He has been reincarnated through countless worlds, adorned with billions of mythological terms!

He stood up and turned around.

Pei Yuan did not take this opportunity to make a move.

He stood there, like a tree planted in ruins, the hem of his trench coat billowing in the wind and falling back down, the long sash at his waist already unfastened.

"Aren't you going to run?"

"You're the one who should run."

Pei Yuan did not speak again.

He took a step forward—this step was different from the previous ones: the ground did not collapse, the gravel did not fly, and not even the dust was shaken up.

But Yunyi's feelings changed.

The net was sending him an alarm—not just at a single node, but the entire net was shaking.

Pei Yuan drew all his power into his body, not letting a single bit leak out.

Yun Yi took a step forward.

There was no effort to gather strength, no adjustment of breathing, not even a glance at him—it was like walking from one's living room to the balcony to check the weather.

Pei Yuan's pupils contracted slightly.

He couldn't see Yun Yi's point of exertion, the contraction of his muscles, or the transmission of power—this person was like a leaf falling from a tree, being pushed along by the wind, without his own will.

But the wind cannot be controlled by leaves.

He took half a step back.

This half-step shifted his weight from his right foot to his left, moved his gaze from Yun Yi's chest to his shoulder, and allowed him to pull his right hand out from under the hem of his trench coat—he held no weapon, but the color of his entire arm changed, from normal skin tone to a dark gray, as if a layer of cement had been poured on it.

"You're the first person who made me use—"

Pei Yuan's voice trailed off.

Because Yun Yi's finger was already pointing at his chest.

It wasn't a fist, nor a palm, but two fingers—the index and middle fingers joined together, the scales at the fingertips as thin as the edge of a cicada's wing, shimmering briefly in the moonlight.

Pei Yuan looked down at the two fingers.

They didn't pierce his skin, inject toxins, or even cause him pain.

But he felt his heart skip a beat.

It wasn't because I was scared, it was because my body stopped on its own.

The heart muscle resonated with some high-frequency vibration the instant the two fingers touched.

The myocardial fibers begin to tear at the microscopic level, and blood seeps out from the ventricular wall, like a piece of sheet metal that has been repeatedly folded—the metal is fatigued.

He opened his mouth to speak, but blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

"you……"

"You are not the original body."

Yun Yi withdrew his finger and looked at the little bit of blood on his fingertip.

The blood was red, but too bright a red—like it had just been drawn from a blood vessel and hadn't been oxidized in the lungs.

This is a meticulously maintained body: well-nourished, hydrated, and even the ratio of adrenaline is precisely controlled.

But it is not the entity itself.

Because there is no soul in this body.

No, to be precise—it has a soul, but it's not Pei Yuan's.

This body houses a tamed, obedient soul, devoid of any will to resist, like a garment worn on the body.

Pei Yuan was elsewhere, manipulating this body in some way, like a puppet on a string.

Pei Yuan—or rather, this body—looked down at the bloodstains on his chest, then looked up at Yun Yi.

The cold light in those eyes was still there, but there was something new underneath.

It wasn't fear, but rather an emotion he hadn't experienced in a long time.

accident.

"How did you figure that out?"

"Heartbeat".

Yunyi said, "Sixty-five times per minute, from 500 meters away until now, it hasn't changed once."

"If your heart rate doesn't change during a fight, there are only two possibilities—either you're so strong that you don't need to be nervous, or you're not even there."

Pei Yuan remained silent for two seconds.

Then he laughed.

This time it was a real smile—not just the curve of the corners of his mouth, but the movement of his entire face.

There was no mockery or pity in his smile, only a pure, heartfelt joy.

"interesting."

He said the sound started to weaken, like a machine that was going out of power, "It's really interesting."

His body began to collapse.

It doesn't fall down, it breaks apart from the edges—the fingertips turn to ash, the ash is blown away by the wind, and then the palms, wrists, and forearms.

The rate of disintegration is very slow, like a building dismantling itself, peeling away layer by layer.

"Next time we meet, I will come in person."

Half of his face was already smashed, but the remaining half of his mouth was still moving, "Don't die before that."

Then he shattered.

His entire body turned into a pile of gray powder, which lay on the ground and was scattered by the wind.

There was nothing in the powder—no bones, no teeth, no residue.

Yunyi squatted down and rubbed a little powder between his fingers.

It's very fine, even finer than flour, and there's no grainy feeling on your fingertips.

This is not the remains after being killed; it is an empty shell after being deliberately abandoned.

Pei Yuan had already left before his body shattered, leaving behind only a remotely controlled shell.

He stood up, turned around, and walked back to the rooftop.

Yun Nian peeked out from behind the ventilation duct, holding the ugly rabbit in her hand, its ears pinched out of shape.

"Brother, where's that tall guy?"

"I'm gone."

"He left? Wasn't he going to fight?"

"It's over."

Yun Nian tilted her head, clearly not understanding what "the fight is over" meant—she only heard a few words, then a gust of wind, and then the person was gone.

But she didn't ask any further questions; she just hugged the ugly rabbit a little tighter.

"Shall we go find Dad now?"

"Um."

Yun Yi didn't immediately carry her on his back, but instead whispered:

"Close your eyes."

"It'll be ready in a minute."

Yun Nian didn't understand, but she still obediently closed her eyes.

Just as her eyelids closed—

Yun Yi has changed.

Dragon scales burst out from under the skin.

It's not the gentle growth that spreads from the fingertips like before; it's an explosive growth that bursts forth from every pore at the same time.

The sound of scales colliding was like a thousand knives being drawn simultaneously, overlapping into a deep rumble under the moonlight.

His pupils turned gold.

It wasn't amber, but pure gold—the vertical pupil cracked open in the darkness, like a gap being pushed open at the gates of hell.

Lu Ming saw it.

He was squatting on the air conditioner unit ten meters away, with a blade of grass he had picked up from somewhere dangling from his mouth.

The moment the scales burst open, the grass stem fell out of his mouth.

He saw the eleven-year-old boy's back transform into a humanoid dragon in a second.

Then Yun Yi moved.

Lu Ming did not see him make a move.

He only saw Yun Yi's right arm move slightly—just a slight movement, without any process of accumulating power, accelerating, or exerting force.

The arm disappeared from one position and reappeared in another, the trajectory in between being completely invisible to his eyes.

The air exploded.

A white shockwave emanated from the point where Yun Yi's fist landed, sending rubble, dust, and broken glass flying.

The air conditioner unit under Lu Ming's feet was pushed back half a meter by the blast of air, and his body leaned back, his center of gravity shifting in an instant.

Then he moved.

It's not forward, it's backward.

He stepped on the air conditioner unit and used the blast of air to propel himself backward, while simultaneously pulling his hands out of his pockets—a folding knife in his left hand and a black sphere in his right.

He moved as fast as a startled cat, flipped in the air, and landed on a crooked telephone pole.

But when he landed, his feet didn't touch the ground properly.

Because his ankle was wrapped with something.

Transparent, as fine as a hair, almost invisible in the moonlight.

He glanced down, his pupils suddenly contracting—

Not one, but six.

The spider-like trap that extended from the air conditioner unit where he had been squatting for ten minutes tightened the moment he landed.

When did he set up the net?

The answer doesn't need to be asked.

From the moment Pei Yuan uttered the words "she is the chosen one," this trap was already in place.