Death list; I'll wait for you in hell

Something was wrong. Cold sweat streamed down Yan Shaozhe's body. Why had he swallowed that flower now? That fellow could clearly return at any moment, yet he had not noticed anything amiss. His usually sharp mind had turned into paste, impossibly thick and sluggish.

He raised his head.

Only to see a pair of sinister, blood-colored eyes, strange patterns rippling through them, looking down at him with a smile.

It seemed his mind had been subtly influenced...

No, this was a trap laid long ago.

Zhang Lexuan had been the bait. In truth, his target had been Yan Shaozhe himself from beginning to end...

No, that still wasn't right...

Yan Shaozhe barely held himself up, while the Blood Pupils before him slowly faded, returning to their normal black. Lu Cheng studied him with interest, as though examining an ant on the verge of death.

Why had Lu Cheng gone to such lengths to kill him...?

Ma Xiaotao?

Even if that girl had fallen into depravity and become the Holy Spirit Cult's Holy Maiden, that should hardly warrant killing him.

Because of Zhang Lexuan... that made even less sense. He did resent Zhang Lexuan somewhat, but he had never shown the slightest killing intent toward her. As dean of the Martial Soul Department, he wanted Zhang Lexuan to safely inherit the position of Sea God Pavilion Master more than anyone. If Lu Cheng wanted Zhang Lexuan to live out her life in peace, he should...

Wait... Zhang Lexuan?!!

Yan Shaozhe's pupils abruptly contracted.

Another possibility suddenly occurred to him.

What if that boy had already laid out this chess game from the very beginning, back when Shrek slaughtered the Zhang and Lu families?

What he had displayed openly, what everyone knew, was that he had willingly broken his own wings and exposed his Blood Pupils for Zhang Lexuan. So that the girl could forever live in the light, he had willingly cast himself into the mire and fallen into depravity forever.

Everything the boy had shown over the years perfectly fit that picture. Though they were uneasy about his rapidly soaring strength, it had still made them willing to believe that Zhang Lexuan would keep him firmly in check.

But... what if the boy had hidden pieces lurking in the shadows?

His goal was still for Zhang Lexuan to live in the light.

But what he truly intended was far more than silently protecting her.

He intended to eliminate every existence that threatened Zhang Lexuan, including Yan Shaozhe, including Mu En... because knowing what had happened back then was itself the greatest threat to Zhang Lexuan.

No wall in this world could keep out every draft. If Zhang Lexuan learned the truth one day, what would happen?

She would most likely seek revenge against the true murderers, one by one. But among them were three existences standing at the continent's pinnacle, Limit Douluos, a Level 98 Super Douluo, and... himself.

And if Zhang Lexuan insisted on revenge, everything she had once possessed would turn to ash, and she would be crushed beneath the rolling tide.

The boy understood Zhang Lexuan's temperament, and so did he.

Yan Shaozhe's throat bobbed, the shock in his eyes deepening.

So... he intended to stake everything he had to help Zhang Lexuan eliminate every potential threat to her.

From a pawn at the beginning, he had worked his way up to become the hand controlling the board behind the scenes. Yan Shaozhe did not even doubt that the boy had envisioned today's scene that very night.

What terrifying methods, what terrifying perseverance...

It all connected. It all connected.

Yan Shaozhe's heart churned like a surging tide, his back long since soaked in sweat.

Given the boy's disposition, he should naturally never have been so arrogant and conceited. Yet after joining the Holy Spirit Cult, he had repeatedly displayed all manner of haughty attitudes, setting numerous factions against that colossal organization. He had reportedly even thoroughly offended the Sun Moon Empire, the very foundation upon which the Holy Spirit Cult depended for survival. Once, Yan Shaozhe had thought the boy had simply revealed his true nature after joining the Holy Spirit Cult, but now it seemed that was by no means the case...

What was he trying to do?

His true objective went far beyond Yan Shaozhe alone.

Yan Shaozhe was merely the appetizer to this grand spectacle.

His targets were the three Limit Douluos: his teacher, the Holy Spirit Cult's Supreme Elder Ye Xishui, and Senior Long... He intended to plunge the entire continent into war, then ride that tide to eliminate the three powerhouses who posed the greatest threat to Zhang Lexuan, and even the Holy Spirit Cult itself.

He wanted to reshape Shrek Academy entirely in Zhang Lexuan's image.

"Figured it out?"

Lu Cheng quietly looked down at the Martial Soul Department's vice dean, who knelt on one knee with terror in his eyes, and gently exhaled a stale breath.

"For Lexuan's sake, I'll have to ask you all to suffer a little."

"So that's how it is..."

The terror gradually faded from Yan Shaozhe's eyes, replaced by delight.

He studied Lu Cheng with a smile.

"Monster that you are, you probably never accounted for me having another means of escape, did you?"

"Lu Cheng, I already know your plans. I'll join forces with my teacher and tell Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui everything. Hahahaha..."

"Boy, you were one move short in the end."

Yan Shaozhe's figure slowly faded, dissolving into a phantom beneath the sunlight.

Youyou watched the scene in bewilderment.

Yet a smile curled Lu Cheng's lips.

"So that's it... rebirth through nirvana."

Sunset Forest.

Atop an ancient tree.

The smile faded from Yan Shaozhe's eyes. With a complicated look, he glanced at the valley behind him. Had he not seen through the boy's chess game in advance, he would likely have been trapped deep within it.

How terrifying. All these years, he had actually kept everyone in the dark.

But now...

Just as Yan Shaozhe rose into the air and flew into the distance.

A languid voice slowly sounded beside his ear.

"Dean Yan, go in peace..."

"Pfft~"

Agonizing pain flooded through him. Terror filled Yan Shaozhe's face as he slowly lowered his head. A scarlet arrow had pierced his body at some unknown moment, while everything around him shattered and reformed like an illusion. He was back in the valley from before.

Only this time, his vitality was rapidly draining away...

"No, no!"

Yan Shaozhe's eyes were bewildered and stunned. He had already used Phoenix Nirvana once and could not activate it again in such a short time, and he had performed that nirvana technique right where he stood.

He had thought he had escaped, yet he had remained in the same place from beginning to end.

An illusion!!!

Only now, when he looked up again, did Yan Shaozhe finally understand. From the very beginning, he had been caught in an exceedingly bizarre illusion, and he had never escaped it at all.

Lu Cheng's scarlet Blood Pupils quietly gazed down at Yan Shaozhe.

That bloody hue had never faded.

"Heh, heh..."

Blood welled in Yan Shaozhe's throat. That little flower had already completely numbed his entire body. Looking again, how were those remnants a little white flower? They were clearly a pitch-black poisonous herb, black as ink.

Phoenix Nirvana had consumed his Soul Power, and with the poisonous herb ravaging him as well, his body was already ruined, teetering on the verge of collapse.

"Lu Cheng, I'll wait for you in hell..."

Yan Shaozhe studied Lu Cheng with a complicated gaze. At last, his body could no longer hold out, and he fell heavily.

Thud~

Watching the vitality gradually fade from the body on the ground.

Lu Cheng's gaze remained unruffled as he took out a pristine white notebook.

He opened it.

Four names.

And Yan Shaozhe, listed first, was gently crossed out with a red pen.