Chapter 622: Zhang Zhiyun's Mentality Collapsed and His Pupils Trembled!
"Shen Anyu, die!!!"
Zhang Zhiyun's eyes were bloodshot, filled with bone-deep hatred and rage when he looked at Shen Anyu, a feeling that no amount of water from the five lakes and four seas could wash away.
In Zhang Zhiyun's view, Shen Anyu must have used some sinister scheme to trick his younger sister, Zhang Yaqian; it had to be that way.
Even if it wasn't, Shen Anyu had snatched away his fiancée, Ji Xiaolin, and also taken his most important younger sister, Zhang Yaqian. These were things he absolutely could not tolerate.
Even if it meant mutual destruction, he would die with Shen Anyu!
"Husband, be careful!" Seeing the blood-soaked, one-armed man hurtling toward Shen Anyu from over ten meters away, a brutal killing intent churning the air around him, Zhang Yaqian instinctively cried out and moved to step in front of her beloved. The man's aura was that of a cornered beast, a vortex of madness and despair that promised only death.
"It's fine." Shen Anyu's voice was a bastion of calm in the storm. He wrapped a firm arm around Zhang Yaqian's slender waist, effortlessly pulling her behind him as if shielding her from a mere gust of wind. His gaze, cold and utterly devoid of emotion, swept over the approaching threat. In that instant, an invisible force, a colossal hand formed from pure, condensed Telekinesis, materialized in the air.
The psychic construct didn't just appear; it slammed down with the force of a collapsing mountain.
WHAM!
The air itself seemed to buckle under the immense pressure. Zhang Zhiyun, who had been a blur of vengeful motion, was swatted from the air like a common housefly. There was a sickening thud as his body met the hard pavement, cracking the stone beneath him. He was pinned, crushed against the ground by a weight so profound it felt as if the heavens themselves had fallen upon him. He couldn't move. He couldn't even twitch. Every bone groaned, every muscle fiber screamed in protest against the invisible, absolute power that held him captive.
"Shen... Anyu!!!" Zhang Zhiyun strained, every sinew in his body bulging as he fought with every ounce of his will to lift his head just a few inches. The sound of his own neck bones cracking and popping was a gruesome proof of the incredible pressure he was under. He managed to tilt his head just enough to glare at Shen Anyu, his eyes burning with a fury that defied his broken body.
Zhang Yaqian's face was a mask of pale shock. She took a deep, shuddering breath, her hand flying to pat her ample, rapidly beating chest with lingering fear. The raw violence of the moment, followed by Shen Anyu's effortless display of power, had left her reeling. She clutched his arm tightly, her knuckles white, drawing strength from his unwavering presence. Mustering her courage, she stared down at the broken man on the ground and demanded, her voice trembling slightly, "Who are you, and why are you trying to assassinate my husband?"
To her, this wasn't some dramatic reunion; it was an assault by a terrifying stranger. Compared to the petty rivalries with women like Wu Shenyun and Bai Bing, this was a real, tangible threat to Shen Anyu's life, and that was something she could not bear. Who was this madman? His power and his hatred were terrifying.
As if on cue, the familiar, cold notifications echoed only in Shen Anyu's mind.
[Ding! Child of Destiny Zhang Zhiyun's mentality has exploded. Plundering +9999 Destiny Points!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Zhang Zhiyun's vision has gone black. Plundering +9999 Destiny Points!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Zhang Zhiyun's defenses have been breached. Plundering +23333 Destiny Points!]
...
Pfft!
Zhang Zhiyun spat out a thick mouthful of blood, the crimson spray staining the pavement. The damage wasn't just from his severe physical injuries or the crushing psychic force; it was from the sheer, unadulterated rage and despair that had ruptured something deep within him.
He had cultivated with inhuman diligence in the Tianshi Sect for so many years. Day and night, he had pushed his body and spirit to their limits, all fueled by the dream of one day descending the mountain. He had imagined this reunion a thousand times, playing out countless beautiful and heartwarming scenarios of seeing his precious younger sister, Zhang Yaqian, again. A tearful embrace, a joyful celebration, a promise to protect her forever.
He never, in his wildest nightmares, expected this.
Swatted down like an insect. Pinned and helpless. And his own sister... his beloved Yaqian, was looking at him with fear and asking... asking who he was.
Who are you, and why are you trying to assassinate my husband?
The question was a blade that plunged straight into his heart and twisted. The look in her pure, clear, starry eyes—the same eyes that used to look at him with adoration—was now one of suspicion, as if she were looking at a deranged criminal. That single glance shattered Zhang Zhiyun's composure, breaking through years of disciplined cultivation and iron-willed resolve.
What truly destroyed him, what ground the shards of his heart into dust, was the memory from moments before. When he lunged, a desperate man seeking vengeance, his younger sister, Zhang Yaqian, had thrown herself in front of Shen Anyu without a shred of hesitation. She had been ready to shield that man with her own body, as if Shen Anyu's life was infinitely more valuable than her own.
Zhang Zhiyun's defenses were not just breached; they were annihilated.
As for the terrifying power holding him down, Zhang Zhiyun didn't for a second believe it came from Shen Anyu. In his mind, the smiling, handsome young man was just a clever manipulator. This kind of overwhelming force, this absolute suppression... it had to be the work of the other woman standing nearby. The one whose aura felt as vast and deep as the ocean—the rumored Land Immortal, Wu Shenyun.
Only a genuine Land Immortal could so effortlessly crush him, a prodigy of the Tianshi Sect, and pin him to the ground, utterly immobilized.
"Little sister... it's me..." Zhang Zhiyun's voice was a ragged, heartbroken whisper, forced from his lungs against the crushing pressure. He looked at Zhang Yaqian, his gaze filled with a world of pain. "It's me, Zhang Zhiyun... your older brother, Zhang Zhiyun!"
"Eh? Eh??"
Zhang Yaqian's starry eyes widened in disbelief. She stared at the blood-soaked, one-armed man sprawled pathetically on the ground, her mind struggling to connect this horrifying image with her faded memories. Her older brother? The Zhang Zhiyun she knew as a child?
Her history with him was complicated. Zhang Yaqian's birth mother had divorced her father, Zhang Yunhai, and remarried into the prestigious Hangzhou Zhang Family, bringing a very young Zhang Yaqian with her. There, she had become Zhang Zhiyun's stepsister, though they shared no blood. They had spent a few precious, happy years of their childhood together before disaster struck.
The Hangzhou Zhang Family was brutally annihilated by the Wan Fa Sect, a massacre from which only the two children, Zhang Zhiyun and Zhang Yaqian, miraculously escaped. In the chaos that followed, they were separated. Zhang Zhiyun was found and adopted by the Master of the Tianshi Sect, hidden away from the world. Zhang Yaqian was eventually found by her birth father, Zhang Yunhai, and taken back.
In the years that followed, Zhang Yaqian had even dispatched people to search for Zhang Zhiyun, but her efforts were in vain. He was cloistered within the secretive Tianshi Sect, beyond the reach of any mortal search party. Eventually, she had come to believe that her childhood older brother had perished in the aftermath of the massacre, and she had mourned him for a long time.
She never imagined she would meet him again like this. She never imagined that her long-lost brother would return as an assassin, trying to murder the man she loved more than life itself.
"You... why did you try to assassinate my husband?" Zhang Yaqian's expression was a storm of conflicting emotions—shock, confusion, and a burgeoning hardness. She didn't call him 'older brother.' She couldn't. No matter the history between them, attempting to kill her man was an unforgivable sin.
The System's notifications were relentless, a cold, digital validation of Zhang Zhiyun's agony.
[Ding! Child of Destiny Zhang Zhiyun is filled with grief and indignation. Plundering +9999 Destiny Points!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Zhang Zhiyun is heartbroken. Plundering +9999 Destiny Points!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Zhang Zhiyun's emotional line has suffered heavy damage. Plundering +300000 Destiny Points!]
...
Zhang Zhiyun felt a desolation so profound it threatened to swallow him whole. Zhang Yaqian's somewhat cold gaze and her accusatory tone wounded him more deeply than any physical blow.
It's all his fault. It's all Shen Anyu's fault!
A desperate thought clawed its way through his despair. If he could just expose Shen Anyu, pull back the curtain and reveal the monster hiding behind that charming smile, then things could be fixed! His sister would see the truth! She would come back to him! They would return to how they used to be!
At this moment, Zhang Zhiyun cast aside all his pride, all his dignity. He craned his neck, ignoring the screaming pain, and roared at Shen Anyu, who had been watching the entire exchange with a silent, infuriating smile: "Shen Anyu, what kind of mesmerizing potion did you feed her? How much did you deceive Zhang Yaqian?!"
Shen Anyu tilted his head, his expression a perfect picture of innocent surprise as he looked down at the man he was crushing. "Zhang Zhiyun, how did I deceive Yaqian? You shouldn't talk such nonsense, you know?"
'A mesmerizing potion was certainly not the case,' Shen Anyu thought wryly, 'but other things... well, those are another story.'
"Zhang Zhiyun, don't you dare slander my husband!" Zhang Yaqian snapped, her voice sharp with anger. She stepped forward slightly, her body language resolutely placing her on Shen Anyu's side. "My husband saved my life twice! The first time, he predicted I would be in a car accident and gave me a safety talisman that protected me! The second time, he saved me from that evil Artificer True Person, Tanaka Hikaru! Don't you dare try to sow discord between us!"
Although the reappearance of her childhood older brother held a certain place in her heart, it was a distant, nostalgic corner. It was nothing compared to the all-consuming love she felt for Shen Anyu, the man who had completely captured her heart and soul. A favorability rating of ninety-five was no mere crush; it was a bond forged for life and death.
Seeing Zhang Yaqian protect Shen Anyu so fiercely, Zhang Zhiyun let out a bitter, desolate laugh that was half a sob. "Zhang Yaqian, don't you have a fiancé? A man named Zhao Tao? How can you be with Shen Anyu?"
This was the core of his confusion, the part of the puzzle that made no sense.
"Zhao Tao was unfaithful. He cheated on me with multiple people. I already broke off the engagement with him," Zhang Yaqian stated flatly, without a hint of hesitation. After clarifying, she was about to press Zhang Zhiyun again, to ask him why he would attack Shen Anyu, to see if there was some terrible misunderstanding at play.
But upon hearing her words, a manic light suddenly ignited in Zhang Zhiyun's eyes. His spirits, which had been crushed into the dirt, suddenly lifted. "Zhang Yaqian, Zhang Yaqian, you've been deceived by Shen Anyu."
With that, without waiting for Zhang Yaqian to retort, Zhang Zhiyun rapidly spoke like a machine gun:
"Shen Anyu is also a philandering scumbag; he has many women! Look, those two beautiful women are both Shen Anyu's women!"
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