12: Has he really gone mad?

"Death is imminent, yet you still dare to speak so boldly?"

"Shen Lian, don't blame us; it's the Guild Leader who ordered us to do this."

The old man and the young man didn't care at all about the sense of death hidden in Shen Lian's tone; they simply assumed that since he knew he couldn't escape death today, he was just putting on a show before his end.

"Jiang Hansheng, Gu Qingshan!"

Shen Lian gently shook his Folding Fan and called out their names.

Then, he slowly extended one finger.

"You only have one chance to strike. After one move..."

As he closed his Folding Fan, the surrounding atmosphere suddenly changed drastically.

"Drink your fill of the Yellow Springs!"

"Arrogant!"

The old man, Jiang Hansheng, was furious. Being provoked by a piece of trash was the outcome he could least accept.

He immediately channeled all his true essence, condensing it in his palm to form a surge of wind and thunder.

Beside him, Gu Qingshan also stomped his feet, and a half-moon Sword Intent gradually condensed before him.

"Thunder-Plucking Hand, Crescent Sword Intent—such crude skills and trash moves! You dare to show off in front of an expert?"

Shen Lian stood with his hands behind his back, waiting for their attacks with an indifferent expression.

Facing two Cultivators in the Early Stage of the Void Refining Realm, he didn't even have the desire to make a move.

"Although the Guild Leader told us to bring you back to see her, she didn't say we had to bring you back alive!"

"Shen Lian, you could have lived a while longer, but unfortunately, your attitude has truly annoyed us!"

As soon as the words fell, the two attacked simultaneously.

Instantly, the Spiritual Qi exploded, causing violent fluctuations within a radius of hundreds of miles.

The waves of energy from the two converged, forming a terrifying radiance that roared toward Shen Lian.

They firmly believed that a joint attack of two ultimate techniques would be difficult to withstand even for someone at the sixth level of the Void Refining Realm, let alone Shen Lian, who only had Soul Transformation cultivation.

This was information they had obtained and had not been updated.

After all, no one could have anticipated that Shen Lian would ascend from the Qi Gathering Realm to the Peak of the Void Refining Realm within a single day.

However, Shen Lian ignored this, letting such a massive wave of energy approach him.

Boom—

With a shocking explosion, the mountain rocks were completely destroyed.

But what greeted their eyes was a shocking scene.

Shen Lian... was completely unharmed.

He hadn't even moved a step.

"How is this possible?"

Just as Gu Qingshan and Jiang Hansheng felt immense shock, Shen Lian spoke.

"Is this the extent of your strength?"

He lightly patted the dust falling from his shoulder and asked in a disdainful tone, "Now, it's my turn!"

"Run!"

Seeing this, the two immediately made a very wise decision, turned into light, and fled.

But... "Did I give you permission to leave?"

With a deep shout, the two, who had already escaped more than ten miles away, immediately felt a powerful pulling force from behind, causing their bodies to uncontrollably fly backward.

Before long, their heads were firmly controlled in Shen Lian's palm, unable to move.

"Shen Lian, you..."

"I said, one move. I'll send you to your regretful end!"

"No, you can't kill me. If you kill me, the Guild Leader will..."

Bang, bang—

Before the words were finished, two light explosions were heard.

The heads of Jiang Hansheng and Gu Qingshan instantly exploded into dust, leaving only two headless corpses falling into the ruined mountain forest.

"trash, how do you have the courage to provoke the dignity of a king? Being able to die at my hands, you can consider your lives not wasted! After all, not everyone is qualified to die at the hands of Shen Lian. Hahahaha..."

The familiar wild laughter echoed through the wilderness again, and Shen Lian walked forward, shaking his Folding Fan.

After a few steps, he quickly turned into a Yin-Yang stream of light and flew away into the distance, leaving only two headless corpses waiting for the wild beasts of the mountains to devour them.

Inside the Heavenly Feather Sect, Su Yuheng, who was taking care of Ye Fan, suddenly felt a slight cracking sound coming from the storage ring on her fingertip.

Crack, crack...

Hearing the sound, she couldn't help but knit her brows, subconsciously peering into the storage ring with her Divine Sense.

Upon seeing this, her brows furrowed even deeper.

"The life souls of Jiang Hansheng and Gu Qingshan have actually shattered? How is this possible!"

She found it hard to believe; those two were both in the Void Refining Realm, existences that could not be easily provoked by any party.

Yet now, they had been sent to capture Shen Lian, and they had died in less than two hours?

Could it be that Shen Lian killed them?

"No, this must just be an accident."

She tried hard to convince herself.

"Shen Lian has only just recovered to Soul Transformation cultivation; there is no way he could have killed them. He must have encountered a high-level demonic Cultivator on the way and met with misfortune."

After all, she absolutely did not believe that Shen Lian could kill two Void Refining Realm experts in one breath.

Even regarding the deaths of Dongfang Lie and Yuwen Tianzhao, she believed Shen Lian had used some underhanded means.

"It's bad, Senior Sister Su!"

Just then, an Outer Sect Disciple stumbled into Ye Fan's room.

Before he could speak, Su Yuheng directly unleashed her Aura Pressure, forcing him to his knees.

"Presumptuous! Junior Brother is recovering from his injuries; how dare you make such a racket here?"

The Outer Sect Disciple could not withstand the Aura Pressure and immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Senior Sister Su, please calm your anger. Disciple, this Disciple has urgent matters to report, and that is why... that is why I lost my manners..."

"What is it? Speak!"

Having so many unexpected things happen as soon as she returned to the Sect, Su Yuheng's mood was naturally extremely poor.

But the words she heard next almost made Su Yuheng go numb.

"Senior Sister Su, the Spiritual Vein of the Heavenly Feather Sect has dried up and collapsed, and the nourishing earth qi has also been destroyed by someone..."

"What did you say! Say it to me again!"

Su Yuheng could hardly believe her ears.

Until the Disciple repeated what he had just said, she didn't even care about Ye Fan anymore and directly turned into golden light, disappearing from the spot.

Ten breaths later, Su Yuheng's figure appeared in the room again.

But now, her face was pale, and her eyes were filled with disbelief.

"The Spiritual Vein has indeed dried up and collapsed, and even the earth qi..."

She had just gone to the scene to take a look, and at this glance, it was a scene of devastation.

The blessed land, originally rich in Spiritual Qi, had now become a desolate Gobi, and the dense Spiritual Qi underground had been stripped away by some mysterious power.

"Have you found out who did this?"

She asked again.

"Replying to Senior Sister Su, I didn't see clearly who it was, but judging by the figure's outline, it seems to be... it seems to be..."

When the Outer Sect Disciple said this, he looked at Su Yuheng's gloomy expression and didn't dare to continue.

"Speak! Stop stuttering. Who exactly is it?"

"It seems to be Shen Lian."

After the Outer Sect Disciple finished speaking, he immediately lowered his head, not daring to look at Su Yuheng at all.

"Shen Lian?"

Su Yuheng frowned.

"It can't be. I know him too well. He wouldn't be able to do something like this. It was he who originally excavated this Spiritual Vein and offered it to the Sect; how could he do such a thing?"

Hearing this, the Outer Sect Disciple immediately said, "Senior Sister Su, Shen Lian has really gone crazy. Look, he almost killed all the people in our Sect!"

A single sentence instantly brought Su Yuheng back to reality.

"Could it be that Shen Lian, he really has gone crazy? But a few days ago he was still..."

For a moment, she recalled how, a few days ago, Shen Lian looked pitifully and knelt before her, trying to please her.

His words still echoed in her ears.

"Third Senior Sister, you must believe me. I really didn't harm Junior Brother Ye. I really didn't."

"Third Senior Sister, I know you don't like me, but I just wanted to make you happy. Can you please stop being angry at me?"

"As long as Third Senior Sister is willing to forgive me, I will do whatever you want."

"As long as I swallow this Heart-Devouring Pill, you will forgive me, right? Alright, as long as you can be happy, I will swallow it right now."

Thinking of this, Su Yuheng suddenly felt a trace of inexplicable guilt.

Was she too harsh on Shen Lian, causing him to become the way he is now?

After all, regardless of anything else, everything she currently possessed was given by him.

But soon, this thought was quickly thrown to the back of her mind.

"How could I sympathize with such trash? Everything I have today is the result of my own efforts. Although he did help me in the past, that is all in the past; why think so much about it? Hmph, whether you did it or not, this time I will not let you go no matter what. Shen Lian, if you still care about our fellow Sect friendship, you should obediently go die and sacrifice yourself for Ye Fan!"

Just then, Tan Beihuan and Ai Buli arrived at the Sect.