103: Third Life: How Am I the Villain? (Sixty-Seven)

He could no longer hold on, dropping to one knee. Using Ink Sever to barely support his body, he managed not to collapse. His face was ashen, his aura as weak as a candle in the wind, and even lifting a finger became incredibly difficult.

He had pushed himself to the limit and heavily wounded his formidable enemy, but... he had not completed the task.

"Cough, cough... Good! What a good Chen Yuan!"

"A mere Foundation Establishment disciple from a small sect, to be able to do this, I... have underestimated you!"

"The heroes of this world are truly as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river!"

True Person Xuanming steadied his form, looking at Xu Yuan, who was at the end of his tether, with a flash of approval in his eyes.

"To think you could push me to this point... but, this is where it ends!"

"Your struggle only makes this 'Karma' more intense, adding a bit more flavor of 'Human Fortune' to my Golden Core!"

True Person Xuanming forcibly gathered his remaining strength and formed seals with his hands again. The flickering vortex of Karma forcibly stabilized. Although its scale was much smaller, the suction was more concentrated, aimed directly at the collapsed Xu Yuan!

"Let your broken body, your destiny, and the deep-seated grudge between us serve as the final Karma... to help me, re-condense the Karma Retribution!"

True Person Xuanming intended to refine Xu Yuan alive, turning this greatest opponent of Karma into the final cornerstone for his ascent to the Golden Core!

A terrifying suction enveloped Xu Yuan, as if it wanted to peel away and devour his everything—his Physical Body, Divine Soul, Dao Foundation, and even the traces of his existence.

Xu Yuan's consciousness began to blur. He could barely even form the thought of resisting, only able to feel himself being dragged bit by bit by an invisible force toward an abyss of destruction.

However, just when all hope seemed lost, and a twisted smile of impending success even appeared on True Person Xuanming's face—

"Rip—!"

A loud sound, as if fabric were being forcibly torn, abruptly resounded between heaven and earth!

It did not come from the battlefield, but from... the sky!

Above the Overlord Blade Sect, the sky, originally shrouded in tribulation Qi and Karma, was forcibly torn open by a hand of indescribable size!

That hand seemed to be composed of pure Law and energy. One could not see its specific textures, only feel the supreme majesty it contained, which stood above all things.

Its mere appearance made the time and space of the entire battlefield seem to freeze!

Immediately after, thick chains of Order, shining with destructive lightning and accompanied by deafening thunder, appeared out of thin air and coiled around that giant hand, seemingly trying to angrily stop this existence that transcended boundaries from descending into this world.

But, it was all useless!

The giant hand merely paused slightly, and the chains of Order coiled around it shattered bit by bit, dissipating into specks of light filling the sky.

The Heavenly Dao lightning punishment could not stop it in the slightest!

The twisted smile on True Person Xuanming's face froze instantly, replaced by boundless horror!

He could no longer care about refining Xu Yuan or re-condensing his Golden Core; only one thought remained in his mind—escape!

He burned his last bit of Indestructible Golden Essence, attempting to tear through space and flee.

However, under that giant hand, all methods were futile.

The surrounding space became more solid than divine iron, and time seemed to be frozen as well.

All of True Person Xuanming's struggles were like a fly trapped in amber, frozen in place, with only the terror in his eyes magnifying infinitely.

The next moment, that sky-covering hand ignored the distance of space and reached down with a gentle scoop.

He could feel his own existence, whether it was his Physical Body and Divine Soul of this life, or the Indestructible Golden Essence and Karma Dao Fruit he had painstakingly preserved from his past life, all melting away like snow and ice under the great power of that giant hand, being forcibly stripped and dismantled.

"No—!!!"

He let out a desperate and unwilling wail; this sound distorted and deformed in the frozen time and space, filled with endless unwillingness.

"Why?! I am Xuanming! I only wished to re-verify my Golden Core Dao Fruit, how could it come to this?! How could it attract... a Dao Lord to personally take action?!"

"Is Heaven going to destroy me?! Or does this Heaven's destiny not tolerate a fish like me who defies destiny?!"

True Person Xuanming could not understand; although he was a Golden Core Reincarnation, and even if he had laid out plans in a corner of the Southern Region to re-verify his Golden Core, and even if his methods were a bit extreme, how could he have alarmed a 'Dao Lord' level existence capable of tearing through realms and ignoring the Heavenly Dao's chains of Order to personally descend and eradicate him?

Unlike True Person Xuanming's despair and unwillingness, Xu Yuan, whose consciousness was about to completely dissipate, caught a glimmer of cold realization amidst that extreme pain and Chaos.

Dao Lord...

So, the owner of that giant hand was called a Dao Lord by True Person Xuanming.

And at this very moment, many details that had previously been overlooked connected in his mind like pearls on a string.

enlightenment tablet...

Previously, when he had sensed the vast Saber Dao within the enlightenment tablet, he had faintly perceived that this Dao had an owner. The indifferent and ancient voice that had once sounded inside the tablet now seemed to be that Lord of Saber Dao!

"So... that's how it is..."

A glimmer of understanding rose in Xu Yuan's remaining consciousness.

Perhaps this 'Dao Lord' who descended had already seen through the Karma and destiny entangled between him and True Person Xuanming back when he was sensing the Saber Dao at the enlightenment tablet!

The endless Karma entangled between him and True Person Xuanming, and the various layouts True Person Xuanming had left behind to re-verify his Golden Core—in the eyes of such an existence, perhaps from the very beginning, they were just... 'Materials' worthy of attention?

Thinking of this, there was no anger in Xu Yuan's heart, only a kind of coldness and indifference from being caught in a grand torrent of destiny.

Compared to True Person Xuanming's unwilling roars, he instead fell into a strange state of calm.

Before his consciousness was completely smelted, assimilated, and merged into the gradually forming blade, Xu Yuan finally "looked" toward the direction where True Person Xuanming's consciousness was dissipating, transmitting a faint, mocking ripple of thought:

"Old ghost... it seems... both you and I... are nothing more than... 'Materials' in the eyes of others..."

This ripple of thought became the straw that broke the last of True Person Xuanming's sanity.

He let out an even more shrill and meaningless soul-wail, but all of this was quickly swallowed and smoothed over by that great power that smelted everything.

Flesh and blood, Divine Soul, Dao Foundation, Golden Essence, Karma, deep-seated grudges, Saber Intent...

All the qualities belonging to Xu Yuan and True Person Xuanming were forcibly forged, fused, and compressed under the will of that giant hand.

In just a fleeting moment, the traces of Xu Yuan and True Person Xuanming's existence quickly disappeared. In their place was a long saber suspended in mid-air!

This long saber had an archaic design. The blade presented a chaotic color interwoven with dark gold and gray, and cold light flowed along the edge, as if it could cut through Karma.

On the hilt, fine dao patterns were faintly visible, looking both like the remnants of Xu Yuan's shattered Innate Blade Bone and the dao patterns transformed from True Person Xuanming's Indestructible Golden Essence.

The entire saber exuded an extremely complex aura—it possessed both Xu Yuan's sharp Saber Intent that could sever everything, and contained True Person Xuanming's unpredictable power of Karma, and further carried an unwilling resentment and a silent sharpness that had been forcibly smelted into one.

It was no longer a person; it was a Magic Treasure!

A piece personally refined by a supreme Dao Lord—a Karma Saber Weapon!

That sky-covering hand seemed to move slightly with satisfaction and beckoned gently. This newly born saber turned into a faint stream of light, plunged into the slowly closing crack in the sky, and disappeared.

The crack closed completely, the pressure dissipated, as if everything had just been a dream.

Leaving only the deathly silent plaza below, the shattered mountains and rivers, and the countless spectators who had survived the disaster, their minds completely shocked and unable to recover for a long time.