Chapter 360: Trump Card

"This sword strike cannot be dodged!"

Watching helplessly as Shen Yu unleashed this sword strike, watching as this strike shattered the cage she had obtained with such difficulty, watching as this strike descended upon her.

From beginning to end, Qing Yan had never imagined the opponent could be this terrifying; this sword strike could actually shatter both this seemingly indestructible cage and her along with it.

Yet she could only helplessly endure it head-on, because she simply could not dodge or avoid this sword strike.

The Sword Qi severed all her vitality, and she was torn apart as easily as a piece of rag.

Strong, terrifyingly strong! She felt that even in her prime, she would have been as insignificant as an ant beneath this Sword Qi.

Why are the Heavenly Pride of today so terrifyingly strong?

The final glimmer of light in her eyes gradually faded; at the very last moment, she seemed to see the past, and saw her former, helpless, and pitiful self.

It was a dim night, and she was trembling as she was picked out by every man in the Brothel, humiliated to their hearts' content.

And her father, because he wanted to save her, was beaten to death right before her eyes; even now, she could still hear her father's wails before he died echoing in her ears.

It was he who appeared, like a beam of light shining into her World, driving away all the darkness and cold.

Just like a prince on a white horse, he saved her, brought her warmth, and illuminated her World.

But in the end, her deep affection was misplaced; he saved her only because he wanted her body.

After being taken back, she began to learn the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, to learn dance, and to learn all sorts of knowledge.

She thought he liked it, so she studied desperately. Even though she could not see and found it very difficult to learn, she still forced herself to work hard.

Finally, she achieved success, and all her teachers praised her endlessly. She had wanted to hear praise from his lips, but who would have thought she would hear only cold commands instead.

From then on, she was sent out like merchandise to be played with by the powerful, sent to all sorts of people.

As long as it was beneficial to him, as long as the other party asked, she had to serve them with all her might at night, even if they kicked and punched her or hurled insults at her.

Her heart turned cold bit by bit once more, falling into darkness bit by bit.

Finally, one day, she asked that young master who had once saved her, the white moonlight that had once been in her heart. She asked him if he had ever, for even a single moment, been moved by her.

But the answer she received was cold; he had merely seen that she was good-looking, which was why he had brought her back.

From beginning to end, she was just merchandise, as lowly as the weeds by the roadside, and he even mocked her for being a toad lusting after swan meat.

Finally, the last bit of light in her heart vanished; that night, she killed everyone. She dug out the other person's eyeballs and installed them in her own eyes.

From then on, she could see; this colorful World was truly as beautiful as she had imagined, but it was colder than she had imagined.

It was just that her eyes were blood-colored. Whenever she took action, her eyes would become as crimson as fresh blood; they were eyes soaked in blood and ruthlessness.

That night, she understood a principle: to learn to live in this cold World, she could only be colder than others.

From then on, she wandered the World in a red dress; it was the wedding dress she had secretly sewn over countless days and nights.

Putting on this garment, she went to pay tribute to that kind person in her heart who had sacrificed for her, to pay tribute to her former love, and to pay tribute to that ridiculous and humble self.

When the Sword Qi extinguished her vitality, she had thought she would feel fear, would struggle.

After all, she had previously used unscrupulous means to survive, her hands stained with blood, as if the desire to live was the only meaning of her existence.

But now, as death descended, Qing Yan felt no pain or unwillingness; what she felt was an unprecedented sense of relief.

Released, everything was released!

Beneath the Sword Qi, Qing Yan truly turned into a wisp of smoke, drifting away in the air just like that, until she finally disappeared.

"Dead, she's dead!" Watching Qing Yan as if she were still before them, the remaining Lin Musheng and the others felt only overwhelming fear.

They had not felt this way for a long time, and by rights, they shouldn't have. In the past Great Contention Era, they had also encountered countless dangers of Life and Death.

But at that time, their hearts were always as still as stagnant water, so indifferent that they didn't even care about themselves. It was as if they never knew what fear was, never knew what the feeling of terror was.

But now, they truly felt the sensation of fear; this was a feeling that left them feeling lost and uneasy.

"Next, let it be you!" Looking up at Ye Juan, compared to the others, someone who specifically targeted infants was even more deserving of murderous intent.

"No!" Seeing Shen Yu look at her, Ye Juan's heart skipped a beat, and she fled rapidly toward the distance.

At this moment, she had only one thought: flee, flee quickly from this place of right and wrong, flee from this pervert. As long as she fled fast enough, she would have a chance to live.

She had witnessed the two previous sword strikes; they were definitely not something they could resist. Only by fleeing was there a glimmer of hope for survival.

But before she had run very far, the Sword Qi had already caught up to her, slashing fiercely into her body. It sliced through her body and annihilated her soul.

At this final moment, as her life and spirit were about to perish, it was as if a certain shackle in her heart had shattered.

In an instant, she remembered all the things from before, seeing the scene from years ago where her own children knelt before her, wanting to sacrifice all their power to her.

At that time, the Spirit Qi Surge was occurring outside, and the ferocity of the Great Contention Era had already manifested. Countless old monsters had revived and were killing at will; less than one in ten of the world's people remained.

They, the last of the resistance, had basically been wiped out. Only in her own home had all her children been secretly in seclusion somewhere, researching a way to counter those old monsters.

By gathering the power of everyone from the same source, it would be enough to allow one person to obtain unprecedented power and take that step.

Everyone in the family was prepared to die; as long as they could succeed, as long as they could deal with those cold and heartless old monsters, everyone's sacrifice was worth it.

For this, all her children made the decision to sacrifice all their power, all their essence, energy, and spirit to her, helping her take that step.

She had not heartlessly devoured her children; she loved them more than anyone else. But for the sake of the world, she had to endure the pain and do so.

Her children possessed great love and could die for the world; she could do the same.

In the end, she succeeded, crossing the threshold into the ranks of the old monsters, possessing the strength to contend with them.

But at this time, she no longer thought of resistance; instead, she joined their ranks, and everything seemed to happen as a matter of course.

Clearly, she had wanted to protect the World, clearly she had wanted to resist, clearly she had wanted to die for the world. But the result was that she betrayed everyone in order to survive.

She, the former resister, raised her butcher's knife against her own kin; in order to obtain more power and stronger strength, her blade was even more ruthless and absolute.

All these things were like yesterday; it turned out that, unknowingly, the self that had once taken the world as her own responsibility had long since changed, becoming selfish, becoming heartless and cold, becoming a mass murderer.

Perhaps out of guilt, she liked children, and liked even more to raise them by hand. But after raising them, she couldn't help but devour them one by one.

It wasn't that she couldn't control herself; it was truly because they were too delicious.