Ace did not know what had happened inside his knowledge sea, nor he could gaze at it until he reached an extremely high realm.
However, for some reason, Gordon's calm rosy face has turned deserted and ashen as his soul suddenly trembled as if he just received a massive soul attack. His hand on Ace's head also trembled, and he vomited a large amount of blood the very next moment.
The moment Ace noticed the anomaly in Gordon's demeanor, the pain from Gordon's soul search also instantly disappeared, and Ace's eyes lit like torches in elation, and he knew his plan has succeeded!
He didn't waste a moment as he brandished his long dark blade sword with despair lightning and quickly go after Gordon's neck.
Gordon was in a state of shock after that dreadful sliver of wind destroyed his martial sense cruelly, and he also felt the approaching death. He finally understood that Ace was going for this from the start, and Ace fooled him into soul-searching him.
Everything became as clear as that at this moment.
He knew Ace has used this chance to finish him at his weakest moment and right now, he can't even move from his spot or block any Qi attack. The attacks that can hurt martial sense were extremely rare, but this kind of attack can be very deadly and Gordon knew it undoubtedly.
'I have to protect this cultivation clone at all cost or my cultivation foundation would be shattered this time and I won't live much longer without the cultivation and longevity that come with it. But if I used that trump card it will kill this brat and the technique slate would probably vanish with him.
'That dark knowledge sea might also be the product of the dark slate and this brat was clearing hiding it from me before, so he could lure me in his knowledge sea and used this particular function of that dark technique slate and take advantage of it afterward.
'That technique slate might be even more heaven-defying than this brat divulged before. He also might already cultivate that technique, and the part about cultivating it in Qi soul manifestation was more likely to be a farce to fool me.
'I was truly blinded by greed and overlooked this possibly and underestimated this brat… no, I underestimated the Heavenly Blankness Worldending Technique's wonders and played right into this brat's hand.
'But I have to protect my life, or all the treasure in this world will be meaningless to me. What if he's also telling a lie about destroying the Heavenly Blankness Worldending Technique Slate with me as well?
'I don't believe a technique like this can be destroyed by a meager existence like this brat, and even if it did, I don't care anymore since I won't be in this world to cultivate it!'
At that moment, Gordon made up his mind to save himself, his life was more important than Heavenly Blankness Worldending Technique Slate, anyway.
Even though Gordon's cultivation technique has many pros like it can help him cultivation much faster than his peers and as long as he matured a cultivation clone and absorbed it, he won't encounter any bottleneck in his cultivation.
But this technique also had just as many cons, like if he lost two clones in a ten-year cycle his foundation would instantly shatter, and he'll become a cripple.
Although he can afford to rebuild his foundation, he was already over a thousand years old; it was already half of the lifespan of a soul manifestation realm cultivator.
The moment Gordon's cultivation vanished, the longevity with it also be gone, and he'll turn into a dry corpse within a few hours!
That's also why Gordon never made over one clone before but as he was reaching half of his lifespan and he was already too far away from the next realm, so, he created two clone seeds and send them in his place which was quite safe.
However, Gordon never imagine that someone like Ace would appear and kill one of his two clones in this forsaken place. That's also why he was hurrying to descend in this final clone to take it back and absorbed it quickly, he can't take any chance of it being destroyed within ten years cycle.
But his greed for Ace's secret made him stay, and now he was again done in by Ace and was about to lose his second clone's life, which was equivalent to losing his life for real!
Gordon never would've thought the protective talisman he made those underlings of Emperor Gordon create in high-level lands was going to waste on a Qi 'river' realm brat!
He was saving this talisman for the 'ancient path' that lead back to the royal lands, but now Ace has pushed him to the brink of death, and he cares more about his life than a treasure he won't be able to use after his tragic death.
"Boy, blame yourself for courting death!"
Gordon's weak voice filled with malice and madness entered Ace's ears who was about to chop off Gordon's head with his long sword, he was just a centimeter away before the dark lightning would touch Gordon's neck.
Ace's heart palpitated suddenly when his soul sense rang in terrifying alarm, he knew something was amiss and Gordon had something dreadful up his sleeve!
However, it was already too late because Ace's long sword was jammed a hair away from Gordon's neck and Ace found himself under some powerful restriction force.
Ace, perplexed, eyes suddenly landed on a black cube that has mysteriously appeared in Gordon's hand. A symbol on it was shimmering at his moment, and Ace knew this abrupt development exactly because of this dark cube!
"Die!"
Gordon's voice was like the voice of a grim reaper at this moment in Ace's ears.
Ace saw suddenly enveloped by a dark light whole, and he didn't even know what has happened, but he felt his consciousness start to fade mysteriously as he felt extreme coldness creep inside his body, he was on the brink of death!