Chapter 541: His Daughter's Elbow Bends Outward; Zhang Tianen's Liver Aches from Fury!
"Oh, just trust me, if my old man sees you, he'll definitely kill you!"
Ji Xiaolin stamped her foot anxiously, and hearing the approaching footsteps, she directly pushed Shen Anyu into the underground secret room and closed the broken iron door.
She knew her old man, Zhang Tianen's, temper. Although he looked like an ordinary, unremarkable deliveryman, he was actually the strongest person in the Tianshi Sect in the past, the strongest in the Yanxia cultivation world, a Celestial Master Peak existence. His lightning techniques were unparalleled, and he had a fiery temper and a heavy Killing Intent.
If her father discovered that a man had not only defiled her but was also unwilling to take responsibility, he wouldn't hesitate for a second. The air would crackle with ozone, and a bolt of heavenly lightning would descend, turning the offender into a smoking husk. It wouldn't matter if Shen Anyu was the heir to the most powerful family in Yanxia; in the face of his daughter's honor, Zhang Tianen would tear down the heavens themselves.
After shoving Shen Anyu into the cold, damp darkness and wrenching the rusted iron door shut, Ji Xiaolin scrambled back towards the main floor of the abandoned factory, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. She had to intercept her father, to stop the inevitable storm before it broke.
"Xiao Lin, Dad is sorry."
The voice that met her was thick with a pain that cut deeper than any blade. Zhang Tianen stood there, his simple work clothes doing nothing to conceal the immense, oppressive power he held in check. His gaze fell upon his daughter, and his weathered face, usually stern, crumpled with sorrow. He saw it instantly—the faint scattering of her primal essence from between her brows, a sign as clear as a confession to a cultivator of his level. He saw the new, subtle flicker of womanly charm in her eyes, a liquid depth that hadn't been there before. His heart seized in his chest. His precious daughter, the treasure he had sworn to protect, had been harmed. The Wan Fa Sect's vile scheme had succeeded, and some unknown beast had defiled her.
"No, it's fine, old man, I don't blame you. Let's go home first." Ji Xiaolin's voice was a frantic whisper. Every fiber of her being screamed with urgency. Her eyes darted towards the hidden door to the secret room, a wave of panic washing over her. She just wanted to get her father away from this place, far away, before his terrifying power was unleashed. If he found out Shen Anyu was down there... the image of his charred body flashed through her mind, and she felt sick.
Zhang Tianen's brows furrowed into a deep line. His daughter's reaction was all wrong. She wasn't consumed by rage or grief; she was consumed by fear, a desperate, protective fear aimed not at him, but at the man hidden below. The words of the Master of Myriad Dharma Sect echoed in his mind, sharp and venomous. Could it be true?
Was his daughter, his brilliant and proud Ji Xiaolin, truly involved with that young master from the Yanxia Shen Family?
Affection was the only possible explanation for this behavior. If she felt nothing for the man, she wouldn't be shielding him. His daughter had inherited his own fiery spirit; if she had been violated against her will, she would have been the first to demand blood, to personally seek vengeance.
And as for status? He couldn't care less. His daughter, Zhang Tianen's daughter, was fit for an emperor. In ancient times, a man of his strength and standing could have easily been the National Mentor, a revered figure guiding the destiny of an entire empire. No family was too high for her.
The air grew heavy, charged with unspoken questions. Zhang Tianen's voice dropped, losing its paternal warmth and taking on the chilling weight of a judge. "Xiao Lin, who is that young master of the Yanxia Shen Family down there? What is your relationship with him?"
"Ah, what's my relationship with him…?" Ji Xiaolin froze, the direct question catching her completely off guard. A wave of bitterness washed through her. 'What is our relationship?' She didn't even know herself. Her mind was a chaotic mess of pain, pleasure, fear, and a strange, unsettling curiosity. She stammered, unable to meet her father's piercing gaze. "No… no relationship, probably…"
"No relationship?" The words hung in the air, thick and dangerous. Then, they ignited. "That brat doesn't want to take responsibility?!"
Zhang Tianen erupted. The temperature in the factory plummeted as his killing intent flooded the space, a evident force that seemed to suck the very air from her lungs. This was beyond a simple violation. This was the ultimate insult. His daughter, his precious child, had been utterly defiled, and the man responsible dismissed it as having "no relationship"? The sheer audacity, the unforgivable arrogance! How could this be!
"I'll strike him down!" He roared, his body blurring as he lunged towards the secret room. The ground beneath his feet cracked under the force of his step.
Seeing the incandescent fury in her father's eyes, Ji Xiaolin's face went bone-white with terror. "No!" She threw herself at him, trying to physically pull him back, but it was like trying to stop an avalanche with her bare hands. He didn't even slow.
Desperation gave her a terrifying clarity. She could only resort to the one thing she knew he couldn't ignore.
"Old man, if you take one more step," she screamed, her voice cracking with despair, "I—I'll die right here!"
In an instant, a blade of pure, condensed ice, three feet long and shimmering with a lethal blue light, materialized in her hand. Without a moment's hesitation, she pressed its razor-sharp edge against the pale, slender column of her own neck. Her beautiful eyes, now filled with tears of defiance, locked onto her father's.
"You…" Zhang Tianen's rage-fueled momentum died instantly. He froze, the killing intent that had saturated the air vanishing as if it had never been. He was left with a cold, gut-wrenching dread.
But the next moment, to prove her resolve, Ji Xiaolin pressed the blade harder. The icy edge, sharp enough to split steel, bit into her delicate skin. A line of perfect, crimson droplets welled up, stark and horrifying against her fair throat.
"Alright, alright! I won't go! I won't go! Quickly, put it down!" The sight of her blood shattered Zhang Tianen's composure. The wrathful god vanished, replaced by a terrified father. His voice was ragged, choked with anguish and urgency.
Ji Xiaolin didn't relent. "Old man, you're not allowed to hurt him! You're not allowed to trouble him!"
"Alright, alright, I won't hurt him. I won't trouble him," he promised, his hands raised in a gesture of surrender.
"You swear," she demanded, her voice trembling but firm.
Zhang Tianen felt a wave of dizziness. His vision swam, and a sharp pain lanced through his side. His liver ached with such profound, helpless fury. His precious daughter, the pearl he had polished and protected his entire life, had been stolen away by some scoundrel, and now she was turning a blade on herself to protect that very same thief. It was a betrayal so deep it felt like his soul was being torn apart. But what choice did he have? He recited the oath she demanded, each word tasting like ash in his mouth.
Only after he had sworn did Ji Xiaolin finally let out a shuddering breath of relief. The ice blade in her hand dissolved into a shower of crystalline white light that faded into nothingness. She leaned against a pillar, her strength failing her. "Old man," she said, her voice barely a whisper, "let's go home first. I'm tired."
She was so, so tired. First, the terrifying kidnapping by the Wan Fa Sect. Then… then the hours spent with Shen Anyu in that dark, cold room, a chaotic storm of sensation that had left her body and spirit utterly spent. On top of it all was the crushing anxiety of knowing her father could appear at any moment and incinerate the man who had just taken her innocence. She was brimming with unspoken grievances, a sea of pain and confusion with no outlet.
Zhang Tianen hesitated, his gaze still fixed on the red line on her neck. He wanted to rage, to demand answers, but he couldn't let it go completely. "Xiao Lin, are you just going to let that brat take advantage of you for nothing? If that brat isn't willing to take responsibility, even if he's from the Yanxia Shen Family, Dad will absolutely not let it go."
"Old man, let's not talk about this, okay? My mind is a mess," she pleaded, her eyes closing as if to shut out the world.
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about this for now." Seeing the deep, bone-deep exhaustion on his daughter's face, Zhang Tianen's heart ached with a fresh pang of pity. He couldn't press her further. Instead, he forced himself to change the subject to a more pressing matter. "Tell me about the kidnapping. The Wan Fa Sect… tell me everything." This concerned his daughter's safety, a line he would never compromise on.
The mere mention of it was like a spark to dry tinder. Ji Xiaolin's exhaustion was immediately replaced by a surge of pure fury.
"It's all Zhang Zhiyun's fault!" she spat, her voice dripping with venom. "That bastard Zhang Zhiyun, he implicated me! He's a jinx!"
She took a ragged breath and continued, the words tumbling out in a rush. "The Wan Fa Sect's Right Protector, that One-Eyed Old Man, he kidnapped me because I'm Zhang Zhiyun's fiancée! He wanted to use me as bait to lure Zhang Zhiyun into an ambush! And he was planning to pin the whole thing on the Yanxia Shen Family to start a war!"
Her voice rose, trembling with resentment. "Old man, what kind of engagement did you set up for me? The very first day we meet, he gets me jinxed like this, causing me to lose my… my innocence! If I actually ended up with him like you wanted, your daughter would be jinxed to death before the year was out!"
Zhang Tianen was stunned into silence. He had assumed the Wan Fa Sect had targeted her because of him. After all, during his time with the Tianshi Sect, he had hunted down and executed more than a few of their members. He had never imagined it was because of Zhang Zhiyun.
"That shouldn't be," he muttered, a look of genuine confusion on his face. "I calculated your birth dates, your eight characters. There are no clashes. On the contrary, you should be like a fish in water, complementing each other. The union should have been greatly beneficial to you both. How could it turn out like this?"
Although his fame rested on his mastery of destructive lightning arts, Zhang Tianen was also highly proficient in the esoteric arts of divination and feng shui. A miscalculation of this magnitude should have been impossible.
"You must have calculated wrong! Your skills are subpar, and you've harmed me!" Ji Xiaolin shot back angrily. A fresh wave of aches reminded her of the source of her current misery. 'That bastard Shen Anyu... he didn't show any pity at all. Even my high ponytail hurts.'
"It's Dad's fault…" A wave of guilt washed over Zhang Tianen. The facts were laid out before him, obvious and devastating. Perhaps he truly had made a terrible mistake.
"Oh, and about my engagement with Zhang Zhiyun," Ji Xiaolin said, her silver teeth clenched. "Cancel it. Cancel it immediately. I have absolutely no good feelings for him."
She had never liked anyone from the Tianshi Sect to begin with, and Zhang Zhiyun was no exception. Now, he was directly responsible for her being kidnapped, for her losing her innocence, for all the suffering and humiliation she had endured. She couldn't bear to be tied to him for a single day longer. Sooner or later, his bad luck would surely kill her.
Zhang Tianen wasn't surprised to hear her demand, but a difficult expression crossed his face. "Xiao Lin, your engagement with Zhang Zhiyun was arranged by me and his Master, the Master of the Tianshi Sect. It's not good to cancel it rashly…" Seeing his daughter's eyes flash with renewed panic and anger, Zhang Tianen quickly held up a placating hand, his voice softening.
"Look, you're getting anxious again. Why are you always so anxious, child…"
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