20: Why should I give you three years?

Silence.

The massive dueling arena, with tens of thousands of Long family disciples, was now so quiet that it felt like one could hear a pin drop.

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on the center of the stage.

There, a god-like young man stood with his hands behind his back, his robes fluttering, spotless.

And not far from his feet, another young Genius, hailed as a “grassroots miracle,” lay like a puddle of mud in his own warm blood, his bones shattered, his Meridians severed, unable to even move a finger.

The victor was already clear.

This was a one-sided execution, full of absurdity from beginning to end.

Ye Fan lay on the cold ground, the intense pain in his body far less than one ten-thousandth of the agony caused by his utterly shattered pride and dignity.

He could feel the gazes cast upon him from all around: shock, disdain, mockery, but more than anything, a pity reserved for a clown.

He painstakingly moved his eyes, his gaze passing over the nightmare-like figure, landing on the woman below the stage—Su Mucheng—the woman he had once sworn to protect his entire life, but who now made him feel utterly unfamiliar.

In her eyes, there was no worry or heartache as he had imagined, only a cold indifference, as if she were looking at an irrelevant passerby.

This gaze became the final straw that crushed the last sliver of hope in his Heart-Nature.

Endless shame, indignation, resentment… all kinds of negative emotions, like the most potent stimulant, surged into his broken body!

He couldn't just fall like this!

He, Ye Fan, was the fated protagonist! How could he possibly be defeated by an overbearing scion who relied on his power?!

This was just a temporary setback! It was a trial that all protagonists must experience on their path to rise!

“Ah—!”

Amidst a low, beast-like roar, Ye Fan, relying on that overwhelming hatred, used his only barely functional, twisted arm to slowly, inch by inch, prop up his upper body, which was like a broken sack!

He stood up!

Though he swayed precariously and was covered in blood, his eyes, which had initially been somewhat unfocused, now rekindled with a roaring black flame named “Revenge”!

A suppressed gasp rose from the onlookers.

“He… can still stand up?”

“This willpower, he can indeed be considered a figure of some note.”

“Alas, it's a pity he provoked a living God.”

When everyone thought he was about to face an even fiercer, all-ending thunderous strike, Ye Fan did something that surprised everyone.

He stared intently at Lin Tian, using the last of his strength, and roared out the classic line he had rehearsed countless times in his heart, a line belonging to “protagonists” like him:

“Don't bully a young man for being poor!”

“Lin Tian! You just wait for me! This humiliation today, I, Ye Fan… I swear by my Martial Dao Heart, I will remember it!”

“Give me three years! You only need to give me three more years! Three years from now, I will surely return to this place, and honorably take your head, washing away all the shame I suffered today!”

He shouted these bold words, proclaiming the classic “three-year pact.”

In his view, this was the most sacred process he, as the “protagonist,” had to follow after a “temporary defeat.” This was his declaration of defiance against fate, a solemn preview of his future comeback.

Next, according to the scripts of those legendary stories he knew, this arrogant “villain” in front of him should be intimidated by his unyielding “backbone,” perhaps scoffing as he let him go, awaiting his powerful return three years later, and then being trampled mercilessly underfoot.

Having said that, he prepared to drag his heavily injured body, under the complex gazes of the crowd, to turn and leave like a tragic hero, defeated but still glorious.

However, just as he painfully turned around, before he could even take that first step, symbolizing “the future,” a voice, tinged with a hint of playful and cold mockery, like a devil's whisper, slowly drifted from behind him, instantly freezing all his movements.

“Wait a moment.”

Lin Tian slowly walked up to him, looking down at him with an absurd gaze, as if looking at an idiot, and retorted:

“Who gave you the confidence to think I would give you three years to grow and then come back for revenge?”

“Why should I give you three years?”

This earth-shattering “Soul retort” instantly tore through all the conventional tropes of web novels like a black lightning bolt capable of ripping through space-time!

Not only Ye Fan, but even all the onlookers present, the Long family disciples who grew up listening to heroic legends, and even Long Zhanye and the other elders who had seen many storms and were secretly observing, were all stunned at this moment!

Indeed… why?

Why leave any time or Opportunity for an enemy with whom one has an irreconcilable feud to grow and turn the tables?

This… simply doesn't make sense!

In Ye Fan's astonished, bewildered, and even a trace of fear from the depths of his Soul, Lin Tian's cold smile at the corner of his mouth grew thicker.

He stopped wasting words, his figure flickered, and he instantly appeared before Ye Fan!

“What do you want to do?!”

Ye Fan and the “old man” in his ring simultaneously sensed an unprecedented, fatal crisis emanating from the depths of their Souls!

Lin Tian did not answer him.

In his deep eyes, a brilliant golden Divine Power, as if capable of melting all things, instantly lit up!

S-class Mental Energy secret technique—《Furnace of the Heart》, fiercely activated!

A majestic Mental Energy, a hundred times more terrifying than before, condensed like a tangible substance, like an invisible, scorching magma, instantly broke through Ye Fan's fragile Soul defense and directly invaded the ancient bronze ring on his finger!

“Ah ah ah! Junior! How dare you!!”

Inside the ring, the remnant Soul of the ancient Martial God who called himself the “Medicine Saint” let out a terrified scream!

He had never imagined that such an overbearing, brutal, and terrifying secret technique specifically targeting the Soul could exist in this world!

“You are a devil! Who exactly are you?! Stop it now!”

“Mercy! Young friend, have mercy! I am the ancient Medicine Saint, and I am willing to submit to you! I will offer all my life's Legacy, Pill Formulas, and secret knowledge! I only ask for…”

“Noisy.”

Lin Tian's gaze was indifferent, ignoring the “old man's” incoherent pleas for mercy.

With a thought, the power of the 《Furnace of the Heart》 was turned to maximum!

“No—!!!”

Accompanied by a tragic wail full of unwillingness and despair, the once arrogant remnant Soul of the ancient Martial God, without even a trace of resistance, was forcibly extracted from the ring by the golden Mental Energy Furnace, refined, crushed, and finally transformed into a pure, vast, ownerless Soul energy, which was then swallowed by Lin Tian's Divine Soul!

“Ding! Congratulations to the host, Divine Soul strength has greatly increased! You have obtained the complete memory Legacy of the ancient Martial God ‘Medicine Saint’!”

In an instant, countless Pill Formulas, secret knowledge, and lost Cultivation Technique insights from the ancient era surged into Lin Tian's mind like a tide, becoming his own knowledge reserve.

Having done all this, Lin Tian released his hand.

And Ye Fan, who had lost his “old man,” his eyes, which had originally burned with unyielding flames, instantly became hollow, desolate, and completely plunged into endless despair.

His greatest reliance, his hope of Heaven-Defying his fate… was gone! It was forcibly ripped from his Soul!

However, Lin Tian's “reckoning” was not yet over.

Under Ye Fan's death-like gaze, Lin Tian slowly raised his hand and, seemingly casually, gently slapped his Dantian Qi Sea.

“No—!!!”

Ye Fan let out a scream more tragic than any before.

He could clearly feel his Qi Sea, which he had painstakingly Cultivated for more than ten years and had already solidified, instantly collapsing and shattering under that seemingly gentle palm, like a punctured balloon!

All the internal Qi in his body, like a breached flood, frantically poured out, eventually dissipating into nothingness.

His proud Peak A-rank Cultivation was completely… crippled by this single palm!

From a Genius admired by all, he reverted to a powerless… ordinary person.

This was ten thousand times crueler than directly killing him!

Having done all this, Lin Tian, like throwing a piece of rag, casually tossed Ye Fan, who had completely turned into a puddle of mud, to the nearby guards.

“Throw him out of the Long family's main gate like trash.”

“Yes!”

The guards took the order and, expressionlessly, dragged Ye Fan away.

In the shadows, Long Zhanye and the other elders, watching this scene, not only showed no reluctance but nodded in approval.

Cutting the grass by the roots, leaving no future troubles.

This is the decisive ruthlessness our Long family's Qilin son should possess!

As Ye Fan's lifeless figure was about to be dragged out of the arena gate, Lin Tian's voice, like a devil's whisper, slowly and earnestly sounded behind him again.

“Young man, don't thank me.”

He looked at Ye Fan's despairing back, a curve of black humor playing on his lips.

“How can you see a rainbow without experiencing wind and rain?”

“I crippled your Cultivation, I took your Opportunity, it was to temper your Heart-Nature, to make you understand that this world is far crueler than you imagine.”

He paused, and with a tone full of “goodwill” and “concern,” he brought a perfect end to this cruel reckoning.

“This is… for your own good.”