Experience and knowledge always have their limits.
For example, no matter how meticulously one plans, they can never account for things beyond their comprehension.
Lin Shu stared intently at the young girl before him.
Clearly, this humanoid creature was somewhat beyond his understanding.
Her features were delicate and sweet, and her clothes, though strange, were ornate. She looked like the young miss of a wealthy family.
But the feathers, stirring gently on her cheeks and arms, sprouted directly from her flesh, sending an inexplicable chill down one’s spine.
An ear-piercing shriek echoed through the courtyard.
A thought that was not his own abruptly appeared in Lin Shu’s mind.
It was as if someone had pried open his skull with a knife and forcibly shoved in an emotion called protectiveness and affection!
Lin Shu suddenly lowered his guard, overcome with the urge to hide this monster away and cherish it.
When he realized this, the chill in his heart intensified.
’She can actually influence my thoughts!’
He gradually recalled the old woman.
She must have been under the same influence to have mistaken this monster for her grandson.
"AHHH!!!"
The shriek continued, growing louder and higher. Beyond venting her fury, it now carried an imposing might that demanded submission!
It was a natural-born arrogance, as if she were inherently superior to others.
At the doorway, Miss Yun wasn’t the target of the shriek, but the aftershock alone was enough to make her knees instinctively buckle.
She bit her tongue hard. The sharp pain barely managed to clear the daze from her eyes.
In her line of sight, the young man and the young girl stood in opposition.
The child who had slept for so many years was now exuding a noble air so intense one dared not look at her directly.
Her eyes were still tightly shut, her chin held high.
It seemed as if she had to do nothing at all; by simply standing there quietly, she could make the young man before her bow in submission!
"Hah!"
Lin Shu licked his dry lips.
Perhaps because his mind was already being influenced, he actually understood the sharp noise.
Protect me!!
The concise and irresistible command hammered into his mind like a sledgehammer!
Lin Shu slowly closed his eyes, his thoughts blurring.
He had struggled for over twenty years since childhood and had finally achieved some small success in life, only for it to be inexplicably snatched away. Then he was forced into this zombie-like body with a defective heart.
It was as if a noose had been slipped around his neck, forcing him to scramble just to stay alive.
No one could accept such a drastic turn of events.
Counteracting this feeling were the interesting, untouched aspects of this new world.
There were Martial Arts and Immortal Techniques, and rumors even spoke of true Immortal Families.
After working himself to the bone these past few days, he had finally managed to extend his life.
Lin Shu had thought he could finally have some time for himself, to take a breather and study these novelties.
But now, some *thing* had just popped out of nowhere.
Without a word, it was trying to slap another dog leash around his neck!
At this thought, a surge of irritation welled up in Lin Shu’s heart.
It was both a hidden danger left by the Sin Coins and a mix of his own unvented frustrations, which he had been suppressing all this time.
But now, he suddenly didn’t want to suppress it anymore.
Lin Shu wanted to use this surging killing intent to dispel his body’s natural fear of the girl.
’In truth, her identity isn’t hard to guess.’
’If something looks like gold and weighs like gold, then it’s probably gold.’
’The same logic applies.’
’So what would you call a living, breathing thing, so arrogant and overflowing with an Immortal Aura?’
Lin Shu’s eyes snapped open, his pupils filled with a surging red mist.
His breathing became hot and heavy once more.
The girl noticed that Lin Shu had guessed her identity, so she confidently lifted her chin even higher.
However, she was not met with the devout, kneeling servant she expected. Instead, she received a filthy taunt.
"So you’re a goddamn... hah... Immortal?"
Accompanied by a hoarse, contemptuous sneer, Black Mist suddenly erupted from Lin Shu’s fingertips.
Like a raging flame, it surged up his arm, engulfing half of his body at a visible speed.
He swung his arm decisively, slapping it toward the Cyan Feather girl’s raised, delicate face.
SLAP!
Under the terrifying force, the Cyan Feather girl had no chance to react. Her small body was sent flying, crashing to the ground like a sack of broken rags.
Her eyes were closed, her face devoid of expression.
But her slightly twitching shoulders revealed a clear sense of bewilderment.
The Cyan Feather girl moved sluggishly, struggling to get up from the ground.
But the slender, scholarly figure in the long robe, wreathed in roiling Black Mist, had already appeared silently before her.
Lin Shu bent down expressionlessly, grabbed her by the throat, and slammed her back to the ground, pinning her down.
He clenched his other hand into a fist and, without the slightest hesitation, rained down blows like a torrential storm on the girl’s feather-covered cheeks!
THUD! THUD! THUD!
His Gloomy Moon Bone Splitting Hand, already at the Fifth Grade, was empowered by Spiritual Power that he used without any regard for consumption.
Every punch could easily shatter the skull of a Grand Martial Artist!
The shrieks in the courtyard became fragmented and panicked, even taking on a whimpering tone.
’Protect me... Protect me...’
It seemed she didn’t know how to fight at all; influencing the minds of others was her only weapon.
Amidst the jarring noise, Lin Shu raised his hand. The image of the tattered sack and the blood-stained old face barely visible at its opening flashed through his mind.
"Take her place? Let you use me up and discard me, then get me killed by you?"
His handsome face showed no emotion as his right fist fell swiftly. A dull thud exploded, and the girl’s head was half-buried in the ground.
But at the same moment she heard this...
...the whimpering cries in the courtyard abruptly stopped, replaced once again by a furious shriek.
"AHH!!"
The shriek’s pitch kept changing. Besides anger, there was now a note of urgency.
Finally, it transformed into a somewhat clumsy but understandable childish roar.
"You’re shameless! You have no decency!"
’For some reason, she’s clearly panicked. So panicked she’s starting to speak like a human.’
"I harmed her? I used her up and discarded her?"
"Her son had died, she was all alone, and she had already lost her mind."
"If I hadn’t nourished her body with my Immortal Power and regulated her sanity, a crazy old woman like her with money in hand would have long been picked clean to the bone! How else could she have lived in this city for another seven or eight years?"
The Cyan Bird girl completely ignored the heavy, Black-Mist-wreathed punches landing on her face.
As if she had been gravely wronged, she was determined to argue her case with Lin Shu.
"I even found her a daughter-in-law to serve her hand and foot!"
"Besides, I am an Immortal Descendant! I absorb the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth and have no need for food or drink! Even that useless medicinal soup—that was because she saw me sleeping and mistakenly thought I was sick."
"But that’s because my juvenile body wasn’t fully formed, I couldn’t get up! I couldn’t get up!!"
The childish voice in the courtyard grew more indignant and sorrowful, as if it wanted to become a steel knife and carve out his heart.
"You all are the real murderers!"
From the girl’s perspective, Lin Shu and the others had first tricked and killed the old woman she had been nurturing.
Then they had barged into this courtyard and brazenly started dismantling the Breath Concealment Array she had painstakingly woven.
Knowing she was no match for them, she could only grit her teeth and endure it all, aggrievedly trying her best to hide herself.
But today, they had even scared away the only little widow left, and then, growing ever more brazen, they destroyed most of the array.
It was like bandits breaking into her home—murdering, robbing, and setting fire to the house, leaving no path to survival!
She had been pushed to the brink.
She was forced to expend most of the foundation she had accumulated over the years for her Immortal Body’s growth, just to buy a single chance to awaken.
It was one thing to still be no match for them, but for this cruel and despicable bandit to slander her so viciously!

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