Chapter 258: Goodbye, Senior Li

"Yuan'er!" Gu Lin Tian panicked.

"Dad, Grandpa, you go in first."

Gu Yuan's tone left no room for doubt,

I and Senior Li will guard this door for you.

Li Hentian gazed at Gu Yuan's clear and calm eyes; the taut string in his heart finally relaxed a little.

He could not see through this young man.

But the other's composure gave him an inexplicable sense of conviction.

"Good."

Li Hentian nodded, acknowledging the agreement.

Gu Cangsheng gave his grandson a deep look, said nothing more, turned and was the first to walk into the golden gate.

Gu Lin Tian and the others were anxious, but they knew Gu Yuan would not casually risk his life.

Leading the Gu family members, they withdrew one by one into the gate.

Soon, only Gu Yuan and Li Hentian remained on the vast altar.

In the distance, three streaks of light tore through space at extreme speed, rapidly approaching.

"Are you ready?"

Gu Yuan turned his head and asked Li Hentian beside him.

"Anytime."

Li Hentian gripped his longsword tightly, battle spirit reigniting in his eyes.

As long as he could hold out until the end and enter that door, he would be completely safe.

As for the future… once we reach the Gu family's territory, we'll discuss further.

"Good."

Gu Yuan nodded.

Then he smiled.

That smile was bright and pure, yet it sent a chill surging up from Li Hentian's depths.

"Well… goodbye, Senior Li."

Li Hentian hadn't yet savored the deep meaning in Gu Yuan's "goodbye" when a terrifying aura that made his soul flee burst forth from the young man beside him!

Not a True Immortal, not an Immortal King.

It is… a Half-step Giant!

Moreover, this aura was intimately familiar to him!

Exactly Gu Cangsheng's unique, overbearing Chaos Origin!

"You!"

Li Hentian's pupils contracted to the limit, he instinctively moved to swing his sword in self-defense.

But he was too weak.

The sword he unleashed after burning his origin nearly drained all his strength.

At this moment, he could not even exert half of his peak strength.

But Gu Yuan was at an unprecedented peak!

【Borrow False Cultivation】!

This time, he borrowed neither a Doomsday Grand Dao nor a World Will.

What he borrowed was his own grandfather, a genuine Half-step Giant, unreservedly and willingly… all of his power!

Moreover, the borrowed power cares not whether he is fatigued!

Hum!

The illusory Myriad Dao Time Light behind Gu Yuan shone brightly.

The seven-colored flames and gray-purple chaotic qi intertwined, forming a radiant Law Divine Robe that draped over him.

Gu Yuan felt as if he had become the master of this heaven and earth.

With a gesture, he could stir the heavenly laws—one thought gives life, one thought gives death.

He used no flashy divine abilities.

He simply raised his hand and gently pressed toward Li Hentian.

This press seemed casual, yet it embodied Gu Cangsheng's ultimate understanding of the Chaos Grand Dao.

The "Body Transforms into Chaos" domain was simulated by Gu Yuan in a crude but effective manner.

The space around Li Hentian was instantly shrouded by a murky gray-purple force.

His proud Sword Intent, the Sword Dao Principles he relied on for survival,

before this force, like melting ice and snow, were silently devoured and disintegrated.

He felt his connection to his Natal Divine Sword severed.

"No——!"

Li Hentian let out a despairing roar.

He finally realized he had been toyed with from start to finish by this young man.

Fighting side by side, covering each other's retreat—it was all fake!

The other's true purpose was to strike him with this deadly blow when he was at his weakest and most off‑guard!

At this point he couldn't even ponder how the opponent, with a mortal body, could unleash Immortal King power!

He only wanted to withstand this attack and then make that scoundrel pay the price!!

Boom!

Gu Yuan's palm was imprinted onto Li Hentian's chest.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a dull thud.

Li Hentian's body was like a punctured waterskin, and golden Immortal King blood spurted from his seven orifices.

His innate divine sword, already riddled with cracks, let out a mournful wail and shattered completely into specks of light filling the sky.

His Dao Fruit was shaken straight out of his body by that palm!

The Immortal King Dao Fruit entwined with endless Sword Intent began to dim and crack at a visible speed the moment it touched the power of chaos.

Gu Yuan did not strike a killing blow.

Killing a top-tier Sword King, even when he was at his weakest, relying on his brief borrowed strength, was utterly impossible.

All Gu Yuan needed was to shake him back, thereby leaving him behind… to cover the Gu Family's retreat!

After the palm strike, Gu Yuan showed no hesitation, turning and striding straight toward the massive golden gate.

"Gu Yuan!!"

Behind him came Li Hentian's utterly venomous howl.

"Even as a ghost I will never let you off!!"

Gu Yuan's steps did not stop; he merely waved his hand without looking back.

"That will have to wait until you actually become a ghost."

Just as his foot stepped into the gate, three streams of light finally caught up.

The three Immortal Kings of the Extreme Peak—Thunder Emperor, Wind Empress, and Martial Sovereign—watched the scene before them, their eyes about to burst.

On the altar, Gu Yuan's figure was about to vanish into the golden gate.

"Don't even think about taking Sanqian Zhou!" Thunder Emperor roared.

The three Extreme Peak Immortal Kings paid no heed to Li Hentian, who lay on the ground like a dead dog.

They erupted in unison, the purple-black thunder, the heaven-rending storm, and the intensely compressed Martial Path fist force transforming into three colossal hands of law that blotted out the sky, sweeping past Li Hentian and madly grabbing for the great province light clusters about to sink into the gate!

They intended to forcibly retain these great provinces!

At that moment, Gu Yuan's transmitting voice, tinged with a hint of mockery, clearly entered the sea of consciousness of the prone Li Hentian.

"Li Senior, if not now to launch a sneak attack, when will you? That palm of mine just now wasn't even at full power."

Hearing this, the prone Li Hentian nearly spat another mouthful of Immortal King blood from rage; he hated it so much his teeth itched and his eyes almost sprayed substantive fury.

He understood: Gu Yuan deliberately spared his life, counting on the three kings' arrival to have their attention wholly on the great provinces, forcing him to act as this assassin!

If he did not act, once the three kings came to their senses, this traitor of his would certainly have no chance of survival!

"Gu Yuan… you despicable villain!"

Li Hentian cursed madly in his heart, but the instinct to survive let him make a decision in an instant.

He forcibly sucked the cracked Dao Fruit back into his body, wringing out the last trace of residual Sword Dao origin from deep within his marrow.

"Hentian… Absolute Shadow!"

A pitch-black sword light, extremely dim yet venomous to the extreme, erupted silently from the unprepared backs of the three kings!

The sword light split into three, striking at a strange angle that severed causality, viciously piercing the backs of the Thunder Emperor, Wind Empress, and Martial Sovereign as they strained with all their might to pull the great provinces!

Just as they had not imagined a mortal could suddenly burst forth with Immortal King power.

The three Immortal Kings also never expected that Li Hentian, whom they thought was about to die, still had the strength to strike at them!

"Pfft!"

"Ugh!"

The sword light entered their bodies, severing the trajectory of their lawful circulation; their frames shuddered violently, and they all spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

The torrential mana that had been enveloping dozens of great province light clusters dissipated by half in that instant!

Seizing the moment when the three kings suffered a backlash, Li Hentian didn't even leave a harsh word, turning into a weak blood-colored sword streak and fleeing headfirst into the depths of the void, madly escaping for his life.

And because the three kings were blocked, the vast majority of the great province light clusters had already completely sunk into the golden gate.

They only managed, at the very last moment before the mana dissipated, to muster all their strength and barely grasp the three great provinces lying on the edge.

The massive golden gate slowly closed amid Gu Yuan's light chuckle, eventually turning into a speck of light and vanishing completely.

Only the Zhongzhou Altar, riddled with devastation, remained.

Thunder Emperor covered his bleeding heart, gazing at the empty void, then at the three remaining great province origins in his hand and the direction Li Hentian fled, his whole body trembling.

The Wind Empress's and Martial Sovereign's faces were also ashen as paper, their eyes full of despair they could not conceal.

They failed to stop the Gu Family, failed to retrieve the chaos spirit stone fragments, and even lost forty out of forty-three great provinces!

Finally, they even let the heavily wounded traitor Li Hentian sneak attack and escape right under their noses!

"It's over…" the Wind Empress muttered to herself.

They knew that once they returned to the Immortal Realm and faced the Supreme Immortal King's wrath—capable of scorching heaven and boiling sea—their few Jue Dian Immortal Kings...... were utterly doomed!