“You’re Yan Zhen, right? I don’t care who you are, but I advise you not to harbor unrealistic delusions about Your Highness Zi Ji. With your pathetic cultivation, you have no right to set foot in the Heavenly God Clan gates, let alone become their Prince Consort.”
Yan Zhen wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.
“You’ve got time for this? The Demon Domain forces are already lying in wait along your route. Soon they’ll attack the spatial passage you’re opening. You had better protect Zi Ji.”
“The Heavenly God Clan handles its own affairs—we don’t need you sticking your nose in!” Gu Yan fumed. Terrifying Mystic Venerable pressure crashed down on Yan Zhen like raging waves, yet the young man showed no reaction. “As for you—how do you know about the Demon Domain Evil Cultivators’ movements? Are you colluding with the Demon Domain? Speak the truth now—or do I need to take you down first, hmm?”
Mystic Power surged around Gu Yan, sending ripples through the space. A dreadful pressure swept the area, making everyone tremble.
Yan Zhen, bearing the brunt, furrowed his brow. This wasn’t mere pressure anymore—it carried the suppressive force of a higher realm. Without the protection of the Fire Refining Starry Sky, his knees might have buckled, forcing him to kneel in humiliation.
Seeing this, Great Elder Yu Yan hurriedly stepped in front of Yan Zhen. She faced the Mystic Venerable’s pressure without flinching and said calmly,
“Vice Commander Gu Yan, now that you’ve received your charge, please be on your way. Don’t disrupt the normal order of our Holy Land Academy any further.”
Gu Yan didn’t withdraw his pressure. Instead, he demanded,
“You’re one of the academy’s higher-ups? A mere Mystic Ancestor, daring to order me around?”
Buoyed by his recent promotion and an audience with the Heavenly God Clan leader, where he’d received this important mission, Gu Yan was full of himself. That’s why he’d dared to “discipline” Zi Xunyi earlier.
That slap from Zi Xunyi hadn’t sobered him—it had only stoked his resentment, which he now vented on others.
Great Elder Yu Yan’s gaze turned icy.
“This isn’t Heavenly God Clan territory. Vice Commander Gu Yan, please show some restraint to avoid harming the friendship between Jialan Holy Land and the Heavenly God Clan.”
“Are you telling me how to do my job?”
Gu Yan sneered. His hand clawed forward. From three zhang away, he locked onto the space around Great Elder Yu Yan. Invisible Spatial Power condensed into a barely visible translucent giant claw, lunging to seize her.
A Mystic Venerable slaying a Mystic Ancestor was child’s play, for Mystic Venerables commanded Spatial Power!
Great Elder Yu Yan didn’t move a muscle, her expression unchanged, as if she’d lost the will to resist.
Yet just as the spatial claw was about to strike, it froze as if paused. Then, without warning, it shattered into fragments.
Gu Yan suffered backlash and grunted, blood trickling from his right hand.
Dark clouds had gathered overhead unnoticed, unleashing a torrent of rain that soaked the Grand Duel Arena in moments.
Gu Yan’s expression shifted. He looked closely and saw a cool, ethereal beauty in flowing rainbow robes and a white veil over her face standing beside Great Elder Yu Yan.
“Holy Land Academy is an institution of Jialan Holy Land for nurturing talent—not a place for just anyone to run wild.”
“A Supreme!?” Gu Yan immediately dropped his aggressive stance and bowed with cupped hands. “May I ask if it is the Yu Shizun before me?”
“None other.”
Yu Shizun let one hand hang naturally while the other palm faced upward, catching the falling raindrops. Her three thousand strands of raven hair cascaded like a waterfall, dancing lightly in the wind, untouched by a single drop of the sudden downpour.
“Heavenly God Clan emissary—are you here to receive someone, or to throw your weight around? If it’s the latter, this venerable one wouldn’t mind disciplining an arrogant junior on behalf of the Heavenly God Clan.”
Feeling the faint killing intent in the rain, Gu Yan’s scalp tingled. He never dreamed a minor clash would draw out one of the Jialan Seven Sages. He quickly begged forgiveness.
“A misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding. This subordinate acted impulsively and offended the academy. Please forgive me, Yu Shizun.”
Yu Shizun remained unmoved.
“The one you should apologize to isn’t this venerable one.”
Gu Yan paused, then understood. His gaze shifted to Yan Zhen, a struggle flickering across his face.
He could bow to the Yu Shizun, but he refused to lower his head to this insignificant Mystic General.
The rain poured relentlessly, and the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees.
Yu Shizun said coolly,
“Apologize… or don’t blame this venerable one for not giving face to the Heavenly God Clan.”
Gu Yan felt the rain seeping past his spatial barriers. Alarmed, he gritted his teeth and bowed his head.
“Student Yan Zhen, this general spoke rudely earlier. Please forgive me.”
Yan Zhen was also surprised that the Yu Shizun had shown up. According to the script, it was his beautiful female master who would step in within the Fire Refining Starry Sky to block Gu Yan’s “casual suppression” on his behalf, following it up with two slaps that left the arrogant deputy commander dazed and confused.
This wasn’t a key plot point anyway, since there was no chance for him to show off. It was just his beautiful female master venting his frustration for him.
He would have to wait until later, when he went to visit the Heavenly God Clan as Zi Xunyi’s fiancé and accepted the challenge from their prodigy. Only then could he properly thrash Gu Yan.
That was why Yan Zhen wanted to tweak this segment of the plot. He wasn’t some powerless Mystic General brat like in the script—he was the protagonist, stacked with more trump cards than he had fingers to count!
With a cold sneer, he said, “No need for an apology. Take one move from me, and you’re free to go. Dare to?”
His words left everyone on the field stunned. They all turned puzzled gazes toward Yan Zhen, even the Yu Shizun.
Gu Yan looked at him like he was an idiot, but he didn’t dare mock him outright. Instead, he chuckled mockingly. “Of course. Feel free to make your move, Student Yan Zhen. To show my sincerity, this general will stand perfectly still and let you vent until you’re satisfied.”
A mere Mystic General making a Mystic Venerable take a hit? Even if the Mystic Venerable just stood there and took it, the backlash alone would shatter the Mystic General’s body in an instant.
—Was this kid an idiot?
If not, then he must possess some Mystic artifact and arrogantly believed it could harm a Mystic Venerable.
—Kids’ thoughts were just too predictable.
What Gu Yan didn’t know was that an invisible, intangible layer of spatial protection enveloped his body. Nothing short of a seventh-order Mystic artifact could breach it, and a puny Mystic General couldn’t unleash anywhere near its full power anyway.
—Mortals were mortals. At this age and realm, they rarely encountered true Mystic Venerable experts, so they had no grasp of their might.
