Chapter 567: Call Me Master
"You..." Bai Bing's gradually closing phoenix eyes suddenly snapped open. She stared at the figure approaching leisurely under an umbrella, her expression a mask of pure disbelief. It was Shen Anyu. He had actually come.
Was she dreaming?
"Call me Master." Shen Anyu's voice was low as he looked down at her, the dark fabric of the umbrella shielding them both from the soft, pattering drizzle.
"Heh..." A faint, airy laugh escaped her lips. "I'm... about to die. Why would I care about any Master...?"
The familiar coldness of indifference and the sharp edge of her usual sarcasm had melted away, replaced by a raw, defiant spirit. She felt the last vestiges of warmth seeping from her body, her limbs turning to ice, but she still managed a chuckle. Lifting her fair, delicate chin, she met Shen Anyu's gaze with a flicker of playful arrogance, her eyes glinting with a final, mischievous spark.
"You idiot... You lost. You lost big this time... That Heavenly Human Breakthrough Pill... the Divine Rank contract... all of it, completely wasted." She let out another weak laugh, the sound almost swallowed by the rain. "Heh... You really are a useless man. Your precious investment went bankrupt, didn't it?"
Shen Anyu remained looking down at her, his expression unreadable for a moment before his gaze softened with an unexpected gentleness. The sharp, calculating edge he usually wore was gone, replaced by something far more disarming. He asked softly, his voice a low murmur beneath the patter of rain, "Does it hurt a lot?"
Bai Bing's eyes flickered, her stubborn gaze refusing to break from his. A captivating blush crept up her pale cheeks, a stark contrast to her usual icy demeanor. She seemed more annoyed than cold now, avoiding his direct gaze even as her words remained stubbornly sharp.
"Hurt? Why would it hurt? I couldn't be happier. My mother's revenge is complete. The Bai Family is gone. And soon, I'll be dead too. I won't have to be your maid, humiliated by some disgusting Master. I won't have to fall into that dangerous place... When I think about all that," she added with a forced lilt, "I'm simply overjoyed~"
Shen Anyu simply continued to watch her, his gentle eyes seeming to see right through her facade.
"No way? No way? No way?" The blush on her beautiful face deepened into a frustrated crimson. "You wouldn't actually be reluctant to let me go, would you? That's just disgusting."
"Or... are you just broken up about your failed investment?" she sneered. "Hehe, it's all gone up in smoke now..."
As she spoke, she couldn't help but take a sharp, ragged gasp of air. The faint blue capillaries beneath her translucent skin pulsed visibly, and her slender hands clenched so tightly her knuckles turned bone-white. The potent poison and the insidious curse from the Bai Family Ancestor's needle were now rampaging through her system, a searing inferno consuming her from the inside out. The pain was excruciating.
Bai Bing was in too much agony to even lift her head. It bowed low, her long lashes shadowing the cold disdain that usually filled her eyes. In a voice barely above a whisper, she suddenly murmured, "Idiot, I'm about to die..."
As if fueled by a final burst of life, a deeper blush flooded her pale face. Her phoenix eyes seemed to sparkle with renewed clarity, and her words became more fluent. She gave Shen Anyu one last, deep look, all traces of mockery gone, as if desperately trying to engrave his image into her memory before the end.
Immediately after, her head drooped. Her pride could no longer sustain her. All her strength vanished, and her body began to crumple beside the tree. In a single, fluid stride, Shen Anyu closed the distance and swept her up into his arms.
"All that's left of her is that stubborn mouth," Shen Anyu chuckled wryly, looking down at the unconscious girl. Curled up in his arms, trembling from the pain, Bai Bing was no longer the sharp, cold assassin. She was like a pitiful little beast, wounded and vulnerable.
With her consciousness faded, the defiance was gone, leaving only her soft, delicate body. It was unnervingly cold to the touch, her body temperature plummeting as her vitality dwindled to a thread.
"The Sword Immortal's breakthrough to Land Immortal just occurred, and the return on that investment was a pleasant surprise. Thankfully, I made it in time, otherwise this would have been a real loss."
Shen Anyu's eyes glinted. Bai Bing had launched her assault on the Bai Family while he was in seclusion, breaking through to the Land Immortal realm. He hadn't even fully stabilized his newfound power, but the nanometer monitoring robots he had placed on her had alerted him instantly, allowing him to rush over and arrive in the nick of time.
Without hesitation, Shen Anyu gently parted Bai Bing's cold, crimson lips and slipped several Vitality Pills inside, planning to take her back for proper treatment.
"Bai Bing, oh, Bai Bing. Meeting me was the greatest fortune of your life. Do you have any idea how much suffering you've avoided?" Shen Anyu murmured, tucking a stray strand of black hair behind her ear. He revealed a delicate, slightly pointed ear and chuckled softly, his breath warm against her cold skin.
Had he not intervened, Bai Bing's path of revenge would have been paved with unimaginable hardship. And had she fallen into the Main God Reincarnation Space, she would have faced trials that would have broken even the strongest souls. Given her temperament, aptitude, and luck, if she had been allowed to fall to darkness, she would have undoubtedly become a terrifying, villainous female Devil Head.
Of course, Bai Bing knew none of this. If she were conscious, she would never lie so docilely in his arms. She was a wounded beast—sharp, vigilant, and dangerous. Only in unconsciousness did she appear peaceful. But Shen Anyu was confident. He would tame this beautiful, ferocious beast.
Soon, Shen Anyu boarded a private jet. He flew Bai Bing back to a luxurious villa in Hangzhou, where he began meticulously treating her injuries.
Looking at Bai Bing, lost in a deep slumber like a sleeping beauty, a smile flashed in Shen Anyu's eyes. He quietly left the room, closing the door behind him.
'If she wakes up and realizes I meticulously treated her—both inside and out—she'll surely be very moved, won't she?' he thought with a private smirk.
Shen Anyu made his way to the villa's expansive living room. There, Du Zhao, the new Sect Leader of the Wan Fa Sect, had been waiting respectfully for quite some time.
"Young Lord, the Bai Family's assets have been fully inventoried," Du Zhao reported, his head bowed.
Waste was not a good habit, after all.
As a top-tier assassin family that had prospered for nearly three centuries, how much wealth had the Bai Family accumulated? While perhaps slightly less than the Wan Fa Sect, it was still a vast and staggering fortune. Bai Bing couldn't care less about such worldly things, but as her Master, Shen Anyu felt it was his duty to collect it on behalf of his female slave.
Shen Anyu settled leisurely onto the sofa as Du Zhao began his report. He listed off the Bai Family's various assets: cash reserves, gold bullions, priceless jewelry, ancient antiques, and a portfolio of liquid and fixed assets so immense its value was equivalent to two or three of Hangzhou's richest men combined.
Unwittingly, the fortune of Hangzhou's wealthiest man had become a mere unit of measurement for Shen Anyu.
And that didn't even include the special items valuable to transcendent powerhouses: caches of blood-burning potions, an arsenal of rare and deadly poisons, and even venoms capable of harming Heavenly Human experts.
All these items combined were worth more than a single Heavenly Human Breakthrough Pill. Excluding the Divine Rank master-servant contract, Shen Anyu's investment had already paid for itself with handsome interest.
Leaning back on the sofa with his legs crossed, Shen Anyu listened to Du Zhao's deferential report, his mind already drifting.
He was truly starting to enjoy the spoils of war.
The Sect Leader and the entire upper echelon of the Wan Fa Sect had been annihilated by his cheap father-in-law, Zhang Tianen, and the sect had fallen neatly into his hands.
The top assassin family, the Bai Family, had been wiped out by Bai Bing, and all their wealth now belonged to him.
Shen Anyu barely had to lift a finger or get his hands dirty. He simply followed in the wake of destruction and scooped up all the spoils for himself.
Adding this to what he had previously acquired from the Netherworld Palace, the War God Alliance, Blood Skull, the Dragon King Society, and others, Shen Anyu's personal wealth had unknowingly surpassed that of Yanxia's Shen Clan.
'Indeed, raiding families is the quickest way to accumulate wealth. Rob the rich to help the poor...' Young Master Shen mused, a predatory gleam in his eyes. 'No wonder those great heroes in the stories were always rolling in money. How could they not be rich if they're constantly liberating assets from the wicked?'
A restlessness began to stir within him. His great sword, designed for raiding families, was practically thirsting for action.
Next, should he raid the Martial God Hall, or the Tianshi Sect?
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