If ten minutes ago Tianqi Yu still leaned on Immortal Realm cultivators to bleed for him, that crutch now lay snapped in a cold wind.

The woman called Azure An was nightmare-deep. Even as a body refiner, her strength was off the charts. True Lord–level cultivators couldn’t take three moves under her axe. High Immortals could only slow her feet.

Dread first, then clarity: if not for riding great fortune, backed by Heaven’s current, Nana Toki would’ve run him down and beaten him dead already.

“Young Master Yu, the Ningxian Hall lies ahead. We can only send you this far!”

They knew, and he knew, that running meant only a later capture. The True Lords and High Immortals who had left the Temple of the Matchmaker with him all stopped as one. “We’ll delay her at the hall’s gate. Young Master, go!”

They didn’t want to die here. But this was the Emperor Immortal’s command, and their will couldn’t refuse it.

“Alright.” Tianqi Yu didn’t waste breath. He cupped his fists to them, then let Spirit Energy roar through him. He turned into a streak of light and shot into Ningxian Hall. They had met only once; if they chose death for him, he had nothing left to say.

He sure didn’t think a Nascent Soul, seventh stage, could beat a lunatic who’d shredded True Lords and High Immortals. Since the Emperor Immortal had laid him a back road, there had to be a counter waiting.

Spirit Energy flared from him like a lake in storm. In a blink, most of the distance to the hall was gone.

“Where do you think you’re going!” Nana Toki saw the True Lords and High Immortals peel off like tarry patches, flinging themselves at her. She didn’t even have to think to read their plan.

So you want to buy him time? Then come. If you really think you can, I don’t mind testing you.

“Kill!”

Their shout crashed like surf. They surged to meet her, power boiling, pressure twisting the air like molten glass. Nana Toki lifted her axe. Faced with a flood of Spirit Energy, she didn’t dodge. One cleave fell. The sky cracked with violent force.

“Bang—!” “Rumble—rumble—” “Rumble—rumble—” “Rumble—rumble—”

Sonic booms drummed across the clouds. The blast winds shoved at her, but she spared them not even a glance. She wheeled and tore after Tianqi Yu again. Midair, she left only a red fog and stray meat clots drifting like wilted petals.

She could’ve bagged him easily at her current level. But this world’s Heaven kept tossing cannon fodder into her path, and she had to swat them aside. By the time she strode into Ningxian Hall, Tianqi Yu had been waiting for a while.

“Not running?” The Protagonist Lord, who had been all flight and panic, now stood calm in the main hall. Nana Toki set a foot over the threshold, then pulled it back. Every instinct pricked—this reeked of a cheat-backed reversal.

“Azure An, you and I should end this.” Tianqi Yu stood at the highest step, at ease. The panic had burned off; a strange confidence blazed. She had no idea what shiny toy this idiot had found to get so smug.

“Quit yapping. Get your ass down here so I can kill you.” Nana Toki slammed her ink-black battle-axe into the floor. Gold flared through the hall. A profound, ancient array sigil surged up beneath her feet with crushing pressure.

“You think a cheap trap like that will make me eat dirt?” She stepped in, unspooled the hall’s binding array, and shouldered her axe straight at Tianqi Yu.

Whoosh— In less than a blink, a razor-black gleam split his vision. One step in, and she was already in his face. That familiar wicked grin bloomed. The abyssal axe chased with a storm on its edge.

Bang! The hall thundered. Under her blows, his aura climbed like a sun at noon. In a few breaths, Tianqi Yu’s presence swelled to something terrifying.

“Great Ascension? No... not that. Void Piercing? Also no...” The breath was ambiguous, slippery, yet heavy as a mountain. She couldn’t name it, but it wasn’t weak.

“Tch. Protagonist aura is always a pain.” He’d been Nascent Soul while running. Now he felt stronger than those who’d forged a false divine body. Give him a few more exchanges, would he break through again?

The thought flickered—and the next heartbeat, a harsh wave of Spirit Energy burst off him. Gold light erupted, bright enough to sting.

Nana Toki: “...” Well, hell. He really did.

“Azure An!” As if sensing her thought, Tianqi Yu’s shout cracked the air. Space around him wrinkled like old silk. Even the air sounded like shattering glass.

“I, Tianqi Yu, bear Heaven’s great fortune. My fate is to rule this world! You’ve hindered me again and again, testing my limits! Now, I act in Heaven’s stead and pass down divine punishment! Learn what it means to defy the sky!”

His voice rang in the hall, iron and bronze. With gold sheathing his body, he seemed a god in golden mail reading Heaven’s edict to all beings.

But—

“Divine punishment?” Nana Toki laughed up at the golden statue. “Don’t think that calling Heaven daddy makes you untouchable. Before you, idiots like you? I’ve sent at least seven to the grave.” Sure, she’d worn them out—but this time she didn’t mind trying a clean decapitation.

“Absurd!” His temper flared. Chosen of Heaven like him appeared once in many millennia. And she bragged about killing seven? Daydreams.

“I’ll grant you this—you’ve got secrets. I’ll study them after you die. For now, go die.” His voice fell cold. The gold around him blazed to a blinding white-gold.

Then he fell.

With oppressive might like a thunderhead, Tianqi Yu dove like a golden meteor straight at her.

Boom—! The blast rattled the bones. Nana Toki barely braced and met him. Ice lit her eyes.

So, a straight-up brawl with a peak fantasy protagonist still strains the wrist. But the board isn’t unwinnable.

“Come on. Again.”

She flicked an Amber Talisman from her sleeve and slapped it on. She seized the axe haft and hacked at Tianqi Yu blazing in midair.

Boom-boom-boom—! Boom-boom-boom—! Boom-boom-boom—!

Ningxian Hall shook. The surrounding void itself groaned, like a wind through a broken flute, as two terrifying forces ground together.

“Tch. Stubborn.” The gale tossed her back. Nana Toki planted her feet in the hall, a rare line of strain crossing her face.

Even for protagonist aura, this was obscene. His life-force was cockroach-tenacious. And without the System here, she didn’t know which vein to cut first.

“Looks like ending you won’t be easy either.” He drifted down from the air, gold draping him like rain. He saw she’d taken several moves without a scratch, breath steady as a lake. His face darkened.

He hadn’t gone all-out, but those strikes weren’t gentle. She ate them clean. Was she also Heaven’s heir?

Impossible.

The thought rose and he cut it down at once. Two chosen in one era couldn’t exist. This woman had to be hiding another secret.