Dugu Jiu sighed. He didn’t believe a word Xu Yunfan said. ’This young man must have some other heaven-defying tricks up his sleeve.’

He was suddenly reminded of three hundred years ago, when he had fought against the various sects at Kunlun Peak. He, too, had casually deceived his opponents with such understated words.

The truths hidden between the lines were like ice picks stabbing into his spine.

’If this boy hasn’t even used his full power...’ The old man’s stooped back hunched even further. His once-surging competitive spirit was now like a dying ember, unwilling to leave even a trace of warmth behind.

"The Land Immortal Realm..."

Dugu Jiu suddenly began to cough violently. All other thoughts had died away, and his figure seemed desolate. "With a decaying body like mine, I’m better off looking for a Life-extending Pill."

As he turned, his dark robes billowed like a withered leaf drifting over the palace walls. His hoarse voice trailed off into the twilight, "My congratulations... to the world’s only Land Immortal."

Just then, Xu Yunfan subconsciously focused his attention on the space between his eyebrows. A vertical, blood-red line had appeared there. As he concentrated, he felt a searing heat on his brow, as if a scorching branding iron were being pressed against his forehead.

He instinctively raised a hand to his brow, his fingertips brushing against a raised vertical line. The mark was throbbing beneath his skin, pulsing faintly as if it were alive.

With a mere flicker of his will, the vertical line suddenly split open, revealing an eye as crimson as blood!

In an instant, the entire Imperial Court looked completely different through his eyes.

Every crack in the palace walls and flagstones was rendered in exquisite detail. A leaf falling in the distance seemed to hang frozen in the air. He could even see the twitch of an ant’s antenna from thirty feet away.

Even more wondrous, the Sword Qi flowing around the departing Dugu Jiu, who was not far off, appeared in his sight as countless silver threads. The myriad possible trajectories branching from these threads were all clearly reflected in the blood-red eye.

"A Martial Arts Divine Technique?!"

Sensing the change in Xu Yunfan, Dugu Jiu whipped his head around. His eyes fell upon that single, blood-red eye. He was so shocked he stumbled back half a step, and with a sharp SHING, the longsword in his hand instantly gathered the Sword Qi dissipating around him.

The fact that this Sword Dao Grandmaster couldn’t control his own Lifebound Sword was a testament to the shock gripping his heart.

As someone who had been immersed in the Martial Dao for over a hundred years, Dugu Jiu recognized Xu Yunfan’s state in a single glance.

Dugu Jiu was filled with a mix of jealousy and admiration. ’This,’ he thought, ’is what it truly means to achieve divinity through the Martial Dao.’

"Legend says that only when breaking through to the Land Immortal Realm does one have a chance of awakening a Martial Arts Divine Technique..."

Xu Yunfan didn’t answer.

He was currently immersed in an unprecedentedly profound state. The vertical eye saw not only the present; it was gathering the world’s boundless energies, observing all manner of information, and it seemed countless fragments of the future were flashing past like a zoetrope.

In three breaths, a loose tile would fall from the southeastern corner of the palace eaves. In seven breaths, Dugu Jiu’s left hand would unconsciously stroke his sword hilt out of habit. In thirteen breaths, the Copper Bell at the Astronomical Bureau, nearly a mile away, would be stirred by the wind and let out a dull hum...

"So that’s how it is."

’I can perceive the future, predict an enemy’s every move, and gather the vast streams of information within a thousand-foot radius. With this, I can glimpse the Celestial Secret and find a glimmer of hope even in the most desperate situations.’

This was a Supreme Divine Technique that could only be awakened in the Land Immortal Realm. In a life-or-death battle, it could reverse fortunes and snatch life from the jaws of death.

It was an unimaginably powerful tool in combat.

With every blink of the vertical, blood-red eye, the flow of an opponent’s energy was laid bare.

The subtle paths of True Qi surging through flesh, the telltale contraction of muscle fibers, even the subconscious fluctuations of killing intent—all became a tapestry of myriad, clearly visible threads.

With a single glance, Xu Yunfan could see through all possible variations of his opponent’s next seven moves, like a chess master seeing the entire game unfold in advance.

Even more wondrously, the Celestial Eye could perceive the unseen tides of fortune and calamity.

Before a fatal crisis struck, his brow would burn with warning. Every exploitable feature of the terrain and every fleeting opportunity for a counterattack would appear in his vision, highlighted by a faint golden halo.

Even if caught in an inescapable ambush, he could still find that single, fleeting chance for survival.

Xu Yunfan lightly brushed his brow. The vertical eye closed, the blood-red mark slowly sealing itself until only a hairline-thin red line remained.

This was his trump card, not to be revealed lightly.

He turned to the horrified Dugu Jiu, a knowing smile playing on his lips. "It seems what’s waiting for us in the Martial Arts Tower will be far more interesting than that Old Woman we just dealt with."

Dugu Jiu suddenly realized that once Xu Yunfan had closed that uncanny, blood-red eye, he couldn’t recall its exact appearance at all.

It was like a mortal trying to stare at the sun; the mind instinctively chose to forget certain things that transcended its comprehension.

He swallowed hard, his voice raspy. "That eye of yours..."

"It just lets me see a few interesting things."

Xu Yunfan tapped the ground lightly with the handle of his Profound Iron Hammer. The palace flagstones suddenly began to resonate at a specific frequency. As predicted, the distant hum of the Copper Bell drifted over.

He looked up at the soaring eaves of the Martial Arts Tower. At that exact moment, a loose tile fell, shattering on the bluestone slabs below.

Dugu Jiu followed his gaze toward the Martial Arts Tower.

Xu Yunfan’s voice suddenly cut through the evening wind, carrying a melodic cadence.

"Elder Dugu, a moment."

Dugu Jiu, who was standing on the battlements, paused. His wide sleeves drew an arc in the wind.

He suppressed his shock, his expression quickly calming. He raised an eyebrow. "What I want? What are you talking about?"

"That Old Woman would stop at nothing to extend her life."

Xu Yunfan tapped a finger against the Profound Iron handle of his Shaking Mountain Sea-Suppressing Hammer, the dull metallic vibration echoing off the palace walls. "The Astronomical Bureau has spent decades gathering the world’s rarest treasures. That Old Woman would stop at nothing to prolong her life. The complete text of the *Wansheng Sword Transformation* might be hidden in the Martial Arts Tower, to say nothing of the Longevity Pills quenched in the Nine Nether Cold Spring..."

Dugu Jiu’s expression faltered.

It was only then that he snapped out of it. He had been so engrossed in the game being played between Xu Yunfan and the other powers that he’d forgotten the Great Zhou Imperial Court itself, with its centuries of history, was a massive vault of Secret Treasures. Deep within those palace halls, an opportunity to break through the shackles of his Sword Dao might be waiting.

Now, with Xu Yunfan’s invitation, his spirits lifted. He knew Xu Yunfan must have his own motives for wanting him to stay, but the man had already reached the Land Immortal Realm. If he were to just turn his back and leave, the next thing he’d see might be Xu Yunfan’s fist flying at his face.

Just as Dugu Jiu was about to accept Xu Yunfan’s invitation, the pile of charred, pulped flesh on the arena platform—all that was left of the Old Woman—began to tremble violently.

The mass of flesh roiled like boiling mud. Fist-sized bubbles formed on its surface, then burst, spattering foul-smelling black blood.

"Hm?"

Xu Yunfan’s brows twitched. He gave the handle of his hammer a slight turn, its head now angled toward the ground.

A fissure suddenly split open in the center of the fleshy pile, like an abyss opening its maw.

A pale hand emerged from the fissure. Its five fingers were long and slender, with nails of a strange, purplish-black hue.