Chapter 145: The Treacherous Isotope

Zhang Ning was momentarily stunned by Zhang Guanlan's state, but indignation quickly followed. Regardless of whether the master-disciple relationship in this world was more volatile than the one he knew, this Zhang Guanlan had no right to use such a resentful tone when speaking of his master.

With a blank expression, Zhang Ning said, "I don't know what kind of situation you're dealing with here, but no matter what it is, it can be resolved through communication. I'm not a fool. Your master is stern, but how could he be like this for no reason? What on earth did you do? The most sensible thing for you to do right now is to apologize to Master, make him forgive you, and then talk things through!"

Although Zhang Ning’s words sounded somewhat self-righteous, they were filled with heartfelt sincerity. Yet Zhang Guanlan scoffed derisively. "Forgive? Master will likely never forgive me, nor do I dare to expect his forgiveness!" A hint of unrepentant defiance pierced through Zhang Guanlan’s tone.

Zhang Ning furrowed his brows deeply, at a loss for how to persuade him further.

Lost in his own turbulent emotions for a long while before snapping back to reality, Zhang Guanlan looked at Zhang Ning—who remained stubbornly devoted and steadfastly loyal to his master—and felt a dark, perverse flame ignite within his chest. "What's the use of blindly devoting yourself to your master like a fool? Following every rule step by step, acting like a good little boy... in the end, you get nothing!"

Unable to fathom this, Zhang Ning asked, "Then what about you? What did you get?"

Seeing Zhang Ning's impermeable stubbornness, Zhang Guanlan suddenly burst into laughter, his tone dripping with condescending malice. "What did I get? I've only just climbed off Master's body... You and I, what have we actually gotten?"

Hearing this, Zhang Ning felt as though he had plunged into a waking nightmare, involuntarily stumbling back two steps. "You—could it be that you..."

Seeing Zhang Ning's utterly shattered expression, a look of gratification—the first of its kind since Zhang Ning had arrived in this world—surfaced on Zhang Guanlan's face. "Don't be afraid. Even though Master probably won't forgive me, that doesn't mean he hasn't accepted me! I used to think my feelings were a form of endless torment to him, something that could never be accepted, but as it turns out... he didn't even put up much of a struggle!"

To Zhang Ning, Zhang Guanlan now resembled a venomous snake hissing out its forked tongue. Zhang Ning longed to plug his ears and escape from all of this, yet he still heard the rest of Zhang Guanlan's words: "At my most excessive, Master merely bit my lower lip gently!"

Having finished speaking, Zhang Guanlan stared intently at Zhang Ning with rapt interest, as if eagerly anticipating his reaction—and judging by Zhang Ning's appearance, his reaction was thoroughly satisfying to Zhang Guanlan.

Trembling from head to toe, down to his very teeth, Zhang Ning stood rooted to the spot with clenched fists before suddenly lunging at Zhang Guanlan like a madman. "You bastard! You've lost your mind! How could you commit such a treasonous act!"

Standing firmly in place, Zhang Guanlan leisurely remarked, "Don't be like that. You're using a Parallel World Experience Pass right now. The moment you initiate an attack..."

Ignoring the warning entirely, Zhang Ning pressed the attack with righteous fury. His Grand Freedom Hand easily tore through the protective barrier visible only to the two of them.

Caught completely off guard—never expecting that his usually timid self would attack without a moment's hesitation—Zhang Guanlan was knocked flat onto the ground by the Grand Freedom Hand. In the next instant, Zhang Ning, having rushed over using "Butterfly Flash," landed a heavy punch right on the corner of Zhang Guanlan's mouth. Cursing in pain, Zhang Guanlan nearly lost a tooth before decisively and effortlessly blocking Zhang Ning's next move.

Confused and angry, Zhang Guanlan demanded, "Attacking yourself? Are you out of your mind? Can't you share my feelings? Didn't you just finish arguing with Master yourself?"

Driven out of his mind by rage, Zhang Ning completely tuned out Zhang Guanlan's words. Realizing that physical blows were no longer effective, Zhang Ning reached directly into his third storage grid.

From it, he retrieved a heavy, razor-sharp black iron broadsword gifted to him by his Fourth Senior Brother, Han Zhifei. Raising the blade, he immediately executed a strike from the Black-Backed Saber Technique!

As one of the supreme martial arts of the Grand Freedom Demonic Sect, the Black-Backed Saber Technique had long been mastered by Han Zhifei. Although it could not compare to his signature Blood-Heavy Fist, it had undoubtedly reached an accomplished level—more than enough to teach Zhang Ning a lesson.

The greatest strength of the Black-Backed Saber Technique lay in its overwhelmingly fierce offensive power, making it the very first thing Zhang Ning thought of in his panic and fury.

However, the Zhang Guanlan of this world was no pushover. In terms of pure strength alone, he far outclassed Zhang Ning by an immeasurable margin.

The blow he had taken earlier was purely because Zhang Guanlan had lowered his guard against himself.

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Guanlan sneered at the "foolish" Zhang Ning and lightly pushed his right hand forward. That single gesture instantly caused Zhang Ning's incoming attack to dissolve entirely—completely and utterly dissipated. Despite the two of them standing less than half an arm's length apart, Zhang Guanlan acted as calm and undisturbed as if he had done nothing at all.

Zhang Ning did not feel even the slightest aftermath of the shockwave, as though the saber strike he had just swung was merely a figment of his imagination.

Only then did Zhang Guanlan slowly utter a few words: "A hundred thousand miles."

Clueless as to what he meant, Zhang Ning figured that since one strike failed, he would simply hack away with a few more!

Flicking his wrist, Zhang Ning unleashed a dozen saber strikes in a single instant. Even during his own training sessions, he had never achieved such fluency; yet, fueled by blinding fury, he had grasped the inner essence of the Black-Backed Saber Technique, soaring to an unprecedented realm and successfully executing a ferocious chained combo!

Faced with this onslaught, Zhang Guanlan merely stood there with casual ease, not making a single countermeasure, looking as leisurely as a spectator watching a play.

Yet, despite taking zero defensive actions, the strikes Zhang Ning delivered in his rage failed to even stir a single strand of his hair.

Zhang Ning froze for a moment, then began shifting through different stances. However, after cycling through virtually every movement in his repertoire to no avail, he finally understood the grim reality. He quieted down entirely, yet continued to fixate a deadly stare upon Zhang Guanlan.

Unfazed, Zhang Guanlan casually brushed off his hands. "Impressive, impressive! As expected of me!" He spat out a drop of blood-tinged saliva. "Who would have thought I'd ever get beaten up by myself."

Unamused by the slightly absurd scene, Zhang Ning kept his eyes locked on Zhang Guanlan in stony silence. Perhaps feeling the pressure of that intense gaze, Zhang Guanlan's expression turned vicious as he glared back.

"What? You're not convinced?! I suppose it's time for the villainous boss's traditional monologue to explain things. Parallel World Experience Passes require entering keywords to function, right? Since you know I cultivate the Dao of Space-Time, I'm terribly sorry—my mastery in this path has reached a certain level. This 'Hundred Thousand Miles' can scatter an enemy's attacks a hundred thousand miles away! In other words, no matter what kind of strike an enemy unleashes, it must traverse a hundred thousand miles just to reach me. But when I attack someone else..."

Suddenly leaping into the air, Zhang Guanlan delivered a vicious kick straight to Zhang Ning's soft abdomen.

Struck squarely in the stomach, Zhang Ning collapsed to his knees instantly, utterly defenseless and nearly vomiting blood.