Chapter 1171: Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart, the Arrogant Matriarch of the Shen Family

Lu Ding's world-destroying dance abruptly halted, the apocalyptic vision vanishing.

Because his true goal was not to destroy Wushuang City—this place would eventually house a Han embassy, after all. His purpose was to teach these two old fossils who refused to die a lesson they'd never forget!!!

And now, that purpose had been achieved.

Following Lu Ding's gaze.

The two Shen Family elders who had received his special attention were now in a horrifically mangled state.

The two of them lay folded in place, over half their bodies shattered, broken bones piercing through torn flesh, having suffered the most primal destruction—as if smashed by some massive hammer, nearly pounded into paste.

Lu Ding lifted the mask from his face.

Looking at the two devastated men: "Faking your precious moral dignity, my ass."

He vanished in a flash.

Standing beside the two men, Lu Ding leaned down: "Speak."

Just as the Shen Family elder was about to open his mouth—

Wu Yong, the son of Butler Wu who had been standing beside Fatty, shouted out: "Senior!!! Miss Jiannan's heart was dug out by the Matriarch and given to Miss Yingxia!!!"

"Miss Jiannan's heart is the legendary Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart!!!"

Hearing this, Lu Ding didn't hesitate for even a moment. He struck out with both palms, killing the two Shen Family elders on the spot, draining their Spiritual Energy dry and converting it into a sea of spirit stones!

Their only purpose had been intelligence.

Now that the information was secured, and the situation understood—

They had no further value in living.

Nor did Lu Ding waste words, or give them any chance to waste his.

The word "soft-hearted" had never appeared in Lu Ding's dictionary, especially not when spirit stone profits were at stake.

Lu Ding flashed over to Wu Yong: "Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart?"

He knew this one intimately.

In the Investiture of the Gods, Prime Minister Bi Gan possessed a Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart, enabling his eyes to pierce through all illusions, allowing him to commune with all things in the world, and granting him innate brilliance.

One could say, it was only slightly inferior to Lu Ding's Heaven-Man Unity.

At this moment.

Lu Ding finally understood why Fatty, alone in those deep mountains and old forests, had remained safe and unharmed despite having no Spiritual Energy to protect her, untouched by beasts and demons alike.

When Lu Ding had swept his divine sense over the area, he'd noticed many beasts and demons lurking nearby.

He'd assumed those creatures were waiting for an opportunity to strike at Fatty. But now he realized—as the original owner of the Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart, she still retained a faint remnant of its aura. Those creatures were actually protecting her!

Lu Ding looked at Wu Yong, who stood with his head lowered, tense.

He didn't press Wu Yong on why he hadn't spoken earlier. Lu Ding understood.

Wu Yong was just a butler's son.

He didn't know whether he could truly stand against the Shen Family. Although Lu Ding had seemed ferocious in that moment, the Shen Family elders hadn't appeared yet.

If Lu Ding had failed to defeat the elders...

Then what? Lu Ding would flee in defeat, and Wu Yong, having exposed the truth, would be finished!?

So Lu Ding could understand his current feelings and reasoning.

A smart man!

Knows how to read the situation.

As long as one grasps the right timing, that's another kind of talent in itself.

Wu Yong answered: "Yes! The Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart!!"

"For all these years, my father has served the Shen Family diligently and loyally, devoted to the Great Creation Immortal Lord. He is the most loyal person in the entire Shen household, which is why so many matters required my father's handling!!"

"Before the Matriarch dug out Miss Jiannan's heart, she had commissioned my father to visit Grandma Qin in Huang'er Village, to inquire about matters concerning Miss Jiannan's Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart. At that time, the Matriarch didn't yet know that Miss Jiannan's heart was the Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart!"

"My father didn't know either that Miss Jiannan possessed a Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart. The Matriarch simply gave my father some descriptions of the Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart within Miss Jiannan's body, and had him inquire discreetly."

"Later, when he brought back the intelligence, only then did they learn—it was the Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart!"

"The Matriarch didn't make a fuss at first. But after digging out Miss Jiannan's heart, she finally told my father the truth, threatening him to do her bidding!"

"She warned my father that the intelligence about the Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart was brought back by him. If the Immortal Lord ever investigated the matter, my father would never escape culpability!"

In the Investiture of the Gods, Prime Minister Bi Gan possessed a Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart, enabling his eyes to pierce through all illusions, allowing him to commune with all things in the world, and granting him innate brilliance.

"He could only be coerced by the Matriarch, unable to repay the kindness Miss Jiannan's mother once showed him."

Lu Ding listened, then turned to look at the severely wounded woman on the ground.

"You've certainly plotted well. You don't use your own Jin Family people, but instead dragged the Shen Family's head butler into the muck, so you'd have people on both sides. If that butler had been even slightly black-hearted, those mother and daughter would've been eaten alive by you!"

At this point, since everything was already exposed, the woman no longer cared.

She raised her head with difficulty to look at Lu Ding: "So what if I did!?"

"The Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart is a gift from heaven. Her mother, of such lowly birth, what right did she have to be the Shen Family's proper Matriarch? I, born of the Jin Family, why should I be relegated to being a mere concubine!?"

"I should be the Matriarch of the Shen Family, so I had to make her die. Only with her dead could I become the Matriarch of the Shen Family!!!"

"I couldn't compete with her for the Immortal Lord's favor, but my daughter absolutely must surpass her daughter!"

"My daughter is the one worthy of the Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart, beloved by heaven and earth!!!"

"Losers are trampled by winners. I calculated everything perfectly, yet I never expected some outsider appearing from nowhere to stick his nose in!!!"

As she spoke, the woman suddenly burst into laughter: "But, it doesn't matter anymore. The Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart has already fully grown inside my daughter's body. I've already sent her to Huang'er Village, made grand promises, signed a contract, and through Grandma Qin's connections there, she's entered the Gouchen Hall for secluded cultivation!!"

"Hahahahaha... Do you know what the Gouchen Hall is, boy? It's a force subordinate to Lü Mountain, standing above all the countless sects of the Demon Continent!!!"

"It's all because my daughter possesses a Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart, dug out from that fat girl's body!!!!"

"Because of this Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart, my daughter has earned the Gouchen Hall's high regard. With this heart, my daughter will surely soar to the heavens, spreading her phoenix wings!!!"

"With the Gouchen Hall's protection, my daughter will be perfectly safe, cultivating in peace! Are you angry? Powerless? Even if you know everything, even if you know where my daughter is, you can't touch her!"

"Kill me, come on, kill me!!!"

"Kill me, and my daughter will have no more worldly attachments. Her birth mother's blood vengeance will become the driving force of her cultivation. When that day comes, it won't just be you who dies—your sect, your friends and family, all of them will die!!!!"

She looked at Fatty: "Such a wonderful Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart, so wonderful. Too bad you couldn't protect it."

As she spoke, her face twisted grotesquely: "I wanted to dig out your heart, wanted to bully the weak with strength, wanted to steal your fortune, steal everything from you, take everything you have!!!!"

Even as she roared, her one remaining eye never left Lu Ding.

She'd wanted to see his emotional shift—shock at her daughter being in the Gouchen Hall, rage at her words.

But she saw nothing.

No.

The next moment.

She saw the contempt that rose on Lu Ding's face.

"Gouchen Hall, and here I thought it was Lü Mountain itself. Turns out it's just something beneath Lü Mountain."

Those words seemed to touch a nerve. The woman, already on the brink of death, suddenly rallied with a furious roar: "What do you know! Lü Mountain hasn't accepted disciples for ages, a hundred years of closed doors, a hundred years of demon-feeding!!!"

"It's not that Lü Mountain wouldn't accept my daughter—it's that Lü Mountain no longer takes disciples! If Lü Mountain opened its gates, my daughter with her Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart would surely be accepted, becoming a Lü Mountain disciple, the youngest Lü Mountain disciple ever. And then....."

Mid-sentence, she froze. The twisted expression on her face gradually shifted into something fascinating to behold.

Because she saw it—as she spoke, Lu Ding pulled from his robes the jade token representing Lü Mountain's credentials, its surface rippling with a unique, unmistakable, impossible-to-forge fluctuation.

She was frozen in place.

Lu Ding held up the jade token, grinning with unrestrained arrogance.

"Hahahahahahahaha...... Go on, keep going. Do you know why I let you keep spouting all that nonsense?"

A wisp of black smoke curled from the corner of Lu Ding's mouth: "It's so that at the very peak of your smugness, you'd suffer the most unbearable blow hahahahahaha......."

He brandished the jade token: "See what this is, you delusional bitch, you poison-tongued viper? Killing you outright would only let you think you died a worthy death, turning your demise into fuel for your daughter's cultivation, letting you climax in your own delusions."

"I want you to watch what real bullying with power looks like. You said you wanted to bully the weak with strength, didn't you? I'll show you what true bullying looks like. I will personally travel to the Gouchen Hall, drag out your daughter, dig out that Seven-Apertures Exquisite Heart that was never hers to begin with, take everything from her, destroy everything she has hahahahaha......."

The woman dragged her broken body forward, her single remaining eye bulging wide in disbelief, crawling toward Lu Ding: "No... impossible... How could you be a direct disciple of Lü Mountain? Didn't Lü Mountain stop accepting disciples long ago? Let me see, let me see........"

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Hey folks, tomorrow we continue with more chapters.