Chapter 792: A Mountain of Corpses, A Devil Sword Unveiled
A short while earlier, Zhang Tianen and his daughter, Ji Xiaolin, had received word of a major upheaval at the Tianshi Sect and rushed to the scene. Finding the sect's perimeter sealed by the Yanxia Special Department, they chose not to force their way through, instead taking up a vantage point high in the treetops to observe.
Originally, Ji Xiaolin had no desire to come. The Tianshi Sect inspired nothing but disgust in her; she felt not a single shred of affection for the place. But the moment she heard the incident was connected to Zhang Zhiyun, she had come without hesitation. It wasn't out of any concern for Zhang Zhiyun, of course, but for a certain scoundrel who always seemed to find trouble.
Ji Xiaolin knew perfectly well the kind of monster Zhang Zhiyun was. He had slaughtered the entirety of Yanxia's Yu Clan—a family with whom he had no quarrel—draining every last drop of their essence and blood. What, then, would he do to Shen Anyu, the man who had stolen his wife?
She, of course, was that stolen betrothed. And though she was quite pleased to have been stolen, her waist was still a little sore from the experience.
'That damn scoundrel,' she thought, a pang of bitterness pricking her heart. 'If I don't go looking for you, you won't even think to come find me, will you?'
The truth was, she desperately wanted to be with Shen Anyu. She enjoyed… that sort of thing. But since he hadn't taken the initiative, her pride made her too embarrassed to simply offer herself up. She had even been planning to give him a surprise.
And now, here she was, investigating his mortal enemy out of concern for his safety. The injustice of it all made her feel deeply wronged.
Her high ponytail swayed behind her, as if in silent agreement.
"Something is wrong. Terribly wrong," Zhang Tianen murmured, his expression grave. His gaze was locked on the distant Tianshi Sect. The once-bustling grounds, home to thousands, were now desolate and empty, and a faint, cloying scent of blood hung in the air. Even without being a master of divination, he could feel a powerful sense of foreboding coiling in his gut.
In order to care for his beloved daughter, Zhang Tianen had long since retired from the world of cultivation. Yet, his feelings for the Tianshi Sect ran deep. It was under its guidance that he had once become the most powerful practitioner in all of Yanxia. Now that disaster had befallen his old sect, he could not, in good conscience or emotion, simply stand by and watch.
Ji Xiaolin watched for a time as the members of the Yanxia Special Department fruitlessly tested the crimson membrane of light enveloping the Tianshi Sect's main hall. After a while, she grew bored and her posture slumped with listlessness.
Just then, her eyes lit up. A familiar figure had appeared on the scene—Shen Anyu, the man who occupied her thoughts day and night.
Her brief moment of joy was extinguished, however, when she saw Yu Guannan and An Zhiyue flanking him. Her pretty face instantly fell, and a storm of resentment brewed in her beautiful eyes.
'That scoundrel! Why is he always surrounded by beautiful women?'
The sight of Shen Anyu openly embracing Yu Guannan, right there in public, sent a sour wave of jealousy churning through her stomach.
"That brat, Shen Anyu, is far too much of a playboy!" Zhang Tianen's face was just as grim. The man already had his precious daughter, Ji Xiaolin, yet he insisted on flirting with countless other women. If Ji Xiaolin hadn't stopped him, he would have long since descended and struck Shen Anyu down with a bolt of palm lightning.
And he had the nerve to call him an old geezer? He was once the strongest practitioner in Yanxia! Even Zhang Tianjiu, the Sect Master of the Tianshi Sect, had to respectfully address him as Senior Brother.
"Don't you worry, Xiaolin," Zhang Tianen said fiercely, his tone a mix of paternal protection and personal grievance. "Dad will definitely teach that brat Shen Anyu a good lesson!"
"Old man, don't you dare interfere!" Ji Xiaolin grew anxious the moment she heard his words. "You absolutely cannot lay a hand on Shen Anyu. You're not his match!"
She had personally witnessed Shen Anyu defeat Zhang Tianjiu with a single move, sending the Sect Master fleeing in utter disarray. Although her father was stronger than Zhang Tianjiu, he wasn't that much stronger.
"I'm not Shen Anyu's match?" Zhang Tianen's nose practically twisted with indignation. He felt his precious daughter was drifting further and further away from him.
"It's true, old man, you have to believe me..." Ji Xiaolin started to explain, but Zhang Tianen cut her off.
"Hmph! Xiaolin, you just watch. Later, Dad will most certainly teach Shen Anyu a lesson he won't forget!"
A look of helplessness washed over Ji Xiaolin's face. She opened her mouth to argue further, but at that exact moment, her father's expression changed dramatically. A split second later, she sensed it too. Her gaze snapped toward the Tianshi Sect's main hall, her face instantly draining of all color, replaced by sheer horror.
...
"Shen Anyu… you've finally arrived…"
A voice, cold and bloodthirsty, echoed from within the main hall—a voice that seemed to crawl up from the depths of the Nine Nether Purgatory itself.
In an instant, the world's color seemed to drain away. Ink-black clouds pressed down heavily over the Tianshi Sect, spreading in all directions like the fingers of an invisible giant hand, intent on crushing everything in the mortal world.
A wild wind howled, a sound like the wailing of ghosts and the crying of wolves, whipping up dust and debris from the ground. Even from several miles away, the grit stung everyone's faces.
"Zhang Zhiyun?" An Zhiyue's beautiful face shifted, her phoenix eyes narrowing with immediate seriousness.
The surrounding experts from the Special Department went on high alert, their formations tightening around the main hall. The atmosphere grew taut, stretched like a bowstring on the verge of snapping.
Shen Anyu's arm remained wrapped around Yu Guannan's slender waist, his own eyes narrowing into thoughtful slits.
Boom!
As the bloodthirsty voice finished its pronouncement, a terrifying aura erupted from the hall, as if a primordial demon god was finally awakening. The power was immense, a mountain of pure malice that soared into the sky.
In that same instant, the massive stone walls of the Tianshi Sect's main hall shattered.
With a deafening crack that sounded like the sky itself was collapsing, the entire structure imploded.
As the Tianshi Sect's main hall crumbled with a final, earth-shaking crash, rubble and tiles flew in every direction. A thick, overpowering stench of blood assaulted the senses, so potent it made people gag.
When the swirling dust began to settle, the ruins of the main hall revealed a nightmarish landscape. Piled high like mountains were thousands upon thousands of desiccated corpses, their bodies shriveled and dry, every drop of essence and blood drained from them. The expressions on their mummified faces were frozen in masks of extreme terror and disbelief, as if they couldn't fathom that their killer had been among them.
In the center of this mountain of death sat a giant blood cocoon, over three meters tall, glowing like a churning sea of fire. Vaguely, a figure could be seen sitting cross-legged within. Two glowing, scarlet eyes pierced through the translucent shell, staring intently at Shen Anyu with a gaze filled with monstrous hatred and absolute malevolence.
"Shen Anyu, today, you will die!"
As Zhang Zhiyun slowly rose to his feet, the giant blood cocoon shattered around him. It dissolved into countless specks of blood-red light that instantly merged back into his body, causing his aura to swell with an even more terrifying, thrilling power.
His skin was a sickly, corpse-like pale, and his eyes were the color of blood. His right arm was severed at the shoulder, but in its place, a longsword that was neither metal nor jade was embedded directly into his flesh. The blade was five feet three inches long and covered with vicious serrations. It was as clear as black jade but faintly tinged with blood, radiating an aura of extreme evil.
As Zhang Zhiyun revealed himself, the crimson membrane of light that had enveloped the hall flowed into the Yin Corpse Devil Sword in his arm, dissipating into nothingness. An unstoppable, suffocating pressure swept across the entire scene.
The thousands of Special Department experts encircling the area found it difficult to breathe, their hearts trembling in their chests.
"Has Zhang Zhiyun broken through to become a Land Immortal?" An Zhiyue's phoenix eyes grew even more serious, but she showed no signs of panic. Instead, she remained calm and collected, ready to lead her experts into battle at a moment's notice.
"Zhang Zhiyun!" Yu Guannan's silver teeth clenched so tightly her jaw ached. Seeing her clan's butcher, her beautiful eyes blazed with furious rage.
But Zhang Zhiyun paid no attention to their gazes. His eyes were fixed solely on Shen Anyu as he began to walk forward, one deliberate step at a time.
In his world, there was only Shen Anyu.
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