Jiang Wang found himself wrestling with a single, persistent question.

Why had Yin Guan forced himself into such a desperate corner? Why had he courted death?

After much contemplation, only one explanation remained.

That day, Yin Guan had confided in him, saying, “I cashed in my potential too early. If I follow the usual path, achieving God Descent will be nigh impossible.”

A man like Yin Guan, how could he be content to halt his progress before the threshold of God Descent?

Thus, he was pushing himself.

He had deliberately plunged himself into this predicament, without any safety net, directly challenging God Descent and confronting Yue Leng!

It was precisely in the crucible of life and death that he sought to repeatedly test his limits and forge his own path!

This process was fraught with peril, for Yue Leng was neither kith nor kin, and would show no mercy. He faced a genuine life-or-death crisis. This was a desperate sprint along a cliff’s edge; a single misstep meant plummeting into an endless abyss.

Jiang Wang had once believed Yin Guan had failed.

But in this moment, he stood like a deity descended upon the mortal realm!

The midday sun paled in comparison to his radiance; he stood proudly amidst ten thousand *li* of mountains and rivers.

With one hand, he seized the descending Prestige-Killing Staff, his eyes meeting Yue Leng’s, which held a mixture of shock and anger.

“Had enough yet, Commander Yue?”

It was only at the precise moment Qin Guang Wang achieved God Descent that Yue Leng finally grasped his role in this battle.

In the preceding struggle, Yin Guan had continuously unleashed his peak power, seemingly driven to cultivation deviation by Yue Leng’s pressure. Yet, all of this had, in fact, been his own deliberate choice.

During the throes of cultivation deviation, he had sealed his five senses and seven consciousnesses, allowing the power of the curse technique to ravage his body, letting the vast tide of malevolent thoughts dominate his physical form. With immense willpower, he had etched in a single instinct: the instinct to attack Yue Leng.

He treated himself as a piece of raw iron, casting himself into the forge. Either he would melt away, or he would be hammered into a blade!

And Yue Leng, naturally, became the hammer that forged the iron, striking away Yin Guan’s “impurities” blow by blow.

Through personal, meticulous tempering, he had honed Yin Guan into steel.

The powerful yet incredibly chaotic curse power, under the relentless assault of a God Descent realm expert, was thoroughly refined. Countless “malevolent thoughts” were purged, leaving only the curse technique’s purest essence.

In his final moments, Yin Guan’s will returned, instantly integrating all the lost consciousness and power, fusing them into a single furnace. He broke through the old to establish the new, thus achieving God Descent!

Had this process been even a single breath too fast, the “impurities” would not have been fully cleared, and he could not have immediately achieved God Descent. And had it been a single breath too slow, his physical body would have perished, and his returning will would have been utterly meaningless before Yue Leng, without even the chance to switch to the divine path.

But Yin Guan had precisely seized that single thread of opportunity.

It was too audacious, too unbelievable, yet also too ingenious, too astonishing!

“Good! Very good!”

Yue Leng was Yue Leng, after all. After the initial shock and anger subsided, his fighting spirit immediately reignited.

“Talented people emerge in every generation; the new always replace the old. My journey out of seclusion this time was not in vain!”

He gripped the Prestige-Killing Staff, and its substantial Legalist prestige seemed to pry open Yin Guan’s hand.

If his initial involvement in this affair was merely at Zheng Shi’s invitation, to restore the prestige of the Capital Patrol Office,

Then facing the cultivation-deviated Yin Guan later had been a matter of the old guard’s pride, a desire to decisively win with ease.

But now, he had a new understanding.

To slay Qin Guang Wang! He must spare no expense, disregard life and death!

“All these years spent chasing thieves, and today I unexpectedly send a thief on his way!”

Yue Leng’s aura surged wildly, his will beginning to saturate this portion of heaven and earth.

“Come! Qin Guang Wang! Unleash all your skills and slay me! I am willing to offer my head to forge your renown!”

“Excellent!” Yin Guan roared in response. “Then I shall borrow your lifetime’s prestigious name!”

Around his body, an emerald-green light once again enveloped him, a massive surge of curse power roaring like a tidal wave.

Yue Leng fully engaged, not daring to show even a hint of laxity.

But as Yin Guan’s momentum surged, his fist wrapped in green light, he suddenly turned and slammed it against the nearest cast-iron black pillar!

The cast-iron black pillar, which seemed to connect heaven and earth, immediately tilted, and the sealed domain was broken.

Yin Guan shot out, instantly arriving outside the border sentry post, and with a simple, clean punch, he shattered the great array’s light curtain!

The great array, designed to limit the power of the Outer Building realm, was shattered by a single strike from a God Descent realm expert. The light curtain broke and then closed, but Yin Guan had already transformed into a streak of emerald light, vanishing into the sky.

Leaving only Yue Leng standing in his original spot.

Even from the very beginning, Yin Guan had never considered escaping. He hadn’t even spared a glance for the cast-iron black pillars. From the outset, it had been only attack, attack, attack.

He had left Yue Leng with the impression of a genius, yet a madman, with courage surpassing others and utterly fearless of death.

An Outer Building cultivator daring to challenge God Descent meant that after achieving God Descent, attempting to slay Yue Leng was only natural. How could Qin Guang Wang not possess such pride?

Furthermore, having been nearly beaten to death by him, surely Qin Guang Wang harbored no resentment? With newfound power, would he not desire revenge?

But what caused Yue Leng to miscalculate yet again was that Yin Guan didn’t engage in battle before escaping, nor did he even probe!

However, Jiang Wang knew that this was simply the true Yin Guan.

He cared not for the evaluations of others. Nor did he care what means he employed or who he might harm. He cared only for his goal.

He bore the responsibility of the leader, risked his life to assassinate Tai Shan Wang, yet did not boast of it. Instead, he threatened to slay the Capital King. Jiang Wang felt he was utterly ruthless, utilizing the lives of his companions to escape, yet he offered not a single explanation.

Of course, he was not some great benevolent figure.

His decision not to flee immediately, but instead to risk his life, was simply because his primary objective from the beginning was not to escape from Qi,

But to achieve God Descent!

Now that this goal was achieved, he immediately turned to his next objective: escaping from the Qi country.

It was just that simple and direct!

A man like Yin Guan had no interest in the honor of slaying a God Descent expert or achieving fame and fortune. Such matters were beneath him.

Yue Leng stood amidst the cast-iron black pillars he himself had erected, silent. In that instant, he seemed to reveal a hint of encroaching age.

Even though a God Descent realm expert does not experience aging until the very brink of death.

Just as Jiang Wang was pondering how to console this Commander, or perhaps if pretending not to notice would be better, his vision blurred, and he saw a blind old man holding a white paper lantern.

His heart seized. It was the same night watchman he had met that night at the Ku Rong Yuan ruins!

Unlike Jiang Wang’s reaction, Yue Leng’s brow furrowed. He was likely very displeased that his failure this time would be “witnessed” by more people, but this was now a fact.

As a dignified Commander, he possessed the courage to face reality.

“You’ve come late. Qin Guang Wang has already escaped.”

The blind night watchman hadn’t expected that merely closing the door to apprehend a single assassin organization would result in two individuals escaping.

He had been delayed at sea, allowing that coroner Wang to escape. Then, following the sense of descent to this place, Qin Guang Wang had also already fled to the heavens.

After a moment of silence, he finally asked just two words: “God Descent?”

“Yes.” Yue Leng’s voice held a trace of bitterness. “He broke through right before me.”

“A young man, extraordinary.”

The blind night watchman sighed, holding his white paper lantern, and suddenly turned. With his pair of eyes utterly devoid of spirit, he “looked” at Jiang Wang.

This scene was quite unsettling.

“Jiang Qing Yang, you are a proud son of my Great Qi. In the future, do you have the confidence to slay this evildoer for Great Qi?”