"Feng, you... You want to kill me?" Bian Yixia asked, her eyes filled with disbelief as she came to her senses.

Zou Feng snorted coldly. "The feeling is mutual!"

"But you seem to have forgotten who you’re dealing with!"

Bian Yixia froze for a moment, then threw her head back and laughed maniacally.

After a moment of laughter, she seemed to transform into a different person entirely. She looked back at Zou Feng. "How did you figure it out?"

"A pathetic imitation. From the moment you walked into this Jinluan Hall, I knew you weren’t Bian Yixia."

As far as Zou Feng was concerned, aside from having Bian Yixia’s aura and appearing to have practiced the Six Harmonies Reincarnation Skill, everything else about this person was a flaw.

First of all, even for a reunion after a long separation, it was completely out of character for Bian Yixia to act in such a meek and girlish way.

And she certainly would never have run into his arms, sobbing.

Zou Feng had therefore concluded immediately that she was an imposter.

And someone with the ability to impersonate Bian Yixia, one of the top powers of the Hongxing Dynasty...

’Such an expert shouldn’t exist in the Hongxing Dynasty. It had to be... Lu Guanghua’s backup plan!’

Zou Feng had already figured that after going to such lengths to lure him away from the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect, Lu Guanghua couldn’t have sent just one assassin, Fu Jiaming.

It now seemed that someone had arrived in Great Yan well in advance. If Fu Jiaming failed, this was the true killing blow.

’But who exactly is this person before me?’

’Not only did they imitate the Six Harmonies Reincarnation Skill, but there’s also another aura I’ve felt before...’

Zou Feng secretly checked the List of Gods, but was puzzled to find no new names had appeared.

However, Lu Guanghua’s name had changed significantly.

Its brightness had clearly dimmed, but the aura it now emanated was completely different from the previous sense that he could drop dead at any moment.

’Could it be...?’

Zou Feng began to re-examine the "Bian Yixia" before him.

At this point, the disguise was meaningless. Her appearance was already starting to visibly change.

"So what if you saw through it!"

"Zou Feng, today... you will die without a doubt!"

As she spoke, a series of sharp cracking sounds emanated from "Bian Yixia’s" body. Before long, she had reverted to her true appearance.

It was none other than Lu Guanghua!

’No wonder I thought his aura felt familiar. So this fiend actually came to the Hongxing Dynasty in person!?’

For a moment, Zou Feng nearly turned tail and fled.

It wasn’t cowardice. As he was now, he stood no chance of winning against a Golden Core Realm Cultivator.

What’s more, Lu Guanghua’s life was nearly over. He had long since embraced death, meaning all his moves would be suicidal, mutually-destructive attacks. There was no fighting that.

Fortunately, Zou Feng realized in time that the Lu Guanghua before him couldn’t possibly be the man himself!

Previously, Lu Guanghua had tied up Jiang Wanzhao, preventing her from leaving. That was something he could only have achieved by personally burning his Golden Core.

’How could any other method have fooled Jiang Wanzhao?’

So the answer to who this person was became obvious...

An Outer Body Incarnation created by Lu Guanghua!

Judging by the state of his name on the List of Gods, Lu Guanghua’s original body must have already perished. Therefore, it wasn’t wrong to consider this Outer Body Incarnation to be the man himself.

However, with the original body gone, an Outer Body Incarnation couldn’t last for long, and its strength certainly wouldn’t be at the Golden Core Realm.

The current Realm of this Outer Body Incarnation was, at best, a temporary Dao Foundation Realm.

And even that was likely only being temporarily maintained by Lu Guanghua burning his Golden Core and using a Secret Technique.

Once he realized this, Zou Feng was no longer afraid. After all, he had just recently killed a Dao Foundation Realm Cultivator.

But from Lu Guanghua’s perspective, he most likely didn’t know that Zou Feng had already killed Fu Jiaming.

He would just assume Fu Jiaming was too useless to intercept him.

But by going directly to where Bian Yixia and Tian Yun were to lie in wait, Lu Guanghua’s plan was naturally foolproof.

Lu Guanghua must have thought he could easily "crush" him with the Dao Foundation Realm of his Outer Body Incarnation; he was no doubt utterly convinced of his victory.

"Don’t think you’ll have an easy death. You ruined my path to the Dao, so I’ll take your life. It’s only fair!" Lu Guanghua sneered.

’To take a prodigy whose future achievements would clearly surpass my own with me to the grave... This is a worthy trade!’

Sensing that Lu Guanghua’s strength showed no sign of growing any further after reaching the Dao Foundation Realm, Zou Feng completely calmed down.

"Where are the Empress and the State Preceptor?" Zou Feng’s greatest concern was, of course, the safety of the two women.

Lu Guanghua cackled. "They’re waiting for you on the road to hell!"

He had expected this to throw Zou Feng into a state of miserable, helpless rage. But unexpectedly, upon hearing his words, Zou Feng actually looked relieved.

Lu Guanghua frowned slightly. "What, you don’t believe me?"

Zou Feng chuckled. "You hate me far too much. Why would you kill them ahead of time?"

"You’d want to make me watch them die with my own eyes, to make me feel the same pain you felt when you watched Li Dingjie get killed. Isn’t that right?"

"Which means you never got your hands on them at all!"

Although he wasn’t sure how Bian Yixia and Tian Yun had escaped this disaster, it was enough to know that they were likely still safe.

The next moment, Lu Guanghua unleashed his full Spiritual Qi and closed in on Zou Feng with deceptive speed. "Then you can go on ahead and wait for them!"

But just as he was about to reach Zou Feng, two venomous dragons of Evil Qi lunged at him.

’Two at once!?’

Compared to his battle with Fu Jiaming, Zou Feng’s strength had clearly advanced after devouring a massive amount of deep-sea toxins in the Fallen Immortal Sea.

Firing consecutive venomous dragons of Evil Qi was nothing special anymore. Now, Zou Feng could achieve a "Double Dragon Emergence."

The two venomous dragons of Evil Qi rampaged simultaneously, immediately throwing Lu Guanghua into a flustered struggle to defend himself.

He had seen this move from Zou Feng before and had already devised a countermeasure.

But with a second one suddenly appearing, any countermeasure he had was instantly thrown into disarray.

Dragon roars echoed throughout Jinluan Hall as a miasma of intermingling Evil Qi and toxic gas filled the air.

But before long, a flash of Sword Qi infused with Haoran Qi erupted, dispersing the toxic gas and abruptly silencing the roars of the two venomous dragons.

However, its momentum undiminished, the sword light continued to shoot upward, piercing the heavens.

Once the sword light vanished into the clouds, a dense "rain of swords" began to fall upon Jinluan Hall.

As a Sword Cultivator, Lu Guanghua’s "Rain of Sword Qi" was a move that both defended and attacked. Not only did it slay the venomous dragons of Evil Qi, but it also shifted him from defense to offense, leaving Zou Feng with nowhere to run.

But Zou Feng had no intention of dodging.

Two more venomous dragons of Evil Qi erupted from his right arm.

Seeing this, Lu Guanghua scoffed. "Useless. So what if you can fire two at once? A move I’ve seen once is completely useless!"

After his initial panic, Lu Guanghua had completely entered his element.

Although this Outer Body Incarnation could only temporarily exert the power of the Dao Foundation Realm, Lu Guanghua’s insight and experience were that of a Golden Core master.

He was completely different from a novice like Fu Jiaming, who had just completed his Foundation Establishment and couldn’t yet wield the true power of the Dao Foundation Realm.

But before Lu Guanghua could finish his taunt, he realized something wasn’t right.

The two venomous dragons of Evil Qi that had just appeared didn’t lunge at him. Instead...

’They’re heading back toward Zou Feng!?’

RUMBLE—

Amid the deafening roar, Zou Feng took the full force of his own two venomous dragons. A pillar of Evil Qi erupted from where he stood, soaring into the sky.

Zou Feng swiftly absorbed this massive surge of Evil Qi into his body like a whale drawing in the sea.

A moment later, Zou Feng slowly emerged from the cloud of Evil Qi and toxic flames. Black fire swirled around him, his hair stood on end, and his eyes were pitch-black, the whites completely gone.

It was as if he had just undergone some kind of profound transformation.

"You..." Lu Guanghua stared at Zou Feng in disbelief, completely unable to understand why he would suddenly perform the technique of "Introducing Evil into the Body."

By inhaling such a massive amount of Evil Qi at once, someone with Zou Feng’s strength—only at the Spiritual Energy Realm—would have their Divine Sense completely eroded, turning them into a mindless, raving demon!

So, even though Zou Feng’s strength had surged and he looked impressively cool and imposing, what he had done was, in reality, no different from suicide!