Duality of Shadows - Chapter 974: Faint Smiles

My name is Joo In-gong. The name that my parents gave me meant ‘protagonist’ of the world. Really?

The traitor Gu Mang returned to his home kingdom again. Everyone rejoiced in his banishment. It was said the one who hated him most was his closest friend – the cold and stoic Young Master Mo.

A rumour: Young Master Mo prepared three hundred and sixty-five methods of torture to try on Gu Mang, enough to play with him for a year without repetition.

But what’s the truth then?

Well the truth is even more unspeakable–

Mo Xi’s identity: the most abstinent commander of the empire.

His relationship with the traitor Gu Mang: they’d slept together before.

- Description from Novelupdates

In novels with a stud there is always a Senior Martial Brother like this:

In the early stages of the novel, his innate talent is high, his cultivation is good, his appearance is handsome, and he has an intelligent, cute younger Martial Sister as a fiancée.

In the middle stages of the novel, he is caught unprepared and defeated by a young disciple (the protagonist) in the sect who’s hardly remarkable at all. From then on, he falls from his godly altar and loses his brilliance. Even his young Martial Sister leaves him for someone else.

In the late stages of the novel, he continues to turn dark, going down the Demonic Path and becoming the major villainous boss. However, the protagonist still ruthlessly defeats him and his soul is eternally sealed.

Once Qin Mo opened his eyes, he discovered that he had become this Senior Martial Brother.

- Description from Novelupdates

Adrien’s tale is a thunderous symphony of vengeance, mystery, and ascension. Awakened with no memory but wielding a shadow-forged blade, he traverses a fractured world where gods rule through fear and silence. His forgotten blood burns with the legacy of the Godslayers—beings once feared even by the divine. As he hunts corrupted gods and unearths shards of unimaginable power, Adrien evolves from a wandering enigma to a force capable of defying fate itself. Twisting through betrayal, hidden empires, and awakening legends, his journey is not just one of survival, but of reclaiming divinity to break the sky itself.