Ignoring

Too strong.

This kind of absolute power suppression made her proud Sword Dao talent seem like a joke.

Gu Yang's expression was indifferent as his other hand skillfully reached for her waist.

"Rip—"

The silk ribbon tying her storage bag was violently torn off.

Ji Shuanghua could only watch helplessly.

Humiliation.

Powerlessness.

She glared fiercely at Gu Yang, her legs kicking helplessly in the air, her throat letting out broken, raspy gasps.

Gu Yang weighed the storage bag in his hand. After confirming that the divine sense imprint on it wasn't strong, he casually stuffed it into his robes.

Then.

He frowned.

When he tore off the storage bag just now, his fingers had accidentally been stained with the undried blood around Ji Shuanghua's waist, along with a few spots of black mud.

Gu Yang raised his eyelids, sweeping a glance over the snow-white Daoist robe on Ji Shuanghua's body. Although it was tattered, one could still tell its original fabric was of exceptional quality.

The next second.

He made a movement that caused Ji Shuanghua's soul to tremble.

Without loosening his grip on her neck, Gu Yang unhurriedly wiped his dirty right hand on the cleanest part of her Daoist robe.

His movements were calm and completely nonchalant.

It was as if he were using a piece of ragged cloth he had casually picked up.

Ji Shuanghua's eyes widened.

At this moment, her mind went completely blank from extreme shock.

What... what is he doing?

He is actually using my lifebound Dharma robe as a wiping rag?

That deep-seated contempt and disregard radiating from his very bones was like a rusty saw, viciously tearing apart her self-esteem.

He didn't treat her as the Holy Maiden of the Supreme Sword Sect.

He didn't treat her as a woman.

He didn't even... treat her as a human being.

Having wiped his hand clean, Gu Yang casually tossed her aside.

"Splash!"

Like a piece of trash, Ji Shuanghua was casually thrown into a nearby mud pit.

Muddy water splashed everywhere, dirtying half of her face.

Gu Yang didn't even spare her another glance, lacking even the interest to deal a finishing blow.

He turned around and stepped forward, walking toward the mist in the depths of the swamp.

It seemed that in his eyes, she was nothing more than a Passerby A, an ant not even worth wasting spiritual energy to kill.

...

In the mud pit.

Ji Shuanghua lay sprawled in the dirty water, her entire body trembling violently.

She gasped heavily, greedily breathing in the putrid air.

If it were in the past, she would definitely feel humiliated, enraged, and even swear to tear this person into ten thousand pieces.

But now...

"Thump, thump, thump."

Her heart was beating madly.

An unprecedented, numbing sensation like an electric current rushed straight from her tailbone to the crown of her head.

Mo Bufan tormented her because she was the lofty Holy Maiden, because Mo Bufan wanted to conquer her and trample her underfoot.

That was because, in Mo Bufan's eyes, she was a coveted prey.

But this man...

In his eyes, she was absolutely nothing.

That absolute disregard, that indifference of treating her as empty air, that sheer entitlement when using her as a rag...

"I... am actually just a rag?"

Used and then discarded?

Ji Shuanghua muttered to herself, her fingers digging fiercely into the black mud beneath her.

That sense of emptiness from being utterly ignored, treated as air, and having her dignity crushed to dust, was like the sharpest sword instantly piercing through her Dao Heart.

It hurt.

It truly hurt.

But within this extreme agony and baseness, her long-unyielding bottleneck - the Shattered Jade Sword Bone - actually let out a joyous tremor.

Crack.

It seemed something within her body had shattered.

And something else was growing anew from the ruins.

She raised her head. Those originally proud and aloof eyes were now filled with a murky haze and fanaticism.

She stared fixedly in the direction Gu Yang had disappeared, as if trying to carve that figure into the deepest depths of her soul.

"You look down on me..."

"You actually look down on me..."

A sickly, twisted smile curled at the corners of Ji Shuanghua's mouth as tears mixed with muddy water flowed down her face.

"I will become stronger."

"Until... I have the qualifications to make you look me in the eye just once, even if... it means dying under your sword."

...

Deep within the swamp.

Gu Yang was moving rapidly.

Suddenly, the void before his eyes slightly distorted, and a line of faint blue text popped out without warning.

[Ding, successfully intercepted purple destiny opportunity: Sword Slave Awakening.]

[Reward: 50 Destiny Points.]

[Current Talent Points: 200.]

Gu Yang's footsteps paused. Looking at the text on the light screen, a trace of oddity appeared on his usually calm face.

"?"

He glanced back at the mist behind him.

"This works too?"

He had obviously just committed a robbery and wiped his hands in passing.

Just how twisted is this woman?

"Whatever, never mind."

Gu Yang shook his head, tossing the matter to the back of his mind.

A hundred zhang ahead, a dilapidated stone pagoda, half-buried in the ground, was already faintly discernible in the mist.

The Primal Chaos Five Elements Lotus.

That was the only thing truly worthy of his attention.

...

Beneath the half-buried stone pagoda.

It was a gloomy corridor only wide enough for one person to pass through.

The surrounding rock walls were not artificially excavated but formed from the weathered bones of some unknown giant beast. They were icy cold to the touch, exuding a deathly stillness that seeped right into the marrow.

Gu Yang held his breath, closing all the pores on his body and suppressing his heartbeat to once per minute. His entire person seemed to merge with this ancient beast bone.

The deeper he went, the heavier the heart-palpitating pressure became.

That was a suppression stemming from the level of life itself.

Finally.

A bizarre streak of gray light appeared ahead.

Gu Yang stopped in his tracks and looked up.

Above his head was not rock, but a translucent, viscous membrane akin to amniotic fluid.

Above the membrane was the Primal Chaos Pool at the center of the Five Elements Extreme Land.

Within that membrane, the Primal Chaos Origin Liquid flowed slowly like a galaxy, emitting an aura of annihilation that made one's soul tremble.

Primal Chaos Origin Liquid.

At the very center of this mass of origin liquid, a palm-sized lotus flower, entirely cyan-gray in color, was quietly unfurling its petals.

It had no roots digging into the soil; instead, it grew countless fine white tentacles, greedily absorbing the surrounding Primal Chaos Qi.

Its lotus leaves were divided into five colors, and its stamen was like the stars.

The Primal Chaos Five Elements Lotus!

The final puzzle piece for the Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment!

A trace of burning heat flashed through the depths of Gu Yang's eyes, but his body remained more steady than the coldest venomous snake.

But he did not move.

Like a stubborn rock that had existed since ancient times, he lay quietly dormant in the shadows beside the Five Elements Lotus.

He was calculating.

Not only calculating the angle to seize the treasure, but also calculating how to present the upcoming honored guest with an unforgettable grand gift.

He was waiting.

Waiting for the best audience.

...

...

A moment later.

A series of hurried and bloody footsteps, accompanied by suppressed coughing, came from behind.

"Cough, cough..."

"Damn it... just who was that bastard!"

He was currently in an extremely sorry state.

The originally washed-out blue shirt had long turned into strips of cloth. His entire body was a bloody mess, especially his right arm, which had been burned by the Golden Crow True Fire until only charred black bone remained.

With every step he took, black blood dripped down his trouser legs.

If not for the Demon Venerable's secret life-saving technique, he would have died in the Bone Rot Swamp long ago.

"Cut the crap!"

"As long as you obtain the Chaos Five Elements Lotus and forge a Heavenly Dao Foundation, what does this minor injury matter? When that time comes, reconstructing your physical body will take but a single thought, and every Heaven's Chosen of the Eastern Region will prostrate themselves at your feet!"