande put in his all to maintain the wall of earth, constantly mending any cracks and reinforcing all weakened points as the deity's arcs of energy continued to explode one after another onto it.

Sitting on the ground with a body full of aches, Qinghe felt chagrined at his own uselessness. But just as he was thinking of what exactly he could do to help in his current condition, the sound of explosions suddenly halted.

Qinghe whipped his head up to peer above the edge of the earth wall, only to see a smiling Xie Xingye leaping up to his previous perch on the ledge that was situated high up on the cliff face.

Qinghe narrowed his eyes suspiciously. What was this demonic deity planning now?

But before he could think further, he felt an unnatural draft of wind and looked further up, his gaze climbing to the overcast sky.

Overhead, superimposed over the grey cloud cover and floating just under the inside of Xie Xingye’s barrier, was the silhouette of the black dragon. There were ragged tears in its wings as if it had carelessly ripped out something that had been pierced through its membranes.

In the distance, a wounded Liu Xue and Zhen YiLan rushed towards them, their cautious gazes fixed on the dragon.

Liu Xue’s arm hung limp and bloody, a side of her face covered in more blood, the skin ragged and torn. But Zhen YiLan fared even worse, as his internal injuries had become aggravated and multiplied due to yet another of his chimerical constructs being broken.

But no matter how much they hurried, it didn’t seem like they would be able to help against the dragon in their condition or even make it in time.

Silently hovering in the sky with its snout pointing below right at where Qinghe and his group were situated, the black dragon abruptly dived, then opened its mouth, flickers of flame visible in its throat, on the verge of spilling down towards the clueless group on the ground.

Unfortunately, Qinghe was the only one who had noticed this yet.

In that fraction of a second before the flames came their way, many things went through Qinghe’s mind, but what he knew for sure was that if he didn’t do something, then not only he, but also the people near to him would undoubtedly die.

It seemed that there was no other way left after all…

Sighing, Qinghe let his body go limp, leaning into the startled Jing Shui beside him who was still clutching a fistful of colorful pills, ready to shove them into his friend's mouth.

Disregarding the state of his body, Qinghe cleared his mind and drew on the well of his spiritual energy, rapidly condensing it into potent spiritual force.

Then, finally, unheeding of his protesting core, Qinghe let his power explode out.

Just as the black dragon spat a stream of bright hot flame in their direction, a powerful blast of compressed wind swept up, knocking into the dragon to fling it away even as it extinguished the fire. The rush of spiritually charged wind then continued upward until it struck the inside of the deity’s barrier, sending out ripples of vibrations across it before dissipating after a long time.

Meanwhile, with the horrible feeling of something deep within him bursting into jagged shards of unbearable pain―

Qinghe’s core cracked.

A ragged wave of energy tried to shoot out of the break in his core, but Qinghe forcefully held it in so as to not injure the people around him, but this only deepened the fissure as bursts of pain flooded his senses.

Curling his trembling arms around his stomach, Qinghe collapsed, barely able to retain consciousness as the agony washed over him.

Even though he had expected it, even though he had braced for it…this was still too much to bear.

As his thoughts turned blurry in the haze of the miserable pain, Qinghe recalled that the last time his core was in trouble, Wei Xiang had arrived in the nick of time to help him. That had been the first time they had met face to face. And now, Qinghe couldn’t help but wish that his lover would somehow get to him this time too.

While random thoughts floated in his mind, as if from a distance, Qinghe heard the muffled and worried voice of his senior brother as well as the part furious part anxious shouts of his friend as he kept calling his name. Even the twins seemed to have returned, frantically begging him to say something in reply to their cries.

The sounds bounced around and resonated in his head, leaving behind strange echoes as they faded. His senses seemed dull and blunted as if by cotton, his spiritual awareness feeling just out of reach. His body felt numb and almost completely paralyzed, making him unable to properly move as he wished.

Even as Qinghe was trapped in this way in his own body while being worried over by the people close to him, far above the group, the dragon had finally managed to stabilize itself in the air and was shooting towards them again. Its giant maw gaped open as it kindled fire in its throat once more, wanting to burn everyone and everything going against Xie Xingye to ashes.

Just then, Qinghe’s dazed and half-lidded eyes flicked to a particular direction as he sensed his soul bond singing.

In the distance, a flood of black shadows appeared out of thin air and sped towards the Battle Arena, like a wave of dark smoke swiftly rushing forward unheeding of everything in its path.

A moment later, a large concussion of sound reverberated through the entirety of the barrier that Xie Xingye had put up, before the whole dome of demonic energy splintered apart and melted away within mere seconds, unable to stand against the overwhelming might of that single blow.

The black dragon was startled into snapping its mouth closed, while Xie Xingye clutched his head and chest as the backlash hit him full force.

With a snarl, he looked up. Just who was this who could break the barrier that he, a deity, had cast?!

As the final traces of the barrier dissipated, a figure was revealed to be standing in the sky, with the gloomy clouds as his backdrop, his hair and clothes stirred by the high winds, and a long whip in each hand.

Feng Huixin had finally arrived, opening up the way for his Sentinels.

Not wasting his master’s efforts, Wei Xiang didn’t even pause as he rushed to his beloved’s side. Around him, his fellow officers sped forward at full sprint and immediately began their offensive on the remnant ghouls.

It was a good thing that Wei Xiang and the other Sentinels had already been on their way to the Battle Arena because of Wei Xiang’s unease. His soul bond had kept twanging in alarm, prompting him to wrap his work quickly to hurry to his little lover.

Just as they were about to begin heading towards the arena, they had received Lu Feiyu's feather with a message detailing the circumstances, which had at least prepared the Sentinels for what they would be facing so that they could quickly adjust and respond to the situation promptly when they arrived.

After that, unwilling to waste a moment longer, the Sentinels had immediately set off.

Even though they used the shadows to transport themselves at maximum speed, with having to channel so many powerful people with heavy cultivation bases through it at once, even the shadow realm had been unable to handle it, the entire space shaking as if threatening to collapse.

But Wei Xiang and Feng Huixin had nevertheless pushed on, not willing to delay a single second more, only exiting the shadow realm just outside the deity's barrier when the realm itself had been on the verge of complete collapse.

And now that he was finally here, Wei Xiang did not care about appearances as he shot towards Qinghe, his eyes darkening as he drew near enough to see his lover’s state.

The potency of the power exuding from Qinghe had thickened as if he had gained a few levels at once, but also seemed tattered and thready, it’s flow inconsistent and somewhat unstable. What was even more shocking was that the restrictions of the Soul Sealing spell had completely disappeared, revealing the beautiful soul underneath.

For a second, Wei Xiang could only stare enraptured at the pure and clear orb that glowed silver, faint wisps mesmerizingly floating within.

Qinghe’s soul was so cold and calm, peaceful and quiet. Just catching a glimpse of it was enough to soothe all tension and turn even the heaviest of burdens weightless. It exuded the tranquility of still waters, so clear and pure that one would fear even the thought of touching something so unsullied. It would be the greatest of pleasures to just keep one's eyes fixed on it for eternity, slowly letting it draw one in, submerging into the serenity of its inexpressible beauty…

Shaking his head and blinking his eyes in a bid force himself to snap out of his bewitched haze, Wei Xiang pressed forward faster.

After crossing the entire length of the arena, Wei Xiang was just about to reach Qinghe when he sensed the heat of another draconic being’s fire.

Looking up, he saw that a large and scarred black dragon with dulled scales and vicious eyes was circling around Qinghe and his group. He saw the dragon’s snout turning towards and pointing at his beloved. He saw the dragon’s throat contract as its lips pulled back, its giant mouth starting to open, and Wei Xiang already knew what it was about to do.

The suppressed worry and apprehension in Wei Xiang’s chest turned into pure blistering rage.

He did not care about the time and place, and neither did he care about the people present or the consequences of his actions. All he cared about was protecting his beloved mate with everything he had!

And so, Wei Xiang transformed into his true form.

His body turned to bright golden light that stretched and molded itself, and when the light sheathing him scattered, a magnificent golden wyvern was revealed.

Its long body was limber and powerful, yet thinner than that of the black dragon. Unlike the oppressive fierceness of the scarred dragon, the newly appeared wyvern exuded an innate majesty and had a dignified bearing.

The mirror-like golden scales each looked polished and shone with splendorous luster. The lines of its slender snout were extremely elegant, leading up to flare into a fan-like crest at the top of the head. Ten horns smoothly curved up and back from the forehead, slightly curling inwards at the tips. The pair of bright golden eyes, glowing like two compressed suns, had thin, black slits slicing through the middle, its gaze carrying with it a stark sharpness and startling intelligence.

Large golden wings extended out of its back, with a wingspan almost triple the length of the wyvern itself. The translucent membrane stretched in between was a pale white-gold with a pearly sheen. A line of short, shimmering black fur extended from the back of its head, tapering as it approached the tail. Below its limber and scaled body, the wyvern had four powerful limbs, each tipped with five black claws that shone like polished obsidian curving from the end of each digit, four of them facing front and one facing back.

Though it looked very similar to the dragon, the wyvern’s overall shape was undeniably different, its build more streamlined for speed and flexible maneuverability while it thrummed with raw power and vitality.

Shooting forward in a golden blur, its wings held parallel to the ground, the wyvern swiftly reached its mate’s side and enfolded Qinghe and his group within its golden wings just as the black dragon once again shot a stream of powerful flame in their direction.

The blaze enveloped the wyvern completely in a ball of fire, orange and yellow dancing and rolling over each other, burning as if with inexpressible fury and rage. But when the flames eventually died down, the wyvern was revealed to be completely undamaged, not even a speck of soot marring those gleaming scales.

Seeing that it was yet again thwarted, and by a hybrid youngster of its own race at that, the black dragon roared in challenge, the air vibrating with its anger.

Lifting his head up, Wei Xiang let rip a thunderous roar in response. How dare that dragon target his beloved!

Unhinging his own jaws wider, Wei Xiang shot a stream of brilliant white flame in return to express his fury. The pillar of white fire hit the black dragon sideways, smoldering over its scales and slowly burning through, almost reaching the vulnerable flesh underneath.

Letting out a surprised cry tinged with alarm at how this flame was actually able to burn through its scales, the flying dragon swerved out the way of the wyvern's white-colored fire in a bid to escape.

But Wei Xiang controlled the direction of his flame, making it chase that dratted dragon who had tried to hurt his little lover. And it wasn’t until the black dragon flew all the way across the entire Battle Arena to hide behind the cliffs that Wei Xiang finally ceased his offensive.

Now that the black dragon was chased far enough that it wouldn’t cause them any more trouble for a while, Wei Xiang assumed his human form once again and rushed to hold his wounded beloved.

Meanwhile, after witnessing the well-known Sentinel Wei turning into a wyvern, the surrounding cultivators could only gape, stunned with disbelief.

And as for the fire that he had let out just now, many of the scholarly Elders recognized it as the god-level whitefire that only royal descendants of the divine beasts of the true dragon clan could produce.

Just what was the identity of this Sentinel Wei?!

Outside the Battle Arena, the black dragon also had the same question. The appearance of this being with the blood of both true dragons and lower realm serpents resembled that of the black dragon’s former master, the dragon queen. The whitefire only confirmed the link between that ancient dragon queen and this hybrid dragon.

Could it be that this young hybrid was related by blood to his queen? Was he…a direct descendant, or even more improbably, her son?!

As realizations and revelations abounded about Wei Xiang’s identity, a different sort of revelation was taking place between the deity and Feng Huixin.

“Demonic Deity Xie Xingye, you are breaking heavenly law by venturing out of your area of confinement. I will ask you to kindly return to it,” Feng Huixin spoke coldly from where he was standing midair.

Looking up, Xie Xingye snarled through gritted teeth, “Deity of Judgment Feng Huixin, what are you doing in this realm?”

Then recalling something, he looked around hopefully, “Is Chunyi here as well.”

Feng Huixin frowned. “I ask that you not speak about my wife with such familiarity. And no, she is still in the heavenly realm.”

That brief flicker of hope immediately drowning in disappointment, Xie Xingye felt his shoulders droop before his eyes ignited with fury again.

“Why should I not talk about Chunyi with familiarity?! I’ve known her long before you even met her! What right do you have to dictate whether or not I am allowed to speak familiarly about her?!”

Feng Huixin’s gaze turned colder. “I do not know how you came to be acquainted with my wife, but my wife has lost a few portions of her memory and does not remember you. She does not wish to rekindle whatever relationship you had with her. I advise you to give up on her and accept your punishment with grace.”

Xie Xingye’s body trembled with rage and hurt. Chunyi did not want to rekindle their relationship…? Then was she going to break her promise with him?!

His hand slowly rose up to trace the familiar lines of the cracked gem on his left ear. This crack itself was the physical proof that Chunyi did indeed care about him.

He still remembered how, that day when one of their sect’s Elders had tried to punish Xie Xingye with a whip, Chunyi had unexpectedly stood in front of him, taking the strike with her own body. In the end, the lash had only cut through a corner of his cheek and this earring, breaking the gem in the process. But seeing even that little bit of harm come to him had obviously made Chunyi feel endless self-reproach, though she hid it well.

And yet, now, she was going to abandon him just like that?

No. These were just the words of Chunyi’s husband. Until she herself told him that she did not want him in her life…

“Feng Huixin, I will not give up! You say she doesn’t remember me, so how can she choose to not want me! I will not let go of her so easily!” Xie Xingye declared.

Feng Huixin felt his patience nearing its end at how the other man kept persistently pursuing the matter of his wife. On top of that, he also seemed to have harmed his son. That was something he could not forgive!

“Xie Xingye, did you forget why you were cast down and sealed in a lower realm? It was because when my wife refused to acknowledge you when you pursued her, you went berserk and were on the verge of a qi deviation. You could have killed many deities and destroyed many lower worlds in the ensuing explosion. You are dangerous and unstable and refuse to accept help, so the only choice was to lock you away in slumber to preserve lives. I do not know how you came to be set free, but you will be sealed again.”

Saying so, Feng Huixin was just about to raise one of his whips when Xie Xingye let out a delighted laugh. “You don't know how I gained my freedom, you say? Ha! Why don't you ask your son Feng Qinghe then! It was because you carelessly let your child fall to this world that I started awakening in the first place!”

Feng Huixin only felt slight surprise at these words along with a hint of discontent at the implication. But by now, the other cultivators had already eradicated the ghouls due to the swift efficiency of the Sentinels working along with them. And so, as they had begun listening intently to the two deities, they felt as shocked as if a lightning bolt had struck them.

Feng Qinghe was the Sentinel Grandmaster’s son?!

“And one more thing,” Xie Xingye sneered at Feng Huixin. “You seem to be misunderstanding the relationship between me and Chunyi. I am not attracted to her romantically. She is my elder sister by bond, and I have more of a right to stay by her side than you!”

With this, Xie Xingye leapt toward Feng Huixin, not even allowing the other deity to digest this revelation as his saber slashed upward, his power flowing out of him in great waves to saturate his strike.

Since this world was only able to contain the might of one deity, Xie Xingye knew that if he struck at full power now, then his opponent would only be able to use a fraction of his strength if he wanted to stay under the upper limit of what this world could bear.

And so, he attacked Feng Huixin without holding back.

On the other hand, though Feng Huixin was surprised at how he had misunderstood the nature of Xie Xingye’s obsession towards his wife, he felt no anxiousness at being unable to use his power. Even without being able to exert his full spiritual might, he could still make do with his physical strength alone.

And so, Feng Huixin  lifted the golden whip in his right hand and struck down, carving through the air in a devastatingly powerful arc.

And under his whip, the earth tore.