The Shattering of the Dao Heart

The corridor was a complete mess.

The walls were cracked, shattered light fixtures littered the floor, and the carpet was torn up and thrown into disarray.

Ye Chen knelt in the center of this ruin.

He propped himself up with both hands, his ten fingers digging into the cracks of the marble floor.

He desperately tried to channel his cultivation.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

His meridians felt as if they were filled with lead, tightly sealed shut, unable to circulate even a single trace of true qi.

That golden needle was still pierced into the Dazhui acupoint on his back, pinning him in place like a nail.

The strength in his body was draining away at a visible rate.

The terrifying true qi of a peak Grandmaster was rapidly receding like the ebbing tide.

No, it wasn't just the effects of the Limit-Breaking Pill fading.

The Meridian-Sealing Needle had directly locked his meridians, preventing him from utilizing even his own innate early-stage Grandmaster cultivation.

At this moment, Ye Chen was no different from an ordinary person.

He was perhaps even weaker.

Because the side effects of the Limit-Breaking Pill were beginning to show.

The price of losing twenty years of his lifespan was no joke.

His body was rapidly deteriorating.

His skin became rough and dull, his eye sockets sank deeper, his cheekbones protruded more prominently, and a few white hairs even sprouted at his temples.

His twenty-something-year-old body now looked like it belonged to a forty-year-old.

Ling Shuang and Ling Xue retreated behind Shen Fei, taking their positions on his left and right.

Blood was still seeping from the webbing of Ling Shuang's hand, but her expression remained unchanged.

There was a streak of blood at the corner of Ling Xue's mouth, but she simply wiped it away with the back of her hand, paying it no mind.

Their cold gazes fell upon Ye Chen.

No sympathy.

No pity.

In the eyes of assassins, there are only targets and non-targets.

Ye Chen was no longer a target.

He was just a piece of trash kneeling on the ground.

Shen Fei walked up to Ye Chen, stopping about two meters away.

The distance was neither too far nor too close.

It was just right for Ye Chen to see his face when he looked up.

"Ye Chen, when you came down from the mountain, did you think you were invincible in this world?"

Shen Fei's voice wasn't loud; it sounded like casual chatter.

Ye Chen didn't answer.

His teeth ground audibly, and the muscles in his jaw twitched.

"Your medical skills are indeed quite good, and your martial arts are decent too. On Kunlun Mountain, you were a genius. Your master held you in the palm of his hand and told you that you were the chosen one."

Shen Fei crouched down, meeting Ye Chen at eye level.

"But have you ever thought about one thing?"

Ye Chen's bloodshot eyes glared fiercely at Shen Fei.

"On the mountain, you are a genius."

"But off the mountain, you are nothing."

These words were like a knife, stabbing precisely into Ye Chen's most vulnerable spot.

"You have no money, no connections, no status, not even a medical license. You thought you could run rampant across the world relying solely on your skills?"

"Wake up."

"This world isn't a martial arts novel. Just because your kung fu is high doesn't mean you get to be the main character."

Shen Fei stood up, looking down at Ye Chen from above.

"From beginning to end, you haven't understood one thing."

"You weren't defeated by me."

"You were defeated by this era."

Ye Chen's body trembled.

Not out of fear.

Out of anger.

An extreme, intense anger that threatened to burn his entire being to ashes.

"Bull... bullshit!"

Ye Chen squeezed the words out through gritted teeth.

"You're just relying on your family's power! Without the Shen family, what the hell are you!"

Shen Fei looked at him.

"You're right."

Ye Chen froze for a moment.

"I am indeed relying on the Shen family's power."

Shen Fei's tone was utterly calm and frank.

"But this is reality. I have it, and you don't."

"You can say I rely on my family, my background, or women. Say whatever you want."

"But the result won't change."

"You are kneeling here. I am standing here."

"That is the difference."

Ye Chen's lips trembled.

He wanted to retort.

But he couldn't find an angle to argue from.

Because everything Shen Fei said was a fact.

Cruel, naked, unvarnished facts.

He, Ye Chen, was indeed a genius.

But in the face of absolute resource crushing, a genius was nothing.

Shen Fei had money, power, connections, hidden guards, twin assassins, and all sorts of methods that he couldn't even comprehend.

And he only had a pair of fists and his medical skills.

His fists were ruined by the Meridian-Sealing Needle.

His medical skills were banned by the law.

What did he have left?

Nothing was left.

Shen Fei didn't continue speaking.

He took out his phone from his pocket.

The movement was very casual.

As if he had just remembered something trivial.

"Right, there's something I want to show you."

Ye Chen's gaze subconsciously looked toward the phone screen.

Shen Fei tapped open a video.

He turned the screen to face Ye Chen.

In the video was a kitchen.

Warm lighting, clean countertops.

Su Qingxue was wearing a beige knitted loungewear top with an apron over it.

She stood in front of the stove, holding a ladle, earnestly stirring the soup in the pot.

Her movements were very gentle.

Her side profile was illuminated by the warm yellow light, losing a bit of her usual coldness and gaining a touch of domestic tenderness.

Then she looked up and smiled toward the camera.

"Brother Fei, the soup is ready."

Her voice was soft, her tone natural, carrying a hint of bashful, girlish charm.

She was like a completely different person from the icy female CEO who had broken off their engagement.

Two words.

Brother Fei.

Spoken from Su Qingxue's mouth.

The video ended there.

The frame froze on Su Qingxue's smiling face.

A gentle, relaxed, heartfelt smile.

Ye Chen stared at the image.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

His pupils began to dilate slowly.

It was as if his soul was being drawn out of his eyes bit by bit.

"Qingxue..."

His lips moved, uttering a barely audible sound.

"You too..."

Ye Chen's voice went hoarse.

It wasn't a problem with his throat.

It was his heart breaking.

Truly and completely shattered.

Su Qingxue called Shen Fei "Brother Fei."

Wearing an apron and making soup for Shen Fei.

In Shen Fei's kitchen, she revealed a gentle smile that she had never shown in front of Ye Chen.

When they were on the mountain, Ye Chen had risked his life to save her.

The most intimate thing she had ever said to him was "Thank you."

Polite and distant.

But to Shen Fei, she said, "Brother Fei, the soup is ready."

That tone, that look in her eyes, that natural sense of intimacy—these were things Ye Chen couldn't get even in his dreams.

Shen Fei hadn't stolen Su Qingxue away.

Su Qingxue had walked toward Shen Fei on her own.

Willingly.

From the bottom of her heart.

This was ten thousand times more despairing than having her stolen away.

Because being stolen meant she was forced, and there was still a chance to win her back.

But if she walked over on her own, she was gone forever.

Something in Ye Chen's eyes extinguished.

Like a lamp blown out by the wind.

Like a fire doused by water.

Silently.

Completely.

His body stopped trembling.

It was no longer tense.

All the anger, hatred, resentment, and struggle vanished in this instant.

They were replaced by a massive void.

Nothing was left.

Nothing mattered anymore.

His gaze became unfocused, staring into a point in the void, a bizarre, twisted smile hanging on his lips.

As if he had gone mad.

Shen Fei put away his phone and looked into Ye Chen's eyes.

He saw the change within them.

From the previous anger and hatred to the current emptiness and dead silence.

Those were the eyes of someone who had given up on everything.

The will to live was gone.

The will to fight was gone.

Even the hatred had disappeared.

Because hatred requires strength, and Ye Chen had no strength left.

He could not even muster the energy to hate anymore.

This was the shattering of the Dao Heart.

In Shen Fei's mind, a series of notifications exploded on the system panel!

Ding!

Child of Destiny Ye Chen's Dao Heart has shattered! His mental world has completely collapsed!

Ye Chen's Destiny Points have plummeted!

Ye Chen's Destiny Points: 1270 to 0!

Destiny Points have reached zero!

Kill conditions have been met!

Zero.

From 8888 to 0.

The death of a number.

Shen Fei looked at that glaring 0 on the panel.

It was over.

Ye Chen knelt on the ground, his head lowered.

White hair had spread from his temples to the top of his head.

A man in his twenties, looking like he was fifty.

His mouth was still moving, as if he was saying something.

Shen Fei leaned in a little closer.

He heard Ye Chen's murmurs.

Master... your disciple is incompetent...

Qingxue... I am sorry...

I should not have left the mountain...

Should not have... left the mountain...

The last few words grew lighter and lighter, like a dying candle in the wind.

Shen Fei stood up straight.

He had no expression.

It was not coldness.

It was not mockery.

Just calmness.

The kind of calmness a hunter feels after their prey has fallen.

It was not thrill.

It was not pity.

Just that a task was completed, nothing more.

He looked at Ling Shuang.

Ling Shuang understood his meaning and silently walked behind Ye Chen.

A dagger was unsheathed.

But Shen Fei raised a hand, signaling her to stop.

Ling Shuang stopped and looked at Shen Fei.

Shen Fei looked down at Ye Chen kneeling on the ground.

Ye Chen.

Ye Chen did not react.

His eyes had completely lost their focus, like a walking corpse.

Shen Fei crouched down.

He reached out and pulled out the meridian-sealing needles from Ye Chen's back.

Ye Chen's body swayed, but he did not fall.

His meridians were unsealed, but his true qi had already been completely depleted by the side effects of the Limit-Breaking Pill.

Let alone the Grandmaster realm, right now he could not even beat an ordinary person.

Shen Fei put the meridian-sealing needles away and stood up.

I will ask you one last question.

Ye Chen's eyes rolled sluggishly, barely managing to look at Shen Fei.

If time flowed backward and you were allowed to choose again.

Would you still leave the mountain?

Shen Fei's voice was very soft.

Ye Chen looked at him.

He looked for a long time.

Then his lips moved.

His voice was so faint it almost vanished into the air.

I would not.

Just those words.

They were the last words Ye Chen spoke.

After saying those words, his eyes closed completely.

He was not dead.

His consciousness had snapped.

For a person whose Dao Heart had shattered, their mental world would completely collapse in a short period of time.

The body was still alive, but the soul was already empty.

Ye Chen's body fell limply to the ground.

Face down, sprawled on the cold marble floor.

Motionless.

His breathing was weak, but it was still there.

His heartbeat was slow, but it had not stopped.

But everyone knew.

This person was finished.

Not physically finished.

But completely and utterly finished, from the inside out.

Shen Fei looked at Ye Chen on the ground.

He stayed silent for a few seconds.

Then he turned around and walked toward the stairs.

Clean this up.

He left those words behind, not even turning his head.

His footsteps gradually faded away.

Only Ling Shuang, Ling Xue, and Ye Chen sprawling on the ground were left in the corridor.

Ling Shuang glanced at Ling Xue.

Ling Xue shrugged.

The two of them stepped forward in tacit understanding, each grabbing one side, and dragged Ye Chen up.

Ye Chen's head drooped, his white hair scattered, like a soulless marionette.

Ling Xue looked down at him.

So this is what a Child of Destiny looks like.

There was no mockery in her tone, only a faint sense of lament.

Ling Shuang did not speak.

She just hoisted Ye Chen's arm more firmly and dragged him outward.

The lights at the end of the corridor went out one by one.

Darkness swallowed everything once again.