# Chapter 2002: Scarface
Zhai Liancheng's entire body was shattered, with severe injuries everywhere.
The heavenly tribulation lightning that filled his body bound his limbs and power, but at the same time protected him, absolutely not allowing him to die.
The worst part was that his consciousness remained clear throughout, though his eyes were vacant and lifeless, and his heart and soul were as dead as ashes.
He couldn't make any sound, not even the most humiliating cry of "surrender" was possible. All he could do now was pray that he would quickly lose consciousness to end this disgrace, and fantasize that when he woke up, he would find it had all been just a nightmare.
"Zhai Liancheng," Yun Che's voice came to his soul, a thousand times more terrifying than a demon's whisper: "From now on, when you speak, you must be very careful. Fortunately, I have a good temper and don't hold grudges. If you had met someone with a worse temper, your head would have been smashed to pieces already, rather than being granted such a grand display of mercy as this."
The heavenly tribulation lightning on Zhai Liancheng's body quickly dissipated, and excruciating pain overwhelmed his senses, but it was not even one ten-thousandth of the humiliation and hatred in his heart.
His lips finally managed to move, but after trembling open and closed without making a sound, he completely lost consciousness.
Yun Che kicked out, sending Zhai Liancheng flying toward Zhai Kexie, whose face was covered in blood.
Zhai Kexie hurriedly reached out and caught Zhai Liancheng in his arms. Before he could even check his injuries, Yun Che's leisurely voice reached his ears: "Pan Xuan Sect Master, you should announce the result of this battle."
Zhai Kexie raised his head, his sinister gaze locked onto Yun Che... His most proud son was finished—completely finished.
Today's humiliation would become an eternal mark of shame on him. No matter how brilliant his future achievements, he would never be able to escape it. Moreover, anyone who saw him or mentioned him would immediately think of today first and foremost.
What ruthless cruelty and venomous malice!
While Zhai Kexie's heart was filled with extreme fury, an increasingly bone-chilling cold followed.
Such vicious methods left absolutely no room for mercy. That meant that Yun Che... did not care about the Pan Xuan Sect at all.
Even more, he showed no fear toward the Abyss Knight.
A Divine Sovereign realm cultivation, yet with strength so terrifying that it defied understanding... Behind the obviously false name "Yun Che," what kind of horrifying background could there be?
Lie Qiansong of the Lie Sha Sect stepped forward and said: "Pan Xuan Sect Master is inconvenienced, so I, Lie, will announce on his behalf."
"First battle of the Lin Divine Assembly: Ten Thousand Ren Sect falls first, ranking last. Pan Xuan Sect... second. Helian Imperial Clan wins all, ranking first!"
With this result, the Helian Imperial Clan was firmly set to enter the Lin Divine Realm. But none of the Helian clan cheered. They were either frozen, or dazed, or confused, as if still lost in a strange dream.
Compared to before the battle, the way everyone looked at Yun Che had undergone a complete transformation, and their hearts twitched and convulsed under the repeated violent shocks.
And Yun Che in their eyes... His expression had hardly changed at all from start to finish, as if he hadn't been brutally torturing the strongest disciples of the Pan Xuan Sect and Ten Thousand Ren Sect, but had casually crushed a grasshopper hopping by the roadside.
Ximen Boyun did not speak, and had nothing to say.
But now, his attention was almost entirely focused on Yun Che. Behind his seemingly calm and cold eyes... his peripheral vision constantly locked onto Yun Che's position.
Yun Che turned around casually and patted Mo Cangying on the shoulder: "Brother Mo, the mere Pan Xuan Sect and Ten Thousand Ren Sect—the two of us were indeed enough."
"..." Mo Cangying stared at him woodenly, his throat twitching, but unable to speak.
Leaving the battlefield and returning to the Helian Imperial Clan's position, Helian Lingzhu rushed over. She stopped in front of Yun Che, her eyes filled with mist and tears, like dew-covered crystals: "Brother Yun Che... you... I..."
"Your Highness, I have fulfilled my mission." Yun Che smiled in response. "It seems this time, the Helian clan will need to prepare more candidates for entry into the Lin Divine Realm."
Helian Lingzhu nodded vigorously. The light in her eyes as she looked at Yun Che now was like gazing upon a god sent down from heaven for her.
"Yun Che," Ku Xian spoke, his aged eyes filled with unconcealed astonishment: "Just who... are you, exactly?"
Yun Che shook his head. "I am merely a person who has temporarily lost his past."
"Heh." Ku Xian smiled faintly and did not press further.
At this moment, Yun Che suddenly turned his gaze toward Helian Linglang and the Helian Xuan adepts surrounding him.
Under his gaze, Helian Linglang's entire body jerked violently, and he staggered back a step, nearly falling to the ground.
His constantly contracting pupils were filled with terror.
"Speaking of which," Yun Che's gaze swept over them lightly, like a giant looking down on ants: "When the Lin Divine Realm opens, do you even have the face to enter? I look forward to seeing it."
These words made those Helian disciples' bodies sway, their faces reddening.
If it had been before the battle, if Yun Che dared to speak like that, they would have erupted in fury on the spot. But now... their heads hung lower and lower. Not only did they not dare to speak, none of them even dared to meet Yun Che's gaze.
The prestigious Pan Xuan Sect's young master had been toyed with like a humiliated human stick in his hands. Who were they compared to that?
On the other side, at the Worship Qilin Alliance's location.
Ximen Qi's legs were trembling, and his hands, not yet fully healed from his injuries, trembled so much they seemed about to fall apart again. His face was even paler than on the day Yun Che had severely injured and humiliated him.
"Did you see that?" Ximen Borong said in a deep voice. "The fact that you only got one hand crippled that day means you were lucky!"
Ximen Qi's throat made a heavy "gulp" sound.
Putting himself in Zhai Liancheng's place, he suddenly felt that the Yun Che from that day was as merciful as a holy father of the celestial temples.
"At the Divine Sovereign realm, with such strength... and not the slightest fear of the Abyss Knight." Ximen Borong took a heavy breath. "His background is probably far more terrifying than we had previously imagined. Maybe... he's the son of some divine venerable from a divine kingdom, come down to experience the mortal world!"
Ximen Qi's pupils suddenly dilated, and he was so shocked he couldn't speak for a long time.
This thought was not unique to Ximen Borong alone.
In Chi Wuyue's life experience, there was a saying: What makes people most wary is often not an excessively powerful enemy, but an enemy about whom nothing is known.
The unknown is the greatest fear—this principle applies to any field.
The three great sects were true titans in the Linyuan Realm, but they knew very well how terrifying the outside world was. If they provoked it, the opponent could wipe out their accumulated decades of legacy with just a snap of their fingers.
Under the complete inability to detect even the slightest clue about Yun Che's origins, the more forceful he was, the more the three great sects speculated and feared.
If they had known that Yun Che was actually just a rootless weed floating on the water, their revenge wouldn't have waited until the second hour.
With all the Nanming Divine Sources having been completely dispersed in the battle against Mo Beichen, Yun Che could no longer maintain the Divine Ashes state. Even at his limit, he could barely match a Half-step Divine Destruction Realm, and absolutely could not face any of the three great sects head-on.
But now, Yun Che's fiercely ruthless methods and wildly arrogant posturing had managed to bluff the three great sects into trembling with fear and wild conjectures.
Until they thoroughly investigated Yun Che's identity and background, they would probably never dare to touch a hair on his head.
Second battle of the Lin Divine Assembly: Lie Sha Sect versus Worship Qilin Alliance.
The Lie Sha Sect disciples entered the battlefield first—six lower-rank Divine Lords, four Divine Sovereigns, no external help.
In contrast, the Worship Qilin Alliance's disciples seemed much more pitiful.
Of the nine disciples who entered, only two were first-rank Divine Lords; the other seven were all Divine Sovereigns.
But Lie Qiansong, the Lie Sha Sect Master, had a face full of gravity.
The Worship Qilin Alliance had found a powerful external help—this was known to all three great sects. But none of the three sects knew who this external help actually was.
Until... a gray-white figure slowly descended from the air, standing behind the nine Worship Qilin disciples.
This person wore an unusually loose and seemingly quite thick gray-white robe, wrapping the entire body down to the ankles, making it hard to discern the figure.
The gray-white robe seemed to be made of the coarsest ordinary cloth, without any mystical patterns imprinted on it, not even the slightest decorative lines.
Even stranger, his head, and even his neck, were also completely wrapped in the same gray-white hood, leaving not even a bit of skin or hair exposed.
Clearly, this person did not want to reveal any external aspect of themselves in this Linyuan Realm.
Including... before this, his presence had been extremely low. Before this appearance, few had even noticed his existence.
Everyone's gaze focused on this gray-clad person, obviously out of place among the other Worship Qilin disciples, and murmurs arose.
Zhai Kexie and Wan Wei also noticed this gray-clad person for the first time. Their expressions were remarkably consistent... first frowning, then puzzled, and finally turning into deep shock.
At the Helian Imperial Clan's position, Ku Xian also showed a look of surprise, his aura momentarily disturbed.
Mo Cangying immediately sensed this and asked in a low voice: "Master, what is unusual?"
Ku Xian breathed softly and said in a low voice: "This is... an Eighth-rank Divine Lord."
"...What!?" Mo Cangying cried out in shock.
An Eighth-rank Divine Lord under ten Jiazi... what did that mean?
In the history of the Linyuan Realm, the most outstanding genius under ten Jiazi had been the seventeenth-generation Helian kingdom lord... Helian Kunlun.
He had obtained a heaven-given divine object, the [Lin Bone Spirit Orchid], from the Lin Divine Realm. From then on, he was reborn, becoming a Sixth-rank Divine Lord at the age of ten Jiazi.
Later, he even broke through the Divine Lord realm to become a demigod.
That generation of the Helian Imperial Court was the Helian glorious age that no force could shake.
The [Lin Bone Spirit Orchid] had not only reborn him but also greatly extended his lifespan. Though he should have long since perished, he had managed to survive until today through a technique of sealing his breath, becoming the Helian Imperial Clan's final guardian.
The three great sects were also aware of Helian Kunlun's existence, which was their greatest—or perhaps only—source of wariness toward the Helian Imperial Clan.
And the [Lin Bone Spirit Orchid] had since become the most coveted divine object for Linyuan cultivators. Everyone who entered the Lin Divine Realm most desperately hoped to find a [Lin Bone Spirit Orchid]. But unfortunately, it had only appeared once. In the ages since, generation after generation had searched the Lin Divine Realm, yet never found any trace of the [Lin Bone Spirit Orchid]. Only the records and legends about it remained, forever stirring the deepest desires of every Linyuan cultivator.
And this gray-clad person was an Eighth-rank Divine Lord... far surpassing Helian Kunlun, who had been created by the [Lin Bone Spirit Orchid] and became a legend in Linyuan.
Such a figure must come from an extremely high-level background. What method had the Worship Qilin Alliance used to invite such a person to fight for them?
"..." Ku Xian stared intently, saying nothing for a long time.
What astonished him most was that an Eighth-rank Divine Lord... he had not detected the slightest trace of his existence before.
Yun Che's gaze paused briefly on the gray-clad person, his brows slightly furrowed.
Such a figure, and one so wary of others knowing his identity... why would he come to this Linyuan Realm to fight for a mere Worship Qilin Alliance?
As a favor to Ximen Boyun? A personal connection?
Judging by his deeply enigmatic posture, certainly not.
Then there was only one possibility.
This person, like himself, wanted to enter the Lin Divine Realm.
He himself had a reason to enter the Lin Divine Realm that he couldn't avoid. Why would this person... and there wasn't the slightest aura of earth power on him.
Wait...
This seemed... to be a woman!?
When his gaze fell on her hood again, his sharp vision, unaffected by eternal dust erosion, vaguely saw through the gray-white fabric...
Two deep black marks crossing the face.
Scarface?
She was covering herself so thoroughly just to hide the black marks on her face?
Watching the gray-clad person enter, Ximen Boyun remained calm, while Ximen Borong's lips curled into a confident smile.
And Lie Qiansong, after his shock, his face turned extremely ugly.
He had known that the Worship Qilin Alliance had an external help, but he had never imagined that this help would be so terrifying.
In the previous battle, the Helian Imperial Clan had not only not been utterly defeated but had cruelly dominated the Pan Xuan Sect and Ten Thousand Ren Sect. At the very least, their final ranking was second.
Among the three great sects, his Lie Sha Sect was the weakest.
And if they lost to the Worship Qilin Alliance...
Then, the ones who would lose the qualification to enter the Lin Divine Realm would not be the Helian Imperial Clan, but his Lie Sha Sect!
Lie Zhuoyang, the young master of the Lie Sha Sect, was just stoking his battle intent when suddenly a suffocating sensation came over him, and the surrounding atmosphere became strangely eerie.
He turned to look at his sect's position and saw his father's face was an alarming iron-gray.
Sensing Lie Zhuoyang's gaze, Lie Qianshong let out a long breath and transmitted his voice: "The opponent... is an Eighth-rank Divine Lord."
"Wh—" Lie Zhuoyang's expression changed drastically as he blurted out in shock.
"Give up," Lie Qiansong's voice was powerless. "That gray-clad person alone can crush all of you. There is no chance of victory."
"Surrendering directly is shameful. But preserving all your strength and state, while the Pan Xuan Sect and Ten Thousand Ren Sect have been severely injured by that Yun Che... there might still be an opportunity."
"..." Lie Zhuoyang gritted his teeth. The battle intent just rising in his heart was crushed completely by the four words "Eighth-rank Divine Lord."
But he did not surrender immediately. Instead, he pointed at the gray-clad person and asked in a deep voice: "Since you have stepped onto the battlefield, why must you hide your head and tail? At the very least... you should let us know your name."
The gray-clad person's form and aura did not stir at all, like a dead person.
Just as everyone thought he had no intention of responding to the Lie Sha Sect's young master, they heard him slowly speak:
"Chi Dragon Clan, Long Jiang." Her voice was cold and hoarse, but still distinguishable as a woman's voice.