Spirit Realm

Gathered within the Ling Family’s large courtyard were many of the Ling Family clansmen as well as some of Nebula Pavilion’s powerful practitioners.

At the moment, everyone was astonished by the words coming from behind them. They couldn’t help but look for the origin of the sound. The person who had spoken — a thin figure suddenly appeared in front of them.

“Qin Lie!”

“It’s actually Qin Lie!”

“He, he’s finally opened his mouth and talked!”

Many of the Ling Family members had shocked expressions. They couldn’t help but cry out loudly, each one acting as if it were the first time that they had met Qin Lie.

In these last five years, this person had always been ignored, and even held in disgust and in contempt as a fool. However, when disaster had struck the Ling Family, he had actually stood up and spoke for the first time, verbally attacking Du Jiaolan with the most vicious words!

Ling Yushi’s eyes quickly began to shine with a shocking radiance as she unwaveringly looked at Qin Lie this very moment, her maiden heart endlessly agitated.

“In my darkest hour, it’s you again. It’s you who has stood up once again…” silently thought Ling Yushi as she secretly clenched her fists. That thin figure had already been deeply etched into her mind.

“It’s him. He’s actually not a fool, the fool… was actually me.” Atop Ling Xuanxuan’s lovely and innocent face, an indescribable expression emerged, one which was seemingly remorseful, yet guilty and self-depreciating — all kinds of feelings were mixing together.

Under one extremely shocked gaze after another, Qin Lie walked forward through the sea of Ling Family members who had split for him to the center of the courtyard, arriving in front of Du Jiaolan.

As the dumb, lifeless look disappeared from his eyes, it was replaced by a clear and bright radiance, setting off his originally extraordinarily delicate, handsome face. At the moment, Qin Lie… was incomparably elegant and handsome. Everyone felt as if a blinding light had suddenly appeared right before their very eyes.

“Slut, who are you calling a fool? Where are your two cheap seeds?” He indifferently smiled, glancing at Du Heng and Du Fei. Ignoring the livid expressions of the mother and two sons, he continued on as he planned, saying, “It seems true, that rumor that incestual relations give birth to mostly retarded sons…”

His remark caused the crowd to go into an uproar. Looking towards the mother and her two sons, their expressions seemed extremely monstrous.

“S-such a venomous mouth… is this truly Qin Lie? Heavens, is he crazy?”

“He sure knows how to speak, huh!”

“This guy, he knows Du Haitian is still here, right…? He must truly be crazed.”

Many people’s eyes flashed as they all began to quietly whisper to each other. They felt shocked because of how unfamiliar they were with a talking Qin Lie.

“I will f*cking kill you, you little bastard!”

The eyes of Du Heng, who had cultivated to the eighth level of Refinement, suddenly reddened as he rushed over like an enraged mad dog.

A faint gold light circulated amongst his right hand as his five fingers curved strangely, resembling the unfurled wing of a flying bird. Right as he was about to reach Qin Lie, he suddenly shouted, and his surging spirit energy suddenly gushed out and condensed into a golden spirit bird about the size of a sparrow which shot towards Qin Lie’s chest.

Ling Yushi panicked as if she had lost her mind, unconsciously shouting out a tender reminder, “Qin Lie, watch out! That Golden Spirit Bird is a Common Grade Five spirit artifact, which is the same level as Liu Yan’s Hexagonal Shield!”

The Golden Spirit Bird was a spirit artifact which had been procured for Du Heng by Du Haitian. Normally, it was shaped as an armband which Du Heng hid within his right sleeve. It was hard to notice during a fight and allowed him to instantly exert the power of a spirit artifact to take advantage of an unsuspecting enemy.

For Du Heng to directly start off with the Golden Spirit Bird caused Ling Yushi to feel anxious. She knew very well just how terrifying that Golden Spirit Bird was and feared that Qin Lie was going to suffer.

Du Haitian’s impassive face had also been enraged by Qin Lie’s remarks, but he couldn’t make a move himself due to his status. Upon seeing Du Heng charge over, he was secretly delighted and hoped for Du Heng to immediately kill Qin Lie once and for all.

Surprisingly, Ye Yangqiu also didn’t bother saying anything to stop Du Heng as he coldly observed from the side, seemingly wanting to continue watching.

From his point of view, if Qin Lie was truly like what Ling Yushi had said, being able to turn the tide at Celestial Wolf Mountain, then it shouldn’t be difficult for him to block Du Heng’s attack.

If Ling Yushi was lying and what happened at Celestial Wolf Mountain was fake, then all of the Ling Family members were traitors. If it was like that, even if Qin Lie was killed, it was deserved!

“Zzzt zzzt zzzt!”

Under everyone’s stares, an electric current suddenly began to concentrate and interweave around the sculpture held within Qin Lie’s raised left hand, forming a giant web of discharging lightning.

Upon flying into the web of lightning, the golden bird which had been condensed out of Du Heng’s spirit energy was hit by the discharging electric current and instantly dissipated into nothingness.

Not even waiting for Du Heng to react, Qin Lie, who had long since known it would be like this, suddenly appeared beside Du Heng, his right lightning-covered fist violently rumbled and shot towards Du Heng’s chest.

Du Heng’s face was full of shock as he hurriedly regathered spirit energy. He was only barely able to condense a small cluster of golden clouds atop his hand before having to turn and welcome Qin Lie’s fist.

“Boom!”

The sound of exploding thunder suddenly emanated over from the two colliding fists, causing everyone’s ears to ring.

The golden cloud atop Du Heng’s hand was immediately blown up by the lightning and dispersed into small, twinkling golden stars. The serene blue lightning became increasingly fierce and violent as it followed along Du Heng’s fist and twined around his arm. It was as if a blue electric snake had begun to spread around Du Heng’s entire body!

Furthermore, his body flew back, as if it had been hit by a charging armored chariot, with his feet in the air, unable to touch the ground.

“Thump!”

He was unable to control himself as he was forced all the way back, to the side of Du Fei’s stretcher. He fell bottom first onto the stretcher, knocking into the bruised Du Fei, and also caused him to shriek miserably.

“Th-this truly Qin Lie? Have my eyes gone blind?”

“I-I remember I used to curse at him for being a fool. I hope… I hope he didn’t hear me.”

“Heavens, is this the true Qin Lie?!”

As if it were their first time meeting him, all of the Ling Family members looked at Qin Lie as if they were looking at a monster.

Especially Ling Xuanxuan. As she gazed at Qin Lie, she nervously grinded her teeth with an extremely complex look in her eyes…

Ye Yangqiu also stared blankly for a moment. Clearly, he had also been shocked by Qin Lie as he finally began to truly consider Ling Yushi’s statements and felt that they might actually be true.

Under the rows of amazed gazes, Qin Lie didn’t stay his hand. Like a cruel and fierce beast which had gone mad, he continued chasing after Du Heng, seemingly wanting to take advantage of when Du Heng couldn’t gather spirit energy to kill him on the spot.

This violent, wild, overbearing, and crazed aura immediately astonished everyone and caused their expressions to all suddenly change.

Before Qin Lie had made his move, he had seemed delicate and pretty, his thin figure making him look as weak as a girl.

But as soon as he had launched an attack, he seemed to have turned into a fierce primitive beast. That kind of violent, crazed, fierce aura, along with the booming sounds of exploding thunder and lightning had so greatly contrasted with his weak first impression that everyone was thoroughly dumbfounded!

They couldn’t help but begin to doubt, doubt if the calm Qin Lie from before and the current violent Qin Lie were two different people.

“Little brute! You’re courting death!”

Seeing Qin Lie rush over, Du Jiaolan’s hair began to fly wildly. She wretchedly cried out as a purple colored halo began to flash around her body and was about to make a move to kill.

Upon seeing her stance, Ling Chengye cried out and rushed towards Du Jiaolan.

Du Haitian’s expression was insidious, his face cold, as he himself was also about to get involved.

Ling Yushi, Ling Xuanxuan, Ling Chengzhi, and the rest of the Ling Family members also began to cry out. The scene within the courtyard was almost out of control.

“All of you, stop!”

At this time, Ye Yangqiu’s ruthless ice-cold voice emanated. Like a ghost, he suddenly appeared beside Qin Lie and placed his hands on Qin Lie’s shoulders. Afterwards, he darkly gazed upon Du Haitian.

As soon as those hands were placed on him, Qin Lie felt as though a huge mountain was pressing down on him, that his feet were encased in lead. Unable to move, he could only give up on chasing Du Heng.

He looked at the skinny, middle-aged, and hunched figure next to Du Heng who wore the black robes of an artificer, his eyes frigid.

Qin Lie had been secretly hiding in the crowd earlier, quietly observing. He discovered that Du Jiaolan now had one more artificer and immediately determined that this artificer was definitely the one who had broken the formation Herb Mountain. Thus, he had felt extreme distaste towards the Du Family.

Later on, when he saw how the Du Family’s slander caused Ling Yushi’s eyes to become red, he had almost wanted to cry out in grief, becoming even further unable to repress the increasing rage within his heart. Finally, he could no longer hold it in. An eye for an eye, he used the same vicious words to slander the Du Family.

He never expected that Du Heng would suddenly rush at him and try to kill him. This caused his inner rage to be completely ignited, causing it to come exploding out.

“Whoever dares move, don’t blame the Discipline Hall for punishing them!” coldly shouted Ye Yangqiu.

Upon hearing the two words “Discipline Hall,” the situation that was going out of control miraculously calmed down immediately.

Not only did Ling Chengye and his people back down, even Du Haitian restrained himself, his gloomy face trembling. They all calmed down, and no one dared to move impulsively.

“I have no interest, nor do I care about the disputes between the Ling and Du Families!” exclaimed Ye Yingqiu after everything calmed down. Furrowing his brows, he coldly looked at both sides and then continued, “The point of my trip here was just to investigate whether or not the Ling Family conspired with Shattered Ice Manor and betrayed Nebula Pavilion!”

As he spoke, the Discipline Hall martial practitioners dispersed, their dark eyes warning the previously reckless practitioners to calm down.

The crowd scattered as everyone returned to their original positions. The Ling and Du Families were also separated, unable to start another fight.

Only Qin Lie and Ye Yangqiu were still standing in the center amongst everyone.

Ye Yangqui was still holding Qin Lie by the shoulders, so Qin was unable to move. At this time, he unconsciously furrowed his brows and said, “That’s enough, I won’t make attack anymore. Let go.”

At that moment, Du Heng stood up again. His face was extremely ugly as he venomously looked at Qin Lie with resentment and hatred hidden within his eyes.

Ye Yingqiu’s dark and cold eyes deeply looked at Qin Lie for a moment. Finally, he let go of Qin Lie, coldly asking, “Are these Hundred Veins Pills and Sea Opening Pills which bear the imprint of Shattered Ice Manor actually yours, or are they the Ling Family Patriarch’s?”

“Mine,” simply replied Qin Lie.

“Where did you get them from?” asked Ye Yangqiu.

“Within a mountain valley within the Arctic Mountain Range. I gained them as spoils of a battle after killing several of Shattered Ice Manor’s people,” replied Qin Lie.

“Do you have proof?” asked Ye Yangqiu, narrowing his eyes.

Qin Lie furrowed his brows and pondered for a while. Suddenly, he thought of something. From his chest, he took out the jade tablet with a round nebula design and casually passed it over to Ye Yangqiu. Unsure if it would work, he asked, “Can this prove it?”