Chapter 269: Yuzi and I, the Best in the World

As Bai Zhenzhen looked at her phone with a puzzled expression, a violent tremor suddenly shook the ground. It was as if a colossal beast had slammed into the earth, almost knocking Bai Zhenzhen off her feet.

A terrifying sense of dread surged within her, making her hair stand on end. Her thunderous spiritual energy instinctively surged forth, transforming into bolts of lightning that enveloped her entire body.

The next moment, a tremendous boom echoed, and a fierce wind swept over, making Bai Zhenzhen's long hair whip wildly. She turned her head towards the source of the deafening sound and saw a towering apartment building, dozens of stories high, suddenly pierced by a blinding flash of fire. In the violent explosion, the entire building collapsed and disintegrated in an instant, raising a cloud of dust that completely engulfed Bai Zhenzhen.

Amidst the violent shaking, reminiscent of a major earthquake, Bai Zhenzhen felt the ground beneath her feet ripple like waves.

"What... what happened?"

Witnessing the apartment building crumble before her eyes, Bai Zhenzhen's mind seemed to go blank for a moment.

"A-Yu!"

She darted forward, intending to rush towards the collapsing building, but the next moment, a second explosion erupted, sending a visible shockwave sweeping towards her. As her muscles and spiritual energy worked in unison, bolts of lightning shot into the sky. Bai Zhenzhen fiercely braced against the shockwave, straining her eyes and glaring towards the direction of the explosion.

As the shockwave roared past, the billowing dust was completely dispersed, revealing the apartment building now reduced to ruins. Seeing this scene, Bai Zhenzhen felt a sharp pang in her heart, and a suffocating sensation surged within her.

Just then, two voices came from the side.

A male voice said, "Rubble search complete. No living bodies found."

Another female voice responded, "Why was the other one outside the building? Never mind, I'll handle her. You deal with the rubble and bury it later."

Bai Zhenzhen turned her head and saw a man and a woman slowly approaching her. The woman had white hair, and her limbs, chest, and abdomen were composed of some kind of jade-like spiritual skeleton, with runes flickering within it. Bai Zhenzhen's gaze narrowed slightly. The multiple spiritual skeletons on the woman indicated that she had cultivated to the Foundation Establishment stage many years ago. The words spoken by the woman made Bai Zhenzhen instantly realize that the building's explosion was not accidental; someone was targeting them.

"Hey..." Bai Zhenzhen stared fixedly at the two. "What did you mean by 'no living bodies found'?"

The two clearly had no intention of answering. But looking at the collapsed building in front of her, the answer seemed obvious.

"Yuzi."

"I..." Bai Zhenzhen clenched her fists, feeling as if her entire world had turned grey. She murmured to herself, "I was already sinking into bottomless darkness. It was Yuzi who stayed with me and helped me climb out. We'd come so far, with such difficulty. My best friend in the world, Yuzi, who let me call him 'Dad' every day. If it weren't for staying with me, he could have entered Ten Thousand Methods University with his sister two years ago..."

Zhang Yu's image kept surfacing in Bai Zhenzhen's mind. Every word he spoke, every phrase, flashed through her thoughts:

"Ah Zhen, let's both get into the Top Ten.""This is your spiritual root, so let's call it the Zhenzhen Spiritual Root.""Sister, is there really no way to take Ah Zhen with us?""If I stay behind, do you think Ah Zhen and I can get into the Top Ten through normal channels? Like you, sister?""Later, we'll get our master's and doctoral degrees, break through to Golden Core, then Nascent Soul, and enter the Ten Thousand Methods Sect together."

Bai Zhenzhen's body began to tremble. The green lotus mark on her lower abdomen flickered continuously, and the True Spiritual Root in her dantian slowly unfolded into a green lotus.

"The three years I spent with Zhang Yu were the happiest of my life.""He was my very best..."

At this moment, a powerful emotion, unlike anything Bai Zhenzhen had ever felt since birth, welled up within her. It was an emotion that transcended her previous desires to simply live, to get into the Top Ten, to obtain her Foundation Establishment certificate. It was an extreme emotion, unprecedented and surpassing all thoughts she had ever had, pouring forth from her consciousness like floodwaters unleashed from a dam.

"I'm going to... kill you all."

Facing Bai Zhenzhen's murderous gaze, the man and woman opposite her remained unfazed. As Foundation Establishment cultivators who had been stagnating at the first level for many years, even without their absolute advantages in Dao Heart, spiritual energy, and spiritual skeletons, their Level 20 physical strength alone was enough to crush Bai Zhenzhen, who had only recently entered the Foundation Establishment stage less than a year ago.

Today, they were here solely because of a commission from Oasis Group: eliminate Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen. Although the commission carried some risk, for those who had been stuck at the first level for a long time and were nearing the end of their Foundation Establishment lifespan, any opportunity for advancement was worth risking. After all, they didn't have many years left to live.

With a sudden bang and the appearance of several air currents, the female cultivator shot towards Bai Zhenzhen. But the next moment, her expression drastically changed. As ethereal green lotus shadows unfolded behind Bai Zhenzhen, the spiritual energy in the heavens and earth seemed to go out of control, rushing wildly towards her. Even the two peak Foundation Establishment cultivators present couldn't draw in a single trace of spiritual energy.

The female cultivator roared in her mind, "This... could it be a Divine Spiritual Root?!"

The Divine Spiritual Root, surpassing Human, Earth, and Heaven Spiritual Roots, was strictly controlled by the Ten Great Sects and absolutely forbidden from appearing among common cultivators. Many cultivators referred to it as military-grade power. In the common understanding of cultivators, at the same cultivation level, one's chances of winning were zero unless they also possessed military-grade power.

The female cultivator gritted her teeth, channeling all her spiritual energy. "Full power! Let's kill her together!" In her opinion, Bai Zhenzhen had cultivated to Foundation Establishment too recently. With both of them attacking together with full force, they might still have a chance. But the next moment, she noticed the male cultivator's figure flash, disappearing into the night sky—he had fled.

"Damn it!"

Just as she hesitated for a fraction of a second, debating whether to flee or fight, Bai Zhenzhen's figure vanished like smoke into the air. The next moment, streaks of lightning sword-light repeatedly flashed through the air, striking viciously at the female cultivator's body. After dodging several lightning swords in a row, the female cultivator's expression grew increasingly grim. She couldn't sense the opponent, couldn't make contact, and even her area-of-effect counterattacks seemed to miss. It was as if the opponent was in a different dimension, able to attack her while she was utterly unable to retaliate.

"Divine Spiritual Root..." The female cultivator's expression turned increasingly ugly. After just a few seconds of fighting, the desire to retreat had already sprouted in her heart.

However, just then, pillars of light descended from the sky, encircling a thousand-meter radius like a prison.

Ten minutes later.

With the arrival of rescue vehicles, the rubble was gradually excavated, and body after body was carried out. The man in charge of the rescue operation glanced at True Immortal Xinghuo beside him and cautiously said, "True Immortal, please accept our condolences."

True Immortal Xinghuo replied calmly, "You think he's dead?" After eight months of guidance, True Immortal Xinghuo could confidently say that he knew Zhang Yu's body better than anyone else in the world, apart from Zhang Yu himself. He knew it better than any of Zhang Yu's past teachers or classmates, even better than Bai Zhenzhen or Yu Xinghan. He believed that the body, possessing extraordinary resilience and terrifying self-healing abilities, would certainly not die so easily.

Hearing True Immortal Xinghuo's question, the man was slightly stunned. Looking at the ruins, he thought to himself, "How could he not be dead after this? Even if he's not dead, he must be mostly crippled. God knows how much it'll cost to treat him, and his immortal cultivation potential is probably ruined. Alas, to encounter something like this just a month before the college entrance exam." Thinking of this, the man's face showed deep regret.

Just then, True Immortal Xinghuo took a step forward. The next moment, a surging martial arts aura burst forth, instantly peeling back layers of the rubble and revealing a large number of bodies underneath. True Immortal Xinghuo walked into the debris and emerged moments later, carrying a bloody, mangled human figure.

Voices arose from the surroundings, "Is that Zhang Yu?""Ah, what a pity."

Just then, True Immortal Xinghuo calmly stated, "He's not dead yet. Get the doctors over here." Looking at Zhang Yu, True Immortal Xinghuo, who possessed immense knowledge of various martial arts techniques, squinted slightly and made a judgment. He mused, "Is this the suspended animation state of the Boundless Spring and Autumn Zen? This boy truly pushed this body refinement technique to Level 20... Has it only been eight months since he acquired it?"

At the same time, though he hadn't thoroughly examined Zhang Yu's physical body, True Immortal Xinghuo could faintly perceive an unyielding will within him, like a blazing spark, conveying a profound desire to live. He thought to himself, "It seems that under this crisis, Zhang Yu has made another breakthrough in his cultivation method. Even with severe physical injuries and an unclear consciousness, having entered the suspended animation state of the Boundless Spring and Autumn Zen, he can still maintain the operation of his cultivation method, as if by instinct. This is a higher realm than his usual state of mind, which involved dividing his attention to constantly operate the cultivation method."

Thus, under the bewildered, strange, and puzzled gazes of the crowd, several doctors approached Zhang Yu at True Immortal Xinghuo's command.

"Multiple comminuted fractures throughout the body, spinal fracture and dislocation...""Over eighty percent of surface muscles and tendons severely crushed.""Craniofacial injury...""Kidney failure...""But..."

Initially, they too believed Zhang Yu had no signs of life, but after a thorough examination, expressions of surprise gradually appeared on the doctors' faces.

"It seems... he really is still alive.""Let's try some medication.""The wounds are closing on their own.""The medication is taking effect so quickly...""What astonishing vitality."

Under the shocked gazes of the many doctors, the wounds on Zhang Yu's body quickly began to heal. Bits of flesh and blood, as if guided by their own will, actively closed and intertwined, continuously accelerating the healing process.