Chapter 147 Encountering the Senior Brother Again

La-la-la, la-la-la...

At this moment, Lin Zhan was in high spirits, feeling confident and ambitious as he skipped along his journey.

Passing by the section of the road where he had previously parted ways with Gu Yuanzhou and Teng Sheng, he discovered Gu Yuanzhou lying in a depression, looking disheveled, battered, and utterly wretched.

*Sigh, these two.*

Lin Zhan stepped closer to inspect him and saw that one of Gu Yuanzhou's foot bones was fractured, rendering him immobile.

"What happened? Where is Teng Sheng?"

Gu Yuanzhou stammered and groaned, looking as though he had suffered a silent defeat and fallen victim to a secret plot.

After being pressed further, Gu Yuanzhou finally recounted the sequence of events.

He said that after parting ways with Lin Zhan, he and Teng Sheng had a disagreement. One wanted to withdraw, while the other wanted to continue into the finals. This argument escalated to the point of whether staying was a betrayal of Blazing Flame Peak, and the end result was that they started fighting.

Teng Sheng, who wanted to withdraw, struck Gu Yuanzhou viciously, breaking his leg bones before vanishing without a trace.

Gu Yuanzhou's account was delivered with vivid emotion, accompanied by the gruesome sight of torn flesh and exposed broken bones. Lin Zhan had no choice but to stop and treat his injuries.

Taking out Heavenly Spirit Spring Water to wash the wounds, setting the bones, and reattaching the torn flesh, Lin Zhan channeled a portion of his spiritual energy to slightly heal his condition.

Walking was clearly out of the question for the time being, but remaining here was hardly realistic either.

Since Lin Zhan could not possibly carry him along the entire way, he advised, "Senior Brother Gu should withdraw from the competition and return to Blazing Flame Peak to recuperate properly."

"Yes, I was thinking the exact same thing." This time, Gu Yuanzhou offered no further objections. He nodded, grasped Lin Zhan's hand, and said with tear-filled eyes, "Thanks to you, Senior Brother was able to escape safely..."

Lin Zhan was about to pull his hand away because the feeling was rather strange. They were both guys, so why act like shy maidens?

Suddenly, however, he felt the grip of Gu Yuanzhou's hands tighten. His hand was firmly clamped in a vice-like hold, and an instant numbing sensation spread across his skin—a clear sign of poison, and one that could not be shaken off immediately.

It was only then that Lin Zhan noticed Gu Yuanzhou was suddenly wearing a pair of flesh-toned gloves shimmering with a faint blue light.

Simultaneously, a nameless sense of crisis arose within his spiritual awareness, accompanied by the subtle, ghostly undulations of displaced air ringing in his ears.

*What the hell, I've been ambushed!*

It wasn't that Lin Zhan lacked vigilance; he simply couldn't fathom that Gu Yuanzhou and Teng Sheng could sink to such despicable depths!

With both hands temporarily restrained and murderous intent rising behind his ears, he instantly deduced that Teng Sheng was hiding in the shadows.

Given Teng Sheng's strength, he must have used some magical artifact or taboo technique to bypass his spiritual detection; otherwise, it would have been impossible to remain so completely silent and invisible.

Gu Yuanzhou, standing right in front of him, had merely restrained his hands and poisoned him, but it was abundantly clear that the real killing blow was coming from Teng Sheng behind him.

When walking with a fellow senior brother and helping him treat his injuries, who on earth would maintain a protective barrier of spiritual energy, constantly on guard like a bristling hedgehog?

Gu Yuanzhou had simply waited for this final, most relaxed moment just before departure to strike without leaving a trace. Who could have anticipated that?

In the span of a lightning flash, Lin Zhan had no time for further contemplation. The Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Armor he wore became his final lifeline, instantly expanding to protect his vital areas.

The spiritual energy within his body surged forth like a torrential river, accelerating the revolution of his Creation Spirit Wheel while summoning his white bone pagoda!

All of this was executed with the fastest and most desperate reflexes possible. Whether he could evade this unpredictable, life-or-death strike was something Lin Zhan could not foresee.

*Thud!*

A short dagger stabbed into Lin Zhan's back. The tremendous force caused even the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Armor to cave inward, but fortunately, it failed to pierce through.

Teng Sheng materialized. The resistance of the dagger evidently caught him slightly off guard. His expression twisted abruptly, and gritting his teeth, he channeled his inner strength to retract the blade and thrust it forward once more—this time targeting Lin Zhan's exposed neck.

It hit home, and a spray of fresh blood erupted!

Yet that was the extent of it. A ring of golden spiritual energy burst forth, violently repelling the dagger and sending it spinning back to pierce straight into Teng Sheng's own chest, carrying him flying backward several feet before he crashed to the ground.

*Boom!*

The white bone pagoda stood tall, emitting a thunderous roar.

Raging fiercely and ignoring the wound on his neck, Lin Zhan seized the opportunity presented by his hands still being linked to Gu Yuanzhou. He grabbed the man back with one hand while unleashing a Blazing Fire Fist with the other. No stance was needed, nor any calculation of force; he simply drove it straight forward!

From palm to forearm, all the way up to the arm and shoulder, the flesh charred black and cooked, tendons and bones thoroughly shattered. That half of Gu Yuanzhou's body caved inward, his feet lifting several feet off the ground as he flew into the air, yet he couldn't escape because Lin Zhan's hand still had him in a death grip.

Hled aloft and slammed down, then yanked back.

Yanked back! Followed by another crushing Blazing Fire Fist!

Knowing there was no longer any threat from behind, Lin Zhan unleashed his most ferocious and merciless punishment upon Gu Yuanzhou.

So much for fellow peak disciples! So much for being a savior! Damn it all, one cannot afford to be a kind person! Enraged to the extreme, Lin Zhan poured his absolute fury into a thorough, unadulterated venting of wrath against a senior brother as treacherous and cold-blooded as this.

Yanked back once more, he hurled the man against the body of the white bone pagoda with a single hand.

The bone pagoda stood immovably steadfast, while not a single patch of skin or bone remained intact on Gu Yuanzhou's entire body—only his consciousness stubbornly remained.

After a brief pause, a series of cracking noises echoed from Gu Yuanzhou's shattering skeleton before his body slid down the tower wall, collapsing into a heap resembling a puddle of mud.

"Lin... Junior Brother..." Gu Yuanzhou emitted a broken, feeble sound.

Yes, he was not dead yet.

Ignoring him, Lin Zhan sat down cross-legged right where he was.

Although his back was protected by the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Armor, the initial blade strike had been fiercely powerful. Even though it failed to pierce through, the deformation of the demonic armor had still compressed the flesh beneath it, causing a certain degree of injury.

That was a minor wound, however. The truly serious one was on his neck, where the slash was several inches deep. Despite his timely efforts to repair it, he had still lost a considerable amount of blood.

Furthermore, channeling his energy to pummel Gu Yuanzhou just now with wild, sweeping movements had torn the wound open again, causing blood to spurt out afresh.

Silently circulating his spiritual energy, Lin Zhan mended his injuries bit by bit.

Physical wounds could be easily mended, but psychological trauma of this sort was far more cruel.

Fortunately, Lin Zhan had mentally prepared himself beforehand. Had it been anyone else, their heart would surely have turned ice-cold by now, plunging them into utter despair regarding human nature.

Healing himself slowly while letting the dying Gu Yuanzhou and Teng Sheng endure this lingering psychological torture was only fair; since they chose to act this way, they deserved to bear the consequences.

One should not slaughter indiscriminately or revel in bloodshed, but toward scum like this, Lin Zhan would never show mercy.

A desolate, freezing wind swept across the landscape. Standing beside the white bone pagoda, Lin Zhan's face bore a new expression—a profound insight born only from a deep comprehension of the dark side of human nature.

The Blue Ice World was brutal, human life was worthless, and all the more reason to cherish oneself!

Lin Zhan slowly rose to his feet. Upon seeing his movement, Gu Yuanzhou opened a pair of terrified eyes filled entirely with despair... (To be continued.)