Chapter 835: Playing the Long Game to Catch the Big Fish!
[Ding! Child of Destiny Xiao Fan's eyes are splitting with rage. Plundering +9999 Destiny Value!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Xiao Fan is furious to the point of madness. Plundering +9999 Destiny Value!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Xiao Fan is utterly unwilling. Plundering +30,000 Destiny Value!]
Suspended from the rough bark of a tree branch, Xiao Fan watched the scene unfolding through the open wooden door. His vision blurred with a sickening mixture of agony and absolute disbelief.
There sat Shen Anyu, perfectly fine, his complexion healthy and rosy. Surrounding him were Liu Ruyan and Zhong Lingyin, two women as beautiful as blooming flowers and captivating as goddesses, leaning in close with expressions of deep, tender concern. Just a step away stood the brilliant divine physician, Murong Jieyu, her beautiful eyes lowered in a rare, shy expression.
Xiao Fan completely exploded.
His anger and unwillingness burned so fiercely they were almost a physical weight crushing his chest. Why? Why was Shen Anyu completely unharmed?
In Xiao Fan's mind, even if this silver-spoon aristocrat had somehow managed to defeat and kill his master—Xiao Qingtian, a supreme cultivator at the Foundation Establishment realm—he should have paid a devastating price. At the very least, Anyu should have been left severely injured, coughing up blood. At worst, he should be bedridden, perishing slowly in absolute agony.
Even if Anyu's cultivation had been crippled, or if he had suffered the same cruel castration at Ruyan's hands, Xiao Fan would have felt a twisted sense of satisfaction. He was miserable, yes, but at least his hated enemy would be accompanying him straight to Hell.
But this? Anyu had merely fallen unconscious for a few short hours and woken up looking completely refreshed.
Did his master die for nothing?
Recalling how Qingtian had proudly claimed to be invincible in the secular world, boasting that he could easily wipe the Yanxia's Shen Clan off the map, Xiao Fan now felt only a hollow, suffocating heartbreak. It was absurd. It was a complete joke.
"Eh? Xiao Fan, why have you become like this?"
A calm, gentle voice broke through the quiet courtyard. Anyu seemed to finally notice the man hanging outside the unclosed door. A hint of mild surprise crossed his handsome features, especially when his dark gaze drifted downward, sweeping over Xiao Fan's lower half, where dark, dried bloodstains soaked through the shredded fabric.
[Ding! Child of Destiny Xiao Fan feels humiliated and embarrassed. Plundering +9999 Destiny Value!]
Being stared at by that strange, pitying gaze, Xiao Fan's proud head dropped. A suffocating wave of utter humiliation washed over him, burning his cheeks and stinging his eyes. To be seen by his love rival, by his greatest enemy, bearing the fresh, bloody marks of castration—the shame was entirely indescribable.
If he were not securely bound and suspended from the thick tree branch, Xiao Fan would have clawed a hole into the earth just to bury himself.
"Yan'er, Lingyin, what is going on here?" Anyu chuckled inwardly, highly amused by the pathetic sight, but outwardly he turned to the two women with a serious, reproachful expression. "Although Xiao Fan is our enemy, we shouldn't humiliate him like this, should we?"
Lingyin bit her soft pink lip, lowering her head, entirely unwilling to betray Ruyan.
"Hmph, a treacherous ingrate like him deserves exactly this fate." Ruyan stepped forward, planting her delicate hands on her slender hips. She lifted her chin, her beautiful eyes flashing with defiance as if to say, What can you do to me, you scoundrel? "I did it, and I will bear the responsibility alone."
Anyu raised an eyebrow. If this woman wasn't disciplined for a single day, she would immediately cause trouble. She still owed him a certain debt for her reckless behavior.
[Ding! Detected Destined Heroine Murong Jieyu's favorability +1. Plundering +3000 Destiny Value!]
'Young Master Shen's character is truly rare,'Jieyu thought, her heart softening as she watched the exchange.'Xiao Fan is a completely ungrateful wretch who even brought his master here to murder him, yet Anyu still refuses to humiliate a defeated foe. He truly lives up to the reputation of a millennium-old noble family. His upbringing is simply excellent.'
Her beautiful eyes brightened as she looked at Anyu, her affection deepening, while the brief glance she spared for the hanging Xiao Fan was filled with nothing but cold disgust.
Even though Jieyu had practiced medicine for years, possessing a benevolent, kind, and magnanimous heart, she held absolutely no sympathy for a venomous snake like Xiao Fan.
Feeling the heavy, scornful gazes of Jieyu and the other women pressing down on him, Xiao Fan felt even more mortified. After all, in the eyes of Ruyan, Jieyu, and everyone else present, Anyu had just saved his life.
Only Anyu knew the truth. That so-called life-saving grace was nothing but a carefully directed stage play. Without Anyu pulling the strings from the shadows, it would have been completely impossible for Yao Qi, a Half-Step Celestial Master, to severely injure a Child of Destiny.
"Shen Anyu, kill me..."
Xiao Fan's hoarse, broken voice suddenly rasped through the courtyard. He forced his head up, his bloodshot eyes staring intently at the man sitting comfortably inside.
"I've lost. I am utterly defeated. Kill me, and give me a dignified end."
At this moment, Xiao Fan was completely disheartened. Whether in character, background, or raw strength, Anyu had entirely crushed him. Even his master was no match for this monster, and now he himself was a crippled, castrated wreck. How could he possibly turn the tables now?
[Ding! Child of Destiny Xiao Fan feels despair. Plundering +9999 Destiny Value!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Xiao Fan's Dao Heart shows cracks. Plundering +20,000 Destiny Value!]
'Kill you? Is it really that easy?'
Anyu sneered coldly in his mind. If he simply wanted to end Xiao Fan's life, he would have done so long ago using Yao Qi, that highly wanted criminal, as the blade.
Since the Child of Destiny was already firmly trapped in his web, Anyu naturally intended to extract every last drop of his value, draining his destiny until nothing but a dry husk remained. Unless Xiao Fan somehow managed to slip beyond his control, there was no reason to end the game prematurely.
Besides, Anyu had long ago implanted a Super-Nanometer Monitoring Robot onto Xiao Fan's body. He knew the fool's every breath and movement like the back of his hand.
Originally, Anyu had planned to send Xiao Fan into the Baiwu Mountain Valley as convenient cannon fodder to test the traps. But now, he possessed absolute confidence in breaking the grand formation hidden within the valley himself, and his God-Level Perception had not detected any lethal danger. If he let a Child of Destiny explore the path first, an unexpected accident might occur—Xiao Fan might stumble into a miraculous fortuitous encounter and bounce back. That would be a massive loss.
'He still has seven to eight hundred thousand Destiny Value remaining, and his aura is below thirty percent. Once I take down his little girlfriend, Xia Mengmeng, the timing will be perfect. I'll kill him then. Doing it now is just a waste of good resources.'
Anyu had made his final decision. Xiao Fan was merely a grasshopper trapped in his palm, completely incapable of struggling for much longer. If he ever needed him dead instantly, the Divine Blood Curse could end his life from a thousand miles away.
"Xiao Fan, you and I originally had no personal grievances. This is merely the bitter entanglement of the previous generation's grudges. There is no need to extend that ancient hatred to our generation."
"What?" Xiao Fan looked up in sheer astonishment, his pale face twisting in disbelief as he stared at the man sitting across from him.
He never expected Shen Anyu to say such words.
[Ding! Detected Destined Heroine Murong Jieyu's favorability +1. Plundering +3000 Destiny Value!]
'That is so true!'Jieyu gazed intently at the handsome, gentle, and softly smiling Anyu, feeling that this man was flawless in every possible way.'Brother Shen is too kind,'Lingyin thought, biting her lip. She felt a warm rush of affection, though a trace of worry lingered in her chest. In her eyes, a vicious menace like Xiao Fan definitely could not be kept alive.'Is this scoundrel really that kind-hearted?' Ruyan's charming eyes narrowed with deep suspicion. Although her heart was completely tied to Anyu, she knew her man was no righteous saint. He was dangerous, calculating, and incredibly cunning.
"Shen Anyu, what do you mean?" Xiao Fan finally recovered his voice, staring with a chaotic mix of shock and suspicion.
Anyu smiled slightly, his tone remaining perfectly gentle and measured. "Considering the many contributions you have made while serving in the Special Department, I can spare your life today."
Ruyan opened her mouth to protest, but the moment Anyu's dark gaze swept over her, she immediately swallowed her words, muttering bitterly in her heart, You scoundrel, don't get all soft-hearted now, really...
Jieyu and Lingyin exchanged complicated glances. They too felt that releasing a venomous snake like Xiao Fan was highly inappropriate, but they chose to respect Anyu's final decision.
Xiao Fan hung in silence for a long time. The wind rustled the leaves above him as he stared at Anyu with a strange, dark gaze. "Aren't you afraid of letting the tiger back into the mountains?"
Anyu chuckled softly at the question. He leaned back, his posture relaxed, and spoke with absolute, crushing calm.
"Even your master was no match for me. Let alone you, who is now nothing but a cripple."
He met Xiao Fan's trembling gaze.
"Even if your cultivation recovers, what then? You and I are like a mayfly and the vast heavens. We were never on the same level."
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