Chapter 709: The First Wound
A blade of irresistible, ghostly black light tore through the fabric of the void. It manifested without warning, as if born from nothingness itself, yet when it struck, it carried the force of a thunderclap. The attack was terrifyingly swift, a hundred-meter-long gash of pure malice that seemed to have been launched by a demon god from across the netherworld river, making heaven and earth tremble in its wake.
This spectral blade cleaved the villa in two, carving a deep, jagged fissure through the structure and the ground beneath. Its target: Shen Anyu's Divine Soul and the woman in his arms, Yu Guannan.
The earth groaned, and the air seemed to weep.
Shen Anyu's expression shifted, a flicker of surprise in his calm eyes. He tightened his embrace around Yu Guannan, and with a blur of motion, his form reappeared several hundred meters away.
But the black light was impossibly fast. The timing of the ambush was perfect, a bolt from the blue striking just as Shen Anyu was savoring the warmth of his victory and Yu Guannan's affection.
He was a fraction of a second too slow. The edge of the ghostly light grazed his shoulder.
In an instant, beads of luminous, golden Divine Soul blood welled up. The wound on his right shoulder was a hideous sight, a dark gash against the pure light of his spiritual form.
And that was not the end of it.
A sliver of the black, ghostly energy seeped into him through the wound, a virulent poison that sought to contaminate and defile the very essence of his Divine Soul.
"What is this?" Yu Guannan's phoenix eyes went wide, her face a mask of utter astonishment.
Who would dare attack Shen Anyu? He was not only the young master of Yanxia's Shen Clan but now a Land Immortal of terrifying strength. Even if outsiders were ignorant of his new cultivation level, the radiant golden light of his Divine Soul was an unmistakable sign of immense power.
also, the attack itself was horrifying, its destructive potential far surpassing anything she had seen from the likes of Zhang Zhiyun.
Her gaze fell upon the villa, which had been split open as if by a titan's axe, and the bottomless chasm that scarred the earth. A cold dread washed over her, a lingering fear that made her limbs tremble. If Shen Anyu hadn't swept her away in that instant, she would have been shattered, utterly annihilated by that single strike.
He had saved her. Again.
[Ding! Detected increased favorability from Destined Heroine Yu Guannan by +10. Plundering +30,000 Destiny Value!]
Yu Guannan's heart clenched. Her eyes suddenly locked onto the injury on Shen Anyu's right shoulder, and the color drained from her face.
"Shen Anyu, are you… are you alright?" she stammered, her voice trembling.
"I'm fine." Shen Anyu's expression was unprecedentedly solemn. His gaze, sharp as a hawk's, scanned the surroundings. His Divine Sense swept out in all directions, a vast, invisible net cast to find any trace of the ambusher.
As he searched, strands of pure white light began to emerge from his shoulder. The ghastly wound began to close, the flesh knitting back together at a visible rate. Even the ghostly light that had invaded his Divine Soul was being enveloped by this gentle, restorative luminescence, slowly but surely being ground away.
Shen Anyu was not merely a martial arts Land Immortal. He was also a cultivator on the Immortal Path, at the tenth level of Qi Refinement, having mastered the Nascent Soul True Scripture and its supplementary text, the Two-Aspects Life-Death Medical Scripture. He wielded the power of Life and Death.
Under the influence of his Life Power, the injury on his right shoulder healed completely within a few breaths. The corrupting ghostly light within him, however, was proving far more stubborn. It was an energy of a remarkably high level, and the process of expelling it was slow.
Shen Anyu's eyes narrowed, his gaze turning glacial.
This was the first time he had been injured since his Awakening.
Not Ye Yan, the Child of Destiny who descended from the mountain; not Zhang Zhiyun, Ye Linyuan, or Yan Lingxiao—none of the so-called Sons of Destiny had ever managed to leave so much as a scratch on him.
He had just orchestrated the downfall of Yanxia's Yu Clan and secured the devotion of the Destined Heroine Yu Guannan. He had been feeling utterly pleased with himself.
And now, some powerful individual had dared to launch a sneak attack. Who could it be?
Many wished to see him fall, but few possessed the requisite strength.
'At least a Land Immortal,'Shen Anyu thought, his mind racing.'And the timing was impeccable. They struck while my Divine Soul was outside my body, without the protection of my Steel Body. I'm not in my peak state.'
A dangerous glint flickered in his eyes. He was currently operating in his Divine Soul form, separated from his physical body and, by extension, its primary God-Tier Soul Shield. Otherwise, with the resilience of his Land Immortal-level Steel Body, even a Martial God would find it difficult to harm him.
His Divine Soul was not as tough as his physical form, but it, too, was protected by a God-Tier Soul Shield. That dazzling golden aura was the shield itself, a defense that grew stronger as his soul did. To breach it would require power far exceeding that of an ordinary Land Immortal.
"I found you."
Shen Anyu's head snapped towards a point five li to the southwest. His gaze was ice. Setting Yu Guannan down gently, his Divine Soul vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, he reappeared at his destination. An immense wave of Telekinesis erupted from him, a crushing force that distorted the very air. The space around his target warped and buckled; titanium alloy would have been torn apart like twisted rope.
A figure cloaked in black, not yet having had the chance to flee, was caught in the psychic storm. From the head down, its body was instantly crushed into nothingness.
Shen Anyu was about to seize the soul for a Soul-searching when he paused, a soft "hmph" escaping his lips. His eyes narrowed.
As his Telekinesis surged, the head of the black-robed figure floated in the void before him. It was the face of an old man, his hair white, his skin etched with deep wrinkles. But his most distinguishing feature was his complexion—an extreme, lifeless pallor.
'A dead man… a corpse.''A Corpse Puppet?'
Shen Anyu's mind processed the information. This old man was not a living being; he was a shell, long devoid of a soul. The strike that had nearly killed him had drained the last of the power stored within the corpse, unleashing a blow comparable to that of a Peak Land Immortal.
This was the body of a Land Immortal, refined into a Corpse Puppet by a master and nurtured for a very long time.
He scanned the area again, but there were no other clues. The trail was cold.
"They came prepared," Shen Anyu mused, "but they underestimated my strength."
His eyes narrowed further. The attacker seemed to have some familiarity with him, yet they had been careful not to appear in person.
'A Child of Destiny? A reborn one? Or something else?'His thoughts briefly turned to Wu Ming, the cautious, rebirth-type Child of Destiny, but he quickly dismissed the idea. The current Wu Ming shouldn't possess this level of power, nor would he have access to a Corpse Puppet at the Peak Land Immortal level. Besides, Wu Ming was far too cautious. The man was a veritable ninja turtle; he had endured seeing Shen Anyu with his own childhood crush, Yang Qiuchan, without making a move. He was clearly playing the long game, content with the thought of outliving Shen Anyu and one day dancing on his grave.'Someone else, then. Jiangbei Master Chen? The Corpse Salvager? Or some wild, unknown Child of Destiny?'
From Qin Yuan, the reborn investment-type Child of Destiny, Shen Anyu had learned of several influential figures from the future. Among them, the most mysterious and powerful were Jiangbei Master Chen, who was suspected to be a returning ancient expert, and the unfathomable Corpse Salvager. But as of yet, Shen Anyu had found no concrete leads on either of them.
Was it one of them who had attacked him? Or was this the work of a Child of Destiny he had yet to encounter?
'Very careful, very cautious,'Shen Anyu sneered inwardly.'But unfortunately for you, once you make a move, you always leave a trace.'
As if on cue, a series of notifications chimed in his mind.
[Ding! Child of Destiny Qin Yuan's attack has failed. A Peak Land Immortal Corpse Puppet has been lost. The destiny line is affected. Plundering +900,000 Destiny Value!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Qin Yuan's mind has been shaken. Plundering +29,999 Destiny Value!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Qin Yuan has suffered a backlash from the Celestial Corpse Refining Divine Method. Plundering +130,000 Destiny Value!]
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