Several days later, Li Yun finally returned. The very first person to notice him after he entered the Celestial Prodigy Camp nearly walked into a wall. The cultivator had given Li Yun only a passing glance at first, and then he stopped short with wide eyes.
“Is that... Li Yun?”
He stared, because the face was unmistakable. In no time at all, the whole training camp was in an uproar.
“Did you hear? Li Yun is back.”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Li Yun has been dead for over a month.”
“I’m serious. Dozens of people have already seen him.”
“What?”
The entire camp was soon buzzing with talk.
...
Chang Tianyu had just stepped out of the Supreme Dao Pagoda when he heard the news, and his face turned ugly at once.
“Li Yun is alive?”
In the month since the Frostbound trial, Chang Tianyu had made considerable progress and was already close to breaking into the Celestial Prodigy Camp’s top thirty. Normally, he would have been extremely pleased with that, but the moment he heard Li Yun’s name, the satisfaction vanished.
Then he heard something even worse. Li Yun had apparently reached the perfection stage of the 2nd level of Spirit Manifestation Realm.
Chang Tianyu’s face went pale. Back when Li Yun was only at the 6th level of Heavenly Core Realm, his combat strength had already let him fight opponents around the 4th level of Spirit Manifestation Realm. Now his true cultivation had risen tremendously.
“How strong is he now?” Chang Tianyu clenched his fists. “Could he already stand up to the 5th level of Spirit Manifestation Realm?” He ground his teeth. “Damn it. Why couldn’t he just die in the Frostbound Heavenly Range?”
Elsewhere, Wei Cangming, Jiang Haoran, Qin Fenglie, Luo Changye, and several others reacted the same way. All of them had once contributed artifacts to schemes against Li Yun, and after returning from the Frostbound trial, they had even thrown a celebration when they heard he was presumed dead.
Now Li Yun had returned, and worse, he had returned stronger. Their celebration suddenly seemed extremely foolish, and if Li Yun found out about it, none of them expected anything pleasant to follow.
...
Others reacted very differently.
“Li Yun is alive,” Huang Tianlin said, smiling at once. “I knew someone like him wouldn’t disappear that easily.”
Drunken Monk laughed as well. Over the past month, both of them had made significant progress and had already entered the top one hundred of the Celestial Prodigy Camp.
Even so, they had always felt a certain regret, because if Li Yun had still been around, his rise would surely have been even more spectacular. Now that regret was gone, because Li Yun had come back.
...
As Li Yun made his way through the camp, his senses suddenly caught something familiar, and he stopped with narrowed eyes.
‘That presence... Mu Tianque?’
A hint of surprise entered his eyes. ‘He’s still alive?’
Li Yun clearly remembered killing Mo Yuanxiu while the man was occupying Mu Tianque’s body, because he had cut him down with his own hands. Yet the aura he sensed now undoubtedly belonged to that same body.
Li Yun’s gaze turned cold. ‘So he survived somehow.’
The danger was obvious at once. Li Yun knew the truth about Mu Tianque. The original Mu Tianque was already gone, and the person occupying that body was an ancient expert who practiced Body Seizure. An enemy like that could never be allowed to keep growing stronger.
‘He has to die.’
Li Yun changed direction immediately.
...
In another stone chamber, Mu Tianque sat in silence, or rather, the man wearing Mu Tianque’s body did.
“Li Yun...” he repeated slowly, and a cold light flickered in his eyes. “I never expected you to be this hard to kill.” His expression darkened. “You actually came back from that place.”
Even Mo Yuanxiu himself feared the mysterious region he had tried to send Li Yun into. Several people he had known in the past had entered similar spatial anomalies and never returned, which was why he had always treated the method as one of his final trump cards.
If he ever met an opponent he could not defeat, sending them into that unknown place was almost the same as killing them. He had done exactly that to Li Yun, and yet Li Yun had come back.
Mu Tianque’s fists clenched with a crack.
“Why couldn’t you just die there?” he said, his voice full of resentment.
Failing to seize Li Yun’s body had already enraged him, but as long as Li Yun stayed dead, the matter could have ended there. His hidden identity would have stayed secret, and no one would have known the truth.
Now everything had changed, because Li Yun knew exactly who he was. Inside the Celestial Prodigy Camp, openly attempting another Body Seizure was impossible, and if Li Yun exposed him, the consequences would be severe.
His eyes turned ruthless. “Fine. Not long ago, I already got my hands on a drop of Ancient Dragon Sacred Blood, so I’ve already done what I came to the Celestial Prodigy Camp to do.” He slowly stood up. “At worst, I’ll find a chance to kill Li Yun and leave right away.”
He had no intention of letting his identity become public.
“Last time, he only caught me off guard because he was hiding so much of his strength.” A cold smile curled his lips. “This time...”
“Mu Tianque!”
A cold voice suddenly called out from outside the chamber, and Mu Tianque froze. His eyes narrowed, because he knew that voice. It was Li Yun.
“I haven’t even gone looking for you yet,” he said, his expression turning sinister, “and you’ve come straight to me.”
He stepped outside. Li Yun stood there in white, and behind him, hundreds of members of the Celestial Prodigy Camp had already gathered.
Mu Tianque looked at him coldly. “Li Yun, what do you want?”
He understood perfectly well that their relationship was beyond repair. Li Yun had nearly died because of him, and Li Yun knew his identity, so sooner or later one of them would have to disappear.
Li Yun’s expression stayed calm. “I’ve come to challenge you.”
The crowd went quiet at once, and Li Yun went on.
“It’ll be a life-and-death battle. The winner lives, and the loser dies.” His gaze settled on Mu Tianque. “Do you dare to accept?”

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