Volume 1, Chapter 239 – Laying the Cards on the Table

Before the words had even finished, an extra figure had already appeared in the reception hall. It was none other than Shi Feng, whom she had seen not long ago.

Shi Feng was still dressed in that same black brocade robe. In just a few short days, his strength had advanced yet again. Faint blade-light flickered in his eyes, and the invisible force field around him was as sharp as a blade, like a cold saber drawn from its sheath, its edge fully revealed.

“The Sacred Martial Immortal Sect opened the Sacred Martial World the day before yesterday and brought all the true disciples, along with a number of inner sect disciples, into it. You came one step too late.”

“How did you get in here?”

Shi Lan frowned, rose to her feet, and spoke in an unfriendly tone.

After Shi Feng had left last time, Shi Tianlu had given orders throughout the residence: anyone who had not been announced was forbidden from entering, even if they were from the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect.

Since she had received no notice, Shi Feng had clearly not come in by the proper route.

Shi Lan did not like any uninvited guest who dared enter her home without permission. Shi Feng was no exception.

The instant Shi Lan spoke, Shi Feng reined in his sharpness and slowly raised a hand. In his palm, tightly gripped, was a black token engraved with the character “Shi.”

“Though I entered the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect, the Patriarch never took back my token. I am still a shadow guard of the Shi family.”

Seeing Shi Lan’s expression, Shi Feng shook his head and explained himself. He had indeed entered by relying on the token, not by trespassing.

In truth, Shi Tianlu had never taken back Shi Feng’s token simply because he had forgotten.

A true disciple of the immortal sect and a mere shadow guard—anyone who was not a fool knew the difference between those two identities.

Shi Tianlu simply had never imagined that there would come a day when Shi Feng would take up his identity as a shadow guard again.

Shi Lan stared at the token in silence for a moment, then suddenly lifted an arm and made a grasping motion through the air.

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Shi Feng reacted instantly. His back tightened, and he abruptly drew back nearly a zhang.

Riiip—

A somewhat grating tearing sound rang out as Shi Feng’s sleeve split apart, revealing the white combat outfit beneath.

The sudden turn of events left Gu Rentong and his grandson speechless for a moment. Wu Lingkong was briefly stunned, then cast Shi Feng a rather thoughtful glance before slowly lowering her eyes.

It would not be a good thing if word got out that the Demon-Suppressing Army had taken the initiative to attack someone from the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect. She could only pretend she had seen nothing.

“What do you mean by this?”

Shi Feng glanced at his torn sleeve, lowered his hand, and clenched the token in his fist. What Shi Lan had just done had very obviously been an attempt to take the token.

“Father is in seclusion. The Shi Residence is under my temporary authority now.”

Shi Lan lightly rested a hand on the Qiankun Bracelet, her gaze calm as she said,

“Since you have already entered the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect, then those past affairs should be cut off cleanly. Leave the token behind and leave this place. From now on, you and the Shi Residence will be severed in one stroke.”

“Severed in one stroke…”

Shi Feng murmured Shi Lan’s words, bitterness spreading in his mouth.

He had sat in meditation for several days and nights before finally making up his mind, condensing blade intent and tempering himself into a sharp blade whose edge was fully exposed. For the sake of that vision in his heart, he had left the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect without hesitation.

Shi Feng had thought he would never waver again, yet that resolve was utterly shattered by Shi Lan’s simple sentence—severed in one stroke—like a thin sheet of paper torn apart in an instant.

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“Why…”

Shi Feng steadied his mind and barely restrained the thoughts that had nearly collapsed before slowly speaking.

“In this world, there are not that many whys. More often than not, things are simply as they should be. The ending we have now was actually decided long ago.”

Shi Lan shook her head slightly, her expression somewhat complicated. She had already made up her mind to cut through the chaos with a quick blade and put a full stop to this matter.

Between Shi Feng and herself, there was only ever destined to be a farce with no possible ending.

If one insisted on tracing it back to the root, then all one could say was that it had been a cruel twist of fate.

Looking at the complicated expression on Shi Feng’s face, Shi Lan slowly closed her eyes. True qi flowed into her heavenly aperture as she activated Heaven’s Eye Qi-Sight.

A pillar of fortune almost taking the shape of a dragon coiled behind Shi Feng and entered Shi Lan’s sight.

Back in Tenglong City, when Shi Lan had first obtained Heaven’s Eye Qi-Sight, she had already known that Shi Feng’s life was destined not to be ordinary, and that she herself would become entangled with him.

At the time, she had not taken it seriously. First, her horizons then had been limited and her vision too short-sighted. Second, the chain connecting the two of them had been utterly insignificant compared to Shi Feng’s fortune.

But now, that pale blue chain connecting Shi Lan and Shi Feng, bound to the pillar of fortune, had undergone a heaven-shaking change.

The chain had swelled almost a thousandfold, clamping Shi Feng’s fortune down with layer upon layer wrapped around it, so densely that there was no end in sight.

Thread after thread of misty, indistinct light invisible to the naked eye spilled out from the pillar of fortune, only to be devoured by the chain in an instant and ultimately fed back into Shi Lan.

At this moment, cracks had already begun to appear faintly on Shi Feng’s pillar of fortune.

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Over the past two years, Shi Lan had been devouring Shi Feng’s fortune all along, though she herself had known nothing of it.

Seeing this somewhat terrifying scene before her, a slight ripple stirred in Shi Lan’s heart-lake, but it calmed again in an instant.

Shi Lan had never anticipated this situation, but some time ago she had already begun to harbor suspicions.

With Shi Feng’s fortune, it should have been very difficult for an ordinary person to kill him. Even if someone’s cultivation far exceeded his, they would still fail at the critical moment for one reason or another, simply because his life was not meant to end.

This was the mysterious, ineffable working of fate.

Yet after meeting Shi Feng several times recently, Shi Lan had noticed something was wrong. She had an inexplicable intuition that she had more than enough confidence to defeat Shi Feng easily, or even kill him.

That feeling had no clear basis, and appearing in relation to Shi Feng made it even more unusual.

The only possible explanation was that something had happened to Shi Feng’s fortune.

What she now saw before her was clear proof that her guess had been correct.

…

…

Shi Lan withdrew Heaven’s Eye Qi-Sight, opened her eyes, and looked at Shi Feng with cold indifference.

Seeing that cold gaze, Shi Feng drew in a deep breath and was about to speak when a voice transmission suddenly sounded in his ear.

“Shi Feng, Shi Lan died two years ago.”

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Two years ago…

Died…

That single voice transmission was like a bolt from a clear sky, like a thunderclap splitting open the chaos in Shi Feng’s mind.

Memory after memory erupted from the depths of his mind, linking together. Shi Feng had never been so clear-headed before. It was as though he had suddenly seen the truth.

All of Shi Lan’s incredible changes, as well as her drastic change in temperament, suddenly had the most reasonable explanation possible…

Shi Feng’s breathing gradually grew ragged. His eyes were full of disbelief, with a trace of despair hidden within them.

Shi Lan’s expression remained calm, but her eyes were full of deeper meaning.

To Shi Feng in that moment, it looked as though she were telling him:

“Your suspicions are all correct…”

Bloodshot veins instantly filled Shi Feng’s eyes. Shi Lan’s familiar face and voice now fell on his sight like the most terrifying demon of all, ready to devour a man whole.

Shing—

A pitch-black horizontal saber instantly appeared in Shi Feng’s hand. Without the slightest pause, the blade came flashing from its sheath, dragging out a dazzling spray of sparks as blazing Earth Fiend true qi roared upward.

Boom!