Chapter 65: Rebirth as the Great Villain (3) |
In the distance, a pair of enormous hands tore the void apart. From the profound darkness emerged two figures.
One was an old man with snow-white hair, a sword strapped across his back. He radiated authority without needing to speak. The other appeared as a middle-aged man, hands folded within his sleeves, eyes narrowed to slits that glinted with a bone-chilling sharpness.
The moment they appeared, the smile on Venerable Verdant Waves's face froze.
"Third Elder of the Gu Clan, Gu Yixian. Fifth Elder, Gu Hou!"
Two Nirvana Realm Venerables had arrived together.
Su Chen's expression lit up with joy. He hadn't expected his grandfather in this life to be so decisive—he had even summoned another Nirvana Realm expert.
Gu Hou, the Fifth Elder of the Gu Clan, was Gu Yixian's trusted confidant, personally promoted by him over the years.
"Verdant Waves Palace, you truly have some nerve daring to interfere in my Gu Clan's affairs! The person my Gu Clan wants dead is not someone your Verdant Waves Palace can protect!"
Gu Yixian let out a cold snort. White frost instantly spread across the sea's surface, racing outward in layers.
Under the combined gaze of two Nirvana Realm Venerables, Venerable Verdant Waves felt his heart sink, yet he refused to yield even half a step.
"I said it once: I am protecting young friend Lin Zhan. You cannot destroy the Spirit Fox Clan, and you cannot kill him—unless you step over my corpse first!"
At that instant, the void shattered like glass. An overwhelming, world-overturning power surged outward, sweeping across the entire Verdant Waves Sea Region.
To clear every obstacle from his grandson's path, Gu Yixian was prepared to annihilate every living being in the Verdant Waves Sea.
Su Chen couldn't comprehend what kind of charisma Lin Zhan possessed that made one powerhouse after another willingly sacrifice themselves for him. But none of that would shake Su Chen's determination to kill him.
Lin Zhan's bloodshot eyes locked onto Su Chen. He watched protector after protector fall before him. When the woman who had saved his life collapsed in a pool of blood, he finally lost all reason. He roared in fury, "Gu Chen, Lin Yue'er! As long as I, Lin Zhan, live, I will repay you a thousandfold—no, ten thousandfold!"
Su Chen's killing intent flared openly. "Lin Zhan, all of this is your own doing. I gave you chance after chance. If you hadn't insisted on becoming my enemy, none of them would have died!"
Those near-murderous words struck Lin Zhan like a dagger to the heart. He coughed up a mouthful of blood in rage.
The Fox Clan Leader let out a furious roar. Burning everything he had, he charged straight at Su Chen. Countless attacks intercepted him, tearing his flesh to ribbons. Even reduced to a mangled remnant, he still pressed forward, determined to reach Su Chen. But that final, dying strike was blocked by a massive hand.
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It was Gu Hou who had intervened.
Gu Yixian held Venerable Verdant Waves in place, freeing Gu Hou to act.
"Uncle Gu, no more words—kill him now!"
Su Chen urged Gu Hou, terrified that further delay would bring another twist.
Gu Hou nodded. With a casual lift of his hand, the entire Spirit Fox Mountain suddenly seemed insignificant before him. One Spirit Fox Clan expert after another was crushed in an instant. Even some Gu Clan guards who hadn't retreated in time were caught in the aftermath. It seemed the whole mountain would be obliterated beneath that single palm.
Lin Zhan was shaken unconscious on the spot. The scene was an absolute victory. But just as Lin Zhan and the entire Spirit Fox Mountain were about to vanish—A burst of seven-colored radiance erupted from Lin Zhan's chest.
A cube-shaped object appeared, then shattered in midair. It transformed into a pillar of heavenly light that pierced both sky and earth, enveloping Lin Zhan's body and carrying him straight out of the domain into the void beyond.
Gu Hou reached out to intercept, but the moment his palm touched the beam, it aged rapidly and began to decay. Alarmed, he immediately drew a blade and severed his own rotting arm. He could only watch helplessly as Lin Zhan's body vanished into the distant starfield, hurtling toward an unknown destination.
Seeing Lin Zhan escape like that, Su Chen nearly broke down.
"This is bullshit! Even cheats don't work this way—it's just too unfair!"
He had summoned the clan's highest combat power. Victory had been within reach. Even Lin Zhan himself had probably given up hope. Yet at the last moment, an invincible trump card erupted from within him and whisked him away.
Who could Su Chen possibly appeal to for justice? His heart bled.
Gu Hou's expression was also grim. He spoke in a low, heavy voice. "A saint-grade artifact… That boy actually had a saint-grade artifact inside him capable of autonomous revival. But an artifact that revives on its own has its aura exposed. A mere Spirit Soul Realm cultivator carrying such a treasure is like a child wandering the night market with a bag of gold. Nephew, don't worry. Once he leaves the Northern Desert and enters the outer starfield, it won't be long—perhaps only a few months—before major clans out there hunt him down and seize the artifact."
Su Chen gave a bitter smile. If it were really that easy to kill him, Lin Zhan wouldn't have escaped in the first place. The growth rate of a Child of Destiny was truly enough to drive anyone to despair.
After a long silence, Gu Yixian returned holding three severed heads. When he learned that Lin Zhan had ultimately escaped, a rare flicker of unease passed through his heart.
Two Nirvana Realm Venerables had acted together, with half the Gu Clan's forces mobilized in full strength. Such a terrifying display of power had somehow allowed a mere Spirit Soul Realm junior to slip away.
"Verdant Waves Palace dared to stand against my Gu Clan and shelter our wanted fugitive. Then let us wipe out Verdant Waves Palace first. The world will remember that though the Gu Clan has declined, we are still not a force that any stray cat or dog can provoke!"
Gu Yixian's gaze turned glacial. In his view, if not for Verdant Waves Palace's interference, how could a trivial Spirit Soul Realm cultivator have possibly escaped?
Under his command, both Verdant Waves Palace and its thirteen affiliated races were completely annihilated within a single month.
After leaving a detachment of Gu Clan warriors to occupy the Verdant Waves Sea Region, Gu Yixian led the rest of the clan back home.
Having failed to kill Lin Zhan, Su Chen felt deeply frustrated. That frustration soon turned into frenzied cultivation. He refused to face Lin Zhan again, only to be treated as cannon fodder. Their enmity could only end in one of their deaths—coexistence was impossible.
Deep in his heart, Su Chen had a premonition: Lin Zhan would not perish in the outer starfield. One day, he would return to the Northern Desert.
Not long after, new information reached Su Chen. His grandfather, Gu Yixian, had been impeached by the Council of Elders. He had mobilized more than half the clan's guards on a personal whim, an action that made even the clan leader wary.
If Su Chen had succeeded in killing Lin Zhan, the gains would have more than offset the cost. But he had failed, and Lin Zhan had escaped. No one cared whether the boy possessed a fully awakened saint-grade artifact. All they saw was that the Gu Clan had gone to enormous lengths—only for a Spirit Soul Realm junior to slip through their fingers. It was an utter disgrace.
"I'm afraid the Myriad Demon Sanctuary has already begun applying pressure from within the clan as well."
After all, the Verdant Waves Sea Region nominally fell under the Myriad Demon Sanctuary's domain.
Su Chen straightened his robes and flew straight toward the Elders' Hall.