Flesh and Blood

Lu Yuan controlled his light-type power, condensing a golden mask over his face while his entire body was wrapped in radiant energy.

He wasn't ready to let the Tianming Sage know that he had already reached Battle Saint-level strength.

This was unlike the situation with Qinghe-jie and his mentor — with them, he was far more familiar and far more trusting. With the Tianming Sage, he still felt it was wiser to conceal himself.

As the Shadow Sacred Domain slowly dispersed, the wary Tianming Sage immediately spotted the figure bathed in radiant light. His eyes narrowed sharply, shock flooding his gaze.

*What incredibly dense, powerful light-type energy!*

*Another Saint Grade Transcendent Gene?!*

The Tianming Sage was stunned to his core. Based on what he had already sensed, this person's spatial and dark-type powers were undoubtedly Saint Grade — but light-type too?

*A Battle Saint with three Saint Grade Transcendent Genes?*

*What kind of monster is this?*

As the powerful light washed over him, dark tendrils of mist began swirling through his eyes. His expression twisted, and an unbidden urge to kill surged through his heart. Then he went rigid, exhaled a slow breath, and forced it back down.

"Light-type power…" he said at last. "So you really are the mysterious Battle Saint who killed the Saint Grade Aberration Feral Beast."

Lu Yuan didn't confirm or deny it. With a measured calm in his voice, he said, "My light-type power carries considerable purifying ability. I'm going to try to cleanse the Corruption inside you. Please don't resist."

The Tianming Sage's eyes flickered briefly. Then he gave a small nod.

"Understood."

That said, he remained on guard. If this mysterious Battle Saint made any suspicious move, he would strike back immediately.

Lu Yuan didn't mind the wariness. Golden light danced between his fingers, and in the next moment, a dense surge of radiance swept toward the Tianming Sage and engulfed him entirely.

A low grunt.

The Sage shuddered. The murderous urge flared back through him — as if something were pushing him to cut down this light-wielding Saint right now.

In the next instant, faint wisps of sinister black mist began seeping from his skin.

As the dark mist seeped free, shrill, discordant shrieks filled the air.

The mist writhed and clawed, clinging to the Sage's body as though desperate not to be expelled.

The Sage's brow furrowed deeply, his face growing pale. He clenched his will like iron — pushing down the killing intent, refusing to let himself act.

Lu Yuan's brow creased slightly. Spirit Power surged through him as he poured more light-type energy into the purification.

Then the Tianming Sage's expression twisted. Jagged, savage lacerations split open across his body.

Blood gushed from each wound, shot through with dark iridescence.

At the same time, the Sage broke into violent coughing.

With each spasm, he coughed up chunks of blackened flesh.

The flesh writhed and pulsed — unmistakably alive, and deeply wrong.

As more and more light-type power flooded into him, the Tianming Sage let out a strangled roar, his face contorted with agony.

The killing intent in his mind had reached a boil. It was nearly impossible to contain.

His body trembled. He clenched his jaw and held on.

Watching this, Lu Yuan's expression hardened — but he didn't stop.

The Corruption was stubbornly entrenched. If he pulled back now, all their progress would be wasted.

"Ahh—!"

The agony contorted the Sage's face. A guttural cry tore from his throat as Spirit Power began surging involuntarily throughout his body.

Lu Yuan's voice cut through, low and firm: "Tianming Sage! You don't want to be fully consumed by Corruption and become an Aberrated Individual, do you? Think of the Tianming Empire."

Those words hit like a hammer. His body locked up, and the dark tendrils spreading through his eyes halted.

Then — the dark mist erupted. His arms burst open, the force so violent that even his Gene Armament couldn't withstand it, fracturing with deep cracks.

It was an explosion from within.

Lu Yuan nearly faltered.

The Corruption had clearly fused with the Sage's very flesh and blood. A complete purge would be extraordinarily difficult — one wrong move could shatter his body entirely.

And if the Sage's body collapsed, Lu Yuan had no way of knowing whether his consciousness would survive. If it didn't, not even Life's Gift could bring him back.

Lu Yuan frowned, weighing whether to switch to suppression for now and find another way to root it out later.

Before he could decide, a hoarse voice rasped through the void:

"Keep going."

Lu Yuan paused. He looked at the Sage's anguished face.

"If I'm lost to Corruption, the impact on the Tianming Empire would be catastrophic — it might destroy everything I've built. Keep going. I can take it."

He pressed on. If there had been no effect, he might have called it off — but beneath the radiant light, he could feel the Corruption's grip loosening, bit by bit. It was like glimpsing light at the end of a long darkness. That was enough.

Lu Yuan held the Sage's gaze. After a beat of silence, he let go of his hesitation and continued pouring light-type power into the purification.

As if the Corruption sensed the Sage's resolve — something changed. Grotesque bulges erupted across his skin, the largest swelling at the abdomen to a monstrous size, like a woman in the final days of pregnancy.

The dark mist churned around him with greater ferocity, and those inhuman shrieks rose in frequency and pitch.

Then his abdomen exploded. The armored skin split wide open, leaving a gaping hollow visible within.

Through the wound, Lu Yuan could see the starfield beyond the Sage's back.

Beyond the abdomen, other sections of his body burst open as well, spraying flesh and blood in all directions.

The erupted flesh tore free from the Sage's body, coalescing into a pulsing mass of tissue. Wreathed in black mist, it wrenched itself beyond the range of the light-type energy and began undulating in the void, radiating a powerful aura.

Lu Yuan glanced at the Tianming Sage. His aura was draining away at an alarming rate.

This rupture had left him on the edge of death. The Corruption harbored within the Sage's body had possessed its own will.

Unwilling to be purged by the light-type energy, the horrific flesh-mass had torn itself free.

And in doing so, it had taken the Sage's life force with it.

Lu Yuan hadn't anticipated this.

Nor had the Tianming Sage. His face had gone bone-white. He could feel his vitality ebbing away. His mouth opened — he wanted to say something.

He thought he was finished. He wanted to leave some last words, hoping this Saint before him might carry them on.

Then emerald light bloomed and wrapped around him.

The Sage felt his draining life force abruptly stabilize. The terrible wounds across his body began to seal, flesh knitting back together at frightening speed.

As the wounds closed, his vitality surged back.

The Sage was left in a complete daze.

The flesh-mass had stripped away nearly all his life force, leaving wounds that should have been fatal. He had been certain he was going to die. And yet here he was.

*Such potent life-type energy… A Saint Grade life-type Transcendent Gene?!*

*That makes four Saint Grade Transcendent Genes.*

*Who in the world is this Battle Saint?!*

Color slowly returned to the Sage's face, though his mind was a fog of bewilderment. He stared at the distant, light-shrouded figure, and his curiosity about the mystery Battle Saint's identity deepened with every breath.

At that moment, the severed flesh-mass began to writhe — and reshaped itself into a Cat-kin that was the perfect image of the Tianming Sage.

The creature was wreathed in black mist, its eyes jet-black and utterly cold, virtually indistinguishable from the real Sage.

Looking closely, however, Lu Yuan noted that the black mist surrounding this new Cat-kin carried a sinister taint beyond ordinary dark-type energy.

And perhaps because it had been prematurely expelled, its aura was noticeably weaker than the real Sage's.

Lu Yuan cast a glance at the creature. Darkness reclaimed the void as the Shadow Sacred Domain materialized around the Cat-kin. Hundreds of Shadow Clones emerged within it simultaneously, and spatial power locked the creature in place.

In moments, the Cat-kin was pinned down by hundreds of Shadow Clones, completely unable to move.

Having fully tempered one Saint Grade gene, Lu Yuan's strength had grown considerably — enough that spatial power alone was sufficient to immobilize a Saint-level opponent.

The Tianming Sage recovered steadily, and when he saw the flesh-mass take on his own face and form, the corner of his mouth twitched violently.

Watching that imposter Cat-kin be instantly overwhelmed by the mysterious Battle Saint, a complicated expression crossed the Sage's face.

*This Battle Saint's power is extraordinary.*

His abdominal wounds had fully closed, but so much of his strength had been stripped away that he was still deeply weakened.

He let out a slow exhale, turned toward Lu Yuan, and spoke:

"My gratitude. I don't know who you are — but I owe you my life. Whatever you need in the future, just say the word."

Still veiled in radiant light, Lu Yuan glanced at the Sage. His deliberately altered voice drifted across:

"Don't mention it. If you'd been fully consumed by Corruption, it would have been a disaster for the entire White Cloud Star Domain."

The Sage gave a wry smile, then nodded once. He said nothing more.

Lu Yuan turned his attention back to the Shadow Sacred Domain. With a thought, the Shadow Clones dissolved into streaks of light — and sword-light flashed, engulfing the Cat-kin doppelganger.

The immobilized creature couldn't mount any real resistance. It was cut to shreds with ease.

The Shadow Sacred Domain faded. The remnants drifted in the void. Lu Yuan raised his hand — light-type power ignited into flame, consuming every last fragment to ash.

Watching the luminous fire burn, the Tianming Sage's mouth twitched again.

Knowing that flesh had come from his own body gave him a profoundly strange feeling.

Soon the flesh was nothing but cinders, dissipating into the vacuum of space.

Lu Yuan felt a surge of Unknown Aura absorb into him — not especially strong, but present.

It was considerably weaker than what he had gained from the Saint Grade Aberration Feral Beast back in the Dark Night Forest.

But he wasn't too disappointed.

After all, this Cat-kin had only barely scraped Saint level — a significant step below the Aberration Feral Beasts he'd faced before.

And it had clearly been prematurely expelled before reaching full maturity, so the reduced Unknown Aura was only to be expected.

Lu Yuan didn't dwell on it. He turned to the Tianming Sage.

"Let me send you back."

The Sage nodded. "I'd appreciate that."

A flicker of intent — and space rippled around the Sage. He vanished.

In the next moment, the Tianming Sage reappeared in a reception chamber within the Red Maple Empire's palace.

He glanced around at the familiar surroundings, and a smile of quiet relief spread across his handsome face.

Truth be told, the moment he had learned he was afflicted by Corruption, the dread had been almost unbearable.

The prospect of removing it had seemed so unlikely that he had barely let himself hope.

And if something had happened to him, the Tianming Empire's future would be grim indeed.

As a Saint-level power, the Empire commanded vast territory across the Star Domain. His death would send neighboring factions swarming in like wolves, each eager to tear off a piece.

And the Empire had no shortage of hostile races. Even the imperial bloodline would be in peril.

Part of his reason for coming to Great Qi Star had been to secure a safeguard for the imperial family.

After all, he knew what Lu Yuan was capable of. Barring disaster, the young man would certainly reach Battle Saint — and even War God was not beyond imagining.

So even though Lu Yuan's current strength hadn't yet peaked, if something had happened to him — the Sage — he had planned to secretly send Yeye here, placing her in Lu Yuan's care.

Yeye was the most gifted of the Tianming Cat-kin's younger generation. With Lu Yuan beside her, if the two could both reach Battle Saint, surely they could restore the Empire.

Of course, the Sage's knowledge of Lu Yuan had come only through Yeye, and he had only met the man once in person before today.

His visit to Great Qi Star had been partly to assess him directly. Today's encounter had given the Sage a much clearer picture — and had put his mind at ease.

He had originally planned to entrust Yeye to Lu Yuan before leaving. But fate, it seemed, had chosen otherwise. Against all odds, he had survived.

The Tianming Sage's emotions were tangled, and his curiosity about the mysterious Battle Saint grew stronger than ever.

By Si Qi and the others' account, the Saint who had killed the Saint Grade Aberration Feral Beast had done so some time ago. If he had merely been passing through, he should have long since departed.

Yet he was still on Great Qi Star. Was there something here keeping him?

Or… could he actually have been living here in secret all along?

The universe was vast and full of great powers. Some did choose to disappear from the world's stage.

The Sage shook his head gently and let it go. Whatever the reason, being rid of the Corruption was a tremendous blessing. That was what mattered.

Out in the void, after sending the Tianming Sage back, Lu Yuan himself vanished — returning to his own room.

Some time after both had departed, the void shivered. A distortion rippled through empty space, and a figure appeared without warning.

It was a handsome man dressed in a green robe, the cuffs embroidered with blood-red runes. He had dark ashen skin and long, pale gray hair.