Jian Blu Eva had been captured and chained after losing to a warrior. Unlike her, he was not a healer, but his strength had been enough to overwhelm her.
Now, she could only watch as Shi Yun Lan advanced toward the Lioga family warrior.
His Aura of Death spread through the battlefield.
The man's expression changed instantly.
Fear.
He desperately avoided Shi Yun Lan's slashes while keeping his distance and attacking with his spear.
'Lan?'
Jian Blu Eva felt a mixture of warmth and worry.
He had actually come to rescue her.
Shi Yun Lan tried to close the distance, but the man continuously retreated.
"You can't stand against me. Free my mistress, and I will spare you."
The man hesitated before stepping backward.
"You think you can kill me that easily?!"
"Yes."
Shi Yun Lan answered without hesitation.
He advanced again.
But this time, he changed his fighting style.
Instead of slashing, he thrust his sword forward.
The blade was surrounded by a bloody aura that suddenly flooded the man's vision.
'That's bad!'
He tried to retreat.
Too late.
The tip of the sword pierced his chest.
He managed to create some distance afterward, but a terrible pain spread throughout his chest.
Shi Yun Lan calmly looked at him.
"At this rate, you will die."
The man's eyes widened.
His chest was already turning black.
His lungs were beginning to rot.
"Lioga Un Suy. You can't defeat a boy?"
Another man appeared at that moment.
He was also at the Noble Level.
He immediately threw a pill toward Suy.
Suy swallowed it, and the pill temporarily stabilized his condition.
The newcomer looked at Shi Yun Lan with curiosity.
"Now, won't you tell me who you are?"
He had witnessed how easily Shi Yun Lan had dominated Suy.
He was even more surprised after sensing that the young man was only at the Pillar Level.
"Shi Yun Lan, from the Shi family."
Shi Yun Lan didn't hesitate.
"I want you to free my mistress."
The man shook his head.
"Sorry, boy. My brother, Suy, wants this woman."
A disgusting smile appeared on his face.
"But don't worry. I'll take you somewhere special. There will be beautiful women there who won't be able to refuse us."
He laughed.
"What do you say?"
Shi Yun Lan raised his sword.
"Then I have to kill you."
The man laughed louder.
"Kill me? Or us?"
A group of ten warriors emerged.
Some were at the Pillar Level.
Others were at the Noble Level.
Shi Yun Lan's Aura of Death immediately spread across the battlefield.
"What did you do to my men?"
Shi Yun Lan hadn't expected the enemy to avoid his squad and come directly here.
The man shrugged.
"We didn't meet them. We simply sacrificed the villagers to increase our strength, then came here."
Shi Yun Lan remembered the girl and her mother.
The same mother and daughter he had met while working with Jian Blu Eva.
He couldn't feel sadness.
He couldn't feel rage.
He couldn't even feel regret.
Yet his Aura of Death began to surge around him.
"I have to kill you all for those villagers."
"Lan!"
Jian Blu Eva shouted desperately.
"Run! My family will defeat them. I'll be fine!"
Shi Yun Lan turned toward her.
Their eyes met.
"I had to protect you."
His voice remained calm.
"But now, I have to kill them all."
He spoke as though there was never any possibility of failure.
"Get him!"
The man ordered his companions.
Shi Yun Lan lowered his body.
Then he activated his technique to its limit.
"(Art of Annihilation: Body of the Dead)."
His muscles suddenly became slimmer.
His body lost its normal structure, becoming unnaturally flexible and dense.
He slipped through their defenses and swung his sword.
Two men fell.
But a Noble-Level warrior forced him to retreat.
"You...!"
Shi Yun Lan looked at him without emotion.
He glanced at the two corpses.
"Two have fallen."
His eyes returned to the remaining warriors.
"Ten remain."
The man's expression darkened.
Instead of attacking Shi Yun Lan, he suddenly turned toward Jian Blu Eva.
He released his infected aura.
"(Melting the Bones)!"
An ominous aura filled the area.
It carried sensations of suffering and distortion.
But Jian Blu Eva activated her Simple Domain.
The ominous aura was unable to reach her.
Shi Yun Lan stepped between them.
"You have to pass over my corpse if you want to reach her."
His right arm suddenly stretched.
The flesh elongated unnaturally, and his hand transformed into a twisted blade.
Before anyone could react—
A warrior was killed.
The others were stunned.
No one had imagined that Shi Yun Lan could distort his body to such an extent.
Even more shocking was the fact that his arm returned to its original shape immediately afterward.
The Noble-Level warriors no longer hesitated.
They moved together, surrounding Shi Yun Lan from every direction.
But he felt nothing.
No fear.
No pain.
No hesitation.
He simply prepared to slaughter them all.
The man shouted,
"(The Great Formation: Death Is Coming)!"
A hexagonal formation appeared beneath Shi Yun Lan.
Greenish-red light surged from its edges before swallowing him completely.
Lioga Un Suy saw the formation close around Shi Yun Lan.
He smiled.
'He's dead.'
He approached Jian Blu Eva, who was staring at the ground.
"What?"
He sneered.
"Do you feel pity for him? It's his fault, not yours, honey."
"I won't let you do this!"
Jian Blu Eva broke free from her chains.
She immediately released her aura and began healing herself.
Lioga Un Suy laughed.
"You must be joking. You're not a warrior. You're a—"
"(Hypo)!"
Jian Blu Eva touched his chest.
Suy's expression changed.
Pain exploded through his body.
Then dizziness struck him.
He collapsed.
His heart began to hurt violently.
"What... did... you... do... to... me...?"
His voice became barely audible.
Jian Blu Eva ignored him.
To her, he was already a dead man.
She rushed toward the formation.
However, the remaining three Pillar-Level warriors moved to block her.
"How annoying."
Jian Blu Eva's eyes narrowed.
"(Dizziness)!"
Her Simple Domain spread.
The spell reached the three men.
One after another, they collapsed.
Jian Blu Eva finally reached the formation and struck it.
The formation reacted violently.
Then—
BOOM!
It exploded.
Poison and infection flooded the surrounding area.
The unconscious warriors were instantly killed.
Jian Blu Eva immediately surrounded herself with her Simple Domain.
"LAAN!"
Her scream echoed across the battlefield.
Inside the remains of the formation stood Shi Yun Lan.
Six warriors surrounded him.
His condition was horrifying.
His skin had turned black.
His hair had fallen out.
His left arm had been severed.
His left leg was twisted unnaturally.
The beautiful features of his face had been stripped away, leaving only a horrifying mass of exposed flesh.
His sword was still embedded in his chest.
Yet—
A terrifying smile appeared on his mutilated face.
"Is that all you have?"
His voice remained calm.
"You don't know how to finish me."
Shi Yun Lan's right arm began to distort.
The flesh expanded.
Bones twisted together.
Bloody aura condensed around them.
His arm transformed into a massive fleshy, bony sword.
He deliberately destroyed the joints of his arm, allowing it to swing in directions a normal limb never could.
The remaining warriors stared at him in horror.
"He is a damned, cursed monster!"
"Retreat!"
But Shi Yun Lan had already decided.
None of them would leave alive.
He disappeared.
His speed was horrifying.
Like a reaper descending upon his prey, he appeared before two Noble-Level warriors.
"Stay away!"
The two men desperately activated their special Noble-Level ability—
The Embodiment of Aura.
Their aura condensed into shields around their bodies.
Shi Yun Lan didn't care.
He pushed forward with his full strength.
His distorted sword-arm pierced straight through their defenses.
The two warriors screamed.
Shi Yun Lan looked at them.
"Now, your turn."
The expression on his face made the remaining warriors lose the courage to fight.
They surrendered.
"NOOO!"
The others watched in horror as their two companions were impaled.
But what happened next was even more horrifying.
"(Body of the Dead)."
The corpses immediately began turning black.
At the same time, Shi Yun Lan's body started changing.
The blackened skin peeled away.
His missing arm began to regenerate.
But it wasn't ordinary regeneration.
He absorbed an arm from one of the corpses.
Bones, flesh, and aura were pulled into his body.
His left leg reconstructed itself by absorbing bones from the dead.
His ruined skin began returning as well.
Although its color was initially different, Shi Yun Lan gradually altered it until it became the same pure porcelain-white skin he had before.
His entire body continued to change.
Bone.
Flesh.
Muscle.
Skin.
Everything was reconstructed.
Shi Yun Lan modified his body piece by piece until his terrifying beauty returned.
The wounds disappeared.
His pale skin became flawless once again.
His black hair returned.
His face regained its original beauty.
Only his eyes remained the same—
Lifeless.
A perfect smile appeared on his face.
He looked at the remaining warriors.
"Who is next?"
"(Purification)!"
Jian Blu Eva released her aura and erased the remaining infection.
Then she saw the distorted corpses around Shi Yun Lan.
Her stomach turned.
She couldn't stop herself from vomiting.
Shi Yun Lan didn't even react.
He simply walked toward her.
"Come on."
He extended his hand.
"We have to leave before the elders of the Jian family finish the battle."
Jian Blu Eva looked into his lifeless eyes.
'Did he discover the aura I put inside him?!
Will he be angry with me?'
But there was no emotion in his eyes.
Nothing.
She hesitated before taking his hand.
Her hands were trembling slightly.
She was also embarrassed that he had seen her vomiting.
They began leaving the battlefield.
But Lioga Un Suy wasn't willing to let Shi Yun Lan leave so easily.
"Shi Yun LAAAN!"
He rushed toward them.
His eyes were filled with hatred.
If he couldn't defeat Shi Yun Lan, then he would kill Jian Blu Eva.
He wanted to make Shi Yun Lan lose someone important to him.
Suy thrust his weapon toward her.
Shi Yun Lan reacted instantly.
He pushed Jian Blu Eva away.
The weapon pierced directly into his heart.
"Lan?!"
Jian Blu Eva froze.
She couldn't understand what had happened.
Shi Yun Lan had taken the attack for her.
Suy stared at him in disbelief.
Then he began laughing.
"I killed him?!
HAHAHA!
I killed him!"
"NOO!!"
Jian Blu Eva rushed toward him.
But Suy was still a warrior.
He easily avoided her attack.
Then—
He stopped.
Something had grabbed his arm.
"Hmm?"
His expression froze.
The hand holding him belonged to Shi Yun Lan.
A dead man's hand.
A hand that should have been incapable of moving.
Suy slowly looked toward him.
Horror filled his eyes.
Shi Yun Lan stared at him with his usual lifeless expression.
"You forgot."
He pulled the dagger from his chest.
Then he threw it.
The dagger flew through the battlefield and pierced another man who had tried to escape after seeing Shi Yun Lan survive.
Shi Yun Lan raised his hand toward Suy's face.
"(Art of Annihilation: Body of the Dead)."
He paused.
"Or, to make it easier to understand..."
His palm gently touched Suy's face.
"(Death's Touch)."
Suy's eyes widened.
The skin beneath Shi Yun Lan's palm began turning black.
The blackness spread from his face throughout his entire body.
His skin shriveled.
His muscles weakened.
His body became thinner and more wrinkled with every passing second.
Suy couldn't even scream.
Shi Yun Lan looked at the remaining warriors.
"Will you surrender on your own?"
His eyes remained emotionless.
"Or do I have to make you?"
The corpse beside him was still fresh.
The smell of death filled the air.
No one resisted.
One after another, the remaining warriors surrendered.
"The young master!"
Shi Yun Lan's squad finally reached him.
They had felt the spell surrounding his heart disappear and immediately rushed toward him.
But when they arrived, they were stunned.
Everything appeared normal.
Except for the four warriors who were now kneeling in surrender before Shi Yun Lan.
Their eyes moved toward Jian Blu Eva.
Then they understood her connection to what had happened.
"Everything is done."
Shi Yun Lan turned away.
"We saved Phyllis and my mistress. Let's go."
He left with the squad.
Leon had already taken Phyllis, and they were waiting for him.
"Lan, I want to check you."
Jian Blu Eva approached him.
Shi Yun Lan immediately thought about the green aura she had placed inside him.
"I'm fine. There's no need."
"You were stabbed through the heart!"
When the squad heard that, they immediately begged him to let her examine him.
Shi Yun Lan had no choice.
He finally nodded.
'If she tries to inject her aura into me again, I won't let it go this time.'
He waited silently.
Jian Blu Eva examined him.
Her expression suddenly changed.
"Lan!"
She became worried.
"If your aura is exhausted, you'll die!"
"I know."
Shi Yun Lan said it as casually as if she were talking about the weather.
The squad, however, felt terrified.
"Young master, you must receive treatment before returning home."
"I'm fine."
"No."
One of them shook his head.
"The teleportation circle will kill you if it senses that your aura is too weak. You have to stay here and receive treatment."
Shi Yun Lan looked at them.
"What about the organization?"
"It's finished!"
Everyone looked upward.
An elder descended from the sky.
He was casually playing with the severed head of the organization's leader.
"I heard they took my granddaughter."
He looked around.
"But I see the little brat is here."
A smile appeared on his face.
"I want to hear everything."
The elder was particularly interested after sensing Shi Yun Lan's strength.
A seventeen-year-old boy had reached the Pillar Level.
That was extraordinary.
But Jian Blu Eva immediately interrupted.
"Grandpa, he's injured. I have to treat him."
The elder was surprised.
Then he smiled.
"Shi Yun Lan, you can let your squad return home."
He gestured toward the Jian family.
"You can receive your treatment in our hospitality."
Shi Yun Lan thought for a moment.
Then he nodded.
"Well."
He looked at the elder.
"I'll be in your hands."
Shi Yun Lan sent a message to his companions, informing them that he would remain with the Jian family for a while.
He also reassured his father that he was safe.
...
That night, Shi Yun Lan lay on a bed in the Jian family's residence.
Jian Blu Eva sat beside him.
Eventually, both of them fell asleep.
But behind the door—
A pair of widened eyes watched them.
"Why did Grandpa let her stay beside him?!"
Jian Blu Narsi clearly wasn't happy with what she was seeing.