This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder-Chapter 702: The Half-Divine Realm

It wasn’t just Yinian who was shocked. Gu Longyu shared a similar expression. The god-killing arm had broken all the defenses of the Goddess of Death, piercing her torso. Even now, a gaping wound remained above her navel. He could see through to the other side, but no blood leaked because the divine arrow had directly seared her flesh. Her skin was entirely burnt around the hole, and frightening cracks extended throughout her entire body.

As expected of a divinity, even after experiencing a specialized god-killing weapon, she remained alive, albeit severely injured. However, what shocked the two sovereign-level immortals the most was the Goddess of Death’s face.

The two finally realized where the sense of familiarity came from. The face was only seventy to eighty percent similar to hers, but there was no denying the resemblance. Had it been on anyone else, they might have concluded that it was just a rare coincidence, but since it appeared on the Goddess of Death Nuyi, Gu Longyu’s mind couldn’t help but race.

He didn’t have long to think because a terrifying aura erupted from Yinian.

Gu Longyu snapped his head toward him and saw ripples of gold and silver fluctuating off him as his aura rose. He seemed not to notice as he stared at the Goddess of Death without blinking. Anguish, pain, sadness, and anger filled his eyes.

As the fluctuations rolled off his body, his eyes became cloudier and cloudier, but his aura increased. If anything, his aura started to resemble that of a divinity’s, just not as pure.

He couldn’t believe his senses. Although Yinian was powerful, he relied on extreme specialization and a powerful immortal body. But now, Gu Longyu felt like Yinian had broken through the barrier and reached the half-divinity level from the Extremity Immortal Realm, an extremely impossible feat. Not even a miracle should have caused such a transformation.

Once more, murderous intent filled Gu Longyu. As expected, Yinian was his greatest nemesis. Although he didn’t know why this was happening to Yinian, if he allowed Yinian to grow stronger, it would threaten his future and the Death Defier Alliance. The god-killing arm had only injured the Goddess of Death, not killed her. Neither the Death Defier Alliance nor he needed such an enemy.

It was better to nip the danger in the bud before it fully bloomed.

Just as Gu Longyu wanted to take action, he froze as he felt a powerful gaze on him. He couldn’t move his body, only his eyes. Staring at the source, he saw the Goddess of Death staring at him, that one look immobilizing him almost completely.

No matter how injured, a divinity was still a divinity. Gu Longyu thought that the god-killing arm would have incapacitated her for much longer—it was why he had decided to take action—but he was obviously wrong. Just as Gu Longyu thought his end had finally come, the pressure preventing him from moving disappeared.

It wasn’t just the pressure, but the Goddess of Death herself. She wasn’t the only one, as Yinian had disappeared.

Finally alone, Gu Longyu released the breath that even he didn’t know he was holding. That was more metaphorical, though, as air did not exist in outer space.

Gu Longyu did not relax for long as he sent a signal to ask for rescue. It was better to wait in place than to try to make his way closer. The distance made it impossible for him to return to any of the planets by himself. His essence qi would likely run dry before he even made it a few percent of the distance needed.

Worse, he was alone. The Goddess of Death’s appearance had killed all the other immortals but him. He was just lucky that the god-killing arm had activated before she took action against him. According to the original plan, many immortals would die from the aftershock of the god-killing arm’s activation, but it shouldn’t have been a total kill.

It wasn’t an unacceptable outcome for the Death Defier Alliance. In fact, they were prepared to suffer the loss of all the dispatched immortals. Gu Longyu had participated because he had a trump card to save his life. Only after encountering a real divinity did he realize his folly.

The entire reason he survived was pure luck.

Even heavily injured, the Goddess of Death could have killed him. The entire reason she had not was likely because of Yinian’s strange state, forcing her to leave in a rush.

Speaking of Yinian, Gu Longyu frowned. He couldn’t help but think about everything he knew about the latter and his parents. The resemblance between his mother and the Goddess of Death was uncanny, not to mention the goddess’s actions to save Yinian. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

But if she wanted to protect him, why did she only act when he was in danger?

A smoldering ember appeared in Gu Longyu’s eyes. The Goddess of Death was using the war between the Temple of Death and the Death Defier Alliance as tempering for Yinian. The thought that he was just a pawn on a chessboard made Gu Longyu furious.

However, he also knew he was helpless. Just as he could easily decide the fate of a true immortal, so too could the Goddess of Death arrange his fate. At least, that used to be the case.

Even the Goddess of Death would not be able to heal the wound inflicted by the god-killing arm so quickly. Although her aura remained overpowering to him, Gu Longyu still sensed a drop in pressure compared to before she was injured. It was as if something had damaged her foundation.

Who knows? It might even keep her down for a million years. Granted, that was just hopeful thinking, but a hundred thousand years was definitely possible. This was a crucial time for the Death Defier Alliance. Even if they knew that the Goddess of Death remained alive, the existence of the god-killing arm made them destined to be cautious and fearful.

Gu Longyu wondered if the Ancient Sky Sect had a method to retrieve the divine arrow. If they could not retrieve it, their situation would worsen once the Goddess of Death recovered. He held no illusions that they would be able to kill the divinity even if they destroyed the Temple of Death.

Unless the Death Defier Alliance possessed a divinity of their own, only death awaited them in the future.

This did not diminish Gu Longyu’s fighting spirit. If anything, the pressure motivated him even more. He set a time limit for breaking through to the Divine Realm for himself.

Although nothing seemed to have changed for him during this encounter—if anything, he was worse off because of the injuries—Gu Longyu felt his mind had become clearer. Perhaps after experiencing the presence of a true divinity, his talent had further increased, or his potential had opened. Whatever the reason, Gu Longyu felt his speed of comprehension of the Law of Five Phases increase.

While waiting, Gu Longyu did his best to minimize his movements. The activation of the god-killing arm did not leave him without injury. Although it was extremely brief, his essence qi had burned from the sheer heat and presence, and he had even suffered internal injuries.

As if that wasn’t enough, the god-killing arm had bypassed his spatial ring and damaged the items inside. The artifacts of immortal monarch rank and above were fine, but everything below was practically trashed. Even pills of sovereign rank and below were rendered useless. They were also inside bottles specifically meant to prevent degradation and protect them, a double-layered insurance. Yet they were still destroyed by the activation of the god-killing arm, leaving him with no healing pills.

Gu Longyu considered himself someone with strong willpower, but even he felt that the vast emptiness of outer space was eroding his confidence.

True, he had navigated space before, even traveling far off in an attempt to reach a distant solar system, but all that had been done at his own discretion. Here, he was helpless, and he needed other people’s help in order to return. He hadn’t felt this sensation since his days as a mortal before embarking on the path of cultivation.

Under these torturous conditions, time passed extremely slowly in Gu Longyu’s perception. He constantly doubted how much time had passed, desperately hoping that more time had passed, which would mean the Death Defier Alliance should be in the middle of rescuing him.

Thankfully, Empress Wintersnow appeared, like a beacon of hope penetrating the darkness of the abyss. Even Gu Longyu did not notice the longing and gratitude in his eyes.

True to her quiet nature, Empress Wintersnow did not speak much. Still, her words healed Gu Longyu’s mind. “I’ve come to take you back.”

Gu Longyu did not ask about the war on the way back, allowing Empress Wintersnow to focus on activating the interplanetary teleportation array. He simply basked in her presence, feeling the comfort of a fellow human.

When Gu Longyu spoke again, he had returned to the Ancient Sky Sect. As the only survivor, his report was extremely important for the Death Defier Alliance’s next actions.

During the hundred or so years after that battle, both the Temple of Death and the Death Defier Alliance slowly lowered the intensity of the conflict. It was not that both sides had decided on peace, but that both forces were waiting for something.

What the Death Defier Alliance waited for was undoubtedly Gu Longyu’s report.

Although it was not the best outcome, the Death Defier Alliance decided to reveal the outcome of the battle to boost morale and lower the Temple of Death’s determination. In addition, they decided to press forward to display their confidence and further undermine the enemy’s morale.

Gu Longyu did not volunteer to join, as he still had injuries and needed to recuperate. The Ancient Sky Sect did not force him, but Gu Longyu did have a question for them regarding the god-killing arm.

It was only then that he learned the god-killing arm’s true name: Brahmastra. According to the Ancient Sky Sect Master, it was a divine artifact discovered floating through space. They did not learn much about it, as it was alone without anything else, except that it once belonged to a powerful divinity called Brahma. They also told him not to worry, as they had a method to retrieve it.

He was not unfamiliar with the name, but neither was he familiar with it. Gu Longyu recalled hearing the name when he learned the Three Heads, Six Arms Technique. It should be a divinity belonging to the system from which Buddhism originated. Retrieving it was one thing, but activating it again would likely bear a high cost.

Gu Longyu did not give it much further thought. Right now, it was more important to increase his power. He had a feeling that when he saw Yinian again, the power dynamic between them would reverse once more. And so, through arduous cultivation, his strength increased. It was not to the point of reaching the half-divinity level, but it faintly loosened the bottleneck.

Still, it was not enough time. When his injuries had fully healed, the Death Defier Alliance immediately dispatched him to the battlefield. Due to the Goddess of Death’s injuries and the threat of possible destruction from Brahmastra, the Temple of Death was extremely defensive—fearful, even. Even their staunchest allies were hesitant.

The Death Defier Alliance needed to capitalize on that momentum, as if to show their confidence and fearlessness. Except for absolutely necessary defenses, almost all available immortals had been dispatched. Gu Longyu naturally could not avoid the mobilization order.

He expected to encounter Xi Yinian, so although part of him dreaded it, he mentally prepared himself, but hundreds of years passed without an encounter.

It was supposed to be a routine battle. Gu Longyu, along with twenty other immortal sovereigns, led a team to the fifth planet to destroy a loyal first-rate force stationed there. After so many years, a few forces secretly contacted the Death Defier Alliance, hoping to end the battle between them and the alliance.

The Death Defier Alliance didn’t agree to all of them, but it was enough. Word soon spread under the Death Defier Alliance’s deliberate propagation, further alienating the Temple of Death. To apply further pressure, the Death Defier Alliance dispatched immortals to destroy those loyal forces, intending to widen the gap.

So far, the Temple of Death had only sent reinforcements to a few of its loyal forces, which further fulfilled the Death Defier Alliance’s goals.

Gu Longyu did not think anything would change. The many immortal sovereigns were mostly a show of force. Ten immortal sovereigns should have been enough to destroy the first-rate force’s guardian formation.

The change happened right before the guardian formation reached its limit and shattered. Sword light fell like rain. It pierced the bodies of the immortals of the Death Defier Alliance. Even the immortal sovereigns could not withstand it. The sword lights seemed tiny and ordinary, but each one contained the full might of an average immortal sovereign.

It would have been fine if there were ten or twenty sword lights, but like rain, they seemed endless. Even Gu Longyu struggled. Logically speaking, the sword light should have damaged the guardian formation far more than the immortal sovereigns attacking it. Yet the sword light melded into the guardian formation. Not only did it not destroy the formation, but it strengthened it. Closer inspection would reveal that the phenomenon was closer to temporal reversion.

However, Gu Longyu was in too much danger to notice. The sword light lasted only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity for Gu Longyu and his fellow immortals. Each millisecond was akin to dancing on a knife’s edge, the kind that could instantly slit one’s throat.

A cold sweat dripped down Gu Longyu’s forehead when he finally had time to breathe again. He looked up to see only one figure.

It was Xi Yinian.

His appearance had not changed; even someone who had only met him once could spot the difference. He radiated an impure divine aura that eclipsed immortal sovereigns. Some called it the Half-Divine Realm, but before that level was categorized, only the children of the divine possessed such power. Thus, they were called demigods.