With a whirr, the blade of the Ion-Vibration Saber vanished, and the hilt clattered to the floor.

Zhong Yun turned around, his expressionless face meeting the muzzles of over a dozen dark energy rifles. The adjacent doorway had already sprung open, and crowds of people were flooding into the room. Each one held a particle gun, all pointed directly at him.

A sharp pang of dismay struck him; he had walked right into an ambush due to a moment of carelessness. Normally, he wouldn't fear ten times this number of people.

But the fact that they had gone to such elaborate lengths to lure him into this specific room meant meticulous planning. And the trump card they held was utterly devastating.

It was a spatial suppression field capable of nullifying all psychic abilities. Anyone entering it was unable to access even a sliver of Yuan. It was truly vicious.

With his finely tuned senses, Zhong Yun should have detected it the moment he stepped inside. However, there was another layer of mental suppression within the room that had subtly dulled his spiritual perception, causing him to be caught unawares in this nearly inescapable snare.

"Miss Qin the Second has exquisite methods. Yun admires her greatly." Seeing the peerlessly graceful woman finally step through the door, Zhong Yun managed a smile.

Miss Qin the Second stared back coldly, her eyes blazing with a mixture of hatred and disgust. This inescapable net was her construction, and now that this formidable enemy was trapped, a touch of satisfaction warmed her. But the moment she recalled what this detestable man had done, her fury flared anew.

She spoke in a voice as cold as frost: "Release the mental control over my brother, and I will spare your life."

A jolt went through Zhong Yun. He hadn't expected this to be the source of her killing intent. Even more surprising was that she had discerned he was the one who had exerted mental control over Qin Liuxing.

But that wasn't the important thing right now. The crucial matter was figuring out how to survive this trial.

The enemies, plus Miss Qin, numbered thirty-seven in total. The hall spanned nearly two hundred square meters and stood about four meters high. His position offered no decent cover. The enemies were spread out, locking down every blind spot.

With his Yuan unusable, although he wore his protective suit, his head was exposed. At this close range, even poor marksmanship from so many guns meant a headshot was virtually unavoidable.

If he could reach his mecha, dispatching these men would be like chopping vegetables. But the mecha key couldn't be summoned mentally. He was certain that any slight movement would result in thirty-five particle guns turning him into dust.

By all accounts, this was a dead end.

Fortunately, Miss Qin the Second didn't intend to kill him immediately; the shot she fired earlier had been aimed at his foot, something that wouldn't prove fatal even if it landed.

Zhong Yun feigned surprise. "Miss the Second, I don't understand what you mean."

Miss Qin the Second's expression hardened. "Still playing stubborn when death is imminent? Have him lose one hand." One of the soldiers lowered his particle gun and charged forward.

She truly dared not kill Zhong Yun.

As a pinnacle master of psychic power, she had accidentally discovered the extremely sophisticated mental control placed on her brother during a recent check-up. Even with her own strength, she couldn't break it.

She immediately suspected the individual named Yun Zhongyu. This explained why her brother, after being beaten by him, still regarded him as his best friend.

Learning this filled her with both shock and rage, making her wish she could flay Yun Zhongyu alive. Thus, she set this trap, intending to use his life as leverage to force him to undo the mental control on her brother. Until then, she would never kill Zhong Yun.

Of course, she wouldn't let him walk away intact either. Since she was inferior in power, crippling him was the only way to keep him under control; otherwise, the danger would shift to her once they left this room.

Watching a soldier rush toward him, Zhong Yun suddenly smiled. The soldier was a skilled martial artist, possessing excellent physical conditioning, and was in front of Zhong Yun in the blink of an eye.

He launched a clean, sharp straight punch toward Zhong Yun's chest and abdomen, carrying a fierce gust of wind.

Zhong Yun sidestepped slightly; the punch grazed his uniform. He swept his foot out low. The soldier, though momentarily shocked, reacted instantly, leaping up to evade the low kick.

Who would have thought Zhong Yun's calf would bend, rise nearly a foot, and hook solidly around the soldier's ankle? The soldier lost his balance mid-air, slammed into the wall with a thud, his head bleeding profusely. He slumped to the floor, motionless.

In just one exchange, the renowned master fighter under Miss Qin the Second was neutralized.

It was true that many powerful experts neglected close-quarters combat, having no time to practice such minor arts. But Zhong Yun was a definite exception. While his overall strength aboard the Freedom might not be supreme, in terms of pure combat skill, he had no equal.

Miss Qin the Second felt a surge of frustration seeing her strongest combat subordinate defeated in two moves. She hadn't expected this bastard to be a master of close combat as well.

"Three of you, come at once," Miss Qin snapped, her face growing colder with embarrassment.

Three men answered the call. These three practiced a joint combat technique that indeed presented Zhong Yun with considerable trouble. Under their fierce offensive pressure...

Yun found himself in perilous situations, even sustaining minor injuries. But ultimately, he won.

Miss Qin the Second ground her teeth silently. "Five of you, go!"

Meanwhile, at the Lan residence...

"Is everyone prepared?" Lan Ling sat high in his chair, asking the person before him. The arrogance usually radiating from him was entirely absent. His voice, though still loud, was measured and unhurried, strikingly different from his norm.

This was his true self; his usual antics were merely the mask he wore. Almost everyone possessed such a mask—be it his arch-rival Gu Yue, or the deeply calculating Hong Yuting.

Perhaps the only one among them who didn't wear one was Qin Liuxing.

Sometimes, Lan Ling almost envied the young man. He needed to think about nothing, simply doing whatever he pleased without restraint. But that was just fleeting thought. At his current standing, he was already a man controlled by circumstances.

"Twenty thousand clan disciples disguised as crew members are ready and waiting to depart at any moment," replied a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties—a family aide sent to assist Lan Ling. Given Lan Ling's youth, the family was uneasy entrusting him with command of such a critical mission alone, so they sent this man.

In reality, the operation would be jointly commanded by Lan Ling, the middle-aged man Lan Ge, and the still-captivating master-level expert, Lan Yuling. Lan Ling held the nominal leadership, but the final decisions rested with Lan Yuling.

"The Clan has invested immense effort to ensure this operation goes smoothly. This time, success is the only option," Lan Ling encouraged the responsible personnel below him.

To avoid detection, the Gu, Lan, and Qin families had disguised their elite disciples as crew members aboard the Freedom. The Gu family had the largest contingent, numbering thirty thousand; the Lan and Qin families each had twenty thousand.

The three families shared intelligence, deliberately excluding the others. With their combined strength, suppressing the remaining families was manageable; they aimed to create a fait accompli. By the time others learned the truth, they would be powerless to object.

If Hong Yuting hadn't spotted the three master-level experts from the three families on the ship that day, raising suspicion and reporting it internally, the Hong family wouldn't have pressured the Gu, Lan, and Qin families. Otherwise, they would have maintained secrecy until just before the operation commenced.

However, knowing two days earlier made little difference. In the vastness of space, could the Hong family conjure up an emergency contingent of experts? As for one Yun Zhongyu, he was irrelevant to the grand scheme.

Lan family's true rivals were the Gu and Qin families.

After his opening remarks, Lan Ling began discussing the finer details of tomorrow's plan with the others.

Elsewhere, the Gu family was also reviewing tomorrow's movements. The thought that the other families remained clueless brought a distinct pleasure to Gu Yue.

For this operation, the Gu family had spared no expense; all thirty thousand elite disciples were above Level Three, giving them the superior fighting force among the three houses. They were certain to reap the largest rewards tomorrow.

The current head of the Gu family, and simultaneously the ruler of the entire Andu Empire, though ruling with an iron fist for two centuries, had still not managed to consolidate absolute authority like his ancestor.

The family's roots were too deep, and the common populace did not wish to see an emperor whose power had swelled excessively.

Despite being over two hundred years old, His Majesty the Emperor's ambition remained undiminished. To reach the heights of his ancestor, he needed achievements of comparable magnitude.

This accidental discovery of the "Golden Relics" site presented the perfect opportunity. As the emperor of an advanced civilization state, he knew many secrets of history; the rapid advancement of many advanced nations was due to obtaining items from these "Golden Relics," causing their technology to leap forward.

If he could lead Andu into the second stage of advanced civilization, he could claim the legacy of the founding ancestor.

Therefore, this operation permitted only success, never failure.

Zhong Yun gasped for air in deep draughts, bracing himself against the wall, his body swaying precariously. Before him lay rows of inert bodies—the Qin family warriors he had defeated.

Zhong Yun's face was a patchwork of blue and red, and his clothes were torn to shreds; his appearance was utterly miserable. Yet, even in this state, he had not collapsed.

But he was at his limit. Now, even a three-year-old child walking past could knock him over with a single finger.

Miss Qin the Second, watching from the side, was teetering on the edge of frenzy. Thirty outstanding warriors—thirty of them—had been felled at the feet of this one slender young man. It was a direct, naked slap to her face.

"All of you, attack him!" Miss Qin spat the words out, drawing a miniature whip from her waist. Her eyes fixed on Zhong Yun, nearly spitting fire. "Pin him to the ground! I will whip him to death myself!"

The remaining five warriors had long been itching to move. Their comrades had all been defeated by this one man, a deep shame they felt keenly. They lunged forward like hungry wolves, intent on pinning Zhong Yun down.

P: Next chapter at four in the afternoon. First release