167: Chapter 167 Lin Aotian's Shock and Collapse

Around the Reception Platform, the cold wind from the spatial rifts swept across the White Marble Square.

Dozens of Xiao Family Law Enforcement Hall Protectors, holding Immortal Artifacts, froze in place.

The dust from the shattered Formation had not yet settled, but their breathing had completely stopped.

Grand Elder Xiao Wanshan's eyes bulged as he stared fixedly at the white-robed youth in the center of the Formation.

Those Xiao Family prodigies, who usually regarded Xiao Ninger as their cold and aloof "white moonlight," felt as if they had been struck by five lightning bolts, their Dao Hearts fracturing inch by inch.

Zi Yun completely ignored her torn ice-blue dress and the dozens of terrified gazes around her.

Like a crazy girl who had finally gotten her candy, she broke through the guards' cordon and threw herself into Su Yun's arms.

Her arms tightly encircled Su Yun's waist, her grip so strong that her knuckles turned white.

She pressed her burning cheek firmly against Su Yun's chest, greedily inhaling the cold scent emanating from him.

"Husband..."

The delicate cry, laced with obvious sobs, exploded across the deathly silent square.

Zi Yun's voice was cloyingly sweet to the extreme, tinged with a morbid madness.

"You've finally come. Ninger has prepared everything."

Tears seeped from the corners of her eyes as her hands restlessly caressed Su Yun's back, as if confirming this wasn't a dream.

The high-and-mighty peerless goddess, who had just publicly rejected the Young Lord of Tianshu Palace a few days ago, was now more humble than a lowly bed-warming maid.

Su Yun looked down at the trembling beauty in his arms, his lips curling into a playful arc.

He raised his right hand, his palm still carrying the lingering warmth of the Lightning Tribulation, and casually placed it on Zi Yun's head, gently stroking her long hair.

"Well done."

These four words were spoken nonchalantly.

Yet to Zi Yun, they sounded like heavenly music; her delicate body trembled violently, a satisfied moan escaped her throat, and her entire body went so limp she nearly collapsed against Su Yun.

Su Yun held her waist to steady her, his gaze casually sweeping over the stunned members of the Xiao Family.

Clang.

A Profound Immortal Protector's longsword crashed onto the stone tiles.

The sound shattered the frozen atmosphere.

"Ning... Ninger?" Xiao Wanshan swallowed hard, his voice trembling.

He looked at Su Yun, then at Zi Yun, who was clinging tightly to him, his mind buzzing.

This was the one with the True God Bloodline, the future head of the Xiao Family!

The number one pearl of the Ziwei Star Domain, for whom even a Half-step Immortal King was willing to offer the Nine Heavens Flowing Light Feathered Robe!

She was actually calling a wild man who had just ascended from the Lower Realm "Husband"?

"Impudent!" Xiao Wanshan suddenly snapped back to his senses, his furious Immortal Lord pressure erupting and sending debris flying everywhere.

"Thief! What Demonic Technique did you use to bewitch our goddess? Release her at once!"

His fingers curled into a claw, condensing a green storm of immortal power as he moved to seize Su Yun.

Su Yun's eyes didn't even flicker.

Zi Yun suddenly turned her head from Su Yun's embrace, her previously intoxicated eyes instantly turning to ice.

"Xiao Wanshan, if you dare touch a single hair on his head, I will slaughter your entire clan!"

Zi Yun's voice was cold and harsh, and the golden light of the Death-Substitution Talisman bestowed by the Creation Realm Grand Elder flashed wildly on her forehead.

That was a trump card capable of instantly detonating an attack comparable to that of an Immortal King.

Xiao Wanshan's body froze mid-air, his chest heaving with rage as his finger trembled while pointing at Zi Yun.

"You... you're crazy! If the Family Head comes out of seclusion, he'll definitely skin you alive!"

"That's not for an old dog like you to bark about," Zi Yun sneered.

When she turned back to Su Yun, she instantly switched back to her submissive and charming demeanor, even standing on her tiptoes to plant a soft kiss on Su Yun's chin.

The hearts of all the Xiao Family prodigies shattered.

Meanwhile, at the edge of the Reception Platform, a bloodied figure chained to a discarded stone pillar suddenly convulsed.

Lin Aotian.

He had been discarded by Qing Yuan like useless waste at the edge of the platform.

She had intended to wait for him to bleed out completely, but unexpectedly, the spiritual energy storm from the bursting cross-realm Formation had jolted him awake with pain.

Blood blurred his vision.

He struggled to push aside his messy, filthy hair and looked through the gaps toward the center of the Formation.

That back clad in snow-white robes, a back etched into his very marrow, one he would recognize even if it turned to ash!

His gaze shifted.

Xiao Ninger, whom he regarded as his lifelong obsession and had secretly sworn to take back just a few days ago.

The cold and noble Xiao Ninger from outside the Star River Ancient Ruins was now acting like a cat in heat, publicly kissing that white-robed man's chin.

"Su... Su Yun..."

A wheezing hiss escaped Lin Aotian's throat.

His eyes bulged, the skin at the corners of his eyes tearing inch by inch as dark red blood mixed with turbid tears rolled down.

An extreme sense of humiliation and absurdity, like ten thousand rusty iron saws, frantically sawed back and forth across his nerves.

When Ye Wuhun took his woman, he could still deceive himself that it was for power.

But now?

The one Xiao Ninger was throwing herself at was actually his most hated enemy!

The very Su Yun who had kicked him off his pedestal and into the mud!

"Aaaaaah—!"

Lin Aotian suddenly let out a shrill, inhuman roar.

The sound was so tragic that it even drowned out the crackle of the remaining electricity from the Reception Platform's Formation.

Driven by black energy, his broken bones emitted a series of sharp cracks.

On all fours, like a mad dog dragging a broken body, he left a long trail of blood on the stone tiles as he crawled frantically toward the center of the Formation.

"Su Yun! You're actually not dead!"

Lin Aotian roared hysterically, his mouth full of yellowed, shattered teeth.

"You took everything from me, destroyed my Foundation, and now you're stealing Ninger too!"

Su Yun's gaze lowered slightly, finally granting a glance at the pile of rotten meat on the ground as if it were a charity.

His eyes were calm, as if looking at a pile of worthless trash.

"Oh, it's you," Su Yun said casually. "Your vitality is quite resilient."

Hearing Lin Aotian's voice, a flash of disgust crossed Zi Yun's eyes.

She leaned in Su Yun's arms, she said coldly, "Qing Yuan."

Qing Yuan, who had been standing nearby acting as a background character, stepped forward.

She had changed into a clean green maid's outfit and walked up to Lin Aotian.

Raising her right foot clad in a cloud-brocade boot, she stomped hard on the half of Lin Aotian's face that was already caved in.

Thud.

Lin Aotian's head was stomped heavily into the white marble tiles, creating a crater.

"Blind fool. Is the Master and Mistress's name something you can call so directly?"

Qing Yuan's voice was cold as she ground her toe, rubbing Lin Aotian's facial skin against the debris until it was a bloody mess.

Master? Mistress?

Ground underfoot, Lin Aotian's line of sight caught Qing Yuan's eyes, which were devoid of any emotion.

How could these eyes still hold even a hint of the pride she had when she went to the Lower Realm to avenge him?

They clearly showed absolute submission to that white-robed man!

Countless images flashed through his mind.

The humiliation of being trampled in the Lower Realm, the wretched state of Qing Yuan returning heavily injured and spitting blood.

That shattered jade talisman carrying the aura of Su Yun's remnant soul, and Zi Yun's look of treating him like trash outside the Star River Ancient Ruins.

A terrifying thought exploded in Lin Aotian's mind.

Everything was fake!

There was no bloody battle, no mutual destruction!

From beginning to end, it was all a play!

A shocking death trap that played him like a monkey and squeezed out every last bit of his utility!

A breeze blew across the square.

The smell of blood on Lin Aotian, mixed with a foul stench, wafted through the air.

He struggled desperately under Qing Yuan's foot, large mouthfuls of black blood gushing from his mouth.

"Qing Yuan! You... you all knew from the start?"

Lin Aotian stared fixedly at the two leaning against each other on the steps, the whites of his eyes completely consumed by pure black Devilish Qi, his voice as shrill as a demon weeping blood.

He desperately reached out with his severed hand, which had only three fingers left, toward Zi Yun.

"Ninger... say something!"

"Look at me!"

"I am your Brother Aotian! Tell me, you're being controlled by him, right?!"

"Say something!!"

The hoarse wails echoed through the Forbidden Ground of the Divine Mountain, lingering for a long time.