Inside Zhang Lin's residence, the light of the spirit lamp flickered dimly. The dancing flame cast slow-moving shadows against the stone walls. The surrounding air was so quiet that only the sound of his breathing could be heard.
The black ring on his middle finger trembled slightly. Fragments of spiritual energy gathered in front of him, slowly condensing until they formed the shadowy figure of a middle-aged man. His face was deathly pale, his clothes torn and worn. The aura of life around him was faint, as if it could vanish at any moment.
Zhang Lin looked at the figure calmly before speaking in a sincere voice.
"Senior… may I ask what your name is?"
Silence lingered for a moment.
Then a deep, hoarse voice emerged from the ring, sounding as though it had passed through countless ages.
"My name is… Chen Tian."
The voice was weak and low. There was no pride, no hope. Only exhaustion remained.
"And from now on, what will you do?" Chen Tian asked in return. "Do you have any plans?"
At that very moment, darkness spread outward from the entrance of the room, swallowing everything in an instant. The spirit lamp went out. The air turned icy cold. Footsteps echoed from within the shadows.
A figure slowly emerged from the void.
A man clad entirely in black, a metal mask covering half his face. The instant he saw Chen Tian, he dropped to one knee.
"Greetings, Lord Chen Tian."
His voice carried genuine reverence.
"Young Master Wang Teng of the Wang Clan has sent me to deliver an offer to you."
"He can provide you with everything. Resources, authority, and even…"
The man paused briefly before continuing in a firm voice.
"The Immortal Peach Blossom Dynasty."
Chen Tian narrowed his eyes.
"My young master is also willing to dispatch all available forces to assist you in your revenge, as long as you are willing to accept certain conditions."
Chen Tian fell silent. The emptiness in his gaze slowly gave way to wavering emotion.
"Someone from the Wang Clan… is that so?"
Before anyone could respond, the man in black raised his hand slowly. Dark crimson energy gathered in his palm, forming a pure red flower. Nine petals overlapped like scales of blood. An ancient aura spread outward, causing the entire room to heat up instantly.
Chen Tian's eyes widened at once.
"The Eternal Blood Sovereign Flower?"
His voice trembled slightly.
"You speak the truth?"
The man in black nodded. Then he raised his hand again. A contract scroll drifted out from the void. Black characters resembling flowing blood writhed across its surface as if alive.
With utmost respect, he extended it forward.
Chen Tian accepted the contract without hesitation and opened it to read in front of Zhang Lin. Meanwhile, Zhang Lin merely sat there in silence, showing no intention of stopping him in the slightest.
Suddenly, laughter erupted.
"Hahahahaha!"
Chen Tian laughed wildly. His voice trembled with madness, causing the surrounding spiritual energy to churn violently.
"This is clearly a devil's contract."
He clenched the scroll tightly in his hand.
"But… if it allows me to take my revenge, then even if I must trade away everything… take it all!"
The moment his words fell, Chen Tian's figure rushed straight toward the crimson flower in the black-clad man's hand. He did not spare Zhang Lin even a single word of farewell. The aura of blood collided with spiritual power, releasing a muffled explosive sound.
The man in black bowed politely.
"You will not regret choosing my young master."
Then he turned to Zhang Lin. His gaze was filled with undisguised contempt.
Zhang Lin simply smiled faintly and raised his hand in a casual wave. For some reason, the departure of all three souls made him feel strangely relieved.
However, that relaxed gesture enraged the man in black. It felt as though this boy were mocking him directly to his face.
"Someone as useless as you, who cannot even enter the Zhang clan's main lineage," he spat coldly.
"In the end, you are nothing more than an ordinary genius. You will never stand against the truly powerful."
Zhang Lin clapped softly.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Wow, that's impressive," he said with a wide grin. "One day, I hope I can be half as foolish as you."
The veins on the man's forehead bulged instantly. He spun around in fury, ready to teach the insolent brat a lesson.
But in the very next moment, his expression changed drastically.
"This is bad!"
His body retreated violently, vanishing into the void almost at the same instant.
Boom!
A terrifying sword wave tore through the space he had been standing in. The stone floor was split apart like thin paper. If he had been even a single breath slower, he would have been reduced to fragments.
A woman's voice sounded from behind.
"You are not hurt, are you? Earlier, the Third Elder suddenly summoned me because of Wang Teng."
Zhang Lin smiled and turned to bow slightly.
"I am fine, Elder. Thank you for your concern, Supreme Elder."
At the same time, within Zhang Lin's mind, Zhang Wen's voice echoed.
"So you really are a candidate for the position of Holy Son. Why does your private residence have people coming and going like a public restroom?"
Zhang Lin chuckled softly and replied inwardly.
"I am starting to wonder the same thing myself."
...
...
At the same time, inside Wang Teng's private chamber, the young man lay sprawled across the bed, embracing several women in indulgent pleasure.
Suddenly, space itself裂 open. A black-clad man, his body grievously injured, collapsed to his knees the moment he emerged.
"Young Master… I did not fail you… I have brought back Lord Chen Tian's soul…"
Before he could finish speaking, fresh blood burst from his mouth and chest.
Wang Teng sat upright and took the crimson flower into his hand. His eyes shone with an icy glint.
"Go and recover."
The man in black hurriedly bowed before vanishing from the room.
At that very moment, a cold voice echoed within Wang Teng's consciousness.
[Seized an immortal-level soul from Zhang Lin.Plundered the luck of the Son of Destiny.Reward: 500,000 Villain Points.]
Wang Teng smiled faintly, then casually returned to playing with the women on his bed.
Meanwhile, atop the mountain peak where Gu Lanyue resided, the atmosphere was so silent it felt as though the entire world had stopped turning.
She sat alone by the stone balcony, her gaze fixed blankly upon the sky, as if trying to peer through the layers of clouds in search of an answer even she could not comprehend. The cold mountain wind swept through her long hair, yet it could not cool the burning turmoil in her chest.
At that moment, a thin line of crimson blood slowly seeped from her nose.
It was not an injury from battle, but the backlash of forcing her mind far beyond its limits. Her vision blurred slightly, her temples throbbing as though they might split apart at any moment.
[Zhang Lin's luck has increased by xx,xxx,xxx,xxx points.]
Gu Lanyue's entire body went ice-cold.
What is happening now…
She could not understand the situation before her at all.
She stared numbly at the blue system panel. She did not know the exact number it concealed, but she was certain of one thing.
It was unimaginably enormous.
"System…"
Her voice was so faint it was barely audible.
"System…"
She called out again and again. Her breathing became uneven, her lips turning pale.
After a long moment, a reply finally came.
[I am here, Host.]
"What is going on…" Gu Lanyue asked softly, her voice trembling. "Why has his luck increased to such an absurd degree?"
The system fell silent for an unusually long time, as if processing something that exceeded the limits of its own understanding.
Then it replied in a tone that had never appeared before.
[I… I do not know either, Host.]
[Since the day I was created, I have never encountered a phenomenon like this.]
[All calculations, causal backtracking, and fate inspections have completely failed.]
[I… I cannot comprehend it either.]
That answer made Gu Lanyue's heart sink straight down.
Silence enveloped the space once more.
She clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging into her flesh until blood seeped out, yet she felt no pain at all.
"Then…"
Her voice trembled beyond control.
"If… if I summon people from the Greater World to capture him right now, would it still be in time…"
The system remained quiet for a moment, as if hesitating greatly, before replying slowly.
[I advise… that you do not do that.]
Gu Lanyue immediately raised her head.
[At this moment, Zhang Lin has become an existence whose fate even I can no longer analyze or define.]
[Therefore, the mission to hunt Zhang Lin has been automatically canceled.]
[From now on, I will be unable to provide any notifications or information related to him.]
Her heart jolted violently.
[I advise the Host not to interfere with him during this period and to hunt other Sons of Destiny instead in order to increase your strength. Within the Chaotic Sacred Land alone, there are many Sons of Destiny.]
[But there is no need for you to worry too much. Although his luck has surpassed all limits of perception, his strength may not increase at the same pace. At worst, you can retreat back to the Gu main clan if an unforeseen situation occurs. I believe the Gu clan should be able to handle it.]
[In my estimation, even if you were to summon an Immortal Emperor ancestor to obliterate this entire small world right now…]
[I believe… there would still be tens of thousands of reasons allowing him to survive.]
Those words struck her mind like a heavy hammer.
Gu Lanyue collapsed weakly onto the ground, her eyes staring blankly at the distant sky beyond her reach.