Spirit Realm

Nebula Pavilion, inside Liu Yuntao’s study.

Yuan Tianya sat at the tallest seat with a smile while talking with Liu Yuntao, Yan Wenyan, and Wei Xing.

“Wenyan, I am sending my men to investigate your son’s death. We’ll know soon enough if he was really bitten to death by the Soul Devouring Beast.” Yuan Tianya said coolly, “As long as he wasn’t killed by Xie Jingxuan, I will be able to call the shots and obtain justice for you.”

“Hall Master, that Xie Jingxuan… just what is her background?” Liu Yuntao asked solemnly.

Yuan Tianya gave him a smile. “It’s best if you don’t ask about this. All you need to know is that you should not provoke her. Hmm, let’s put it this way. Even if I am seated at the position of Grand Hall Master, I will still have to show her an adequate amount of comity.”

The moment the words were said, everyone’s faces changed. They became wary of Xie Jingxuan inside their hearts.

“Zhuo Qian was placed in Nebula Pavilion as part of her training. So is she the same and was placed at Dark Asura Hall from… up there?” Liu Yuntao exclaimed.

Yuan Tianya looked surprised and then nodded. “Very smart. Indeed, I have not misjudged you.”

“If your son really died by her hands, then… you may as well just think of it as bad luck,” said Liu Yuntao as he stared at Shattered Ice Manor’s Manor Lord, Yan Wenyan, with a frown.

Yan Wenyan scowled and did not say anything.

At this moment, someone called out softly from outside, “Pavilion Master, I have something to report.”

Liu Yuntao’s expression fell as he asked, “What is it?”

“Qin Lie has challenged Vice Pavilion Master Du right on the streets. They are now fighting at the street between Drunken Fragrance Garden and Bright Moon Tower.” The person on the outside did not dare to enter as he asked with the utmost politeness, “Vice Pavilion Master seems to be planning to kill him. Do I need to inform him to hold back a little?”

“What an impertinent bastard; how dare he cause trouble on the day I become Pavilion Master. Make sure to tell Haitian to eliminate this person!”

“I understand.” The person quietly withdrew.

And so, Liu Yuntao continued to accompany Yuan Tianya and talk with him. The little episode had no weight inside their hearts. To them, Qin Lie was already a dead man.

……

On the street, under the night sky.

With the falling blue leaves above Qin Lie’s head, he madly channeled Heavenly Thunder Eradication and defended against them with great difficulty while using woven electricity.

From time to time, he even had to dodge in abject fear to avoid the soundless “Wave Force” attacks.

His spirit energy was rapidly consumed, and the thunder and lightning energy inside his Natal Palace was also depleting at an incredible rate. His expression grew more and more tired.

The windows of every building on both sides of the street were opened. Countless pairs of eyes were pointed at the street and Qin Lie and Du Haitian’s figures.

At the corner, Xie Jingxuan, garbed in white, and Liang Zhong stood by themselves as they also watched the street fight.

Tu Ze, Zhuo Qian, and Kang Zhi were surrounded by Du Haitian’s subordinates at the center. There was nothing they could do; they could only stare red-eyed with great worry.

“Bang bang!”

Electricity flashed above his head. Two more deep blue leaves exploded, and the bits of shattered blue light fell through the web and suddenly made contact with Qin Lie’s shoulders.

“RIIIP!”

As if cut by a blade, two wounds immediately appeared on Qin Lie’s shoulders with scarlet blood flowing out.

“Bang bang bang!”

As more deep blue leaves exploded, more motes of icy-blue light seeped through the lightning and descended onto Qin Lie’s body.

Wound after wound appeared on Qin Lie’s body. Fresh blood gushed out and drenched him completely in red.

Everyone who saw this understood that Qin Lie had expended too much energy and was no longer able to maintain a tight electrical web. That was why the blue lights were able to fall through and inflict terrible wounds on his body.

Du Haitian’s expression was calm as he wordlessly waved the Blue Leaf Sword and formed even more icy-blue leaves.

Seeing that Qin Lie was drenched in blood and how the light in his eyes slowly fading, Du Haitian frowned and said, “I’m surprised that you were able to hold out for so long, but in the end, you are still going to die. Besides, I really like this way of torturing you… to death.”

Finally, he dared to approach Qin Lie once more.

While walking closer, he said, “I heard that you have quite the great relationship with the juniors, Ling Ying, Ling Xin, and Ling Xiao at Ling Town. I wonder if you know that your fate will be the same as theirs: to die without even leaving behind a corpse…”

Du Haitian’s voice gradually grew quieter, and with a tone that only Qin Lie could hear, he slowly said, “Do you know that when they died I was watching right above the valley? I watched them being torn apart and eaten alive one after another by the spirit beasts just like Ling Chengye. Do you know happy I was at the time?”

His expression was dark and horrifying. “That little bitch Ling Xuanxuan made my Fei’er impotent! I will use the corpses of every Ling clansmen to take revenge for Fei’er! Ling Chengye is already dead, and the next one will be his younger brother Ling Chengzhi, and after him, Ling Feng and every other clansmen in the Ling Family! They will all die with their bodies torn to shreds just like you!”

Once he had walked closer Du Haitian once again used “Wave Force.” With these three-layered ripples, he would corner Qin Lie and murder him in a most horrifying manner!

Listening to his depictions, the terrible scene of Ling Ying and Ling Xin before they faced their deaths appeared in Qin Lie’s mind…

When he watched “Wave Force” rushing towards him once more, Qin Lie grit his teeth and suddenly chose not to dodge any longer. Savagely, he said, “If I live today, then I swear that I will tear Du Jianlan, Du Fei and Du Heng to pieces!”

His face filled with madness and anger, he suddenly rushed at Du Haitian in full force as all the energy surrounding his entire body instantly turned solid.

“Boom boom boom!”

Bolts of lightning accompanied by the rumbling sounds of thunder poured out every one of his meridians. Even his two eyes had thunder and lightning shooting out of them.

“You will die!” Du Haitian’s eyes turned chilly, as the layers of “Wave Force” rushed at Qin Lie in order to exterminate Qin Lie on the spot.

He did not believe that the burned out Qin Lie would still be able to hurt him at close range any longer, even with suicidal methods.

He also did not believe that Qin Lie could break through the layered “Wave Force”!

“Whoosh!”

The wooden sculpture that Qin had been holding onto this entire time was suddenly put away, and a spirit tablet suddenly appeared at his right hand—the Spirit Storage Board!

With a single thought, the spirit energy that had been stored for many days inside the Spirit Storage Board gushed into his dantian’s spirit sea in an instant, causing his eyes to shine with a powerful light and his mind to eerily be filled with power again!

Lightning flashed from his left arm as streaks of thunder energy slipped into the Terminator Profound Bomb. The dark blue thunder ball abruptly shook with thunder.

“Clap clap clap!”

Both thunder and lightning energy gushed out of his Natal Palace, meridians, veins, and blood in boiling fashion, causing his entire body to roar with thunder and be surrounded by lightning!

At this very moment, Qin Lie’s early stage Heavenly Thunder Sacred Body showed its true power!

“Eh?”

Many surprised cries came from the windows on both sides of the street. Everyone’s expressions were slightly moved as they stared at Qin Lie with a strange look.

Xie Jingxuan’s eyes brightened a little as she said, “His aura has suddenly increased massively…”

“This is?” Liang Zhong was stunned.

As of now, the person rushing towards Du Haitian, Qin Lie, did not look burned out in the slightest! His sudden aura was incredible, and it caused shockwaves among the bystanders!

Du Haitian’s expression changed for the first time in the fight!

He was currently way too close with Qin Lie, and because “Wave Force” had just been unleashed, he was in a state of exhaustion. There was no way he could dodge out of the way at all.

Du Haitian decided that he would take the blow head on!

“Bang!”

When the Wave Force’s first layer blasted at him, Qin Lie was as steady as a rock and was not moved in the slightest. The lightning surrounding his body was not weakened at all.

“Bang!”

Wave Force’s second layer followed closely behind. Its power was more than twice the first’s, but even that only caused Qin Lie’s figure to pause abruptly and become bloodied all over.

Qin Lie’s aura was still as imposing as ever, and the thunder and lightning surrounding him did not stop crackling. In fact, his eyes shone brighter and brighter with a morbid light!

“Bang!”

Wave Force’s third wave rushed over like a rolling mountain. A terrific sound suddenly exploded from every bone in Qin Lie’s body. Fresh blood sprayed madly from his mouth.

His charging figure was stopped dead in its tracks. He could no longer take even a single step forward.

He was just five steps away from Du Haitian!

Gritting his teeth, he attempted to withstand the Wave Force and take just a step further. But he found that his legs were shaking and that they did not have the strength to make it. He could not move even an inch closer towards Du Haitian!

Wave Force’s third layer was the true essence of the entire attack. It contained continuous and repeating aftershocks!

Qin Lie was assaulted by Wave Force’s aftershocks, and as if pushed backwards by sea waves, he couldn’t get a single step closer to Du Haitian.

“What a shame.” Xie Jingxuan shook her head. “I do not know why he had to get closer to Du Haitian, but in the end, he failed to do it and thus cannot execute his final move.”

Liang Zhong’s eyebrows were deeply locked when he suddenly said, “Miss, I like this kid!”

“This is the challenge he brought upon himself.” Xie Jingxuan’s expression was cool. “Therefore we are not to interfere no matter what the outcome may be, whether it be life or death. This is a challenge, and as a challenger, he must have the courage and awareness to face death.”

The moment she said those words, dejection appeared in Liang Zhong’s eyes. He understood that Xie Jingxuan would not interfere with this battle.

Since Xie Jingxuan was not ready to interfere, then as a servant, he must not act out on his own.

The only thing he could do was to quietly watch.

“QIN LIE!” Tu Ze roared with red eyes. It was as if he could see the ending already.

Zhuo Qian and Kang Zhi’s eyes too become misty with tears.

“He is a real man!” Xiong Ba nodded his eyes while completely ignoring Liu Ting and Du Heng’s hateful gazes. “If I knew he was such a tough guy back at the stone forest, I would’ve made every effort to connect with im. Sigh, how unfortunate…”

“Not too bad,” Lu Li frowned and muttered from another window, “I suppose Junior Sister Ling was not mistaken after all…”

“This is it.” Du Haitian recovered and lifted his hand once more.

It was yet another round of Wave Force!

—No one thought that Qin Lie could hold on any longer.

Amidst the countless pair of eyes, Qin Lie suddenly withdrew and jumped backwards!

It was hard to go forward, but quite easy to retreat. With a single leap, he had put out ten meters of distance in an instant. Then, he jumped again and moved yet another ten meters…

“A round ball fell out of his sleeves…” subconsciously whispered someone with a sharp eye.

After that, many people also saw that there was a walnut-sized, dark blue ball where Qin Lie was standing earlier. The ball was flashing with electricity, and on the inside, there was the faint rumblings of thunder.

“One, two, three…” Qin Lie counted in his heart.

“Boom!”

A thunderous and violent explosion that shook the entire Icestone City abruptly detonated right before Du Haitian. The most terrifying shockwave, mixed with bits of iron shot outwards, and in an instant, the entire street was covered in a sky full of thick dust and stone powder.

Once the dust had settled, a thirty meter wide deep hole, out of nowhere, had appeared on the street, and it reached as far as two meters down into the stone ground!

The inhuman form of Du Haitian laid at the center of the hole. Every inch of his body was twitching and blood flowed out everywhere. His chest had tens of bloody, bone-deep holes, and even his intestines had fallen out of his stomach.

—It was obvious that he wasn’t going to survive.

While everyone was still in shock, Qin Lie suddenly rushed forward once more and swiftly picked up Du Haitian’s Blue Leaf Sword that had fallen to the ground.

Then, amidst Du Heng’s earth shattering roar of anger, Qin Lie beheaded Du Haitian in a single stroke and made a mad dash to exit Icestone City without ever looking back.

With the crying and howling Du Heng as the only exception, every other bystander was completely stunned at the moment as they stood there stupidly at a complete loss.