Pay-to-Win Cultivation: I Get 10,000x Returns

Chapter 289: You Spent Years Enduring Humiliation Under His Crotch?

A subtle, elusive arc lifted the corner of Lin Jianyuan’s mouth, but he offered no direct answer.

Swish!

Zhang Xian struck without warning. A condensed beam of sword Qi slammed viciously into the golden film.

Buzz.

The light membrane merely rippled like water disturbed by a pebble before returning to its perfect stillness. Not a scratch.

“Save your strength,” Lin Jianyuan said indifferently. “My [Realm-Severing Light Wall] cannot be breached by brute force. You are welcome to waste your Heaven-Grade Talismans or those puppets, but the result will be the same.”

Zhang Xian withdrew his hand and knocked on the barrier. Knock, knock.

“Hey, hey, Senior Lin. Answering a question with silence is bad manners. You’ve trapped me here—surely you don’t plan to just starve me to death? Why don’t you come in and we can chat face-to-face?”

Lin Jianyuan ignored the invitation, speaking as if to himself. “I truly believed the [Stone Gate of Fate] guarded Wang Ye’s ultimate legacy. I expected a world-shaking secret or a divine contingency plan. To think it shelters such a pathetic, looted ruin… It seems he really was at the end of his rope. Had I known, I wouldn’t have wasted 10,000 years obsessing over this.”

Zhang Xian tapped the light wall again. “If I go missing for too long, my Master and Grandmaster will come looking. When they find out you kidnapped their favorite disciple, you’re going to be in big trouble.”

Lin Jianyuan scoffed. “Su Yunmiao? She is no match for me.”

His gaze shifted to Zhang Xian, sharpening with scrutiny. “You don’t seem nervous.”

Zhang Xian shrugged, his expression the picture of boredom. “Why should I be nervous? Worst case scenario, I’ll treat this as Secluded Cultivation. It’s just a bit dull, that’s all.”

He leaned against the invisible wall, crossing his arms. “Look, you went to such great lengths—tricking me into opening the door, trapping me inside. Now that you’ve won, don’t you want to monologue a bit? Share the details of your 10,000-year master plan? As the saying goes, ‘Walking in brocade at night is a waste if no one sees it.’ It must be lonely being a genius with no audience.”

Lin Jianyuan stared at Zhang Xian for a long moment. “You are calm. That composure comes from absolute confidence in your strength. You remind me of Wang Ye back then.”

“Unfortunately, you will die just as he did—silently and without a grave.” He paused, then straightened his posture. “Very well. Since you wish to know, I shall tell you. Once you are dead, I will no longer need to hide my name.”

His aura shifted, becoming ancient and heavy.

“This seat is… Song Yuanyi.”

Zhang Xian let out an exaggerated, theatrical gasp. “Whoa!”

“Good heavens! So you are the old freak! But wait, why cosplay as a descendant of the Lin family? I get that you were down bad for Senior Lin Yue, but impersonating her great-great-grandson and calling your crush ‘Ancestor’… isn’t that a little perverted? That’s some serious kink you’ve got there.”

Song Yuanyi shook his head, unbothered. “Your childish provocations are useless against me.”

Zhang Xian glanced back at the unconscious Taichu on the floor. “So, is he your actual descendant? He didn’t seem to know who you really were.”

“He naturally does not know,” Song Yuanyi said coldly. “In the Song lineage, every single person who carries my blood is secretly implanted with the [Mind Planting Technique] from birth.”

“Their thoughts, their ambitions, their every action is imperceptibly guided by my will. They believe they are acting of their own accord, but they are merely extensions of myself.”

He glanced at the broken body of Taichu. “Taichu was the most accomplished tool among my thousands of descendants. It is a pity he met you. But since he forced you to reveal your trump cards, his death served its purpose.”

Zhang Xian clicked his tongue in disgust. “They say even a vicious tiger won’t eat its own cubs. You treat your own family tree like disposable batteries. Does your conscience ever clock in for work?”

“The Song lineage has persisted for 10,000 years,” Song Yuanyi replied indifferently. “Between the main line and collateral branches, my descendants number in the tens of thousands. Pruning a few withered branches… what pain is there in that?”

“Oh, incidentally,” Song Yuanyi added, “Grandmaster Wangchuan, whom you killed at the Yunmiao Sect? His veins also carried my blood.”

Zhang Xian tutted loudly. “Tsk, tsk. Having an ancestor like you is truly eight lifetimes of bad luck. It’s a pity the Half-Demon King wasn’t ruthless enough back then. She should have wiped your Song family off the map.”

“At that time, my divine art was not yet complete. I had to avoid her edge,” Song Yuanyi admitted without shame. “But she eventually died of old age. And I… I made sure to slaughter every single one of her descendants afterward.”

Zhang Xian narrowed his eyes. “If I’m not mistaken, Wang Ye died by your hand too, right? You could kill the Drifting King, yet you were afraid of the Half-Demon King? Spill it, old man. What underhanded trick did you use?”

Song Yuanyi remained impassive. “You will know soon enough.”

Zhang Xian placed his hand on the light membrane again, his Divine Sense probing the structure. “This formation of yours… is it hiding a killing mechanism? Because from where I’m standing, it just looks like a slightly sturdier turtle shell.”

“I told you,” Song Yuanyi said. “You may try to break it. But you will regret the attempt.”

Zhang Xian sighed, dusting off his hands. “You claim your divine art is complete. Can’t we just have a fair, honorable duel? Let me die convinced of your superiority. Surely a senior who has lived for 10,000 years isn’t afraid of a junior at the early Nascent Soul stage?”

Song Yuanyi sneered. “I said, your goading is useless. If I can solve a problem with minimum effort, why waste energy?”

Suddenly, Zhang Xian snapped his fingers, as if realizing something profound.

“Wait a minute! You said earlier that you Awakened your Wood Spirit Root by relying on the Lin family bloodline. But if you are Song Yuanyi, how do you possess Wang Ye’s Wood lineage inheritance and the physical characteristics of a half-demon?”

Zhang Xian’s expression turned into a mask of mock horror and realization.

“Hisss! Don’t tell me… you and Wang Ye were… special friends? Did you spend years on your knees, enduring humiliation under his crotch, swallowing his ‘essence’ day and night until you finally Awakened?”

“No wonder you killed him! You couldn’t bear the shame of being his shameful little secret—”

“SHUT UP!”

Song Yuanyi exploded. The calm, archaic facade shattered instantly.

A vein throbbed violently on his temple. “You vulgar brat! What do you know?! The reason I possess Wang Ye’s inheritance and Origin is because I refined him into a pure Demon Core and swallowed it whole!”

As the words left his mouth, a horrific, curdling scream echoed through the secret chamber.

Zhang Xian whipped his head around.

On the floor, Taichu’s physical body was melting.

It was happening at a speed visible to the naked eye. His flesh turned to wax, sloughing off his bones. Even the fused Origins of [Hatred] and [Greed] within him were evaporating, rising like steam from a boiling pot.

Zhang Xian’s expression shifted instantly. “This isn’t a trapping formation. This is a Refining Grand Formation! We’re already inside the furnace?”

Song Yuanyi regained his composure, looking at Zhang Xian’s reaction with grim satisfaction. “Finally caught on? From the moment I saw the blueprints of the [Prism Project], my understanding of the [Heavenly Gourd] deepened to a new level.”

“While you were busy toying with Taichu, I enveloped the entire [Stone Gate of Fate] within my Prism Refining Grand Formation. Before long, you will be refined into a pure, concentrated pill—just like Wang Ye.”

Zhang Xian’s face turned cold. “The [Heavenly Gourd]? The core device from Wang Ye’s plan?”

“Correct,” Song Yuanyi said. “You likely don’t know this, but Wang Ye’s enlightenment in mechanisms and formations actually originated from me. The [Heavenly Gourd] is not just an energy amplifier; it is the ultimate refining vessel.”

Zhang Xian sneered. “So, when Wang Ye came to you, inviting you to help complete the [Prism Project] and save the world, you stabbed him in the back and refined him into a snack?”

“Hmph. Roughly speaking,” Song Yuanyi said, his tone finally leaking a trace of suppressed, ancient resentment. “He secretly activated the [Prism Project]. He managed to hide it from everyone… except me.”

“When he discussed the details of refining the [Heavenly Gourd] with me, I probed him and guessed his true intentions. It is laughable, really. When he finally executed his grand plan, the first helper he sought was me.”

Zhang Xian’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “He was injured, vulnerable, and trusted you. So he died silently, betrayed by his best friend.”

Song Yuanyi’s eyes were cold voids.

“Friend?”