"...I don’t mind," Xuan replied.

He gathered his wits and shook his head, snapping out of his earlier stupor.

So what if there was a bout of Qi coming his way? It wasn’t like he was planning on giving up and dying like an idiot.

Though, as he glanced up, he spotted the source of all that Qi. It was the heavenly gate.

It had opened slightly, and it seemed like with each passing moment, the gate opened more and more. If he didn’t know any better, Xuan would think someone was inside, and Gabriel was channeling his Qi to unleash the being trapped in there.

"It seems like there’s an armor set inside," Sierra chimed in.

She approached Xuan, and placed a hand over her chin.

"I can’t form a Domain yet, so I won’t be able to help you out much. But if you can take him away from the gate, I can try closing it. In the meantime, you kill that guy."

Xuan nodded.

"That works for me."

Then, he turned over to Yuelan.

"What about you? Are you going to use your Domain?"

Yuelan smiled slightly, then shook her head.

"I could, but there’s something I’m working on. I have 4 Complete Domains, and 75 incomplete Domains. If I can get this guy’s Domain, then I’ll finally be able to complete my little side project."

She pointed at Gabriel.

"Let’s get him weak, and then I’ll use my Soul Devouring Art. How does that sound?"

"A little easier said than done, but yeah. Let’s do it," Xuan replied.

It had been a while since they last fought together.

Actually fought together.

So he was very eager.

"Should we whip out the fusion skill?" Yuelan asked. "I’m pretty sure we can catch him off-guard here."

Ah?

Ending the battle so soon?

Why not?

Xuan let out a chuckle, and then without a second of hesitation, opened his status screen and found the skill she was talking about.

—

<Eclipse Break: Lunar Void Collapse>

<Rank: Saint (Fusion)>

<Mastery Level: 1>

<Description: A multi-Qi Type fusion technique combining Space, Time, Death, Demonic, and Poison Qi. The attack instantly locks onto the target and strikes through spatial distortion, bypassing distance. Upon contact, it disrupts Qi flow, accelerates time within the body, and causes rapid decay of flesh and soul. Consumes 1,000,000,000 Void Qi x2>

—

Both Yuelan and Xuan saw the skill, and with a thought, a thin strand of Qi connected the two of them. For a brief moment, they felt strangely at peace.

But in the very same second, both Xuan and Yuelan focused on that skill, thus activating it.

Like before, nothing happened at first. But just then, the space rippled faintly in front of them.

Then, to Xuan’s genuine surprise, a large black sword-like blade appeared in the sky and slammed down directly onto Gabriel, who hadn’t seen it coming.

The Heavenly Gates shook, and the clouds below parted slightly, revealing an endless star-filled ocean that was likely a part of Xuan’s domain.

As for Gabriel himself, since he had taken the full brunt of Xuan and Yuelan’s fused attack, he wasn’t looking great. Even as he stood atop the Heavenly Gates, bleeding profusely and deteriorating, he seemed menacing.

His feet decayed, and so did his arms. Yet, right as Xuan and Yuelan thought that was enough to at least get one life out of him, he did something neither of them expected.

He stuck his hand straight into his abdomen and tore out a tiny glowing white marble. It held an enormous amount of Qi, and Xuan quickly realized that it was none other than the Dantian.

...Xuan always thought something like that was much bigger.

Yet in the end, his thoughts didn’t matter much, as Gabriel established a connection with his own Dantian, even as it was outside of his body, and then began sending down heavy pulses of Qi. The Qi began fighting against the decay and soul damage that the fused attack had inflicted.

In just a few seconds, his body had healed completely, and even all the damage he had suffered to his soul had vanished. All because he had somehow torn out his own Dantian and used it as some kind of cultivation pill.

It was dangerous.

After all, Xuan and Yuelan could’ve chimed in at any moment and ended his life. But then again, they weren’t fighting this guy out of desperation. All they wanted was to become stronger.

So if someone much older and wiser than them shows them that something like this is possible... they would watch it closely, learn, and then use it themselves in the future.

Before long, Gabriel had placed his Dantian back where it was supposed to be and glared down at Xuan and Yuelan.

"You two actually tried to kill me?"

"Whoops?" Xuan shrugged, then turned to Yuelan.

"Let’s do it again?"

She raised a brow.

"Are you crazy? No way."

"Huh?"

"Unlike you, my body’s a little frail, especially when it comes to fusion attacks like these. I can do one easily, but the second one would probably break both my swords and send me into a coma," Yuelan added.

At those words, Xuan just stared at her, wide-eyed.

Truthfully, he could keep going over and over again. But that was probably because his constitution was that much better than hers.

Though... training with the monks for so long, that was only natural.

"Welp. I guess we need to switch tactics then. I’ll toss him around and increase the gravity around him. You just try to lop off his head," Xuan instructed.

A faint smirk appeared on Yuelan’s face as she saluted at him.

"Roger that, captain. Lead the way."

"Heh. Good. As for you, Sierra, be careful. He might target you."

Sierra nodded.

"I’m not completely helpless, don’t worry."

That was all he needed to hear.

As Xuan glanced up at Gabriel, he exhaled a relieved breath as he was finally confident enough to face him.

And so, he flickered from his position, reappearing above Gabriel once more.