Chapter 820: The Lion's Prerogative
Practiced martial arts for a month?
Tie Shan's vision blurred. He stared, dumbfounded, at Shen Anyu standing not far away. His breath caught, his body went still, and then he simply… died.
Practiced martial arts for a month?
The members of the Tieshan Martial Arts School, now as silent as cicadas in the dead of winter, echoed the thought in disbelieving horror.
That their headmaster, the formidable Tie Shan, had lost to Zhong Lingyin—a superstar, a Heavenly Queen—was already a reality they struggled to process. They had never imagined that the nation's goddess, a woman known for her beauty and voice, possessed such terrifying and decisive strength.
But to hear that she had achieved this after only a single month of training? That was a truth so far beyond their comprehension it felt like a waking nightmare.
Shen Anyu, however, merely smiled. He was not the least bit surprised.
'Zhong Lingyin is a Destined Heroine from a supernatural story,'he mused.'Her innate talent is off the charts. Add to that my guidance, the Martial God Art, a hundred-year zhu fruit, and our dual cultivation… becoming a Martial Arts Grandmaster in a month is perfectly normal. Defeating an old-timer like Tie Shan, even across a minor cultivation boundary, is hardly a difficult feat for her.'
"Lingyin, my dear, you did wonderfully," Shen Anyu said, his voice cutting through their astonishment as he offered Zhong Lingyin a warm smile.
"It's all thanks to Brother Shen's excellent guidance," Zhong Lingyin replied, her heart soaring as she sheathed her Qing Shuang Sword. Only now was she truly beginning to realize the heights her strength had reached. The headmaster of the world-renowned Tieshan Martial Arts School, a veteran Martial Dao Grandmaster, had just been slain by her own hand.
'Brother Shen spares no effort in cultivating me; he's truly too good to me,' she thought, her gaze drifting to Shen Anyu's handsome profile. 'How can I ever repay him?' At the thought, a delicate blush crept up her neck and painted her small face crimson.
[Ding! Destined Heroine Zhong Lingyin's affection surges, plundering +5200 destiny value!]
Suddenly, a heavy thud broke the silence. A powerful expert from the Tieshan Martial Arts School dropped abruptly to his knees before Shen Anyu.
"First Young Master Shen!" he exclaimed, his face a mask of fawning submission. "I, Lu Heng, am willing to abandon the darkness and join the light! I will become your subordinate!"
Even their headmaster had been killed by one of Shen Anyu's women, to say nothing of what Shen Anyu himself could do. Fighting was no longer an option; it was suicide.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Seeing Lu Heng take the lead, a cascade of surrenders followed. One by one, two-thirds of the experts from the Tieshan Martial Arts School knelt on the cold ground.
The remaining third exchanged panicked glances before scattering in every direction, fleeing for their lives. These were clearly Tie Shan's loyalists, unwilling to bend the knee to his killer's benefactor.
"Yan'er," Shen Anyu said softly, his expression unchanging.
'Hmph, treating me like a common maid, are you?' Liu Ruyan pouted internally. But she had learned her lesson from the First Young Master's "discipline" and dared not act playfully at a time like this. Her waist was still sore, a tender reminder of his methods.
She lowered her gaze, her entire demeanor shifting to one of devastating charm. "Good husband," she purred, her voice dripping with honey, "leave these little mice to Yan'er."
As her voice faded, Liu Ruyan lazily raised a jade-like palm and pushed it gently forward. The motion was languid, seemingly devoid of any force, as if she were merely pushing a curtain aside.
Yet, a hundred meters away, a fleeing Martial Arts Grandmaster from the Tieshan school suddenly shuddered. His desperate sprint came to an abrupt halt as a deep, perfectly formed palm print appeared on his back, scorching through his clothes. He tried to take another step, but all strength had abandoned him.
With a soft thud, he collapsed to the ground.
He was dead. His heart and meridians had been utterly shattered.
"A single palm strike… from a hundred meters away… This… this is… a Heavenly Human?"
Lu Heng and the other kneeling experts, who had dared to peek, went ghastly pale. A tremor of pure terror shot through them, nearly making them leap to their feet. They were all elites of the Tieshan Martial Arts School, with most being Martial Arts Grandmasters and the rest at the peak of the Innate realm. Their eyes were sharp.
To kill a Grandmaster so casually from such a distance… what else could it be but the legendary power of a Heavenly Human?
'That enchanting, peerless beauty… she's a Heavenly Human?'
Lu Heng slammed his head back to the ground, not daring to look at Liu Ruyan again. A storm of horrified realization crashed through his mind. When Shen Anyu had first appeared with Zhong Lingyin and Liu Ruyan, he had dismissed them as a dissolute young master taking two beautiful companions on a foolish trek into the Qinling Mountains. He had even entertained thoughts of seizing the women for his own amusement.
Later, when he learned of Shen Anyu's identity as the First Young Master of Yanxia's Shen Clan, he had grown wary, but only of Shen Anyu himself. He never imagined that the two exquisite women by his side were anything more than stunning ornaments.
But now?
Zhong Lingyin, the Heavenly Queen, had personally slain their headmaster, the veteran Martial Dao Grandmaster Tie Shan.
And Liu Ruyan was even more monstrous—a genuine Heavenly Human.
A Heavenly Human who called Shen Anyu her "husband" and willingly shared him with other women. Just how terrifyingly powerful was Shen Anyu himself?
Lu Heng didn't dare to let the thought complete itself. A violent shiver wracked his burly frame.
In less than half a minute, the last shrill scream faded into silence. Every one of the fleeing experts from the Tieshan Martial Arts School was dead. Lu Heng and the others remained kneeling, trembling with a fear so deep it was almost a religious experience. Had they chosen to run, they knew with chilling certainty that death would have been their only fate.
"Good husband, I've completed the mission perfectly. Is there any reward?" Liu Ruyan's narrow, foxy eyes gazed eagerly at Shen Anyu, a playful glint in them that seemed to ask, 'How about another hundred-year zhu fruit for me to taste?'
Her voice had barely fallen when a peerlessly handsome face filled her vision.
A moment later, her crimson lips felt a sudden warmth. The rest of her words were swallowed, unable to escape.
"Is this reward enough?" Shen Anyu asked with a beaming smile after their lips parted.
"Hmph. What kind of reward is this?" Liu Ruyan turned her head away, a faint blush dusting her cheeks despite her feigned annoyance.
"Lingyin," Shen Anyu called out, waving a hand at Zhong Lingyin. "How about I reward you like this, too?"
A deep blush bloomed across Zhong Lingyin's pretty face. She obediently walked over, closed her brilliant, starry eyes, and lifted her small, exquisite face, allowing Shen Anyu to bestow his "reward."
'Green tea! This vixen is pure green tea!' Liu Ruyan fumed internally. 'Fifth Junior Sister is the absolute worst!' Everyone called her a vixen, but that was just her outward appearance. This annoying Junior Sister of hers was the real master of the craft, a true green-tea vixen who knew exactly how to vie for affection.
After their lips separated, Zhong Lingyin, her face flushed and radiant, shot a subtle, victorious glance at Liu Ruyan. The look clearly said, 'Senior Sister, you're the one who said you didn't want it~'
From beginning to end, Lu Heng and the others kept their heads pressed firmly to the ground, not daring to move an inch.
After rewarding his two women, Shen Anyu's expression was one of deep satisfaction. This was the true benefit of cultivating his companions; he didn't even need to lift a finger himself. It was just like a pride of lions—the male rarely hunted, leaving that work to the lionesses. The First Young Master Shen only needed to sit back and enjoy the spoils.
As Shen Anyu's gaze fell upon him, Lu Heng didn't even wait to be asked. Words tumbled from his mouth in a panicked rush.
"A few days ago, our Tieshan Martial Arts School discovered this valley. It was shrouded in a white mist and held a great secret. But we encountered a woman in green—the Third Senior Sister Murong Jieyu that Heavenly Queen Zhong mentioned—and a conflict broke out."
He swallowed hard, his voice cracking. "Headmaster Tie Shan… no, that old bastard Tie Shan, he actually injured Murong Jieyu and sent men to hunt her down, trying to seize the spiritual medicine she had found…"
At the mention of their sister, Liu Ruyan and Zhong Lingyin forgot their rivalry, their faces clouding with genuine concern.
"How badly was Murong Jieyu injured?" Shen Anyu asked, though he already knew the answer.
"The injury wasn't too serious," Lu Heng stammered, "but the deputy headmaster of the Tieshan Martial Arts School—Tie Shan's right-hand man and his eldest son, Tie Lengcan—led the pursuit himself."
"Tie Lengcan just broke through to the Grandmaster realm. With Murong Jieyu injured… her situation is likely not good."
Having said it all, Lu Heng felt a fresh wave of dread wash over him. He knew that if anything truly happened to Murong Jieyu, every single one of them kneeling here would be joining Tie Shan in the afterlife.
...
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