Chapter 707: Kneel. That's Common Sense.
"The Young Sect Leader still hasn't fled. Does he have some hidden trump card?"
The thought echoed in Zhou Yunhu's mind. He refused to believe that the Young Sect Leader, Zhang Zhiyun, was a fool. He wouldn't just stand here, knowing he was outmatched, unless he had an ace up his sleeve.
Zhang Zhiyun continued his fruitless assault, unleashing torrents of ghastly Sword Qi from his Yin Corpse Devil Swordplay that swirled and crashed around Shen An. Yet, through it all, the Young Sect Leader's expression remained devoid of anxiety or panic. He was unnervingly confident.
An unsettling feeling coiled tighter in Yu Guannan's gut. A powerful sense of dread rose in her heart as her phoenix-like eyes fixed on Shen An. After a moment's hesitation, she couldn't stop herself from calling out a warning.
"Shen An, don't be careless! This Zhang Zhiyun… he definitely has another move!"
"Heh heh… too late!"
Before Shen An could even respond, Zhang Zhiyun let out a low, chilling sneer. His scarlet eyes blazed with a mix of arrogance and predatory ferocity.
"Shen An, did you really think my Sword Qi was so simple? It possesses a terrifying corrosive power. You haven't noticed yet, have you? Although you blocked every single strand, a minuscule residue has already seeped into your soul. It's like a maggot that gnaws on bone, a parasite that even a Land Immortal would find impossible to remove!"
At this, Zhang Zhiyun's gaze on Shen An turned deeply satisfied, almost ecstatic.
"I told you," he declared, his voice dripping with venomous triumph. "Even if you are a Land Immortal, I can still kill you!"
As his voice fell, Zhang Zhiyun clenched his fist. He watched Shen An with rapturous expectation, anticipating the glorious moment when thousands of tendrils of Yin Corpse Devil Sword Qi would erupt from within Shen An's spiritual form, shredding it into nothingness.
For any cultivator, even a Land Immortal, the annihilation of the soul was absolute death.
All that would be left was an empty physical shell, no different from a walking corpse.
"As expected of the Young Sect Leader!" Zhou Yunhu was overjoyed when he heard Zhang Zhiyun's plan. So that was it! The ultimate trap!
"Shen An!" Yu Guannan's heart seized in her chest. She whipped her head back toward Shen An, and her worst fears were confirmed. She saw it—a flicker of crimson, a venomous thread weaving through the brilliant gold of Shen An's soul, pulsing as if it would detonate in the very next second and destroy him on the spot.
But one second passed.
Two seconds passed.
Ten seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
[Ding! The Child of Destiny Zhang Zhiyun's mind is shaken, plundering +9999 destiny value!]
[Ding! The Child of Destiny Zhang Zhiyun doubts his life, plundering +66666 destiny value!]
The triumphant sneer on Zhang Zhiyun's face froze, cracking into sheer disbelief.
Zhou Yunhu's jaw hung slack, his eyes wide with confusion.
A long, shuddering breath escaped Yu Guannan's lips. She pressed a hand to her chest, the frantic hammering of her heart finally slowing as her tense brow relaxed.
"Thank goodness… Shen An, you're alright!"
[Ding! Detected Destined Heroine Yu Guannan's favorability +1, plundering +3000 destiny value!]
...
"Zhang Zhiyun, is this your limit?"
Shen An regarded him with a calm, almost pitying smile.
'The Yin Corpse Devil Swordplay…'he thought to himself.'I was the one who secretly gave it to him. I've been reaping investment returns from it this whole time. How could I not understand its corrosive power?'To think Zhang Zhiyun would try to use his own gift against him was the delusion of a fool.'Still, it's time to give him a little… motivation. Push him to work harder. If he doesn't even feel desperate enough to pursue the Yin Corpse Devil Sword Embryo, what kind of vengeful protagonist is he?'
"If this is all you have," Shen An said aloud, his voice cutting through the silence, "then you can leave your life behind."
Boom!
In the next instant, Shen An made his move.
He took a single step forward and extended one hand.
Rumble!
A colossal hand of pure gold materialized above, radiating a divine, blinding light. It was like the palm of the Buddha himself, descending to pin the defiant Monkey King, an absolute power that sought to suppress heaven and earth. It blotted out the sky above Zhang Zhiyun, casting him in its immense shadow.
Before the hand even made contact, the sheer pressure was apocalyptic. The reinforced concrete floor buckled and shattered. Zhou Yunhu, the so-called underground emperor of Hangzhou, a veteran Artificer True Person, didn't even have time to utter a sound before he was flattened into a crimson paste, his existence wiped out in an instant.
The entire 300-meter-tall Hilton Hotel building groaned and trembled violently, as if the structure itself was about to collapse under the unimaginable weight.
A sickening chorus of cracks echoed from Zhang Zhiyun's bones. His black hair whipped wildly under the crushing force as a gale howled around him. He struggled desperately to resist the golden hand descending from the sky, his face a mask of pure shock, a canvas of despair and utter powerlessness.
He was already so strong… why did Shen An have to be so much stronger?
"I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS!"
With a furious, unwilling roar, Zhang Zhiyun's cultivation base shattered its limits and broke through once more, surging to the peak of the Celestial Master realm. In this moment of absolute desperation, even the Sword Intent of his Yin Corpse Devil Swordplay grew sharper, more malevolent.
A pillar of scarlet Sword Intent erupted from him, lashing upwards as if to pierce the heavens.
But it was useless.
With a deafening crash, the golden hand slammed down, driving Zhang Zhiyun through the floor like a nail. He plummeted, floor after floor, a human meteor crashing through over a hundred stories of concrete and steel until he finally impacted the underground parking lot with a distant, muffled thud.
"Gulp…"
Yu Guannan swallowed hard, staring at the gaping hole in the floor in stunned silence.
She was a Martial Arts Grandmaster, a woman who wielded extraordinary power herself, but could a human being truly reach such a level?
Her gaze shifted to Shen An, whose golden form still radiated a divine, unwavering light. For a long moment, she was utterly speechless.
"He ran? He's quite agile," Shen An remarked with a light chuckle, his Divine Sense sweeping the area.
This Child of Destiny, Zhang Zhiyun, wasn't a complete idiot. He had used the impact and chaos to flee the moment he was severely injured.
It was for the best. Otherwise, Shen An would have had to contrive a way to let him escape. It wasn't time to kill Zhang Zhiyun yet; the Yin Corpse Devil Sword still needed a master to finish its refinement.
"He ran? Go after him! Kill him!" Yu Guannan snapped back to reality, her expression fraught with anxiety.
If they could seize this opportunity to kill her nemesis, Zhang Zhiyun, it would surely bring peace to the souls of her brother and her family in the afterlife.
"My soul is out of my body. I can't maintain this state for too long," Shen An replied calmly.
Yu Guannan's eyes fell on his spiritual form and noticed that the golden light had indeed dimmed slightly. It was a sign that this soul projection couldn't last much longer.
After all, a Land Immortal was not a true Celestial. The ability to project one's soul across such a distance was already an incredible feat.
Even so, Yu Guannan was deeply unwilling to let her sworn enemy escape just like that.
A surge of grief and rage rose within her. She glared at Shen An, her voice thick with accusation. "Shen An, why didn't you act sooner? You let Zhang Zhiyun get away! If you had attacked him from the very beginning, he never would have had the chance to run!"
Her voice cracked with anguish as she added, "If you had just come from the beginning, my elder brother wouldn't have died either!"
"You—"
Slap!
Before Yu Guannan could finish her sentence, the sharp, clean sound of a slap echoed through the ruined penthouse.
She stumbled back, one hand flying to her reddened cheek, her eyes wide with disbelief as she stared at Shen An.
He simply smiled at her, a placid, almost gentle expression that made it seem as if he wasn't the one who had just struck her. He asked softly, "Yu Guannan, what is our relationship?"
She was too stunned to answer.
"What," he continued, his tone patient, "is the relationship between the Yu Clan and the Shen family?"
He paused, letting the question hang in the air. "Just a few hours ago, your Yu Clan was still plotting to deal with the Shen family. Your elder brother, Yu Guanying, was still trying to deal with me. Isn't that right?"
Yu Guannan fell silent, the truth of his words obvious.
Shen An's smile remained. "Not to mention that I sensed you were in danger and risked damage to my own soul to project myself here and save your life."
He took a step closer, his golden form looming over her. "Even if I had arrived earlier, wouldn't it have been more beneficial for me to simply watch as the Young Master of the Tianshi Sect annihilated your Yu Clan, and then step in to inherit your assets?"
His voice dropped, becoming cold and sharp as steel. "Yu Guannan, I don't owe you anything. On the contrary, you owe me."
The blood drained from Yu Guannan's face, leaving it a sickly white before it flushed a humiliated green. As the cherished daughter of Yanxia's Yu Clan, a prodigy favored by the heavens, her pride was immense. But Shen An had just shattered it without a shred of mercy, laying the cold, hard truth bare.
The reality of her predicament crashed down on her. A wave of sorrow washed over her pride. She lowered her head, her voice muffled and small.
"I'm sorry. I was rude."
"An apology requires kneeling," Shen An said, his smile never wavering. "That's common sense."
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