Chapter 566: Shen Anyu: I Never Make a Losing Deal!
At this moment, amidst the complex gazes of the Bai Family members, Bai Bing let out a sickly laugh, a laugh so manic, so unrestrained.
Bai Bing's chilling, unhinged laughter caused Bai Wuqing's expression to subtly darken. The surrounding Bai Family members fell as silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to breathe a word. When had anyone in the Bai Family ever dared to be so audacious, so utterly presumptuous in the presence of their Ancestor? The air grew thick with a tension that could be cut with a knife, every clan member frozen in a mixture of terror and disbelief.
Bai Xingzhi stared at Bai Bing, his mind reeling. 'My daughter… when did she grow to be so formidable?'
A ghostly image surfaced in his memory—that of a delicate and beautiful woman, Bai Bing's birth mother. His feelings twisted into a complicated knot. She had been nothing more than a plaything, a beautiful trinket. When the Ancestor had decreed her death, he had simply allowed it to happen. He hadn't expected the woman, her organs pierced and her life bleeding away, to still fix her pleading eyes upon him. He remembered with sudden, stark clarity how she had crawled across the cold stone floor, leaving a long, sickening trail of blood, her last gasping words begging him to protect their daughter, Bai Bing.
Bai Xingzhi had paid her no mind. He had turned away. He had assumed that under the Bai Family's brutal Gu-raising method—where children were forced to fight and kill each other for resources—the frail-looking Bai Bing would never survive. But she had. Against all odds, she had emerged victorious, time and time again, clawing her way to the top to become the most outstanding prodigy of her generation.
And now, she had achieved Heavenly Human Unity, standing as an equal before the Ancestor himself. Her Aura, a razor-sharp blade of pure killing intent, was not the least bit inferior to the old man's suffocating pressure.
'Was the Bai Family… wrong?' A rebellious, terrifying thought took root in his mind.
"Hehehe… return to the Bai Family?"
Bai Bing's laughter died, replaced by a chilling void. Her eyes, as cold and sharp as shards of ice, locked onto the Bai Family Ancestor, Bai Wuqing. "This filthy, cold-blooded family," she declared, her voice resonating with absolute conviction, "has no reason to exist."
"You've just broken through to the Heavenly Human stage, and you think your wings are strong enough to avenge your mother?" Bai Wuqing scoffed, his gaze dripping with disdain. "Foolish girl. You would abandon the position of the future Bai Family Patriarch for a woman who was no more than an ant?" He shook his head in contempt. It was just as he thought. The half of her that carried that foolish, lowly bloodline had made her shortsighted and stupid. To give up ultimate power just to throw her life away? Pathetic.
Bai Xingzhi and the other family members stared with wide, uncomprehending eyes. The Ancestor's conditions were beyond generous. He wasn't just willing to turn hostility into friendship, wiping the slate clean of her past crimes of assassinating clan members; he was offering her the future leadership of the entire family. Any one of them would have groveled, would have kowtowed and eagerly accepted such a magnanimous offer.
But Bai Bing was still hell-bent on revenge?
She took a deep, centering breath. The world seemed to narrow to the space between her and the old man. With a slow, deliberate scrape of metal, she drew the longsword from her waist. The polished steel caught the dim light, a sliver of judgment in the oppressive gloom. She leveled the tip directly at Bai Wuqing.
"Bai Bing requests the Ancestor to die!"
Bai Wuqing's lips twisted into a contemptuous smile. "You just achieved your breakthrough and you immediately rush here for revenge? Your foundation is shallow, your power unstable. How can you possibly compare to the centuries of cultivation this Ancestor possesses?" His eyes glinted with a cruel, predatory light. "After I capture you, you can still be of use. Your bloodline is strong. You will have value for the Bai Family, breeding the next generation."
"Kneel before this Ancestor!"
Before the final word echoed through the courtyard, Bai Wuqing moved. His body blurred, and a surging tide of Martial Path True Essence erupted from him. It coalesced in an instant, forming a colossal handprint several zhang wide that blotted out the sky. It descended with crushing force, the very air groaning and distorting under its immense pressure as it clawed fiercely towards Bai Bing.
Her response was not a retreat, but an explosion of light. A dazzling sword gleam erupted from her blade, sharp and brilliant as a lightning bolt tearing through the fabric of a starless night. It was a silver comet of pure, unadulterated will, ripping apart everything in its path. With indomitable resolve, her sword slashed upwards, a defiant rebellion cutting against the overwhelming tide of power.
Amidst the shocked gasps of the Bai Family members, the two forces met. There was no thunderous boom, only a horrifying, grinding shriek as the brilliant sword light tore directly into the True Essence handprint, shredding it from the inside out. The resulting shockwave was not a gust of wind, but a physical wall of force. The fierce, chaotic Qi from the collision detonated outwards. The Bai Family members closest to the epicenter didn't even have time to scream. They simply… bloomed. Their bodies exploded into crimson mists and splashes of gore, dozens of Grandmasters suffering heavy casualties in a single, horrifying instant.
"Retreat! Retreat now!"
Bai Xingzhi's face went pale with terror. He and the other surviving Bai Family members scrambled back, their expressions masks of horror and utter disbelief. He felt a searing pain on his arm; a stray sliver of Qi had sliced through his protective aura and his sleeve. As a Peak Grandmaster, he could barely withstand the mere aftershocks of their battle. Looking at the bloody gash, a deep, lingering fear seized his heart.
Deafening rumbles now reverberated through the air. The sharp, blinding sword light and the surging waves of True Essence clashed in a brutal, unending torrent. The ground beneath them was torn asunder, great fissures splitting the earth. Chunks of bluestone were ripped from the ground and flung into the air like shrapnel. Massive, ancient trees were severed at their trunks, their canopies crashing down with earth-shattering finality. Bai Xingzhi and the others retreated again and again, their feet stumbling, until they were well over a hundred meters away, watching the cataclysmic duel unfold.
Their gazes were fixed on Bai Bing, who was locked in a furious battle with the Bai Family Ancestor, not falling into a disadvantage for even a second. The shock in their hearts was indescribable.
Bai Wuqing was even more horrified. His mind reeled in disbelief. 'Impossible! I am a late-stage Heavenly Human expert! I have stood at this peak for a century! How can she, a mere fledgling who has just entered this stage, fight me to a standstill?'
Such prodigy-level talent was not just rare; it was terrifying. A cold, venomous wariness coiled in his gut. If he did not eliminate her today, right here, right now, he feared that when Bai Bing's power fully matured, the one who would undoubtedly die would be him.
A ruthless glint flashed in Bai Wuqing's eyes. As he parried another blindingly fast sword strike, his other hand moved subtly. A small, black tube, no bigger than his thumb, slid from his sleeve into his palm. This was one of his ultimate trump cards. One twist, and thousands of poisoned needles would erupt. These needles were not only as fine as ox hair and laced with a paralyzing, flesh-rotting venom, but he had also paid a great price to have the Master of Myriad Dharma Sect personally imbue each one with a malicious curse. They were specifically designed to break through a warrior's Protective Aura, to catch an opponent completely off guard. They could even kill a Heavenly Human expert.
Taking advantage of a momentary stalemate in their exchange, Bai Wuqing unleashed his trap. With a faint hiss, a dense, overwhelming black cloud of ox-hair-thin poisoned needles shot forth, enveloping Bai Bing in a lethal storm.
Seeing this, Bai Bing not only showed no sign of panic, but a cold, knowing sneer touched her lips, as if she had anticipated this all along. Instead of dodging, she advanced. Her longsword, moving even faster than before, drew a luminous arc that cut against the flow of the battle. It blurred past the storm of needles and swept across Bai Family Ancestor Bai Wuqing's neck, drawing a perfect, crimson line from which a string of blood beads flew.
They separated in an instant, their figures crossing paths.
"You..." The Bai Family Ancestor clutched his throat, blood seeping between his fingers. He stared at Bai Bing, his eyes wide with disbelief. He had never expected her to not dodge, to instead advance into the teeth of his ultimate attack.
"I had already investigated your every trump card," Bai Bing sneered, her voice laced with contempt. "Your dirty dealings with the Wan Fa Sect could never be hidden from me." If not for that, she never would have made that trip to the Wan Fa Sect's hidden base.
At that moment, as her True Essence flared, Bai Bing's black robe tore open from the impact of the needles. It revealed not skin, but a graceful and delicate body clad in form-fitting soft steel armor, its interlocking scales gleaming like a serpent's hide.
Those fine, ox-hair-thin needles, specifically crafted to bypass a martial artist's Protective Aura, were stuck uselessly in the metal, unable to penetrate.
The Bai Family Ancestor's eyes looked as if they were about to split from their sockets. The next moment, before he could even process his failure, more than ten dazzling sword lights converged on him from all directions. A final, blinding flash, and his body was directly cleaved into pieces.
"Old geezer… you're finally dead." Looking at the dismembered corpse of the Bai Family Ancestor, Bai Bing's indifferent eyes finally showed a slight ripple of emotion. She then turned her ice-cold gaze upon Bai Xingzhi and the others. "And you... every last member of the Bai Family... you all deserve to die!"
Screams followed… It was unknown how much time had passed.
A light drizzle fell, washing away the blood.
Bai Bing leaned against the base of a large tree. Her originally fair jade-like face was now tinged with a bluish-black. Looking at the needle punctures on her arm, Bai Bing's eyes were calm.
To prevent the Bai Family Old Ancestor from noticing, the soft steel armor only protected her torso, preventing her from losing strength quickly, but her arm had been struck. The potent venom and curses swept through her, and, exhausted, she could no longer hold on.
"All Bai Family members deserve to die, including me!"
"What a pity, I can't turn that man into a male servant now~"
Before her death, Bai Bing's consciousness blurred. She didn't know why, but she thought of that handsome, mischievously smiling figure. Perhaps, that was the only warmth she had ever felt.
Gently touching her lips, Bai Bing suddenly smiled.
"He made a loss. The Heavenly Human Breakthrough Pill, consider it the price for that kiss."
"I never make a losing deal."
Drizzle, fine rain scattered. Footsteps on the bluestone floor sounded rhythmically and softly. The rain and footsteps, along with a clear and melodious male voice, a young man with a handsome and heroic appearance, holding an umbrella, walked over with a smile~
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