You Are Strong, But I Am Stronger

"Kekeke... Weren’t you the one shouting the loudest just now?"

Gu Qingfeng grinned savagely, his massive hand stretching out as he effortlessly dragged the man who had been the most vocal toward him.

"No... no! Please, spare me!" The man struggled desperately, but it was futile. His fingers clawed at the ground, leaving deep gouges, yet he was still pulled forward.

Gu Qingfeng seized him by the throat with one hand while the other reached into his robes, pulling out several ancient cultivation manuals—treasures he had obtained from the Taiyi Secret Realm.

He shoved the manuals into the man’s arms.

"You wanted the Taiyi inheritance, didn’t you? This Emperor is giving it to you! Take it! Take it all!!!"

"No, no... I was wrong! I don’t want it anymore! I’ll never dare again!" The man recoiled as if the manuals were the most terrifying things in the world, frantically pushing them away.

Rustle—

The manuals slipped from his grasp and scattered across the ground.

Gu Qingfeng’s expression twisted into pure fury. "You dare throw away what this Emperor has given you? Pick them up! Now!"

Thud!

The man was hurled to the ground, bones cracking, blood seeping from his wounds. But terror overrode his pain—he scrambled to his knees, crawling desperately to gather the manuals.

Prostrating himself, he raised the manuals above his head with trembling hands. "M-my lord... the manuals..."

Gu Qingfeng reached for them, but his eyes darkened when he saw the bloody handprints staining the pages.

"You dare defile this Emperor’s treasures?!"

The man shuddered violently. Glancing at the blood, his face drained of all color. "I-I’ll clean them! Right away!"

He dropped to his knees again, scrubbing furiously with his sleeves, as if racing against death itself.

"Faster, faster... Why won’t it come off? No, no, no! Please, just be clean!"

The more panicked he became, the more blood seeped from his wounds, smearing the manuals beyond salvation.

Suddenly, a shadow loomed over his hunched figure. The man froze mid-motion.

Slowly, instinctively, he lifted his head—only to meet the pale, twisted face of Gu Qingfeng leaning down to stare at him.

"Are they clean yet?"

Gu Qingfeng’s voice was deceptively calm, but to the man, it was like thunder splitting the silence of a pitch-black night.

His soul nearly fled his body.

"My lord, just—just a little more time! I’ll—"

"No need. If you can’t clean them... then you need not live either."

Crunch!

Gu Qingfeng’s foot came down, crushing the man’s skull into the earth like a melon, splattering brain matter across the ground.

Fear spread like a tide.

The stench of urine thickened in the air.

"Ahhh! Demon! He’s a demon!" someone shrieked, their mind breaking under the terror.

"Someone save us! I don’t want to die!"

"Spare me, please! Have mercy!"

"Kekeke..." Gu Qingfeng threw his head back and laughed, his eyes gleaming with madness as he surveyed the cowering crowd.

"The game has only just begun. Don’t beg so soon—what will you have left to plead for later?"

"Help! Someone help!" The crowd grew increasingly panicked.

Bang! Bang!

Two human heads exploded like fireworks, brains splattering everywhere as the stench of blood filled the air. The desperate cries for help abruptly silenced.

Just then, a voice rang out.

"Stop this!"

Gu Qingfeng tilted his head and saw Chu Fengyang striding forward with an air of a savior, his arms crossed over an immortal sword.

The sword in his embrace emitted a faint glow, repelling the terrifying demonic aura that permeated the battlefield.

Seeing this, Gu Qingfeng grinned and asked, "Oh? Are you here to die too?"

Chu Fengyang scoffed. "Kill me? You’re not capable. You may be strong, but I am stronger!

What you rely on is nothing but a wicked technique that devours the power of others—power that was never truly yours.

For us cultivators, true strength comes from within."

"Keh keh keh..." Gu Qingfeng laughed so hard tears nearly spilled from his eyes, as if he had just heard the funniest joke.

"So this is the Eternal True World? How amusing. Truly amusing.

A bunch of bandits preaching justice while robbing others, and a useless fool relying on an immortal sword dares to accuse others of depending on external power?

Are you insects trying to make this Emperor die of laughter?"

Chu Fengyang frowned and said coldly, "As a swordsman, what’s wrong with relying on my sword?"

"And as a demon, what’s wrong with me relying on my dark arts?"

"You—!"

Chu Fengyang’s temper flared. "Enough with your empty words! Let’s settle this with action!"

With that, he unsheathed his immortal sword and slashed toward Gu Qingfeng.

Oh, he’s mad. He’s really mad now!

Whoosh!

A dazzling sword light erupted, illuminating the heavens like a divine dragon soaring through the sky, carrying an overwhelming, boundless sharpness as it descended with crushing force.

The speed was unimaginable—almost as if it defied the constraints of space.

Yet, faced with this strike, Gu Qingfeng didn’t even bat an eye. Without so much as a glance, he casually flicked a finger.

Boom!

A beam of demonic light shot from his fingertip, unstoppable as it shattered the radiant sword light. The sound of destruction echoed like thunder, shaking the void.

The demonic light, undiminished in power, continued straight toward Chu Fengyang.

Chu Fengyang’s pupils shrank, his face paling in shock. He never expected Gu Qingfeng to be this strong. Every hair on his body stood on end as if death itself loomed over him.

With a furious roar, he channeled all his power into his sword and swung it with everything he had.

"Ultimate Technique—Sword Severing Reincarnation!"

A vortex of sword energy erupted from his blade, composed of razor-sharp slashes capable of annihilating all things. Within the vortex, the laws of existence intertwined, mysterious and profound, as if the Six Paths of Reincarnation had been unveiled.

At a glance, this strike seemed to have opened the gates of the cycle of life and death.

The demonic light clashed against it.

BOOM—!

A terrifying shockwave erupted, accompanied by a deafening explosion. Divine radiance scattered as if the heavens themselves were withering.

When the light faded, Chu Fengyang leaned heavily on his sword, his face deathly pale as he gasped for breath—it seemed that single strike had drained him completely.

This was the legendary scenario: "I throw out a casual attack, and you burn all your ultimates, even your escape skills."

Gu Qingfeng looked at the still-breathing Chu Fengyang, a flicker of surprise flashing in his eyes.

You must understand that in that last strike, he had exerted a full ten-thousandth of his power—an attack that would leave no ordinary loose immortal, or even anyone below the True Immortal realm, alive.

Yet Chu Fengyang did not die.