Chapter 76

Chapter 76: An Ze’s Death!

Not everyone was heartless. Not everyone could kill their father or slay their master.

Maybe her way of teaching had flaws, but the larger reason was simpler: their character was rotten—selfish and greedy to the core.

If it had been someone else, perhaps the ending wouldn’t have been like this.

Song Wan Ning lowered her eyes. When she looked up again, the killing intent in her gaze was chilling.

The knot in her heart had finally been untied.

An Ze no longer had any reason to exist.

“Y-you… even if… you save me… I… I still… won’t… f-forgive you…”

An Ze didn’t understand what he saw in her eyes. He thought she regretted it. Thought she’d come to take him back.

Smugness and joy rose in him, and even half-dead, he couldn’t resist putting on airs, as if he still held the upper hand.

How humiliating had it been when he was expelled?

How many cold stares had he swallowed?

Song Wan Ning had caused it all. Of course he wouldn’t let her off easily.

Still, he didn’t plan to push too hard. Falling from a true disciple to an Inner Sect disciple was a steep drop. He could allow her a way back.

He dreamed of returning to Cloudsky Peak—of being a carefree true disciple again.

Song Wan Ning let out a quiet, amused laugh, as if she’d heard the world’s best joke.

In her past life, he’d followed the main group and everything had gone smoothly. In this life, he’d tasted setbacks, yet he was still this arrogant.

It was almost laughable.

Her brows lifted slightly. “You think I came here to save you?”

An Ze snorted, contempt bright in his eyes. “Isn’t… that… why?”

She was just being stubborn. That was all.

“Sorry, but I’m not here to save you.”

Song Wan Ning’s smile vanished. Icy light burst from her eyes.

“I’m only doing this for the sake of our former bond… to see you off.”

The smugness on An Ze’s face froze. “W-what… did… you say…?”

Shock twisted his features. For a moment, he thought he’d misheard.

Then killing intent settled over him like a blade poised to fall.

He finally believed it.

Song Wan Ning wanted him dead.

How was that possible?

Song Wan Ning used to dote on him. If he was wronged, she would stand up for him. Pills, spirit stones, talismans, artifacts—whatever he wanted, she gave. Even if they were no longer master and disciple, how could she bear to hurt him?

An Ze’s mind plunged into chaos, fury and fear tangling until he couldn’t separate them.

“Y-you… dare?!”

He was terrified.

Song Wan Ning looked at him the way one looked at a corpse: cold, empty, final.

No.

He didn’t want to die.

“You… can’t… kill me!!”

Fear scraped his voice raw, forced strength into his lungs.

He tried to glare at her, to intimidate her, but it was useless. Then his mind caught on the only thing he had left—the sect.

“I… I have… a soul lamp in the sect. If something happens… it’ll be found out right away—!”

“Then when they learn you killed a fellow disciple, you’ll be expelled from the sect!”

He panted, face deathly pale, body trembling—whether from rage or terror, it was impossible to tell.

Song Wan Ning watched him the way one watched a clown. Then she reached into her storage ring and drew something out, turning it lazily between her fingers.

“Do you mean this?”

Her lips curved as she flipped the soul lamp upside down, mockery plain in the gesture.

“Don’t—!”

An Ze’s eyes bulged, horror and fury making them look ready to burst.

“Y-you… you actually…”

His chest heaved. His vision darkened. The rage strangled his words.

How vicious.

So vicious.

How could Song Wan Ning have brought his soul lamp with her?

Now, even if he died, the sect wouldn’t notice. They would never find the killer.

“What?” Song Wan Ning clicked her tongue. “Did you forget? I was the one who set it up for you.”

A soul lamp held a thread of a cultivator’s soul, monitoring their safety. If it went out, it meant death and the end of their path.

In the major sects, only Inner Sect disciples were qualified to keep one. The life and death of Outer Sect disciples and menial servants barely drew attention.

That was the cruelty of the Cultivation World.

Without strength or talent, you could only be discarded.

An Ze’s soul lamp had been set up by Song Wan Ning herself. To protect him, she’d kept it with her all this time instead of leaving it in the sect.

Now, watching him scream and flail, it only felt more ironic.

Song Wan Ning’s mouth tightened. Her patience had run out.

She stepped back, expression cold, and withdrew her pressure.

The instant the Wu Meng Beast was released, it surged forward with savage killing intent and pounced on An Ze.

“Ah—!”

A massive chunk of flesh tore free in one bite. An Ze’s howl ripped through the trees.

Song Wan Ning was really going to let him die.

Terror shattered whatever pride he had left.

Pride, grudges—none of it mattered anymore. If he could live, that was all that mattered.

“Master… Master, please save me…”

“Ple—ah!”

The Wu Meng Beast stomped down on his calf. Bone burst into fragments. Its sharp claws split flesh like paper, leaving it hanging in strips.

“Mas—Master, save…”

An Ze’s body convulsed, his face twisted into a grotesque grimace, eyes bulging.

Regret flooded him so violently it almost made him choke.

If he’d begged from the start, would it have ended differently?

If he hadn’t stood up for Senior Sister Ye, he would still be a lofty true disciple.

He regretted it. He regretted it so much he wanted to scream until his throat tore.

“I… was wrong… pfft—!”

A paw slammed into his abdomen. Claws hooked and ripped, dragging his intestines out in a wet spill.

His eyes went wide. The sound in his throat died.

The Wu Meng Beast tore him apart without mercy, piece by piece.

When pain reached its limit, numbness swallowed everything.

An Ze stared at Song Wan Ning with bloodshot eyes, unwilling to accept it.

In her eyes, there wasn’t even a trace of pity.

Not the sympathy she might spare a stranger.

She looked at him like trash—cold and emotionless.

“Tch.”

The Wu Meng Beast scooped out his heart with one claw.

An Ze’s body jerked, twitched a few times, and went still.

The soul lamp went out in an instant.

Even in death, his eyes remained fixed on Song Wan Ning, as if she were the true culprit.

The Wu Meng Beast didn’t stop. With its bloody maw, it tore the corpse apart and swallowed it down until only a puddle of blood remained.

Only then did Song Wan Ning lift her brows slightly, letting out a small sound of surprise.

“What a pity.”

“A single-spirit-root genius, too.”

Mockery flickered in her eyes as she crushed the soul lamp into ashes.

From then on, she and An Ze were even.

Neither owed the other anything.

She looked toward the Heaven-Questioning Sect in the distance, her smile deepening.

The Heaven-Questioning Sect was already in dire straits. It was the perfect time to make her move.

Most of its disciples were innocent, and she didn’t want to stain her hands with unnecessary blood. The best method was to make the Heaven-Questioning Sect wither—force it to decline, to fall from its pedestal.

But…

Some people had played a major role.

And they would pay the price.