474: Chapter 474 War photographer Yue Qinghan: I'll use this footage for ten years!

Having lost all his equipment and had his dragon horns pulled out, Long Aotian, due to heavy injuries and the exhaustion of his spiritual power, could no longer sustain that ten-thousand-foot dragon form.

The golden light rapidly contracted, and his bones emitted tooth-aching cracks as they deformed.

Ultimately, he was forced back into human form.

His clothes were in tatters.

He was covered in blood.

Curled up in the very center of the deep crater, he looked like an ornamental fish scooped out of a fish tank and thrown onto the ground to twitch.

That face, once heroic and extraordinary, looked up to by the prodigies of ten thousand races, now held only a deathly gray numbness.

His eyeballs were like two ruined glass beads, staring hollowly at the sky above, stained red by the flames of war.

His lips were still moving.

“Impossible... this is impossible...”

“I am number one on the prodigy list... I am an undefeated myth...”

“How could I lose...”

“How could I lose to a bunch of... trash piled up with money...”

His voice went from low to hoarse, and from hoarse to nearly silent.

Like a drowning person making a final struggle, yet unable to even see the water's surface.

That once arrogant, self-centered, and invincible Dao Heart—

Under the dual assault of physical violent dismantling and extreme spiritual humiliation—

It shattered.

It wasn't a crack; it wasn't a tremor.

It was completely shattered into dregs across the ground, the kind of shattering where it couldn't be glued back together.

What is the most important thing for a Cultivator?

It is not cultivation base, not Magic Treasures, and not those fancy Divine Abilities and secret arts.

It is the Dao Heart.

The Dao Heart is the Foundation of everything.

If it shatters, even if your cultivation is still at its Peak and your spiritual power is at a full ten-tenths, you are no different from being crippled.

Because you will never dare to strike again.

Every time you circulate your spiritual power, you will remember today.

You'll remember being pressed into the ground and ground down by tens of thousands of golden armored dao soldiers.

You'll remember your armor being pried off piece by piece.

You'll remember your proud dragon horns being snapped off in front of everyone.

You'll remember that Youth in White Robes, who never once looked you in the eye from beginning to end, reclining in his chair and drinking tea.

These images will turn into the deepest Heart Demons, carved into the depths of your Soul, never to be erased.

From then on, your cultivation will regress, and your path to the Dao will be severed.

If you're lucky, you'll become a Mortal.

If you're unlucky, you'll suffer Qi Deviation and die on the spot.

Number one on the prodigy list?

An undefeated myth?

From this moment on, they all became things of the past.

They became an old joke that would only make people laugh when mentioned later.

...

And the culprit who single-handedly orchestrated this great drama of "Shattered Myth"—Su Chen.

He was currently standing up leisurely from that ten-thousand-year-old warm jade reclining chair, stretching his limbs.

With a casual wave of his hand, those golden armored dao soldiers whose spiritual power was about to be exhausted were like the ebbing tide, simultaneously turning into golden specks of light and dissipating into the air.

Su Chen didn't even spare a glance at the completely ruined Long Aotian in the deep pit.

In his heart, this fight was never a life-and-death battle from start to finish.

It was a business deal.

A deal for which he had already calculated the rate of return.

[A cost of four hundred million Top-Grade Spirit Stones.]

[In exchange for a complete set of emperor weapon armor, a pair of pure-blood golden dragon horns, plus a pile of miscellaneous Spiritual Artifacts and Magic Treasures.]

[Conservatively estimated, the total value exceeds one billion.]

[A net profit of six hundred million.]

[Investment return rate... one hundred and fifty percent.]

Su Chen finished calculating this account in his head, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly in an almost imperceptible way.

[A massive profit.]

[And my mood is particularly refreshed.]

[Just consider it as paying for a full body and Soul massage.]

He gave his own operation a perfect score in his heart.

Then, he turned around without a hint of lingering attachment.

In his view, that "former number one on the prodigy list" in the deep pit, who was now shattered into dregs, didn't even have the qualification to be his stepping stone anymore.

A cripple with a shattered Dao Heart didn't even have any recycling value left.

Su Chen led his teammates, who were completely won over by his earth-shaking "money power," preparing to head toward the end of the Ascension Ancient Road.

However, just then—

A beautiful figure darted out from some corner!

That figure braved the residual dragon pressure and bloody air on the battlefield, charging toward the edge of the large pit without looking back!

The speed was so fast and the determination so great that it was even fiercer than Jian Buping's charge!

It was Yue Qinghan!

Her eyes were glowing, and her whole person was in a state of near-manic excitement!

The first thing she did upon reaching the edge of the pit was not to check Long Aotian's injuries, nor to lament the fall of a generation's Prodigy.

Instead, with a "swish," she pulled out that specially made Top-Grade recording spirit stone from her storage ring!

Steady, accurate, and ruthless!

The set of movements was as smooth as flowing water; it was clear she had practiced this.

Aiming at the tattered, bare-headed (the dragon horns were gone), and blood-covered Long Aotian at the bottom of the pit—

She went into a frantic burst of continuous shots!

Close-ups.

Panoramas.

High-angle shots.

Low-angle shots.

She even squatted down and lay at the edge of the pit, finding an extremely tricky forty-five-degree angle.

“Click! Click, click!”

The recording spirit stone flashed like New Year's fireworks.

She didn't even let Long Aotian's face, which was completely distorted by extreme pain and despair, go.

She took photos from three angles and chose the one with the most "emotional impact."

“Perfect!”

Yue Qinghan satisfiedly put away the recording spirit stone, her beautiful eyes shimmering with a fervor comparable to discovering an unprecedented exclusive news story.

She quickly flipped through the photos in the Spirit Stone, each of which could be called a "limited edition collectible."

Countless explosive titles in her mind, enough to blow up the entire immortal friends circle, surged out like a spring.

《Shocking! Long Aotian, Top of the prodigy list, Streaks in Public! The Truth Behind It is Heart-Wrenching!》

《Number One Gossip of the Year! The Golden Dragon God-Son Suffers Horn-Pulling and Clothes-Stripping by a Mysterious Tycoon; Insiders Reveal Startling Inside Info!》

《In-depth Analysis: From Undefeated Myth to Prisoner, Whose Fault is Long Aotian's Fall? (Multi-image Warning)》

Every title came with its own "shocking style" traffic code.

The more Yue Qinghan thought about it, the more excited she became, feeling that this trip to the Ascension Ancient Road was not in vain.

Not only could she harvest countless likes in the immortal friends circle,

But she could also rely on these exclusive materials to exchange for a large amount of intelligence fees from the Jade Lake's intelligence department!

Hiss—

This time, she had won big.

Satisfied, Yue Qinghan tucked away the recording spirit stone and walked quickly back to Su Chen's side.

She straightened her clothes and put on a dignified and elegant Fairy expression.

Then she gave Su Chen a graceful bow, her tone incredibly sincere.

“Young Master Su, great kindness cannot be thanked with words! I, Yue Qinghan, will remember today's favor!”

Su Chen looked at her with a face full of confusion.

When did I ever show you kindness?

Who are you?

[This woman probably has some serious mental illness, right?]

[How many words have I said to her in total? And she's already noting down a favor?]

[And 'great kindness cannot be thanked with words'? When was I ever kind to you? I fought Long Aotian because he's valuable; what does it have to do with you?]

[Forget it, as long as you don't turn around and ask me to reimburse the money for that recording spirit stone.]

Su Chen finished complaining silently in his heart.

He really couldn't be bothered to pay attention to this woman with such strange logic.

Turning to look at Jian Buping and the others, his tone returned to its usual laziness.

“Let's go, don't waste time here.”

“Yes! Boss!”

Jian Buping and the monk Monk Jiese responded in unison, their voices carrying an irrepressible excitement.

Admiration, conviction—those were all too light.

This was already an awe carved into their bones.

Today, they had truly witnessed what it meant to "see the enemy's fleet vanish amidst talk and laughter."

What number one on the prodigy list?

In their boss's eyes, that was just a walking, talking mobile vault covered in top-grade equipment.

Encountering him was like the heavens chasing after you to feed you.

“amitabha.” Monk Jiese pressed his palms together, silently lamenting in his heart.

Following Benefactor Su was indeed the correct choice.

Not only could he promote the Buddha Dharma (physically), but he could also witness such exquisite "Ways of Almsgiving."

Excellent, excellent.

Jian Buping silently sheathed the emperor weapon starfall sword, his expression cold, but his hand on the hilt was still slightly trembling from the residual Battle Intent.

He set a flag for himself in his heart.

One day, he also wanted to be strong enough to do what his boss did today alone.

No, he didn't need to be alone.

As long as the boss gave the word, that would be enough.

The group swaggered onto the giant teleportation array not far away that led to the end of the Ascension Ancient Road.

The surrounding prodigies—

Automatically and consciously cleared a wide path enough for ten people to walk abreast.

No one dared to block them.

No one dared to take an extra look.

No one even dared to breathe loudly as they passed.

The way everyone looked at Su Chen was exactly the same as looking at a god of slaughter walking out of ancient times.

That fear originating from the depths of the Soul was written on everyone's face.

They were afraid.

Afraid that if they weren't careful, they would follow in Long Aotian's footsteps.

Being stripped bare, having their horns pulled, and being taken as "snacks" to feed that milky-voiced little girl.

Just thinking about that image made their scalps tingle.

The light of the teleportation array lit up.

Su Chen's figure gradually blurred in the white light.

Before disappearing, a final line of text flashed in his inner monologue.

[Ling Qingzhu, Liu Ruyan, Ye Linghan...]

[Wait for me.]

With a flash of white light, the figures were all gone.

...

It wasn't until Su Chen and the others had completely disappeared into the teleportation array,

That the entire battlefield, as if the "unmute" button had been pressed, suddenly exploded into a commotion.

“They're gone... that balestar is finally gone!”

A Prodigy slumped on the ground, gasping for breath as if he had just been fished out of a river after drowning.

“Too terrifying... I don't want to see this person again for the rest of my life...”

“Tell me... what exactly is his background? With that style of spending money, which power could afford to raise him like that?”

“Who cares what his background is! I only know one thing—in this lifetime, I will never cross someone named Su!”

“Long Aotian... what a pity, a generation's Prodigy is ruined just like that.”

Someone shook their head and sighed.

But immediately, someone sneered.

“Pity my ass! In the past, he relied on his strength to bully us lower-ranked ones! Constantly saying 'kneel before this seat' or 'cripple your own arms,' today can be considered his comeuppance!”

“Exactly! To be blunt, when I saw him getting his armor stripped, I almost couldn't help but applaud!”

“Shh! Keep your voice down! What if his followers hear you...”

Halfway through the sentence, the person himself laughed first.

Followers?

Those followers themselves are half-dead; who still has the energy to come looking for trouble?

Amidst the widespread discussion, the prodigies' gazes quickly retracted from the pathetic figure in the deep pit.

They all turned toward the teleportation array.

“Alright, stop looking! Let's go quickly! If we're late, the Opportunities further ahead will be gone!”

“Right, right, right! Hurry, hurry!”

“We can talk about Long Aotian's matter later; Opportunities won't wait for anyone!”

A group of prodigies, as if injected with chicken blood, swarmed toward the teleportation array.

The struggles on the Ascension Ancient Road were just that cruel.

No one would stop forever to commemorate a loser.

On this road, the weak only deserve to be forgotten.

Everyone's goal from beginning to end was only one.

To become stronger.

And then, to reach the end alive.