Chapter 654: Tragic Zhangg Wu

The icy words rang out, like a frigid winter wind piercing to the bone and making one shiver involuntarily.

Ming Gui, the tip of the spear aimed directly at him, swallowed hard. A flicker of terror filled his eyes as he instinctively glanced toward Zhang Wu in the distance.

Qin Ya, of course, noticed the glance. He turned to look at Zhang Wu, his own eyes narrowing as he murmured, “So it’s him, no mistake.”

He withdrew his spear and began to walk slowly toward Zhang Wu.

Seeing this, the color drained from Zhang Wu’s face, and he instinctively stumbled back a few steps.

Having witnessed Qin Ya in action before, he knew he was no match. He immediately sent a mental message to the other two top experts in C Prison, promising them a great reward.

The two men hesitated for a moment before stepping forward to block Qin Ya’s path.

“We’re all prisoners here. Why make things difficult for one of our own?”

One of them, a man with a refined appearance, spoke with a faint smile. But behind his back, his palm was secretly condensing a sinister, subtle Palm Qi.

The other man’s gaze was grim as he, too, readied himself for a fight.

“Begone!!”

Qin Ya glanced at them indifferently, uttering a single word. A terrifying killing intent erupted from him once more, transforming him into an Asura-like figure that made one’s blood run cold.

The refined prisoner’s expression faltered. “Arrogant!” he snarled.

As he spoke, the palm he had hidden behind his back suddenly shot forward!

The Palm Seal’s Divine Light was restrained, making it seem subtle, but it contained countless streams of Qi Force. It was so incomparably domineering that it could shatter a Martial Artist’s bones and flesh in an instant.

The instant the refined prisoner attacked, the other man condensed terrifying Sword Qi at his fingertips. With a flick of his Sword Pointing gesture, several blades of Sword Qi shot forth.

Qin Ya’s eyes narrowed, a chilling glint within them.

The Palm Qi and Sword Qi struck Qin Ya’s body, but they passed right through him as if he were air, slamming into the ground and blasting several craters dozens of feet wide.

“That’s… an afterimage!”

“He’s so fast.”

The afterimage slowly faded. The two men’s pupils constricted and their hearts leaped. They spun around to see Qin Ya, who had suddenly appeared behind them, a cold smirk playing on his lips. He then curled his fingers back and unleashed a palm strike.

A blast of Destruction Palm Qi shot through the air. Not daring to be careless, the two men fired their own Palm Qi and Sword Qi to counter. The attacks collided in midair, and the resulting shockwave sent all three flying back several hundred feet.

Qin Ya used the backward momentum to pivot and charge toward Zhang Wu.

Zhang Wu’s scalp tingled in terror. This was bad. Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he spotted a dozen or so Prison Guards nearby, and he immediately scrambled toward them.

“Guards! Guards! This man is trying to attack me!”

“Quick, take him down!”

Having run behind the Prison Guards, Zhang Wu finally let out a sigh of relief.

‘Hmph. Inside the prison, I refuse to believe you’d dare to openly defy the Prison Guards.’

A Prison Guard from C Prison saw this and sneered at Zhang Wu. “Zhang Wu, for an Elder of the Marquis Lieyan Family, you’re awfully gutless, aren’t you?”

Despite his words, the grave expression in the guard’s eyes did not lessen.

After all, C Prison’s three most dangerous inmates had all fought Qin Ya. One was defeated outright, and the other two had gained no advantage even by joining forces.

With that kind of combat strength, he was superior to anyone in the four major prisons.

However, they were Prison Guards. Their status was special, so they weren’t particularly afraid.

Just as the Prison Guard from C Prison was about to step forward and block Qin Ya, a guard from Jia Prison suddenly stopped him, shaking his head and giving him a meaningful look.

Having worked together for years, the guards had a certain rapport. Seeing the guard from Jia Prison act this way, the guard from C Prison immediately halted, his mind reeling in surprise. ‘Could this young man have some incredible background? For a guard to be this wary of him… We’re in the Supervision Mansion; we don’t even give a second thought to an Elder from a Celestial Marquis Mansion like Zhang Wu. Is this boy an exception?’

Just then, an even more astonishing scene unfolded.

The Prison Guard from Jia Prison suddenly yanked Zhang Wu out from behind the other guards and, without a word, slapped him across the face. SLAP! The crisp sound echoed through the area.

A fiery red handprint bloomed on Zhang Wu’s cheek, but he was so shocked he temporarily forgot the pain. He was completely stunned. A moment later, shame and rage flooded him. His face turned a ghastly shade, his eyes flickering with fury. He wanted to lash out but didn’t dare, not against a Prison Guard.

“Speak! How did you offend Young Master Qin!”

At these words, the crowd of prisoners—and even the other Prison Guards—grew even more bewildered.

‘Young Master Qin?’

‘What’s going on? Why is that guard from Jia Prison addressing him so respectfully?’

“Dammit, you even dared to offend Young Master Qin? You must have a death wish.”

“Damn you, you old bastard! Have things gotten too comfortable for you in here?”

“If we don’t teach you a lesson today, you’ll never learn who’s really in charge around here! How dare you pull these schemes behind our backs! Despicable!”

“Don’t hold me back! Let me kill this bastard!”

…

Then, several more guards from Jia Prison came forward and began to viciously curse out Zhang Wu. One even rolled up his sleeves, ready to beat him. If the guards from the other three prisons hadn’t held them back, Zhang Wu would have suffered more than just a verbal lashing.

Now, everyone understood.

This Qin Ya must have an absolutely incredible background. Why else would the Prison Guards treat him like this? At the thought, everyone’s hearts trembled.

‘My god, for the Prison Guards of the Supervision Mansion to act like this… just how powerful is Qin Ya’s background?! Could he be the son of a Celestial Marquis?’

‘No, even a Celestial Marquis’s son shouldn’t warrant this much of a reaction. Look at those guards, they’re acting like they’re worshiping their own ancestors. Could he be… the illegitimate son of the Divine Lord? Yes, that’s highly likely! The Supervision Mansion is under the Divine Lord’s direct control, after all. His son would naturally get special treatment.’

The more the crowd thought about it, the more sense it made, and the looks they gave Qin Ya became increasingly strange.

Meanwhile, Hukuang, Ming Gui, and the other prisoners who had provoked Qin Ya earlier felt their heads spin with terror. They were so frightened they nearly bit their own tongues off.

‘Damn it all, so Qin Ya’s background is this terrifying!’

‘If we’d known, we wouldn’t have dared to provoke him even on pain of death! And this was all Zhang Wu’s idea… wasn’t he just setting us up to die? Forget the guards, right now we want to flay Zhang Wu alive ourselves!’

Poor Zhang Wu. At this moment, his entire world was collapsing.

He had only been following the Celestial Marquis’s orders to spread some rumors. Now, he was shouldering all the blame alone—from the guards, from the other prisoners… one could only imagine that his life in prison from now on would be absolute misery.

“‘An Elder of Celestial Marquis Lieyan’s Mansion, is he…'”

Gazing at Zhang Wu, who was now the target of everyone’s scorn, Qin Ya’s eyes narrowed, a cold light flickering within. He let out a cold snort and turned to leave. ‘This Zhang Wu is a pawn at best; killing him is pointless. Let him suffer his fate here in prison. But the one who truly wants to harm me… one day, I will settle that debt.’

At that moment, Celestial Marquis Lieyan was added to his blacklist!!