Severance! Freedom!

To the accompaniment of an eerie melody, a flippant voice whose gender was impossible to discern rang by his ear.

"I never make a sound, fingers crossed I shut my mouth, thoughts, they're creeping through my teeth..."

"Counting Sheep" was Zhou Zhe's ringtone.

Caller ID: Zhou Yulin.

Zhou Zhe decisively declined the call and, without the slightest hesitation, blacklisted the number.

Fortune never came in pairs...

Misfortune never traveled alone!

His mentor Lin Ye's life or death was still unknown, and Zhou Yulin was already calling.

Did Zhou Zhe not know this man well enough?

If Zhou Yulin ever called for any reason other than squeezing out benefits, Zhou Zhe would kill himself on the spot!

The problem was that Zhou Zhe was neither an idiot nor some saintly white lotus who repaid grievances with virtue. On top of that, he had long since resolved to sever all ties with the man before entering the arena. How could he possibly let him get his way?

For Zhou Zhe, who had accumulated a bellyful of resentment since childhood, Zhou Yulin having a miserable life was the real good news!

His phone vibrated slightly. A message arrived from an unfamiliar number.

"Zhou Zhe! I'm your father, Zhou Yulin! Your wings have grown hard now, and you want to fly solo? Let me tell you, impossible! I'll be your father for the rest of my life! With that identity alone, I'll fucking feed off you for the rest of my life! As long as I'm alive, I'll cling to you forever! If you dare deny me, you're unfilial! I guarantee I'll ruin your reputation!"

Zhou Zhe skimmed the message and sneered endlessly.

How could a shallow-minded, narrow-sighted fool possibly fathom the terrifying might of the Dao?

He had long since figured out how to deal with the trouble Zhou Yulin brought.

He had originally planned to finish the Swift Wind Pavilion handover first before dealing with Zhou Yulin. Since the man had jumped out on his own, it merely moved the matter up a little.

The female assistant led the way. Zhou Zhe strode into the office, found an office chair, and sat down, his gaze settling on the Black Sword Shield Brand on the back of his hand.

"Wait a moment. I have something to deal with first," Zhou Zhe said flatly.

The assistant smiled like a blooming flower, displaying professional standards beyond the norm as she replied clearly, "That's fine. My duty is to lessen your unnecessary burdens."

"The former pavilion master said that all actions were to be guided by your will."

Zhou Zhe nodded. With a slight focus of his attention, a string of numbers appeared beneath the Black Sword Shield Brand on the back of his hand.

88

These were Gladiator Points.

They were the Dao's standard form of reward for Cosmic Gladiators.

Direct rewards like the Heart of Heavenly Tribulation were comparatively rare.

As long as one had enough Gladiator Points, one could use the brand to fulfill nearly any wish.

After becoming Lin Ye's disciple, Zhou Zhe had also learned much of the common knowledge surrounding Cosmic Gladiators.

He knew that an ordinary Cosmic Gladiator, provided they survived, could earn roughly thirty Gladiator Points on average after a single arena battle.

Lin Ye had been like that.

But Zhou Zhe had earned, from just one finale battle, gains equivalent to what other Cosmic Gladiators received from three battles!

Zhou Zhe said in a cold, resolute voice, "I want to completely sever every relationship between Zhou Yulin and me. I am willing to pay Gladiator Points to erase every connection between us."

The brand immediately responded.

Your request can be fulfilled.

Specific implementation steps: ① Alter the memories of 367,483 relevant Earth Humans. ② Delete online records and historical document archives. ③ Carry out a minor timeline adjustment on the non-magical planet Earth. ④ Use the Athena supercomputer of the Great Archmage Empire for calculations, select samples from the Hua genetic database, and genetically modify you on the condition that no external changes are produced.

A total of 30 Gladiator Points is required.

Just as Zhou Zhe was about to confirm the payment, his phone received a flood of new messages.

They were still from Zhou Yulin.

"Your damned teacher, Lin Ye, right? I saw news on a betting site saying he's already dead!"

"As his only disciple, you can totally find a way to inherit Swift Wind Pavilion! You'll rake in more money than you can spend in a lifetime!"

"I just checked Swift Wind Pavilion's valuation report. Fuck! Its profits for a single quarter are nearly 106 billion yuan! That's about the same as Penguin Financial Group! That's practically pure profit, right? Extraordinary industries really are lucrative!"

"I don't want much. I'll only take ninety percent! Give me 390 billion every year, and I'll be satisfied!"

"Outside, I can play the role of a loving father and filial son with you, announce that I've quit gambling, and leave you with a good reputation!"

"Open your heart a little! Don't fucking keep nitpicking over that little rotten business from the past!"

"I know that because I gambled away the money for your mother's treatment, you think I killed her and left you without a mother from childhood."

"Honestly, if your mother could marry someone like me, how good could she have been? When you were little, it wasn't as if she never abused you. The two of you didn't have much affection anyway."

"People die sooner or later, right? What's the difference between dying early and dying late? This can't be blamed on me either, right!"

"That's all I have to say. Think it over carefully! I've never had much patience! Give me an answer within three days, or I'll go to the reporters!"

As soon as Zhou Zhe finished reading those messages, Zhou Yulin sent another one.

"Your 'Heart of Heavenly Tribulation' can be given to other people, right? Your dad is old and in poor health, so give it to me! Once I'm awesome, if anyone bullies you in the future, I'll beat them back for you! I'll have your back!"

"Forget it! Three days is too long. I'm coming to find you right now!"

"Stay put at Swift Wind Pavilion. Don't go anywhere!"

Seeing this, Zhou Zhe snorted coldly. "Confirm the expenditure of Gladiator Points!"

He immediately received the Black Sword Shield Brand's response.

Warning! This expenditure will not help your strength grow in any way! Instead, it will raise your overall level assessment and lower your survival rate!

The Athena supercomputer has provided you with two superior solutions: ① Directly kill Zhou Yulin for only one Gladiator Point required. The minimum expenditure is one point. ② Do it personally and physically eliminate Zhou Yulin.

"I refuse your proposals."

With a blank expression, Zhou Zhe said, "Just erase every relationship between him and me."

As a child, he often ran to convenience stores to watch television for free.

Among all those film and television characters, Zhou Zhe had admired not Sun Wukong, the Victorious Fighting Buddha and idol of countless children, but Nezha as played by Chen Haomin in Investiture of the Gods.

Even now, he still remembered it: Nezha of Chentang Pass, carving out his bones to return them to his father, slicing off his flesh to return it to his mother!

Zhou Zhe hated and loathed the genes he had inherited from Zhou Yulin, yet while he possessed Nezha's ferocity, he lacked that same cruelty toward himself.

After all, before obtaining the mysterious notebook, Zhou Zhe had merely been an ordinary person.

After Zhou Zhe confirmed the payment, the number on the Black Sword Shield Brand changed to 58, and it soon gave its response.

Foolish, inefficient, awkward humans with severe self-destructive tendencies...

Your wish has been fulfilled.

"That's... it?"

Zhou Zhe checked his phone and discovered there were no text messages or call records between himself and Zhou Yulin.

"Help me investigate someone named 'Zhou Yulin'!"

The female assistant immediately sprang into action. "I'll arrange it at once! If this person is a citizen of Hua, you'll have all his information within five minutes!"

"Alright!"

Zhou Zhe nodded slightly.

The longest five minutes of his life passed.

The female assistant arrived before Zhou Zhe with a stack of documents. "These are Zhou Yulin's complete records, from birth until now."

The instant Zhou Zhe saw the first page, his brows completely relaxed, and a smile blossomed across his face.

Zhou Yulin, male, unmarried, no children.

"It's good that there aren't any..."

Zhou Zhe smiled brilliantly, like sunshine. "It's good that there aren't any!"

He had originally worried that after severing his relationship with Zhou Yulin, the altered timeline might cause the man to have another counterpart child.

If that happened, regardless of whether Zhou Yulin's child was male or female, they would inevitably suffer through a painful, dark childhood.

Having escaped himself, Zhou Zhe could not possibly stand by with a clear conscience when he understood that pain so deeply.

Trouble would naturally come one after another.

Fortunately!

Those 30 Gladiator Points had not been wasted!

The service was attentive, and the after-sales support was flawless!

Zhou Zhe felt refreshed from head to toe, as though he had cast off invisible shackles from his shoulders. His whole being felt reborn!

Awesome!

Awesome!

Awesome!

"This Zhou Yulin..."

Seeing how happy Zhou Zhe was, the female assistant frowned deeply. "He's a compulsive gambler and an alcoholic. He has no credit, lies constantly, owes a great deal in usury loans, has even mortgaged and sold his house, lives by swindling money, and spends every day hiding from debt collectors."

"I do not recommend that you contact him."

"If he is a distant relative of yours, I can arrange for someone to secretly handle his problems, help him repay his debts, and ensure that he will not cling to you."

Hearing this, Zhou Zhe's eyes widened slightly as he said with absolute finality, "Do not make decisions on your own!"

"Everyone must bear responsibility for their own actions."

"For someone like him to end up in this state is something I am glad to see, understand?"

Assistant Zhuang swallowed, a chill running down her body as she felt a little creeped out. "Understood! I'll tell those below not to be clever on their own."

"Also, there is a video concerning Zhou Yulin. Would you like to see it?"

As she spoke, Assistant Zhuang took out a business USB drive.

"Fine."

Zhou Zhe nodded.

The USB drive was inserted into the computer. He found the video file and began playing it.

A thunderbolt right out of the gate!

In the video, Zhou Yulin's face was bruised and swollen. Lying in a puddle of vomit, he clutched his head and begged a group of burly men in a groveling posture, "I was wrong! I was wrong! I'll definitely repay the money! Six months, just give me another six months, and I'll definitely pay it back!"

What followed was three minutes of vicious beating.

"Repay the money? Repay your mother! Even if you sold a kidney, you couldn't pay it back!"

Zhou Yulin knelt and begged, "Stop hitting me! Spare me! I found three chicks outside, and they're all pregnant! Once they give birth, that'll be piles of white money!"

"Bullshit! You still want to trick me! Of those mistresses of yours, one miscarried from fright the last time we came to collect! Another learned what kind of trash you were and decisively got an abortion! As for the third, hehehe... that child isn't yours at all!"

"I can still have children!"

"Remember Dr. Shi? The one who examined you just now. He said you're already finished. You were kicked too hard, and it's completely necrotic. You've lost all fertility! You dog bastard, that rotten mouth of yours is the only thing that can still talk! Brothers, cut out his tongue—"

Zhou Zhe shut off the video file with a face full of disgust.

"Do not mention this person in front of me again."

With a stern face, he said, "No credibility, full of lies, promiscuous, spineless, inwardly cruel and outwardly cowardly..."

"This man possesses every trait I hate most in this life!"

The female assistant felt her throat go dry.

Why did she feel like...

His eyes were smiling?

"Should we find someone to take him out?"

The female assistant transformed into a dog-headed military adviser and skillfully offered an exceedingly dark suggestion.

Zhou Zhe gave her a meaningful glance. "Swift Wind Pavilion is my mentor's property. It operates a legitimate extraordinary industry and has an excellent reputation."

"As its heir, even if I cannot carry it forward and make it flourish, I cannot leave a stain upon Swift Wind Pavilion."

"As for Zhou Yulin, I still say the same thing."

"Do not interfere, do not participate."

"He has nothing to do with us."

Sometimes...

Death was instead a form of release.