Volume 1, Chapter 474 – Reckoning

“Shi Lan? How did she end up here?”

“I heard she was originally from the Chengtian Domain. She has likely come back to return home this time.”

“When did she get involved with King Xuan?!”

The divine senses of Heaven-Man experts still lingered between heaven and earth. When they saw Shi Lan’s figure, all of them were somewhat startled.

“No, wait. She stepped into the Heaven-Man Realm?!”

The aura of the laws winding around Shi Lan’s body was completely undisguised. The powerful fluctuations of her blood and qi stirred the entire void. An invisible force field spread outward like a domain.

That sort of strength had already far surpassed ordinary Heaven-Men.

“A Heavenlord?”

Realizing this, many Heaven-Man Realm experts felt a chill run through their hearts.

Not much time had passed since the events at Huang Ze’s mausoleum. The news that Shi Lan had stepped into the Heaven-Man Realm had not yet spread to the Chengtian Domain, and was circulating only within a small circle.

In the eyes of some Heaven-Man Realm experts, Shi Lan was still merely a junior of peerless talent. Even if she possessed the makings of an Emperor and had boundless prospects, she would still need at least some time before she could catch up to them.

But now, that span of time seemed to have vanished all at once. In a single step, Shi Lan had crossed in front of them, even rising above them, gaining the right to look down upon them.

“With such rapid progress in cultivation, if her foundation is unstable, it will be hard for her to survive the world-ending great tribulation…”

Some Heaven-Men murmured in private, their eyes filled with sighing regret. Shi Lan’s rate of cultivation was simply too exaggerated. Inevitably, it made them think of certain methods of forcing growth.

In so short a time, one could not even temper the heart properly. On the martial path, it would be difficult to go far.

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Possessing power that did not match one’s state of mind made it all too easy to stray onto an evil path.

“Looking at this situation, she has not come with good intentions.” Someone skilled at reading expressions noticed the chill in Shi Lan’s eyes.

“Does Yu Hong have a grudge with her?”

Within the Chengtian Domain, Yu Hong had long been famous. His Piercing Delusion Dharma Eye could almost see through the reality and falsehood of all things, reaching directly to their essence. Quite a few people knew who he was.

In a teahouse within the distant market district, a burly man in black robes had appeared at some unknown time.

Looking at the woman standing high in the sky in the distance, Luo Xiuhan took a light sip of spirit tea, the complicated look in his eyes impossible to conceal.

“So this is the great terror?”

…

Sensing the fluctuations above, Yu Hong and the young man immediately rose and left the main hall.

Compared to the head of white hair Shi Lan had worn back then in Xianwu City, her complexion was much better now, but her appearance had not changed much.

After seeing the scene in the sky clearly, the two reacted differently. Yu Hong’s expression changed drastically the moment he saw Shi Lan, while the young man’s gaze was focused mostly on the royal carriage.

Those who cultivated eye techniques were usually sharp-sighted. Shi Lan’s indifferent expression had already made more than enough clear.

“Heavenlord of Piercing Delusion?”

Shi Lan lowered her gaze and stepped toward the manor one step at a time. Clear ripples spread beneath her feet, and the entire void surged wildly out of control.

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The other members of the Yu clan also walked out from their various residences and looked up at the sky one after another. When they saw the scene that looked as if heaven and earth were collapsing, all of them were filled with panic.

“Young Master Lan Ying, I…”

There was no time to think about why Shi Lan’s strength had grown so terrifyingly fast. The sense of imminent catastrophe made Yu Hong instinctively look toward the lifeline beside him.

But with a single glance, he saw that the young man not far away had already retreated a long distance at some unknown time and now stood to one side, plainly drawing a line between them.

That posture made Yu Hong’s heart sink instantly to the bottom.

In only a few breaths, Shi Lan was already standing before Yu Hong. Her tall figure was enough to let her meet the gaze of this long-renowned Heavenlord at eye level.

“You know why I’ve come.”

She went straight to the point and had no wish to waste words. If he had been able to mobilize Great Perfection Nascent Soul Realm cultivators to take part in an ambush at the border, Yu Hong could not possibly have known nothing.

“I do not know what Miss Shi Lan means…”

Yu Hong gave a dry laugh. Until the very last moment, he still refused to give up, still clinging to a sliver of hope.

“If Yu has somehow offended you…”

“Do not force me to slaughter your entire clan. I am giving you a chance.”

Shi Lan had no wish to waste time on something so meaningless. She had come only for an old debt.

Every grievance has its source, every debt its debtor.

If not for sheer luck that day, and for the aid of Demon Kings such as Cangyue, she would already have died in the netherworld. Everything that came after would have vanished like smoke, and the Shi Lan now standing before Yu Hong would never have existed.

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The last trace of hope was shattered. The smile on Yu Hong’s face gradually disappeared. His expression turned cold and stern, and points of blue light overflowed from the depths of his eyes.

The atmosphere tightened at once.

“A man must answer for what he has done. I only hope Miss Shi Lan will keep her word.”

Yu Hong gradually straightened his back. Lowering his voice, he spoke in a hoarse tone, blue arcs of lightning filling his eyes.

“Today, you and I will fight. Life and death shall be left to heaven.”

No matter how terrifying Shi Lan’s talent was, he refused to believe that a mere Heavenly Astral Realm martial artist could, in less than three years, possess the strength to kill him.

“Please, both of you, wait.”

At the critical instant, an old man appeared in the sky and spoke to stop them.

“If you must fight over a personal grievance, then please go to the Martial Arena. Do not involve the innocent people of the city.”

When Heaven-Man Realm experts fought, the fluctuations of the laws shook heaven and earth. If they clashed here, then even with the city protected by formations, the long streets for a hundred li would surely be destroyed, with countless dead and wounded.

“There is no need.”

Shi Lan shook her head slightly, rejecting the old man’s suggestion. Slowly, she raised a finger.

“It is only the lift of a hand.”

Such an offhand remark made Yu Hong pause in shock. In the next moment, he saw Shi Lan walking toward him.

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There was no killing intent wrapped around her body. Only a faint chill shone in her eyes.

Lightning blazed in Yu Hong’s pupils. He pushed his Piercing Delusion Dharma Eye to its limit, yet still failed to see anything extraordinary, as though it were only an utterly ordinary finger.

The frantic warning flashing in his heart made him not dare be careless. He tried to pull back and retreat, but in that instant, the surrounding heaven and earth had already been sealed off. The law power that could shake heaven and earth was all forced down into his body, leaving him unable to move.

An invisible field of laws suppressed the entire manor. A fingertip, as if carved from heavenly jade, pointed at the center of Yu Hong’s brow.

Yu Hong stood frozen in place, utterly motionless, allowing that fingertip to fall lightly between his brows.

“The grievances between us are settled.”

Shi Lan withdrew her finger, drew back her sleeve, turned, and ascended step by step into the sky.

The lightning in Yu Hong’s eyes fell silent, dim and lifeless. Cracks appeared across his body one after another. Slowly, he raised his head, and in the final moment, his gaze caught up to Shi Lan’s receding back. His lips moved slightly, as if words were stuck in his throat.

Crack.

His body suddenly broke apart and turned into a handful of ashes.

Several strands of killing intent came from behind her. Shi Lan glanced back once. They came from within the manor, and several of them resembled Yu Hong. Perhaps they were the bloodline his branch had left behind.

Shi Lan withdrew her gaze and stepped straight into the royal carriage.

Everyone has the right to seek revenge, provided they can bear the price of that revenge.

From Yu Hong’s point of view, his motive had been nothing more than greed. In the Lingyang Realm, where the strong devoured the weak, Yu Hong’s mistake may simply have been that he hesitated and looked too far ahead and behind, and did not personally strike Shi Lan down that day.