The vast Ping'an Building was utterly silent, so quiet one could hear a pin drop!
This was because Yan Shouyi, when facing the Bai family's forces alone, showed no signs of retreat. Instead, he had deliberately provoked the Bai family's ancestor!
Few present possessed such courage and daring.
Let alone Yan Shouyi's refusal to let the Bai family ancestor have an easy time, even at the cost of his own life!
However—
The consequences of Yan Shouyi's actions were all too clear.
The Bai family ancestor was enraged, his terrifying aura sweeping forward!
Yan Shouyi was forced to kneel on one knee, yet he still struggled desperately!
"You insolent brat, showing off your temporary might. Do you truly believe you're someone of consequence?"
"I didn't want to bother with you earlier, but you've pushed your luck. So what if you're a descendant of Lu Ban? I, Bai Muyu, am a Ghost King who has lived for hundreds of years. Do you think you can toy with me?!"
"Although killing a descendant of Lu Ban is a great taboo in the Xuanmen sect, what if I kill you today? Who can stop me?!"
Bai Muyu, the ancestor of the Bai family, was utterly infuriated.
Having lived for so many years, accustomed to luxury and being above all others, with his descendants obeying his every command, when had he ever been played for a fool like this?!
Losing face was minor; losing authority was major!
Yan Shouyi knelt on one knee, struggling to rise.
Unable to stand, he raised his hand and gave Bai Muyu the middle finger!
"Presumptuous!!"
Bai Muyu roared, and suddenly shot three coffin nails from his sedan chair!
The coffin nails instantly pierced Yan Shouyi's two legs and his remaining arm!
Yan Shouyi grunted. When he came to his senses, he realized he was pinned to the wall, unable to move.
Blood flowed from his wounds, and the intense pain made Yan Shouyi feel as though he were about to lose consciousness.
What was going on?!
Wasn't he a Heavenly Fiend Corpse Puppet?
A Heavenly Fiend Corpse Puppet should be able to heal its wounds, and the pain should be significantly reduced!
However, this time, Yan Shouyi felt a pain he hadn't experienced in a long time!
This familiar pain...
Yan Shouyi looked down. The wounds on his thighs were not healing.
Blood gushed out as if a faucet had been turned on, flowing endlessly.
Within seconds, Yan Shouyi felt his consciousness blurring.
"Old Jin, what's happening?" Long Feicheng asked nervously. "Didn't Brother Yan turn into a zombie? He could even regrow his severed hand. How can he not handle two nails in his thigh now?!"
Old Jin was also confused. "I don't understand either. Aren't vampires afraid of wooden stakes? Little Yan is a zombie; by rights, he shouldn't be like this..."
Among those present, only one person knew what was happening.
That person was Luo Ning.
Luo Ning had once told Yan Shouyi that the Heavenly Fiend Corpse Puppet could be considered a perfect physical body, but it had a weakness.
That weakness was the paulownia wood!
Nothing could stop the self-healing ability of the Heavenly Fiend Corpse Puppet, except for paulownia wood!
She hadn't expected Bai Muyu to see through Yan Shouyi's body and use paulownia wood against him!
Facing weapons made of paulownia wood, Yan Shouyi's Heavenly Fiend Corpse Puppet body was no different from that of an ordinary person.
He would bleed when injured.
As long as the paulownia wood remained inside him, he could not heal immediately.
In other words, if left unattended, Yan Shouyi would die from excessive blood loss.
Furthermore, if the paulownia wood penetrated Yan Shouyi's "heart," he would die on the spot!!
Luo Ning wanted to tell Yan Shouyi all this, but she herself was severely injured, struggling even to speak, let alone convey the message to Yan Shouyi, who was dozens of meters away.
Yan Shouyi, pinned to the wall, seemed to realize something. He endured the pain and looked towards Luo Ning.
Upon seeing Luo Ning's expression, Yan Shouyi understood everything.
"So this is my weakness..."
He now knew why he felt so close to death.
But there was no fear in Yan Shouyi's eyes, nor regret.
Even if he died today, he would absolutely not let Bai Muyu have his way!!
Bai Muyu never left his sedan chair from beginning to end.
He said coldly:
"You insignificant wretches, just watch here as Yan Shouyi slowly bleeds to death. See what happens when you oppose me, Bai Muyu!"
Everyone was filled with grief and indignation, but they had no power to resist.
They could only stare at Yan Shouyi, hoping for a miracle.
Suddenly!
A figure smashed through the glass and rushed towards Yan Shouyi at extreme speed!
He leaped up, quickly pulled out the coffin nails from Yan Shouyi's body, and then carried Yan Shouyi away!
To this uninvited guest, Bai Muyu calmly said:
"Yan Shouyi, if you run today, everyone here will have to die for you."
Yan Shouyi, who had just been rescued, suddenly became much more alert.
He grabbed the hand of his rescuer and gritted his teeth, "Xue Kai, put me down!"
This person was none other than Xue Kai!
Yan Shouyi knew, without even looking at his face, that only Xue Kai would come to save him at this moment.
Xue Kai stopped. They were only half a step away from the window.
"If you live, you can avenge them," Xue Kai said in a deep voice.
"If they die, I will live with guilt for the rest of my life. That's no different from being dead," Yan Shouyi replied.
Xue Kai gritted his teeth and quietly put Yan Shouyi down.
After the paulownia wood coffin nails were removed, Yan Shouyi's wounds began to heal.
But the healing speed was noticeably slower.
At this moment, Yan Shouyi was covered in blood, with three bloody gaping wounds on his body, and his face was deathly pale.
Everyone worried that he would suddenly collapse and never wake up again.
Luo Ning was even more anxious.
Why couldn't this guy just leave?
What right did he have to be courageous enough to sacrifice himself for everyone?
Old Jin pursed his lips and said, "Little Yan is a respectable fellow."
He never retreated in the face of adversity.
He was unafraid of death.
He never yielded to threats.
He possessed perfect character, which everyone found unattainable.
Yan Shouyi shakily straightened his body and said in a deep voice, "I'll stay. You let them go!"
"Trying to trick me again?" Bai Muyu sneered.
Yan Shouyi smiled. "Xue Kai is standing right beside me. If you dare to lay a finger on my friends, he can kill me immediately and destroy all the treasures Bai Shixi gave me. You can try if you don't believe me."
He was confident that among Bai Shixi's treasures, there was something Bai Muyu valued greatly.
This item was of great importance, which was why he dared to use it as a threat.
As expected, Bai Muyu relented once more.
He coldly ordered, "Let them go!"
"You can't let them go... you can't let them go..." Bai Yusheng lay on the ground, shaking his head repeatedly.
But the Bai family clearly only listened to Bai Muyu.
Everyone was immediately released.
Long Feicheng stood up and shouted, "Brother Yan, I'm not leaving! We brothers will face mountains of knives and seas of fire together! Even if we die, we'll die together!"
Yan Shouyi smiled. "Get lost! I wish you could keep me company on the road to the underworld, but what about A Gong and Luo Ning? I'm entrusting them to you. You and Old Jin must get them out safely!"
A Gong and Luo Ning were incapacitated.
Therefore, Long Feicheng and Old Jin had to get them out.
Long Feicheng gritted his teeth, tears welling up in his eyes.
He rushed to A Gong's side and hoisted him up. Old Jin also carried Luo Ning on his back.
Long Feicheng wiped away a tear and said, "Brother Yan, I'll take them out first. If you die, I'll come back and machine-gun all of them!"
Old Jin gritted his teeth. "Little Yan, you must live!"
Yan Shouyi smiled and waved his hand.
Luo Ning, on Old Jin's back, turned to look at Yan Shouyi.
Her gaze was incredibly complex.
The disciples of the Lüshan Sect bowed to Yan Shouyi one by one and then retreated down the stairs.
The paper figures of the Liu family cried loudly, knelt before Yan Shouyi, and then reluctantly departed.
Lü Jing gazed at Yan Shouyi from afar and said in a low voice, "When I return, I will mobilize all the disciples of the Lüshan Sect, and I will also call upon all those old friends from the Taoist sects... If I don't kill Bai Muyu, I, Lü Jing, swear I'm no man!!"
Those who came with Yan Shouyi withdrew one by one.
Leaving behind a mess of blood and tears.
Slowly, on the top floor of Ping'an Building, only the Bai family, Yan Shouyi, and Bai Muyu remained.
San Yuan reverted to its original form and landed on Yan Shouyi's shoulder.
It seemed prepared to share Yan Shouyi's fate.
"I've kept my promise, and you should keep yours," Bai Muyu said.
Yan Shouyi patted Xue Kai's shoulder beside him.
Then he walked towards Bai Muyu's sedan chair.
Xue Kai hesitated, wanting to grab Yan Shouyi but then stopped himself.
This was Yan Shouyi's own decision.
Yan Shouyi slowly walked to the front of the sedan chair.
He took out everything Bai Shixi had given him from his satchel and poured it all out.
Various treasures piled up into a small mountain.
The Red God Umbrella and the Eastern King Gourd were among them.
"Is what you want among these?" Yan Shouyi asked weakly.
A pale hand extended from the sedan chair.
The hand opened its palm, and an invisible suction force appeared.
The Red God Umbrella floated up first.
It was then thrown aside.
Next was the Eastern King Gourd, which was also discarded like trash.
One by one, the treasures floated up and were then thrown away.
Finally, the hand selected an ancient book.
The book was tattered, with many torn pages visible, having endured the ravages of time for countless years.
It was the most unassuming of all the treasures.
But this was Bai Muyu's target.
Bai Muyu drew the ancient book into his hand, retracted into the sedan chair, and perused it for a while.
He said, "I have obtained what I wanted."
"What is it?" Yan Shouyi asked.
"You ask too much."
"I'm on the verge of death, isn't it reasonable to want to know some secrets?"
Bai Muyu smiled. "You know your place well, but I don't intend to tell you. You killed Bai Shixi, and you must pay a price. I'll let you die in confusion."
*Pfft!*
The coffin nail that had previously attacked Yan Shouyi suddenly struck from behind him!
It instantly pierced his left chest, and the sharp coffin nail even protruded from his torso!
Yan Shouyi grunted and collapsed onto the ground.
Xue Kai saw this and lowered his head silently.
He knew that Yan Shouyi was a Heavenly Fiend Corpse Puppet.
He also knew that Yan Shouyi had moved his heart.
This meant that if Bai Muyu left now, Yan Shouyi might still have a chance to live.
As long as his heart was not pierced, everything was still possible!
However, what shocked and despaired Xue Kai was that from within the sedan chair, Bai Muyu slowly lifted the curtain and poked his head out.
On his aged head, two eyes gazed at Yan Shouyi.
Then, Bai Muyu moved his fingers.
The second coffin nail pierced Yan Shouyi's dantian!
"Don't think I don't know the Heavenly Fiend Corpse Puppet's heart isn't in its chest."
Bai Muyu chuckled sinisterly. "I have plenty of time to search every spot. Only when I see you truly dead can I be completely at ease."
An ancient monster who had lived for hundreds of years.
How could he not understand the principle of cutting off the roots to prevent future trouble?
Bai Muyu was cautious and meticulous, determined to see Yan Shouyi's soul scattered before he was satisfied!
Xue Kai felt increasingly chilled and despairing.