Chapter 485: The Strongest Son of Destiny, Like a Ghost!
In Long Hao's memory, there was the name of Jiangbei Master Chen. His rise was incredibly swift. A Master Chen suddenly appeared in Jiangbei, quickly subduing the underground dark forces in various parts of Jiangbei, gaining widespread fame. Later, he even fought the strongest expert in Southeast Yanxia, Lin Shiqiang, and emerged victorious. Shen An, of course, knew of Lin Shiqiang; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say his name was like thunder. He was one of the top ten, even consistently ranked in the top three, experts in Yanxia. Twenty years ago, he was at the Peak of the Heavenly Human realm, and after twenty years of secluded cultivation, many speculated he might have broken through to the Land Immortal realm.
Lin Shiqiang's real name was Lin Zhen, but the world called him Lin Shiqiang because he was proficient and exceptionally strong in all ten aspects: boxing, palm techniques, sword techniques, spear techniques, leg techniques, saber techniques, staff techniques, archery, movement techniques, and footwork, hence the title 'Ten-Strong Heavenly Human'. This wasn't merely a title; it was a reputation forged in blood and steel over decades of unchallenged dominance. To be a master of one discipline was a life's work. To achieve grandmastery in three was the mark of a prodigy. But to reach the absolute apex in ten separate martial disciplines was a feat that bordered on the monstrous. It meant his combat adaptability was nearly perfect, with no discernible weaknesses for an opponent to exploit. He was a walking fortress of martial knowledge.
And this Master Chen, a nameless phantom who had materialized out of thin air, had defeated such a legend. Shen Anyu felt a cold certainty settle in his gut. This Jiangbei Master Chen was, with ninety-nine percent probability, a protagonist. And not just any protagonist—he was a powerhouse, a top-tier threat. The Qinghe Sect was founded by this very individual, and in the span of a little over a year, it had exploded in influence, becoming a force to be reckoned with.
Yet, Long Hao's memory contained nothing more. It was a gaping void. The information stopped abruptly after the sect's founding. It was as if this Master Chen was a brilliant comet streaking across the night sky—his ascent was blindingly fast, but his disappearance was even more sudden, leaving only a lingering afterglow of rumor and fear.
"This one requires special attention." Shen Anyu's expression turned grave, the faint light of the basement glinting in his dark eyes. A cold premonition slithered through his mind. He suspected this wasn't just a simple case of a lucky young hero. This had the distinct stench of a powerful entity reborn, a veteran soul hiding in a new vessel, far more dangerous and cunning than that arrogant brat Ye Linyuan. 'Is his background in cultivation? Or something even more esoteric, from a higher-level fantasy world?'
As if to confirm his suspicion, his Divine-grade Perception pulsed with a subtle, insistent thrum—a silent alarm warning him of an anomaly, a piece on the board that didn't belong.
…
Wei Yunteng, the talented college student. Zhao Hao, the number one wilderness survival streamer. Tang Kun, the extravagant food delivery tycoon. The Jing River Corpse Fisher. The Southern Border Goddess. And finally, Jiangbei Master Chen.
These six names floated in Shen Anyu's mind, each a potential storm on the horizon. They were the most critical pieces of intelligence he had ripped from the fractured landscape of Long Hao's psyche. As for the others mentioned in the memories, they were familiar faces, overlapping with the roster of protagonists he had already identified and, in some cases, neutralized: Ye Linyuan, Chu Yun, and Yan Lingxiao.
Furthermore, Shen Anyu possessed knowledge of other, more subtle Sons of Destiny that Long Hao was completely oblivious to. Figures like Wei Yun, the unassuming assassin bodyguard, and Lin Xiang, the campus-based youth, had yet to make their grand debut on the world stage. It wasn't hard to imagine why. Individuals like them operated in the shadows or within mundane circles, their powers still gestating, causing no significant ripples that would attract the attention of a high-profile figure like Long Hao.
'It's entirely possible,' Shen Anyu mused, a finger tapping rhythmically on the arm of his chair, 'that there are dozens more out there, hidden away, biding their time. Or perhaps they are simply so far removed from Long Hao's sphere of influence that he never even heard a whisper of their existence.'
After all, following his public humiliation when his engagement was broken, Long Hao had sealed himself in his room for two and a half years. His life had devolved into a pathetic cycle of playing video games, watching streams of dolled-up female influencers, and diligently practicing his ancestral solo arts. It was a cesspool of wasted potential that Shen Anyu found almost physically painful to witness.
"Soul-searching is truly not an easy task…" Shen Anyu pressed his fingers against his temples, a dull ache spreading behind his eyes. He felt a wave of dizziness, the world tilting slightly. A person's memories were a vast, chaotic ocean of information, a lifetime of experiences, thoughts, and sensory data compressed into neural pathways. Even with his current strength at the seventh level of the Qi Refining Stage, forcibly navigating and extracting specific information from that maelstrom was strenuous.
The psychic strain was immense. It was like trying to find a single grain of sand on an endless beach while being battered by waves of useless data. And the vast majority of it was the mind-numbing refuse of Long Hao's shut-in life—the flickering screens of digital battlefields, the vapid chatter of online personalities, and the repetitive, lonely rituals of his self-pleasuring. The sheer volume of this mental garbage was an assault on Shen Anyu's refined senses.
Fortunately, he had interrogated Long Hao beforehand, which gave him specific targets to look for. This allowed him to focus his psychic probe, cutting through the noise and significantly improving the efficiency of the extraction.
'Perhaps later, when I reach the Foundation Establishment Stage, or the Golden Core, or even the legendary Nascent Soul realm, my Divine Soul will strengthen exponentially. My Divine Sense will become a blade, capable of dissecting a mind with a single thought.'
Shen Anyu's gaze fell upon Long Hao. The former Son of Destiny was now a drooling, slack-jawed imbecile, his eyes vacant, the light of consciousness extinguished by the brutal intrusion into his soul. Shen Anyu shook his head, a flicker of disdain crossing his features. He raised a hand and flicked a single finger. A spark of nameless, colorless fire leaped from his fingertip. It landed on Long Hao's shoulder not with a hiss, but with an unnerving silence. There was no heat, no smoke, only a quiet process of unmaking. The fire consumed flesh, bone, and soul with absolute efficiency, and in the space of a single breath, Long Hao was reduced to a fine pile of grey Ash on the floor.
Thus, Long Hao, the reborn investment-type Child of Destiny, was utterly and completely extinguished, erased from existence without a trace.
Subsequently, a single, cold order was issued from Shen Anyu. The Long Family of Sichuan, a clan that had stood for generations, also disappeared. Not just their influence, not just their wealth—the entire family, from the patriarch down to the most distant cousin, was wiped out with surgical precision, leaving nothing behind but empty mansions and unanswered questions. They were all neatly taken care of.
…
"As for those six prominent figures," Shen Anyu murmured to himself, his mind already shifting gears, the brutal acts of moments ago forgotten, "I will dispatch my people to investigate and monitor them directly. For the more dangerous ones, I'll probe cautiously through indirect means. Plan before acting. Intelligence is the priority."
A chilling smile touched his lips. "And at the critical moments… I will personally intervene."
He leaned back, the tension from the soul search finally dissipating, replaced by a deep sense of satisfaction. This harvest had been truly abundant. The information Long Hao had provided was invaluable. Most Sons of Destiny, in their early stages, were like dragons hidden in the abyss—dormant, untraceable, giving off no clues to their future greatness.
But once they encountered their fortuitous opportunity—be it a forgotten legacy, a golden finger, a System, or the memories of a past life—their rise was terrifyingly swift. A moment of inattention, a slight miscalculation, and a harmless guppy could swell into a world-devouring leviathan, too powerful to be easily shaken. This was especially true for the System-users and the reincarnated powerhouses. One day they were a tender sapling; the next, a towering tree whose roots had already sunk deep into the bedrock of the world.
"However…" Shen Anyu's brows gradually furrowed. A shadow passed over his handsome face as he contemplated another, more significant matter. There was a glaring omission in Long Hao's memories.
There was absolutely no information related to the Main God Reincarnation Game.
Shen Anyu had scoured every corner of Long Hao's mind, sifting through years of data, but found nothing. Not a single mention, not a single anomalous event that could be traced back to it.
"Logically speaking, for something like the Main God Reincarnation Game, leaking any information should result in immediate erasure by that great light sphere or whatever entity runs the show." Shen Anyu recalled the audacious thief who had dared to infiltrate his own Jiangjing Manor. That man, a Reincarnator, had possessed abilities like Wall-Penetrating and Invisibility—powers that defied conventional martial arts. He also wore a black wristband, a device Shen Anyu had wisely left untouched.
"But there should still be some clues, shouldn't there? People who suddenly gain extraordinary abilities would inevitably cause an impact on society." Just like that thief who broke into his home, not every Reincarnator who gained power would be a law-abiding citizen. Murder, robbery, theft—these would be commonplace. More exaggerated acts wouldn't be surprising either. Someone might gain overwhelming power and decide to rebel, to carve out their own nation. Such events would leave scars on history.
Shen Anyu's expression grew increasingly solemn.
"Either Long Hao simply failed to notice that kind of information, which is highly unlikely given his access as a reborn individual."
"Or… the power of the Main God Reincarnation Game is beyond my current imagination. It might be capable of widespread consciousness alteration on a global scale, making ordinary people—and perhaps even people like Long Hao—inherently ignore or forget such information."
Shen Anyu leaned heavily towards the latter possibility. The thought sent a chill through him that had nothing to do with the basement's temperature. A power that could edit reality itself was a terrifying prospect.
"Still, there's no need to worry needlessly. If the Main God Reincarnation Game truly caused an indelible, major impact—like an entire country disappearing overnight or a continent vanishing from the maps—there would be abnormalities and clues left behind that even it couldn't erase." He reasoned, calming his thoughts. "Furthermore, the game is supposedly still in its testing phase. Each test lasts at least several months. The Reincarnators don't grow that quickly, either."
His thoughts sharpened, his confidence returning. "Most importantly, it all comes down to one's own strength."
A low, eerie chuckle echoed in the stone-walled basement.
"If I'm strong enough, I'll just find that damn Main God's great light sphere and punch it square in its mouth!"
His manic laughter, filled with unbridled arrogance and ambition, bounced off the cold walls. After a long while, the laughter subsided, and Shen Anyu reined in his thoughts, his mind clear and a new, comprehensive plan already formed.
First, and most importantly, was cultivation. He had to become stronger. The grand undertaking of planting tens of millions of acres of trees in the Great Northwest Desert Gobi was paramount, a massive investment that would yield a torrent of life force returns. This would fuel his cultivation of the Nascent Soul True Scripture, the Two-Aspects Life-Death Medical Scripture, and the mastery of his Divine Ability, the Two-Aspects Life-Death Mystical Light.
Second, he would continue to hunt the Children of Destiny and their Destined Heroines. He would plunder their destiny value and push the limits of the Destiny Plunder System, testing its functions for draws and attribute point allocation until he understood its every secret.
Third, he would empower his own people: his women, his family, and his subordinates. They were not just assets; they were powerful extensions of his will, and they too could provide him with investment returns. Shen Anyu was no lone wolf. He stood at the apex of a vast family power that could be fortified even further, and he had numerous Destined Heroines under his command who were intelligent, talented, and eminently worthy of cultivation. The Asura Demon King, Chu Yun, for example, had been crippled by his Aunt An Zhiyue before he even had to lift a finger. Luo Yuhe, presiding over the Dragon King Society in Jinling, was flourishing under his guidance.
"A Destined Heroine is favored by the world's destiny. Her aptitude is naturally remarkable. Whether it's martial arts or cultivation, the potential value is immense."
"However," he thought with a slight frown, "at present, aside from my core Nascent Soul True Scripture and the Two-Aspects Life-Death Medical Scripture, I possess no other cultivation methods to impart." It was far too inconvenient, and dangerous, to reveal such a fundamental technique. He would wait until he acquired other, suitable cultivation methods in the future. For now, they would have to content themselves with martial arts.
Ding-a-ling!
Just as he was finalizing his plans, the sharp, sudden ring of his phone cut through the silence of the basement. After answering the call and listening for a moment, Shen Anyu raised an eyebrow…
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