A Worthy Opponent

"Yun Zhi?" Gu Xie was taken aback. Whose inner demon was this? Yun Zhi rarely made a move, and the outside world knew very little about her. But who was Gu Xie? He had been secretly gathering intelligence on every major power across Great Xia, and that included Yun Zhi. Yun Zhi, Daoist Buyu's first disciple, possessed astonishing cultivation talent. During an exchange between immortal sects, she had single-handedly trounced four sect masters—including three at the Body Integration stage and one at the Tribulation Transcendence stage. Her cultivation, then, was plain to see: she was at the Tribulation Transcendence stage. She definitely could not be a half-immortal. On this matter, Daoist Lord Wanfa had the most authority to speak. He was the fastest cultivator in all of history; even the founding Emperor Yu, Wu Yao, had cultivated slightly slower than him. Even he could never have reached the half-immortal level in under a thousand short years. Therefore, this Yun Zhi of the Dao Seeking Sect could not have, either. So whose inner demon was this? Gu Junye's? Impossible. His inner demon was that preposterous Nine-Nine Immortal Ascension Tribulation, and he had already finished braving it. That guy named Qi Tong? Judging by his reaction, that didn't seem likely. Then it had to be Fang Ya! Gu Junye staggered to his feet. Sensing the boundless dharmic power radiating from the slender silhouette in the sky, his expression grew graver than ever before. "I crossed the Nine-Nine Immortal Ascension Tribulation and have attained immortality, invincible under the heavens! Yet little did I imagine someone from the Celestial Realm would take advantage of the tribulation to tear a rift between the mortal and immortal realms and enter the mortal world!" Gu Junye collapsed powerlessly to his knees. "Brothers, dealing with this being from the Celestial Realm is up to the two of you!" Gu Xie: "..." *Don't tell me Yun Zhi is this brat's inner demon too? Just how many inner demons does this kid have?!* Then Gu Xie sneered coldly. It didn't matter whose inner demon it was. Right now, he imagined himself at the Tribulation Transcendence stage. In the same cultivation realm, he feared no one! Gu Xie leapt into the air, unleashing a golden fist seal straight at Yun Zhi. And then... *Boom!* Yun Zhi swatted Gu Xie flat onto the ground with a single slap, leaving him spread-eagled. "*Peh!*" Gu Xie sat up and spat twice to clear the mud from his mouth. *Just what realm is this inner demon in? How can her strikes pack such terrifying force?!* *So my inner demon is Yun Zhi,* Daoist Lord Hanhai thought to himself. In truth, this was well within his expectations; he had simply been unwilling to admit it. After all, he had been beaten far too miserably back then. "This is tricky," Daoist Lord Hanhai muttered, troubled. His inner demon was utterly impossible to defeat. What should he do? Reveal his true identity and have the river spirit open a back door for him? He couldn't bear the shame. ... In reality, the river spirit sat with legs crossed, pretending not to know that Fang Ya was Daoist Lord Hanhai, his face full of glee at watching the show. *Just you wait to get thrashed!* "The inner demon is Senior Sister Yun? Whose inner demon is that?" Dai Bufan was utterly baffled. Had any of those four ever even met Yun Zhi? Even if they had, merely meeting her once shouldn't have turned her into an inner demon. ... Daoist Lord Hanhai noticed Gu Xie being swatted down and fell into thought. He had seen it earlier when they weathered the lightning tribulation—this kid named Gu Xie had a vivid imagination. And this round just happened to test unity. The two of them could join forces to defeat Yun Zhi! "Shall we attack together?" Daoist Lord Hanhai asked. Gu Xie was sharp and immediately grasped Daoist Lord Hanhai's intention. They really could team up. Gu Xie and Daoist Lord Hanhai soared into the air to confront Yun Zhi, their momentum matching hers stride for stride for the moment. "Mountain-Moving Seal!" "Ten-Thousand-Zhang Divine Radiance!"