Chapter 33: Instant Kill of a Peak Qi Refinement Expert!

“You… you’ve become a cultivator?”
Now fully awake, Yang Ze stared at Shen Yan in disbelief. To have become a cultivator in less than a year—this was much faster than Yang Yun had ever managed.
“I actually have Yang Yun to thank for this. If it weren’t for her, how could I have ascended so quickly?”
Shen Yan chuckled. Seeing Yang Ze in such a pitiful state lifted his spirits, and he was in no hurry to finish him off.
“I never imagined that you, you little bastard, would turn out to be a prodigy in cultivation. Is Heaven truly set on destroying the Yang family?”
Despair clouded Yang Ze’s face as he muttered under his breath.
“Ha!”
Shen Yan dismissed Yang Ze’s lament with a sneer.
“With all the evil your family has done, Heaven would have wiped you out long ago if it truly cared—you wouldn’t have lived to see this day.”
“I’m here today to slaughter every last male of the Yang household, leaving no threat behind, and to consign the women to servitude in the Justice Bureau, so as to avenge the murder of my parents and my own imprisonment.”
After his furious denunciation, Shen Yan unleashed his Flowing Cloud Sword. Staring at Yang Ze, he struck one final blow to Yang Ze’s pride.
“This flying sword was given to me by your daughter as a reward for my service. Today I’ll use it to kill you—think of it as a final act of filial piety from your daughter.”
As he finished speaking, the Flowing Cloud Sword shot forward, aimed straight at Yang Ze’s brow.
Clang!
But in the next instant, a flash of silver intercepted it—a sword of equal caliber stopped the Flowing Cloud Sword before it could reach its mark.
“Hmm?”
Shen Yan looked up to see a man in Yu Xian Sect robes not far ahead, calmly watching him.
“Qi Refining, Perfection Stage?!”
Feeling the waves of power emanating from the man, Shen Yan’s face darkened. So Yang Yun had indeed arranged for someone to guard the family.
“Junior brother, mercy is a virtue. You’ve killed the Yang family’s eldest son and crippled the Lord’s arms—why not put an end to this now?”
The newcomer spoke with an air of earnest persuasion.
But Shen Yan showed him no courtesy, channeling his energy to send the Flowing Cloud Sword shooting toward Yang Ze once more.
Clang!
Once again, the silver sword intercepted the Flowing Cloud Sword with a clash of metal.
“Are you truly determined to oppose me?”
Shen Yan’s voice turned icy.

“I am merely fulfilling a task entrusted to me, not seeking quarrel with you, junior brother.”
The man shook his head with practiced ease, his expression utterly composed.
He had heard every word of the exchange between Shen Yan and Yang Ze. In his eyes, Shen Yan was at most in the early stage of Qi Refining—a mere novice, not worth his concern. Were it not for the high-grade flying sword in Shen Yan’s hands, he would not have wasted words at all.
He was also wary of Shen Yan’s mention of Yang Yun’s difficulties on Jingyun Island. If Shen Yan had allied himself with one of the two other True Disciples, killing him now could provoke their wrath.
After all, the feud might be between Shen Yan and the Yang family, but who was to say that a True Disciple wasn’t using Shen Yan for a clean sweep? Otherwise, with Shen Yan’s humble status as a menial, how could he have left Jingyun Island at all?
“If you insist on protecting the Yang family, then there will be no end but death between us.”
With those words, Shen Yan sent the Flowing Cloud Sword shooting toward the man.
“How dare a mere servant challenge Senior Brother Zhou Shun? Reckless fool!”
A woman’s voice suddenly sounded behind Shen Yan, followed by a dazzling arc of blade light.
“Sister Ling Qian, stay your hand!”
Zhou Shun, the inner-sect disciple of Yu Xian Sect, cried out in alarm as the blade flashed toward Shen Yan.
He had yet to ascertain whether Shen Yan acted on behalf of a True Disciple. If so, killing him now would mean trouble.
Before he could finish, a wall of water abruptly rose at Shen Yan’s back, effortlessly blocking Ling Qian’s attack.
“Does this brat have another high-grade defensive artifact?”
A glint of greed flashed in Zhou Shun’s eyes. Though Ling Qian was only at the late stage of Qi Refining, her cultivation focused on killing techniques. For Shen Yan to ward off her attack unscathed, it had to be a top-quality artifact.
Ling Qian’s eyes, too, burned with desire. For a mere servant to possess not one but two high-grade artifacts was beyond belief.
Even Zhou Shun, at the peak of Qi Refining and a True Disciple, possessed only a mid-grade flying sword, while Ling Qian’s own weapon was of the lowest quality.
“Senior brother, let’s kill him and split the artifacts between us.”
Ling Qian called out sweetly, and once more brandished her blade in a brilliant arc at Shen Yan.
“Agreed!”
Zhou Shun replied at once. What could a novice do, even with powerful artifacts, if his spiritual power was limited?
With a surge of energy, Zhou Shun’s presence swelled, and, after knocking aside the Flowing Cloud Sword, his own silver blade swept in a deadly arc toward Shen Yan.
“Overreaching fools.”

Shen Yan narrowed his eyes, unafraid of the attacks converging from both sides.
“Mysterious Water Shield!”
Two drops of deep blue water transformed into round shields before and behind him, easily blocking their blows.
“You may have blocked my sword, but can you withstand my Nine Frost Pearls?”
With a mere thought, the nine Frost Pearls vanished into the night, invisible to the eye.
“Go!”
He channeled his energy, and in an instant, one Frost Pearl disappeared from before him and struck Zhou Shun.
A muffled thud.
Zhou Shun was struck as if by lightning. The murderous greed on his face vanished, replaced by terror.
A force of unimaginable strength hurled his body backward. Though the Frost Pearl was no larger than a grain of rice, it weighed a thousand pounds; Zhou Shun, for all his cultivation, could not survive the impact.
With a crash, the Frost Pearl smashed Zhou Shun’s corpse against the Yang family’s wall, leaving rubble and ruin behind as it thudded to the ground.
His corpse was hideously mangled, blood soaking the earth beneath him.
“Senior Brother Zhou…”
Ling Qian’s arrogant expression crumbled into terror as she instinctively retreated, her hope of seizing Shen Yan’s artifacts shattered.
“Trying to run?”
Shen Yan’s face hardened. Clearly, these two were no strangers to murder and theft, given their flawless cooperation.
Since they dared block his path, he would remove them, delivering justice in the process.
He recalled the Frost Pearl to his hand and prepared to strike again when Ling Qian cried out,
“Spare me, junior brother! I’ll give you everything I have, serve you as a slave—whatever you wish, only let me live!”
With that, she deliberately let her robe slip from her shoulders, revealing a hint of snowy skin and a coquettish smile.
But Shen Yan was unmoved. The Frost Pearl flashed out, and in the blink of an eye, brought her to a cold and silent end.