Yang Wei stormed out of the Grand Elder Hall, his face filled with anger. Even so, he held his beloved Huo Yue gently in his arms as he looked around for the source of the sudden surge of spiritual energy that had interrupted his precious time with her. He looked left and right dramatically, his hair whipping back and forth with his movements.

“Who would dare disturb the Grand Elder’s precious time with his woman?!”

Truthfully, Yang Wei didn’t think anyone on Grand Elder Peak would dare admit to disrupting the Grand Elder’s special time.

But to his surprise, two bold cultivators marched into view and stood in the middle of the courtyard.

They were dressed in the unofficial robes of Grand Elder Peak, looking tattered and a bit beaten up.

It was clear they had been training hard.

Both gave off the powerful aura of Spirit Gathering experts, and their eyes burning with fierce determination as they stared at Yang Wei.

These two men were Jin Tianyu and Huo Zhenwei.

Seeing them make a dramatic entrance into his courtyard didn’t answer any of Yang Wei’s questions. It only made him more confused.

He tilted his head and asked, “Hm? What’s this?”

Huo Yue gently stepped down from Yang Wei’s arms with the grace expected of a woman whose beauty was comparable to an angel. She stood beside him, placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and spoke.

“Darling, this is what I wanted to tell you. Zhenwei and Tianyu have been working hard in their cultivation to ensure they’re ready to stand by your side in the future. They want to do everything they can to help the sect during the Sect Resource-Allocation Trial.”

Yang Wei placed a thoughtful finger on his chin and hummed softly before tilting his head from side to side as if weighing his options. “Hrmm, do I just ignore them and go with you instead…?” he wondered out loud.

Huo Yue slapped his shoulder and frowned at him.

“You better not do that! That would be so rude!”

The young woman crossed her arms and gave Yang Wei a stern face──she wouldn’t talk or smile until he agreed to her request.

Though Huo Yue hadn’t outright asked for anything, it was clear from her earlier words what she wanted. Anyone with a bit of sense could figure it out.

“They want to prove their strength to me, right?”

Yang Wei flung his robes back and walked down the stone steps to face the two waiting men in the courtyard.

Huo Yue watched him with a warm smile.

Standing in the courtyard, Yang Wei faced the two friends he had united over a year ago.

There was a brief standoff before Jin Tianyu stepped forward, clenching his fist tightly with his teeth gritted.

“I wish we had more time before finally facing you. We’ve been training hard, improving our cultivation to prove ourselves again. But now that you’re heading to the Eastern Continent, we had no choice but to pause our training for a chance to spar with you, the Fate Defying Elder!”

Huo Zhenwei adjusted his spectacles, keeping a mild, intellectual smile on his confident face.

“I, Huo Zhenwei, also want to take this chance to prove myself to you, Brother-in-law. For months, I’ve been working hard to cultivate the Ancient War Ship Method of the Azure Water Realm, and now I think I’m ready to show you how far I’ve come. Let’s face each other and see!”

The moment Yang Wei heard “Azure Water Realm”, he felt a sharp pain in his head.

He couldn’t believe he had forgotten about it.

First, his quivering eyes stared at Huo Zhenwei, then he looked back at Huo Yue, who saw him and offered a cheerful wave. Her smile, as bright as the rising sun, showed all her pearly white teeth.

I can’t believe I forgot that Heavenmind, my alternate self, destroyed Huo Yue’s home world. No, I didn’t forget──I was trying to ignore it, that’s how terrible I can be. How would she feel about me if she knew Heavenmind’s true identity?

Seeing her smile made Yang Wei hurt for a moment, despite his efforts to stay composed.

I don’t think it would be fair if I didn’t tell her the truth. She deserves to know. I believe Yue’er wouldn’t blame me for the actions of my alternate self. I’m entirely different from him… yet I’m still uneasy about how she might react.

Doubts weighed heavily on him, like a mountain on his chest.

However, Huo Yue quelled those worries with just four words.

“Do your best, Darling!”

After hearing this, relief spread across Yang Wei’s face as he blinked rapidly to snap back to reality──her words were like medicine that cured his dark and disturbing thoughts.

With a renewed mindset, Yang Wei turned back to Jin Tianyu and Huo Zhenwei, extending one hand while the other rested behind his back. He wore a calm expression and a confident smile.

“Alright, you two, show me the results of your training.”

Taking the signal, Jin Tianyu immediately condensed a dragon sword out of thin air. Azure energy surged in all directions as his cultivation base soared exponentially.

Yang Wei showed mild surprise at the sight of the dragon sword in Jin Tianyu’s hand.

“Oho? So you’ve broken through to the Dragon Sword Formation stage… impressive.”

“Don’t underestimate me!”

The young master dashed at Yang Wei with incredible speed, executing several powerful slashes that sent thick, destructive waves of dragon vein Qi speeding toward him.

Meanwhile, Huo Zhenwei spread his legs apart and extended his arms slightly.

“Raaaah!”

With a roar, he unleashed a burst of essence Qi from his body.

────Zuuuuuu~!!

His muscles grew larger, and his hair flew up as the raging essence Qi flowed through him.

Yang Wei saw no reason to panic.

He calmly analyzed the situation, a smug smile still on his face.

Jin Tianyu’s slash waves were incredibly strong and moved so fast they cut through the air.

Yet, to Yang Wei, they seemed slow. His recent breakthrough had made his senses sharper than a blade forged by a divine craftsman!

With movements as smooth as a flowing stream and as swift as the wind, Yang Wei effortlessly dodged the dragon sword slashes, keeping both hands comfortably behind his back.

During that moment, Jin Tianyu swiftly closed in and swung his sword towards Yang Wei’s chest, but of course, Yang Wei dodged it effortlessly. Countless slashes came at Yang Wei from different angles, and like before, he dodged them with ease, almost as if he knew where each attack would come from before it even happened.

Realizing how easily his attacks were being avoided, Jin Tianyu created a vorpal water sword in his left hand and slashed against his opponent at close range.

────ZING!

The swirling water blade accelerated for Yang Wei’s neck so fast that even Jin Tianyu was surprised by his own speed.

But Yang Wei, using just his fleshly body power, blocked the water sword with a two-finger gesture.

“What?!” Jin Tianyu exclaimed.

Yang Wei chuckled, “Still too slow!”

He followed up with the Azure Sky Palm, slamming his other hand into Jin Tianyu’s chest with a powerful strike.

smash────BOOOOM!

Jin Tianyu coughed up blood and was blasted into the ground by the sheer force of the attack.

Without pausing, Huo Zhenwei moved quickly and sent two swords flying at Yang Wei with incredible speed.

────WHOOOOOSH!!

Yang Wei spun around, generating a rotational wave of spiritual energy that caused the swords to bend to his will and circle around him gracefully. Once he gained control, he stopped their motion, leaving them hanging in midair.

“Hm?”

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The young man examined the two swords flanking him with analytical eyes, then looked back at Huo Zhenwei and smiled proudly.

“These swords have been spirit-refined three times, who knew you had that sort of talent… Zhenwei.”

Yang Wei was impressed by their powerful aura, but what truly amazed him about these two brothers was something else.

In the cultivation world, the difference between the strength and quality of power was immense and incomparable.

It was the quality of power that allowed a cultivator to defeat someone in a higher realm. The fact that Huo Zhenwei could spirit-refine swords three times showed that he had grown not just in strength, but in quality too!

“SENIOR BROTHER, DON’T COUNT US OUT YET!”

The two brothers shouted at the top of their voice, surging with immense spiritual energy.

“T-, take it easy, Wei Shuai!” shouted a worried Huo Yue.

Yang Wei looked back at her and nodded. “Sure, babe.”

“Babe?”

Huo Yue was surprised, and her cheeks turned red after being called such a sweet and romantic name.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep