I Have A Sword

Ye Guan was stunned.

Do the task first, then get the divine artifact... Wasn't it always the other way around? Get the artifact first, then do the task...That was the usual script, right? Why the sudden switch?

Just then, the voice explained, "It's not that I don't trust you, but... you get what I mean, right?"

Ye Guan's face darkened. A bit annoying, sure, but he understood. If someone were to give you a powerful weapon and you ran off without doing your part...

Yeah, the concern made sense.

Ye Guan nodded. "Alright, fine."

The voice chuckled. "Thanks.Oh,and one more thing, the road ahead isn't exactly safe. Be careful. Whatever you do, don't stray from the main road. No matter what happens, stay on it. This is the darkest hour... it is extremely dangerous right now."

Ye Guan smiled. "Thanks for the warning, senior."

He glanced longingly at the saber. It was hard to part with it.

That was definitely a top-tier divine artifact.

An Emperor weapon that was worthy of a nation! He silently committed its name to memory—Xu Yu Kingdom.

Right then, the weapon slowly faded out of sight, and in its place, the Nation-Stabilizing Divine Seal appeared. Ye Guan quickly picked it up and stowed it away.

With that, the three of them moved onto the main road.

Ye Guan turned to the Great Daoist Brush Master. "You know anything about that artifact?"

The Great Daoist Brush Master shook his head. "No idea."

"But that's why you came here, right? For that artifact?"

"Now that I know it exists, of course, I have to check it out."

"You and Mi Fo go way back, don't you?"

The Great Daoist Brush Master narrowed his eyes.

Ye Guan smiled. "I don't think we ended up in this place by accident, did we?"

"You shouldn't throw around baseless claims. It's like me accusing you of only getting this far because of your family. No proof."

Ye Guan laughed. "Fair enough."

The sky was starting to brighten, but strangely enough, the air around them only grew more suffocating.

There was endless darkness surrounding them. Their divine senses were restricted, so they couldn't see much beyond their immediate surroundings.

Luckily, the three weren't ordinary people. Despite the eerie atmosphere, they remained calm and collected.

Not long after, they spotted a faint light off the side of the main road.

All three frowned.

An old woman holding a lantern was standing by the road in the distance. The dim light cast an eerie shadow on her deeply wrinkled face, making her look downright terrifying.

The old woman simply stared at them and revealed an eerie smile.

The Great Daoist Brush Master scowled. "Lady, this is the cultivation world. What's with the haunted house act? You think scaring people with ghost tricks works here?"

The old woman let out a raspy laugh. "Three idiots..."

The Great Daoist Brush Master turned to Ye Guan. "This is all your father's fault! If he hadn't sealed my Dao techniques, would these pests dare stroll around in front of me?"

Ye Guan coolly asked, "He sealed your powers? Sounds like you should go beat him up, then."

The Great Daoist Brush Master froze, speechless.

As they walked past the old woman, she revealed another creepy smile.

The Great Daoist Brush Master threw a punch at her, but the moment his power left the main road, it vanished into thin air.

He blinked in shock.

Just then, Gu Pan, who had been silently standing next to him, suddenly kicked him hard, right in the backside.

None of them expected it, not even the Great Daoist Brush Master himself. Caught completely off guard, he was sent flying off the main road by Gu Pan's ambush.

The moment he tried to return, a terrifying force locked onto him.

He turned and saw the old woman smiling at him with her monstrous maw.

The Great Daoist Brush Master was dumbfounded.

Gu Pan didn't stick around. After kicking him away, he immediately bolted.

Ye Guan saw that and ran away as well!

The Great Daoist Brush Master roared, "You bastard! Just you wait—arghhh!"

Soon after, explosions and terrifying shockwaves echoed behind them.

While Ye Guan and Gu Pan were fleeing, they sensed powerful auras running toward the Great Daoist Brush Master's location.

Ye Guan glanced at Gu Pan. He hadn't expected this guy to pull something like that.How long has he been holding back...?

Gu Pan turned to look behind them. Darkness had already swallowed everything.

Gu Pan asked, "You think he'll survive?"

Ye Guan replied, "Tough to say."

He didn't know if the Great Daoist Brush Master still had a trump card, but he was aware that there was a mysterious soul within him. That soul had to be an extraordinary one.

Gu Pan went silent. He agreed; it wouldn't be easy to kill that guy.

Then, he laughed.

Ye Guan asked, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing." Gu Pan grinned. "That felt amazing!Hahaha!"

Ye Guan was speechless.

Ye Guan looked around. "This place is dangerous... but full of opportunities."

"Ever thought about two things? First, now that we're here, we've already been dragged into the ancient feud between the Boundary of Truth and Illusion and the Ancient God Nation."

"Of course."

Gu Pan continued, "Second, if we actually get that artifact from the Ancient God Capital... all the sealed 'gods' in this place will be freed."

Ye Guan smiled. "I've considered that, too."

Gu Pan looked at him. "And despite that, you two are still going after it?"

Ye Guan nodded. "If I don't go for it, he will. As for those gods..."

He trailed off.

However, Gu Pan picked up something and said, "From the beginning, your goal and his have been the same—beat each other. If he defeats you, he'll regain full strength. And once he does, none of the 'gods' here can stop him.

"But if you beat him, then your restraints will be gone and you can call on your family, right?"

Ye Guan looked at him, not surprised by the analysis. From the beginning, he knew Gu Pan wasn't simple. The reason he offended both him and the Great Daoist Brush Master was purely for self-preservation.

Seeing Ye Guan's silence, Gu Pan said, "Let's make a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"I'll team up with you."

Ye Guan stared at him but said nothing.

Gu Pan shrugged. "No pressure. It's up to you."

"What's your goal?"

"I want my true body to be freed."

Ye Guan shook his head. "Not quite."

Gu Pan raised an eyebrow.

"Your real goal is that artifact too, isn't it?"

"Wrong."

Ye Guan narrowed his eyes, staying quiet.

"Even if I end up obtaining it, it'd be a disaster for me. I can't protect that from the gods here. Every elite powerhouse from the Boundary of Truth and Illusion is after it. As soon as I obtain it, I'll surely die."

Ye Guan frowned.

Gu Pan added, "I'll only take what I can handle."

"Fair enough. But I'm curious, why me? Just because you don't like the Great Daoist Brush Master?"

Gu Pan smirked. "Yeah. Isn't that enough?"

"Sure." Ye Guan laughed. "Works for me."

Gu Pan looked off into the darkness again. "Those gods we've seen... I'm talking about the one buried in the tomb, and the one who offered you that weapon earlier... they're all desperate to survive.

"That's normal. The longer you live, the less you want to die. If I'm right, all of them already know that we're here... They're subtly pushing us to go to the Ancient God Capital and retrieve that artifact."

Gu Pan turned to Ye Guan again. "When the time comes, I'll help you. In return, you'll help me. Deal?"

Ye Guan nodded. "No problem."

Gu Pan nodded and stayed quiet.

Ye Guan asked, "Earlier, when you threatened to wipe out my whole family.. that was just a test, wasn't it?"

Gu Pan nodded.

Ye Guan stared at him.

Gu Pan replied, "If I'm going to work with you, I need to see what you're really hiding. At the time, the Great Daoist Brush Master was genuinely afraid. He wasn't faking it... And for a brief moment, I felt like I ceased to exist."

"Your family may not have appeared here, but... they may have appeared elsewhere. That's not important. What matters is that I can't afford to mess with your family."

Ye Guan nodded. That had to be the true reason Gu Pan had chosen to team up with him.

Gu Pan's face was complicated.

In that brief moment, he understood that he couldn't afford to provoke both Ye Guan and the Great Daoist Brush Master.

If you can't beat them... join them.Sometimes, surviving meant choosing wisely.