Chapter 181, Second Immortal Guardian
Lin Yi stood in the domain’s amplified field and looked at Long Tianyu on the island surface.
The Dragon Knight was still conscious. His breathing was controlled. His hands were pressed against the stone and his posture communicated that he was staying where he was through decision rather than incapacity, the choice of someone who has reached the end of the exchange they wanted to have and is acknowledging it.
Lin Yi reached into his inventory.
The Seven Star Immortal Conversion Halo materialized in his left hand, the seven-spectrum pulse cycling through its surface, the six empty slots present in the geometric configuration of the halo’s face.
He looked at Long Tianyu.
"Senior Long," he said.
Long Tianyu raised his head. His golden eyes met Lin Yi’s directly. The dragon eyes of the Dragon Knight of Jianghe, National Guardian, years of a career that had produced level 192 and a guild that operated at the territory’s highest tier, met the eyes of the E-Rank Laborer class first-year student from Jianghe Hunter Academy.
"You fought well," Lin Yi said.
Long Tianyu looked at him. Something passed through his expression that was not quite the contempt it had been when he rejected the offer, not quite the resignation of someone who has accepted a conclusion they cannot change. Something between them, the specific quality of a person who has met something that genuinely exceeded them and is deciding what that means for how they understand the world.
"You are remarkable," Long Tianyu said. His voice was steady. "Whatever level you are at. You are remarkable."
Lin Yi simply nodded in acknowledgement of his statement.
Something that might have been amusement moved briefly in Long Tianyu’s expression. "That is the most honest response to a compliment I have ever received," he said.
Lin Yi activated the halo.
The conversion sequence extended from it, the thread of formation energy reaching toward Long Tianyu with the patient inevitability the appraisal had described. Long Tianyu felt it arrive. He looked at the thread with the specific attention of someone reading something for the last time.
He did not activate a defensive skill.
He did not attempt to flee.
He stayed on his knees with the specific stillness of someone who had decided the manner of their exit from the current Chapter and was holding to that decision.
"Jianghe City," he said, while the thread was still building. "Don’t let it go to ruin."
Lin Yi said nothing. The instruction registered and was filed in the way that Lin Yi filed things that required no response in the moment.
The conversion sequence completed.
---
[Seven Star Immortal Conversion Halo — Conversion Initiated]
[Target: Long Tianyu | Level 192 | Dragon God Tamer]
[Processing — Level experience extraction: In progress...]
[Vitality mass generation: In progress...]
[Binding to halo: In progress...]
[Conversion Complete]
[Immortal Guardian — Slot 2 — Active]
[Guardian Classification: Dragon Knight Guardian | Derived from Level 192]
[Vitality Mass: Exceptional — Level 192 conversion produces guardian vitality substantially above standard elite tier]
[Combat Directive: Constant engagement with hostile entities within detection range]
[Guardian Benefit: All EXP generated by guardian combat credited to halo holder]
[Remaining Slots: 5]
---
[Notification: Celestial Slave Mark Active]
[EXP generated by Immortal Guardian Long Tianyu will be credited to holder (Lin Yi)]
[All EXP credited to Lin Yi will be redirected to: Cang Yutian]
[Guardian EXP stream added to master’s accumulation]
---
The golden armor remained. The dragon-scale construction that Long Tianyu had worn through years of hunting now encased the entity that had once been Long Tianyu, the physical form preserved exactly as it had been at the moment of conversion, unchanged in structure, unchanged in presence, unchanged in outward identity.
At a glance, nothing seemed different.
But the difference revealed itself almost immediately.
The golden eyes, which had once held sharp, dragon-patterned irises filled with years of accumulated experience, instinct, and awareness, were now still. Emptied of the depth they once carried. The intelligence that had once moved behind them, calculating, adapting, deciding, was no longer present. What remained was function without thought, perception without interpretation, a gaze that saw... but no longer understood.
Not closed. Still. The movement that characterized the Dragon Knight’s gaze, the constant assessment and reading and updating, was absent. What remained in its place was the specific orientation of the conversion’s behavioral directive. Not looking at Lin Yi as a person it recognized. Looking at the surrounding terrain as a combat environment.
It stood.
Lin Yi stepped back. The Dragon Knight Guardian stood to full height, the dragon aura extending from its close configuration to its full operational radius, the level 192 Dragon God Tamer’s class capability now operating without the hunter’s consciousness that had originally developed it, driven by the conversion’s single directive.
The guardian looked at the island surface. Then at the adjacent island. Then at the atmospheric layer beyond the cluster zone.
It moved.
Heaven Step. The Dragon Knight Guardian activated the movement technique that had once been part of Long Tianyu’s operational toolkit, the body’s memory of the skill executing under the behavioral directive without the conscious intent a hunter would normally require. It crossed to the adjacent island in a clean transition and immediately engaged the first monster population within range.
The kill notifications began appearing in Lin Yi’s panel almost immediately.
[Void Stalker ×11 Defeated — Guardian Kill (Dragon Knight Guardian)]
[EXP Gained: +27,600 × 11 = +303,600]
[Amplification: ×10,000]
[New EXP Gained: +3,036,000,000]
[EXP Redirected to: Cang Yutian — Celestial Slave Mark Active]
The second stream had activated. Long Tianyu’s level 192 conversion, now operating as an Immortal Guardian within the mid-atmospheric cluster zones, was generating experience at a rate consistent with a level 192 hunter’s combat efficiency against that population. That output was then amplified ten thousand times, with every unit of experience being redirected directly to Cang Yutian’s counter.
Lin Yi watched the guardian cross to the next island through the distance.
Then he drew the Abyssal Celestial Lord Blade and began moving in the opposite direction, toward the volcanic basin’s replenishment cycle. Two streams now. His own direct clearing output and the guardian’s continuous engagement. The arithmetic had changed.
Jianghe City, he thought. Don’t let it go to ruin.
He activated Heaven Step.