The Inner Baseness

The moment Ye Jiuzhou saw it, the Heavenly Phoenix Sword Bone within his body resonated with an unprecedented intensity.

This was indeed his fated opportunity. The destiny he was meant for.

"Cough, cough..."

Ye Jiuzhou fell to one knee. The Heaven-Slaying Divine Sword in his hand supported his crumbling body, its blade chipped with several visible notches.

He was heavily injured.

To slay the final late-stage Void Refinement expert, he had burned a portion of his origin essence. Now, his dantian was completely dry, his meridians throbbed with agony as if pierced by ten thousand needles, and not even a tenth of his combat strength remained.

Ye Xuan was in a miserable state as well.

He was covered in blood, unable to distinguish which was his own and which belonged to others.

His left arm was twisted at an unnatural angle, clearly broken. At least three ribs on his right side were fractured, and with every breath he took, the grinding creak of bone rubbing against bone could be heard.

The two blood-soaked men exchanged a glance.

The air suddenly turned deathly still.

A suffocating, thick silence congealed between them like a layer of invisible ice.

Only the low hum emanating from that drop of Phoenix Blood echoed across the altar.

Ye Jiuzhou narrowed his eyes.

He looked at the drop of Phoenix Blood, a treasure capable of propelling someone to the heavens in a single step, feeling the near-frantic yearning of his Heavenly Phoenix Sword Bone.

Then, his gaze slowly shifted, landing on Ye Xuan, who stood not far away gripping his longsword.

A poisonous weed named suspicion grew wildly in his heart.

"Will he make a move?"

Once this thought emerged, it was like opening a sealed floodgate; more dark speculations surged forth.

"This is Phoenix Blood... If he swallows it, not only can he reshape his foundation and cleanse his marrow, but he could also leap up to become a peerless genius. His mixed spirit root, his trash physique, the bottlenecks he could never overcome in his entire life—a single drop of Phoenix Blood could solve it all."

"And right now, I am heavily injured and near death, my dantian depleted, unable to muster even ten percent of my spiritual energy."

"This is his best opportunity to strike."

"What if these ten-plus years of companionship, these ten-plus years of brotherhood, were all just to wait for this very day?"

There are no brothers in the cultivation world.

He had seen it with his own eyes. Just moments ago in this very mystic realm.

A pair of sworn brothers of three hundred years drew their blades against each other over a demon core; the one who survived even smiled and said, "Sorry, big brother, let's be brothers again in the next life."

A pair of Dao companions who had dual-cultivated for five hundred years—the wife plunged a throwing knife tipped with a poisoned needle into her husband's back.

A master who had brought three disciples inside was jointly besieged and killed by them on the third floor of the mystic realm. The disciples divided the master's storage bag among themselves, not a trace of guilt on their faces.

Men die for wealth as birds die for food.

This was the iron law of the cultivation world. An eternal, unchanging truth written in every drop of blood, every corpse, and every tale of betrayal.

Ye Jiuzhou's fingers quietly slipped into his sleeve.

Hidden there was a Soul-Extinguishing Nail, a concealed weapon he had looted from a demonic cultivator he killed. Extremely thin and tiny, it was tempered with seven deadly poisons. Even a mighty figure at the Void Refinement stage would have their soul instantly shattered if it pierced their glabella.

He had always kept this item.

Kept it just in case.

Kept it for the moment when "even the closest person cannot be trusted."

And now...

His fingers hooked around the Soul-Extinguishing Nail inside his sleeve. The cold metal pressed against his fingertips like a slumbering venomous snake.

Ye Jiuzhou's eyes gradually turned icy.

Killing intent condensed bit by bit in the depths of his pupils, like a corpse slowly floating up from beneath the water's surface.

"Strike first to gain the upper hand."

"I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me."

"Ye Xuan... I'm sorry."

His spiritual sense locked onto Ye Xuan's forehead.

He was far too familiar with this spot.

From ten years of living together day and night, he knew every flaw and weakness on Ye Xuan's body. He knew that Ye Xuan habitually placed his weight on his left foot during combat, knew there was a tiny gap in his spiritual energy barrier under his right rib, and knew that when his attention was focused forward, the defense at the back of his neck was virtually zero.

The knowledge he had originally used to protect Ye Xuan now transformed entirely into coordinates for a lethal strike.

Ye Jiuzhou's fingers exerted slight pressure, and the Soul-Extinguishing Nail emitted an extremely faint hum in his palm.

Three breaths.

He only needed three breaths.

Three breaths later, he would unleash the Soul-Extinguishing Nail, before Ye Xuan could even react...

Just at this moment.

"Big Brother! Quick!!"

A shout, so frantic that his voice almost cracked, rang out.

Ye Jiuzhou's movements froze.

He saw Ye Xuan, ignoring his own broken left arm hanging at a bizarre angle by his side, stumble madly toward the center of the altar.

His face was full of anxiety.

With his intact right hand, he snatched up the jade bottle containing the Phoenix Blood.

The surface temperature of the jade bottle was extremely high, searing his palm. His fingers instantly blistered.

But he didn't utter a single sound. Gritting his teeth, he gripped the bottle tightly and sprinted back to Ye Jiuzhou's side.

With a thud, he dropped straight to his knees in front of Ye Jiuzhou, offering the jade bottle with both hands.

Kneeling just like that, using his only intact right hand, he shoved that priceless drop of Phoenix Blood—capable of defying the heavens and changing one's fate—into Ye Jiuzhou's hand.

"Quick! Swallow it and heal your wounds!"

Ye Xuan's face was covered in sweat. Cold sweat, hot sweat, and bloody sweat mixed together, washing trenches through the grime and blood on his face.

There was no greed in his eyes, no reluctance, not the slightest hint of coveting the Phoenix Blood.

Only pure anxiety.

Only concern.

"I'll stand guard for you! This place is wicked; who knows if there are still some insidious bastards hiding around!"

After saying this, Ye Xuan showed no lingering attachment.

He didn't even look back at the drop of Phoenix Blood.

Carrying that chipped spiritual sword, he limped over to the entrance of the altar, turned his back to Ye Jiuzhou, and assumed a stance of fighting to the death to protect him.

An early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, with a broken arm, three shattered ribs, and not a single patch of intact skin on his entire body.

Just like that, with his back to the person he was protecting and facing all enemies that might appear, he raised his sword high.

His figure from behind was thin, frail, and tottering.

But he stood there.

Standing perfectly straight.

Ye Jiuzhou stiffened.

Completely and utterly frozen.

The Soul-Extinguishing Nail in his sleeve pressed hard against his palm. The cold hidden weapon now felt as if it had turned into a piece of red-hot iron, burning him so badly that his entire hand spasmed.

He looked at Ye Xuan's defenseless back.

Ye Xuan hadn't even left a single wisp of his divine sense behind him.

His entire focus was on the altar's entrance.

He was guarding against anyone who might harm Ye Jiuzhou.

The only person he wasn't guarding against was Ye Jiuzhou himself.

A massive, overwhelming sense of shame—one that threatened to swallow him whole—erupted from the deepest depths of Ye Jiuzhou's heart.

This shame was not the embarrassment of having a secret discovered, nor the regret of doing something wrong.

It was a deeper, more fatal self-loathing that struck right at the foundation of his soul.

What am I doing?

Just now, I... I almost...

Ye Jiuzhou's fingers were trembling. No, not just his fingers; his entire body was shaking violently.

The Soul-Shattering Nail slipped from his loosened grip, dropping onto the stone surface of the altar with an incredibly faint, crisp clink.

The sound echoed through the dead silence of the altar like a stinging slap to the face.

Ye Jiuzhou closed his eyes.

"Why?"

"Why aren't you greedy?"

"When you are like this... it makes me look utterly despicable, do you know that?"

With trembling hands, he tilted his head back and swallowed the Phoenix Blood from the jade bottle.