Chapter 451: A Rich Harvest, A Beautiful Master!
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
The next moment, Immortal Doctor Lu Ran's expression drastically changed as he looked at the scene before him in disbelief.
Those black mists and black claws, upon touching the semi-transparent shield enveloping Shen Anyu, directly shattered into specks of black energy, unable to invade at all.
How could this be? The soul-eroding techniques he'd perfected over centuries, arts that could corrode the will of fellow cultivators, were disintegrating like ash against a sunbeam. His spiritual form trembled, not from weakness, but from sheer, unadulterated shock. A mortal. A mere mortal ant, a creature of flesh and blood with no discernible trace of true Qi, was standing before him utterly unharmed.
What was this shield? It pulsed with a soft, steady light, a barrier that felt less like a technique and more like a fundamental law of this strange mental space. Lu Ran frantically analyzed it, his ancient mind racing. Was there a hidden expert protecting this boy? A master whose cultivation was so profound they could act without revealing a single ripple of their power? Or was it a treasure? A soul-protecting artifact of a grade he couldn't even comprehend?
He sensed nothing. Nothing but the boy's own formidable, but decidedly non-cultivator, mental strength. It was a paradox that clawed at the very foundations of his understanding.
[Ding! Child of Destiny Lu Ran is shocked and horrified, plundering +9999 destiny value!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Lu Ran is in disbelief, plundering +9999 destiny value!]
The robotic chimes echoed in Shen Anyu's mind, a satisfying rhythm accompanying his opponent's breakdown. 'As expected of the God-Tier Soul Shield,' he thought with a faint, internal smile. 'It truly lives up to its name.'
The shield was a bastion of absolute defense, its strength a direct multiplication—a hundredfold—of his own mental power. And with every new conquest, every surge in his own capabilities, the shield grew stronger. His current mental fortitude, honed by countless encounters and bolstered by the System, was already monstrous. Lu Ran's attack, potent as it was for a remnant thought, felt like a child's tantrum against a mountain. The only way the so-called Immortal Doctor could breach this defense was if he somehow regained his peak Foundation Establishment power right here, right now—an utter impossibility.
Confidence wasn't just a feeling for Shen Anyu; it was a calculated certainty. He had never intended to step into this soul trap without an ace. If not for a trump card of this caliber, he never would have rashly touched the white jade thumb ring. He could feel the familiar thrum of his other abilities, dormant but ready. Super God-Level Infinite Teleportation of Love and Super God-Level Sharing were both on standby. With a single thought, he could vanish from this place, leaving the old ghost to his lonely demise. He held all the cards.
His gaze fell upon Immortal Doctor Lu Ran. The ghost's translucent figure was visibly dimmer now, flickering like a candle in the wind. The initial assault with the Tian Yuan Secret Technique Soul Extinguisher Flying Knife had dealt a catastrophic blow. That, combined with his failed follow-up attack, had drained a significant portion of the finite spiritual energy that constituted his remnant thought. He was fading.
Lu Ran felt Shen Anyu's calm, predatory stare land on him, and a cold dread he hadn't experienced in centuries seeped into his very essence. His mind flashed back to his fall. He remembered the blinding light in that secret realm, the accidental touch that had turned his Dao body to dust in an instant. His soul had been shredded, leaving only this pathetic fragment, a wisp of his former self bound to his thumb ring. He had drifted through the chaos of a spatial rift, a cosmic accident that had deposited him in this barren, mortal world.
Years, decades, maybe centuries had passed. The strength he wielded now was less than a hundredth of his peak. And now, this fragment was being cornered by a mortal. A mortal who, with no regard for martial ethics or honor, had screamed the name of his revered master, Crimson Beauty, and used that moment of shock to land a devastating soul attack.
The situation was dire. Utterly, terrifyingly dire.
He watched as Shen Anyu's hands began to move, a faint, sharp energy coalescing between them. A third flying knife. The boy was preparing another one. Panic flared within Lu Ran's spiritual core. He couldn't survive another hit like the first. Yet, even on the brink of annihilation, the pride of a Foundation Establishment cultivator remained. He smoothed his ethereal robes, forced his flickering form to stabilize, and projected an aura of ancient calm.
"Junior," he began, his voice echoing with a contrived resonance. "There are no eternal enmities, only eternal interests."
He let the words hang in the air, a baited hook cast into the void. "If you and I fight to the death, we will surely perish together. Do not think I am without a final, desperate killing move that will drag your soul down with mine."
He paused, observing the boy's reaction. "But what if we turn hostility into friendship? Let this foolishness end. I promise to teach you the true method of cultivation. I will guide you onto the Great Dao. How about it?"
As he spoke, a sliver of his remaining power began to secretly condense within his soul-form, a final, venomous strike he was preparing to unleash the moment the boy lowered his guard. The matter of his secret admiration for his master, Crimson Beauty, was a sacred secret. Its exposure was a minor stain on his own name, but it would be a catastrophic blow to his master's reputation and legacy. He could not allow this mortal to leave this space knowing that truth. For her honor, he had to die.
"Is that so? Turn hostility into friendship?" Shen Anyu's expression shifted. The cold, predatory focus melted away, replaced by a flicker of curiosity, then a blossoming of naked interest. He seemed to be genuinely considering the offer.
At that very same moment, unseen and unfelt by Lu Ran, Shen Anyu quietly activated Super God-Level Sharing. An invisible thread of power stretched across continents, connecting his soul to his wife, Susan, far away in the Imperial Capital. A surge of pure, potent energy flowed into him, instantly replenishing his mental reserves and supercharging the Soul Extinguisher Flying Knife he was covertly brewing. The air in the soul space grew heavy, thick with a power Lu Ran was too preoccupied to notice.
"Of course," Lu Ran declared, his hands clasped behind his back. He stood tall, projecting an image of unshakeable integrity, a grandmaster of the Dao. "I always keep my word. Would I, a dignified Foundation Establishment great cultivator, lie to a junior like you? My word is as solid as a mountain."
"Oh? In that case," Shen Anyu said, his eyes gleaming with what looked like pure, unadulterated greed, "recite the Purple Spirit Sect's inherited cultivation method for me. Let me hear a bit of the Purple Spirit Profound Arts."
Watching the boy's covetous expression, Lu Ran's inner disdain intensified. 'Pathetic mortal.' He sneered internally. So predictable. He'd seen countless creatures like this, so desperate for a taste of immortality that they would abandon everything—family, honor, love. They were insects scrabbling for a single drop of divine nectar, unaware that the path was a merciless trial by fire. How could they ever comprehend the sacrifices required to achieve eternal life?
Still, his killing move wasn't quite ready. He needed to buy another moment. Playing along was a small price to pay.
"Very well, listen closely…" Lu Ran began, casually reciting a few introductory stanzas of the Purple Spirit Profound Arts. It was the authentic text, but it was useless without the corresponding spiritual guidance and Qi circulation diagrams. The sect's inheritance couldn't be leaked, but there was no need to worry about a dead man remembering anything.
But just as Lu Ran was weaving his web of deceit, the entire atmosphere of the soul space snapped.
The interested, greedy look on Shen Anyu's face vanished, replaced by a smile that was all ice and sharp edges. He suddenly laughed, a short, barking sound devoid of all humor.
"But I want the Nascent Soul True Scripture Two-Aspects Life-Death Medical Scripture inheritance Jade Slip even more," Shen Anyu's voice dropped to a chilling whisper. "Old geezer, you should just die."
Before the last word had even finished echoing, he moved.
There was no warning. No transition. One moment he was standing still, the next an eruption of soul-destroying power blasted forward. The Soul Extinguisher Flying Knife he'd been brewing, now supercharged by Susan's shared power, was exponentially more terrifying than the first. It screamed through the void, a blade of pure annihilation aimed directly at Lu Ran's shocked, horrified face.
But that wasn't all.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The buff from Super God-Level Sharing flooded him with seemingly limitless energy. Like a master craftsman, Shen Anyu molded the raw power into one deadly projectile after another. A second knife materialized, then a third, and a fourth, each one more potent than the last.
Lu Ran's centuries of combat instinct screamed. He threw himself aside, barely evading the first knife. It ripped past him, tearing a shrieking fissure in the fabric of the mental world. He hadn't even recovered his balance when he saw the others coming. A storm of them. He stared in absolute terror. This mortal… this damned ant… he could unleash these mental secret techniques continuously? And each one was stronger than the last? He was holding back before? He was being played with!
There was no time to deploy his hidden attack. There was nowhere left to run. The second knife slammed into his shoulder, tearing a huge chunk of his spiritual form away. The third pierced his chest. The fourth and fifth hit him simultaneously, shredding his core.
His remnant thought was ripped to pieces, torn asunder by a relentless barrage of soul-killing force. He could only watch, paralyzed, as his very being was unmade.
Under Lu Ran's unwilling and resentful gaze, Shen Anyu smiled leisurely and spoke, his voice calm and clear over the silent screams of a dying soul.
"Lu Ran, go in peace."
"I will help you pass on the Two-Aspects Life-Death Medical Scripture."
"And don't you worry. I will take very, very good care of your beautiful Master, Crimson Beauty."
"Do not worry."
[Ding! Child of Destiny Lu Ran is extremely unwilling, plundering +66686 destiny value!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Lu Ran is furious to the point of madness, plundering +99999 destiny value!]
"I'm… unwilling…"
The words were a final, desperate whisper from a consciousness on the verge of shattering. Lu Ran couldn't believe it. This was his end? To be utterly annihilated by a mortal he could have erased with a single breath at his peak?
His existence fractured, and his past flashed before him like a revolving lantern. He saw his induction into the sect, the grueling hours of cultivation, the thrill of breakthroughs, the faces of rivals he had crushed. But one image returned again and again, clearer than all the others. The face of his master. That exquisitely beautiful, immortal-like figure, her grace like a celestial crane, her voice like a mountain spring. She was the one who led him onto the Dao, who patiently taught him the sect's profound arts. A hundred years had passed in the blink of an eye under her guidance, and in the end… in the end, he had still failed to form a Golden Core. He had failed her.
"Master… Lu Ran has disappointed you…"
With a light, final sigh that carried the weight of a lifetime of regret, Immortal Doctor Lu Ran fell into eternal silence.
[Ding! Child of Destiny Lu Ran's Soul scattered, plundering +4,200,000 destiny value!]
[Ding! Lu Ran has fallen, destiny value cleared to zero, Child of Destiny halo shattered, lost Child of Destiny status!]
The system prompts faded, leaving a serene quiet in their wake.
"Twelve million destiny value… finally getting over four million from this one. That's not bad."
Shen Anyu wasn't disappointed in the slightest. Letting the remnant thought of a Foundation Establishment cultivator live, no matter how weakened, was asking for trouble. It was a threat that needed to be permanently neutralized. Keeping him alive could have led to countless unforeseen complications. It was better this way. Clean.
Besides, the destiny points were just the appetizer. There was a far greater prize.
A complete Nascent Soul True Scripture. The Two-Aspects Life-Death Medical Scripture!
Shen Anyu's mental power surged. From where Immortal Doctor Lu Ran's remnant thought shattered, a Jade Slip shining with purple-gold radiance fell into his hand…
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