Yi Shanjin’s words made Jiang Wuhen’s face fall on the spot.
Well, well, well. Just wonderful!
Who the hell told you to take matters into your own hands and send someone after Lin Ziyan?
Lin Ziyan’s fate might be unstable, but she was still the daughter of fortune.
Besides, he had just promised Xiao Chen that three years of bodyguard service would buy Lin Ziyan’s freedom.
At a moment like this, you go and send an assassin after Lin Ziyan?
This was not good!
Chances were high that he’d end up losing the mule he was chasing and the horse he rode in on, pushing Xiao Chen fully into the enemy camp.
Then it would be the tired old plot of the son of fortune slaughtering the villain.
Truth be told, most villains died because their dumb subordinates thought they were being clever.
For a moment, Jiang Wuhen’s expression darkened with fury.
“Damn it! Who gave you the right to send an assassin after Lin Ziyan!”
“Call them back! Now!”
Jiang Wuhen said urgently.
At these words, Yi Shanjin, who had been expecting praise and a reward, stood frozen.
“Imperial Son, no one else will ever know about this, and I guarantee it was clean and thorough, without a shred of evidence…”
Yi Shanjin tried to explain, but Jiang Wuhen waved him off.
Stop planting flags like that, you idiot!
“You fool. Do you not understand my words?”
“Call them back at once! If anything happens to Lin Ziyan, I’ll have your skin!”
Jiang Wuhen roared.
When things were put that plainly, Yi Shanjin finally realized this wasn’t business as usual.
“Please calm yourself, Imperial Son. This subordinate… will handle it right away!”
With that, he scrambled away in a panic.
Jiang Wuhen watched his miserable, fleeing figure and frowned slightly.
Loyal enough, but he loves playing the smart one. Keeping him around, he’ll cause me trouble sooner or later.
I’ve heard the third elder on the council of elders intends to build a specialty spirit plant plantation in the extreme northern frozen wastes of the Eastern Divine Immortal Domain. She needs a reliable manager.
Yi Shanjin would be a good fit.
A man like that deserved to be shipped off to Siberia to dig potatoes!
But for now, Jiang Wuhen’s real concern was that Lin Chen at the Yaoguang Sacred Ground.
This Lin Chen is almost certainly another son of fortune.
Facing an unknown son of fortune, I can’t be too careful. Three days to digest the fortune I already have on hand, then I’ll go meet this Lin Chen.
Meanwhile, I’ll have the shadow guards look into Lin Chen’s background…
…
Heavenly One Immortal Sect. Welcoming Immortal Pavilion.
In an exquisite, luxurious cultivation chamber, Lin Ziyan rested for several days. With the aid of spirit pills and medicines, her severe injuries had fully healed.
But her spirits remained low.
Jiang Wuhen controlled the azure nether sword casket, had created the nether god sword prison, and defeated her using the sword dao she was most proud of.
Every frame of that battle, every word Jiang Wuhen had spoken, was branded into her mind, impossible to purge.
Not far away, Yun Lan watched and sighed helplessly.
“This defeat has made Jiang Wuhen into Ziyan’s inner devil.”
“If she can’t walk out from her inner devil, her achievements in this life may stop right here…”
Yun Lan murmured.
This battle had been long in the planning by the Divine Maiden Sect, meant to build Lin Ziyan’s name and prestige.
But no one expected Jiang Wuhen to have even more power hidden up his sleeve.
Lin Ziyan slowly rose, walked to Yun Lan’s side, and said evenly, “Senior Sister, my injuries have healed. It’s time to fulfill my promise and go to Jiang Wuhen’s side as his maidservant…”
“You don’t need to go. He’s already released you from that obligation. He won’t make you his maidservant.”
Yun Lan stated plainly.
At these words, Lin Ziyan froze.
“What? How is that possible!”
“With Jiang Wuhen’s character, how could he let me off so easily? I don’t believe it!”
Lin Ziyan’s delicate brows furrowed in disbelief.
“There’s nothing impossible about it. Xiao Chen pleaded on your behalf, and Jiang Wuhen let you go.”
“I just don’t know what price that boy Xiao Chen paid for it… sigh…”
Yun Lan sighed softly.
“Xiao Chen…”
At the mention of his name, a flicker of displeasure passed through Lin Ziyan’s beautiful eyes.
“Hmph. Who does he think he is? What right does he have to plead for me!”
“I’m going to find Jiang Wuhen right now and get to the bottom of this!”
Lin Ziyan said, already heading for the door.
“Stop!”
Yun Lan’s sharp command halted her.
“Jiang Wuhen has released you. What more do you want from him?”
“Don’t tell me… you actually want to be his maidservant.”
Yun Lan said sternly.
Hearing this, Lin Ziyan fell silent for a moment.
Then, almost as if moved by some unseen force, she nodded.
“Senior Sister, I want to be his maidservant. I want to stay by his side!”
“But it’s not because I have feelings for him. It’s… because I want to defeat him!”
“Only by staying at his side can I keep my fighting spirit at its peak and my will to battle alive.”
“Only at his side can I truly understand him. Know myself and know my enemy, and only then… defeat him!”
“Besides, I… don’t want to owe Xiao Chen a favor…”
Lin Ziyan bit her lip and spoke firmly.
Yun Lan studied her for a long moment, then sighed inwardly.
“This is your dao, the path you’ve chosen. I have no right to interfere.”
“But have you truly thought this through?”
Yun Lan asked.
“Senior Sister, my mind is made up. Please tell Shizun that I will return to the Divine Maiden Sect the day I have purged my inner devil completely!”
Lin Ziyan knelt on one knee and bowed respectfully to Yun Lan.
Then she turned and walked away.
Watching Lin Ziyan’s receding figure, Yun Lan shook her head helplessly.
I hope everything goes as this child wishes, rather than… sinking deeper.
…
Three days flew by.
During those days, Jiang Wuhen used the 738,000-plus villain points he had on hand. First, he spent 200,000 villain points to advance the nine revolutions emperor devil art to its fourth revolution. His emperor devil tyrant body underwent a new awakening as well.
The emperor devil tyrant body’s advancement triggered a massive surge across all his physical attributes.
His mastery of the double pupils and the supreme bone rose to another level.
Next, he spent 30,000 and 500,000 villain points respectively to exchange for the double pupil talents: divine light of destruction and chaos domain.
Divine light of destruction was the ancient double pupils’ simplest and most brute-force offensive talent, channeling spirit origin into the double pupils to unleash a divine light imbued with destructive force.
Simple and crude, perhaps, but its power was anything but negligible.
Chaos domain, on the other hand, used the double pupils as a conduit to command the momentum of heaven and earth, transforming an entire space into chaos. Within the chaos domain, all of an enemy’s attributes would be suppressed. Jiang Wuhen, meanwhile, would thrive like a fish in water.
This shifting balance granted Jiang Wuhen extraordinary ability to fight above his level.
But with that, the villain points he had harvested so frantically over the past few days dwindled to pocket change.
“I still have one lucky grand draw chance…”
Draw!
Jiang Wuhen thought to himself.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have obtained one of the Primordial Ten Fierce Treasure Arts—Qilin Step!]
[Qilin Step: One of the Primordial Ten Fierce Treasure Arts. Cultivated to the peak, a single step can shatter the stars of the heavens. It is divided into four stages: Initial Entry, Minor Accomplishment, Great Accomplishment, and Perfection. Mastering Qilin Step grants Initial Entry. Advancing to Minor Accomplishment requires 300,000 villain points. Advancing to Great Accomplishment requires 1,000,000 villain points. Advancing to Perfection requires 3,000,000 villain points!]
The system notification rang out, and Jiang Wuhen nodded inwardly.
A primordial ten fierce treasure art. Not bad.
“Next, cultivation level!”
There were no shortcuts in cultivation.
He could only spend the remaining few thousand villain points to exchange for the hundredfold comprehension halo.
Until three days later—
[Jiang Wuhen]
[Identity: Imperial Son of the Heavenly One Immortal Sect!]
[Cultivation: Divine Martial Realm, Fourth Layer!]
[Physique: Emperor Devil Tyrant Body (Fourth Layer)!]
[Cultivation Art: Nine Revolutions Emperor Devil Art (Fourth Revolution; advancing to the next revolution requires 800,000 villain points)!]
[Fortune: Supreme Bone, Invincible Double Pupils, Dragon Fortune Bestowal…]
[Divine Armaments: Azure Nether Sword Casket!]
[Divine Abilities & Martial Skills: Azure Nether Sword Prison, Flying Dragon Cloud Exploring, Illusory Dragon Roaming, Qilin Step, Heavenly One Sword Finger, Emperor Arrival Fist, Furious Dragon Thirteen Stances…]
[Villain Points: 7,823]
Jiang Wuhen studied his status panel and nodded inwardly.
With my current strength, even facing an ordinary life and death realm expert, I can hold my own.
As he thought this, he turned his head slightly toward the direction of the Yaoguang Sacred Ground.
“The Yaoguang Sacred Ground… seems about to reach its limit.”
“It’s about time I set out…”
Just as Jiang Wuhen prepared to leave, urgent knocking suddenly came from outside the hall.
“Jiang Wuhen, open this door!”
“Don’t hide in there and pretend you’re not home! I know you’re in there!”
“Jiang Wuhen, you had the nerve to take me as your maidservant but you don’t have the nerve to open the door?!”
“Open the door, open the door, OPEN THE DOOR!”
