The eyes instantly become clear.

Drawing a mournful yet beautiful arc, it landed on the rubble of the ruined walls with a crisp clink.

The fierce clash came to an abrupt halt.

The Golden Core stall owner froze in place. He slowly lowered his head, staring at the crimson dharma sword in his hand, now missing its tip.

The break was blindingly smooth.

His sword-holding hand trembled violently, completely out of control.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man across from him felt a surge of joy, secretly thinking that heaven was helping him.

Without hesitation, he turned and transformed into a streak of light to flee.

But just as he moved, a killing intent more furious than any before locked onto him like a festering ulcer on the bone.

"You! Dare! Leave?!"

The Golden Core stall owner abruptly raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was hoarse.

He stared fixedly at the middle-aged man's back with a gaze that looked ready to swallow him alive and skin him whole.

Forced to a sudden halt by that killing intent, the middle-aged man turned his head in a mix of shock and anger.

"Have you gone mad?!"

"Mad?" The Golden Core stall owner laughed.

He raised his hand and waved it.

The sword tip that had fallen to the ground flew back.

He carefully cradled the broken sword tip in his palms, treating it as if it were a rare treasure.

"I have been accompanied by this sword for a hundred and thirty-seven years. It has drank the blood of demons and slain demonic cultivators."

"It is one of my only two Dao Companions!"

"Today, it was broken by your hands!"

The Golden Core stall owner suddenly raised his head, his blood-red eyes fixed on the middle-aged man as he roared, "And you still want to leave?!"

"Today, I will make you pay with your life for my beloved wife!"

Before his voice even faded, he transformed into a bloody afterimage. The broken sword in his hand erupted with an unprecedentedly brilliant red light, carrying a tragic momentum of mutual destruction as he lunged straight at the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man was scared out of his wits.

When a sword cultivator's sword broke, the cultivator himself would go mad.

He understood this principle.

But he couldn't figure it out. He had clearly held back at every turn, so how did he manage to break the other party's natal dharma artifact?

"Clang!"

He hastily raised his hand to block. Two surges of Golden Core realm spiritual energy crashed together, the shockwave sending the rubble on the ground flying.

The middle-aged man was forced to retreat several steps, the already churning vitality within his body surging once more.

"You are completely unreasonable!" he roared in exasperation. "I suspect that broken sword of yours already had cracks in it! It's a miracle it lasted this long! What does it have to do with me?!"

Hearing this, the Golden Core stall owner attacked even more fiercely. His sword moves grew increasingly ruthless, every strike aiming for the opponent's vitals.

"Utter bullshit!"

"My sword was perfectly fine! If it weren't for you, how could it have broken?!"

"You despicable wretch! You ruined my Dao Companion and still dare to quibble here! Give me your life!"

The middle-aged man was forced into a flurry of frantic movements, feeling incredibly aggrieved in his heart.

He saw it clearly. The other party's sword had broken on its own; it wasn't broken by his strike at all.

But how could he explain this?

The other party was now truly enraged and convinced that he was the culprit. Whatever he said would be seen as a mere excuse.

In the center of the massive crater.

Su Ji watched this sudden Golden Core battle with great relish, not a trace of surprise on his face.

In fact, he even wanted to laugh.

Of course he knew why that sword had broken...

He originally thought that with the Golden Core stall owner's eye for detail, he should have been able to tell, which was why he had run away that very day.

He didn't expect that after getting the sword back, the guy was so busy rejoicing that he completely failed to notice.

He expected even less that this inherently flawed sword would, by a freak combination of factors, become the fuse that ignited a deathmatch between two Golden Core cultivators.

Su Ji had asked this Golden Core stall owner to come over originally to add a layer of insurance for himself.

First, he wasn't sure if he could use that Love-Longing Sect Sect Leader to sacrifice to his sword.

Second, he wasn't sure if the shockwaves could kill the envoy from the Puppet Heaven Sacred Land.

However, he hadn't expected the person from the Puppet Heaven Sacred Land to be so cowardly. Despite clearly having at least fifty percent of his combat strength left, he only wanted to flee.

But this was fine too.

He helped take the blame for him.

This feeling was incredibly satisfying.

Su Jiu looked at the two Golden Core cultivators fighting to the death in the sky, then at Su Ji beside her, who wore a calm and breezy expression. A hint of deep confusion flashed through her clear eyes.

She couldn't help but feel that something about this whole situation was not quite right.

Yet, at the same time, it seemed like nothing was wrong.

...

"Boom!"

Another fierce collision.

The Golden Core stall owner acted like a mad demon, completely abandoning his defense to trade injury for injury, every sword strike slashing towards the middle-aged man's fatal spots.

The middle-aged man was already heavily injured and had been terrified out of his wits by Su Ji's sword strike. Now, facing a madman who didn't care about his own life, he gradually fell to a disadvantage.

His brocade robe gained several more bone-deep sword marks, and his protective spiritual light flickered, on the verge of collapse.

"Stop! I will compensate you! I will compensate you with a better one, alright?!" The middle-aged man finally felt fear, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"I don't want a better one!" The Golden Core stall owner's eyes were crimson, his sword momentum increasing rather than decreasing. "I only want this sword of mine!"

The middle-aged man completely despaired.

He realized that there was no way to resolve today's matter peacefully.

He cast a venomous glare at Su Ji, who had been watching the show from a short distance away, and a wave of endless regret surged in his heart.

He shouldn't have come to this Love-Longing Sect!

He shouldn't have coveted that bullshit serendipity!

"You forced me!"

A flash of resolve crossed the middle-aged man's eyes.

Beneath his slightly torn robes, intricate gears began to spin rapidly, emitting clack-clack sounds.

An icy aura, completely different from before, erupted from his body.

His eyes instantly transformed into a pair of pupils flashing with red light.

Intricate gears clacked, spinning rapidly in a teeth-aching rhythm.

The spiritual energy fluctuations within his body became bizarre. They were no longer the overbearing might typical of cultivators, but a pure, emotionless force.

"Interesting."

In the center of the massive crater, Su Ji watched this scene with great interest.

Beside him, Su Jiu furrowed her elegant brows. She could feel that the other party's aura was climbing at a terrifying speed.

The middle-aged man—or rather, this half-human, half-machine monster—let out a roar that did not sound human.

He cast a venomous glare at the Golden Core stall owner, then swept his gaze over Su Ji nearby.

"Since you all want to die, I will grant your wish!"

Before his voice faded, his figure vanished from the spot.

The Golden Core stall owner's pupils shrank abruptly. Almost relying entirely on the instinct of a sword cultivator, he held the sword in his hand horizontally across his chest.

"Clang—!"

With a loud bang, the Golden Core stall owner felt an irresistible, immense force transmit from the sword blade. The webbing between his thumb and index finger tore open instantly. His entire body, as if struck head-on by a prehistoric behemoth, flew backward and smashed violently into the distant ruins, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Pathetic."

The middle-aged man's icy voice rang out. At some unknown point, he had appeared at the exact spot where the Golden Core stall owner had just stood.

He slowly raised his right hand. That hand had completely metallicized, its five fingers gleaming with a chilling, cold light.

"You are next."

His head twisted one hundred and eighty degrees at a bizarre angle, and those eyes flashing with red light locked dead onto Su Ji.

Su Jiu's heart leaped into her throat. Spiritual energy circulated frantically within her body, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

At the center of the massive crater, Su Ji's expression remained completely unchanged.

He did not even lift an eyelid. With casual ease, he lightly flicked his wrist, twirling the ancient cyan sword in his hand into a simple flourish.

The faint cyan glow on the blade seemed to flare for a split second, yet it also felt as if nothing had happened at all.

But it was precisely this simple motion.

The half-human, half-mechanical monster opposite him suddenly stiffened.

The brutality and madness within his glowing red mechanical eyes were instantly wiped away, as if erased by an invisible giant hand.

His gaze gradually regained clarity.

The menacing aura he had just pushed to its absolute peak deflated instantly, like a punctured balloon.

Even the clanking gears across his body seemed to lose their strength, their turning sounds growing weak and sluggish.

He stared at Su Ji, or more accurately, at the sword in Su Ji's hand.

He recalled the apocalyptic scene from just moments ago.

He thought of the Love-Longing Sect Sect Leader, who had been reduced to flying ash before he could even let out a single scream.

A chilling wave of terror shot up from his metallic spine straight to the crown of his head.

His mind, previously consumed by bloodlust, became clearer in this moment than it had ever been.