“Supervisor!” Huang “slowly” opened his blood-filled maw and spoke without emotion.

Though He didn’t know when or how that old fellow had met Xu Qi An, the space artifact in his hands was undoubtedly a gift from the Supervisor.

He had walked through that “spatial domain” behind them before.

Throughout the world, probably only the Supervisor, as a Grade One Artificer, had the power to forge an artifact from the spiritual essence lingering there.

Simultaneously, a thought flashed through Huang’s mind:

He truly is the Guardian!

Using the power of the “Gate” on this island to temporarily break free from the seal in a special way—this was also a characteristic unique to the Guardian.

Even Transcendents couldn’t use its power before mastering the “Gate.”

“Chase Him!” The nine tails behind the Nine-Tailed Fox whipped against the ground like tentacles, resembling war drums.

Of course, this action was slowed tenfold.

Can’t let our guard down. Though we’re in a race, we’re playing with violent motorcycles… Xu Qi An slowly drew out the Nation-Stabilizing Sword and the Peace Blade, tossing the latter to the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Over these past few days, the two had frequently communicated, discussing detailed battle plans and countermeasures.

Based on Huang’s spiritual essence characteristics, once they began this race, He would likely employ one of three strategies:

First, increase His advance speed, taking advantage of the distance between them to cross this area and seize the treasure.

Second, swing like a baseball bat with lethal strikes, eliminating the presumptuous man and fox who dared to catch up.

Third, if there was no other way, unleash His innate divine ability to devour everything, regardless of consequences.

After the Nine-Tailed Fox caught the Peace Blade, Xu Qi An “slowly” raised his wrist, palm facing Huang, making the glass-like eye light up.

He planned to transfer Huang’s space to a distant location, using this method to throw Him far away.

This was the simplest and most effective solution he and the Nine-Tailed Fox had devised.

First, Huang couldn’t use spatial techniques, leaving Him helpless against such manipulation. Second, He was already in an “overloaded” state—if He dared counter this move by devouring spiritual essence, He would inevitably fall into slumber.

Just then, the human-faced, sheep-bodied monster’s form suddenly expanded. His already mountain-like body grew several times larger, rising hundreds of meters higher.

This process wasn’t quick, even slow, but His suddenly increased height exceeded the spatial area Xu Qi An had cut out.

The original cut space area had been just large enough to encompass Huang, but after His body expanded, parts of His limbs extended beyond the space.

The mirror-like space suddenly rippled, then smoothed out, returning to stillness.

The spatial transfer had failed.

Huang’s physical body was too powerful. He was like a wedge connecting two spaces—the cutting force accompanying the spatial transfer couldn’t divide Huang’s body like it had the Nine-Tailed Fox’s.

Failure was inevitable.

Huang’s human-like face slowly revealed a cold smile.

“For us Divine Beasts, our bodies can be as large as we wish, and vice versa.”

At this point, He was very close to the edge of the time-slow domain. Without hesitation, after speaking, Huang’s massive body lunged forward, His enormous form slowly falling to the ground at one-tenth speed.

With a boom, the ground shook, raising clouds of dust.

Even the dust rose with extreme slowness.

Did he fall? What is He trying to do?

The same confusion flashed through Xu Qi An and the Nine-Tailed Fox’s minds.

How could such a mighty ancient Divine Beast suddenly trip? Trying to scam me because of your age?… Xu Qi An muttered internally, but he didn’t lower his guard despite his mental quips.

Huang definitely wouldn’t fall for no reason.

At this moment, the Nine-Tailed Fox seemed to discover something, her tone changing as she said:

“He crossed the boundary…”

Xu Qi An followed her gaze, his pupils slightly contracting.

Huang lay flat on the ground with His front legs straight and hind legs extended. This posture made Him look somewhat ridiculous, even a bit foolishly cute.

He was very close to the domain’s boundary, and with this fall, His two hooves had successfully extended beyond the domain.

This is bad!!

Xu Qi An and the Nine-Tailed Fox’s expressions turned ugly. The former glanced at the beam of light rising to the sky at the horizon’s edge, gritting his teeth as he employed spatial jumps.

After Huang’s two hooves extended beyond the domain, no longer restricted by the time flow, they “clop clop clop” scraped the ground, struggling to pull His body out.

The kinetic energy from His hooves scraping the ground was also slowed tenfold, so His body didn’t immediately escape the domain.

However, this was much faster than His previous step-by-step pace.

This is too underhanded, don’t you have any dignity and prestige as a Transcendent Divine Beast… Xu Qi An cursed internally in urgency. It was too late—at this rate, Huang would escape the domain several hours before them.

Several hours in this domain meant several days in the outside world.

In several days, everything would be too late. Huang could not only obtain the treasure unhindered but also take a bath, get some sleep, and gather strength to slaughter them.

Bang bang bang!

The ground-scraping sounds were like earthquakes, entering their ears one after another. Though the sounds were slow, Xu Qi An saw Huang’s two hooves, like twelve-cylinder pile drivers, quickly digging two deep trenches in the wilderness.

With such terrifying kinetic energy, even after being weakened and slowed, Huang’s massive body still moved forward at a considerable speed.

“Yu Sui can’t effectively stop Huang. At His level, any wound is merely fatal, and I would be too busy attacking to perform short-distance transmissions… offensive methods won’t work.”

“The Seven Fatal Gu has no binding abilities, and control techniques are even more impossible—how could Gu arts that just entered the Transcendent realm control Huang…”

He desperately thought of countermeasures, cursing himself for being such an unrefined warrior.

If it were the Confucians, with their Heaven-Containing Mouth and Law-Following Words, they could just say: “Little brother, you’re under my crotch!”

And everything would be solved.

At this moment, Xu Qi An saw the Nine-Tailed Fox beside him, calm and collected, “unhurriedly” taking out the Universal Mirror and pointing it at Huang from afar.

Huang immediately sensed a soul-targeting artifact observing Him from the distance, and full of disdain, hummed laughingly:

“If it were a Transcendent-level treasure, I’d admit my bad luck.”

“But just a broken mirror? Before it can affect me, I’ll have long left this area.”

These two sentences took Him a long time to say, but His hooves didn’t stop, successfully pulling Himself another distance outward.

“Good Nation Lord! Good Sister!”

Xu Qi An became excited, inspired by the Nine-Tailed Fox’s operation. With a thought, the Pagoda of Enlightenment floated out from the Book of Earth fragment.

Though he was an unrefined warrior, he had many magical treasures.

At the pagoda’s top, a golden dharma body appeared with palms joined, a seven-colored wheel symbolizing wisdom slowly rotating behind its head.

…Huang silently began scraping the ground, faster than before.

He couldn’t laugh anymore.

Gradually, He began to feel confused about what He was doing, unsure of its meaning.

His thought processes slowed, and His intelligence declined.

In normal conditions, this wouldn’t cause Him any harm, but as His intelligence decreased, He immediately sensed a massive pulling force tugging at Him.

It was as if a vortex above His head was calling, pulling Him.

This force indirectly strengthened the confused thoughts—the more it pulled, the lower His intelligence; the lower His intelligence, the stronger the pulling force.

They complemented each other.

His golden pupils gradually became unfocused, losing their sharpness. Huang slowly transformed into the landlord’s foolish son, afflicted with soul-loss syndrome or congenital mental deficiency.

His gaze was vacant, occasionally scraping the ground.

His instincts drove Him to continue scraping, but He could no longer remember why.

Xu Qi An and the Nine-Tailed Fox, combining the power of two great treasures, briefly controlled Huang.

More accurately, they combined two great treasures to control Huang, who was bound by the time-slow domain.

“We can’t control Him for long.”

The Nine-Tailed Fox warned.

Seizing this opportunity, Xu Qi An ceaselessly employed spatial transformation, step by step catching up to and overtaking Huang.

During the process, they continuously subjected Huang to intelligence-reducing strikes and soul-hooking operations.

If this time-slow domain hadn’t restricted Huang, controlling an ancient Divine Beast wouldn’t have been so easy.

Finally, they reached the domain’s edge and saw the true face of the light pillar ahead.

The Nine-Tailed Fox stared ahead, dazed. Within the heaven-reaching light pillar was a clearly outlined light gate, a hundred zhang high, magnificent in presence.

This light gate stood upon layer upon layer of white bones.

As if the bones had forged its throne.

But it wasn’t purely a light gate—it incorporated wind, rain, thunder, and lightning; yin, yang, and the five elements; the celestial stems and earthly branches; it incorporated all things, like an amalgamation of everything in the world.

It symbolized Heaven, symbolized Earth, symbolized power, symbolized knowledge, symbolized laws.

The silver-haired beauty understood the Supervisor’s meaning the moment she saw the light gate.

It couldn’t be precisely described in words because it symbolized all things, containing everything.

Suddenly, she heard Xu Qi An speak as if entranced, dreaming, sighing:

“What an unparalleled precious blade. If I could possess it, I would have the power to split the heavens.”

???

The fox spirit’s ears twitched in confusion, looking at the unrefined warrior beside her, bewildered.

Precious blade?

Where was there a blade? Wasn’t that a gate?

Just as she was about to ask, from the corner of her eye, she noticed “Huang’s” vacant pupils slowly regaining focus.

“His soul is too powerful, I can’t hold Him anymore…”

The spirit of the Universal Mirror said.

Soul capture was its most powerful technique, but this ancient Divine Beast was simply too mighty. Even with the Universal Mirror exerting full power, they were merely in a tug-of-war state.

It couldn’t even extract His soul.

And this was with two great external forces helping.

“Go…”

The Nine-Tailed Fox reminded tersely.

Xu Qi An had already completed one spatial transfer, bringing her to the edge zone. Then, under Huang’s gradually awakening gaze, he performed two more spatial jumps, finally successfully escaping the time-slow domain.

In that instant, both human and fox couldn’t help but sigh in comfort.

This comfort wasn’t physical, but spiritual—their thoughts suddenly cleared, experiencing unprecedented lightness.

“Truly an unparalleled precious blade.”

Xu Qi An gazed into the distance, speaking in a deep voice.

The Nine-Tailed Fox finally couldn’t help but speak, looking at him with a complex expression, “This isn’t a blade, it’s a gate.”

???

Like the Nine-Tailed Fox earlier, two question marks floated through Xu Qi An’s mind.

He frowned:

“But what I see is a blade.”

The Nine-Tailed Fox thought for a moment, speculating:

“Perhaps because you’re a warrior.”

Nation Lord, you’ve also caught the habit of insulting warriors when uncertain… Xu Qi An analyzed:

“Maybe everyone sees something different? That’s why the Supervisor said it couldn’t be accurately described what this thing is.”

His guess didn’t receive the Nine-Tailed Fox’s approval; the silver-haired beauty’s expression grew increasingly strange as she looked at him.

“I think I understand the Supervisor’s meaning now, but it’s not as you say.” She shook her head.

“A blade? Why would you see a blade?”

Huang’s voice came from behind. He had regained consciousness, with nearly a third of His body still in the domain.

Though the situation had turned against Him, He remained incredibly calm, not the least bit anxious or hurried.

He wasn’t in a hurry, and Xu Qi An was even less so. With a freeloader’s mindset, he asked:

“What do you see?”

Huang said flatly:

“A gate!”

Xu Qi An raised an eyebrow:

“You and the Nation Lord see the same thing because you’re both Divine Beasts?”

Divine Beast descendants counted as Divine Beasts too.

Huang remained silent, seemingly unable to provide an answer.

Because since ancient times, Xu Qi An was probably the first human to see it.

“You seem not at all anxious, that’s not like you.”

Xu Qi An scrutinized Huang.

They had dealt with each other many times; he knew Huang was a Divine Beast with not the best temper, who neither would nor deigned to suppress His emotions.

“Why should I be anxious?”

Huang’s golden pupils rolled upward, looking at His own head, His human-like face showing a mocking expression.

Only then did Xu Qi An notice that of the six long horns on Huang’s head, five had disappeared, leaving only one single horn.

“I’ve sealed the Supervisor,” He said.

“I know,” he said.

“No, you don’t know.” Huang’s tone carried pride as He said:

“The previous seal wasn’t too strong. Six Horns United is the strongest seal I can deploy. Don’t you want to know why I waited until now to completely seal the Supervisor?”

Xu Qi An fell silent, suddenly having a bad premonition.

“I waited to enter Divine Beast Island to test if he could borrow power from this place. If he could, he must be the Guardian. If not, then he wasn’t.

“But the Supervisor was cunning and crafty. I was worried about how to test him without leaving traces, to make him expose himself voluntarily. Your arrival gave me the perfect opportunity.”

Huang said.

Xu Qi An suddenly recalled that when Huang saw them earlier and called out “Supervisor,” His tone lacked much emotion, such as anger or surprise.

No surprise or anger meant He wasn’t afraid of them getting there first.

But where did His confidence come from?

Huang hummed laughingly:

“You don’t know what this gate represents, but I do. I also know that besides the Guardian, no living being can obtain it or approach it.

“Hmm, Transcendents can too, but unfortunately, neither of us is one.”

Xu Qi An and the Nine-Tailed Fox exchanged a grave look; they now understood Huang’s confidence.

With the Guardian in His grasp, even if someone reached it first, He wasn’t afraid of the treasure falling into others’ hands.

The six-horn-united seal also made the Supervisor completely lose the chance to borrow Divine Beast Island’s power.

These beings who have lived for too long are truly difficult to deal with… Xu Qi An exhaled deeply.

Huang said leisurely:

“To leave Divine Beast Island, you must cross through this nauseating domain again. It’s too late for you to escape now.

“Why should I hurry? You’re the ones who should be anxious.”

This… The Nine-Tailed Fox felt somewhat lost. She had painstakingly devoured the Qingqiu Fox’s spiritual essence, coming here prepared to die once or even multiple times.

For what? To die in vain?

She couldn’t help but look toward Xu Qi An, discovering that this man showed not the slightest anxiety.

The Nine-Tailed Fox’s heart stirred, vaguely grasping something.

At this moment, she heard the Supervisor’s voice coming from the single horn on Huang’s head:

“Xu Qi An, take the Peace Blade and enter the light gate.”

Xu Qi An smiled:

“Was just waiting for you to say that. Also, that’s a blade, not a gate!”

He didn’t ask why, taking the Peace Blade from the Nine-Tailed Fox’s hand and darting toward that precious blade standing atop the countless bones.

Huang’s golden pupils suddenly sharpened, realizing something was amiss, and said gravely:

“What are you trying to do? What are you trying to make him do?”

The Supervisor spoke frankly:

“Make him become the Guardian.”

The Nine-Tailed Fox blurted out:

“What?!”

She doubted her ears, or perhaps the Supervisor had misspoken.

Make him become the Guardian… Huang’s mood was similar to the Nine-Tailed Fox’s:

“You… what do you mean? Aren’t you the Guardian?”

The Supervisor laughed:

“Who told you I was the Guardian? Did I ever acknowledge it?”

Huang’s breathing suddenly quickened. After a few seconds, He howled as if going mad:

“Impossible!

“You must be the Guardian, you are the Guardian! The Guardian comes from the Incense Fire Path, from the Artificer system.”

The previous signs all indicated the Supervisor was the Guardian. If he wasn’t, then none of those signs could be explained.

Including using Divine Beast Island’s power.

Huang knew the secret of the Catastrophe and knew what the Guardian symbolized.

If one wasn’t the Guardian, it would be impossible to reach the Supervisor’s level.

“Wrong!”

The Supervisor’s voice came from the single horn, calm and serene:

“You’ve stayed overseas too long. How much do you know about the Nine Provinces?

“Do you know why Buddha and the Shamanic God wanted to eliminate Grade One Warriors?

“Because the Guardian can only come from the Warrior system.”

Huang howled hoarsely:

“If you’re not the Guardian, then what are you?!”