Chen Ping gasped for breath and continued, “Senior… Heaven Gate… Heaven Gate did not vanish for no reason. It was… it was this Soul-Devouring Venerable who massacred the entire sect overnight! He was originally a Heaven Gate disciple, yet he repaid kindness with enmity, killed his master, and exterminated his ancestors!”
“What?”
The laziness on Shen Zhiyin’s face vanished completely the instant he heard those words!
An indescribable, terrifying aura erupted from his body like a primordial beast that had slumbered for ten thousand aeons suddenly awakening!
This aura was no longer peaceful and relaxed. It was filled with boundless killing intent, violent rage, and a towering might that seemed capable of tearing apart the vault of heaven and overturning the universe!
“BOOM, !!!”
Heaven and earth changed colour once more!
The dim sky that had been shrouded by Soul-Devouring Venerable’s demonic domain was now lit as though a sun had been hurled into it. Dazzling radiance burst from Shen Zhiyin’s body, standing in direct opposition to the endless demonic qi and even faintly beginning to disperse it!
The earth trembled violently. The energy currents that had only just subsided were stirred again. Fierce winds howled, yet they were no longer the icy demonic gales.
They now carried a blazing, righteous, majestic force that purged all evil!
Shen Zhiyin whipped his head around. The eyes that had previously held a hint of tipsy haze were now sharp as lightning from the Ninth Heaven, locking deadly onto Soul-Devouring Venerable in the sky.
His voice was like ten-thousand-year glacial ice as he asked, word by word, “Is… what… he… said… true?”
The moment Shen Zhiyin’s aura exploded, Soul-Devouring Venerable’s expression also shifted slightly, but he quickly revealed a ferocious grin. “So what if it is? That pack of sanctimonious hypocrites in Heaven Gate were pedantic and rotten. They deserved to become this Venerable’s stepping stones to the pinnacle!
This Venerable devoured their divine souls and fused their cultivation, and only then did I reach my current realm! What, do you want to avenge them?”
Upon receiving confirmation, Shen Zhiyin’s body swayed slightly, as though struck by a tremendous blow.
He slowly closed his eyes. His face was filled with indescribable pain, fury, and… deep guilt.
When he opened his eyes again, they were blood-red and filled with absolute killing intent!
He did not look at Soul-Devouring Venerable again. Instead, he spun around abruptly, faced the distant direction of Heaven Gate Mountain, and with a heavy thud, dropped to his knees!
At this kneel, heaven and earth fell silent!
Whether it was the surviving disciples of Yama Heaven Sect or the arrogant Soul-Devouring Venerable in the sky, everyone was stunned by his sudden action.
“Master! Honoured martial uncles and aunts! Junior brothers and sisters! Your unfilial disciple Shen Zhiyin… has arrived too late!!!”
Shen Zhiyin’s voice was hoarse, carrying boundless grief and remorse as it resounded through heaven and earth.
He kowtowed three times heavily. His forehead struck the hard, shattered ground with dull thuds, leaving patches of blood.
“This disciple was once wayward and violated sect rules. I was expelled by my master and had no face to call myself a member of Heaven Gate ever again… Yet the blood flowing in my veins will always be Heaven Gate’s blood! The grace of the sect that raised me, the Dao it imparted, this disciple has never dared forget for a single moment!”
“Today, this disciple has learned that the sect was destroyed by this traitor’s poisonous hand, the entire gate slaughtered. This enmity is irreconcilable! I, Shen Zhiyin, swear here and now that I shall personally slay this cur and offer his divine soul to appease the myriad wronged souls of our sect! Should I violate this oath, may heaven and earth annihilate me, and may I never reincarnate!”
Every word was wept in blood, every sentence filled with hatred!
That heaven-piercing resentment and killing intent, mingled with his vast and majestic pressure, caused the entire world to wail!
Chen Ping stared in shock at Shen Zhiyin’s kneeling with his back to him. Great waves surged in his heart.
He had never imagined that this seemingly unreliable senior was actually a Heaven Gate disciple! And moreover… the eldest senior brother?
“Senior… you…”
Chen Ping could not help but speak.
Shen Zhiyin slowly rose to his feet and turned around. There were no tear tracks on his face, only frozen killing intent and a calmness that bordered on madness.
