Longevity by Grinding Skills

Chapter 550: Chapter 550: Interlude

He had only just scraped into the Late-Stage Qi Cultivation, not even close to glimpsing the threshold of Foundation Establishment. In Xu Yunfan’s eyes, he was no different from an ant on the ground.

A formless, intangible pressure, heavy as a mountain and unique to a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master, naturally emanated from him. The youth let out a muffled grunt, his face instantly turning from flushed to pale. His body shook violently, his knees buckling as he nearly collapsed.

But he abruptly straightened his spine and forced himself to remain standing. His eyes were bloodshot as he glared at Xu Yunfan, his gaze a mixture of bone-deep hatred and desperate madness.

"Xu... Daoist Master Xu!"

The youth’s voice was hoarse and dry, as if it had taken all his strength just to utter those three words.

Xu Yunfan tilted his head down slightly, looking at the little insect blocking his path. The easygoing smile on his face faded, leaving his expression placid and his eyes calm, without a single ripple of emotion.

’If I treat a cultivator of this level with humility and calm, I’m afraid the other Foundation Establishment Daoist Masters spying from the shadows will start sending their Qi Cultivation disciples to cause trouble for me by the very next second.’

"What is it?"

His voice was flat, betraying no hint of emotion, yet it sent a chill seeping deep into the youth’s bones.

The youth’s Adam’s apple bobbed violently, and his breathing grew ragged. Facing Xu Yunfan’s suffocatingly calm gaze, he forced the long-suppressed question through gritted teeth.

"Yu’Er... Senior Sister Pu Yu... was she... was she captured by you?!"

By the end, his voice was on the verge of breaking into a sob.

"Yu’Er? Pu Yu?"

Xu Yunfan paused as if trying to recall the name. An eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly, and a smirk bloomed on his face, filled with naked contempt and mockery.

"Oh? That little girl from Hundred Desires Peak?"

He looked the commendably brave Junior Cultivator before him up and down, and a glimmer of understanding appeared in his mind.

’A young man blinded by love.’ He couldn’t help but sigh internally. ’This Pu Yu has an Innate Passion Dao Body; of course she’d attract attention from the opposite sex.’

’This boy before me, though, is so naive.’

"She is my prey. Naturally, she’s on my peak, serving as my Human Cauldron to be harvested from day and night. What of it? Do you want to save her?"

Xu Yunfan spoke without a shred of concealment.

The youth’s chest heaved violently. He was so enraged by Xu Yunfan’s contemptuous use of the two words "Human Cauldron" that he nearly lost all reason, but the last shred of it told him that acting rashly meant certain death.

’The man could kill me with a single breath.’

"She... she’s the most important person to me! Please, I’m begging you, Daoist Master Xu, have mercy! Let her go!

Whatever you want in return, I’m willing to trade my life for it!"

The youth cried out, his voice filled with desperate pleading. With a sudden THUD, he dropped to his knees and began to kowtow forcefully before Xu Yunfan, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. His forehead immediately split open, and blood streamed down his face.

Seeing him kneel, a mocking smile played on Xu Yunfan’s lips. His voice grew colder still, each clear word landing like a sledgehammer on the youth’s heart.

"With your life?"

He scoffed, a laugh devoid of any warmth. "Your life is worthless in my eyes."

He slowly stepped forward, looming over the youth who was frantically knocking his head against the ground, his blood staining the floor.

’If begging and kowtowing could grant your heart’s desire, then what would be the point of Cultivation?’

’You could just kowtow for everything.’

’Besides, this boy isn’t a relative or a friend. For him to pull a stunt like this in public is just blatant emotional blackmail.’

’If this were in a Righteous Sect like the Wansheng Sword Sect, I’d probably be condemned by everyone.’

’But unfortunately for him, this is the Primordial Sect.’

’A move like this is nothing out of the ordinary here.’

’Even the few Foundation Establishment Daoist Masters spying from the shadows are just waiting to enjoy the show.’

"A mere Qi Cultivation disciple, and you dare to question me? Are you tired of living and eager to take a trip to the Nine Netherworld? Or do you think I’m in a good enough mood today that I won’t crush an ant who dared to offend a Daoist Master?"

Every word carried an invisible force, like a knife slicing away at the youth’s already crumbling Heart and Spirit, and his dignity.

The youth’s body went rigid, and his kowtowing ceased. He remained prostrate on the cold stone, trembling violently as crimson beads of blood trickled down his cheeks and spread across the dark ground.

Xu Yunfan found this amusing.

’The pride of youth—so distinct, yet so fragile.’

’It always makes one nostalgic for the passion of their own youth.’

A fire woven from humiliation, despair, anger, and fear blazed in the youth’s chest, threatening to burn his sanity to cinders.

He snapped his head up, his face, caked with blood and dirt, twisting into a demonic snarl. His eyes burned with a hatred so vast not even the three great rivers could wash it clean. He used the last of his strength to roar:

"Xu Yunfan! You use your high Cultivation to trample on others! I, Qi Hanfeng, am no match for you today, and that’s because I am not strong enough!

But mark my words! Thirty years the river flows east, thirty years it flows west!

I will remember this debt! One day, I will return to settle this score!!"

As if roaring those words had drained all his strength and courage, the young Qi Hanfeng went limp and collapsed, only his blazing eyes remaining fixed on Xu Yunfan’s face.

"Heh."

Faced with this classic proclamation of the weak, Xu Yunfan couldn’t be bothered to say another word. He simply let out a faint, cold sneer filled with mockery and contempt.

He didn’t spare another glance for Qi Hanfeng, who lay on the ground like a broken rag doll, and turned to walk leisurely away from the plaza.

’What a waste of my time.’

’I thought the boy might pull out some ultimate weapon, but it was all just empty talk.’

’A complete moron with a hero complex, thinking someone would admire his courage and devotion for being so bold.’

’In the Primordial Sect, those things are the most worthless of all.’

The moment he turned his back on the youth, Xu Yunfan’s fingers, hanging casually at his side, gave a flick—an almost imperceptible motion, like brushing away a speck of dust.

No light flared from his fingertip, nor did any fluctuation of energy ripple outward.

Qi Hanfeng lay collapsed on the ground, his vision blurring. Only his eyes, burning with humiliation and hatred, tracked Xu Yunfan’s retreating figure.

The figure was calm and unhurried, each step on the cold, black stone of the plaza light, yet each one fell like a sledgehammer on Qi Hanfeng’s heart, shattering what little dignity he had left.

’To him, I’m nothing more than an insect.’

Xu Yunfan walked on, his expression as indifferent as ever, his heart completely unperturbed.

As for that grand declaration of "Thirty years the river flows east, thirty years it flows west," he found it simply laughable.

’This sort of scene, an ant making empty threats, isn’t even worthy of idle chatter in a cesspool like the Primordial Sect, a place steeped in blood and conspiracy.’

’The owners of those few Divine Senses spying from the shadows must also be finding this incredibly dull.’

’Utterly worthless.’

Xu Yunfan sneered inwardly. Still, he remained cautious, his back to Qi Hanfeng as his fingertip made a minute, almost imperceptible movement.

SNAP!

Reflected in his Divine Thought, a formless "thread of karma," originally a deep, bluish-gray, was instantly plucked and twisted by an immense, icy will.

Within the vision of Xu Yunfan’s Divine Sense, the faint glimmer on Qi Hanfeng’s body—a light that represented his profound Destiny, his opportunities, and his fate—had once resembled a purple, cloud-like Celestial Cover, surging toward the heavens.

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