This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder-Chapter 694: Clash Anew

Since the Temple of Death was already showing signs of disarray and panic due to recent events, it was time to add additional pressure on the hegemon of the Death Goddess Planetary Alliance. The original plan was to have the immortal emperors present on Planet Madarchy lure out one immortal emperor and kill him before ganging up on the remaining two.

Although the Death Defier Alliance was formed from several peak forces, it couldn’t guarantee having an equal number of peak-level experts. Even if all the forces had reserves who entered deep stasis once they reached the end of their lifespan, the Death Defier Alliance could not guarantee that the Temple of Death did not use the same method. According to their calculations and investigations, the Temple of Death had more emperors and sovereigns.

The Death Defier Alliance couldn’t stroll into the Temple of Death and ask how many immortals they had. Even sneaking in was impossible, so they could only use a stupid method. They had to comb the Xiyinet and search for traces of all members of the Temple of Death and determine their realms. Even for these ascended beings, processing and searching the entire Xiyinet was an arduous task.

The end result was something closer to a hazardous guess than anything resembling an accurate report. Each force had done its own investigation, and when they came together to share, they discovered their results varied wildly. It was only natural; it was not as if the Temple of Death had a website listing all its members and their cultivation levels. In the end, the Death Defier Alliance compiled a possible list using the results of everyone’s investigations and further discussion.

So while the Temple of Death did not want to send any immortal emperors to Planet Madarchy, neither did the Death Defier Alliance want to dispatch any additional immortal emperors in case of accidents. Because of this, the immortal emperors of the Death Defier Alliance had the confidence to contend with the Temple of Death one-on-one, but not to kill them one-on-one at the same level.

Thus, they devised such a plan, but Gu Longyu objected. He was no longer just a newly ascended immortal emperor chased by nine immortal emperors. He had the confidence to defeat those nine emperors at his current level, much less only three of them.

Naturally, there were objections, but Gu Longyu overpowered them. When he revealed that he was one of the core contributors to the fall of ten death emperors over a hundred years ago, the two immortal emperors relented. He wasn’t lying. His and Empress Wintersnow’s actions years ago likely contributed to the Temple of Death’s reluctance to dispatch too many immortal emperors.

Gu Longyu didn’t complain. It suited his needs quite well.

And so, he arrived at the predetermined location. Gu Longyu didn’t set up any formations once there, lest he scare away the immortal emperors. Then, he revealed his aura. He didn’t blast his aura, as that would be an unnecessary waste of immortal qi, but he didn’t hide his presence at all, even openly announcing it. Unless they were too weak or blind, no one could ignore his presence.

Once his two companions sensed his actions, they also revealed their auras, just not as blatantly. However, they did not remain stagnant. Every once in a while, they would hide their auras and relocate to another location before revealing them again. This way, the Temple of Death could only lock onto Gu Longyu.

As Gu Longyu had planned, he soon saw the Temple of Death’s immortal emperors.

“Is there such a need to be so on guard? I wanted to have a one-on-one duel, but all three of you came.” Gu Longyu glanced at the group behind the three immortal emperors. “Not only that, but you brought quite a few extras.”

The leading immortal emperor snorted. “Who knows what schemes you have?”

“It looks like you didn’t set up any formations. You couldn’t have really expected us to come and fight you one-on-one, could you?” a second immortal emperor asked after scanning the surroundings. His tone was tinged with disbelief, as if he believed Gu Longyu’s actions were foolish.

Gu Longyu resisted the urge to draw his saber. Because of the danger, Gu Longyu had Springsnow stay at the base.

He observed the group for a moment before his body blurred. A sonic boom exploded as he shot toward the sky. His actions caused the three immortal emperors to instinctively raise their defenses, but when they saw him fleeing, they gave chase.

Soon after, a distance appeared between them. Because Gu Longyu moved first, he was in the lead. The three immortal emperors chased after him, neither closing the distance nor falling behind. It was the group of immortal monarchs and true immortals that fell behind. There was one immortal monarch clad in a white cloak who seemed able to catch up, but he ultimately slowed down to remain with the group.

The three groups flew out of Planet Madarchy and into outer space, but Gu Longyu didn’t stop. He continued to fly, slowly speeding up and forcing the three immortal emperors to waste more energy unless they wanted to lose him. Perhaps Gu Longyu’s escape was bait, but they could not give up the chance to eliminate a lone immortal emperor.

When Gu Longyu felt the distance was just right, he made a one-eighty. The abruptness of his actions surprised the three immortal emperors, but they were more prepared this time. Although they didn’t know what scheme Gu Longyu was playing, they all readied themselves to attack.

One of them unleashed a soul attack, while another conjured an illusion.

Gu Longyu easily blocked the soul attack thanks to his own attainments in the soul, and the illusion was rebuffed by his strong willpower. The moment he negated these two attacks, golden scales covered his body, and horns grew out of his forehead. After completing his dragon transformation, his speed increased more than tenfold.

“What?”

The three immortal emperors barely had time to express their bewilderment when Gu Longyu appeared in front of them. They could do nothing as the Dragonbone Saber cleaved downward.

Unlike on Planet Dragonsleep, hundreds of years had passed, and Gu Longyu had experienced countless battles. The saber had drunk the blood of countless enemies, turning its pristine ivory color into a deep blood red. Now, the immortal saber would release a heart-palpitating aura whenever it was drawn. Because of this nature, Gu Longyu had gradually stopped unsheathing the saber and instead used his fists to deal with matters. He drew the Dragonbone Saber only at crucial moments.

Faced with the powerful slash that seemed capable of splitting space itself, the three immortal emperors had only thoughts of escaping.

How could Gu Longyu let them go as they pleased? His saber sliced through one of the immortal emperors as if he were air. A black line appeared where the saber had passed. Not even a second later, the black line expanded and enveloped the split halves of the body while radiating an aura of destruction. The destruction went beyond the material realm and reached the soul level.

Gu Longyu turned his attention to the two fleeing immortal emperors. Of the three immortal emperors, he had killed the one who hadn’t attacked him. It was not that the remaining immortal emperors had offended him, but rather that he posed the greatest threat. The dead immortal emperor was a martial emperor. Compared to the soul emperor and the spiritual emperor who used illusions, he was the greater threat.

He chased after the spiritual emperor. Normally, most cultivators would consider soul cultivators the greatest threat, but Gu Longyu was different. As a soul cultivator himself, and one who specialized in defense, he was the least wary of soul cultivators—at least those in the same realm as himself.

The Dragonbone Saber left a red arc as it tore through space and sliced through the spiritual emperor.

Just as Gu Longyu was about to deal with the last immortal emperor of the Temple of Death, a sword light pierced toward him. Gu Longyu frowned and slashed the sword light just before contact. The force was too immense, surprising him and knocking him back tens of thousands of meters.

Gu Longyu stared at the war formation. It was formed by the remaining immortal monarchs and true immortals. He had sensed the formation, but he hadn’t cared. The only reason he fled to outer space was to prevent the Temple of Death from interfering.

Now, it seemed that he had been careless. Gu Longyu sent a message to the other two immortal emperors, leaving the soul emperor for them to deal with. It seemed that he should have killed the soul emperor and spiritual emperor instead. While the martial emperor was his greatest threat, it was the complete opposite for others—a miscalculation.

More than that—

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” Gu Longyu muttered to himself. His voice was soft, but his eyes were filled with killing intent. “Finally, after hundreds of years, we meet again, Xi Yinian.”

The war formation charging at him radiated the aura of a peak immortal emperor. The war formation resembled a red-faced creature akin to an ogre, with sharp fangs jutting from its lower jaw, a hellish crown, and equally red robes bound by chains. In its hand was a brush, held with the tip pointing upward like a weapon. White ink formed above the brush in the shape of a blade.

This was one of the Temple of Death’s most powerful war formations—the Hell Judge Emperor War Formation.

“Yinian, I treated you as a rival, but I didn’t expect that after a thousand years, you still haven’t reached the Extremity Immortal Realm. You truly disappoint me!” Gu Longyu’s words boomed through outer space despite the lack of a medium to carry sound.

War formations were not foreign to Gu Longyu. In fact, he had once obtained a treasure that allowed him to form a war formation during his days as the Dragon Emperor, but aside from when he was weak, he did not use it. For most cultivators, war formations were a boost, but not for immortals like Gu Longyu, who relied heavily on intent.

While a war formation could grant its controller power comparable to a higher realm, their insight into worldly laws remained the same, as did their intent. Even if other members of the war formation possessed intent or its nascent forms, it was impossible to fuse them. Thus, the controller of the war formation could only use their own reserves of intent to power its attacks.

Using one’s own intent allowed for prolonged combat, but using it through a war formation would rapidly deplete reserves and place a heavy burden on the mind. Even if attack power increased, it would only last a short while. By then, the controller might not even have the mental fortitude to sustain the war formation.

In Gu Longyu’s eyes, this was the foolishness of Yinian’s actions. All he needed to do was weather Yinian’s blows until he ran out of sword intent, at which point his power would drop dramatically, giving Gu Longyu the perfect opportunity to strike. However, Gu Longyu wasn’t satisfied with this. Past encounters taught him never to be passive with Yinian, lest he be caught off guard.

And so, Gu Longyu and the war formation towering hundreds of meters clashed. Gu Longyu remained on the defensive, seemingly content to waste Yinian’s strength, while Yinian fought as if on a time limit.

As the battle progressed, Gu Longyu grew increasingly disappointed. He could sense Yinian’s improved insight into worldly laws, but even that, coupled with the boost from the war formation, only allowed him to reach the peak of the Extremity Immortal Realm. It was infinitely close to the sovereign level, but still just that—close. Without crossing that threshold, the difference was one of heaven and earth.

More than that, Yinian could no longer hide within space or time as before, as he could not perfectly control the war formation. Perfect control did not only require flawless efficiency from the controller, but also perfect unity among all members—a near impossibility.

While the two fought, the two immortal emperors arrived and chased after the soul emperor, who had been harassing Gu Longyu from afar. This allowed Gu Longyu to focus fully on Yinian.

Finally, Gu Longyu found his opportunity. He struck with all his might. Even though he was disappointed, a lion would still use its full strength to hunt a rabbit. He unleashed a saber intent more powerful than when he killed the two immortal emperors, reaching the level of an immortal sovereign.

The saber intent struck true, causing the Hell Judge Emperor War Formation to freeze and destabilize. From there, Gu Longyu could see the faint shadows of the immortals composing it. However, his eyes were fixed only on the shadow at the glabella.

Gu Longyu appeared in front of the shadow, saber raised high above his head. He cleaved downward, just as he had done with the first immortal emperor he slew. His target was merely an immortal monarch, but as his saber descended, he sensed the scent of death!