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Lauren finally felt the depths of despair. She was in enemy territory, trapped and imprisoned, completely isolated and without anyone to rely on. Even the strange equipment she could normally depend on seemed difficult to use because of her severe injuries. And in such a dire situation, the opponent she faced was a beast capable of abandoning even his own wife and biological daughter.

No, Landon was worse than a beast.

“Could this really be the end of the road for me?” Lauren’s face was deathly pale as she murmured in despair. “To be killed by someone like you… I really can’t accept this.”

More importantly, she had yet to take her revenge. The figure of that person surfaced in her mind. He had pressed his lips together, his face filled with sorrow.

‘I’m sorry, Adrian. I have disappointed you.’

“Heh heh, you have only yourself to blame for your naivety and ignorance.” Faced with Lauren, who had dared to venture alone into the very heart of his most important plan, Landon naturally had no intention of showing her the slightest mercy.

He gathered his spiritual energy and ruthlessly brought his palm down toward the crown of Lauren’s head.

Lauren no longer even had the strength to raise her hand. The poison was far more terrifying than she had imagined. All she could do was watch helplessly as death drew closer, step by step. It seemed that everything had already been decided, and no one could stop what was about to happen.

Or so it seemed. Reality always had a way of bringing an unexpected turn of events.

“Enough!” A delicate shout, teetering on the verge of breaking down, suddenly rang out. At the same time, wind appeared. Violent wind. Like the harbinger of a torrential downpour, it swept through the trees, making them creak violently.

Fallen leaves danced through the air with a rustling sound. It was a song of grief and fury that had been silenced for five years. Yet it was not only the wind that resonated with that song. Spiritual energy did as well. Boundless spiritual energy. Like countless fish swarming toward food, it gathered from all directions.

Landon suddenly stopped. He could not bring his palm down. Because he sensed a hint of danger. He raised his head in astonishment. What he saw was Liana, her face filled with fury. Tears still streamed down her face, and she was still in a wretched state. Even her legs continued to tremble uncontrollably from fear.

Yet she stood there, standing straight despite everything, staring directly at her father, the demon she feared most, the very man who had personally killed her mother.

Spiritual energy frenziedly poured into her body. Ever since five years ago, she had been unable to absorb spiritual energy because of her psychological trauma. But that did not mean her cultivation was weak, nor did it mean that she was incapable of cultivating.

Five years ago, she had been the foremost genius of the Ye family, a heaven’s favored daughter whom countless people envied. The reason she had become what she was now was simply that she had been unable to overcome the barrier in her heart. But now, she had to face that barrier once again. She had to overcome it. And she succeeded.

Vast amounts of spiritual energy poured into her body, filling her limbs, organs, and countless acupoints. Her cultivation realm rose steadily, like the water level after a torrential downpour. First stage… Second stage… Third stage… With no bottleneck whatsoever, her cultivation continued to soar until it stopped at the seventh stage.

This was the realm she had reached five years ago. But it was not enough. Seventh-stage cultivation was insufficient to change the situation before her. She had to go higher! Thus, Liana gathered her spiritual energy and charged toward an even higher realm.

The obstacle before her was nothing more than a small hill. She broke straight through the Eighth stage! But it still wasn’t enough! Landon was a ninth-stage powerhouse!

He did not move. Instead, he watched Liana with a half-smile, half-smirk, allowing her to break through her realm as though mocking her overestimating her own abilities. That smile was terrifying, like it belonged to an evil spirit from the depths of hell, making Liana instinctively want to turn around and flee.

But no, Liana, you could not run. You had grown up. You had become stronger. You had met someone you cared about. You could even proudly declare that you were a kind-hearted person. You had not disappointed your mother. Then, from this moment onward, you could not disappoint yourself either.

A trace of determination appeared in Liana’s eyes. Then she mobilized all her spiritual energy and launched an assault toward a realm that was completely unfamiliar to her!

It hurts! It hurt so much. The spiritual energy surged into acupoints that had yet to be opened, causing pain as intense as being stabbed with a knife. But don’t be afraid, Liana. You had endured suffering far more terrifying than this. So what was there left to fear now? Keep going!

Spiritual energy surged forth once again. It gathered into a single torrent and charged toward that towering peak. Once. Twice. Three times. She no longer knew how many times. Her body felt as though it were about to tear apart. A sickening sweetness filled her throat. Yet Liana still did not stop. Until finally, she could no longer hold it back, and a mouthful of crimson blood burst from her lips.

She collapsed to her knees as though she had suffered a grievous injury. But when she raised her head again, a satisfied smile appeared on her face. She had succeeded. From this moment onward, she was also a ninth-stage powerhouse.

“I really didn’t expect this.” Seeing this scene, Landon exclaimed in astonishment, with a trace of emotion in his voice, “Countless mediocre people spend their entire lives pursuing the realm of a ninth-stage powerhouse, yet you broke through it effortlessly in a matter of minutes. If people outside were to witness this scene, I wonder how many of them would be so ashamed that they would smash their heads against a wall.”

There were only around ten ninth-stage powerhouses in the entire Maplefall Town. And even the youngest among them was already over thirty. Yet Liana was only sixteen. Most astonishing of all, she had gone from being an ordinary person with no cultivation realm at all to her current level in the span of just a few breaths.

“Perhaps even the heavens want me to stop you.” Liana showed not the slightest excitement at breaking through her realm. Instead, she stared solemnly at her beast of a father.

“Heh heh, the heavens?” Landon shook his head, scoffing at the notion. “No. The one who allowed you to slowly break through your realm was me, your father, the one standing right in front of you. Otherwise, do you really think that if I had attacked just now, you would have had the opportunity to advance to the ninth stage?”

Liana’s pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this. “Why?” She knew her father very well and understood that he was an exceedingly calculating man. He would never do anything unless he was certain of the outcome.

“Heh heh, why? Of course, it’s because of the Pure Yin Blood within your body.” Landon smiled. His demeanor remained refined and amiable. Even in this foul-smelling place drenched in blood, his cyan robe remained completely spotless.

Yet merely standing there, every movement he made and every word he spoke was enough to send chills down one’s spine.

“Actually, what frustrated me most five years ago was that you suddenly became unable to absorb spiritual energy. No matter how powerful the Pure Yin Blood was, it still needed the nourishment of spiritual energy to display its effects to the fullest. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to help you restore your cultivation realm.

“I simply never expected that your inability to absorb spiritual energy was actually a problem of the heart. So, I had no choice but to make do with what I had. If the quality wasn’t enough, then I would make up for it with quantity. Just look around you.”

Landon pointed toward the blood lake, then toward the homes being consumed by raging flames, and finally toward the cries of anguish carried over by the wind from afar.

“They never had to die. But because you were a useless person, they died. And that idiot’s Blood Essence made them die for nothing. So I could only rely on you. But who would have thought? After going around in circles, you still ended up reaching this point. Just as expected of my good daughter.”

Landon’s smile transformed into roaring laughter. He laughed so heartily. He was genuinely delighted to see his daughter recover her cultivation. It was like watching a fruit he had carefully cultivated for years finally ripen.