Chapter 480: My Husband is Amazing!
Shen Anyu looked at Wine Sword Immortal Nie Yun, who had his hands spread out in a carefree manner, and a smile flickered in his eyes as he chuckled, "In that case, if Senior loses again, you will serve me for ten years and provide all sorts of fine wines. How about it?"
Ten years was a masterfully calculated duration. Any longer, and a free spirit like Nie Yun would have refused without a second thought, his pride and love for an untethered life taking precedence. You couldn't expect to shackle a figure of his stature with just the promise of good wine. Even if Shen Anyu had the power to beat him into submission, a man like the Wine Sword Immortal, who walked the line between life and death with a sword in one hand and a gourd in the other, wasn't afraid of dying.
Most people feared death. Nie Yun was not one of them. His only attachments in this world were his blade and his bottle; without them, life held little meaning. Threats were useless. Furthermore, Shen Anyu had his own timeline to consider. In a decade, with his monstrous rate of growth, he likely wouldn't even spare a second glance for someone at the peak of the Heavenly Human realm, or even a nascent Land Immortal. By then, he envisioned himself breaking through to the Golden Core Stage, perhaps even touching the profound mysteries of the Nascent Soul Stage, or a plane of existence beyond mortal comprehension.
But there was another, deeper purpose to this wager. Shen Anyu was taking a page from Long Hao's playbook: making a strategic investment for future returns. The fact that Long Hao, a Child of Destiny, had actively sought out Nie Yun proved that the Wine Sword Immortal was on the cusp of a major breakthrough. He was a rising stock, destined to ascend to the Land Immortal stage. By binding such a figure to his side now, Shen Anyu wasn't just gaining a powerful subordinate; he was securing a source of destiny, a high-yield asset whose fortune he could plunder to fuel his own meteoric rise.
"Serve you for ten years?"
The words hung in the air, heavy and restrictive. Wine Sword Immortal Nie Yun's carefree expression tightened. He was a man who lived by the whim of the wind, a wanderer accustomed to absolute freedom. Even as the nominal Sect Master of the Wine Sword Sect, he hadn't set foot in his own sect for a decade, preferring the open road and a life unburdened by responsibility. Ten years of service sounded like a prison sentence. It was the antithesis of the carefree, easy existence he cherished.
And yet... the memory of the wine Shen Anyu had offered him sent a jolt through his soul. It felt as though a thousand tiny wine worms were writhing in his stomach, a deep, insatiable craving that clawed at him from within. He was a man who practically wished he'd been baptized in alcohol in his mother's womb. He had been drinking for forty years, tasting countless famous vintages across the land, but nothing—nothing—had ever come close to the divine nectar he'd just experienced. If he refused this gamble, he knew with absolute certainty he would never taste it again.
As for simply taking it by force? The thought was beneath him. The Wine Sword Immortal might be morally flexible, a rogue who walked his own path, but he was still a man of the Dao. He had principles.
Seeing the conflict warring in the older man's eyes, Shen Anyu's smile widened, becoming sharp and predatory. His voice, smooth as silk, carried a subtle, cutting edge. "Does Senior think he will lose? Are you admitting, here and now, that your sword Dao cannot match my own?"
It was a blatant provocation, and Nie Yun knew it. But knowledge did little to dull the sting. After the fine wine that ruled his heart, the sword was his entire existence. It was his pride, his soul, his religion.
'Admit that my sword Dao is no match for his?'
The thought was sacrilege.
A deep breath shuddered through Nie Yun's chest. The indecision in his eyes was burned away, replaced by a blazing inferno. He fixed his gaze on Shen Anyu, his voice low and resonant. "Alright, young man. Nie Yun will take that bet!"
"Words are not enough," Shen Anyu replied instantly, his charming smile returning in full force. "Let's put it in writing."
'Put it in writing?' Wine Sword Immortal Nie Yun almost laughed. For men of their caliber, a promise was an oath. If he intended to honor it, no paper was needed. If he intended to break it, no contract in the world could bind him. It was an amusingly mortal gesture.
But in the next moment, the amusement vanished from his face, replaced by a profound shock that rocked him to his core.
Shen Anyu's fair fingers, elegant and slender, began to trace patterns in the empty air. As they moved, trails of crimson light bled into existence, weaving together to form faint, blood-colored runes that pulsed with a sinister, otherworldly energy. Nie Yun didn't recognize the strange, wicked symbols, but he understood their meaning on an instinctual level. The air grew heavy, thick with a power that was both ancient and malevolent.
This was no mere written agreement. This was a supernatural contract, a binding oath whose violation would bring consequences too dire to imagine.
Shen Anyu was weaving this devil's pact with his God-level Blood Curse Technique. It was a one-sided monstrosity. Unless his opponent's strength vastly surpassed his own, there was no resisting its power. Anyone who dared to violate its terms would not only suffer a miserable death by the curse, but the malevolent energy would travel through their bloodline, annihilating their relatives up to five generations. Of course, Shen Anyu conveniently left these finer details out of the visible script. In truth, the contract was a trap, requiring only a drop of the target's blood to activate the curse's conditions. Even if the other party never broke the terms, Shen Anyu held the power to trigger the curse at will.
The God-level Blood Curse Technique was not as explosively powerful as the one-time-use Divine Rank Curse Talisman he possessed, but it was his own innate ability. It could be used repeatedly, growing stronger and more terrifying as his own cultivation deepened.
"Good heavens... young man, you're a Spell Master too?"
Seeing this arcane display, even the widely-traveled and worldly-wise Wine Sword Immortal was visibly staggered. He reeled, trying to process the impossible reality before him. The physical power Shen Anyu had just displayed was on par with, if not superior to, the legendary Dragon Elephant Zen Master of the Great Vajra Temple. His mastery of the sword Dao had already reached the Heavenly Human realm, a feat of genius in itself. And now, this… this was the esoteric art of a Spell Master.
Nie Yun stared at Shen Anyu's youthful face, a face that couldn't be a day over twenty, and felt his perception of the world fracturing. How could such a monster exist? To achieve the Heavenly Human stage in physical conditioning, sword arts, cultivation, and spellcraft at such a tender age... Was this creature even human? Nie Yun himself was hailed as a peerless genius in the martial world of Yanxia, but standing before Shen Anyu now, he felt like a child. The comparison was so vast, so utterly demoralizing, it was infuriating.
"My husband is also a Spell Master?"
"Senior is actually a Spell Master?"
"Brother Master is so amazing!"
At that moment, Liu Ruyan, Ye Liyou, and Yang Luoluo were completely swept away. Their eyes shone with a mixture of adoration and sheer awe, their hearts pounding in their chests. Their man had once again shattered their understanding of what was possible. If their favorability scores hadn't already been maxed out, they would have undoubtedly skyrocketed into the stratosphere. Their man was simply too brilliant, too outstanding!
'Shen Anyu... a Spell Master??'
From his position on the ground, Long Hao's eyes were the only part of him that could still move. His gaze was vacant, his mind a blank slate of despair as he watched the blood-red runes dance in the air. Shen Anyu's power had long ago surpassed his wildest nightmares. Initially, he had dismissed him as nothing more than a decadent, dissolute young master from the Shen Family, a man whose only asset was his powerful background. He had held onto the hope that once the Lord of Youming Hall, Ye Yan, arrived, everything would be set right. He had fantasized about that moment, a moment when he would make Shen Anyu and Su Hongmian kneel and beg for forgiveness, a moment of savage, satisfying revenge.
But now, that fantasy had crumbled into dust. Long Hao finally understood. Shen Anyu wasn't just powerful; he was a terrifying, multi-faceted monster whose depths were impossible to fathom. Cultivation, sword Dao, physical might, and now spellcraft... it was a degree of power that defied all logic.
'Shen Anyu? A Spell Master?'
Ye Linyuan, who had been watching the drama unfold from a safe distance, felt a sudden, visceral chill crawl up his spine. His expression twisted in horror.
He could never forget that day. The day he had happily left the deep valley after a meal of hotpot and a round of karaoke, planning to reunite with his beautiful senior sisters, only to be ambushed. The artillery barrage that had turned the earth into a cratered hellscape was terrifying enough. But the true horror had come after—the talisman, the curse that had ripped his cultivation from his very bones and regressed his body to that of a child, transforming him from a handsome, heroic youth into a pint-sized detective.
For a terrifying second, he thought he was looking at the same curse. But as he focused, he breathed a small sigh of relief. There were subtle differences. The curse that had crippled him had been woven from dark red, almost black energy. The runes Shen Anyu was conjuring were a brighter, fresher shade of blood.
The relief was fleeting, however, quickly replaced by a sour, curdling displeasure. He hadn't expected Shen Anyu to be not only a Heavenly Human expert but also a practitioner of the dark arts.
'Damn it, did this Shen Anyu start cultivating in his mother's womb?!' Ye Linyuan thought, his mind steeped in acid. He had always considered himself a genius, reaching the Great Grandmaster realm before the age of twenty. But compared to the man before him, he was nothing. The gap was a chasm.
The sight was made infinitely worse as he watched his Second Senior Sister Liu Ruyan, his Fourth Senior Sister Ye Liyou, and his Little Sister Yang Luoluo—three of the goddesses of his heart—gazing at Shen Anyu with eyes full of worship and absolute admiration. The jealousy and envy that erupted in Ye Linyuan's heart was a poison too potent for words.
[Ding! Child of Destiny Ye Linyuan has generated feelings of envy, jealousy, and hatred. Plundering +9999 Destiny Points!]
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