Chapter 713: A Guaranteed Win
"Damn it all! This coward is going to drive me insane!"
Qin Yuan had exhausted every argument, pouring his heart into persuading Wu Ming, but the man remained utterly unmoved.
Finally, having exhausted all reason, Qin Yuan resorted to raw vitriol, hoping to curse and shame Wu Ming into action. Yet, even this had no effect.
A dark glint swirled in the depths of Qin Yuan's eyes as a cruel sneer twisted his lips.
"You know, Wu Ming…" he began, his voice dripping with malice. "Before I came here, I paid a little visit to the villa. I saw Shen Anyu with your precious goddess, your one and only white moonlight, Yang Qiuchan. They were so sickeningly sweet, you wouldn't believe it."
"Your goddess, Yang Qiuchan… she was wearing all sorts of little uniforms to please him, playing out whatever fantasy he demanded."
"She even debased herself alongside other women for his amusement."
"How pitiful. Truly, how pitiful. The goddess that Daoist Friend Wu Ming holds so high in his heart is nothing more than a well-trained pet at Shen Anyu's feet."
"The woman you cherish most is utterly worthless in his eyes. Just a toy. A plaything to be used and discarded."
"Daoist Friend Wu Ming, you absolute—!"
Qin Yuan's tirade cut off abruptly. To his utter astonishment, he found that Wu Ming had completely withdrawn his Divine Sense, severing the connection. Qin Yuan couldn't help but let out a string of curses.
He was truly at his wits' end with this spineless coward!
Neither persuasion nor insults worked. Even such vicious, personal provocations had failed to draw a response.
[Ding! The Child of Destiny, Qin Yuan, is exasperated. Plundering +9999 Destiny Value!]
[Ding! The Child of Destiny, Qin Yuan, is infuriated. Plundering +9999 Destiny Value!]
[Ding! The Child of Destiny, Wu Ming, feels bitter. Plundering +9999 Destiny Value!]
…
'Now this is interesting. Qin Yuan and Wu Ming, two Children of Destiny, are generating negative emotions simultaneously, and I'm reaping the rewards.'
Shen Anyu's eyes narrowed, a deep light flickering within their depths.
It didn't take a genius to guess that Wu Ming and Qin Yuan had been in contact. How else could such a perfectly timed, dual plunder of Destiny Value occur?
A question immediately surfaced in his mind.
How did Qin Yuan find Wu Ming?
Even Shen Anyu himself couldn't locate that slippery bastard. Wu Ming spent most of his time hiding inside his Portable Immortal Mansion, rarely emerging. Finding him was like searching for a single grain of sand in a desert.
Qin Yuan had just sent a corpse puppet to assassinate him, and in the short time since, he had already managed to track down Wu Ming. Could it be that the assassination attempt was a joint effort? Were their current negative emotions a result of learning about their failure?
'No, that doesn't seem right.'
Shen Anyu quickly dismissed the conjecture.
If that scoundrel Wu Ming had been involved, the plan would have been far more foolproof; he wouldn't have agreed to it otherwise. also, it wasn't in Wu Ming's nature to collaborate with other Children of Destiny to assassinate him. It simply didn't fit his personality.
Besides, judging from the system prompts, Wu Ming wasn't exasperated or disappointed. He was bitter and disheartened, which was most likely a reaction to the news about Yang Qiuchan.
So, Qin Yuan had likely tried to recruit Wu Ming, using Yang Qiuchan's situation as use to provoke him into action.
Still, the original question remained: How did Qin Yuan find him?
'This Qin Yuan is almost certainly a reborn Child of Destiny.'
If Shen Anyu had previously estimated the probability at sixty or seventy percent, he was now ninety-nine percent certain.
A reborn Child of Destiny was a troublesome variable. Especially one who operated from the shadows.
The enemy was hidden, while Shen Anyu was exposed.
His repeated victories against the Children of Destiny were due not only to his superior background and strength but also to a critical information asymmetry: he knew everything about them, while they were completely unaware of the threat he posed.
Now, the tables had turned. A Child of Destiny was lurking in the darkness, plotting against him, and Shen Anyu knew next to nothing about this new player.
'Heh. Too bad for you. You made your move, and you missed.'
Shen Anyu sneered inwardly.
Qin Yuan's first attempt had the highest chance of success, precisely because Shen Anyu had no reason to be on guard. At most, his Divine-grade Perception might have triggered at the last second, allowing him to dodge the fatal blow but still sustain injuries.
But now, Shen Anyu was alert. He had even learned his attacker's name through the system's Destiny Value prompts. From this point forward, things would not be so easy for Qin Yuan.
'So, you want to play a game of cat and mouse? Fine. I'll play.'
"Ah… Shen Anyu, you're hurting me."
"My apologies, President Ling. I'll be gentler." Young Master Shen's actions were a far more sincere apology than his words.
President Ling expressed her satisfaction and offered him a suitable reward.
At that same moment, on the far side of the city, atop the peak of Da Di Mountain.
Even in late August, at the tail end of summer, the temperature on the mountaintop was chillingly low. The howling mountain winds cut through clothing, making it feel even colder.
But none of that could compare to the icy frost that had settled in Qin Yuan's heart.
Wu Ming, his most crucial potential ally, refused to leave his shell. The refusal left Qin Yuan feeling helpless and utterly vexed.
Initially, Qin Yuan had been confident he could win the man over. In his previous life, Wu Ming had been reckless, even foolhardy. He had charged headfirst into Shen Anyu's traps because of Yang Qiuchan, a self-destructive path that ultimately cost him his heaven-defying trump card, the Immortal Mansion blessed land.
But in this life, since his rebirth, Wu Ming was unexpectedly cautious. No amount of provocation could lure him out.
He had truly become a thousand-year-old tortoise, retreating into his shell at the first sign of trouble.
However, Qin Yuan quickly forced himself to calm down, his breathing evening out.
"Even if I can't recruit Wu Ming, it doesn't mean I can't deal with Shen Anyu."
"Although I was just a Jing River Corpse Fisher in my past life and didn't know many secrets, I was aware of certain famous figures."
"The Young Sect Leader of the Tianshi Sect, Zhang Zhiyun, is a perfect candidate. He must be in agony now that Shen Anyu has stolen his fiancée. I can help him. And in doing so, I can shackle the entire Tianshi Sect to our warship."
"Immortal Doctor Lu Ran is also a cultivator, and a powerful one at that. He shouldn't have come onto Shen Anyu's radar yet."
"The Southern Border Goddess is on the verge of breaking through to the Land Immortal realm. I know a method to accelerate her breakthrough; that will surely be enough to persuade her to act."
"Then there's Jiangbei Master Chen. He's about to rise to fame and shake the world. The speed of his growth is astonishing. I'll win him over when the time is right."
"I will find them. I will have them join the Jade Breaker Alliance, and together, we will deal with Shen Anyu."
As for anyone else, Qin Yuan didn't think much of them.
Without the potential to become a Land Immortal, they weren't qualified to join his alliance against Shen Anyu.
However, Qin Yuan was completely unaware that thanks to the butterfly effect caused by Long Hao, the reborn investment-flow Child of Destiny, the world he had returned to was vastly different from the one in his memories.
Because of the intelligence advantage Long Hao's rebirth had provided, Shen Anyu had already secured Immortal Doctor Lu Ran. He had also obtained crucial information on the Southern Border Goddess, the Jing River Corpse Fisher, and Jiangbei Master Chen.
His own strength had grown far beyond what Qin Yuan could imagine.
, he had already altered his approach to Zhang Zhiyun, using the Yin Corpse Devil Swordplay—a Nascent Soul inheritance recorded in the Two-Aspects Life-Death Medical Scripture—to change the young man's fate.
In Qin Yuan's memory, Shen Anyu was at most a Land Immortal at this point in time, and the recent assassination attempt should have left him with serious injuries. The corpse puppet, in particular, carried a potent corpse poison that even a divine doctor would struggle to cure.
"Shen Anyu, I'll collect a little interest first. Just you wait. Your real troubles are about to begin."
With a flicker, Qin Yuan's figure vanished from the peak of Da Di Mountain.
Deep within his hidden sanctuary, Wu Ming sensed Qin Yuan's departure and let out a long, weary sigh.
"If you die, I'll light a stick of incense at your grave a hundred years from now."
"If you kill Shen Anyu, I'll dance on his grave a hundred years from now."
"Either way, I can't lose. It's a guaranteed win."
…
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