Stranger Danger

It was thanks to his guarantee that Wei Duanliu dared to barge into the City of No Return and throw his weight around like he owned it.

While he was distracting the city lord and everyone else, Wu Shengshui was using the secret art to detect and locate Yuan Budong's hiding spot.

To Yuan Budong's credit, his hiding spot was excellent. He had also changed his appearance and physique. He looked nothing like who he used to be. Without the secret art, Wu Shengshuiwould have been hardpressed to find Yuan Budong in the mysterious and profound Residence of Gods, much less do so in a reasonable amount of time. Hell, Yuan Budong could have walked right in front of him, and he still might not have recognized the man.

"You have changed a lot over the years, senior brother Yuan!"

"Haha, you guys have changed a lot yourselves. You're both deputy lords of the Floating Light Celestial Island now."

Yuan Budong did not look afraid despite being cornered by Wu Shengshui and Fang Qionghua. In fact, his eyes were glittering with bloodthirst and cruelty, defiance and jealousy.

He, Wei Duanliu, Wu Shengshui, and Fang Qionghua had joined the Floating Light Celestial Island at the same time. Not only were they senior brothers and sisters, they were the cream of the crop of their time.

However, he was a cut above even Wei Duanliu, Wu Shengshui, or Fang Qionghua back then. As a result, everyone knew him and him only at the time.

However, much time had passed since that day. He had gone from the Holy Son of Floating Light Celestial Island with an unlimited future ahead of him to a mouse that everyone wanted a piece of. His "inconspicuous" peers had also ascended the ladder and became esteemed deputy lords that everyone in the Profound Alliance respected.

How could he not be jealous? How could he accept this calmly?

It should've been all his.

"We wouldn't have come this far if it wasn't for you!" Wei Duanliu taunted.

It was the truth though. After Yuan Budong betrayed his sect, the Floating Light Celestial Island dispatched many elites to hunt him down as a matter of course. A good number of them were deputy lords as well. However, Yuan Budong was already on the same cultivation level as them, and his practice of the "Blood Massacre Nether King Scripture" put him a level above them. As if that wasn't enough, Yuan Budong was cruel, vicious, and willing to use any means to survive. Because of this, he was able to inflict massive damage to the hunting party. Most of the deputy lords were either dead or injured as well.

This was terrible news as a matter of course, but the passing of the old meant the ushering of the young. Wei Duanliu, Fang Qionghua and Wu Shengshui received the major attention of the Floating Light Celestial Island, and they were ultimately able to rise above all others and ascend to their current posts.

Therefore, Wei Duanliu wasn't lying when he said that Yuan Budong made them who they were today.

"Oh? Does that mean you owe me then?" Yuan Budong asked with a grin.

"Indeed, we owe you a lot."

Hatred flooded into Wei Duanliu's eyes as he replied, "If not for you, my parents wouldn't have died. If not for you, my master would not have suffered injuries that he could not recover from. Without you, I would not be who I am today."

"That is why I'm going to pay you back. I will make sure that you receive all the pain and misery I've suffered a hundred fold!"

Unlike Fang Qionghua and Wu Shengshui, Wei Duanliu's clan was one of the more influential clans in Floating Light Celestial Island. That was why his parents and his master were among the people Yuan Budong had killed or injured back then. That was also why Wei Duanliu's hatred toward Yuan Budong far exceeded his fellow deputy lords.

Yuan Budong sneered. "Is that so? Then I'll do you one more kindness and send you to your parents' side!"

"A family should be together, don't you agree?"

"You can still turn back, senior brother Yuan. You can still give up and surrender yourself peacefully!" Wu Shengshui said with a sigh.

To be honest, Yuan Budong was the man everyone looked up to back then. He was no exception.

Alas, times had changed. All that respect and admiration had turned into pity and hatred.

"Surrender?" Yuan Budong side-eyed Wu Shengshui disdainfully. "The word has never existed in my dictionary."

Fang Qionghua also sighed. "Then don't blame us for what happens next, senior brother Yuan."

"Hahaha... I won't." Yuan Budong started guffawing. "Don't blame me for what happens next either, my dear 'friends'."

"Today, I'm not just going to kill all of you. In the future, I will personally pay the Floating Light Celestial Island a visit and kill everyone for what they did to me back then!"

"The audacity of this cur... today is the day I take revenge against all those who died in your hands!"

It was a miracle that Wei Duanliu had held back his hatred for this long, and finally, he let it all out like a waterfall of magma. "Die!"

Wei Duanliu leaped into the air and grew in size all of a sudden. His qi hit the constellations, and the silhouette of the Wisdom King appeared behind his back.

On the other hand, Yuan Budong was surrounded by a sea of churning blood. At the center of the sea was a bobbing Nether King sitting on a throne of bones and wielding a blade of wronged souls. It was like he was a personification of evil.

Rumble!

The clash of powers shook the City of No Return and caused the sky to flicker like it would wink out of existence at any moment.

The next moment, Wu Shengshui pushed his palms forward and kicked up a tidal wave in the sky. It was windless yet overbearing.

It was a palm strike that casually brought forth the ocean and threw the natural order into chaos.

As for Fang Qionghua, she summoned a brilliant sword into her hand that resembled the growing light of the morning sun; the awakening of all creation and life. Specks of light were sprouting, blooming, and withering everywhere.

It was a sword that demonstrated the flowers of spring, the moon of autumn, and the cycle of reincarnation.

The palm and the sword did not succeed in suppressing or destroying the sea of blood or the Nether King, however. On the contrary, the dark creature's power was growing more anomalous and terrible by the second.

Such was the clash of energies and forces that the entire City of No Return groaned like it could collapse at any moment.

It was at this moment Xuan Youxuan waved his sleeve and caused the handsome crane he was riding a while ago to scatter into many palm-sized cranes. They scattered in every direction.

Wherever his cranes passed, the sundered sky began mending, the rampaging winds began subsiding, and the shaking grounds began stabilizing.

In just the blink of an eye, the entire City of No Return had returned to normal. Xuan Youxuan then unleashed many profound seals into the sky to keep the battle from affecting the surroundings.

"You are harboring Yuan Budong, City Lord Xuan. How dare you!"

It was at this moment Disheveled Taoist glanced at Xuan Youxuan and rebuked him.

Nine Blades of Sorrow, Son of Five Sounds, Tang Yuan and more were staring at him in shock and anger as well.

They truly thought that Wei Duanliu was just using Yuan Budong as an excuse to cause trouble in the City of No Return. However, it turned out that Wei Duanliu was right. Not only was Yuan Budong still alive, he was hiding in the City of No Return and right under their nose this entire time.

Fine, if the city lord wanted to rescue and harbor Yuan Budong, then that was his choice. But why did he make Yuan Budong the deputy lord and even showed off the guy every once in a while? Did he want the man to be recognized? Well, he played with fire, and the fire was now burning his goddamn house. How was he going to turn this around?

"Who said he's Yuan Budong?" Xuan Youxuan's expression returned to normal as he looked at Disheveled Taoist.

"Excuse me? He said it himself that he's Yuan Budong. You don't seriously think you can deceive anyone at this point, do you?" Disheveled Taoist taunted.

He wasn't angry that Xuan Youxuan was harboring Yuan Budong. It wasn't like he was a member of Floating Light Celestial Island, or sharing some sort of grudge against the guy. He was angry that he had defended Xuan Youxuan and earned a slap for his efforts. No matter how he looked at it, he needed to regain his face.

This would also earn him some points with Floating Light Celestial Island when they brought their full wrath upon the City of No Return.