327: The scheming Xiong Ba tricks the crippled Bu Jingyun.

Sword Morning didn't even have time to react, only feeling a piercing pain in his right wrist, as if an invisible sharp blade had instantly pierced through it!

The vast Sword Qi he had condensed on the hero sword shattered like fragile glass!

"Crack!"

A crisp cracking sound rang out, not from Sword Morning's hand bones, but from the divine weapon in his hand, the hero sword, a Legacy from Wuming!

The hero sword's gleaming body, centered on the point struck by the finger-sword, was instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks! Immediately after, under Sword Morning's disbelieving gaze, the hero sword let out a mournful cry, breaking inch by inch and turning into countless metal fragments that scattered across the floor with a "clink clank"!

A divine weapon of the world... was destroyed just like that?

And this was only the beginning.

After shattering the hero sword, the grey finger-sword continued its momentum, as if ignoring the distance of space, and directly struck Sword Morning's chest!

"Pfft—!"

Sword Morning was hit hard, his entire body flying backward like a kite with a broken string, the blood he spat out drawing a dazzling red line in the air.

He crashed heavily against the solid wall behind him with a dull thud, then slid weakly to the ground, his face instantly ashen, his Aura extremely weak. He had clearly suffered severe internal injuries, making it incredibly difficult for him to even move.

The hero sword in his hand was now only a broken hilt.

Though it sounds complex, everything happened in a flash of lightning.

From Lu Jiuyuan's flick of the finger, to the hero sword shattering, and Sword Morning collapsing heavily injured, the entire process was so fast that one's mind couldn't keep up.

The great hall fell into a deathly silence once more.

Bu Jingyun's face completely froze, all color draining from it.

Their last shred of doubt was utterly crushed by that understated, yet terrifyingly powerful, single finger strike.

He knew Sword Morning's strength all too well; wielding the hero sword, and having received the true Legacy of his Master Wuming, even he, with his qilin arm, would need to treat him with caution.

But in Lu Jiuyuan's hands, Sword Morning couldn't even withstand a single flick of the finger, and even the hero sword, hailed as a divine weapon of the world, shattered like rotten wood!

This chasm in strength was too vast to describe with words.

A firefly compared to a bright moon, an ant compared to a Dragon, perhaps it was like this.

And this undoubtedly confirmed every word Lu Jiuyuan had just spoken.

In the face of such absolute power disparity, he had no need to lie, nor any reason to play games.

Everything he said, the "grinding" theory that overturned all of Bu Jingyun's perceptions, was probably... all true.

The pillar of hatred that had always sustained Bu Jingyun's will to live and grow stronger, at this moment, emitted a cracking sound under the unbearable weight, and then collapsed with a crash!

Not forgiveness, but... it had lost its meaning.

He had hated for so many years, struggled for so long, only to find in the end that his so-called blood feud, his belief in revenge that he relied on to survive, had been nothing but a cage meticulously crafted by this person who claimed to value him, a cruel "grinding" from beginning to end.

An unprecedented sense of nihility swept over him. More terrifying than failure was discovering that even his reason "to fight" had become a joke.

He stared blankly at his qilin arm, still brimming with surging power, at the fragments of the hero sword on the ground, at the heavily injured and unconscious Sword Morning, and finally, his gaze fixed on the red-haired figure seated high on the golden throne, seemingly controlling everything.

Submit? Like Frost of the Qin, kneeling on the ground, grateful for this cruel "nurturing"?

No.

A surge of Qi rose spontaneously within him.

It wasn't hatred, nor anger, but a kind of... unwillingness! An ultimate defiance against having his own fate wantonly manipulated!

Lu Jiuyuan's voice seemed to still echo in his ears: "...You were blinded by hatred, toyed with by so-called 'fate,' like a wild bull with a nose ring, thinking you were charging forward, but in reality, you were always circling within the boundaries I set!

"...You are, after all, just a... worthless stubborn stone, a pitiful wretch played by fate and hatred in the palm of my hand."

These words were like poisonous thorns, deeply embedded in Bu Jingyun's heart, but it was precisely in this ultimate negation and trampling that a rebellious flame began to rekindle in the depths of his hollow eyes.

"Heh heh... Hahahaha..."

A low, hoarse laugh squeezed out from Bu Jingyun's throat.

He slowly straightened his body, raised his head, his face no longer showing mad hatred, nor blank emptiness, but a cold clarity.

He looked directly at Lu Jiuyuan and said, word by word:

"Overlord... no, Master. You are right, I, Bu Jingyun, was indeed a puppet in your hands in the past.

You gave me hatred, gave me strength, gave me so-called 'hardships'... You planned everything for me, watched me struggle and suffer on this path you set, and then were disappointed."

He raised his qilin arm, looking at the flowing crimson light on it, his eyes complex, but no longer dependent.

"But the power of this qilin arm is something I mastered step by step, enduring the agony of being burned alive!

This martial art is something I cultivated day and night, tempered in life-and-death battles!

Every pain I experienced, every loss, they may have originated from your calculations, but it was I, Bu Jingyun, who felt them, endured them, and rose from their ruins!"

"You think you control everything? You think you define our destinies? Wrong!"

"My fate is mine, not yours! And certainly not Heaven's!"

He practically roared the last sentence, the sound wave making the great hall hum!

An unprecedented Aura erupted from him, no longer simply driven by hatred, but a strong desire stemming from his own will, to Dominator his own life!

"So what if all this began with your plan? From now on, I, Bu Jingyun, will write my own life!

I will walk my own path! Whether it's success or failure, whether I become a demon or a Buddha, it's all up to me!

I don't need you to decide for me anymore!"

He fiercely clenched his qilin arm, and the scorching Qi and blood surged again, but this time, it was no longer for revenge, but for... breaking free!

To prove that I, Bu Jingyun, am not anyone's creation; I am only myself!

Lu Jiuyuan sat on the golden throne, quietly watching the completely different Bu Jingyun, a flicker of genuine surprise crossing his eyes for the first time.

One can only say he truly is a protagonist of destiny, isn't he? Even after I've led him astray, he can still find his way back.

"Hahahahaha, good! Well said! Your current thoughts are exactly the same as when this Master first received the prophecy of a lifetime.

My fate is mine, not Heaven's! Only by breaking destiny can I truly see myself!" Lu Jiuyuan laughed heartily, with great delight and abandon.

This display once again left Bu Jingyun stunned.

Not to mention Frost of the Qin, who was already moved to tears, even Yu Chuchu and Sword Morning felt that Overlord was actually quite good; he truly cared for Bu Jingyun, truly put in painstaking effort, truly good!

If Bu Jingyun still didn't understand Master's painstaking efforts, he would truly be ungrateful!