"Ah!"
Sisi Shao's face turned pale as she let out a startled cry, feeling the grip on her neck from Ben Liang suddenly loosen completely.
When she turned her gaze, she saw that Ben Liang, who had been shouting threats just a moment ago, now had a hole through his forehead, his eyes wide open. His body went limp and collapsed straight to the ground.
He was utterly lifeless.
He looked so dead, there was no way anyone could mistake it.
"Are you insane?!"
Seeing Quentin Shang make a move, the Shang patriarch's group erupted in fury, roaring, "Quentin Shang! Are you rebelling against the Shang family?!"
Payne Shang barked out a harsh command, stepping forward and launching a punch straight at Quentin Shang.
To everyone else, Quentin Shang's eyes were dull, his face pale and lifeless, but his aura was fierce and savage—no one would ever mistake him for a corpse.
Payne Shang's punch landed squarely on Quentin Shang's body.
In the next instant, a spray of blood mist erupted as Quentin Shang's body completely shattered, exploding into eighty-one pieces.
He looked like a broken jigsaw puzzle, his face fragmented, the sight utterly horrifying.
"What is this?!"
Payne Shang's eyes widened in terror, his heart filled with dread.
"How is that possible?!"
The Liang patriarch was so frightened his face lost all color.
Lily Liang swallowed hard; everyone present stared at Quentin Shang, whose body had been blown apart by Payne's punch. Each person's heart was gripped by fear.
"He's been dead for a long time."
Evan Lin's gaze was calm; as he faced Quentin Shang's shattered body, the fragments flew straight toward him.
"Even ants struggle to survive, but you Shang clan people clearly think your lives are too long."
Evan Lin reached out, waving his hand lightly. A wisp of spiritual qi appeared at his fingertip, and with a tap, it turned into a misty force that held up the shattered body fragments.
The broken pieces lost all momentum and hovered in front of Evan.
"You're not... You're a Mystic Arts Adept!"
Seeing this, the Shang patriarch's eyes shot wide open and he shouted in shock.
A Mystic Arts Adept!
Hearing the Shang patriarch's words, everyone else's faces changed dramatically.
Martial arts and mystic arts: one refines the body, the other refines techniques.
Compared to martial arts, the mystic arts path is harder to cultivate and has far fewer practitioners.
From the past to now, Evan had encountered far fewer mystic arts cultivators than martial artists.
Now, seeing Evan make a move and witnessing this bizarre technique, everyone around was filled with shock and awe.
"A Mystic Arts Adept?"
The Liang patriarch was shaking all over. When he saw Ben Liang get his forehead pierced by the lifeless Quentin Shang, he hadn't even had time to feel anger—just pure terror.
Now, hearing the Shang patriarch's words, the Liang patriarch was stunned. Lily Liang looked at Evan Lin with nothing but shock—her earlier contempt was gone.
"How could he be a Mystic Arts Adept?"
"Didn't he just beat Brian Xiang with one move before? Brian Xiang is a Vajra! How could a normal Mystic Arts Adept take down a Vajra in one hit?"
The crowd buzzed with discussion.
"Dual-cultivation of martial and mystic arts!"
Someone shouted, and the whole crowd fell silent.
A moment later, a wave of shocked cries exploded through the crowd.
Cultivating mystic arts takes a ton of energy and time—let alone having enough left over to train in martial arts too.
The strength this teenager just showed could only be described as monstrous!
"No! He's definitely not just a Mystic Arts Adept."
Payne Shang's face was grim, and several Pointing-to-Mystery experts were on full alert.
Even a peak Mystic Arts Adept is only supposed to match a Vajra, but Master Lin from Seacrest has slain both Mason Shang and Fourth Elder Rowe—two top Vajras!
"A Yin–Yang Mage!"
The Shang patriarch was reminded of this, his expression darkening and becoming even more serious.
To everyone watching, Evan Lin's face was calm. As the eighty-one shattered body fragments hovered in midair, he closed his fingers as if grasping invisible force, forcing the pieces to knit themselves back together.
White mist contracted inward, swirling tightly.
Soon, Quentin Shang—bathed in faint white light—was reassembled into a complete human form, standing before Evan Lin.
He stood there, posture straight, face lifeless. Around him, a fierce yin wind howled and ghostly energy swirled.
"The sins your Shang clan has committed should be settled by your own hands."
Evan Lin spoke lightly: "If I wiped out your whole clan myself, I'd be worried about dirtying my hands."
As he finished speaking, Evan reached forward and grabbed the three Maiden Spirits hovering in front of him, then flicked his finger.
A ray of gray light shot from Evan's fingertip and pierced into Quentin Shang's broken body.
In an instant, everyone saw Quentin Shang—who had been standing still—suddenly throw his head back and let out a piercing, inhuman scream.
His aura surged higher and higher, and dark mist began to swirl across his skin.
He looked nothing like a human anymore—more like a corpse-fiend reborn, a monstrous demon unleashed.
"Each of these Maiden Spirits now has first-grade Vajra strength. Merging all three inside this body, then driving it with corpse-control arts and the man's former cultivation... now that's interesting."
Evan Lin narrowed his eyes, watching Quentin Shang.
Originally, Evan had planned to do it himself, but after pulling out Quentin Shang's Pointing-to-Mystery-Realm corpse, he decided to try something new.
The three Maiden Spirits were yin-fiend ghosts, lacking physical form—their souls attached to the Soul Sacrifice Scroll, making it hard for them to fully unleash their power.
Now fused into Quentin Shang's body, without him making a single move, just his skyward scream summoned rolling black clouds overhead, as if about to crush the city. The surging inner force was like a raging flood; in this moment, Quentin Shang was far stronger than he ever was alive.
"Go."
Evan Lin gave the order.
The three Maiden Spirits controlled Quentin Shang's body without hesitation, charging forward.
"Die!"
Payne Shang didn't hesitate either. He condensed his inner force into a sword, its tip pointed as the energy surged forward like a tidal wave, crashing toward Quentin Shang.
The raging inner force looked like a fierce dragon, wild and unstoppable, smashing into Quentin Shang's body.
The half-dead Old Man Liu was stunned by what he saw, his white eyebrows and hair flying as his face filled with shock.
Freed from Ben Liang's grip, Sisi Shao could barely even move her feet.
Her gaze passed the demon-god-like Quentin Shang in front of her and landed on the youth standing behind him.
That calm, tranquil face showed no joy or sorrow, but it radiated a sense of absolute certainty—as if all things were under control, like 'ten thousand mountains unmoving, only he eternal.'
The youth was sharp as a blade, standing tall like a pine tree.
He was—
Master Lin from Seacrest!
That name echoed endlessly in Sisi Shao's mind, unable to calm.