Stellar Transformations (星辰变) by I Eat Tomatoes (我吃西红柿) UNABRIDGED

[wandering]

B7C10: Stellar Tower

Azure Dragon and Old Freak Three-Eyed do their utmost to talk about their good deeds because they know that … they simply cannot deny wanting to kill Hou Fei. Now they are talking so much only because they hope that Uncle Lan spares their lives this time.

“You 2 rescued Xiao Yu from the prison and destroyed the Great Six Harmonies Heavenly Gates Formation to save him.” Uncle Lan nods. Suddenly he says with a frown: “But just now I saw with my own eyes that you wanted to kill my disciple. Can you explain a bit what was going on?”

Azure Dragon’s and Old Freak Three-Eyed’s hearts become totally tense and they feel bitter in their mouths.

“Oh? Three-Eyed, you talk first.” Uncle Lan looks at Old Freak Three-Eyed and tells him.

At the moment Old Freak Three-Eyed does not look like an old freak at all. Instead, he looks like a green-clad lovely boy. If mortals were to see him, they would think that he is a lovely boy from a certain family.

“Senior, this, this …” He is thinking like lightning. He is now worried like an ant on a hot pan, but he has to answer why he wanted to kill the opponent’s disciple. His answer to this question can become evidence and give the opponent a reason to kill him.

Suddenly, an idea pops into his mind.

Old Freak Three-Eyed says: “Senior, we got into action this time because of the Nine Demons Hall’s majesties.” He gives the 4 Di brothers a look while smiling. The Di brothers however look at him angrily.

“The Nine Demons Hall, the Blue Water Mansion and the Azure Dragon Palace are the 3 major powers in the underwater Xiuzhen world. There is some friendship between us at any rate. Hou Fei killed 2 majesties of the Nine Demons Hall, Di Luan and Di Feng, so Di Long and the others were enraged and wanted to kill Hou Fei. However, brother Hou Fei was too strong so they could not do anything. As their allies, naturally we had to get into action to help them.”

By giving this excuse, Old Freak Three-Eyed claims little responsibility for what happened.

Azure Dragon also says hurriedly: “It was exactly so, senior. Whatever happens, there is more than 1000 years of friendship between the Nine Demons Hall and us so it was impossible for us not to help them.”

In fact, it was only because Azure Dragon and Old Freak Three-Eyed saw that Hou Fei is an overly formidable divine beast and poses a threat too big to them that they decided to kill him. But of course this truth must not be told, or else they would most probably lose their little lives.

Uncle Lan’s expression turns cold as before.

Old Freak Three-Eyed and Azure Dragon immediately feel their blood freeze, as if they have fallen into a bottomless abyss.

Uncle Lan says indifferently: “If I hadn’t rushed to this place today, my disciple would have been murdered by you. Though you say that you were only helping someone else, the fact that you wanted to kill my disciple is indisputable and undeniable.”

Old Freak Three-Eyed and Azure Dragon exchange a look then bow at once and say in unison: “We were foolish at that time, senior. We hope you could have mercy on us.”

Uncle Lan ponders, not saying a word.

Azure Dragon’s and Old Freak Three-Eyed’s hearts are trembling in fear. They know that this mysterious expert is considering. Uncle Lan ponders for just a short time, but to them, every second of it feels like a year.

“Um, you wanted to kill my disciple so you should be killed, but considering that you saved Xiao Yu, I spare your lives this time. If you commit this kind of offense again later, then don’t blame me for being merciless.” Uncle Lan says indifferently.

Old Freak Three-Eyed and Azure Dragon feel the whole world come alive, as if they have returned from Hell.

“Thank you for your mercy, senior.”

They hurriedly bow and say.

“Remember my master’s words. If you recommit this offense later, humph …” Hou Fei says with a cold humph. Hearing this, Azure Dragon immediately curses in his mind: “Only an idiot would try to kill you again after knowing you’re backed by an expert at least as strong as a 6th tribulation loose immortal. Do I look like I have a death wish?”

As both Azure Dragon and Old Freak Three-Eyed are smart, they give him their word.

“Nine Demons Hall’s 4 brats, you have something to tell me, right? Feel free to tell me now.” Uncle Lan looks at the 4 Di brothers.

Di Long takes a deep breath. Now he is under a very great pressure because what he says will determine his and his brothers’ lives.

“Tell him everything, big brother. Even if we have to die, we’ll die together.” Di Jian looks at him and says. Di Nai and Di Xu also nod at him. When there is a glimmer of hope, Xiuyaoists will stoop to compromise, for example, Azure Dragon and Old Freak Three-Eyed. But when there is no hope of surviving, they will try to die with some integrity.

The 4 Di brothers basically think that there is no hope left for them. In their opinion, if someone did to them what they did to Qin Yu, they would kill the offender quickly.

“Things were very simple, senior. My 8th brother was killed so I wanted to investigate who the killer was and Qin Yu was the one who had information. So, I captured him and prepared to have a terror jellyfish absorb him and get his memories, thus finding out the killer’s identity. Afterwards, Qin Yu escaped and took our Nine Demons Hall’s Treasure Storing Palace away. We chased him all the way to this palace. What happened later has been told by Overlord Azure Dragon and Grand Founder Three-Eyed so I’m not going to talk about it again.”

Di Long gives his account straightforwardly using just several sentences.

Di Jian also says: “We had to avenge our brothers’ deaths, senior. If you want to kill us then feel free to kill us.” Di Nai and Di Xu look at Uncle Lan too.

“Ha-ha …”

Uncle Lan suddenly laughs out loud: “Juniors, I don’t like to argue with you so at first I was ready to give you a way out, but you’re unexpectedly seeking death, then I’ll fulfill your wish, sending you off to the Underworld.”

After saying so, he is about to wave his sleeve.

“Hold it.”

Di Long immediately shouts. Uncle Lan stops and looks at him with a seemingly smiling expression. He kneels down at once, saying respectfully: “Senior, it was stupid of the 4 of us to behave disrespectfully. Our dream is to one day overcome the 9-From-9th Heaven Tribulation and achieve ascension. Since you are magnanimous, I hope you could give us a chance to fulfill it. If you want to kill someone, please kill me alone. What my brother said just now, he did not really mean it.”

Uncle Lan gives a smile.

“Di Long,” says he.

Di Long immediately shows that he is ready to listen with respect.

“Di Long, the affection you and your brothers in the Nine Demons Hall have for each other is pretty good, but you treat outsiders like trash and kill them at will. Take Xiao Yu for example. You hadn’t found out if there were any feuds between him and you, but you already prepared to kill him right away. Such an act is fairly cruel,” Uncle Lan reprimands.

The 4 Di brothers bow and listen to him. They simply do not dare to disagree.

Uncle Lan continues: “Even though the path of Xiuzhen goes against Heaven and most Xiuzhenists are selfish, when you first knew about your 8th brother’s death, you immediately prepared to massacre all possible killers. You would rather kill 1000 wrongly than release a suspect. An action like that has gone beyond the boundary of selfishness.”

He says smilingly: “Today I can tell you something. Xiao Yu is the one who killed your 8th brother. What are you going to do now?” When the Di brothers hear this, their faces change color.

Qin Yu says with a nod: “It’s true. That day Di Tong killed Cha Hong and wanted to seize the 8th jade sword. I then took an opportunity to get into action, killed him and obtained the jade sword.” Qin Yu turns his hand over. A jade sword appears on it.

Azure Dragon’s and Old Freak Three-Eyed’s eyes brighten for a while.

The Di brothers take a look at the sword. Di Long says respectfully without delay: “You are really formidable, brother Qin Yu. We brothers are not fools either. Fighting for treasures is a matter of life and death. My 8th brother died because he was not as good as you. There is nothing we can do about it, and we have to keep on living.”

Now Di Long has lost the will to seek revenge.

Revenge? If he kept seeking it, perhaps he would lose his life without being able to touch a hair of the enemy.

……

After talking for some time, eventually Uncle Lan does not kill anyone.

“I have a suggestion, senior.” Azure Dragon suddenly says.

Old Freak Three-Eyed immediately tells him via holy sense communication: “Have you become stupid, Azure Dragon? This senior hasn’t killed us, so we better go as soon as possible. If he changes his mind, we’ll be in big trouble.” He is selfish so naturally he cares about his little life the most.

“Speak.” Uncle Lan looks at Azure Dragon and says.

Azure Dragon says smilingly: “Now 5 of the Nine Demons Hall’s brothers are gone and there are only 4 of them left. The Nine Demons Hall basically cannot rank alongside the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion anymore. Today they do not have enough power to occupy that 90 million radius area of water.”

“What do you mean, Overlord Azure Dragon?” Di Long’s face changes color.

In the past, when all of his brothers were still alive, they could deal with Azure Dragon or Old Freak Three-Eyed by setting up formations together, but now 5 of them are dead. Despite the living being the strongest among them, there are only 4 of them remaining so they simply cannot set up formidable formations and are indeed no longer comparable to the Blue Water Mansion and the Azure Dragon Palace.

“What do I mean?” Azure Dragon gives a smile. “Majesty Di Long, could it be you still think that you are powerful enough to occupy that 90 million li radius area? Now I suggest that you cede the half of the Nine Demons Hall’s territory next to the Qian Long continent to the Blood-red Cave. Given brother Qin Yu’s and brother Hou Fei’s power, they should have no difficulties managing it.”

“That’s a good idea!”

Old Freak Three-Eyed agrees instantly. But he curses Azure Dragon for being a bootlicker in his mind.

Hou Fei’s eyes brighten: “Good, there are 8 caves under the Nine Demons Hall. Well, there’s no need to take exact measurements and we don’t want much either, so just give us the 2 caves next to the Blood-red Cave. All in all, we’ll have 3 caves.” When this matter is brought up, Hou Fei is excited the most.

“What’s your opinion, majesty Di Long?” Azure Dragon looks at Di Long.

Hou Fei also looks frowningly at Di Long.

He has no choice but to say: “Everybody already knows how powerful brother Hou Fei is. He and brother Qin Yu are surely good enough to control the territories of 3 caves, so we’ll give the Blood-red Cave a 30 million li radius area of water.”

Azure Dragon suddenly says again: “Brother Qin Yu, brother Hou Fei, my Azure Dragon Palace’s territory is next to the western boundary of the Blood-red Cave. I’ll also give the Blood-red Cave 2 caves of my subordinates, what do you think?”

“Ha-ha, you’re really generous, Overlord Azure Dragon. Di Long gives us 2 caves and you also give us 2 caves’ territories.” Hou Fei deliberately emphasizes the word ‘generous.’

Azure Dragon gives a few hollow laughs.

The Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion control extremely large territories, much larger than the Nine Demons Hall’s, so they do not suffer a big loss when giving Qin Yu the territories of 2 caves.

Hou Fei immediately casts his glittering eyes on Old Freak Three-Eyed, who forces a smile and says at once: “My Blue Water Mansion will also give you the 2 caves next to the eastern boundary of the Blood-red Cave.”

Thus, Qin Yu and Hou Fei have obtained 6 caves in a short while. With the addition of their original cave, they now control 7 caves, outnumbering the 5 caves under the Nine Demons Hall.

Hou Fei says with a frown: “Hmm, at any rate we’ve become the no. 3 underwater power.” When the Di brothers hear this, there is even more bitterness on their faces. Hou Fei continues: “But are we still going to be called Blood-red Cave? This is just the name given by Cha Hong in the beginning. It must be changed, completely changed.”

Qin Yu also nods.

The name has to be changed indeed. When the other powers are called Nine Demons Hall, Blue Water Mansion and Azure Dragon Palace, how could he possibly use ‘Blood-red Cave’?

Azure Dragon immediately laughs out loud and proposes: “Ha-ha, I think not only must the name be changed, the original cave must also undergo a big redesigning and reconstruction process. Its size must be expanded at least 10 times. When you have 7 caves, you should at least have a mansion that matches their scale, right?”

“Uncle Lan, could you help us think of a name?”

Qin Yu thought for a long time but was unable to come up with a good name. Hearing that, Uncle Lan gives him a look and says: “Xiao Yu, there are close affinities between you and stars so let’s use the name Stellar Tower. As for the new design, it doesn’t have to be too luxurious and too big. Being small and delicate will do.”

“All right, then the new name is Stellar Tower.”

Qin Yu makes up his mind. In fact, he does not want to build a big, luxurious palace either because he dislikes showiness.

“Stellar Tower, this name is nothing special.” Hou Fei winks a couple of times and grimaces. “We can only sound impressive if we use the name Lord Hou’s Mansion. My mansion, Lord Hou’s Mansion, kaka, not bad, not bad …”

Pa!

Uncle Lan gives him a tap in the head. Hou Fei immediately stops talking.

“Overlord Azure Dragon, please help me spread a message that this day 3 years later will be the official opening ceremony of my Stellar Tower.” Qin Yu salutes Azure Dragon and says.

Overlord Azure Dragon says smilingly with a nod: “Don’t worry, brother Qin Yu. I’ll definitely help you spread the message.”

“Let’s go. This place is pretty far from the Blood-red Cave so I’m taking you back.” Uncle Lan holds Qin Yu’s and Hou Fei’s arms then the 3 of them disappear into thin air.

“Teleportation?”

The heart of everybody present trembles. According to legend, this is a technique that only immortals can use. Moreover, Uncle Lan has teleported 2 other individuals with him. What level of power is this?

“Azure Dragon, how powerful is he to be able to teleport 2 others with him?” Old Freak Three-Eyed looks at Azure Dragon.

Azure Dragon secretly lets out a sigh. After calming down, he says: “I don’t know. To my knowledge, you have to be a 4th tribulation loose immortal at least to teleport. This senior can teleport 2 others with him, this power level … I can only know what it is after asking the seniors in my clan. Right, I’ll have to tell the Penglai Immortal Region and the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon about the Stellar Tower too.”

Old Freak Three-Eyed nods his head.

Qin Yu and Hou Fei are fairly powerful and they are supported by that mysterious Uncle Lan so, in reality, there are 6 major powers in the overseas Xiuzhen world from now on instead of 5.

End of b7c10.

[wandering]

B7C11: Spatial collapse

Most inhabitants of the Qian Long continents are mortals. Next to the southern boundary of the Qian Long continent, there is a seemingly boundless area of water, which has a number of immortal islands. Several hundred proximate islands hundreds of millions of li to the south of the Qian Long continent form a region -- the Penglai Immortal Region. This is the center for overseas Xiuxianists.

The Penglai Immortal Region has a great number of schools and its several hundred islands are all extremely large. In general, each island has millions of mortal humans and over 1000 Xiuxianists. Therefore, Xiuxianists in the Penglai Immortal Region are counted by the hundred thousand.

Even though there are very many schools in the Penglai Immortal Region, the Qingxu Temple is the leading one.

This Qingxu Temple does not have many students. Compared to the other schools in the Penglai Immortal Region, it has an average number of members. However, it has a grand elder called Reverend Yan Xu, who has reached the late Kongming stage and is only one step away from the Dujie stage. This person is none other than the top figure of the Penglai Immortal Region.

On the Qingxu Island in the Penglai Immortal Region,

Thanks to the several tens holy-energy-gathering formations that have been set up on the island, the density of holy energy on the island is 10 times higher than that of a normal area of water. The closer it is to the center of the Qingxu Island, the thicker holy energy is. Beyond certain points, holy energy is even so thick that it looks like mists. Various Xiuxianists are flying on their swords, or on air currents, or on clouds, or using photic escaping arts.

In an ancient pavilion, there is a silver-haired old man whose face is ruddy like a child’s. Sitting beside this silver-haired old man is the abbot of the Qingxu Temple, Reverend Yan Lan. And that silver-haired old man is none other than the grand elder of the Qingxu Temple, Reverend Yan Xu.

“Senior brother, only the Ziyang school has this Hundred Dewdrops Tea and they often give it to you only. If not for you, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy this kind of tea every day.” Reverend Yan Lan savors a sip of tea with great enjoyment.

Reverend Yan Xu, however, gives an indifferent smile: “That Ziyang school is very ambitious. They want to become the no. 1 in all respects. Our Qingxu Temple isn’t ambitious but we’ve got real power so it’s no wonder they’ve been toadying to me like that.”

Reverend Yan Xu is the most powerful and the no. 1 figure in the Penglai Immortal Region.

“Senior brother, the Ziyang school has several tens thousand disciples in this Penglai Immortal Region while we only have several thousand. In fact, if not for the instructions given by our school’s founder in the past, the Qingxu Temple’s disciples would have greatly outnumbered theirs long ago. Though we have a small number of disciples, our experts are stronger than theirs both at this place and on the Teng Long continent.” Reverend Yan Lan appears somewhat haughty when talking to this point.

“Junior brother, our Qingxu Temple’s practice techniques attach great importance to states of mind. To achieve great success, you have to be calm and stay away from fame and wealth. If we took in a lot of disciples and participated in factional conflicts, there’d be a foul atmosphere in the entire Qingxu Temple and our disciples wouldn’t be able to achieve great things.” Reverend Yan Xu says smilingly.

Reverend Yan Lan nods his head.

“If not for my dislike of the fact that the Teng Long continent is much more chaotic than this place because its schools have too many experts and its Xiuzhenists fight each other all the time for treasures, why would I have stayed here instead of going there?”

After saying so, Reverend Yan Lan lets out a sigh.

Suddenly, Reverend Yan Xu turns his hand over, taking out a transmitter. After making a sweep with his holy sense, he says smilingly: “Junior brother, I never thought that azure dragon of the Azure Dragon Palace would send me a message.”

“Azure Dragon? The one who also hasn’t returned to the dragon clan?” Reverend Yan Lan asks smilingly.

Reverend Yan Xu says with a nod: “Why would he want to return to the dragon clan? He’s only a junior so it’s better for him to stay here, where he can do what he wants without being controlled. Oh, the Stellar Tower …” He stops abruptly and focuses on talking with Azure Dragon through his transmitter.

In a short while --

Reverend Yan Xu puts away the transmitter with a somewhat serious expression. He is frowning deeply. It is obvious he is pondering.

“What makes you ponder so deeply, senior brother? Could it be the 8th jade sword has appeared, or the 9th jade sword has appeared?” Reverend Yan Lan says with a smile. In the overseas Xiuzhen world, the only thing worthy of the 5 superpowers’ close attention is the 9 Swords Immortal Mansion.

Reverend Yan Xu says with a nod: “Yes, the 8th jade sword has appeared.”

“Oh, where?” Reverend Yan Lan’s eyes brighten. “Senior brother, the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon has 2 jade swords, the Azure Dragon Palace has 2 as well, but our Penglai Immortal Region has only 1 … so either this 8th jade sword or the 9th sword should go to us, right?”

Reverend Yan Xu shakes his head and says: “You can forget it. This 8th jade sword has already been taken. Besides, its owner even has a very notable background. Now the overseas Xiuzhen world’s 5 superpowers should be changed to 6 superpowers.”

“6 superpowers? Another superpower other than the Azure Dragon Palace, the Blue Water Mansion and the Nine Demons Hall has appeared in the underwater Xiuyao world?” Reverend Yan Lan quickly makes a judgment. This 6th superpower must have appeared in the underwater Xiuyao world.

The reason for this is that Xiuxianists and Xiumoists totally concentrate in the Penglai Immortal Region and the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon respectively, making it absolutely impossible for another major power to emerge on the surface of the ocean.

Reverend Yan Xu says with a nod: “Yes, it’s called Stellar Tower.”

“Stellar Tower? Who’s the tower master?” Reverend Yan Lan asks immediately. Unlike Reverend Yan Xu, who does not care about fame and wealth, he is the abbot of the Qingxu Temple so there are many things he must know.

“His name is Qin Yu. But his background is no ordinary. His brother is a divine beast, and an extremely formidable divine beast at that. His uncle is that divine beast’s master and a loose immortal!” When Reverend Yan Xu talks to this point, his tone becomes somewhat solemn.

Reverend Yan Lan’s heart skips a beat.

“A loose immortal?” He thinks extremely fast for a while. “Why would a loose immortal run north of the Chaotic Astral Ocean? Is this place even worth visiting to him?”

“Senior brother, did Azure Dragon mention the power level of that loose immortal?” Reverend Yan Lan asks without delay. Although this Qingxu Temple does not have many experts in the Penglai Immortal Region, it has a great number of experts on the Teng Long continent.

If this is a 3rd tribulation loose immortal or lower, he can still rely on his school’s reputation to deal with him.

“He’s at least a 6th tribulation loose immortal. The thing is, Azure Dragon can’t be sure. This is his most conservative estimate.” When Reverend Yan Xu said the words ‘6th tribulation loose immortal’, even he felt oppressed.

“6th tribulation loose immortal?”

Reverend Yan Lan’s face changes color greatly.

He understands the implications of a 6th tribulation loose immortal. A figure like that will be influential even on the Teng Long continent. The Qingxu Temple has been in existence for a million years, but it still has no intention of offending such an expert.

Moreover, a 6th tribulation loose immortal is just a guess, a most conservative guess. It is impossible to judge this loose immortal’s real power.

“This matter must be reported to our school on the Teng Long continent. Senior brother, generally not many loose immortals who have overcome the 4th tribulation stay on the Teng Long continent so we must treat such an expert with prudence and must not offend him.” Reverend Yan Lan hurriedly says.

Reverend Yan Xu says with a smile: “Don’t worry, junior brother. How can’t I know the implications of such an expert? The official opening ceremony of the Stellar Tower will take place this day 3 years later. I have to pass this information to the other schools in the Penglai Immortal Region. Our region must send a delegation to attend it with a big gift.”

“That’s right, a big gift.”

Reverend Yan Lan says with a nod then advises: “Senior brother, for the moment let’s not tell the other schools that the Stellar Tower is at least backed by a 6th tribulation loose immortal. Just tell them that it’s got a loose immortal and don’t mention the other things.”

Even though the Qingxu Temple is a school which ‘seeks tranquility and stays away from fame and wealth’, facing a super expert who is a 6th tribulation loose immortal at a minimum, they still have to do some thinking.

Reverend Yan Xu nods his head.

……

In the Penglai Immortal Region, the Qingxu Temple is the leader and the Ziyang school and the Lanyang school are the assistants. Below them there are 12 sects and a great number of small schools and the like.

The Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon is also hundreds of millions of li away from the Qian Long continent in the ocean. It is formed from over 100 proximate islands. However, the top figure of the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon is an expert who does not belong to a school or faction. He is called Purple-haired Dungeon King Yi Da and is extremely powerful, having reached the late phase of the Kongming stage.

There are very few people on the Dungeon King Island, Yi Da’s dwelling place, only several hundred. This island is obviously very much smaller than the other islands, each of which has several million mortals and several thousand Xiumoists.

There is a lone mountain peak in the center of the Dungeon King Island. One side of this mountain peak is completely vertical, looking like the edge of a sword.

A handsome man is sitting quietly with legs crossed and eyes closed on the lone mountain peak. Far from him on one side, 2 servants are respectfully awaiting for his orders. This man has long purple hair, which has flowed down on the ground. The strange thing is that there is not a speck of dust on it. This man is none other than Purple-haired Dungeon King Yi Da.

Yi Da suddenly opens his eyes, which flash with a seemingly invisible purple light. A transmitter then appears in his hand.

“Azure Dragon?”

He immediately begins to communicate carefully with Azure Dragon. After a while, he puts away the transmitter and says towards his back expressionlessly: “Send for the chiefs of the Yanmo school and the Yinyue Palace. I’ve got something important to discuss with them.”

“Yes.”

The 2 servants behind him bow and say. Right afterwards, they disappear on the mountain peak.

“At least a 6th tribulation loose immortal.” Yi Da bites his lip, causing drops of blood to ooze out. With an act of sticking out his tongue, he licks all of them off. Then he sits with legs crossed and eyes closed again, as if nothing ever happened.

……

Qin Yu and Hou Fei take a look ahead.

It is none other than the Blood-red Cave in front of them. They both feel their heart palpitate for a while. Goodness, there is a distance of 80 million li from the black rock island to the Blood-red Cave. It is such a long distance yet they have returned in an instant.

“Teleportation, a legendary technique they say only immortals can use.”

Qin Yu still remembers what is recorded in those Xiuzhen books. But Uncle Lan is really a bit too abnormal already because he has teleported back here directly carrying 2 others with him. At least now Qin Yu simply cannot imagine how he did that.

“Why are you stupefied, brats? It’s time to go back.” Uncle Lan says smilingly.

Hou Fei immediately wakes up from astonishment and says: “Master, I’ve never experienced teleportation before. It’s too awesome. Do you know how long it took me to follow big brother to that black rock island? One year, no less! But now I’ve come back in an instant. Have you still got any unused magic powers, master? Please let me have a taste of them.”

Hou Fei’s eyes glitter.

“I still have many magic powers, but I’m afraid you don’t have the nerve to experience them.” Uncle Lan strokes his beard and says smilingly.

Hou Fei says in a totally unconcerned manner: “I don’t have the nerve? Master, could it be you don’t know how formidable your disciple is? There’s nothing that I’m afraid of doing. If you’ve got any unused magic powers, just let me have a taste of them.”

“Fine, then I’ll let you have a taste of my … Wind-controlling Art.” Uncle Lan says smilingly to Hou Fei.

Qin Yu’s eyes brighten. He immediately watches carefully from one side. Since he met Uncle Lan, he has only seen Uncle Lan in action once. In general, chances to see this kind of great expert in action are extremely hard to come by.

“Come at me. Feel free to come at me. Let me have a taste of that Wind-controlling Art or something.” Hou Fei is so excited that his eyes keep flashing with a red light.

“Make yourself ready.”

Uncle Lan warns him. At the same time, he sets up a restrictive spell with a range of several hundred meters around them. He does not want anybody else to see his techniques.

Hou Fei clenches his fists. The power in his entire body is activated. Now he has become fully prepared.

Uncle Lan makes a move with his hands.

“So fast!” Qin Yu’s heart gets a huge shock. Just now, he felt that it seemed Uncle Lan made several hundred or several thousand hand signs in an instant. But because this speed is too fast, he simply cannot tell exactly how many hand signs Uncle Lan made.

Uncle Lan gives a smile then points at Hou Fei in an indifferent manner: “Spin!”

A blue whirlwind enfolds Hou Fei in the blink of an eye. That blue whirlwind is about 5 to 6 m high and its diameter is small so it does not have a very large range at all, just enough to completely cover Hou Fei. It does not even affect Qin Yu, who is not far from it on one side.

Spin, spin extremely fast.

The whirlwind turns into a blue blur. Its spinning speed immediately reaches a frightening level. Concurrently with this, Hou Fei also begins to spin extremely fast and utter strange quacking noises.

Chi chi ~~~

Because the whirlwind spins too fast, the space in the immediately vicinity of it unexpectedly cannot endure the pressure caused by it and starts to collapse. After a moment, Qin Yu can see the spatial collapse clearly. The range of the collapse is a bit greater than the range of the whirlwind.

“No good.” His face changes color.

He has heard about spatial rifts like this one. Even loose immortals will probably die once falling into spatial rifts. Therefore, he cannot help worrying about Hou Fei.

However, Uncle Lan is still smiling indifferently without worries and this calms Qin Yu down a little. Now Hou Fei is being enfolded in the whirlwind and spinning nonstop extremely fast. The body of a normal man would have been twisted into pieces by such an extreme speed long ago.

The blue whirlwind is surrounded by the spatial rift but it unexpectedly is not affected by the rift’s strong consuming power at all. Qin Yu can see clearly that various streams of energy are moving chaotically in all directions inside the rift. Each of those energy streams is so powerful that it terrifies him. But when those energy streams come into contact with the blue whirlwind, they disappear immediately and therefore they do not harm Hou Fei in the least.

“Stop.”

Uncle Lan points again. The spinning speed of that blue whirlwind then gradually decreases and that spatial rift also automatically vanishes away. The ocean water fills that area of space again, as if the spatial collapse never happened.

When the blue whirlwind totally disappears, Hou Fei falls down powerlessly, his vision blurred. He murmurs: “So … dizzy …”


NOTE:

Teng Long continent = Rising Dragon continent
Qingxu Temple = Temple of Pure Emptiness
Ziyang school = Purple Sun school
Lanyang school = Blue Center school
Yanmo school = Flaming Devil school
Yinyue Palace = Negative Moon Palace

End of b7c11.

[wandering]

B7C12: The Teng Long continent

Now Qin Yu secretly lets out a sigh of relief, but when he sees Hou Fei look like that, he cannot help bursting into laughter.

“Fei Fei, aren’t you very brave? Just now I only showed one of my magic powers, you still want to experience the others, don’t you? That technique is just an appetizer. The ones coming after it are absolutely more formidable.” Uncle Lan says with a serious expression but his eyes are full of amusement.

Hou Fei, who is feeling dizzy in his head and weak in his limbs, immediately stands up firmly, shakes his head hard and looks at Uncle Lan, saying: “Master, I already know that you’ve got tremendous magic powers. There’s nothing but admiration for you in my heart. Your magic powers are really too excellent so please spare me.”

Hou Fei looks pitiably at Uncle Lan with his fiery eyes.

“All right.” Uncle Lan says smilingly. “Let’s stop this for the moment. You have to practice properly for me. Later you certainly can also perform this kind of skill.”

Now Qin Yu is still thinking about what happened a moment ago. When Uncle Lan was executing that Wind-controlling Art, the terrifying power of that whirlwind did not affect him, who was just 10-odd m away from it. This kind of energy-controlling technique is really outstanding.

Moreover, that whirlwind was so powerful that it tore space apart, but it did not cause Hou Fei, who was being surrounded by it, any injuries at all.

Also, after the spatial collapse, still enfolding Hou Fei, that whirlwind went into the spatial rift completely, but nothing happened to it and in the end it came out safely. This kind of magic power is really superior to that so-called spatial rift.

“Why are you stupefied, Xiao Yu? It’s time you two went back to the cave.” Uncle Lan smilingly removes the restrictive spell around them.

Qin Yu immediately says: “Uncle Lan, why don’t you go into the Blood-red Cave with me to have a rest? There are still many things I want to ask you about.” Hou Fei hurriedly says: “That’s right, master. You have never visited the Blood-red Cave before. I’ll take you on a sightseeing tour.”

Unable to dissuade Qin Yu and Hou Fei, Uncle Lan has no choice but to say: “All right, let’s go have a rest first.”

Right afterwards, the 3 of them enter the Blood-red Cave. As soon as Qin Yu and Hou Fei return, the entire Blood-red Cave becomes effervescent. Since he was taken away by 3 majesties of the Nine Demons Hall, those guardians have all been worried about whether he would be killed or not.

Seeing Qin Yu and Hou Fei return, Hei Yu is very excited. For the past year, he has been worrying about Qin Yu and been itching to immediately go to the Nine Demons Hall. However, because of Qin Yu’s strict order, he has had to be in charge in the Blood-red Cave.

Upon Qin Yu’s return this time, the Blood-red Cave holds a great feast for everybody and celebrates fervently. The 3 brothers, Qin Yu, Hou Fei and Hei Yu, also drink for a day and night. Uncle Lan, however, stays in his own place and does not go to the party.

After several days, the former tranquility is restored in the Blood-red Cave.

In the hall of a storied building in the northern part of the Blood-red Cave, Qin Yu and Uncle Lan are talking to each other while enjoying tea.

“Uncle Lan, last time that Azure Dragon mentioned the dragon clan and I also heard you mention the Chaotic Astral Ocean or something. Could you tell me about them a bit? I really feel very doubtful.” Qin Yu puts his cup down and looks at Uncle Lan, waiting for an answer.

Hearing his question, Uncle Lan immediately laughs.

“I knew you would definitely ask about this. All right, I’ll explain it to you carefully.” He also puts his cup down then arranges his thoughts a bit and slowly says: “Xiao Yu, do you know how large this ocean is?”

Qin Yu frowns then says: “The ocean south of the Qian Long continent is almost limitless. Hundreds of millions of li off the coast, there are the Penglai Immortal Region and the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon.”

“How about going south farther?” Uncle Lan asks again.

Qin Yu is startled. Afterwards, he shakes his head to show that he does not know the answer.

In fact, he has only heard about the Penglai Immortal Region and the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon from others and has never been there. Nobody knows how far they actually are. The so-called hundreds of millions of li is merely an imaginary figure. But Qin Yu knows that they must be more than 100 million li away.

Uncle Lan says with a nod: “The Qian Long continent and the area within several hundred million li of it in the south are a world where mortals and Xiuzhenists coexist. However, if you go southwards to reach the furthest boundary of this ocean, you’ll see the Chaotic Astral Ocean.”

“Chaotic Astral Ocean?” Qin Yu’s eyes brighten.

Uncle Lan says with a nod: “Yes, the Chaotic Astral Ocean. It’s different from normal oceans. There’s an invisible barrier separating the Chaotic Astral Ocean from normal oceans. This is not a barrier in its narrow sense, but a rule of nature!”

“A rule of nature?” Qin Yu is startled.

Uncle Lan nods and says: “Yes, if a Xiuzhenist goes south from the Qian Long continent, after flying several hundred million li, he’ll reach the boundary of the Chaotic Astral Ocean. He’ll see that this ocean has sky-high waves and its holy energy is extremely chaotic.”

“The Chaotic Astral Ocean is exceptionally vast. Based on what I know, with your current speed, it will take you a hundred years to go through it.” Uncle Lan says smilingly.

However, Qin Yu is astonished.

His current speed allows him to cover a million li in a day so he can go 300 million li in a year. But Uncle Lan said it would take him 100 years, so does that not mean the distance across the Chaotic Astral Ocean is several tens billion li?

“It’s very rare to see such a large planet.” Uncle Lan exclaims.

Qin Yu is startled.

“Uncle Lan, what did you say just now?” Qin Yu hurriedly asks. Ordinary Xiuzhenists may not know the concept of planets but Qin Yu knows from what he read in Lei Mountain House that there are countless planets in the universe. And the planet where he lives is a rare, extremely large one.

Uncle Lan says with a smile: “Let’s continue with the subject just now. If you spend 100 years, you can travel such a long distance, but after going into the Chaotic Astral Ocean, perhaps you’ll lose your little life within a day.”

“Why is that?”

Qin Yu asks with amazement.

“It’s because the Chaotic Astral Ocean is highly dangerous, frighteningly dangerous. Even Dujie stage experts don’t dare to go through it. Only Dacheng stage experts and some formidable loose immortals dare to go through this ocean at will.” Uncle Lan says positively.

In Qin Yu’s opinion, no matter how large an ocean is, he can cross it as long as he has enough time.

After all, tsunamis and hurricanes are not a big threat to Xiuzhenists of his caliber. However, according to what Uncle Lan said, this Chaotic Astral Ocean is not as simple as normal oceans at all.

Uncle Lan says smilingly: “Let’s not talk about the things in the Chaotic Astral Ocean for the moment. You don’t need to know about them now either. After going through this ocean, you’ll see a calm ocean, very similar to our ocean here.”

Qin Yu listens attentively.

“That ocean is quite a lot larger than ours. Going through that ocean, you’ll see a huge continent which is hundreds or thousands of times larger than the Qian Long continent. It’s called the Teng Long continent.” Uncle Lan finally mentions the Teng Long continent after talking for a long time.

Qin Yu’s eyes brighten.

So, the Teng Long continent and the Qian Long continent are separated by 2 calms oceans and the highly dangerous Chaotic Astral Ocean. The distance between the 2 continents is really too long.

“The Qian Long continent is a continent of mortals. Everything here is controlled by mortals. But the Teng Long continent is the opposite. It’s a continent of Xiuzhenists. There are so many Xiuzhenists there that they are counted by the hundred million.” Uncle Lan praises.

Qin Yu is not surprised.

After all, this overseas Xiuzhen world already has several million underwater Xiuyaoists in addition to Xiuxianists and Xiumoists. Even though it has fewer than 10 million Xiuzhenists, it must have from 7 million to 8 million Xiuzhenists.

That Teng Long continent is obviously a center for Xiuzhenists so it is normal that there are even more Xiuzhenists over there.

Uncle Lan takes a sip of tea and says: “The Qian Long continent and this ocean are called the Northern Territory. The Teng Long continent and that calm ocean north of it are called the Southern Territory. The Chaotic Astral Ocean is in the middle.”

Qin Yu nods. Now he has gained a rough understanding of the situation.

“Right, Uncle Lan, according to what you said, the Teng Long continent is very far from here, then how can those experts like Azure Dragon establish connections with that continent?” He asks doubtfully.

Uncle Lan says: “In the south, there’s an island south of the Penglai Immortal Region and the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon and near the Chaotic Astral Ocean. There’s an ancient teleport formation on it. This teleport formation can send Xiuzhenists from this side to the Teng Long continent directly without going through the Chaotic Astral Ocean.”

“Ancient teleport formation?” Qin Yu slightly ponders.

Uncle Lan continues: “Nobody knows when this ancient teleport formation came into existence, but its teleporting process is very dangerous. Only those with the power of the Kongming stage or above can go through it safely. Those who are weaker than a Kongming stage Xiuxianist will most likely die in the process.”

“Kongming stage?”

Qin Yu suddenly understands. No wonder there are so few experts who have surpassed the Kongming stage in this overseas Xiuzhen world. According to his understanding, even though it does not have many Xiuzhenists, it should have Dujie stage experts now thanks to its long-time accumulation.

However, at present, a mere early Kongming stage divine beast azure dragon is acknowledged as the no. 1 expert of the overseas Xiuzhen world. It turns out the few top experts have already gone to the Teng Long continent through that teleport formation. No wonder this situation has arisen.

“Xiao Yu.”

Uncle Lan’s expression suddenly becomes serious. Qin Yu listens to him carefully at once.

“You must remember one thing. Never go into the Chaotic Astral Ocean out of curiosity before you’re at least as powerful as a Dujie stage Xiuxianist.” Knowing the terrors of the Chaotic Astral Ocean very well, Uncle Lan naturally has to warn Qin Yu.

Qin Yu nods, but asks doubtfully: “Uncle Lan, what are the dangers of the Chaotic Astral Ocean actually?”

Uncle Lan says with a smile: “I’m going to tell you, Xiao Yu. In terms of numbers of experts, danger levels and so on, the Northern Territory is at level 1, the Southern Territory, including the Teng Long continent, is at level 3 and the Chaotic Astral Ocean is at level 10!”

Level 1, level 3 and level 10.

They enable Qin Yu to understand very clearly how dangerous the Chaotic Astral Ocean is.

“Why is the Chaotic Astral Ocean so dangerous?” He is really curious to know why this ocean is so dangerous.

Uncle Lan finally answers him.

“The Chaotic Astral Ocean has a lot of hurricanes and billows, but they aren’t a threat to Xiuzhenists. The real danger comes from 2 sources. Firstly, there are countless terrifying ferobeasts in the Chaotic Astral Ocean!” Uncle Lan’s face becomes very serious.

“Ferobeasts?” Qin Yu is startled.

Uncle Lan says with a nod: “Yes, ferobeasts! Xiao Yu, these ferobeasts are different from demonic beasts. Demonic beasts can transform into humans and become intelligent, which makes them not much different from humans. But ferobeasts are the opposite. Their intelligence is extremely low. They basically don’t take human forms and are terrifyingly bloodthirsty. Ordinary ferobeasts are as strong as Purple Demon aquatic dragons and the formidable ones can even match divine beasts.”

Qin Yu is frightened.

They are ferocious and bloodthirsty. Moreover, the ordinary ones among them are comparable to Purple Demon aquatic dragons and the formidable ones can rival divine beasts.

Do these ferobeasts not exist just to kill?

“The rules of nature are profound and mysterious so there are all kinds of strange things and nothing is impossible. The 1st main danger in the Chaotic Astral Ocean is none other than these ferobeasts. Generally, a Xiuzhenist who tries to go across this ocean will be attacked by them.” Uncle Lan says with a sigh.

Qin Yu asks without delay: “Uncle Lan, you said there are 2 main dangers, then what is the 2nd one?”

Uncle Lan takes a sip of tea then says smilingly: “The Xiuzhen worlds in both the Northern Territory and the Southern Territory have existed for more than a million years. This is such a long period of time so naturally very many experts have taken on tribulations. Those who have failed have either got their souls destroyed or become loose immortals. There are loose immortals on the Teng Long continent, but most loose immortals stay in the Chaotic Astral Ocean!”

“Ah!”

Qin Yu is astonished.

“The Chaotic Astral Ocean is very dangerous but the neidans of those ferobeasts are also treasures to loose immortals. I forgot to tell you that, unlike demonic beasts, ferobeasts cultivate neidans. Even after reaching the Dacheng stage, they still cultivate neidans.” Uncle Lan explains.

At first Qin Yu thought that ferobeasts were demonic beasts which had gone crazy, but now it looks like they are simply 2 different kinds.

Demonic beasts cultivate jindans and yuanyings and are intelligent so they are close to humans. But ferobeasts have low mental capacity, are ferocious and bloodthirsty, only cultivate neidans and cannot take human forms.

“Generally loose immortals that haven’t passed the 4th tribulation remain on the Teng Long continent because some ferobeasts that have passed the 9-From-9th Heaven Tribulation are as powerful as immortals. 4th tribulation loose immortals and the more formidable ones mostly go into the Chaotic Astral Ocean because 4th tribulation loose immortals can rival immortals.”

Uncle Lan’s eyes shine brilliantly: “The Chaotic Astral Ocean is much larger than the Northern Territory and Southern Territory. Nobody knows how many treasures it has. Also, ferobeasts are top-class medicinal materials to some formidable loose immortals. Some loose immortals are weird-tempered. If you annoy them, you’ll probably lose your life even if you are a Dacheng stage Xiuxianist, not to mention a Dujie stage one.”

Qin Yu understands this.

4th tribulation loose immortals can rival immortals while Xiuxianists at the Dacheng stage are inferior to immortals. Moreover, in the Chaotic Astral Ocean, 4th tribulation loose immortals perhaps belong to the lowest tier. There are also some super experts who stay deep underwater. Who knows whether they are 6th tribulation loose immortals or 8th tribulation ones? But they are all devastating monsters for sure.

Compared to ferobeasts, those mercurial-tempered loose immortals are even more dangerous!

However, at the moment both those fearsome ferobeasts and those terrifying loose immortals deep in the Chaotic Astral Ocean are invincible beings to Qin Yu.

“Uncle Lan, may I ask you a question?” Qin Yu looks at Uncle Lan. He suddenly desires to know how many loose immortal tribulations Uncle Lan has overcome.

End of b7c12.

[wandering]

B7C13: Great Heavenly Stellar Formation

“Oh?” Uncle Lan takes a sip of tea then says with a smile: “If you want to ask something then just ask.”

Qin Yu always feels that Uncle Lan’s eyes seem able to see through people’s minds. What he wants to ask, what he wants to do, Uncle Lan seems to know everything. Qin Yu even suspects that Uncle Lan has a mind-reading magic power.

After getting those wild thoughts out of his mind, he says smilingly: “Before asking that question, I want to ask you something else first. You said 4th tribulation loose immortals are equal to immortals. Could you explain the power of immortals and loose immortals in detail to me?”

Uncle Lan nods his head: “Xiao Yu, loose immortals have 12 tribulations, each of which represents a different power level. Immortals have 9 levels. 4th tribulations loose immortals are equal to level-1 immortals. 7th tribulation loose immortals are equal to level-4 immortals. And 12th tribulation loose immortals are equal to level-9 immortals.”

Qin Yu understands, but he continues to ask: “Then how about the power levels of 1st, 2nd and 3rd tribulation loose immortals?”

4th tribulation loose immortals are equal to level-1 immortals, but how powerful are the 3 preceding levels?

Uncle Lan shakes his head and says: “It’s very difficult to define them because anybody who has their physical body destroyed at the Dongxu stage can already practice as a loose immortal. Let me ask you something, Xiao Yu. Do a practitioner who abandons the body at the Dongxu stage, a loose immortal that loses the body at the Kongming stage, and a loose immortal that fails the major tribulation have the same power level?”

“Of course they don’t.”

Qin Yu answers firmly. This is a no-brainer. A Dongxu stage fellow, for example, Di Long, can practice as a loose immortal all the same if his physical body is destroyed, but how can he possibly compare with a Dujie stage loose demon?

“This is correct. In the beginning, loose immortals’ power is uneven. There’s not a definite power level for 1st tribulation loose immortals. 2nd tribulation loose immortals are roughly comparable to middle or late Dujie stage Xiuzhenists in power. This is not totally definite either. It’s very difficult to tell. 3rd tribulation loose immortals generally have the power of Dacheng stage Xiuzhenists.” Uncle Lan gives a vague answer.

Qin Yu however has a very strong belief in it.

A loose immortal that starts from the Dujie stage is certainly more powerful than a loose immortal that starts from the Dongxu stage in the beginning. Only as time passes and as they progress to later stages, the gap between them becomes increasingly smaller. In fact, the power of 4th tribulation loose immortals and above has no strong connection with their starting power levels.

“However, loose immortals who start at the Dongxu stage generally can’t overcome the 1st tribulation. The more powerful they are, the more likely they will pass this tribulation. The power of this tribulation varies from loose immortal to loose immortal, but in general, the more powerful loose immortals have bigger chances of success.” Uncle Lan says very positively.

Even though heavenly tribulations’ power changes according to attempters’ power, a strong practitioner will not more likely die than a weak one.

Qin Yu gives a smile: “All right, Uncle Lan, now I’ve already got a rough understanding of loose immortals and immortals, so … I want to ask you what level of loose immortals you have reached.” After saying so, he looks at Uncle Lan with a face full of expectation.

Uncle Lan is very mysterious.

Azure Dragon and Grand Founder Three-Eyed were just like ants in front of him. Qin Yu thinks that only a loose immortal can have such a level of power. Moreover, Uncle Lan was able to teleport both Qin Yu and Hou Fei back to the Blood-red Cave directly with ease.

What is Uncle Lan’s exact loose immortal level?

6th tribulation? 8th tribulation? 10th tribulation? Or a 12th tribulation loose immortal, who according to legend is just one step away from becoming a golden immortal?

“You asked me what level of loose immortals I have reached?” Uncle Lan looks at Qin Yu with a little astonishment.

Qin Yu nods very seriously: “Yes.” Then he hurriedly says: “If you don’t want to tell me, I won’t force you either, but … I’m really very curious about this. I really want to know your loose immortal level very much.”

“Ha-ha …”

Uncle Lan laughs out loud: “Loose immortal, ha-ha, loose immortal, Xiao Yu, so you think that someone who can teleport in the mortal plane is definitely a loose immortal?”

Qin Yu says firmly: “Of course I do. It has been recorded in many Xiuzhen books that teleportation is a magic power only immortals can use. This also means 4th tribulation loose immortals can use it. Immortals can’t remain in the mortal plain but you could teleport me and Hou Fei with you. So, if you’re not a loose immortal then what are you?”

In Qin Yu’s opinion, Uncle Lan is undoubtedly a loose immortal.

The problem is he wants to know how many loose immortal tribulations Uncle Lan has passed.

Uncle Lan smilingly says with a shake of his head: “Let me tell you something, Xiao Yu. Loose immortals aren’t the only ones who can teleport in the mortal plain at all.”

Qin Yu cannot help getting astounded. When he sees Uncle Lan’s current expression, an idea springs to his mind. He immediately presses: “Could it be … you’re not a loose immortal?”

Uncle Lan nods his head: “Yes, I’m definitely not a loose immortal. Xiao Yu, it’s hard to understand the way of Heaven. The universe and nature have all kinds of strange things so is there anything really impossible? There are many things you can’t even imagine. Teleportation isn’t exclusive to loose immortals and immortals at all!”

Uncle Lan is not a loose immortal.

This is what Uncle Lan personally said. Judging from Uncle Lan’s expression and tone, Qin Yu knows that Uncle Lan did not lie.

“Uncle Lan, you said there are all kinds of strange things in the universe and nature but don’t many Xiuzhen books all say that teleportation is a magic power only immortals possess? Could you tell me why …?” Qin Yu keeps asking. He cannot believe that so many Xiuzhen books are all wrong about this.

Uncle Lan ponders for a while then looks at Qin Yu and says: “Xiao Yu, the boundless universe has many secrets but the countless Xiuzhenists and also mortals all live in a normal world and within the boundary of normal rules. You … should just think of me as a loose immortal expert.”

Qin Yu is startled.

In the end Uncle Lan does not reveal his background. Instead, he wants Qin Yu to think of him as a loose immortal.

Qin Yu is sure that Uncle Lan is not a loose immortal.

“Uncle Lan, could you be an immortal, one that descended to the mortal world?” Qin Yu presses again.

Uncle Lan says with a shake of his head: “Don’t keep asking me. This is something you shouldn’t know now. It’s already okay for you think of me as a pretty strong loose immortal, right?”

“All right, then I won’t ask again. Uncle Lan, when will Li’er come to this place for a visit? I haven’t seen her for a very long time.” Qin Yu says smilingly to Uncle Lan, who says with a smile: “Perhaps she’ll be here in a while. You’d better race against time to build the Stellar Tower.”

Putting his cup down, Uncle Lan stands up and walks out of the room immediately.

Looking at Uncle Lan’s elegant figure from behind, Qin Yu has a feeling that Uncle Lan seems to have become one with nature. He also puts his cup down and thinks to himself with a sigh: “Uncle Lan, what’s your real identity and power? You’re not a loose immortal but why do you want me to consider you one?”

Mysterious.

Regarding Uncle Lan’s mystery, because Uncle Lan is unwilling to tell Qin Yu, what else can he do? He can only bury his doubts at the bottom of his heart. Maybe someday Uncle Lan will voluntarily tell him.

……

The construction of the Stellar Tower is immediately started according to schedule.

The Stellar Tower occupies the same area as the former Blood-red Cave did. There is no expansion. It is just that its architectural style is totally different from the Blood-red Cave’s. Under Uncle Lan’s personal direction, the Blood-red Cave is torn apart completely and then various new pavilions, terraces and towers are erected.

Uncle Lan personally works out the designs and positions for the components of the Stellar Tower.

According to Uncle Lan, the layout of this Stellar Tower is based on the long lost, legendary Great Heavenly Stellar Formation. Its main theme is to be close to nature so it does not have those huge, pompous palaces, but its structures and decorations are still made from valuable materials such as pearl, agate, black iron, refined gold and so on.

Clouds and mists float under the Great Heavenly Stellar Formation, making the place look like fairyland. Moonlight and the morning glow also appear in the Stellar Tower, which is really marvelous.

In the entire Stellar Tower, there is a storied building every 10 steps and a pavilion every 5 steps. Thanks to those floating clouds and mists in the Stellar Tower, those structures look as if they are built in the sky. Qin Yu, Hou Fei and the guardians all marvel at this nonstop.

In building the Stellar Tower, several tens thousand Xiuyaoists and even millions of demonic beasts were deployed. Most of them were assigned the task of extracting some materials such as purple copper, black iron, refined gold and so on. After 6 months and 3 days, the Stellar Tower was finally completed.

……

Thanks to the Great Heavenly Stellar Formation, there is an astonishing abundance of holy energy in the Stellar Tower. The density of holy energy in it is 100 times higher than usual. Holy energy even spreads into the vicinity of the Stellar Tower, giving this area a holy energy density 10 times higher than that of a normal place.

Immediately, all kinds of structures are built around the Stellar Tower. They occupy an area 10 times as large as the area of the Stellar Tower and surround the Stellar Tower in the very center like stars surrounding the moon. The holy energy that disperses from the Stellar Tower in all directions fills those structures.

The Stellar Tower has been built, as have the structures in which the guards live around it. Because those structures used normal materials, naturally their construction was easy and fast. The Stellar Tower used valuable materials and required the planting of various kinds of rare grasses and trees everywhere in it so it took more time to complete.

Outside the Stellar Tower,

Qin Yu, Hou Fei, Hei Yu, Uncle Lan and a large number of guardians and guards are all looking at it in admiration. Going for a stroll in such a wonderful place is even a kind of luxury. Only the guard leaders, the guardians, the 3 tower masters and some specialized ladies-in-waiting live in the Stellar Tower.

“Boohoo!”

Hou Fei opens his fiery eyes wide, looking at the Stellar Tower in front of him.

“Boohoo! Boohoo!”

He exclaims a few times then looks at Uncle Lan on one side with tearful eyes: “Master, you treat me and big brother so differently, too differently. This makes my heart hurt so much. When I was still in the ravine, you told me to casually find a cave to live, but now you’ve built for big brother … such a great place.”

Uncle Lan gives him a tap on the head: “Little monkey, you want to be hit?”

“Doesn’t this Stellar Tower belonging to Xiao Yu mean it’s yours as well?” Uncle Lan deliberately says with a solemn expression.

Hou Fei immediately says joyfully: “Ha-ha, I was joking, master. But this Great Heavenly Stellar Formation is really formidable. As soon as it’s activated, the enemies from the outside can’t even go inside while the enemies inside are plunged into illusions. Not only does it have confining effects, it also has illusive effects. It can even gather natural holy energy and starlight.”

Qin Yu’s heart is also filled with satisfaction.

He thinks that the Nine Demons Hall’s Twelve Capital Gates Formation he saw before is very good, but it is pale in comparison with his own Great Heavenly Stellar Formation. Not only can this formation attack, it can also gather holy energy, sunlight, moonlight and starlight from nature.

Once its attack is activated, it will become a matchless confining, killing great formation.

Moreover, this great formation was set up by Uncle Lan personally. Qin Yu believes that at least nobody in this overseas Xiuzhen world can have a glimmer of hope of breaking it.

Afterwards, everybody happily comes into the Stellar Tower.

That day, after Uncle Lan left with Qin Yu and Hou Fei, Azure Dragon, Grand Founder Three-Eyed and Di Long immediately told 2 caves under them each to obey Qin Yu’s Stellar Tower completely. Those caves are not far from the Blood-red Cave and they all came to pay their respects to Qin Yu 3 months before the completion of the Stellar Tower.

Originally, the 2 caves under the Nine Demons Hall nearest Qin Yu were the Great Shell Cave and the Roaming Wind Cave. However, when Di Jian, Di Qing and Di Luan were taking Qin Yu back to the Nine Demons Hall, because Di Qing died in the Great Shell Cave, Di Jian and Di Luan massacred this entire cave. Therefore, the Great Shell Cave was destroyed and the new cave built to replace it is called the Sharp Horn Cave.

The Sharp Horn Cave and the Roaming Wind Cave under the Nine Demons Hall,

The Black Aquatic Dragon Cave and the Six Suns Cave under the Azure Dragon Palace,

The Orange Wing Cave and the Snowy Feather Cave under the Blue Water Mansion,

These 6 caves were turned over completely to the Stellar Tower. The central territory of the Stellar Tower is the former territory of the Blood-red Cave. The Stellar Tower has declared that the 6 caves under it are -- Sharp Horn, Roaming Wind, Black Aquatic Dragon, Six Suns, Orange Wing and Snowy Feather.

Now the Stellar Tower has such a large territory and is so powerful that it has even surpassed the Nine Demons Hall to become the no. 3 superpower in the underwater Xiuyao world, lower than the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion only. It has also become one of the 6 major powers in the overseas Xiuzhen world.

The new jade identity cards already started to be made very quickly a half year ago.

There are 7 types of jade identity cards, which are Stellar; Stellar - Sharp Horn; Stellar - Roaming Wind; Stellar - Black Aquatic Dragon; Stellar - Six Suns; Stellar - Orange Wing; and Stellar - Snowy Feather. The guards raced against time to make them and finally succeeded.

Moreover, after the appearance of the Stellar Tower, many experts who had been hiding deep in secret places began to emerge and recommend themselves, wanting to become its guardians.

Qin Yu had never expected that there were so many experts so he announced directly that the minimum requirement for being a guardian was to have the offense of the early Dongxu stage. Thus, Teng Bi is the only original guardian who was able to keep his position.

There are now 8 guardians in the Stellar Tower. Teng Bi is unexpectedly the weakest among them.

Qin Yu still left the other original guardians like Zhuang Zhong a way by only demoting them to company leaders.

Because the Stellar Tower is now a major power, the number of guards has increased from around 5000 in the past to 30,000. 100 guards form a squad and 10 squads form a company. There are 30 company leaders in total.

The Stellar Tower’s area is about the same as that of the former Blood-red Cave.

The Blood-red Cave was able to accommodate 5000 guards and many other Xiuyaoists, so naturally the 8 guardians, the 30 company leaders, the 300 squad leaders and some necessary ladies-in-waiting and guards all come to live in the Stellar Tower.

Thus, it can be said that the Stellar Tower has lived up to its reputation as a major power comparable to the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion.

End of b7c13.

[wandering]

B7C14: Guests from all sides

The Stellar Tower has its layout based entirely on the Great Heavenly Stellar Formation. Not only is it filled with a lot of natural holy energy, it even gathers sunlight, moonlight and starlight. The most dazzling place in the Stellar Tower is its center -- the Sun Moon Hall.

This is the place where the guardians, company leaders and squad leaders have audiences with the 3 tower masters.

The Sun Moon Hall does not have a roof. By looking up, one can see countless stars hanging high. The area behind the seats of the 3 tower masters on the raised platform in the hall even shines with sunlight and moonlight all the time. When someone steps into the Sun Moon Hall, they will feel as if they have entered a different world. It is exceptionally fantastic.

It has been almost 2 years since the completion of the Stellar Tower. During the past 2 years, the Stellar Tower has come into routine operation completely. Uncle Lan, Miss Li’er, Yan Zi and the others from the ravine have often come over here for a stroll and Qin Yu has welcomed them happily.

At the moment, in the Sun Moon Hall of the Stellar Tower,

On the raised platform in the hall, Qin Yu is sitting in the center while Hou Fei and Hei Yu are sitting on either side of him. Behind the 3 of them are the sunlight and moonlight gathered by the Great Heavenly Stellar Formation. These lights shine high into the air, giving the 3 tower masters an aura of dominance.

The 8 guardians, 30 company leaders and 300 squad leaders are standing in 2 rows on the left and right sides of the hall in order.

Qin Yu always thinks that this Sun Moon Hall is even more luxurious and also more imposing than the imperial audience halls on the Qian Long continent. In this hall, with starlight taking the place of the sky, sunlight and moonlight being the background and holy energy floating like clouds and mists, his subordinates all look like immortals.

“1st master! 2nd master! 3rd master!”

More than 300 Xiuyaoists all bow and shout respectfully. Their voices resound through the hall.

After saying so, they look at Qin Yu with respect, waiting for his orders. The looks in the eyes of the 8 guardians and 30 company leaders are very hot because today is the day the manager of the Stellar Tower is chosen.

The manager will be in charge of nearly everything so their status will be very high, inferior only to the 3 tower masters and superior to the 8 guardians.

Theoretically, a manager should have been appointed long ago, but Hou Fei likes to supervise subordinates so he has been the acting manager for the last 2 years. Qin Yu also knew Hou Fei’s temperament. Indeed, after his managerial craving was satisfied, he has lost interest in handling those trivialities.

Therefore, a manager has to be appointed.

The manager must be capable and at least decently powerful as they will only rank lower than the tower masters after all. So, the candidates are the 8 guardians and the 30 company leaders.

“1st master, last time you said you wanted to choose a manager. May I ask if you have made your decision?”

A guardian on the left stands in the middle of the hall then bows and says. This is none other than Yan Rui, the leader of the Stellar Tower’s current 8 guardians. After gaining the ability to take the human form, she transformed into a woman. And she is powerful, having even reached the late Dongxu stage.

Hearing Yan Rui’s words, the other guardians and the 30 company leaders all look at Qin Yu with blazing eyes.

Qin Yu is sitting in the middle, dressed in a black robe. Actually, his subordinates in the Stellar Tower have prepared very luxurious clothes for him, but he likes some clothes his master Lei Wei made in the past.

Even though the robes made by Lei Wei look very simple, they are much more comfortable to wear than the luxurious clothes proffered by the Stellar Tower’s subordinates. They may not look good from the outside but very useful inside.

“Please don’t be anxious, guardian Yan Rui. The 3 of us brothers have already made the decision and now 2nd master is going to reveal it.” Qin Yu looks smilingly at Hou Fei. Immediately, the over 300 pairs of eyes present are focused on Hou Fei.

Hou Fei gives a smile, baring his teeth: “This manager position of the Stellar Tower is of course extremely important. Therefore, the 3 of us had to choose very carefully. Ahem, and now I’m going to announce the chosen one.”

Qin Yu gives a smile.

This Hou Fei fellow is unexpectedly even raising the tension.

The 8 guardians and 30 company leaders all look at him. One of them can become the manager, who is second only to the 3 tower masters. The manager will be in charge of all ordinary matters so this is a very lucrative, advantageous post.

“Kaka, this manager is … Zhuang Zhong.”

Hou Fei finally announces the decision.

Zhuang Zhong cannot help getting excited. He goes to the center of the hall right away and gets down on one knee, saying: “Thank you for your kindness, tower masters. I shall definitely manage the affairs of the Stellar Tower well and absolutely shall not disappoint you.” His voice is very loud because he simply cannot contain his excitement.

As a company leader, he already had quite a lot of authority, but now he has leapfrogged the 8 guardians to become the manager, who is only lower ranked than the 3 tower masters, so how can he possibly not be delighted?

This is not an ordinary manager position, but the manager position of the Stellar Tower, which is in the same league as the Azure Dragon Palace, the Blue Water Mansion and the Nine Demons Hall. It has a lot more authority than a company leader position does. Today Zhuang Zhong has really become an important and influential figure.

“All right, from now on, Zhuang Zhong will start to serve as manager.” Qin Yu says directly. “The opening ceremony of the Stellar Tower is coming up in a half year. At that time, members of the Penglai Immortal Region, the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon, the Azure Dragon Palace, the Blue Water Mansion, and the Nine Demons Hall will come to congratulate us, therefore …”

As soon as Qin Yu says this, everyone on the lower part of the hall focuses their entire attention on this matter.

The opening ceremony will be a big event because the Stellar Tower is in a high position of power. It will cause quite a stir in the entire overseas Xiuzhen world. When the time comes, the other major powers will all send representatives to attend it. This event will definitely be a big gathering of the overseas Xiuzhen world’s experts.

“Zhuang Zhong, you immediately make arrangements. The Stellar Tower still has quite a lot of dwelling places. You must make the other 5 powers experience our generosity, and the feast for the opening day must also be prepared in advance. This is your first task as manager.”

Qin Yu says while staring at Zhuang Zhong. He does not doubt Zhuang Zhong’s abilities at all and Zhuang Zhong has been following him for a long time, therefore, he has given Zhuang Zhong the manager position.

“Yes, 1st master. I definitely shall not let you down.”

Zhuang Zhong answers in a sonorous and powerful voice. The look in his eyes is sharp and resolute. Seeing this, Qin Yu gives a satisfied smile.

“Kaka, Zhuang Zhong, I’ll come to check frequently. If I discover that you have done some excessive things then don’t blame me.” Hou Fei tells Zhuang Zhong with strange laughter. Zhuang Zhong gives a guarantee smilingly, not minding Hou Fei’s words at all.

Even though Hou Fei now allows the manager to handle the Stellar Tower’s affairs because his craving has been satisfied, who knows when he will get itchy and come to carry out a check?

Therefore, Zhuang Zhong had better be careful.

“All right, that’s it. Everybody can leave now.”

With his robe fluttering, Qin Yu immediately leaves the hall. Hei Yu, who has been sitting in repose with eyes closed, suddenly open his eyes. The look in his eyes is frighteningly sharp. Seeing that look, even late Dongxu stage Yan Rui feels that it is frightening.

This is not because the look in Hei Yu’s eyes is sharp, but because it makes her feel as if her soul is being devoured.

Since Hei Yu started to practice quietly in the Great Heavenly Stellar Formation, he has eventually made another improvement by reaching the late Yuanying stage. Even Hou Fei has had to admit that he is not certain of defeating late Yuanying stage Hei Yu.

If Hou Fei represents frenzy and violence then Hei Yu represents iciness and darkness!

With a movement of his body, Hei Yu disappears in the hall. When he reached the late Yuanying stage, his speed was unexpectedly not inferior to Qin Yu’s anymore.

Both Hei Yu and Hou Fei have reached the peak of the late Yuanying stage so it has become impossible for them to make a breakthrough by absorbing energy. Now they have to wait for the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation. There is no telling when they can sense the times of its arrivals.

After leaving the hall, Qin Yu goes through various bridges, buildings and corridors to eventually arrive at a storied building surrounded by clouds and mists. This is none other than Miss Li’er’s dwelling place here.

Yan Zi and Xiao Jin are playing in the lake close to the side of the building.

“Hello, big brother Qin Yu. You must come to find sis Li’er, right? She’s fishing over there.” Yan Zi says smilingly. Xiao Jin on one side also winks at him a couple of times. Afterwards, she motions towards Li’er with her eyes.

“You 2 little brats.”

Qin Yu gives a smile then immediately treads on the blue water to go to the pavilion in the center of the lake.

After the Stellar Tower was completed, it does not need any restrictive spells because that Great Heavenly Stellar Formation automatically keeps water away. The interior of the Stellar Tower is totally like a new dimension.

Li’er’s long hair is slightly tied up with a hairband. She is dressed in white and a white belt is fastened tightly around her waist, revealing her body’s attractive curves. Qin Yu just stands in the pavilion watching her focusing on fishing while sitting on the edge of the pavilion.

“What are you looking at, Qin Yu?” She looks back and says smilingly. That smile makes Qin Yu’s eyes brighten.

“I’m watching you fishing.” Qin Yu smilingly sits down beside Li’er.

He always feels that she seems to isolate herself from the world. She is passionately friendly to Yan Zi and the others but that is only a façade. Only when she is in one place with him can that barrier be removed.

“Li’er, you have never mentioned your parents to me. Can you tell me about them a bit now?” Qin Yu says smilingly.

Li’er is startled. She ponders for a while, which is a very rare sight, then says with a nod: “My father has a very high position. He and others always fight for status and power so he doesn’t spend a lot of time with me at all.” There is a tinge of grief in her eyes.

Qin Yu’s heart trembles. He immediately feels emotions and thoughts surging in him.

Was he not in the same situation?

He suppresses his mental agitation with effort and says: “Looks like your father is an important figure.”

Li’er says with a nod: “Yes, he’s an important figure. I’ve seen many people since I was little and they all have so much respect and awe for him. Nobody dares to disobey him. But there are also other important figures. They compete with each other all the time and even fight each other. I was tired of it so I and Uncle Lan left home to wander outside.”

“Perhaps that was because you’re a girl. My experiences were very similar to yours, but I’m a guy. My father was a prince of the Chu dynasty on the Qian Long continent. He wholeheartedly wanted to seek revenge and realize our ancestors’ several-hundred-year-old hopes. He focused on teaching my big and 2nd brothers and didn’t pay close attention to me, the useless 3rd son. But I was different from you. I wasn’t tired of those things. Instead, I trained very hard, desirous to do some useful things for my father.”

Qin Yu says dispiritedly. Even though it has been many years since then, he still feels unhappy when thinking about what happened.

He seems to be seeing himself, as a kid, in a harsh winter night, keep running while carrying weights and thrusting the fingers into sand to practice the Iron Sand Palm …

“Because I’m a girl?” Li’er’s eyes flash with a hint of tenacity. “No, at first I also wanted to help father like you, but … later an incident happened. It grieved me and grieved Uncle Lan.” Her eyes are full of pain.

Seeing Li’er like that, even though Qin Yu does not know what she actually encountered, he knows it must have been something very serious.

“Oh, a fish took the bait.”

Li’er’s eyes suddenly brighten. She pulls back the fishing rod and a 5 to 6 jin big fish is caught.

Just now she was immersed in her memories and pain but at the moment, because she has caught a fish, she is so excited that she smiles broadly. It seems she has simply forgotten what happened a moment ago.

“Qin Yu, has your chess skill improved? You want to play the game of Go or chess? If it is chess, I’ll give you one rook, one horse and one cannon. If it is the game of Go, I’ll give you 4 pieces.” Li’er looks jokingly at Qin Yu. With a wave of her hand, 2 chessboards appear.

“Well, chess and the game of Go? This, this …”

A moment ago Qin Yu was still feeling comfortable but now he has become nervous.

Playing those games with Li’er is no different from getting massacred. She has been giving him a rook, a horse and a cannon in chess and giving him 4 pieces in the game of Go. Even so, he has always lost, and lost miserably at that. His skills are not bad, but Li’er is just an extraordinarily strong player.

Qin Yu dares to guarantee that even his father Qin De and Adviser Xu Yuan cannot defeat Li’er despite having a 4-piece advantage in the game of Go.

……

Various beautiful clouds are flying above the vast ocean. Riding the clouds are several tens Xiuxianists. The leader of them is none other than the top man of the Penglai Immortal Region -- Reverend Yan Xu. These people are the delegation the Penglai Immortal Region has sent to the Stellar Tower.

The opening day of the Stellar Tower is coming. Because the Penglai Immortal Region, the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon and the other places are all extremely far from the Stellar Tower, it will take them almost a half year to arrive even if they fly all the time. Therefore, they have had to set off even earlier than that. This is also the reason why at that time Qin Yu said that the opening ceremony would take place 3 years later.

Reverend Yan Xu is the leader. On either side of him, there is a young man with long, flaming red hair and a handsome young man with flowing, white hair.

“Reverend Yan Xu, that Stellar Tower is merely a power of underwater Xiuyaoists. Though it’s backed by a loose immortal … to make us go all the way to his mansion is really …” The young man with long flaming red hair says with a hint of disdain.

Most Xiuxianists are very disdainful of Xiuyaoists’ mansions and consider them low-class.

“Reverend Huo Tian, it goes without saying that Xiuyaoists have a bad taste in architecture and can only build things like palaces. How can their mansions compare to our wondrous lands? But they are undoubtedly powerful. Architecture is only an external thing. Nothing is as important as real power.” The white-haired young man says.

The long-flaming-red-haired young man says frowningly: “Reverend Di Feng, I only said that Xiuyaoist architecture is bad. I didn’t say they are weak. I find staying in that kind of place really offensive.”

“Reverend Huo Tian, Reverend Di Feng, you haven’t seen the Stellar Tower so please don’t comment at will.” Reverend Yan Xu says indifferently.

However, despite saying so, even he actually looks down on Xiuyaoists’ dwelling places.

To Xiuxianists and Xiumoists, they totally have the right to look down on Xiuyaoists when it comes to highly-skilled activities such as weapon forging, pill making and mansion building. The other Xiuxianists all begin to discuss with each other about how bad Xiuyaoists’ dwelling places are.

“We’ve arrived at the Stellar Tower.” Reverend Yan Xu says all of a sudden.

Every Xiuxianist immediately stops talking. This Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng look like young men but in fact they are just a little younger than Reverend Yan Xu. They are the grand elders of the Ziyang school and the Lanyang school respectively.

Reverend Yan Xu, Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng can be considered the real controllers of the Penglai Immortal Region.

The several tens Xiuxianists then dive into the ocean. The water at the places they go to is pushed back and therefore does not touch their bodies in the least. As a result, a passage through the water appears. In this way, these Xiuxianists fly extremely fast towards the Stellar Tower.


NOTE:

Reverend Di Feng and the Nine Demons Hall’s Di Feng have different surnames.

End of b7c14.

[wandering]

B7C15: 6 big bosses

Reverend Yan Xu, Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng lead several tens Xiuxianists rushing to the bottom of the ocean. As they go down, their elemental energy automatically pushes water away, creating a passage. In just a while, the Xiuxianists reach the bottom of the ocean and come into the Stellar Ridge, formerly called the Blood-red Ridge.

Reverend Yan Xu says indifferently: “Everybody, this place is the Stellar Ridge, a territory of the Stellar Tower. I hope all of you follow some rules. Otherwise, you’ll provoke the Stellar Tower, which will be real bad.”

“Don’t worry, Reverend. Of course we’ll remember this carefully.” Most of the other Xiuxianists say in agreement.

Reverend Huo Tian takes a look around then says smilingly: “Reverend Di Feng, you see, what I said is right, isn’t it? This Stellar Ridge has at least several hundred thousand Xiuyaoists but its architecture is very vulgar. Do they even know formations?”

In the Penglai Immortal Region, the Qingxu Temple is the leader while the Ziyang school and the Lanyang school are second only to it. Because Reverend Yan Xu is extremely powerful, the status of the Qingxu Temple is naturally unshakeable. However, the 2 grand elders of the Ziyang and Lanyang schools hate each other like fire and water.

Reverend Di Feng says with an indifferent smile: “Humph, you also know there are several hundred thousand Xiuyaoists here, right? The school with the most disciples in the Penglai Immortal Region got only several tens thousand Xiuxianists and we got barely more than 100,000 in total. None of the current underwater superpowers of Xiuyaoists is much weaker than us, and the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion are even a bit more powerful than us. Reverend Huo Tian, taste is not important. Real power is. Besides … I think your taste is not so good.”

“Di Feng, what did you say?!” Reverend Huo Tian immediately becomes furious.

The precious gown he is wearing was bestowed on him by the headquarters of the Ziyang school on the Teng Long continent. It looks very impressive and is definitely a treasure. He generally wears it on important occasions. However, Reverend Di Feng always says that this gown is too vulgar and low-class.

“What else could I say? Do you really think that gown of yours is a treasure …?” Reverend Di Feng gives a disdainful smirk.

“Gentlemen, if you want to fight then you should wait until we’ve returned.” Reverend Yan Xu’s voice turns cold. Both Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng give a cold humph immediately and stop talking to each other. The other Xiuxianists do not dare to chime in either. Before long, the Xiuxianists finally see the Stellar Tower in the distance.

The moment they see it, they are all dumbfounded. Their faces are full of disbelief.

In the distance, that Stellar Tower is radiating sunlight and moonlight. It is very dazzling at the bottom of the ocean, looking so attractive like a bright pearl. Its surging holy energy astonishes all of the Xiuxianists even more.

“This is the Stellar Tower?”

The Xiuxianists present cannot believe this. In their eyes, Xiuyaoists are barbarians because despite being powerful, they cannot compare with humans in architecture, weapon forging and pill making. However, the Stellar Tower up ahead …

The structures around the Stellar Tower are the living quarters for the guards, 30,000 guards. The Penglai Immortal Region has nothing comparable to this.

“Who are you, comers?!”

A company of 1000 Xiuyaoists in total is watching the outermost area. Its leader is none other than Wu Tong, a former guardian of the Blood-red Cave.

“We are guests from the Penglai Immortal Region who come here to congratulate the Stellar Tower in the opening ceremony. Please inform your superiors about us a bit, my fellow Xiuzhenist.” A disciple of the Qingxu Temple immediately takes out an identity card and says.

Wu Tong has already noticed that this group does not have a demonic aura. Moreover, he was told long ago that guests from the other 5 major powers would arrive soon so he has been able to guess who they are. As soon as he hears the answer, he says: “Please wait, my fellow Xiuzhenists. I’ll quickly go inform my superiors.”

Despite saying so, he curses inwardly: “Xiuxianists are just weird. Isn’t calling each other brothers instead of fellow Xiuzhenists neater?” Afterwards, Wu Tong rushes extremely fast towards the Stellar Tower. In just a while, Qin Yu and Hou Fei bring the 8 guardians out to personally welcome the guests. Hei Yu is the only one in the upper echelons of the Stellar Tower unwilling to come here.

“Ha-ha … my fellow Xiuzhenists.”

Qin Yu, dressed in a robe and smiling, leads the 8 guardians under him to greet the men from the Penglai Immortal Region.

“I am Qin Yu, the 1st master of the Stellar Tower. This is my brother Hou Fei, the 2nd master. And these are the 8 guardians of the Stellar Tower.” He looks at the Xiuxianists in front of him and briefly introduces his side to them.

Reverend Yan Xu immediately says with a smile: “So you are tower master Qin Yu. I am Reverend Yan Xu, the grand elder of the Qingxu Temple. This is Reverend Huo Tian of the Ziyang school. This is Reverend Di Qing of the Lanyang school. The others are our fellow Xiuzhenists who have come here with us. There is no need to introduce them one by one.”

“Reverend Yan Xu, Reverend Huo Tian, Reverend Di Feng.” Qin Yu salutes each of them then says smilingly: “Please follow me.”

He and Reverend Yan Xu go side by side. Hou Fei, Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng follow them closely. The 8 guardians and the other Xiuxianists go at the back. All of them thus fly straight towards the Stellar Tower in an imposing manner.

The nearer they come to the Stellar Tower, the more amazed Reverend Yan Xu and his men are.

Is this still a mansion of Xiuyaoists?

Perhaps even the best Xiuxianist mansions and lands are far inferior to it.

Qin Yu secretly observes the expression of every Xiuxianist and laughs in his mind: “It’s true that Xiuxianists look down on Xiuyaoist dwelling places.”

……

Inside the Stellar Tower, thanks to the Great Heavenly Stellar Formation, clouds and mists are everywhere, and there are various magnificent buildings, walkways and corridors. The whole place looks like a construction of immortals, which stuns all the Xiuxianists.

The holy energy here is so dense that it has turned into clouds and mists. This phenomenon also occurs in Xiuxian schools, but the thing is, the holy energy in the entire Stellar Tower is like that. This area is really too large. Moreover, there are also the morning glow, afterglow, starlight, moonlight, sunlight … here.

The sunlight, moonlight and starlight produced by the Great Heavenly Stellar Formation astonish the Xiuxianists present even more.

“My fellow Xiuzhenists, this place is called the Penglai Park. It is specially built to entertain you. Please come in and stay here. Should you need something, feel free to order those ladies-in-waiting as you please.” Qin Yu says smilingly.

However, the Xiuxianists have been shocked too much by the things they saw on the way, so they have not wakened up yet when he suddenly says this.

“My fellow Xiuzhenists, could it be … you are not satisfied with this place?” Qin Yu asks again.

“Ah, that’s not it.” Reverend Yan Xu’s eyes are filled with joy. “I have never seen such a wondrous place as this. Why would I be dissatisfied when it is a real delight to be able to enjoy such a magnificent place as the Stellar Tower?”

Reverend Di Feng also says smilingly: “Mr. Qin Yu, the wonderfulness of the Stellar Tower’s architecture has gone beyond our imaginations.” He suddenly looks at Reverend Huo Ting and says teasingly: “Reverend Huo Tian, didn’t you say this Stellar Tower …”

“Di Feng.”

Reverend Huo Tian says hurriedly. If Reverend Di Feng really says it out, he will lose a lot of face. Even though he is a haughty man, he cannot help admitting that this Stellar Tower has really exceeded his expectations. If compared to the Stellar Tower, the architecture of his own school will be low-class instead.

Reverend Di Feng gives a smile and stops talking.

……

The guests from the Azure Dragon Palace had already arrived long before the delegation of the Penglai Immortal Region came to this place. As time goes by, the representatives of the Blue Water Mansion, the Nine Demons Hall and the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon also arrive within a half month. Now the representatives of the other 5 major powers are all here.

Normal caves are not eligible to attend the opening ceremony of the Stellar Tower. Only the other 5 major powers can come and congratulate the Stellar Tower on this.

A few days later, on the opening day,

In the Sun Moon Hall of the Stellar Tower,

The area of this hall is extremely large. Several tens banqueting tables have been arranged in the hall. The guests from the other 5 major powers are all astonished because there are countless brilliant stars above their heads. Many beautiful ladies-in-waiting then bring out one delicacy after another. The experts of the overseas Xiuzhen world are all very happy.

There are some distances between the innermost table and the others.

This table has only 6 individuals, Azure Dragon, Old Freak Three-Eyed, Reverend Yan Xu, Yi Da, Qin Yu and Di Long. These are absolutely the no. 1 figures of the 6 powers. Hou Fei, Hei Yu, Di Jian, Teng Shan, Lou Ke, Reverend Di Feng, Reverend Huo Ting, Situ Xue and the like all sit at another table.

“Today is the opening of brother Qin Yu’s tower. Let’s drink a toast to tower master Qin Yu, everybody.” Azure Dragon is the first to raise a goblet.

Immediately, Old Freak Three-Eyed, Reverend Yan Xu, Yi Da and Di Long also raise their goblets to congratulate Qin Yu, who raises his goblet and responds modestly. Afterwards, the 6 of them drink up the goblets in one gulp and begin to discuss enthusiastically with each other. They mostly talk about some unimportant matters.

These 6 can be considered the 6 big bosses of the overseas Xiuzhen world and can totally represent the overseas Xiuzhen world. Perhaps an ordinary man would not be able to imagine that such 6 important figures are only talking about some scandals and funny stories together.

“Brother Qin Yu, let me ask you a question. If you can answer correctly, I’ll give you 3 holy weapons. What do you think?” Azure Dragon, slightly drunk, says smilingly to Qin Yu.

Now Qin Yu is no longer as ceremonious as he was in the beginning: “3 pieces? Alright, at that time don’t go back on your words. Now feel free to ask me.”

Azure Dragon gives a ha-ha laugh then says: “You should already know Yi Da’s nickname, right? Purple-haired Dungeon King! Do you know why he got it?”

Qin Yu takes a look at this Purple-haired Dungeon King Yi Da then immediately says: “Brother Yi Da is the no. 1 man of the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon so naturally he’s called Dungeon King. And he’s got purple hair so he’s called Purple-haired Dungeon King. Am I wrong?”

“Wrong!”

Azure Dragon shouts at once. Afterwards, he laughs out loud complacently: “I knew you would guess wrong.”

Yi Da slowly puts his goblet down and raises his droopy pupils, looking at Azure Dragon. The purple light in his pupils makes him look very strange: “Azure Dragon, I’ve noticed that you always talk about me. In the opening of the Nine Demons Hall that day, you also talked about me, right?”

Reverend Yan Xu says with a warm smile on his face: “Don’t argue with Azure Dragon, Yi Da. It’s not like you don’t know his character either.”

“Overlord Azure Dragon, you haven’t told me why brother Yi Da got the nickname Purple-haired Dungeon King.” Qin Yu immediately presses.

However, Old Freak Three-Eyed says: “I’ll tell you. In the past, Jiao Jiu and Situ Xue fought each other to become the no. 1 Xiumoist in the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon. Yi Da got no school, no faction and no backing but he captured Jiao Jiu and Situ Xue then put them in jail for 3 whole years. He didn’t talk to them either. Only after 3 years did he ask them if they accepted him as the top man of the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon.”

Qin Yu is startled.

Azure Dragon laughs out loud and says: “This Yi Da fella’s got a strange habit. After capturing someone, he’ll seal up the opponent’s power and put them in jail for a several years before talking to them. It’s only because he likes to lock people up that some experts called him Dungeon King.”

Yi Da drinks a goblet then says grimly: “I hate talking nonsense with other people the most so I sealed up their power and locked them up for 3 years. Loneliness alone could make them go mad. After 3 years, if they hadn’t agreed to do what I told them, I would’ve locked them up for 10 or 20 more years.”

Qin Yu is astounded.

After their power is sealed up, the opponent will not even be able to do closed-door training. To be locked up all the time with nobody to talk to is really a painful experience.

“Before Yi Da, the no. 1 experts of the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon were called Devil King. He’s the only one who is called Dungeon King.” Old Freak Three-Eyed says smilingly. There is a note of praise in his words. It is very clear that he approves of Yi Da’s actions a lot.

Di Long, however, is drinking in low sprits on one side.

Originally there were 9 brothers in the Nine Demons Hall but 5 are already dead. The Nine Demons Hall has suffered a huge loss of power so naturally its status has declined in the eyes of the other powers.

These bosses keep discussing each other’s affairs at will. After a long time, Reverend Yan Xu suddenly waves his hands. His elemental energy surges forth and forms a restrictive spell around them. The other 5 look at him doubtfully right away.

Reverend Yan Xu says smilingly: “Everybody, I cast this spell because I have something important to discuss with you a bit.”

“Say, what’s the matter that you want to keep it secret like this?” Azure Dragon says with a smile.

Yi Da gives Reverend Yan Xu a cold look. The others say nothing and quietly wait for Reverend Yan Xu to talk.

He says smilingly: “Everybody here represents all the powers of the overseas Xiuzhen world. Now I want to discuss a matter related to the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion with you.”

Azure Dragon, Old Freak Three-Eyed, Yi Da, Qin Yu and Di Long immediately put their cups down and begin to listen to him attentively.

Reverend Yan Xu looks at Qin Yu: “Tower master Qin Yu, the 8th jade sword is in your hands, isn’t it?”

Qin Yu feels doubtful. What does Reverend Yan Xu want to talk about? He suddenly remembers what Azure Dragon told him when the delegation of the Azure Dragon Palace first arrived in the Stellar Tower: “Brother Qin Yu, the legendary 9 Swords have 9 swords altogether. And the Penglai Immortal Region is the power that wants to have another sword the most. The Penglai Immortal Region has many schools and 3 major schools but they’ve got only 1 sword so it’s a little hard for them to allocate it.”

“Yes, it is. I wonder why you asked me about this.” Qin Yu has put his mind on alert.

Reverend Yan Xu says with a nod: “As far as I know, my Penglai Immortal Region has the 1st jade sword, the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon has the 3rd and 5th swords, the Azure Dragon Palace has the 4th and 7th swords, the Blue Water Mansion has the 2nd sword, the Nine Demons Hall has the 6th sword and the Stellar Tower has the 8th sword. Am I right, everybody?”

The leaders of the other 5 powers nod.

“Therefore I hope all of you let me borrow your jade swords to use a bit!” Reverend Yan Xu says smilingly.

End of b7c15.

[wandering]

B7C16: Location of the 9th jade sword

Reverend Yan Xu looks like a nice old man but when he says this, he immediately makes the other 5 jump. He has unexpectedly asked to borrow the others’ jade swords, but can these jade swords be lent easily?

“Have you gone gaga, Yan Xu? Who among us didn’t have to try every means and risk his life to get a jade sword? But now you absurdly want to borrow our swords all at once. Have you gone bonkers?” Azure Dragon says frowningly.

Di Long says in an ice-cold voice: “Reverend Yan Xu, this is a very serious matter. I can’t agree.” Without asking for a reason, he has declined immediately.

Yi Da twirls the end of his hair with his fingers and says with a cold laugh: “Reverend Yan Xu, you’d best explain the matter clearly. The jade swords aren’t like the other holy weapons. You secretly obtained the 9th sword, didn’t you? And so you want to borrow our swords then go find the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion alone?”

“No, of course that’s not it.”

Seeing that everybody’s manner has changed greatly, Reverend Yan Xu immediately says with a smile: “My Penglai Immortal Region hasn’t obtained the 9th sword either. Therefore I want to borrow your swords to find its location.”

“Oh?” Qin Yu says frowningly: “Reverend Yan Xu, you mean … you want to gather the other 8 swords to find the location of the 9th sword?” He has heard that if holy weapons are forged together, they are telepathically linked to each other in general. Using some secret technique, it is possible to make a jade sword go find others.

“Yes, that’s what I mean.”

Reverend Yan Xu hurriedly says: “Nobody knows where this 9th sword is. Because 8 swords have appeared, I think we’d better save time by using these 8 swords to find the location of the last sword.”

Qin Yu, Azure Dragon, Old Freak Three-Eyed, Yi Da and Di Long, who just now did not agree, all become silent.

After a while, Qin Yu says smilingly with a nod: “Reverend Yan Xu, since you’ve got this secret searching method, I’ll help you with my limited power. When the time comes, I’m going to lend you my sword once. However … you’d best execute your searching method in my Stellar Tower and don’t run away with the sword.”

Right after Qin Yu said so, Azure Dragon also says loudly: “Lending you my jade swords is no problem, but this’ll only be possible when you execute your searching method. Besides, you must do it in the Stellar Tower and in front of everybody. If you attempt to run away with the swords then don’t blame us for joining forces to deal with you.”

Reverend Yan Xu does not mind at all and says smilingly: “Please don’t worry, Overlord Azure Dragon. I don’t have a death wish. I’m not even a match for just you, let alone the 5 of you.”

“I can guarantee all of you that I’ll execute this method in the Stellar Tower, in the Penglai Park where I’m staying. You can wait until that time to let me use your jade swords a bit.” Reverend Yan Xu tells the other 5.

Hearing this, even Di Long, who a moment ago did not agree, ponders for a while then nods his head.

“All right, since you’ve all agreed, I’ll tell you in general terms about the process of finding the 9th sword.” Reverend Yan Xu explains.

“This secret method of mine can make our 8 swords sense the location of the 9th sword and then fly towards it. We’ll only need to fly after our 8 swords to find the location of the 9th sword.”

Azure Dragon, Qin Yu, Old Freak Three-Eyed, Di Long and Yi Da all frown.

At first they thought that Reverend Yan Xu would only use their swords for a while but now they know that they will also have to let the swords fly in the direction of the 9th sword. Does this not mean they will have to fly after the swords?

“Who knows where the 9th sword is? If it is hidden at the bottom of a certain sea, who knows how many years we’ll need to find it? Only by relying on our 8 swords can we find the 9th sword much more easily.” Reverend Yan Xu persuades.

The other 5 are all considering. Qin Yu laughs in his mind: “The 9th jade sword? The most important thing is still the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. With just one jade sword, I already have the right to go into the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. I’m not greedy either, going in for a stroll will do me, so what’s the point of having another sword?”

He immediately says loudly in agreement: “Reverend Yan Xu has thought it over for the benefit of everybody. I agree with him in this matter. Otherwise, who knows when we’ll find the 9th sword?”

Hearing Qin Yu’s words of approval, Reverend Yan Xu is delighted at once.

Now he likes Qin Yu even more because Qin Yu has been the first to agree with his suggestions twice.

Yi Da says coldly: “I’ve got no objection to this.”

After considering for a long time, Azure Dragon, Old Freak Three-Eyed and Di Long also agree.

“Good, I have to return and make preparations. Tomorrow everybody should just go to the Penglai Park directly. When the time comes, I’m going to execute my secret method and we’re going to go find the 9th sword’s location together.” Reverend Yan Xu says with a smile.

……

The next day, several tens individuals gather in the Penglai Park of the Stellar Tower.

The 6 powers have from 2 to 5 members here each. All of them are the cores of the 6 powers. Today’s matter is really too important so they cannot afford to let any mishaps happen.

“Hey, Reverend Yan Xu, can you start now? We’re feeling very bored here.” Beside Qin Yu, Hou Fei says impatiently.

At the moment, Reverend Yan Xu is sitting with legs crossed motionlessly in midair. He is not setting up formations or doing anything and just keeps sitting this way quietly. Hou Fei really cannot stand watching this anymore so he has spoken out.

Reverend Yan Xu opens his eyes, shooting out a brilliant blue light.

“Gentlemen, everything is now ready. Please lend me your jade swords first so that I can execute my secret method.” Nobody knows why Reverend Yan Xu was sitting with legs crossed and eyes closed just now, but everybody focus their attention upon hearing these words.

A jade sword appears in Reverend Yan Xu’s hand. It is the jade sword of the Penglai Immortal Region.

“Everybody, please lend me your jade swords. What’s up? You’re regretting it?” Reverend Yan Xu says smilingly. Even though they have reached an agreement, now nobody is willing to be the first to lend him a jade sword.

Azure Dragon says solemnly: “Yan Xu, you should know how important these jade swords are to me. Don’t ever try to pull any tricks. If anything unexpected happens then don’t blame me for being merciless. All right, take them.” He reaches out a hand and 2 jade swords shoot out.

Reverend Yan Xu reaches out his hand. Those 2 jade swords immediately come into his hand. “Please don’t worry, Azure Dragon. At this time, how could I dare to try any funny stuff?”

“I hope you remember your words.” Azure Dragon focuses his entire attention on Reverend Yan Xu.

Qin Yu says smilingly: “Reverend Yan Xu, the formation of my Stellar Tower was set up by my uncle personally. It’s the long lost, legendary Great Heavenly Stellar Formation. Once it’s really activated, you’ll have absolutely no way to get out.”

After saying so, he throws Reverend Yan Xu his jade sword.

Even though he has only briefly introduced the Great Heavenly Stellar Formation, he has frightened Reverend Yan Xu.

He does not worry in the least that he has offended the others. Reverend Yan Xu, Yi Da and the like are all old hands and very cunning. Knowing that he is backed by that super expert, they naturally will not dare to cheat him at will.

“Great Heavenly Stellar Formation?” Di Long frowns. “Tower master Qin Yu, to put it nicely, your Stellar Tower is a wonderland, but frankly, it’s also a dead trap. If you want do something to us then …”

Di Jian and Di Xu, who have come here with him, also look coldly at Qin Yu. Although they do not dare to take revenge on Qin Yu anymore, they are still hostile to Qin Yu.

Old Freak Three-Eyed says with a cold laugh: “Shut your mouth, Di Long. If Qin Yu really wanted to kill you, perhaps you and your remaining brothers would’ve lost your lives on the black rock island that day. Why should he be troubling himself like this?”

Old Freak Three-Eyed and Azure Dragon both know that Uncle Lan is formidable so they treat Qin Yu very well.

“Don’t waste time. We better find the 9th sword quickly.” Yi Da shouts.

Everybody immediately stops talking and gives Reverend Yan Xu their jade swords one by one.

“Qin Yu, what are you doing?” Miss Li’er voice suddenly rises. She smilingly walks up and watches what is going on in front of her. Seeing the 8 jade swords, she slightly closes her eyes for a moment then opens them again. Now her eyes radiate wisdom.

“On the Qian Long continent?”

Li’er murmurs softly to herself.

Hearing her voice, Qin Yu no longer cares about how Reverend Yan Xu executes that secret method. He immediately turns around and walks towards her, saying: “Li’er, what did you just murmur?”

“Nothing.” She says with a shake of her head.

Qin Yu leads her walking into a pavilion. The 2 of them then sit down. He is simply not worried that Reverend Yan Xu will dare to do something dishonest. After all, when so many experts like Azure Dragon are watching, why should he be worried that Reverend Yan Xu will dare to pull some trick?

“What is that Xiuxianist doing, Qin Yu?” Li’er points at Reverend Yan Xu, who is floating in midair.

Qin Yu turns his head around to take a look. At the moment, Reverend Yan Xu is being surrounded by the 8 swords, which are shooting out 8 beams of light. They are totally connected to Reverend Yan Xu’s body by these beams of light. Reverend Yan Xu is making various mystical hand signs unceasingly.

“He is finding the location of the 9th jade sword.” Qin Yu does not hide this from her.

“The 9th jade sword?” Li’er slightly frowns.

Qin Yu says smilingly: “There was once an extremely formidable immortal, not a loose immortal, but a real immortal descending to the mortal world from the immortal one. Judging from this, you can tell that this immortal was so powerful.”

“If this immortal could descend to the mortal world from the immortal world on their own, they should have been an extremely formidable figure in the immortal world.” Li’er says with a nod.

Qin Yu says in agreement: “This immortal left behind a Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. The keys are 9 jade swords. Now we’ve obtained 8 swords and only the last one is still missing. Today this Reverend Yan Xu is using a secret method to sense the location of the 9th sword through these 8 swords.”

Li’er says with brightening eyes: “This seems interesting. Qin Yu, when you go search for the 9th sword, can I go with you to have a look?”

Qin Yu says frowningly: “You can, but when we go find it, those jade swords will fly very fast. You’re only at the Jindan stage so your flying speed …” He has never seen Miss Li’er real flying speed.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got a special magic power and it’s related to speed.” There is a hint of proud on Li’er’s face.

“All right, then I want to see how fast a little girl at the Jindan stage like you can be.” Qin Yu says jokingly.

Li’er says very confidently: “Fine, you’ll see my speed at that time.”

When Qin Yu and Li’er are chatting to each other, large beads of sweat have appeared all over Reverend Yan Xu’s head. Finally, his secret method has been successfully executed. 8 streams of sword energy shoot into the sky. At the same time, Reverend Yan Xu says loudly: “Everybody, my secret method has succeeded. These 8 swords will immediately fly towards the 9th sword. All you have to do is follow them.”

“Let’s go, Qin Yu.” Li’er stands up right away.

Qin Yu follows her going towards Hou Fei and the crowd.

Indeed, after a while, those 8 swords unexpectedly begin fly up. Everybody flies after them on their flying sword without delay.

“No need to worry, everyone, I can control the flying speed of these swords. But if you’re too weak and too slow then you should just quit because I’m going to make them fly at the speed of a middle Dongxu stage Xiuxianist.” Reverend Yan Xu says in a loud and clear voice.

The speed of a middle Dongxu stage Xiuxianist is not a problem to the 6 major powers. “Zhuang Zhong, you take care everything in the Stellar Tower well, I and 2nd and 3rd masters are going on a trip now.” Qin Yu gives Zhuang Zhong on one side an order.

“Yes, tower master.”

Zhuang Zhong, however, is secretly happy. When the 3 tower masters have left, he will be the one with the most authority in the Stellar Tower. But he will not dare to revolt either because word has spread that Qin Yu and Hou Fei are so powerful that they have even killed several majesties of the Nine Demons Hall. Moreover, Qin Yu is even supported by that unfathomable Uncle Lan.

4 members of the Stellar Tower set out this time, including Qin Yu, Miss Li’er, fun-loving Hou Fei and Hei Yu, who just wants to go with Qin Yu.

The Azure Dragon Palace, Blue Water Mansion, Penglai Immortal Region, Nine Demons Hall and Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon all set out with 4 - 5 members each. All of them fly after the 8 swords extremely fast. After getting out of the Stellar Tower, the 8 swords unexpectedly fly north directly.

“I never thought it was to the north of the Stellar Tower. This is really a shock.” Azure Dragon laughs out loud.

At the moment, the 8 swords are flying side by side, followed by several tens individuals. Except for Li’er, all of them have at least reached the middle Dongxu stage.

Qin Yu is flying on his sword. Li’er is flying on the air on one side of him. Even so, she is easily keeping up with the others’ flying speed.

“Li’er, your speed …” Qin Yu is dumbfounded.

Flying on air is much slower than flying on a sword. However, Jindan stage Li’er is unexpectedly going as fast as Qin Yu and the others with ease flying on the air. No wonder she is so confident.

“Didn’t I say earlier that I was very confident in my speed?” Li’er gives a brilliant smile.

Hou Fei, who is sitting on his thick black stick on one side, swings his tail and blinks a couple of times, muttering: “Monster, sis Li’er is really a monster. How can you be so fast at the Jindan stage?”

Qin Yu cannot help smiling.

Everybody keeps flying in a relaxed manner northwards. After a long time, the huge Qian Long continent appears in the distance. Qin Yu’s entire mind becomes slightly excited: “Impossible! It can’t be on the Qian Long continent!”

At this very moment, various images flash through his mind.

They include the images of him watching the stars at the top of Mount Donglan late at night as a kid, the images of him training hard while being scolded by Master Zhao Yunxing, the images of him practicing external techniques alone, the images of him killing for the first time as assassin Liu Xing, the images of him risking his life against Wu Xing next to a 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation, the images of him fighting Xiang Yang to the death …

“It’s time I returned and saw father.”

When Qin Yu sees this familiar continent, those feelings hidden at the bottom of his hearts begin to surge.

The several tens top experts of the overseas Xiuzhen world thus have arrived in the Qian Long continent …

End of b7c16.

End of book 7.

[wandering]

Book 8: The return of Qin Yu

B8C1: Going home

The Qian Long continent has a huge population.

Qin Yu and his group of several tens Xiuzhenists are flying through the clouds.

Far below them, the air is filled with cooking smoke and there are countless silhouettes of people. Compared to the boundless oceans, the Qian Long continent really has too many people. Here, there are tens of thousands of people in a town, and a big city even has hundreds of thousands of people.

“This is the Ming dynasty of the 3 big dynasties on the Qian Long continent.”

Qin Yu takes a deep breath. Even though he is flying through the clouds, given the keenness of his six senses, he can still feel that so familiar earthy smell. In the ocean, he simply cannot breathe in this kind of earthy smell. This is the smell of home.

“Big brother.” Hei Yu looks at Qin Yu with brilliant eyes. Qin Yu cannot help but smile at him.

In the past, Qin Yu and Hei Yu, a kid and a young eagle, walked the same path and stuck together through thick and thin. Afterwards, they left the Qian Long continent and made waves in the underwater Xiuyao world. It has been nearly 10 years and today Qin Yu and Hei Yu have returned.

“What’s the matter, Qin Yu?” Li’er asks softly.

Qin Yu says with a smile: “This is my home. My home is the Qian Long continent. Now below us is the Ming dynasty of the 3 big dynasties. My family is in the Qin dynasty.” He does not hide anything and is not afraid of the Xiuzhenists around him hearing either.

The members of the Azure Dragon Palace, the Blue Water Mansion, the Penglai Immortal Region and the other powers all give him a look.

These Xiuzhenists all have exceptionally good hearing so naturally they have heard those words. In their eyes, Qin Yu is the master of the Stellar Tower, an overlord in the underwater Xiuyao world, but … Qin Yu is from the Qian Long continent?

“What? Everybody is very curious, right? Oh, I forgot to tell you that I’m not a demonic beast. I’m a human.”

Qin Yu looks at the Xiuzhenists present and says in an indifferent and leisurely manner.

They are all startled. They already suspected this when they heard Qin Yu say he was from the Qian Long continent a moment ago. Now that Qin Yu has openly revealed it, they are totally sure that he is a human.

“Why is everybody looking at me? Could it be a human can’t stay in the underwater Xiuyao world? Besides, my 2nd brother Hou Fei is a divine beast. Could you be thinking that I’m not qualified to be the master of the Stellar Tower?” Qin Yu casts a somewhat cold glance at them.

Azure Dragon laughs out loud and says: “Ha-ha … I really admire you, brother Qin Yu. You’re a human but you dared to come into the underwater Xiuyao world. However, there’s actually little difference between Xiuyaoists, Xiuxianists and Xiumoists. It doesn’t matter what kind of Xiuzhenist you are, as long as you’re powerful, who would dare to doubt your eligibility to be the tower master?”

“Three-Eyed, you got any doubts?”

With his green hair fluttering, Grand Founder Three-Eyed says smilingly: “Doubt what? Brother Qin Yu alone is strong enough. Also, his brother Hou Fei is a divine beast. They undoubtedly deserve to be the Stellar Tower’s masters.”

When the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion of the other 3 underwater major powers have said so, could the Nine Demons Hall still dare to call this into question?

“You’re indeed brave, tower master Qin Yu. I admire you. I really do.” Di Long says ambiguously, but Di Jian and the others say nothing.

Seeming not to notice Di Long’s mocking tone, Qin Yu says with a nod: “This Qian Long continent is my territory. I can be considered the boss here so I certainly got to do my best to welcome you. First, let me introduce the Qian Long continent to everybody a bit.”

“Then I have to thank you, tower master Qin Yu.” Reverend Yan Xu says with a smile.

Yi Da also looks at Qin Yu with curiosity.

Qin Yu says smilingly: “This Qian Long continent is divided into 3 big dynasties, the Qin dynasty, the Ming dynasty and the Han dynasty. Each of them has several billion people, and when put together, they have a shocking population of 10 billion.”

“10 billion!” Azure Dragon exclaims. “Mortals are really numerous. Though the overseas Xiuzhen world is much larger than this Qian Long continent, it’s got fewer than 10 million Xiuzhenists. But the number of mortals here is near 10 billion.”

Reverend Yan Xu says with a smile: “Mortals are numerous but they’re too weak. They’re simply not in the same league as us Xiuzhenists.”

“You’re right, Reverend Yan Xu. 10 billion? Humph, if we really want to massacre them all, just 100 Xiuzhenists will be enough. We can definitely annihilate this continent’s population.” A large man from the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon says. This man has long, completely blood-red hair.

Yi Da says with a cold humph: “Jiao Jiu, you can massacre them if you want your Yanmo school to be destroyed.”

This time Yi Da brings Jiao Jiu and Situ Xue with him. These 2 people have both reached the early Kongming stage and they are the ones locked up in prison by Yi Da for 3 whole years in the past.

“I’m just saying.” Jiao Jiu grumbles.

Qin Yu continues: “The Qian Long continent has many mortals, but it also has many demonic beasts. In the east of this continent, there’s a massive wilderness with a great number of demonic beasts. The deeper you go into it, the tougher the demonic beasts you’ll see are. The deep parts of this wilderness may even have Dujie stage and Dacheng stage demonic beasts.”

He is not bullshitting with these words at all.

According to a book talking about this wilderness left behind by Lei Wei, even Lei Wei did not dare to venture into the deep parts of the wilderness. It can be seen from this that those parts have formidable demonic beasts because, after all, Lei Wei was an expert capable of killing Dacheng stage Xiuxianists.

“Dujie stage? Dacheng stage?”

The faces of Azure Dragon, Grand Founder Three-Eyed, Reverend Yan Xu, Yi Da and the others change color greatly.

If there are Dujie stage and Dacheng stage demonic beasts, this group of Xiuzhenists will have absolutely no way to deal with them.

“Are you sure about this, brother Qin Yu? This isn’t something you can joke about.” Azure Dragon says solemnly to Qin Yu. He has heard that the Qian Long continent’s wilderness has demonic beasts, but because the overseas Xiuzhen world has always looked down on a continent of mortals like the Qian Long continent so he has thought that they are merely some normal demonic beasts.

However, today Qin Yu has unexpectedly said that there are Dujie stage and Dacheng stage demonic beasts in the wilderness.

“Of course I am.” Qin Yu says seriously: “This matter is recorded in the books of my school.”

This is indeed recorded in the books of Qin Yu’s school, but Azure Dragon and the others immediately link his school with Uncle Lan.

“If so, this is most probably true.” They immediately become serious.

Azure Dragon is the most powerful in the overseas Xiuzhen world. As a divine beast of the early Kongming stage, he is comparable to an early Dujie stage Xiuxianist. However, the Wilderness has Dujie stage and Dacheng stage demonic beasts and, moreover, the top demonic beasts are generally divine beasts.

“If there are Dujie stage and Dacheng stage divine beasts, then …” When Azure Dragon thinks to this point, his heart trembles with fear.

Immediately, this group of Xiuzhenists from the overseas Xiuzhen world is frightened.

“Ha-ha, don’t worry too much, everybody. In this wilderness, we’ll see stronger demonic beasts as we go deeper. As long as we don’t go deep and provoke those formidable demonic beasts, we’ll be okay, right? So, why worry like that?” Qin Yu advises.

“Bunch of cowards.” Yi Da says with a cold humph.

Azure Dragon gives him a cold look: “Yi Da, only a fool is mindlessly brave.”

Even though Azure Dragon is the no. 1 expert of the overseas Xiuzhen world, Yi Da is still a late Kongming stage Xiumoist so the difference in power between them is not big at all. Moreover, Yi Da has very strange offense so he does not fear Azure Dragon in the least.

“Let’s not argue, gentlemen. We’ve come here to search for the 9th jade sword and definitely not to fight the wilderness’s demonic beasts.” Reverend Yan Xu says smilingly.

After these words were said, everybody relaxes immediately.

“Ha-ha, that’s right. Why worry, everybody? We’ve come here only to find the 9th jade sword. What does the formidability of the demonic beasts deep in the wilderness have to do with us?” Lou Ke on one side of Grand Founder Three-Eyed laughs out loud and says.

Everybody keeps discussing while flying extremely fast.

“The Qin dynasty, we’ve arrived in the Qin dynasty.”

Qin Yu’s eyes glisten.

“Qin Yu, you said your home is in the Qin dynasty. Do you want to go home?” Li’er says with a smile: “If you’ve reached your homeland, you should go home to take a look first. Perhaps your family will be very excited to see you.”

Qin Yu looks at one city after another and one town after another then says with a shake of his head: “My father and family should be in the Qin dynasty but I don’t know exactly where they are now. Perhaps I only know where my 2nd brother is.”

Qin Zheng is the reigning emperor of the Qin dynasty so he should be in the Imperial Palace unless some serious incident has happened.

“Don’t be anxious, brother Qin Yu. Let’s go find the 9th sword first. We’ll see the result very soon, in just a couple of days. After that, it won’t be late for you to go back and meet your family again.” Azure Dragon laughs out loud and says. Suddenly he says frowningly: “Qin Yu, how long has it been since you joined your school and started to practice? Are your mortal parents still living?”

Qin Yu is startled.

“You’re wrong, Overlord Azure Dragon. My father is also a Xiuzhenist.” He explains.

Azure Dragon understands right away.

The group keeps heading east directly.

“We’re in the 3 Eastern region counties but still going east. Could it be the 9th jade sword is in the Wilderness?” Qin Yu says frowningly.

Hearing this, the other several tens Xiuzhenists all frown. Everybody looks at the 8 swords and sees them continue flying east straight without any hesitation. After some time, the 3 Eastern region counties have been left behind.

As soon as the group crosses the boundary of the Wilderness, they feel a sharp rise in holy energy density.

“This wilderness seems to be a good place too.” Azure Dragon exclaims.

Qin Yu immediately says loudly: “Everybody, the power of the demonic beasts in this wilderness isn’t something to look down upon. Last time I encountered 2 divine beasts near its edge so all of you must be careful.”

“2 divine beasts?” Azure Dragon frowns. Divine beasts are highly gifted and progress extremely fast in practice. “There are 2 divine beasts near the edge, then how many divine beasts are there in this entire wilderness? Since when have divine beasts become so easy to find?”

Hou Fei says: “Kaka, are you afraid, Azure Dragon? But the density of demonic beasts in this wilderness is really much higher than in the overseas Xiuzhen world so we’d better be careful and fly a bit slower.”

Everybody cannot help slowing down. After all, this is the Wilderness.

“Oh?”

Qin Yu has noticed that prairie where he met a Dragon Rocky lion in the past. Not far from the Dragon Rocky lion, there was a divine beast Hong Luan. However, at the moment he cannot detect the existence of those divine beasts. That prairie is also no longer devoid of demonic beasts as before.

Now that prairie is full of demonic beasts and wild beasts.

“Where has the Dragon Rocky lion gone?” Qin Yu is very doubtful. It has been only 10 years, but both the Dragon Rocky lion and the Hong Luan have unexpectedly disappeared.

All of a sudden --

“What’s happening to the jade swords?” Everybody notices that the 8 flying swords are starting to shake, seeming to be affected by something. They then look as if they want to fly in different directions. At the same time, the whirr of the shaking becomes louder.

Reverend Yan Xu shouts at once: “Everybody, this wilderness is very mysterious. My secret method is no longer effective here. Let’s take back our own swords quickly.”

The 6 bosses take back their own jade swords right away.

“What happened, Yan Xu?” Azure Dragon shouts.

Reverend Yan Xu also says doubtfully with a shake of his head: “Actually I’m not sure what happened either. In theory, these 8 swords should fly in the same direction until they reach the location of the 9th jade sword. But … just now they unexpectedly wanted to fly in different directions. This is absurd. There is only one 9th jade sword and it must be at one place, so why did these 8 swords want to fly in different directions?”

Hearing this, everybody knows what went wrong.

The 9th jade sword must be in one direction, but why did the other 8 swords want to fly in different directions?

“Now the only way to find it is … to quickly gather a large number of Xiuzhenists to this place then tell them to search every piece of land with their holy senses.” Grand Founder Three-Eyed says coldly.

At the moment, both he and Azure Dragon are very frustrated.

Because the Stellar Tower is nearest the Qian Long continent, in the past they gave Qin Yu 2 caves each. These caves are next to the Stellar Tower and also next to the Qian Long continent.

The Wilderness is immense and is covered with countless large forests, mountain ranges and ravines so if these several tens Xiuzhenists search by themselves, who knows when they will find the 9th sword? Now they can only rely on their subordinates.

Azure Dragon, Grand Founder Three-Eyed, Di Long, Yi Da and Reverend Yan Xu take out their transmitters almost simultaneously and begin to order their respective subordinates to hurry to the Qian Long continent.

From now on, large forces from the overseas Xiuzhen world are going to gather on the Qian Long continent so naturally there is bound to be a storm here.

“Everybody, I got to go home first. This Qin dynasty is my homeland. If any of you wants to look around, I can arrange for someone to help you.”

Qin Yu says smilingly to the other Xiuzhenists.

All of these top figures of the overseas Xiuzhen world immediately bid farewell to him and say that they will come to visit him and sightsee the Qian Long continent when they have time. After that, Qin Yu flies towards the Qin dynasty with Li’er, Hou Fei and Hei Yu.

“Father, I’m back.” Qin Yu cannot suppress the excitement on his face.

Li’er says smilingly: “Look at you, Qin Yu. You’re smiling so big that you look like a clown. Right, when you meet your father, how are you going to introduce us?”

“Fei Fei and Xiao Hei will naturally be my brothers. As for you, big younger sister? It’s no good. I’d better … My father is very wise so he should be able to associate you with me. There should be no need for me to introduce you. I’m a little shy, you know.” Qin Yu says deliberately. Right afterwards, he speeds up, flying through the air extremely fast like a beam of light.

Li’er becomes both shy and angry. She immediately chases after him with a movement of her feet.

“Let go of me! It really hurts!” Qin Yu’s painful cries resound …

End of b8c1.

[wandering]

B8C2: 3 brothers’ reunion

Qin Yu, Li’er, Hou Fei and Hei Yu fly without stopping. First they pass Yan City then they pass Misty Villa. However, on the way Qin Yu does not see any of his close relatives. Therefore Qin Yu is now heading straight for the Imperial Palace.

“Junior sister, junior sister, okay?”

Under Li’er’s ‘oppression’, he finally yields.

“This is about right.” Li’er’s face relaxes into a smile. “All right, why haven’t you called your subordinates in? The other 5 powers have all already told their forces to come and search for the 9th sword.”

Qin Yu says smilingly: “I’m not worried that I’m taking time either as my Stellar Tower is nearest the Qian Long continent. Forget it. I better send 10,000 guards to this place.” He takes out a transmitter and immediately messages the manager of the Stellar Tower -- Zhuang Zhong.

……

In the Stellar Tower,

Zhuang Zhong is being served by ladies-in-waiting and leisurely eating the fruits presented by various caves, feeling extremely comfortable.

Suddenly --

He frowningly takes out a transmitter and makes a sweep with his holy sense.

“Zhuang Zhong, tell 4 guardians, Yan Rui, Liang Tan, Wu Yan and Xu Dong, to take 10 companies, 10,000 guards in total, to hurry to the Qian Long continent as fast as possible.” Seeing this order sent by Qin Yu, Zhuang Zhong makes a roll and gets up.

He first sends a reply to Qin Yu then hurriedly shouts an order.

“This is a call-up. All of the guardians and company leaders quickly go to the Sun Moon Hall without delay!” After saying so loudly, he hurriedly changes into a different set of clothes and rushes to the Sun Moon Hall extremely fast.

In the Sun Moon Hall,

The 8 guardians and 30 company leaders have gathered.

With a solemn expression, Zhuang Zhong says loudly: “Tower master has given an order.”

The 8 guardians and 30 company leaders immediately bow, waiting for the order.

“Guardians Yan Rui, Liang Tan, Wu Yan and Xu Dong take 10,000 guards, including the 1st to the 10th companies, to quickly head for the Qian Long continent and then wait for tower master’s orders. No delay is allowed. Set off immediately!”

Zhuang Zhong shouts solemnly.

“Yes sir!”

Yan Rui and the other 3 guardians and the leaders of those 10 companies bow and shout obediently. Afterwards they turn around and prepare to start out.

Zhuang Zhong and the others also go out of the Stellar Tower and stand near the main gate. At the moment, various groups of guards are flying out from the guard quarters. In just a while, a large area at the bottom of the ocean has become thickly dotted with guards. They are none other than the members of those 10 companies.

They immediately stand firmly in midair in 10 long lines. The 10 leaders of the companies stand at the front of the lines and the 4 guardians are in front of them all.

“Start!”

Yan Rui is the leader among the 8 guardians so she is naturally the leader of this operation. After that order was shouted, the 10,000 guards of the 10 companies break out of the water directly under the command of the 4 guardians and fly north straight on their flying swords.

10,000 guards!

A large area in the sky is thickly dotted with them. On the Qian Long continent, just a few Jindan stage Xiuzhenists are already called Shangxian, but today the Stellar Tower is sending out a group of 10,000 Xiuzhenists, led by 4 guardians who have all reached the Dongxu stage.

……

In Shang Qin County of the Qin dynasty on the Qian Long continent,

This Shang Qin County was originally Ba Chu County. Because there was a change of dynasties, the name of Ba Chu County naturally had to be changed. The Imperial Palace is vast so Qin De did not want to spend a huge amount of materials rebuilding it. Therefore, he made the capital city of this county the capital of the new dynasty.

The center of Shang Qin County’s vast territory is none other than the capital.

While flying along the old river Wu, Hei Yu suddenly makes sounds. He has also mastered this Ventriloquism technique recently. This is not a formidable secret technique so Hei Yu’s hereditary memories do not have it and he had to talk with guardian Yan Rui of the Stellar Tower and learn it from her.

“Big brother, do you still remember this place?” Hei Yu says using Ventriloquism.

They have been flying along the river Wu for a long time but this place is where Qin Yu and Xiao Hei fought Xiang Yang before.

“Of course I do.” Qin Yu says with a sigh. “In a full-moon night on the river Wu, you and I fought Xiang Yang together. It was only because of this battle that my Qin clan was able to completely destroy the Xiang clan and take control of this country to establish a new dynasty.”

Hou Fei blinks a couple of times and says curiously: “What? Established a new dynasty? Fought Xiang Yang? Tell me about them, big brother. They sound very much like legends.”

Hei Yu says coldly: “A sky-piercing meteor and two high-hanging moons in a full-moon night on the river Wu, humph, humph, monkey, my and big brother’s great achievement isn’t something you can imagine.”

Hou Fei becomes so angry that his eyes blaze: “What are you arrogant for, mixed hairy bird? What else have you done besides following big brother since you were little? If I were you, I would’ve been able to turn that Xiang Yang fella or something into minced meat with a blow of my stick.”

Hei Yu turns his head with a ‘humph’ and does not even give Hou Fei a look. Hou Fei cannot help getting furious.

Qin Yu says smilingly: “Don’t argue, Fei Fei, Xiao Hei. Actually not much happened at that time either. It’s just that Xiang Yang stopped the army of my Qin clan at the most crucial moment and even threatened to eliminate the Qin clan so Xiao Hei and I had to get into action and remove this obstacle.”

While talking about this, Qin Yu and the others quickly cover several thousand li. Now they have arrived at the outside of the capital.

It is in the early morning at the moment so the capital gates are wide open and all the vendors are already putting their stalls on display.

Qin Yu and the other 3 stand in midair above the Imperial Palace. With a sweep of his holy sense, he notices his 2nd brother and big brother.

He says hesitantly: “There’s a morning court going on at the moment. Big brother and 2nd brother are both in the audience hall so we better wait for a while.”

“Why should we? Let’s use a concealing spell and go for a stroll in the audience hall first. I don’t think those mortals will see us.” Hou Fei says in an unconcerned manner. This concealing spell can deceive the eye but is ineffective against a Xiuzhenist’s holy sense.

Li’er also says with a little excitement: “A morning court? Good, Qin Yu, I’ve never seen one. Let’s go.”

Qin Yu has no choice but to agree: “All right, but let me tell you something first. Those officials and generals are all mortals so all of you shouldn’t play tricks on them. And when you’ve arrived in the audience hall, be well-behaved a bit.”

“Kaka, don’t worry.”

Hou Fei is the first to dive down quickly. His body disappears in broad daylight immediately like a flash. However, using their holy sense a Xiuzhenist would easily notice that he is diving down extremely fast.

Afterwards, Qin Yu, Li’er and Hei Yu also dive down.

……

In the audience hall,

Qin Zheng is sitting high in the throne. There is a natural, kingly air of majesty about him. The civil officials and generals are standing in 2 lines in the hall. Qin Yu’s big brother, Qin Feng, is at the top of one line. He is a marshal and also a prince so naturally he occupies the top position.

“Your Majesty, Zhen Yang County has reported that the dikes along the river Wu have burst recently due to continual heavy rain. Xu Ling City, Lan City and several other cities of Zhen Yang County have suffered a serious flood which has left more than a million people destitute and homeless …”

After listening to this official’s report, Qin Zheng frowns deeply.

“Do you have the details of the situation?” Qin Zheng says coldly. At the moment he is very unhappy.

The official immediately says: “This is the detailed information on the cities and regions hit by the disaster.” He takes out from his long sleeve an envelope. A eunuch then receives it and hands it to Qin Zheng directly.

……

Standing in a corner of the audience hall watching his 2nd brother handle national affairs, Qin Yu cannot help giving a faint smile. Even though there are considerable distances between the matters of mortals and those of Xiuzhenists, Qin Yu left home just about 10 years ago so he still has the heart of a mortal.

“The important things to do now are, firstly, provide housing for the disaster victims, and secondly, control the flood and prevent further disasters by draining the water and filling the gaps in the dikes …”

Qin Zheng gives his orders very quickly.

He dispatches an imperial envoy and orders the 200,000 regular troops and the 300,000 strong reserves of Zhen Yang County to work together to control the flood and prevent further disasters. The orders regarding the food and clothing to relieve the disaster victims are also given very quickly.

“Court ends!”

The high-pitched voice of a eunuch rises. Afterwards, the officials leave the audience hall in order.

“Big brother, 2nd brother.”

Qin Yu says to Qin Feng and Qin Zheng directly through holy sense communication.

The body of Qin Zheng, who is still pondering disaster-related matters, gets a shock. He then goes into ecstasy. Qin Feng, who has already walked out of the hall, turns around and returns. A light flashes on Qin Yu’s body as he removes his concealing spell and appears in the audience hall.

“Xiao Yu!”

Seeing Qin Yu appear in the hall suddenly, Qin Zheng and Qin Feng both look at him in disbelief.

Compared to when he left the Qian Long continent, Qin Yu looks almost the same. Only he has become even more mature, his eyes are even more profound and his body automatically gives off an oppressive air, which is what someone in a high position of power naturally possesses.

The head eunuch is about to shout ‘assassin’, but he immediately swallows this word back into his stomach when he notices the expressions and tones of the emperor and the prince.

“Big brother! 2nd brother!” Qin Yu cannot suppress the rapture on his face.

Qin Zheng immediately rushes down the hall. The 3 brothers then hug each other passionately all of a sudden.

“Ha-ha, Xiao Yu, I never thought you’d leave for 10 whole years. We’ve been terribly worried for the past 10 years because there’s been no news about you. Ha-ha …” Qin Zheng laughs out loud. He is obviously very excited at the moment.

Qin Feng also hugs Qin Yu tightly: “Who could’ve thought? Who could’ve thought? It’s been 10 years, oh my, 10 years.”

“Haven’t I just returned?” Qin Yu also laughs out loud happily.

At this moment, Li’er, Hei Yu and Hou Fei also remove their concealing spells and appear in front of Qin Feng and Qin Zheng, which startles them. They certainly know Xiao Hei but do not know Hou Fei and Li’er.

“Xiao Yu, they are …” Qin Zheng asks doubtfully.

Qin Yu introduces smilingly: “You must already know Xiao Hei. This is …”

“Kaka, I’m Hou Fei. Qin Yu is my big brother. You two brats are my big brother’s 2nd and big brothers, but you’re really too weak. Forget it. I can manage to consider you my brothers.” Hou Fei says while shaking his head conceitedly.

Qin Feng says with a smile: “Xiao Yu, this brother of yours is really straightforward.”

As a marshal, he has met many straightforward men in the army. Those men only respect power. It does not matter how high your rank is, they will only trust you if you are stronger than them.

“Is this … my sister-in-law?” Qin Zheng looks at Li’er and says.

Qin Yu however intentionally remains silent. Only when Li’er seems to be about to get mad does he say smilingly: “2nd brother, this is my junior sister Li’er. She’s my junior sister, not your sister-in-law yet.”

“Not our sister-in-law yet? I already know what you mean, Xiao Yu.” Qin Feng says with an enlightened expression. “Now she isn’t, but in the future she’ll be, right? Am I wrong … Miss Li’er?”

Li’er is staring at Qin Yu.

“You’ll pay for this, Qin Yu.”

Those ‘cruel’ words rise in his mind, but he smiles contentedly. He knows that Li’er is shy and she will only become somewhat lively in front of those she is on familiar terms with, and she will not ‘turn violent’ in front of strangers.

“Big brother, 2nd brother, don’t make fun of my junior sister. Right, where’s father? And where’s Uncle Feng?” Qin Yu says smilingly.

Qin Zheng says without delay: “Father and Uncle Feng are doing closed-door training. You’re unlucky to come here at this time. But they should come out within a half year. Last time father did closed-door training for a year and this time he’s been doing it for almost a half year.”

Qin Yu is a little sad because he cannot see his father right away.

“No problem. Now I’ve already got my own territory in the overseas Xiuzhen world so I’m in no hurry to leave either. There’ll be no problem even if I stay here for 100 or 200 years.” He says with a smile.

With his current top speed, he can reach the Stellar Tower from the Qian Long continent in just a few days. And after going through the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation, perhaps he will even be able to cover the distance between the Stellar Tower and the Qian Long continent in a day.

“Ha-ha, this is good. We brothers won’t have to live apart anymore.” Qin Zheng says with loud laughter. Then he suddenly remembers one thing and says: “Xiao Yu, do you know that big brother is going to take on the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation soon?”

“Oh?”

Qin Yu is delighted. He immediately makes a sweep with holy sense and sees that Qin Feng is already at the peak of the Xiantian level and indeed will undergo the Minor Tribulation anytime soon.

“The 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation? Using a middle-grade holy weapon, big brother can definitely overcome it with ease. Ha-ha … 2nd brother, you got to practice hard too, so that we brothers will never have to be apart. But why haven’t you reached the Xiantian level?” With that sweep of his holy sense, Qin Yu has naturally discovered Qin Zheng’s power level.

Qin Zheng says with frustration: “I’m no good at practicing. There’s nothing I can do as I’m not gifted.”

“Not gifted what?” Qin Yu is now one of the 6 big leaders of the overseas Xiuzhen world at any rate, so if he could not even help his relatives reach the Xiantian level then he would be too useless.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make a batch of pills for you sometime, helping you reach the Xiantian level directly.” Qin Yu has obtained Treasure Storing Palace and it has very many materials. “If you don’t want to wait, I’ll ask Reverend Yan Xu and the others for several Base Building Pills.”

He says in a totally unconcerned manner. In the Xiuzhen world, the important disciples of schools generally take Base Building Pills in the beginning to quickly establish their foundations and reach the Xiantian level.

To mortal internal practitioners, the Xiantian level is very hard to reach, but to Xiuzhenists, it is only the starting step. Given Qin Yu’s current status, he can obtain Base Building Pills at will.

End of b8c2.

[wandering]

B8C3: Escalation

“Base Building Pills?” Qin Zheng has never heard of this kind of pill.

Qin Yu says smilingly: “2nd brother, Xiuzhenists use these Base Building Pills to set their foundations. If ordinary people take and completely absorb these pills, they can consolidate their foundations well and reach the Xiantian level. You basically don’t have to do something so complex like internal practicing.”

“I never thought there were such holy pills. With a large number of these pills, won’t it be possible to obtain a large number of Xiantian experts?” Qin Zheng is the monarch of a country so he still thinks about national benefits. On the Qian Long continent, a Xiantian expert is already considered extraordinary.

If he can obtain a large batch of Xiantian experts, his country’s military power will indeed be improved by one level.

Qin Yu says smilingly with a shake of his head: “You’re wrong, 2nd brother. Xiantian experts don’t mean anything. Without forming the jindans, they simply aren’t considered Xiuzhenists. A Base Building Pill is much more valuable than a Xiantian expert. Even though it is a relatively basic pill, it requires 7 medicinal materials to make, and the method of making it is also a secret. Small Xiuzhen schools generally can’t obtain this kind of pill.”

Qin Zheng is extremely smart so he understands immediately: “Ha-ha, Xiao Yu, I’m just a mortal so I consider from a different point of view to yours. According to what you said, Base Building Pills are precious, but you can still get them, looks like you’ve been doing pretty well in the overseas Xiuzhen world.”

Qin Yu is his own brother so Qin Zheng is talking a bit more casually and freely.

“Nothing special, nothing special.” Qin Yu has rarely been in such a good mood as he currently is.

Qin Feng however says laughingly: “2nd brother, Xiao Yu, ha-ha, we shouldn’t keep chatting in this audience hall. Let’s find a place to sit down first then talk. We’ve been apart for 10 years so we must have a real nice talk this time.”

“That’s right, that’s right.” Qin Zheng hurriedly says. “See, I’m so busy that I’m like this. All right, let’s go to Hundred Official Pavilion in the Imperial Garden first then talk.”

Suddenly Qin Zheng orders the eunuch standing near him: “Manager Wang, you quickly dispatch people to summon the empress, the ladies and my princes and princesses to Hundred Official Pavilion to meet our family’s 3rd Uncle. Moreover, also quickly invite my sister-in-law and Princess Fei Ya.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The head eunuch immediately goes to transmit the order.

Qin Zheng talks to other people ceremoniously but talks to his brothers informally because, firstly, there is a deep brotherhood between them, and secondly, he knows that Qin Yu is a Xiuzhenist. Even though he is an emperor, he is only a mortal emperor. And Qin Feng is also someone about to undergo the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation.

Hou Fei is chatting with Li’er and Hei Yu on one side. Hearing Qin Zheng say so, he suddenly bursts into laughter while holding his stomach.

“Kaka, did you hear what your 2nd brother said, big brother? He’s got an empress, various ladies, and many princes and princesses. Wow, that’s a whole bunch of people. But look at you. You don’t even have a wife. Sis Li’er, you should help my big brother find a wife sometime.” Hou Fei unexpectedly turns to Li’er and says.

Li’er hits Hou Fei’s head with a swing of her sleeve and reprimands: “Don’t make fun of me, Fei Fei.”

But right afterwards, she smiles again and looks at Qin Yu: “Qin Yu, both your big and 2nd brothers are married and have children but you have nothing. When are you going to find a wife? If you really want me to help you, I won’t mind helping you find one either.”

Facing her seemingly smiling expression, Qin Yu responds by keeping his mouth shut.

Seeing the way Qin Yu and Li’er are interacting with each other, Qin Feng and Qin Zheng cannot help exchanging a smile.

“All right, Xiao Yu, let’s go to Hundred Official Pavilion in the Imperial Garden first.” Qin Feng laughs out loud and says. Afterwards, the 3 brothers, Li’er, Hou Fei and Hei Yu head for that pavilion in the Imperial Garden together. Every royal guard on the way looks at Qin Yu in amazement.

Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Qin Yu are blood brothers so they certainly look very similar to each other.

Seeing that their emperor and prince are going together with a strange man so excitedly and closely, naturally those guards are greatly shocked. In the Imperial Palace, legend has it that Qin Feng and Qin Zheng once had a 3rd brother.

However, nobody has seen this person for the last 10 years so most of the royal guards think that this is just a rumor. Today, as soon as they see Qin Yu, they can all draw a conclusion and believe that tomorrow some news will come out from the Imperial Palace.

……

In Hundred Official Pavilion in the Imperial Garden,

This pavilion is rectangular with a width of about 6 m and a length of 20 to 30 m. Qin Zheng has asked some officials to remain here to enjoy sumptuous feasts with the royal family many times. At the moment, Qin Zheng is sitting in the master seat. Qin Yu and Qin Feng are sitting on either side of him.

“2nd brother, somehow I feel that there’s a little sadness on your forehead. Could there be a difficult problem? Just tell me about it.” Qin Yu immediately says.

Even though Qin Zheng and Qin Feng are currently very enthusiastic, Qin Yu still notices a marked note of sadness on Qin Zheng’s forehead. To his knowledge, his 2nd brother is exceptionally tough-minded. It must be a serious matter to be able to make his 2nd brother like this.

Qin Zheng is startled, but he dissembles instantly and says with a smile: “It’s nothing. I’m just worried by the news about the disastrous flood just now. After all, a million people have become destitute and homeless.”

“Oh.”

Qin Yu responds, but he does not believe this at all because moments ago in the audience hall he saw his 2nd brother handle this flood matter very easily. Given Qin Zheng’s disposition, the flood definitely cannot make him like this. However, because his 2nd brother does not want to tell him, Qin Yu cannot ask many times either.

“It’s delicious! Wow, to tell the truth, though mortals are a little weak, these foods are much tastier than what we got in the Stellar Tower.” Hou Fei is eating with great relish.

Xiuzhenists spend most of their time training hard so what Xiuyaoists would immerse themselves in the culinary art?

In terms of cooking, how can Xiuyaoists compare to mortal royalty? In the Stellar Tower, some fruits proffered by various regions are a bit new and unique, but its dishes are absolutely far inferior to these royal dishes.

At the moment, there are nearly 100 dishes on the long table in Hundred Official Pavilion.

“Brother Hou Fei, Xiuzhenists can do anything, like flying into the sky or going into the ground, but I don’t think those Xiuzhenists and Shangxian have enough time to master such a trivial art as cooking.” Qin Zheng says smilingly. Saying that Xiuzhenists have no time to master the art of cooking is just the same as saying that royal dishes are superior to those prepared by Xiuzhenists.

Hou Fei says in agreement: “Um, you’re right. Many of those Xiuzhenists don’t even eat anything at all. Well … by not eating delicious foods, they’ve lost a great way of having fun. Tut-tut, so tasty!” He grabs a roast gigot and begins to eat with large bites.

“Fei Fei, mind your image a bit.”

Qin Yu reprimands. Hou Fei eating this way makes him feel embarrassed.

In the Stellar Tower, because most members are Xiuyaoists, naturally he did not care about how Hou Fei ate. But this is the Imperial Palace. Qin Yu was born in a prince’s family so he knows social etiquette, which must be paid even more attention to in the Imperial Palace.

The way Hou Fei is eating and drinking even makes the eyes of the attending eunuchs and ladies-in-waiting pop out of their heads.

……

In the Ming dynasty on the Qian Long continent,

The reigning Ming emperor Zhu Yan is following 5 Shangxian. The leading Shangxian is a handsome young man, who is dressed in a jade-green robe, looking very attractive.

“You always want to meet the VIPs from the overseas Xiuzhen world, don’t you, Zhu Yan?” The leading jade-green-robed young man looks back and says smilingly.

An idea springs to Zhu Yan’s mind. He immediately says with a smile: “Shangxian Dongfang, could it be you want to introduce me to a VIP of the overseas Xiuzhen world this time? Your Chaoyang school is already an outstanding big school. Could it be an even more important figure will come here?”

This jade-green robed young man is none other than Dongfang Yu, the junior master of the Chaoyang school. He has reached the early Yuanying stage so naturally he can be considered a super expert in this mortal world.

The Chaoyang school is the largest Xiuxian school within a million li south of the Qian Long continent. It is much larger than Fengyuzi’s Pure Sword school with between 2000 and 3000 disciples. It should be known that generally only the islands in the center for Xiuxianists -- the Penglai Immortal Region -- have schools with several thousand disciples each. In the border area, with so many disciples, the Chaoyang school can indeed be regarded as a super school.

This time Dongfang Yu has taken 2 disciples to the Qian Long continent to go on a trip out of boredom. The 2 Shangxian of the Ming dynasty are none other than the Chaoyang school’s disciples so naturally they have welcomed him with respect. And Dongfang Yu has been staying in the imperial palace of the Ming dynasty since then.

“My Chaoyang school is undoubtedly the no. 1 school within a million li of this place, but … there are very many Xiuxian schools. The center for Xiuxianists is the Penglai Immortal Region, which is hundreds of millions of li away. There are more than a million Xiuxianists over there.” Although Dongfang Yu is naturally arrogant, he is very respectful when mentioning the Penglai Immortal Region.

As a dynasty’s emperor, Zhu Yan certainly knows quite a lot about the Xiuzhen world, but he is still scared stiff by the facts that the Penglai Immortal Region has over a million Xiuxianists and that it is hundreds of millions of li away.

“More than a million?! What a great number!” Zhu Yan exclaims.

Dongfang Yu says with a cold laugh: “You’re pretty lucky to know this secret. Let me tell you something. The people coming here today are the top-ranking figures of the Penglai Immortal Region. Now listen carefully, if you treat them improperly, not even my father will be able to save your Ming dynasty, let alone myself.” He warns solemnly.

“Top-ranking figures of the Penglai Immortal Region?” Zhu Yan’s heart begins to beat like a drum and he can feel its continual thumping in his ears.

Taking a deep breath, he says: “Shangxian Dongfang, I’ll definitely welcome these top figures to the best of my ability. May I ask what I must prepare?”

Dongfang Yu says with an indifferent smile: “You don’t have to prepare too much because these kinds of experts don’t pursue materialistic enjoyment. Remember not to let those mortals disturb them. Besides, their staying place must be clean and quiet. You’ll also have to behave respectfully. Don’t annoy those seniors.”

Dongfang Yu actually has just received a message from his father.

His father tells him that the people coming this time are all extraordinary and far superior to his father in power and status and the leader is even the no. 1 figure of the Penglai Immortal Region. It can be said that these several people represent the top echelons of the Penglai Immortal Region.

The Penglai Immortal Region’s top echelons are definitely the top echelons of Xiuxianists in the overseas Xiuzhen world.

“Everybody stands firm. Don’t move in disorder. We only need to wait here. Those seniors are very powerful so they can certainly know we’re here with a holy sense sweep.” Dongfang Yu shouts to the fidgeting Chaoyang school’s disciples on one side of him.

Immediately, nobody dares to move anymore.

After a long time --

3 silhouettes shoot towards them extremely fast from the horizon. They arrive in the airspace of the imperial palace instantly then walk down from the clouds like strolling in an empty courtyard. Their leisurely godlike manner awes the several people on the ground greatly.

The comers are none other than Reverend Yan Xu, Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng.

“It is an honor to meet you, seniors. I am Dongfang Yu. The Chaoyang school’s headmaster is my father.” Dongfang Yu says very respectfully.

The people behind him are not even eligible to talk.

Reverend Yan Xu responds with an indifferent sound while Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng pay no attention to him.

The Chaoyang school is the no. 1 school within a million li of the Qian Long continent but it does not mean anything in the eyes of the Penglai Immortal Region. The top expert of this school has only reached the early Dongxu stage whereas these 3 reverends are all at the Kongming stage.

Reverend Huo Ting’s eyes suddenly brighten. He arrives at the side Zhu Yan like a flash and looks at Zhu Yan interestedly, saying: “Brat, you don’t have any elemental energy. Could you be the Ming dynasty’s emperor?”

Zhu Yan says respectfully at once: “I am exactly the Ming dynasty’s emperor Zhu Yan. It is an honor to meet you, senior.”

Reverend Huo Tian nods his head with satisfaction.

This time Reverend Yan Xu comes here to ask that Chaoyang school for help so naturally he cannot be too arrogant.

“Dongfang, this time your father and I have an agreement. He is going to quickly send 2000 disciples, 1000 from his school and 1000 from nearby schools, to the Qian Long continent for me to command. I believe you already know about this.” Reverend Yan Xu says with an indifferent smile.

Dongfang Yu says respectfully: “I know about this, senior. My Chaoyang school feels honored to be able to work for you.”

Reverend Yan Xu nods with satisfaction.

This is no surprise. If time was not tight, given the power of the Penglai Immortal Region, even mobilizing 100,000 Xiuxianists would be no problem. However, now he needs a large number of Xiuxianists as soon as possible. Therefore, he had to message the headmaster of the Chaoyang school.

“Very good, Dongfang, you only have to prepare a staying place for the 3 of us and don’t need to care about the other matters.” Reverend Yan Xu orders.

Reverend Huo Tian says smilingly: “Reverend Yan Xu, you go to our staying place first. Now I’m pretty interested in this mortal world so I’ll go look around with this emperor Zhu Yan.” He then says laughingly to Zhu Yan: “Let’s go, Zhu Yan.”

“Please follow me, senior.”

Zhu Yan immediately leads Reverend Huo Tian to go enjoy various interesting things of the mortal world.

……

In Hundred Official Pavilion in the Imperial Garden of the Qin dynasty,

“It’s nice to meet you, 3rd Uncle.”

“It’s nice to meet you, 3rd brother-in-law.”

The empress of the Qin dynasty leads several tens imperial concubines and 10-odd princes and princesses saluting Qin Yu. Naturally this empress and these imperial concubines are all young and breathtakingly beautiful. The oldest among those princes and princesses are only 8 to 9 years old and the youngest ones have not even been weaned.


NOTE:

Chaoyang school = Sun Facing school
Dongfang = East

End of b8c3

[wandering]

B8C4: Deceiving

These 10-odd princes and princesses all open their black eyes wide and look at the 3rd uncle they have never met before. The empress and concubines however heard the legend of this 3rd brother-in-law long ago. The word about that battle on the river Wu in the past has definitely spread throughout the Qian Long continent.

One side of the battle on the river Wu was none other than their 3rd brother-in-law so naturally at the moment the empress and the concubines all observe this brother-in-law carefully to see how extraordinary he actually is.

“Ha-ha, Xiao Yu, the empress, the ladies and the little ones are all looking at you. Could it be you haven’t prepared some meeting gifts?” Qin Feng on one side says jokingly. Qin Zheng also looks playfully at Qin Yu with brightening eyes.

Li’er immediately says smilingly: “Qin Yu, everybody is looking at you.”

Qin Yu is startled.

He has not prepared any gifts at all. But these nephews, nieces and sisters-in-law are all looking at him, and even worse, there are so many of them. Although he can take out a couple of precious objects, there are too many people here.

Suddenly an idea pops into his mind. He has remembered one thing.

With a wave of his hand, 16 flying swords immediately fly out. This scene makes Qin Zheng and Qin Feng dumbfounded. To be able to fly, these must be holy weapons. Could it be their brother’s meeting gifts are these precious holy weapons?

“Little ones, I give you these 16 flying swords as toys.” Qin Yu says smilingly.

Qin Zheng, Qin Feng, the empress and those concubines are dumbstruck. The eyes of the 16 princes and princesses however brighten. Holy weapons are given as toys? On this Qian Long continent, they are frighteningly precious and a country has only one holy weapon or two.

“Hah, big brother, you can even take these things out?” Hou Fei mumbles. Hei Yu also flaps his wings disdainfully.

Qin Yu is surprised.

The Stellar Tower established a large army of guards so naturally it had to hand out weapons. Therefore, it gathered all kinds of treasures and ores within a radius of several tens million li and ordered the experts such as the squad leaders and the guardians to forge flying swords and weapons together to arm their subordinates.

Because Qin Yu is a forging expert, he also forged weapons when he was bored, and several thousand low-grade holy weapons were made in total. In his spatial ring, there is still a large pile of this kind of low-grade flying sword. Now, these flying swords are indeed no different from toys to him.

“Xiao Yu, you absolutely can’t do this. Your gifts are too precious.” Only at this moment does Qin Zheng totally wake up from his fright.

When a holy weapon is already very valuable to a mortal country, how wasteful is it to give some children 16 flying swords as toys?

“This is nothing, but blood personalization … um, they’re all still very young so I’ll help them.” If these children have to bite their fingers, they will be in a lot of pain, so Qin Yu makes a pointing movement and 16 golden shafts of light are shot at all the princes and princesses.

Afterwards, 16 drops of blood fly out from their bodies and fuse with a flying sword each.

“Um, in this way, the flying swords definitely won’t hurt you.” Qin Yu nods with satisfaction. “All of you have to remember not to use the swords to hurt people.” He advises.

The flying swords fly in front of each prince and princess. When these little children hold the 3-cun long small swords, they easily fuse them with their bodies directly. Because the blood personalization has been done, the swords and the children are telepathically linked and therefore they naturally know how to handle the swords without being given much instruction.

The princes and princesses then play with the swords, sometimes fusing them with their bodies, sometimes taking them out. They are so excited that they laugh out loud.

“Why haven’t you thanked your 3rd Uncle?”

Qin Zheng shouts.

The relatively old princes and princesses immediately kneel down, saying clearly: “Thank you, 3rd Uncle.” As for the babies who are not weaned yet, their mothers thank Qin Yu on their behalf.

Qin Yu makes another wave of his hand. 35 pearls that are even larger than table tennis balls fly out. Such huge pearls have probably been unheard of on the Qian Long continent. Generally, a pearl about the size of a table tennis ball is no longer called a ‘pearl’, but a ‘dragon ball’.

The empress and concubines all look at them with glittering eyes in stupefaction.

“Even the Imperial Palace doesn’t have anything comparable to such huge dragon balls.” Qin Zheng is astonished.

Qin Yu however gives a smile.

He certainly knows that such huge pearls are precious on the Qian Long continent. But in the underwater Xiuyao world, even though they are rare, with his current status, pearls as large as them have basically piled up in the Stellar Tower’s warehouse.

“2nd brother, there are many pearls like them in my Stellar Tower. They don’t mean anything at all. Please accept them, sisters-in-law.” Qin Yu says smilingly. The 35 pearls fly in front of the empress and concubines in an instant.

Immediately, they say clearly: “Thank you, 3rd brother-in-law.”

Afterwards, the empress and concubines all begin to discuss quietly with each other. They are obviously very excited. Women love jewels and such huge pearls are priceless treasures on the Qian Long continent so naturally they extremely love the pearls. Perhaps later they will even want to hold the pearls while sleeping.

“Fei Ya has come.” Qin Zheng suddenly says. “Fei Ya, come here, come to my place.”

Everybody sees a young married woman and a little girl coming in the distance. Hearing what Qin Zheng just said, Qin Yu knows that this woman is his big sister-in-law and that Princess Fei Ya is his big brother’s daughter.

“Your Majesty.”

Fei Ya says in a lovely voice then runs to the side of Qin Zheng and sits directly on his thighs. Judging by appearances, she is still very young, only 6 or 7 years old.

“Yanyun, come here and meet your 3rd brother-in-law.” Qin Feng says with a smile.

That natural and graceful young woman looks at Qin Yu. Her eyes brighten. She says immediately: “It’s nice to meet you, 3rd brother-in-law. I am Yanyun.”

“Please stand up, big sister-in-law.” Qin Yu hurriedly says. He notices at a glance that this big sister-in-law is a martial art practitioner. Even though her clothes are luxurious, there is an air of heroism about her that cannot be hidden.

Qin Feng says smilingly: “Xiao Yu, your big sister-in-law Yanyun likes martial arts the most. But … her talent is just so-so.” Liu Yanyun gives Qin Feng an angry stare. Because there are many people around, she does not get mad on the spot, but Qin Yu is sure that this big sister-in-law is a straightforward person.

Qin Feng gives a smile: “Ha-ha, she hasn’t been able to reach the Xiantian level for so long, how could that mean she’s highly talented? But Yanyun is really a martial art freak. She has been admiring you since she first knew about that battle on the river Wu and has wanted to meet you once for a long time.”

Liu Yanyun looks at Qin Yu and says with a little disbelief: “3rd brother-in-law, you … are the one who killed Xiang Yang?”

Seeing that Qin Yu currently looks like a young man in his early twenties, she cannot imagine that he is the legendary super expert who killed Xiang Yang.

At that time, Qin Yu had many difficulties in killing Xiang Yang. But now, perhaps he could kill Xiang Yang in only one move.

“Could I not look the part?” Qin Yu says smilingly.

Li’er says on one side: “Don’t listen to his bragging, sister-in-law Yanyun. Those are trivialities but he always likes to be smug about them.”

Seeing Li’er, Liu Yanyun cannot help secretly praising her natural bearing. She says with a smile at once: “Young lady, are you … my 3rd brother-in-law’s wife?” As soon as Li’er hears this, her face reddens. She immediately gives Qin Yu an angry stare. Knowing what she means, Qin Yu hurriedly explains: “Big sister-in-law, this is my junior sister Li’er.”

“Please excuse me, Miss Li’er.” Liu Yanyun apologizes.

At the moment, Princess Fei Ya is playing with those little princes and princesses.

“3rd Uncle … I also want that thing …”

She runs up to Qin Yu and stares at him.

Qin Yu cannot help shaking his head with a smile then waves his hand, making another sword fly out: “Little Fei Ya, you have to remember not to hurt people at will.” He helps her personalize the sword with blood too.

Qin Zheng suddenly says: “Xiao Yu, you gave the kids these flying swords but they still know very little. It will be bad if they hurt people.”

“You’re right.” Qin Yu agrees with Qin Zheng. He says immediately: “This way is better. They can still play with the swords, but I’ll put a restrictive spell on the swords. It’s going to cover the swords completely and make the swords unable to attack. When the kids undergo the ceremony of adulthood, you can ask any Xiuzhenist to remove the spell.”

Qin Yu waves his hands, which look like illusions as a result. In an instant, 17 restrictive spells are cast and totally cover the 17 flying swords.

All of these children do not have elemental energy so naturally they cannot remove Qin Yu’s spells.

These spells are not powerful at all. They only form a layer of energy on the blades of the swords, making it impossible for the swords to harm people, and any Xiuzhenist can remove them easily with elemental energy. However, these spells do not affect the children sucking the flying swords into their bodies.

Not feeling any changes in the swords at all, the princes and princesses keep playing very excitedly.

Liu Yanyun’s face suddenly changes color. It seems she has remembered a certain thing. She immediately opens her mouth, wanting to say something. But Qin Feng pulls her hand and stops her with his eyes. She takes a deep breath and swallows what she is about to say into her stomach.

However, Qin Yu has noticed this scene.

“What’s the matter, big brother? Big sister-in-law, if you have any problems, feel free to tell me.” Qin Yu says smilingly.

Qin Feng says with a smile: “Xiao Yu, your big sister-in-law sees that the empress and ladies were given such huge pearls so she wants one as well. I’m just afraid of losing face. There are so many people here, how can she ask for something like a kid?”

“This is nothing.” Qin Yu takes out a huge cat’s eye gem without delay. “I forgot to give you a present. This cat’s eye gem is as good as those pearls. Please accept it, big sister-in-law.”

Liu Yanyun immediately says with an embarrassed smile: “Thank you, 3rd brother-in-law.”

After saying so, she receives the cat’s eye gem.

Qin Yu then begins to chat laughingly with Qin Zheng and play noisily with the princes, princesses and Princess Fei Ya. Even Li’er also begins to play with the children. As Qin Yu is in a very good mood, he simply does not notice that there is a tinge of worry in Liu Yanyun’s eyes after she accepted the cat’s eye gem.

……

In the evening of the same day, in a bedroom of Prince Rui’s mansion,

“Feng, 3rd brother could take out so many flying swords in one breath. Obviously his status has improved a lot for the past 10 years in the overseas Xiuzhen world. He definitely won’t care about a middle-grade holy weapon. Why don’t you ask him for one?” Liu Yanyun says very angrily.

Qin Feng says with frustration: “Yanyun, what do you want me to say?”

Liu Yanyun says: “At that time in Hundred Official Pavilion, I was about to ask him for a middle-grade holy weapon for you. How could he have refused? It would have gone all right, wouldn’t it?”

Qin Feng says with a shake of his head: “Yanyun, there are many things you don’t know. Judging by what happened today, Xiao Yu has indeed somewhat established himself in the overseas Xiuzhen world. But … do you know my 3rd brother’s character?” He suddenly asks rhetorically.

Liu Yanyun says with a nod: “I already heard from you long ago.”

Qin Feng says with a sigh: “Yes, he’s resolute and unyielding. Even though his dantian didn’t let him practice internal techniques, he still trained hard using external techniques and became the first Xiantian external expert of the Qian Long continent. Afterwards, he joined the ranks of Xiuzhenists.”

“My 3rd brother is one who never admits defeat. Given his character, I believe he has been able to occupy a territory for himself in the dangerous overseas Xiuzhen world. But I believe even more that … he can even give up his life for the sake of his brothers and close relatives.”

Now Qin Feng is somewhat agitated: “Yanyun, if you ask for a middle-grade holy weapon, 3rd brother will ask where my middle-grade holy weapon is. How should I answer him? Could I say that … I was useless so the weapon was snatched away from me?”

“Could I possibly say that? Yanyun, do you think I could tell 3rd brother about this?” Qin Feng’s eyes even redden a little.

Liu Yanyun opens her mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end she says nothing.

“Yanyun, this event can’t be mentioned. Once it’s revealed, given my 3rd brother’s character, he’ll surely want to find out who snatched my middle-grade holy weapon. Once he knows the truth about this, he’ll definitely discover a series of events and then he’ll fight the enemies to the death! Facing those people, how can he have any chance of surviving?”

Qin Feng shakes his head and says with a sigh: “3rd brother is formidable, but … he has been wandering the overseas Xiuzhen world for only 10 years. Though he’s got some foundation, how deep can it possibly be? I won’t let him get hurt no matter what.”

Liu Yanyun’s face is full of worry. She wants to say something but does not know what to say.

“But, but … how can you overcome the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation without a middle-grade holy weapon? Are you certain that you can? It’s much more difficult to go through a 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation without a middle-grade holy weapon. I don’t want you to die. Feng, I really don’t want you to die.” Liu Yanyun embraces Qin Feng tightly.

Qin Feng hugs his wife and says with an indifferent smile: “Life and death are written in the stars. Yanyun, I won’t drag 3rd brother into this no matter what. He has … suffered too much in his life. We can’t let him suffer hardship and risk his life again even if I have to … die.”

In Qin Feng’s bosom, Liu Yanyun cries her eyes out.

After a long time --

“Feng, what if 3rd brother meets father?” Liu Yanyun suddenly says. “Once he sees father, given his intelligence, he’ll definitely figure out everything.”

Qin Feng says with a sigh: “Father already knew about Xiao Yu’s return, but he and Fengyuzi have been doing closed-door training for the sake of Xiao Yu. They don’t want to let Xiao Yu know about that incident. Even though we said father would come out within a half year, nobody can tell exactly how long a closed-door training session will last, right?”

Liu Yanyun raises her head to look at Qin Feng and says in disbelief: “So, to hide this incident, father and Uncle Feng will do closed-door training all the time without coming out?”

There is a hint of distress on Qin Feng’s face: “There’s no other way... You know father’s and Uncle Feng’s character, don’t you? Also, father always thinks he owes 3rd brother. So, whatever happens, he’d rather do closed-door training all the time than do 3rd brother harm by coming out.”

Liu Yanyun’s heart is in anguish, but she does not say anything. Qin Feng is also upset. His upright body now cuts a somewhat desolate figure.


NOTE:

Prince Rui is Qin Feng’s title, meaning Prince of Vigor.

End of b8c4.

[wandering]

B8C5: Towering killing intent

More than a month has passed like a flash.

Soon after Reverend Yan Xu had arrived, the Ming dynasty began to carry out a large-scale construction project outside its capital. Not only did it mobilize the capital’s army of 400,000 central guards, it also engaged the help of a great number of civilians. In less than a month, a living compound was built extremely fast.

Most of these houses are made of wood, bamboo or stone. Their surroundings are clean and quiet and have delicate bridges and running streams. Even Reverend Yan Xu expresses his satisfaction when he sees this compound.

In the evening of the same day,

Reverend Yan Xu, Reverend Huo Tian, Reverend Di Feng, Dongfang Yu and the other 4 disciples of the Chaoyang school, and the Ming emperor Zhu Yan and his several tens subordinates are quietly waiting outside the capital. They all know that tonight 2000 Xiuxianists from the Chaoyang school and its nearby schools are going to arrive.

Given their original speed, they should have arrived during the day. However, Reverend Yan Xu thought that if they came during the day, they would be seen by the common people and therefore he told this group to wait at the seaside first and resume going in the late evening.

“2000 Shangxian? Your Majesty, are there really so many?” A beautiful woman beside Zhu Yan asks in a lovely voice. She is none other than the imperial concubine he dotes on the most. Although the matter at hand this time is a secret, he still told this concubine about it and even took her to this place with him.

Zhu Yan gives a grunt and says in a low voice: “I only heard so. Don’t talk. Just wait quietly. You’ll know when the time comes.”

Zhu Yan and his entourage are all nervous.

On the Qian Long continent, Shangxian are supreme beings in the eyes of every mortal. If emperors are the summit of positional power then Shangxian are the summit of personal power and are out of reach to mortals. However, tonight, 2000 Shangxian are unexpectedly coming.

2000, no less!

“They’re arriving!”

Reverend Yan Xu says indifferently. There is also a faint smile on his face.

Given the status of Reverend Yan Xu, Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng, it will even be normal for them to casually mobilize over 10,000 Xiuzhenists on the Qian Long continent, so naturally 2000 Xiuzhenists cannot surprise them.

After a while, countless vague silhouettes appear in the pitch-black sky. They then dive down extremely fast. In just a moment, 2000 Xiuzhenists land directly on the ground. The leading man takes a look and immediately bows, saying: “Greetings, Reverends. I am Dongfang Nian of the Chaoyang school.”

Soon afterwards, only the other several school leaders among the 2000 Xiuzhenists bow to salute. The other Xiuzhenists get down on one knee directly and says resoundingly: “Greetings, Reverends!”

Those sounds are very loud but no citizens dare to come out to take a look because by now the night curfew has already started.

“Headmaster Dongfang and the other headmasters please rest for a day or two first. After that we’ll talk about the matter of searching for a black jade case. Please do not worry. Forces of every school within 10 million li of this place are already coming quickly. It’s just that they are a bit too far from here so they will only arrive in a few days.” Reverend Yan Xu says with an indifferent smile.

Dongfang Nian says smilingly: “We’ll certainly listen to your orders, Reverend. Ah, my son didn’t bother you during this period of time, did he?”

At the moment Dongfang Yu is very respectful.

Reverend Yan Xu strokes his beard and says with a smile: “Headmaster Dongfang is really good at educating your son. This kid Dongfang is very well-behaved.”

However, the hearts of the Ming emperor Zhu Yan, his beloved concubine and his subordinates are thumping inside their chests. Hearing about 2000 Shangxian is one thing, but seeing 2000 Shangxian fly down from the sky is another thing.

Flying on swords,

In the eyes of mortals, it is a symbol of Shangxian. Normally, seeing a Shangxian fly across the horizon is already a great shock to these people. But today various Shangxian have come down from all over the sky so they have all been scared stiff by this.

Zhu Yan is an emperor at any rate so his composure is still relatively high. He takes a step forwards and says respectfully: “Headmaster Dongfang, that living compound has been prepared well. It is specially built for all of you to stay in.”

Dongfang Nian takes a look at that nearby living compound and nods in satisfaction.

……

Qin Yu has been very happy for the last several months. When he had nothing to do, he chatted with his brothers or let chess ace Li’er thrash his big and 2nd brothers. Li’er’s terrifying chess skill immediately became famous. Even the so-called God of Go of the capital had no choice but to yield to her.

Qin Yu also cared about Xiao Lu’s and Tie Shan’s current situations.

Only later did he know that a few years ago Xiao Lu had married a scholar who is called Tang Yuan and styles himself Qing Lan. He is a well-known scholar of the Qin dynasty and is extremely good at calligraphy. It is said that one word written by him is worth 1000 gold sycees. Their love for each other is very deep. And Tie Shan is the military leader of Su Yan City, where Tang Yuan resides. He is in charge of the city’s army.

Knowing that Xiao Lu is living so happily, Qin Yu is in no hurry to meet her. He wants to meet his father first then go see Xiao Lu and Tie Shan. After all, they are his childhood close friends.

……

In Prince Yu’s Mansion in the Qin dynasty’s capital,

At the moment, Qin Yu is leaning on the railings of a pavilion while Li’er and a white-haired old man are quietly playing the game of Go. They have been playing for so long that it is already dark.

“Hey, old man Su, why are you still playing this game with my family’s Li’er? Well, is this any different from seeking defeat?” Qin Yu says smilingly.

Li’er does not react to him. Perhaps because Qin Yu has been in a very good mood since he returned home, he has exercised less and less restraint in talking and often joked about Li’er. At first she was furious and pinched his ears to punish him, but now she only gives him a stare at most.

That old man Su is no ordinary. He is called the no. 1 Go player of the Qin dynasty.

After the capital’s God of Go undoubtedly lost to Li’er, this Shang Que County-based old gentleman has come to the capital to specially play against her. In fact, his Go skill is frighteningly strong.

However, that is only true in the eyes of Qin Yu.

In Qin Yu’s opinion, Li’er’s Go skill is ‘humanly impossible.’

A hint of joy suddenly appears on the face of old man Su. He takes a look at Qin Yu and says smilingly: “Miss Li’er’s Go skill is high, but … Prince Yu, I’ve been playing this game in my whole life. They say ginger gets hotter with age, don’t they.”

Li’er keeps playing the game while smiling calmly.

After a while, old man Su’s face changes color when she puts a piece down.

He looks for a short time then says with a shake of his head: “Miss Li’er, you, you’ve even aimed at my entire big dragon. No wonder you didn’t attack me just now. I see. Your trick was to gain through abandoning your ground. It was really a brilliant idea. I admit defeat.”

Old man Su has been defeated convincingly.

He fell into the opponent’s trap but he was even excited and contented. Despite his strong skill, he was unexpectedly unable to discover Li’er’s trap early on, and when he saw the truth, it was already too late.

“Miss Li’er, every day I have played with you, I have learned something.” This old man Su is also a strange person. After losing, he is very excited instead of getting angry.

Qin Yu says smilingly: “Old man Su, why do you change your clothes every day? I know that … professional Go players like you are a bit superstitious. But you’ve always lost despite changing clothes every day, right? I think you shouldn’t change your clothes tomorrow.”

Old man Su however says stubbornly: “Tomorrow I’m still going to change my clothes.”

Qin Yu says nothing.

Quite a few Go experts unexpectedly think that some clothes bring them good luck and greatly improve their chances of victory if worn. No wonder old man Su has changed his clothes again and again. However, despite this, he has never won against Li’er.

“Alas, looks like … I’ve run out of clothes to change.” Old man Su suddenly says frowningly. “Forget it, let’s save some money by not changing.”

Having played against Li’er for so many days, even though his family is fairly wealthy, now he has used all of his various clothes.

“I take my leave now, Miss Li’er. Tomorrow I’m going to come and play a game with you again.” Old man Su says smilingly. Li’er also says with a smile: “Old man Su, your Go skill is profound. Your middlegame and endgame are both very formidable. Only your opening arrangement is a bit flawed.”

Old man Su smacks his lips a couple of times and says: “Little Miss Li’er, it’s not that my opening is a bit flawed, but you’re too strong. Your arrangement is too clever. You can make a move that seems wild, but several tens or even 100 moves later, its subtleties are shown. I’m sincerely convinced of my defeat.”

After old man Su has left, there are only Qin Yu and Miss Li’er in the pavilion.

“Li’er, my father and Uncle Feng have been doing closed-door training all the time. Though in theory they’ll only come out in a month or two, it’s very hard to be exact about closed-door training. So, I’m about to go see my master General Zhao Yunxing first. Anyway, my speed is fast.”

At the moment, Qin Yu suddenly wants to meet his first master General Zhao Yunxing very much.

Li’er says with a nod: “All right. Since you want to go then just go. If other people ask, I’ll help you answer them. And if your father comes out, I’ll tell you about this right away through your transmitter.”

“Good. I’ll have to trouble you, cute Miss Li’er.”

Qin Yu says smilingly. Right afterwards, he soars into the sky like a meteor.

……

When Qin Yu was still assassin Liu Xing, he visited Zhao Yunxing’s residence. As Zhao Yunxing was an important general, his residence was naturally very easy to find.

Qin Yu rides his flying sword without too much worry.

Thinking that he is about to see his master, Qin Yu cannot help recalling what happened in the past. He remembers clearly how he chose Zhao Yunxing as his master and how severe the training Zhao Yunxing put him through later was.

“Oh?”

Qin Yu frowns then takes out a transmitter. It is none other than the leading guardian Yan Rui who has just sent him a message. Under the command of 4 guardians, 10,000 guards of the Stellar Tower have arrived in the Qian Long continent.

“Very well, if you keep flying north, you’ll see a huge primeval forest. Wait there for the moment. When I have arranged staying places for you all, you’ll fly to the Qin dynasty!” Qin Yu immediately gives his subordinates an order.

That primeval forest is none other than the forest in which Qin Yu made a simple wooden ship when he was leaving the Qian Long continent at that time.

In just a while, he arrives at General Zhao Yunxing’s mansion. With a sweep of his holy sense, he cannot help frowning because he does not detect Master Zhao Yunxing and only detects Zhao Yunxing’s son, Zhao Yanyun.

……

Zhao Yanyun was already promoted to general and was originally going to command a large army in place of his father. But the emperor ordered him to stay home and calmly think about what had happened. Zhao Yanyun did not oppose that either. So, he has been staying together with his wife and son and, at the same time, earnestly studying some books on military tactics.

Zhao Yanyun, who is meditating in a pavilion, suddenly hears a familiar voice --

“Big brother Yanyun.”

He turns his head to take a look and cannot help getting astonished: “3rd Prince!”

In the past, after Qin Yu had killed Xiang Yang, the Qin clan’s various armies gathered in the capital. Zhao Yunxing and his son then met Qin Yu. During those several months, Qin Yu and Zhao Yanyun got to know each other and came to like each other very much.

“So you’ve come back, 3rd Prince. This is very good. When did you come back?” Zhao Yanyun says with excitement.

Qin Yu says smilingly: “It’s already been some time. Right, where is master? Why isn’t he in the mansion?” He asks doubtfully.

Zhao Yanyun, who just now was still excited, is startled. He then says with a sigh: “3rd Prince, my father … he’s already dead. He died on the battlefield!”

Died?

His master already died?

Qin Yu’s face goes pale instantly. He only hears a series of explosions in his head, as if it has been hit by lightning. He takes several deep breaths. Only when the Meteoric Tear sends its clear streams to his head does he calm down.

“Big brother Yanyun, you said master had died on the battlefield? How was that possible? At that time he had already reached the peak of external practice. Who could have killed him on the battlefield? That was definitely impossible!” Qin Yu says in disbelief. He just cannot believe this outcome.

Zhao Yanyun’s eyes blaze: “Of course he wasn’t killed by ordinary soldiers. It was Shangxian, the Ming dynasty’s Shangxian. If not for those Shangxian, the Ming dynasty’s Jia Ling Pass would hav6e been broken through by my father. But they were so despicable that they even asked Shangxian to kill my father.”

“Shangxian? The Ming dynasty’s Shangxian? I get it.”

Qin Yu’s eyes shine very brightly with a terrifying hint of killing intent for a moment.

Whizz!

A light flashes. Qin Yu has disappeared completely. Seeing this scene, Zhao Yanyun cannot help getting startled. But he is immediately horrified as he realizes what Qin Yu wants to do.

……

“Yan Rui, take the 10,000 guards to the Qin dynasty’s capital. Here’s the map.”

With ice-cold eyes, Qin Yu instantly sends some rough information using his holy sense.

Now he wants to go the Imperial Palace instead of the Ming dynasty. He can feel a tinge of anomaly in the palace. Why did his big brother and 2nd brother not tell him about his master’s death at the hands of the Ming dynasty’s Shangxian? Given the character of the Qin clan’s members, they definitely cannot tolerate this. What happened actually?

A war that involved Shangxian must have been related to his father. But why is his father doing closed-door training again? Could this really be coincidental?

……

At night, outside the Imperial Palace,

Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Qin De and Fengyuzi, who both have been doing closed-door training, are standing quietly. They are expanding their holy senses to the utmost waiting for Qin Yu attentively. After learning from Li’er that Qin Yu had gone to the home of General Zhao Yunxing, they knew that they definitely would not able to hide the truth from him. Now they are all here only because they want to stop Qin Yu.

Whizz!

A beam of light shoots towards them extremely fast.

“Yu’er.” Noticing Qin Yu’s aura, Qin De and Fengyuzi immediately say via holy sense communication. In an instant, Qin Yu lands on the ground.

“Father, Uncle Feng.” As soon as Qin Yu sees his father’s appearance, he figures out some things. Because his father came out right after he had gone to Zhao Yunxing’s mansion, not much earlier, nor much later, it seems his conjecture is correct.

When Qin Yu is about to ask a question, his face suddenly changes color greatly --

Both his father and Uncle Feng have unexpectedly, unexpectedly lost an arm!!!

“What happened? What happened, father? Was it the Ming dynasty’s Shangxian? They killed Master Zhao Yunxing and even cut off your arms? Aren’t there only 2 of them? And don’t you both have middle-grade holy weapons? How could they do this to you? What actually happened?”

Qin Yu asks continuously. At the moment he is about to go totally crazy.

Qin De looks smilingly at Qin Yu: “Calm down a bit, Yu’er. I lost only an arm and not my life. I know your character so I won’t hide the truth from you anymore. You’re right. The Ming dynasty originally had only 2 Shangxian, but now it has 5, one of whom is even the junior master of the Chaoyang school.”

Fengyuzi says: “Xiao Yu, the Chaoyang school is the no. 1 Xiuxian school within a million li of this place. It has several thousand disciples. My Pure Sword school is simply no match for them. That junior master is even an early Yuanying-stage expert. He only cut off an arm of each of us because … he disdained us.”

Fury keeps surging in Qin Yu.

Disdain?

Cutting off an arm of his father’s and Uncle Feng’s and sparing them out of disdain? Indeed, 2 Jindan stage Xiuzhenists of the Qian Long continent really do not mean diddlysquat in the eyes of someone like the junior master of the Chaoyang school. Killing them would only dirty his hands.

“Arrogant.” Qin Yu’s eyes are filled with killing intent. In his mind, he can already picture what happened.

That arrogant junior master cut off an arm of his father’s and Uncle Feng’s directly, causing blood to spurt profusely …

Qin De looks at Qin Yu and says solemnly: “Yu’er, remember to restrain yourself when you still lack power. My severed arm isn’t important. But you must not be rash. Only when you’re strong enough can you seek revenge. Otherwise … you’ll die worthlessly for this cut-off arm of mine. Do you understand?”

Qin Yu clenches his fists so tight that the knuckles turn white.

Qin De knows his son’s character.

He believes that once his son recognizes the insurmountable gap between him and the Chaoyang school’s junior master, he definitely will not rashly go just to get killed. His son will only go all out for vengeance if he has at least a fifty-fifty chance of success.

“Don’t act on impulse, Xiao Yu.” Qin Feng and Qin Zheng also look at Qin Yu.

The Qin clan’s only hope rests upon Qin Yu.

Even though they want revenge, they would rather not have it than see Qin Yu go to get killed.

“Chaoyang school! Ming dynasty’s Shangxian! Die!!!”

Qin Yu says in a deep voice, which sounds as if it comes from Hell. “Father, you and everybody else just wait here. I’ll be back very soon.” After saying so, he suddenly turns around.

“Xiao Yu, don’t do that.” Seeing Qin Yu acting this way, Qin De says hurriedly. He never expected Qin Yu to be so rash.

All of a sudden --

Sounds which are similar to the whistles of an incoming rain of countless arrows on the battlefield are heard. They cause the faces of Qin De, Fengyuzi, Qin Zheng and Qin Feng to change color.

“Those are the sounds of people flying their swords extremely fast. There are so many of them!” Fengyuzi’s face changes color like crazy.

They are flying on their swords so they are Xiuzhenists. And judging from the fact that their swords are even sounding like an endless rain of arrows, it is easy to imagine how terrifying they are. However, before Qin De and the others have time to think much, countless silhouettes shoot down from the sky like arrows.

This group lands densely outside the city wall.

Most of these Xiuzhenists then get down on one knee with a thud in unison. By contrast, the 4 people in the front bow very respectfully.

“Tower master!”

Their voices resound through the sky!

End of b8c5.

[wandering]

B8C6: Kill

Qin De, Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Fengyuzi are dumbfounded as they hear those words.

Tower master?

Who is tower master?

Both Fengyuzi and Qin De can see how distinctive this large group of Xiuzhenists in front of them is because these Xiuzhenists are wearing very similar clothes, just like an army of mortals.

An army of Xiuzhenists?

At least Fengyuzi never saw such a group of Xiuzhenists when he was still in his Pure Sword school.

“Xiuyaoists, they are Xiuyaoists!” Fengyuzi’s face changes color madly. He says to Qin De, Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Qin Yu via holy sense communication without delay: “As far as armies of Xiuzhenists are concerned, I’ve only heard that the Penglai Immortal Region has a guard army made up entirely of Xiuzhenists. Maybe the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon also has one. But this group of Xiuyaoists comes from the greatest power, the underwater Xiuyao world. This tower master must be the leader of a big underwater power that can match the Penglai Immortal Region!”

Qin De, Qin Feng and Qin Zheng are astonished.

They have heard Fengyuzi talk about the Penglai Immortal Region. It is the center for Xiuxianists in the boundless overseas Xiuzhen world. But now, this so-called tower master is even the leader of a big underwater Xiuyaoist power on par with the Penglai Immortal Region. What kind of figure is this?

“Don’t just stand here in a daze, Yu’er. That tower master must be around. This large army of Xiuyaoists just knelt down in this direction of us so we should step aside quickly. If that tower master gets angry, that will be a huge disaster.” Qin De holds Qin Yu with a grab, wanting to pull him to one side.

Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Fengyuzi even look up and around but they simply cannot find that so-called ‘tower master.’

Fengyuzi suddenly says via holy sense communication: “Let’s go quickly. Don’t look. What kind of figure do you think that tower master is? They must be 10 or even 100 times stronger than the headmaster of my Pure Sword school. How can we possibly detect this kind of expert with our power? Let’s go quickly before that tower master gets angry. Quickly step aside.”

“Yu’er, there’s no need to take revenge hurriedly. Now the most important thing you have to do is leave with me.” Qin De says while paying attention to his surroundings.

Terrified.

Qin De, Fengyuzi, a mortal emperor like Qin Zheng and a mortal general like Qin Feng are all very terrified at the moment.

On the Qian Long continent, where a Jindan stage Xiuzhenist is already considered Shangxian, such a large army of Xiuyaoists is really extremely fearsome. Not only are they numerous, totaling 10,000 in number, their clothes and flying swords are so standardized! They are obviously an army.

Deploying Xiuzhenists as troops, how can ordinary Xiuzhen schools possibly do something so impressive?

When it comes to Xiuxianists, only the legendary Penglai Immortal Region is capable of such a thing. This large army of Xiuyaoists obviously belongs to a superpower in the underwater Xiuyao world, which according to legend is the greatest force. What kind of figure is the leader of such an army?

With just a word, they can drown the world in blood! With just a lift of their hand, they can cause storms!

How can Qin De, Qin Zheng, Qin Feng and Fengyuzi possibly not be frightened and terrified by such a VIP and such a tower master?

“Let’s go quickly. Quit thinking about revenge. Now it’s time to leave here quickly.” Qin De is so anxious that he attempts to drag Qin Yu to run away directly. However, no matter how hard he tries, Qin Yu remains motionless.

“Xiao Yu.”

Qin Zheng, Qin Feng, and Fengyuzi also pull Qin Yu hurriedly. At the moment they are all very frightened.

“Father, all of you just wait here. I’ll definitely destroy the thug who cut off your arms and killed my master to get revenge. Very soon, I’ll be back very soon.” Qin Yu looks at his father. The look in his eyes is firm like a huge rock.

“Xiao Yu!”

Qin De is extremely worried, as are Qin Zheng, Qin Feng and Fengyuzi.

Qin Yu suddenly turns around and looks at the army.

“Attention, guardians Yan Rui, Liang Tan, Wu Yan and Xu Dong!”

Qin Yu’s grim, ice-cold voice rises.

“Take the 10,000 guards to the Ming dynasty’s capital, but you can’t go forwards alone ahead of the guards. As for the location of the Ming dynasty’s capital …” Qin Yu casts an ice-cold glance at the 4 guardians, “You only need to follow my aura as you go!”

Now the 4 guardians can also feel Qin Yu’s towering killing intent. They say very respectfully: “Yes, tower master!”

“Start!”

Qin Yu gives an order.

Afterwards, he alone soars into the sky like a golden beam of light and rushes towards the Ming dynasty extremely fast. His speed has reached a frightening level. However, at this moment, 2 black silhouettes which are unexpectedly not much slower than Qin Yu shoot out from inside the capital and rush towards the Ming dynasty after him.

The 4 guardians immediately fly up, as do the 10 company leaders and 100 squad leaders. They lead the 10,000 guards heading straight for the Ming dynasty extremely fast, blotting out the sky in the process. Every Xiuyaoist is riding a flying sword.

The sounds similar to those caused by a rain of arrows are heard again as this large army of Xiuyaoists charges towards the Ming dynasty at a very high speed through the sky!

However, Qin De, Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Fengyuzi seem to have been petrified.

They are dumbfounded.

Or to be exact, their minds are blanks. For the moment, it is simply impossible for them to regain composure.

After a long time, Qin De is the first to wake up. He looks at Qin Zheng, Qin Feng and Fengyuzi. He finds what just happened hard to believe and is somewhat afraid of accepting it, just like when a beggar suddenly obtains a massive fortune: “Zheng’er, Feng’er, brother Feng, just now … they, they said that …”

As the Qin emperor, Qin Zheng can be considered tough-minded, but at the moment his head is still spinning.

“It seems, it seems Xiao Yu is … is that … tower master.” When saying these words, he still finds them somewhat unbelievable and feels as if he is dreaming.

The same thing is happening to Qin De, Fengyuzi and Qin Feng.

The leader of an underwater Xiuyaoist superpower comparable to the headquarters of Xiuxianists, the Penglai Immortal Region, is not someone Jindan stage Xiuzhenists like Qin De and Fengyuzi and a mortal emperor like Qin Zheng can compare with in status.

The gap is too great.

One is an emperor of mortals and the other is like an emperor of Xiuyaoists, but the Xiuyao emperor can annihilate the mortal world just by casually dispatching between a dozen and 20 Xiuyaoists. They are so far from each other like the sky and the ground.

“It seems Xiao Yu is that tower master.”

Fengyuzi feels his heart beating at the fastest rate it ever has since he became a Xiuzhenist. The pounding of his heart resounds in his ears unceasingly like thunder.

……

Killing intent!

Towering killing intent!

Just by closing his eyes, Qin Yu can recall the images of his father and Uncle Feng lacking an arm just now. At the same time, he can clearly recall strict Master Zhao Yunxing, who taught him how to train externally in the past and was the first to lead him into the path of practice.

He cannot believe that strict, meticulous Master Zhao Yunxing is dead! He also cannot believe both his father and amiable Uncle Feng got an arm cut off.

“Chaoyang school’s junior master! Ming dynasty’s Shangxian!”

The look in Qin Yu’s eyes is fierce and sharp like the flash of a sword that is unsheathed. It is terrifying.

The 2 black silhouettes flying after Qin Yu are none other than Xiao Hei and Hou Fei. They immediately flew out of the capital when they heard the voices of that army from the Stellar Tower. Seeing Qin Yu’s unprecedented killing intent, they have said nothing.

All they have been doing is go behind him.

If Qin Yu wants to kill gods, they will kill gods with him. If Qin Yu wants to destroy devils, they will destroy devils with him.

Brotherhood means not abandoning your friends at the most crucial moments.

One golden beam of light in the front and 2 black beams of light in the back are shooting extremely fast towards the Ming dynasty. Their towering killing intent is sent out in all directions from the sky wherever they go. Even some Xiantian experts on the ground are horrified by it.

In just a while,

The sounds similar to those of an endless rain of arrows terrify the guards of quite a few cities. As they look up, they only see countless indistinct blurs flash across the sky in an instant.

During this one night,

The Xiantian experts, the few Xiuzhenists and the guards of those cities on the straight line connecting the Qin dynasty’s capital with the Ming dynasty’s capital are all so frightened that their hearts tremble.

They can feel that --

Something big is going to get real!

……

Azure Dragon, Teng Shan and 2 guardians under them are wantonly enjoying fine wine in a courtyard.

All of a sudden --

“What strong killing intent.” Azure Dragon stops the flagon in his hand and slightly shuts his eyes. In an instant, he tells Teng Shan and the other 2 laughingly: “A good play is about to start. Want to go with me to take a look?”

“How could we dare to disobey your order, Overlord?” Teng Shan says smilingly.

Immediately, there is no one left in the manor.

……

The capital of the Ming dynasty,

Qin Yu is flying across it directly in the sky. He turns his head around to take a look at that living compound in the distance outside the capital. He can feel clearly that there are quite a lot of Xiuxianists in there, but he comes here this time to find the Ming dynasty’s Shangxian and that Chaoyang school’s junior master who severed his father’s arm and killed his master!

The imperial palace!

Qin Yu stands in midair above it. His holy sense covers the entire palace in an instant. Given the current range of his holy sense, he can certainly do this with ease. However, there are only 2 weak Xiuxianists in the palace.

Like a speeding arrow!

Qin Yu shoots straight towards the imperial resting house then stands outside it. In the dark of the night, his flapping black robe and towering killing intent scare the guards of this house stiff. They do not even dare to make a sound.

He reaches out his right hand --

“Ah, ah ~~”

A middle-aged man dressed in golden pajamas slowly flies out from the resting house while sounding like he is being choked at the throat by someone. That man’s face is swelling, red and full of terror. His feet are stepping about nonstop. It looks like he is being strangled.

Qin Yu pulls back his right hand. The middle-aged man immediately falls on the ground.

“You, who are you?” Zhu Yan points at Qin Yu and says in a terrified manner.

Now Qin Yu basically has no time, and he is in no mood to waste time on this Zhu Yan either: “Listen up. Where are the Shangxian of your Ming dynasty? Where’s that Chaoyang school’s junior master? What’s his name? If you talk rubbish, you’ll die!”

Zhu Yan’s whole body cannot help trembling.

He has absolutely no doubt that the man in front of him can kill him. Even though he has seen so many Xiuxianists, he has never seen someone with such terrifying killing intent.

“There are only, only 2 Shangxian remaining in the imperial palace. The other 3 Shangxian have gone to that Realm of Immortals.” Cold sweat keeps oozing out on Zhu Yan’s forehead but he still says: “Realm of Immortals, Realm of Immortals is that living compound outside the city. There are several thousand Xiuxianists in there. Chaoyang school’s junior master, Chaoyang school’s junior master is also in there. He’s called Dongfang Yu, Dongfang Yu!”

Terrified, Zhu Yan finally tells Qin Yu everything.

“Very good!”

Qin Yu’s body soars into the sky. He is so fast that he immediately causes a sonic boom and a shock wave. Zhu Yan and the guards around him are sent flying in an instant. The roof of the building nearest him is even flipped over.

Xiao Hei and Hou Fei are standing in midair, looking at that imperial resting house.

“I’ve never seen big brother so furious.” Xiao Hei says in a low and deep voice.

Hou Fei’s eyes flash with fierceness: “When someone so good-natured like big brother gets so angry, something serious must have happened. Let’s go, mixed hairy bird. I want to see who are so bold. I’ll turn them into minced meat with a blow of my stick.”

Hou Fei holds his black stick in his hand. He is boiling with killing intent.

Among the 3 brothers, he is the most violent.

“Go.”

Hei Yu seems to have no killing intent at all, but Hou Fei knows that frosty Hei Yu is even more ruthless than he is when it comes to killing. Moreover, Hei Yu’s killing techniques are even stranger and crueler than his.

Outside the so-called Realm of Immortals outside the capital,

Qin Yu stands in midair. His eyes flash with coldness.

“Chaoyang school, Dongfang Yu, come out to die!”

His powerful voice resounds through the entire living compound. Even the people in the Ming dynasty’s capital can hear it clearly. All of the powerful families and high-ranking officials in the capital are terrified. Even everybody the Ming dynasty’s imperial palace is extremely frightened too.

“Who’s so arrogant?”

“You just dug your own grave!”

“Dare to mess with my Chaoyang school? Who are you?”

…

A clamor of voices is heard. Various silhouettes then fly up on their swords. In an instant, there are already several hundred silhouettes in the sky, but many other Xiuxianists keep flying out from their respective dwelling places. Obviously these Xiuxianists are enraged by the fact that the enemy has come to their front door so arrogantly.

Qin Yu’s eyes flash with killing intent.

Because he is furious, he will not mind killing all of the Xiuxianists!

“Dongfang Yu of the Chaoyang school comes out to die!” His voice rises again.

All of those Xiuxianists rage. In their eyes, this fellow in midair before them is too arrogant. They immediately curse him, causing a clamor of voices.

“Dongfang Yu dies, or all of you … die!”

Qin Yu’s last word contains his stellar energy. As soon as it is said, there seems to be an explosion. A terrifying force then blasts straight towards the Xiuxianists in front of him in the shape of a fan. It unexpectedly silences more than 1000 Xiuxianists in an instant.

There is only killing intent in Qin Yu’s eyes. His master was killed and his father and Uncle Feng both got an arm cut off so naturally he has become crazily furious.

If the Xiuxianists before him do not know how to behave, what will be waiting for them is … death!

End of b8c6.

[wandering]

B8C7: Yan Rui, give my order!

Various silhouettes keep flying out of the buildings on their swords. The number of Xiuxianists on the sky becomes larger and larger. However, the junior master of the Chaoyang school Dongfang Yu is still staying in the courtyard house of his father Dongfang Nian, the headmaster of the Chaoyang school. At this moment, after hearing Qin Yu’s voice, Dongfang Yu can no longer suppress his anger. He wants to charge out.

“Stop.”

Dongfang Nian runs out of his room and shouts coldly.

Dongfang Yu does not dare to take another step. He immediately turns around and says in an irritated manner: “Father, I don’t know who that fella is, but he called me out directly in front of so many Xiuxianists and wants to kill me. He’s so arrogant and insolent. If I don’t come out to kill him, will I still have the face to meet other Xiuxianists?”

Dongfang Nian however has a very calm expression: “You disobedient son, what do you know? That man dares to call you out in front of so many Xiuxianists. To be able to do so, how can he possibly a weakling? Just stay here. You definitely can’t come out.”

“Father!” Dongfang Yu says hastily.

“Dongfang Yu dies, or all of you … die!”

Qin Yu’s last word is like a great crash of thunder, causing Dongfang Yu’s face to change color. He, who originally still had enough confidence to go fight the enemy, immediately cowers merely because of Qin Yu’s last word, which is charged with stellar energy.

“You stay here and must not go to any other places. There are so many fellow Xiuxianists outside so even though the enemy is strong, he won’t be able to break in.” Dongfang Nian dictates. Afterwards, he walks out calmly and gives an order: “School nephew Yan Yang, quickly go invite Reverend Yan Xu to preside over the situation.”

“Yes, headmaster.”

Outside the room, Yan Yang immediately rushes towards Reverend Yan Xu’s dwelling place.

There is a faint cold smirk on Dongfang Nian’s face. With Reverend Yan Xu and several thousand Xiuxianists behind him, what is there for him to be afraid of? Without delay, he stands on his sword with his arms folded and calmly soars into the sky. He indeed has the distinctive demeanor of a grandmaster.

“I am Dongfang Nian of the Chaoyang school. My fellow Xiuxianist, may I ask why you have come to our place in such a big way? You should know that this is the staying place for the Xiuxianists summoned by Reverend Yan Xu of the Penglai Immortal Region. Regardless of what the feud between my son and you is, just by causing a clamor at this place, a territory of Reverend Yan Xu, you have been a bit too disrespectful to all fellow Xiuxianists here and to Reverend Yan Xu.”

Dongfang Nian says in a loud and clear voice.

Qin Yu sweeps his eyes on him.

He is standing with arms folded on his sword. His long beard is flowing and his Xiuxian robe is fluttering, giving him an air of magnificence typical of immortals. In contrast, Qin Yu is overflowing with killing intent and his black robe is wide open and flapping, making him look like an evil god.

“Dongfang Nian …” Qin Yu stares at him, “You must be Dongfang Yu’s father. You’re pretty eloquent. I never expected you to force this matter on Reverend Yan Xu. But today I must kill Dongfang Yu. Are you going to hand him over or not?”

Qin Yu simply does not know who Dongfang Yu is. He has never seen him and does not know his aura either.

Even though now he wants to kill Dongfang Nian in front of him, he must at least find out who Dongfang Yu is first. Otherwise, Dongfang Yu may escape in the end, which will render his killing worthless.

“Ha-ha …”

Dongfang Nian turns his face upwards and laughs out loud: “My fellow Xiuxianist, I’ve told you so much, but you’re still so arrogant. This place is the living compound for me and the other fellow Xiuxianists. We’ve come here under an order by Reverend Yan Xu, but you’ve caused a commotion at our front door and even asked me to hand over my son …”

A yellow-clad old man scolds loudly: “You’re alone but you’re so arrogant. You’ve thought too little of us.”

Qin Yu slightly frowns.

“Cut the crap.”

His eyes flash with coldness: “I only ask you one question, hand over or not? If you do, I’ll only kill Dongfang Yu. If you don’t … I’ll kill whoever tries to stop me!” He is simply in no mood to waste time on these people so he has given his ultimatum without delay.

“Don’t be so arrogant when you’re on your own. How can my Chaoyang school’s 1000 disciples and the other fellow Xiuxianists here possibly let you cause trouble?” Dongfang Nian says with a cold laugh. But he secretly feels doubtful: “Oh, why hasn’t school nephew Yan Yang returned after leaving to invite Reverend Yan Xu? Also, even if he doesn’t invite him, why hasn’t Reverend Yan Xu come to take a look when there’s such a big commotion?”

Dongfang Nian does not know why Reverend Yan Xu has not appeared, but at the moment he is not worried in the least.

Although the enemy is powerful, he is all by himself.

“Kaka, big brother, don’t waste time talking to them. Just kill them all directly … It’s been a very long time since I last tasted blood.” A resounding voice suddenly rises. Hou Fei’s black silhouette then appears beside Qin Yu seemingly out of thin air.

Meanwhile, Hei Yu appears on the other side of Qin Yu.

Just now Hou Fei and Hei Yu were watching in the dark. Only when they saw that Qin Yu wanted to get into action did they come out.

“Xiuyaoists …” The demonic auras on Hei Yu’s and Hou Fei’s bodies are quickly detected.

Dongfang Nian’s anger instantly surges. He shouts: “My fellow Xiuxianists, the 3 people in front of us are unexpectedly Xiuyaoists. Several thousand of us have gathered here but these 3 Xiuyaoists look at us like we’re nothing and have threatened to kill those who try to stop them. Their insults have gone too far.”

“Little Xiuyaoists like them also dare to cause a commotion? My fellow Xiuxianists, I, Xunyangzi, vow to be the first to kill these 3 people.” A sharp-tongued Xiuxianist says loudly.

This sharp-tongued Xiuxianist then takes the lead in getting into action. The other Xiuxianists are also ready to act. Seeing this scene, Dongfang Nian cannot help giving a faint smirk.

Bang!

A stick silhouette descends from the sky!

The sharp-tongued Xiuxianist, who has reached the late Yuanying stage, is smashed by that black stick without being able to put up any resistance. His blood and flesh are scattered in all directions. His soul is shattered by the energy of the stick and Hou Fei catches hold of his yuanying with a grab.

“Kaka, don’t you dare to be arrogant in front of me, late Yuanying midget.”

Hou Fei laughs out loud strangely then tightens his grip all of a sudden, which unexpectedly causes the yuanying in his palm to explode right away. The explosion of this late Yuanying-stage yuanying cannot harm his body at all.

Stunned.

All of the Xiuxianists, who just now were ready for action, is dumbfounded. Hou Fei is too strong.

Late Yuanying-stage Xiuxianists are already the no. 1 experts of some small schools. Even in such a large school as the Chaoyang school, the no. 1 expert is only at the early Dongxu stage. On the whole, only the center for Xiuxianists, the Penglai Immortal Region, has more powerful experts.

However, the Penglai Immortal Region is too far from here. All of the Xiuxianists who have come by now live within several million li of this place so the strongest among them only belong to the same tier as Dongfang Nian.

Hu hu ~~~~~

Countless sounds come through the air from the horizon like a violent storm. Is that an incoming rain of arrows? Perhaps only mortals would think so. The Xiuxianists at the scene all realize that those are the sounds caused by Xiuzhenists flying their swords at extreme speeds.

Those Xiuzhenists densely occupy a large area and blot out the sky.

Dongfang Nian and the other Xiuxianists all look at that group of Xiuyaoists who are flying towards them in the distance. They cannot decide the enemies’ number, but after a simple observation, they can tell that the enemies outnumber them, and even worse, to a considerable extent!

“Xiuyaoists, it’s Xiuyaoists!” Some Xiuxianists immediately begin to yell.

The faces of all the Xiuxianists change color greatly. 3 Xiuyaoists appeared moments ago and now a large group of other Xiuyaoists has appeared. Anybody with some brain can establish a connection between these 2 events.

The Xiuyaoists land on the ground in an orderly manner like countless black flashes according to a square formation, which is a combination of the individual formations of the 10 companies. In front of them are the 4 guardians, with Yan Rui being the leader.

“Tower master.”

The 10,000 guards get down on one knee while Yan Rui and the other guardians bow.

“Tower master? An army of guards? Xiuyaoists? Ah, it’s the Stellar Tower!” The high-status Xiuxianists quickly realize who they are.

These Xiuxianists live within several millions li of this place and Qin Yu controls an area of water that is several tens million li in radius so it can be said that the waters under these Xiuxianists are all controlled by Qin Yu. Therefore, these school leaders certainly know about this Stellar Tower.

After all, in the underwater Xiuyao world, only the Stellar Tower has a guard army and uses the title ‘tower master.’

The Xiuxianists, who just now were bursting with morale, are all terrified. Good Heavens! What kind of power is the Stellar Tower? It is comparable to the Penglai Immortal Region, no less! If they oppose it, perhaps the tower master will only need to give an order and its large army of guards will fly out from the bottom of the ocean to destroy their schools and dens.

Dongfang Nian now knows that the situation is bad too. “Stellar Tower, I never expected it to be the Stellar Tower. Then not only are the waters around the island of my Chaoyang school under the control of the Stellar Tower, just by giving an order, perhaps he can destroy my Chaoyang school’s foundation immediately too.” He has panicked so he says hurriedly: “Tower master …”

However Qin Yu has no patience to give him a chance.

“Kill all of the Chaoyang school’s 1000 men, sparing no one, to comfort my master’s soul in Heaven.” Qin Yu gives the massacring order.

“Yes, tower master!”

The 10,000 Xiuyaoists charge at the group of Xiuxianists. Discipline is the very obvious difference between an army and disbanded soldiers. Facing the attack of so many Xiuyaoists, those Xiuxianists all lose their heads. They either evade or use escaping techniques. Even those who counterattack are in disarray, some using spells, some using flying swords, and one even swinging a long piece of red silk …

The whole thing is just a mess!

“5 companies in the front, shoot your flying swords together!” The leader of the 1st company shouts.

Immediately, 5000 flying swords pierce through the air to come at the enemies. Because there are Xiuxianists in the front and there are Xiuxianists at the back, the ones in the front immediately have to face so many flying swords. On average, each of them has to face even several tens flying swords. The outcome of this situation is --

Those who react fast run away through the ground while the slow ones have so many holes pierced in them like bee nests.

However, after piercing through a person, the swords keep shooting forwards --

When the 5000 flying swords have gone through the rearmost Xiuxianists, they thrust down at the ground. The few fleeing Xiuxianists are also stabbed to death. Various anguished cries are heard again.

In just one wave of flying sword attack, more than half of the Chaoyang school’s 1000 disciples have been killed. This scene stuns the other Xiuxianists. Even if they want to do the same thing, they will not be able to because they can see that, not only do the swords of a company look coordinated, even the 100 flying swords of a squad followed very ingenious trajectories and were in concert with each other when shooting out. Only several years of training can produce this result. Moreover, this also has something to do with the fact that the flying swords are exactly alike.

“5 companies at the back, Palms of Thunder!” Another order is given.

The other 5000 Xiuyaoists, who spent a long time preparing themselves and have become ready, immediately strike down using Palms of Thunder. This is not a very formidable technique at all. It only absorbs the power of lightning through the use of restrictive spells. One Palm of Thunder is negligible, but how about 5000 Palms of Thunder?

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! ……

Explosions are heard continuously --

Why has Reverend Yan Xu not appeared yet?

At the moment, in Reverend Yan Xu’s dwelling place,

Reverend Yan Xu, Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng are drinking tea and chatting with Azure Dragon.

“Overlord Azure Dragon, you set up a restrictive spell around us so that nobody would hear our voices but you’ve only been chatting with us. What’s the secret matter that you actually want to talk about?” Reverend Huo Tian has become somewhat impatient. Not long ago, Azure Dragon came and said he wanted to discuss a ‘secret’ matter.

However, even though it has been some time since he sealed their vicinity with a restrictive spell, all he has been doing is chat with them.

Sometimes he chatted about the Ziyang school, sometimes he chatted about the Lanyang school, and sometimes he chatted about the Teng Long continent …

Azure Dragon came to their place so late at night and even set up a restrictive spell around them only to chat? But because he is in an extremely high position of power, the 3 reverends do not dare to treat him coldly either.

This restrictive spell was set up by Azure Dragon so other people’s holy senses cannot penetrate it, but his own holy sense can.

“Ha-ha, the fight has started. Good, excellent, awesome, oh my, Xiuxianists are really too weak. We Xiuyaoists are much stronger.” Azure Dragon is laughing in his mind but he still says smilingly: “Yan Xu, do you still remember the fight between us several hundred years ago? Recalling that fight really …”

Reverend Yan Xu slightly frowns too.

He came here so late at night and set up a restrictive spell only to talk about these silly things?

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! ……

Suddenly, there are sounds of violent shocks and the whole ground begins to shake. The teacups of the 4 of them all tumble down. The restrictive spell can prevent noise but the shaking caused by 5000 Palms of Thunder is really too strong, just like an earthquake.

“No good.”

Reverend Yan Xu stands up abruptly. The faces of both Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng change color greatly. The 3 of them immediately glare at Azure Dragon. They know that something serious must have happened outside and that Azure Dragon is here only to distract them.

“Ha-ha …” Azure Dragon laughs out loud while holding his stomach. “This is so funny. Let me tell you something, Yan Xu. The fighting outside is intense. Oh my, that pitiful child’s yuanying is pierced through by a sword!” At the moment, Azure Dragon is watching the big fight outside using his holy sense.

The 3 reverends are now in no mood to talk with Azure Dragon. They rush out without delay. 3 flying swords are then shot out simultaneously.

Bang!

The swords immediately cut open the restrictive spell.

Although this is a restrictive spell set up by Azure Dragon, the 3 reverends joined forces and went all out so naturally they succeeded in one move. They then pierce through the air to rush towards the battlefield. Azure Dragon, however, leisurely goes forwards, murmuring: “Have Teng Shan and the others muddied the waters a bit more? This is very amusing, too amusing already.”

……

3 blurs are flashing about. One is like a golden beam of light, one looks like a black stick and one is a black light. Among them, the ‘black light’ Hei Yu transformed into is strange because when it passes through a man, that man immediately dies. Thus, various Xiuxianists fall down one after another. In just a short while, these 3 blurs have already killed over 100 Xiuxianists. Afterwards, they stop and turn into Qin Yu, Hou Fei and Hei Yu.

“That’s enough, brother Teng Shan.”

Qin Yu looks at Teng Shan and says indifferently.

Teng Shan and the 2 guardians under him laugh out loud. Teng Shan says: “Who in the world are these Xiuxianists, tower master Qin Yu? I can’t stand them. I was merely helping you teach them a lesson.”

At first Qin Yu was only prepared to kill the Chaoyang school’s disciples but Teng Shan and his 2 subordinate guardians unexpectedly pretended to be the Stellar Tower’s Xiuyaoists and killed the other schools’ Xiuxianists. The whole thing immediately became a mess so Qin Yu and his 2 brothers had no choice but to get into action to cut the knot.

In just a while, more than half of the Xiuxianists have died, amounting to more than 2000.

Even though only 2000 Xiuxianists came here several months ago in the beginning, more Xiuxianists have come here successively since then, and therefore the number of Xiuxianists here has nearly reached 4000. Now that more than half of them are dead, the Xiuxianists’ power has suffered a great loss. In contrast, the Xiuyaoists under Qin Yu have utilized formations to take care of each other so they have lost only 10-odd individuals. This is the difference between an army and disbanded troops.

“Brother Teng Shan, after such a long time, Reverend Yan Xu still hasn’t shown up. He should have been obstructed by Overlord Azure Dragon, right?” Qin Yu says with an indifferent smile.

Seeing Teng Shan and his 2 guardians without seeing Azure Dragon, Qin Yu has already figured out what is going on.

Teng Shan gives a ha-ha laugh.

Qin Yu turns his head to look at Dongfang Nian, whose power has been sealed up. However, at the moment Dongfang Nian looks like he would rather die than submit. Seeing Qin Yu looking at him, he asks: “Why, why don’t you give me a glimmer of hope?”

“It’s because … I don’t need you to tell me.” Qin Yu walks towards him.

Dongfang Nian says: “Don’t you want to kill my son? Why do you have to destroy my Chaoyang school? If you agree not to destroy my Chaoyang school, I’ll tell you where my son is immediately. Please, please agree to this.”

“No, I won’t.”

Qin Yu walks up to Dongfang Nian.

Suddenly his face becomes ferocious: “Agree? You want me to agree? Why did your son kill my master instead of going easy on him? Also, your son even dared to cut off an arm of my father’s and Uncle Feng’s out of disdain. Right, your Chaoyang school is big so that Dongfang Yu or something has high status while my father has low status … my master’s life is worthless …”

Qin Yu’s killing intent suddenly surges forth.

“Screw you, Dongfang Nian. Quit dreaming. Your son killed my master and cut off my father’s and uncle’s arm. Even the extermination of your entire Chaoyang school won’t be able to relieve the hatred in my heart!!!”

All of a sudden, he executes a claw strike and grabs Dongfang Nian’s head.

“Ah ~~~” Dongfang Nian cries miserably. His face changes color to the point where his head looks like that of a corpse.

Xiumo secret technique -- Soul Examination!

Qin Yu pulls back his right hand and says indifferently: “Reverend Yan Xu, why don’t you show yourself when you’ve already arrived?” He has guessed earlier that Reverend Yan Xu should have already escaped from Azure Dragon’s containment.

“Tower master Qin Yu, Dongfang Yu killed your master and severed an arm of your father’s and uncle’s so he must die. But people should be spared whenever possible. So, can I suggest that you let the Chaoyang school go this time?” Reverend Yan Xu walks out. Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng behind him also look at Qin Yu.

Qin Yu smiles brilliantly at Reverend Yan Xu.

“Yan Rui, give Zhuang Zhong my order. Immediately dispatch an army of guards from the Stellar Tower to destroy the Chaoyang school. Any obstructers are to be killed on the spot.” He can give the order by himself but he lets Yan Rui help him because he wants to show Reverend Yan Xu his action.

“Yes.”

Yan Rui immediately takes out a transmitter.

“Tower master Qin Yu, you …” The face of Reverend Yan Xu changes color.

“Ha-ha, brother Qin Yu is really straightforward. I admire you, ha-ha. I’m on your side in this. Since you say you want to kill these Xiuxianists, I’ll help you, ha-ha …” Azure Dragon, who has been watching from one side for a long time, also pops up and walks to the side of Qin Yu while laughing out loud.

End of b8c7.

[wandering]

B8C8: Brave and shrewd

“Azure Dragon.” Reverend Yan Xu looks at Azure Dragon, slightly annoyed.

This time, the matter becoming such a mess must have something to do with Azure Dragon secretly adding fuel to the fire. However, still thinking that this is not chaotic enough, Azure Dragon has even come to offer Qin Yu his support. Reverend Yan Xu can also tell that at the moment Qin Yu is like a gunpowder barrel that can explode anytime.

Azure Dragon wags his head smilingly and says: “What’s up, Yan Xu? Qin Yu is my good brother. The Stellar Tower is also a power of underwater Xiuyaoists. At any rate, my Azure Dragon Palace is acknowledged as the leader under water. If I didn’t support my brother, would I have to support you old geezer instead?”

More than 10 Xiuxianists run up to Reverend Yan Xu. The leader bows and says: “Reverend Yan Xu, this Stellar Tower master relied on superior power to massacre us and the other fellow Xiuxianists at will. We hope you can redress the balance for us.”

“We hope you can redress the balance for us.” The 10-odd Xiuxianist leaders say in unison.

Hearing this, Qin Yu frowns and casts an ice-cold glance at them. The Xiuxianists’ hearts cannot help trembling. They unconsciously look at Reverend Yan Xu. The Chaoyang school’s disciples have been annihilated and Qin Yu has even killed Dongfang Nian with his own hands so even though he is still furious, he can already calmly consider the situation.

In fact Qin Yu is not the bloodthirsty type at all. Only he has not had many real friends and relatives since his childhood so he values every friend and relative very much. The killing of his master and the severing of his father’s and Fengyuzi’s arm have given rise to an extremely great enmity in him.

One should know that he was even willing to perish together with an enemy for the sake of his father. It is easy to imagine how important his relatives are to him.

Cutting off an arm of Qin De’s and Fengyuzi’s is also the biggest mistake Dongfang Yu has ever made in his life. Luckily, he only severed an arm of each of them. If he had killed Qin De, perhaps by now Qin Yu would have already lost that tinge of calmness and would kill all of the Xiuxianists here, and even the Ming dynasty would get mixed up in this.

“Shut up. Do you think Reverend doesn’t know how to deal with this matter?” Reverend Huo Tian however rebukes angrily.

In an instant, those 10-odd Xiuxianists no longer dare to say anything. As mere Xiuxianists who came from within a radius of several million li, naturally they are inferior to the 3 big leaders of the Penglai Immortal Region in status and therefore they do not dare to say one word when reprimanded.

“Bunch of idiots with no sense of propriety.” Azure Dragon says laughingly. It is very obvious that he looks down on those 10-odd Xiuxianist leaders.

Do those Xiuxianists not understand the situation?

In terms of individual power, Azure Dragon is the no. 1 expert of the overseas Xiuzhen world. In terms of forces, the 10,000 strong army of the Stellar Tower is enough to sweep away the 2000 remaining Xiuxianists. But these Xiuxianists still absurdly hope Reverend Yan Xu will redress the balance. Is Reverend Yan Xu a fool?

“Gentlemen, I’ll certainly handle this matter. Everybody better go back to have a rest first.” Reverend Yan Xu tells the 10-odd Xiuxianist leaders smilingly.

The hearts of those Xiuxianists warm up. They immediately bow and retreat then lead the surviving Xiuxianists back to their own dwelling places. Although some Xiuxianists are still fairly angry, they do not dare to say anything when they see the large army of the Stellar Tower.

“Oh, where’s tower master Qin Yu?” Right after his talk with the Xiuxianists, Reverend Yan Xu notices that Qin Yu has already disappeared.

Azure Dragon says laughingly: “Yan Xu, Qin Yu has gone over there. Just turn around and take a look. Oh my, brother Qin Yu’s killing intent is so strong. I think there’ll definitely be a good show.” After saying this, Azure Dragon goes after Qin Yu.

Reverend Yan Xu turns around to take a look. He also sees Qin Yu walking step by step towards Dongfang Nian’s dwelling place.

Thanks to using the Xiumo secret technique Soul Examination, Qin Yu already knows that Dongfang Yu is hiding in none other than that dwelling place. With a sweep of his holy sense, Qin Yu discovers that there is only one man in Dongfang Nian’s dwelling place at the moment. That man is at the early Yuanying stage and the elemental energy inside his body is typical of the Chaoyang school. Furthermore, he looks very similar to Dongfang Nian.

“Dongfang Yu.” A faint cold smirk appears on the corners of Qin Yu’s mouth. “He’s still very obedient to his father.”

In his mind, Qin Yu has no doubt that this man is exactly Dongfang Yu.

Step by step, Qin Yu does not use any flying techniques at all and just slowly takes one step forwards after another. Under the coverage of his holy sense, it is simply impossible for Dongfang Yu to escape his notice. The killing intent on Qin Yu’s body also intensifies gradually.

“Dongfang Yu!”

Qin Yu’s voice suddenly rises --

At the moment, a minute feels like a year to Dongfang Yu because he was able to hear those loud noises of the fighting outside, the anguished dying cries of various Xiuxianists and the terrifying explosions caused by the 5000 Palms of Thunder. Only now does he know how powerful the enemies are.

“Who is it actually? Who is it that wants to kill me?”

Dongfang Yu simply does not know who he actually offended. He believes that he has been living his life very cleverly because he has never dared to be disrespectful to any formidable personages. With such a style of behavior, how could he have offended someone? Dongfang Yu just cannot understand.

The sounds of fighting have stopped.

But Dongfang Yu is even more terrified.

“Is it over? What’s the outcome? Why hasn’t father come back to tell me about the outcome? Could it be my Chaoyang school has lost and father has lost? No way, that’s absolutely impossible.” Cold sweat oozes out on his forehead as he keeps shaking his head talking to himself.

He simply does not dare to take half a step out of this courtyard house. He can only stay here.

“Dongfang Yu!”

Soon after this voice rises, Dongfang Yu quickly decides that it is the very same voice which said “Dongfang Yu dies, or all of you … die!” in the beginning. Now, as he hears this voice, his heart trembles.

……

“Dongfang Yu, come out to die.”

Qin Yu says coldly while gradually going forwards step by step.

Using his holy sense, Qin Yu can see clearly that Dongfang Yu is in fear at the moment. He wants to torment him, torment his nerves and terrifies him so that he goes mad. Qin Yu keeps advancing slowly towards his target.

Reverend Yan Xu and Azure Dragon totally understand the meaning of Qin Yu’s current actions.

“Poor little brat Dongfang, damn, who told him to offend people?” Azure Dragon gives a sarcastic remark on one side.

“Dongfang Yu killed tower master Qin Yu’s master and cut off an arm of his father’s and uncle’s. He has only himself to blame for tower master Qin Yu acting this way.” Reverend Yan Xu lets out a sigh and says. He seems to be somewhat sorry for Dongfang Yu.

Azure Dragon however curls his lips, saying: “Hypocrite.”

As the leaders of 2 major powers, both Azure Dragon and Reverend Yan Xu are not the soft-hearted type. Actually, at the moment they have no sympathy for Dongfang Yu at all. Reverend Yan Xu’s pity is merely a pose.

Xiuzhenists go against Heaven and frequently fight each other for treasures. To them, power is the most important thing! If Azure Dragon and Reverend Yan Xu were soft-hearted, perhaps they would have been dead for nobody knows how many years now.

To be soft-hearted, you must have enough power first. When you are as powerful as a 9th tribulation loose immortal, a 10th tribulation loose immortal, or even a 12th tribulation loose immortal, if you are soft-hearted, people will praise you for being merciful and lofty.

But when you are only an ordinary Dongxu stage Xiuzhenist, if you are benign, people will think that you are stupid. If you are benign while the other people are cruel, it will be a strange thing if you can survive in this Xiuzhen world, where dangers lurk around you.

In going against Heaven, one wrong step will destroy 1000 years of hard work, therefore most Xiuzhenists are tough-minded. Even those who look kind-hearted on the outside are actually resolute and ruthless. At a crucial moment, they will not show any mercy.

Azure Dragon, Reverend Yan Xu, Teng Shan, Reverend Huo Tian, Reverend Di Feng and the 2 Azure Dragon Palace guardians all follow Qin Yu. Through their holy senses, they can see clearly Dongfang Yu’s terrified appearance. He is terrified by Qin Yu’s words.

Death is not terrifying at all. But having to knowingly wait for death’s arrival without being able to avoid it is very terrifying.

Qin Yu has already reached the outside of that courtyard house’s front door. Now his killing intent is so strong that even Dongfang Yu inside the house can totally feel it.

“Ah!”

Dongfang Yu’s face suddenly becomes frighteningly ferocious. He cannot take it anymore. With a scream, he activates the energy in his entire body and immediately rides his flying sword to soar straight into the sky, reaching his top speed in an instant.

Qin Yu turns into a golden beam of light in the blink of an eye.

Bang!

The golden light beam starts off later but quickly gets above Dongfang Yu. Afterwards, a huge golden palm appears and hits Dongfang Yu on the back squarely with a bang. Dongfang Yu is immediately smacked down like a nail.

The ground shakes for a while after Dongfang Yu’s body smashes violently onto some bluestone slabs of the courtyard house. The bluestone slabs are immediately shattered while Dongfang Yu’s whole body is bloodied. He props himself up on his arms with difficulty. He wants to get up but his internal organs hurt so much that he spouts another mouthful of blood.

Qin Yu suddenly appears before Dongfang Yu.

Lying prone on the ground, Dongfang Yu sees Qin Yu’s feet and raises his head to look at Qin Yu’s ice-cold face. Afterwards, he looks around and says in terror: “Where’s my father? Where’s my father? Where are the men of my Chaoyang School?”

“From now on, the Chaoyang School no longer exists.” Qin Yu says coldly.

Dongfang Yu does not react immediately. After a moment, he understands Qin Yu’s meaning. His Chaoyang School has been destroyed!

“Why? Why do you want to do this? Where did I offend you? Why are you so ruthless?” Even now Dongfang Yu does not collapse mentally because he does not value the members of his school. What he values is his own little life.

There is still the last glimmer of hope at the bottom of his heart!

“You want to kill me? Then can you tell me where I offended you? If you don’t tell me clearly, I won’t be resigned to my death.” Dongfang Yu says while staring at Qin Yu.

He believes that, whatever happens, he has never offended powerful people. The people he has killed were all small fries that he totally looked down upon. He simply has never dared to kill big fishes.

“You killed General Zhao Yunxing of the Qin dynasty in that battle at Jia Ling Pass, didn’t you? General Zhao Yunxing was my first master.” Qin Yu says in an ice-cold, flat voice.

Dongfang Yu’s face immediately goes pale.

He remembers that general had a natural air of fierceness. Even when facing Dongfang Yu, the general still attacked him fiercely with no regard for his own life. In the beginning, Dongfang Yu did not protect his body with elemental energy because of his carelessness so he suffered a surface wound. In the end, he killed that general out of anger. However, even after his death, the general was still glaring furiously at Dongfang Yu.

“Of the 2 current Shangxian of the Qin dynasty, one is my father and the other is my uncle.” Qin Yu continues.

Dongfang Yu’s entire body freezes. His eyes dull.

“How can, how can …” Dongfang Yu mumbles. His eyes become lifeless. Now he no longer has any hopes of surviving.

A golden light flickers in Qin Yu’s hand. Several shafts of light shoot into Dongfang Yu’s body and seal up his yuanying completely. Given Qin Yu’s current power, Dongfang Yu has no chance of breaking the seal at all.

“Guardian Liang Tan, you take a 100 strong squad and escort this Dongfang Yu back to the capital so that my father and brothers can deal with him and address the issue of lodging for all of you.” Qin Yu gives an order directly. Guardian Liang Tan among the 4 guardians outside the courtyard house takes the order without delay.

……

“Your Majesty, heavy fighting broke out in the Realm of Immortals outside the city. Very many of the Shangxian who were staying in the Realm of Immortals have already died.” An old eunuch beside Zhu Yan says respectfully.

At the moment, Zhu Yan’s demeanor is totally different from the disgraceful demeanor he had when captured by Qin Yu.

“Very many have died? Could that black-robed man have done this single-handedly?” He says frowningly.

The old eunuch says: “No, he couldn’t. According to the experts who were watching from the city gate towers, in the beginning that black-robed man issued a battle challenge alone, but later … a large number of Shangxian came. They even blotted out the entire sky. That group of Shangxian greatly outnumbered the Shangxian we welcomed in the past. But those Shangxian were on the side of the black-robed man.”

Zhu Yan understands.

The old eunuch continues: “The black-robed man then gave an order, which caused the deaths of so many Shangxian in the Realm of Immortals. Your Majesty, do you know at that time countless lightning bolts struck down? That scene scared all the officers and soldiers on the city gate towers stiff.”

“Where is that black-robed Shangxian now?” Zhu Yan slightly frowns then asks.

The old eunuch says: “That black-robed Shangxian is still in the Realm of Immortals. According to the experts who were watching from the city gate towers, the leaders of the Realm of Immortals, who are those reverends or something, later appeared and talked a bit with the black-robed man. By now, the black-robed man has already entered the Realm of Immortals.”

“Oh …”

Zhu Yan ponders. The old eunuch does not dare to say a word.

The Ming dynasty had been falling into decadence but its imperial power has increased greatly during Zhu Yan’s reign. Although Zhu Yan lusts for beautiful women and has even used corrupted, insincere officials, the power of his empire has been improving nonstop and his army has also become increasingly stronger.

“Prepare for a visit to the Realm of Immortals. I want to meet this black-robed Shangxian again.” Zhu Yan orders all of a sudden.

“Your Majesty.” The old eunuch is greatly shocked. “Your Majesty, this black-robed man is the thief who damaged the imperial resting house. His power is so terrifying …”

“Huh?” Zhu Yan gives a cold humph and casts an ice-cold glance at the old eunuch.

The eunuch’s heart skips a beat. Immediately, he does not dare to say anything else and takes the order. This old eunuch is the leader of the secret army under Zhu Yan. He is an expert who has reached the peak of the Xiantian level but he still has to tread carefully in front of Zhu Yan.

End of b8c8.

[wandering]

B8C9: Li’er’s magic power

“Tower master Qin Yu, there’s one thing I have to warn you about.” Reverend Yan Xu suddenly says to Qin Yu solemnly.

Hearing Reverend Yan Xu’s current tone, Qin Yu feels that it seems to be some important matter so he restrains his temper, saying: “What is the matter that you want to warn me about, Reverend Yan Xu? Please feel free to tell me.”

Reverend Yan Xu says with a nod: “According to what you said, your father is a man of the Qin dynasty, so let me ask you something. Who is your father? And what is the relationship between you and the Qin emperor?” Instead of talking about that matter, Reverend Yan Xu begins to ask Qin Yu.

“The reigning Qin emperor is my 2nd brother. Who do you think my father is?” Qin Yu says.

Reverend Yan Xu says smilingly: “Indeed.”

Azure Dragon unexpectedly also says: “Yan Xu, I already know what you want to say. Brother Qin Yu, I really have to warn you a bit about this matter but somehow I forgot to tell you about it.”

Qin Yu frowns. When both Reverend Yan Xu and Azure Dragon have said so, what is this important matter actually?


“Don’t beat around the bush, Overlord Azure Dragon, Reverend Yan Xu. If you have something to tell me, quickly go ahead and tell me. What is this matter that can make you act so cautiously? It seems to be an exceptionally important matter.” Qin Yu has become doubtful.

Reverend Yan Xu asks: “Qin Yu, if war breaks out between your Qin dynasty and the other dynasties, you will send the Stellar Tower’s army to help it, won’t you?”

Qin Yu says smilingly: “Of course I will. If difficult problems arise, it’ll be perfectly normal for me to help. I can’t stand watching my relatives be unhappy without batting an eyelid.” If he lacked power then there would be nothing he could do, but now that he has the Stellar Tower, naturally he wants to help his relatives.

Reverend Yan Xu laughs: “Then you’ll be courting death.”

“You’ll be courting death.” Azure Dragon also says.

Qin Yu is startled and looks doubtfully at the 2 of them.

Azure Dragon explains: “Brother Qin Yu, let me tell you something. Perhaps you’ve also heard about the Chaotic Astral Ocean. Those loose immortals in the Chaotic Astral Ocean once gave an order that the Qian Long continent is a continent of mortals and Xiuzhenists definitely can’t interfere in the fighting for power between the mortal countries.”

“If Xiuzhenists control a mortal country and then … get found out, they will inevitably be killed.” Reverend Yan Xu says solemnly.

Azure Dragon says with a nod: “Qin Yu, that uncle of yours is powerful, but this order came from the Chaotic Astral Ocean countless years ago and is jointly approved by all loose immortals. It’s an order of the loose immortal community so even your Uncle Lan has to accept it.”

Qin Yu is startled.

“Then how do you explain the current countries’ Shangxian?” He asks doubtfully.

Reverend Yan Xu says laughingly: “Those so-called Shangxian are merely some Jindan-stage Xiuzhenists. How can they possibly know about this? Besides, a couple of Xiuzhenists don’t have great influence on the general situation of the mortal world.”

Azure Dragon also says: “Qin Yu, listen carefully. Those loose immortals’ order was that they didn’t wish to see the mortal countries controlled by Xiuzhenists. Their meaning is very clear, that is, the Qian Long continent is a continent of mortals and controlled by mortals. You’ll be okay as long as you don’t violate this idea.”

Qin Yu immediately understands.

“I see. Will I break the rule if I send some subordinates to protect my relatives? They’ll only serve as bodyguards.” He quickly figures out a possible way to exploit this order.

Azure Dragon says laughingly: “Of course you won’t. Remember, if you don’t kill an emperor openly or lead an army of Xiuyaoists to go kill mortal armies or control a mortal monarch, there won’t be a problem.”

Qin Yu totally understands the intention of those unfathomable loose immortals in the Chaotic Astral Ocean.

These loose immortals want the Qian Long continent to remain as a continent of mortals, nothing more. Whoever violates this rule will be punished by them!

“Reverend, that emperor of the Ming dynasty requests for an audience with you.” A disciple runs in and says.

“Zhu Yan? Let him come in.” Reverend Yan Xu says smilingly.

Qin Yu stands up and says: “Reverend Yan Xu, Overlord Azure Dragon, I’m leaving here now.” When there is nothing left to deal with, why should he stay here instead of returning?

“Greetings, Reverend Yan Xu.” Zhu Yan, however, has walked in. When he suddenly sees Qin Yu, his face is full of terror and disbelief. “You, you are … the black-robed …”

Qin Yu looks at Zhu Yan and says indifferently: “Yes, I’m that black-robed man who caught you to ask about the location of Dongfang Yu.”

Zhu Yan seems to be extremely terrified by seeing Qin Yu. He then breathes deeply to suppress his fear and says respectfully: “I am Zhu Yan, emperor of the Ming dynasty. May I ask who you are, senior?”

“Me?” Qin Yu suddenly gives a faint smile.

“Qin Zheng is my 2nd brother!”

When his voice is still resounding, his body has already vanished.

“Qin Zheng … 2nd brother …” Zhu Yan’s eyes pop out of his head. His face is full of shock. His shock is half pretended and half genuine, but he really never expected the black-robed man to be a brother of the Qin emperor’s.

He wakes up in a moment and looks around: “Where are they?”

“Don’t look. They are already gone.” Azure Dragon says with a ha-ha laugh.

……

A grand army of Xiuyaoists is flying extremely fast in the sky, heading for the Qin dynasty’s capital. Yan Rui and 2 other guardians are leading this army. Qin Yu and his 2 sworn brothers started to move ahead of them long ago.

On a city gate tower of the Qin dynasty’s capital,

Qin De, Qin Zheng, Qin Feng and Fengyuzi are standing, looking in the direction of the Ming dynasty’s capital. The 4 of them have been waiting for Qin Yu on this tower since Qin Yu left, taking the large army of Xiuyaoists with him.

Guardian Liang Tan already escorted Dongfang Yu back. Qin De only gave an order to lock him up for later punishment. Now what Qin De wants the most is a nice discussion with his 3rd son!

What actually happened?

His 3rd son left the Qian Long continent just 10 years ago, how was he able to become the Stellar Tower’s master?

Pleasant surprise? Doubt? Disbelief? Nervousness?

There are all kinds of feelings in the hearts of Qin De and the other 3 at the moment.

A golden light beam shoots extremely fast towards them in the distance. Their eyes brighten at once. Following a perfect curved path, that golden light beam dives down and lands directly on the city gate tower. It then turns into a man, who is none other than Qin Yu.

“Father.” Qin Yu looks at his father Qin De.

Qin De, Qin Zheng, Qin Feng and Fengyuzi all look at him.

“Stellar Tower? Tower master?” Qin De starts the conversation.

“There are so many Xiuzhenists, perhaps more than 10,000.” Qin Feng continues.

Qin Zheng also says: “So you’re the Stellar Tower’s master. No wonder you care so little about Base Building Pills.”

“According to guardian Liang Tan, the Stellar Tower is unexpectedly a superpower in the same league as the Penglai Immortal Region. You’re really formidable. You’ve become so strong in just 10 years.” Although Fengyuzi praises highly, there is not a big smile on his face.

The 4 of them all stare at Qin Yu and say in unison: “Say, what really happened?”

Qin Yu forces a smile: “I, I had no time to tell you, didn’t I?”

Seeing Qin Yu’s forced smile, Qin De, who is acting, can no longer restrain himself. He, who is normally solemn and dignified, now gives Qin Yu a pat on the head and says with happy laughter: “You’re quite something, brat. I never expected you to work so hard to establish yourself.”

Qin Feng hugs Qin Yu’s shoulders excitedly and says: “Xiao Yu, I’ve had to restrain myself so much during this period. I didn’t dare to seek revenge or mention the loss of my middle-grade holy weapon … But now I’ve finally got it off my chest. This is awesome, so awesome!”

Qin Zheng also embraces Qin Yu’s shoulders and says: “Xiao Yu, I’m a monarch of mortals, but you’re a lord of Xiuzhenists. The unification of the Qian Long continent by our ancestor Qin Shi Huang has been regarded as the no. 1 glory in the history of the Qin clan, but your Stellar Tower must even be a higher achievement than the great Qin dynasty of the past.”

Fengyuzi says in a disappointed manner: “At that time I couldn’t stand being wronged by the Pure Sword School so I left it. But I never thought my nephew would become the leader of a superpower comparable to the Penglai Immortal Region. The times they really are a-changing.”

During this period of time, the high echelons of the Qin dynasty have felt deeply wronged.

General Zhao Yunxing was killed but they could not avenge him.

The 2 Shangxian both had an arm cut off and all of the middle-grade holy weapons were even taken away. The Qin dynasty, however, could only endure such a humiliation. But then Qin Yu returned and personally led a large army to rush the enemies in a majestic manner, turning the table in just one night. As a result, everybody’s frustration is relieved.

……

On the city gate tower,

After a table has been arranged in the indistinct light of the crescent moon, Qin Yu, his father, his big brother, his 2nd brother and Fengyuzi sit down around it. They drink wine and talk with each other about their experiences in the past 10 years by the moonlight. They even tense up when talking about dangerous experiences.

The night then passes and a white glow appears in the east. It is already starting to get light.

After such a long talk, Qin De and the others finally know about Qin Yu’s experiences and understand how dangerous the Xiuzhen world is.

“Compared to the Xiuzhen world, the Qian Long continent is much more stable. At least it’s controlled by laws and armies. The only bad thing here is the fighting between the countries. But in the Xiuzhen world, power is everything. Yu’er, your last 10 years has been rough. You should also rest for a while.”

At the moment, Qin De also feels pity surging inside him. Who knows how many times Qin Yu has brushed past death in the overseas Xiuzhen world?

Qin De does not know the answer at all. In fact, Qin Yu’s experiences were even more dangerous than they are in Qin Yu’s narration. He did not talk about the many times he had to rely on the Meteoric Tear to get out of danger because he does not want to worry his father too much.

……

In Prince Yu’s Mansion,

Li’er is carefully watering flowers in the early morning with a faint charming smile on the corners of her mouth.

“Li’er, you got up so early in the morning to water flowers. Why don’t you rest a bit more?” Qin Yu goes straight to a nearby net hammock and lies down in a satisfied manner. The hammock then begins to swing.

Li’er gives a smile and says emotionally: “The Qian Long continent has many unusual flowers that other places don’t. Besides, the morning air is very good. Actually, dwelling places of mortals are not bad at all.”

“Then just stay here with me all the time. I won’t chase you away.” Qin Yu says jokingly.

“All right, quit joking. Why didn’t you return the entire yesterday night? Where did you go?” Li’er says solemnly.

Qin Yu is startled then says seriously: “This, do you still have to ask why a man goes out during the night? The other places of mortals are no good, but brothels are still very flourishing. Also, the mortal scholars usually shout ‘the modest, retiring, virtuous, young lady, for the gentleman a good mate is she’ then run to brothels. This is called fashion. Yesterday I also went to a brothel to check it out.”

Li’er covers her mouth and gives a laugh: “You think you’re a gentleman?”

“Why not? I don’t look the part?”

“All right, quit blabbering. Yesterday many Xiuyaoists appeared outside. Do you think I’m a mortal who couldn’t feel it? Tell me, what did you do after leaving?” Li’er asks carefully.

Qin Yu stops lying in the hammock. He sits up, stands up and says: “I won’t hide it from you anymore. Yesterday I told you I was going to see my master. But … my master had already been killed. Both my father and Uncle Feng had got an arm cut off too. So, yesterday I left to take revenge.” His voice has become slightly serious.

“Take revenge? What was the result?” Li’er asks.

“School terminated.” Qin Yu’s eyes flash with fierceness.

Li’er frowns, seemingly a little unhappy with this. But in a short while she lets out a sigh: “All right, since you already terminated their school, you have got your revenge, right? Then why do you still look like you want a piece of people after returning to the mansion?”

Qin Yu sobers up and says hurriedly: “I’m sorry.”

Just now he was remembering his animosities again so naturally he could not control his emotions well.

Li’er says with a smile: “Never mind. Qin Yu, where are your father and Uncle Feng? Take me to see them sometime.”

“What are you going to do?” Qin Yu asks doubtfully.

“I’m going to treat their injuries. What else do you think I’m going to do?” Li’er answers as if this goes without saying.

“Treat their injuries? My father and Uncle Feng are Xiuzhenists. They are very healthy. What injuries are you going to treat?”

Li’er says in an annoyed manner: “Idiot. Aren’t severed arms injuries? It’s been some time since your father and Uncle Feng got their arms cut off so other people can’t heal them. But if I get into action, I can still succeed with some certainty.”

Qin Yu is stupefied.

“You, you mean … severed arms can be regenerated?” His face is full of disbelief.

Li’er gives a brilliant smile: “Of course they can. You saw me treat Yan Zi’s serious wounds in the past, right? This is my special magic power. Oh, Qin Yu, could it be you don’t want to see your father and Uncle Feng recover? If so, let’s forget it then.”

“No, no.” Qin Yu hurriedly says. When Li’er sees his expression, her eyes flash with a hint of craftiness.

Suddenly Qin Yu holds Li’er’s hand directly with a grab then flies straight towards the Imperial Palace: “Let’s go. Follow me to the Imperial Palace. Li’er, please heal my father’s and Uncle Feng’s severed arms.” Although he says so using his mouth, his flying speed is still extremely fast.

However, Li’er is startled. She watches Qin Yu pulling her hand.

This is … the 1st time Qin Yu has ever pulled her hand!

End of b8c9.

[wandering]

B8C10: Xiao Lu

Pure Forest Garden is one of the forbidden places in the Qin dynasty’s Imperial Palace because Qin De and Fengyuzi usually stay here.

Not long ago, Qin De, Qin Yu, Qin Zheng, Qin Feng and Fengyuzi parted on the city gate tower. Qin Yu returned to Prince Yu’s Mansion, Qin Feng returned to Prince Rui’s Mansion while Qin De, Fengyuzi and Qin Zheng went back to the Imperial Palace together.

Outside the gate of Pure Forest Garden,

“Father, I’m leaving now.” Qin Zheng bows and says very respectfully. However, when he is about to go back to his dwelling place, a gust of wind blasts at him. Shocked, Qin Zheng shouts without delay: “Who?”

2 people then appear. It turns out they are Qin Yu and Miss Li’er.

Fengyuzi and Qin De are not surprised at all. Because Qin Yu is not suppressing his aura, their holy senses have already discovered that he was coming. But Qin Zheng has not even reached the Xiantian level so naturally he could not tell who the arriver was.

“Father, good news, there’s very good news.” Holding Li’er’s hand in his hand, Qin Yu says to Qin De excitedly.

Qin De looks at Qin Yu and Li’er carefully. Seeing Qin Yu still pulling Li’er’s hand, he suspects they were even flying hand in hand. Then when he sees Li’er’s slightly blushing face, he naturally draws a conclusion and says laughingly: “Good news? Yu’er, can you let me make a guess?”

“You already know?” Qin Yu is astonished.

Qin De says smilingly: “It is related to this young lady?”

Qin Yu nods. There is even more amazement in his eyes now. Only after Li’er told him did he know that she can regenerate severed arms, so how was his father able to know about this?

Qin De feels even surer. He looks at Li’er carefully. Only when he gives her a careful look can he feel her air of elegance. That air of elegance and simplicity is very soothing, just like the fresh and clean air of the early morning.

“Not bad, not bad …”

Qin De looks at Li’er carefully as if looking at his daughter-in-law while praising her.

Qin Yu is not a fool. Seeing his father behaving this way, with a little consideration, he totally understands what his father is thinking. He cannot help forcing a smile: “Father, this is Li’er. I already told you about her when we were drinking wine on the city gate tower just now. I’ve taken her here because she can heal your severed arm.”

“Oh, Miss Li’er. What? You can heal severed arms?” Qin De frowns.

Li’er says with an indifferent smile: “Uncle Qin, it’s pretty difficult to regenerate this severed arm of yours, but my innate magic power can still do it with some certainty. Uncle Feng’s severed arm can also be healed back to normal similarly.”

Qin De and Fengyuzi exchange a look. Their eyes are filled with astonishment and disbelief.

“Miss Li’er, my school can be considered a Xiuzhen school but I’ve never heard that severed arms can be regrown. This is really hard to believe. Could you tell me about your method of treatment?” Even Fengyuzi cannot believe this.

But Qin Yu has seen Li’er give treatment and her skill was really marvelous.

“This is a magic power that I’m born with. Can you let me use it on you a bit, Uncle Qin, Uncle Feng?” Li’er says smilingly.

Qin Yu also says: “Don’t worry, father, Uncle Feng. Li’er is exceptionally good at healing. I’ve seen her treat other people’s injuries several times and the results were very good. It’ll only take you a while.”

Qin De and Fengyuzi ponder for a short time then begin to take off their coats.

Li’er says with a smile: “Uncle Qin, Uncle Feng, you don’t have to take off your coats. You only need to stand still at this place so that I can use my power on you.”

“Oh, then we’ll have to trouble you, Miss Li’er.” Qin De is even more amazed. He and Fengyuzi then just stand still on their current places.

Li’er slightly closes her eyes. Various green light beams start to move around her body. Enfolded in them, she looks like a goddess of life. The green light beams then begin to expand towards Qin De and Fengyuzi.

“Xiao Yu, are you sure of success?” Standing on one side, Qin Zheng also watches this scene with some expectation.

Qin Yu nods his head: “Don’t worry.”

When various green beams of light have covered the severed areas of Qin De and Fengyuzi’s arms, their empty sleeves start to be propped up gradually. It seems the cut-off arms are beginning to lengthen towards the cuffs inside. It is just that the lengthening speed is fairly slow.

One minute, 2 minutes …

One hour, 2 hours …

As time goes by, the propped-up parts of the originally empty sleeves become increasingly longer. Qin Yu’s holy sense notices clearly that as the green light fuses with the severed areas of the arms, the arms are gradually regrown. Their flesh and bones keep regenerating.

After 6 hours,

6 entire hours has passed and Qin Yu and Qin Zheng have also been fixing their eyes on the treatment for 6 hours. Feeling that their arms are regenerating nonstop, Qin De and Fengyuzi are both uncontrollably excited and happy. But because Li’er is healing them at the moment, they do not dare to say anything for fear of distracting her.

Beads of sweat are oozing out on her forehead. Sweat has also appeared on the tip of her nose …

Li’er has been keeping her eyes closed all along. And Qin Yu has been observing the progress carefully using his holy sense. Now Qin De’s and Fengyuzi’s fingers have been formed completely. The treatment has successfully accomplished its goal. Li’er eventually opens her eyes, gently exhales a breath and wipes the sweat off her face.

“Uncle Qin, Uncle Feng, how are you feeling?” She asks smilingly.

Qin De and Fengyuzi swing their arms a couple of times and even perform hand signs using both arms. After a while, they are both pleasantly surprised.

“Miss Li’er, I’m really so grateful to you. I feel as if my arm has never been cut off. It’s exactly the same as it was in the past.” Qin De is very excited. It is the same with Fengyuzi. Now that his severed arm has been regenerated, he feels more excited than ever.

Qin Zheng is delighted. He says with loud laughter: “This is great news! This is great news! We must arrange a big celebration for it. People! Quickly go invite Prince Rui’s family to the palace. Also, take the empress, the ladies, the princes and princesses to Hundred Official Pavilion.”

……

In Hundred Official Pavilion,

Supreme Emperor Qin De takes the master seat. Qin Zheng and Fengyuzi take the seats on either side of him. Qin Yu and Qin Feng take the seats right next to them. Everybody sits down along the 2 sides of the long table. This banquet is even much more sumptuous than the previous one. Dishes are brought out one after another unceasingly.

“365 delicacies in the world have been gathered. Let’s enjoy them to our heart’s content, everybody.” Qin Zheng says laughingly.

In this banquet, Li’er is forced to drink quite a lot of wine. After knowing that Qin De’s and Fengyuzi’s severed arms have been regenerated, Qin Feng is delighted and keeps thanking her. This time, the leading character of the banquet is none other than Li’er. Everyone enjoys the festivities as much as they like.

Only when the night falls is the banquet finished.

……

In Prince Yu’s Mansion,

“Stop arguing with each other. The leaders of the 2nd, 5th and 6th companies will become the 3 honorary retainers of the Qin clan.” Qin Yu gives his judgment directly. Of the 3 he has chosen, 2 are late Yuanying-stage experts and the other is a middle Yuanying-stage expert who can match a late Yuanying-stage expert in power.

The other 7 company leaders present cannot help feeling somewhat disappointed.

Soon after coming back from the Imperial Palace, Qin Yu gathered the 4 guardians and 10 company leaders. The weakest among these 10 company leaders is already at the middle Yuanying stage. To help the Qin clan’s members, Qin Yu pondered and decided to choose 3 experts to become honorary protective retainers of the Qin clan.

He had already learned about the order of the Chaotic Astral Ocean so he knew that he had better ask 3 powerful Xiuyaoists to protect the Qin clan and that it would be useless to use more Xiuyaoists than this. Therefore he decided to first select 3 from these 10 company leaders.

The ones chosen by Qin Yu can all ask him to forge a high-grade holy weapon for them each. And they can pick any type of holy weapon they like.

High-grade holy weapons are still attractive to Yuanying-stage experts and Qin Yu has said they only have to serve as honorary retainers for 100 years before getting replaced with another batch. To Xiuyaoists, 100 years is not a long time at all.

“Yes, tower master.”

The 3 chosen experts cannot help getting delighted. Is it not just 100 years? They will only need to practice quietly during this period. As for the task of protecting the Qin clan’s members, given the Qin clan’s power, who would dare to provoke it? Therefore, this is a very easy job for them.

After 100 easy years, they can even obtain a high-grade holy weapon each. Who would not want such a good errand?

“Guardian Yan Rui, immediately dispatch an army of 8000 guards to the Wilderness to search for a black jade case. Remember one thing. The search area is within 100,000 li across the border of the Wilderness. You must not go deeper than that.” Qin Yu orders solemnly.

Yan Rui is a female, but she is the leader of the Stellar Tower’s 8 guardians and is extremely capable and experienced.

“Tower master, if the location of that black jade case is deeper, shall we go for it?” She asks.

“No.” A faint cunning smile appears on the corners of Qin Yu’s mouth. “If you can get that black jade case, that’ll be a good thing, but if I you can’t, there won’t be a problem. Remember, safety first. Right … I already told the manager of the mansion to go buy some cases made of inky jade. You take and immediately bury them deep in the ground of the Wilderness.”

Qin Yu laughs in his mind: “The 9th jade sword, perhaps no leaders will tell the searching Xiuzhenists about this secret. They will only know that they’ll have to find a black jade case, but they won’t know what kind of jade case it is. And these mortal-made inky jade cases can also be considered black jade cases.”

“Yes!”

There is also a tinge of excitement on Yan Rui’s face. She certainly understands Qin Yu’s meaning. Since she does not have to go deeper than 100,000 li into the Wilderness, the mission of searching in the Wilderness is not very dangerous, so naturally she is happy and relaxed.

……

Qin Yu is lying on a white cloud among the other clouds in the sky, holding a flagon of wine in his hand taking one sip after another. Li’er is sitting with legs crossed on the cloud beside him. A zither has been placed on her legs. She is enjoying playing the zither with eyes closed.

Drinking wine while listening to the music makes Qin Yu feel happy as if he is an immortal.

As the white cloud floats, the zither music comes down from the 9th level of the sky as if it is the sounds of nature.

When the zither music stops, Qin Yu puts the flagon away in an instant and sits up. He says smilingly to Li’er: “Li’er, this time I have to trouble you again, but Xiao Lu is just like my younger sister. I can’t bear seeing her live the rest of her life with a severed arm like that. I …”

“All right, don’t be so sad.” Li’er says with a smile. “How long do we still need to reach Su Yan City?”

“We’ll be there soon.” Qin Yu immediately accelerates the cloud.

……

At a gate of Su Yan City,

Qin Yu is wearing a blue robe outside, which is something he rarely does. This blue robe is extremely valuable and was personally given to Qin Yu by Qin Zheng. Li’er is also dressed entirely in blue and has a silk belt tied around her slender waist.

The 2 of them enter the city.

With a sweep of his holy sense, Qin Yu finds out Tie Shan’s and Xiao Lu’s locations, but what his holy sense has discovered stupefies him. Afterwards, he laughs out loud.

“Why are you laughing, Qin Yu?” Li’er asks doubtfully.

Qin Yu says mysteriously: “Follow me.” He quickens his pace in an instant. With just 2 or 3 steps, he travels 100 m, but the ordinary people around him simply do not notice anything unusual. This is because he is too fast.

Li’er is still waking slowly. With 2 steps that make her look as if she is floating, she easily follows Qin Yu. It seems her steps can greatly shorten space.

……

In Tang Mansion in Su Yan City,

“Darling.”

A white-clad handsome young man is kneeling in the main hall. This young man has red lips and white teeth and is so handsome that he can make women mad about him and men envious of him. This man is none other than the so-called no. 1 calligrapher of the Qin dynasty Tang Yuan, who can casually draw paintings worth thousands of gold sycees.

“You let father-in-law down, didn’t you? Kneel before his altar for 2 entire hours.”

Tang Yuan’s wife, Xiao Lu, says strictly.

Now Xiao Lu is already more than 20 years old and is in the prime of her youth. There is an air of delicacy about her but there is also an amount of heroism on her forehead. Delicacy and heroism are conflicting qualities but they coexist in harmony in Xiao Lu.

In the past, this air of delicacy and heroism attracted Tang Yuan. To court Xiao Lu, he was beaten by Tie Shan 3 times and suffered countless hardships. In the end he was able to win the belle’s heart. However, Xiao Lu adores another brother the most -- Qin Yu. After Qin Yu left the Qian Long continent and that battle on the river Wu received widespread attention, she started to put a lot of effort into training, aiming to follow Qin Yu’s example. She reached the Xiantian level 5 years later and now she is already at the middle Xiantian level.

As a gentle, weak scholar who is married to a Xiantian-level heroine, Tang Yuan naturally … has suffered.

“Xiao Lu, you’re too merciful to Qinglan. Yesterday this disobedient son even went to a brothel with some scoundrels to drink wine. He must kneel at least 6 hours.” A 50 to 60 year old luxurious-looking married woman stares angrily at Tang Yuan.

“Mother …” Tang Yuan secretly takes a look at his mother but does not see a glimmer of hope.

“Darling…” He then looks at Xiao Lu.

Seeing the pitiful look in his eyes, she cannot help softening a little.

“Tang Qinglan!” A loud shout comes in from outside. A man dressed in military uniform rushes in. There are even 2 guards behind him.

“Ah, brother-in-law.” As soon as Tang Yan sees Tie Shan, he acts like a mouse seeing a cat. He is so frightened that he immediately gets up and runs to Xiao Lu’s back, saying hurriedly: “Save me, darling. Save me, darling. Brother-in-law will kill me.”

Tie Shan’s face is full of anger: “Tang Qinglan, you even dared to go into a brothel again. You let my sister down, didn’t you? This time I won’t let you go before giving you 20 military lashes.”

Lady Tang, who had harsh words for Tang Yuan just moments ago, also says hurriedly: “Commander Tie, you can’t use your whip. I’ll make him kneel for 6 hours, no, 10 hours. But if you give him 20 military lashes, he will be bedridden for a half month.”

“Lying on bed is also good. He’ll become better-behaved.” Tie Shan is boiling with anger.

The Tang clan is influential and is a large clan in Su Yan City, but Tie Shan is the commander of the city’s army and a sworn brother of the reigning emperor’s younger brother, the Qin clan’s 3rd Prince, who took part in that legendary battle on the river Wu.

Therefore, even though the Tang clan is powerful, it will not dare to offend Tie Shan.

“Big brother, kneeling 2 hours is enough for him. He won’t dare to make the same mistake.” Xiao Lu hastily gets in front of Tang Yuan. She does not like her husband to be hit with a military whip.

“Step aside, Xiao Lu.”

“No.” Xiao Lu keeps blocking her big brother’s way.

Tie Shan is furious, but he cannot use force because, firstly, he hates to hurt his sister, and secondly, he … is no match for Xiao Lu. Although he has been training assiduously, he is not highly gifted like her at all. There is nothing he can do about this.

“Darling, you’re the best.” Tang Yuan says while hiding behind Xiao Lu.

“Oh, is a play going on here?” A jocular voice rises.

Everybody is startled and looks outside the hall. They see Qin Yu coming in, with Li’er going behind him.

“Xiao Yu.” Tie Shan opens his eyes so wide that they look like small copper bells.

“Brother Yu.” Xiao Lu’s face is also full of disbelief.

End of b8c10.

[wandering]

B8C11: Xun Feng, Situ Xue

Qin Yu and Li’er go into the main hall successively.

“Xiao Lu, Tie Shan, what’s going on here? Is the gentleman behind you your husband, Xiao Lu?” Qin Yu says with an indifferent smile.

Xiao Lu looks at Qin Yu. In just a while, she becomes misty-eyed.

After Qin Yu left the Qian Long continent to enter the boundless ocean, nobody knew when he would be able to return or even whether he would return. Xiao Lu was also grieved by Qin Yu’s departure and therefore she has been putting her effort into training since then.

“Brother Yu.” Xiao Lu suddenly walks up 2 steps and hugs Qin Yu. She can no longer hold back her tears.

Tie Shan’s eyes also slightly redden. At the moment this iron man is also extremely excited.

“All right, don’t act like a child. Now you’re already a wife so you got to be virtuous a bit. Do you understand?” Qin Yu strokes Xiao Lu’s shoulders and wipes her tears off. Afterwards he looks at Tang Yuan, asking: “You’re Tang Yuan, right? Are you my younger sister’s husband?”

Tang Yuan is basically someone who fears nothing, but now he becomes somewhat cautious.

This is because the man before him is Prince Yu of the Qin dynasty, the unprecedented Xiantian external expert of the Qian Long continent, who even became a Xiuzhenist at the age of 20 and who was the winner of that legendary battle on the river Wu.

“Brother-in-law, I am Tang Yuan, courtesy name Qinglan. I am exactly Xiao Lu’s husband.” Tang Yuan calms down in a short while and says courteously. However, he calls Qin Yu ‘brother-in-law’ so the distance between them is immediately shortened.

Qin Yu secretly approves of his behavior.

“Xiao Yu, there wasn’t even a tiny piece of news about you in 10 years. Today we must drink until we’re drunk. Qinglan, I’ll suspend these military lashes for the time being today. You quickly go prepare a nice feast with fine wine. This time I and my brother got to drink to our hearts’ content.” Tie Shan is now very high-spirited.

Qin Yu says with a smile: “Da Shan, today I’ll drink with you until you can’t take it anymore, okay?”

At Qin Yu’s current level, he can drink as much wine as he likes so how can he possibly flinch from drinking?

“Awesome. Tang Qinglan, what are you standing there for? Why don’t you go make preparations?” Tie Shan suddenly stares at Tang Yuan.

Tang Yuan’s facial expression stiffens. He forces a smile: “This, brother-in-law, just now you said you would suspend the military lashes for the time being, didn’t you? But today is such a day of great happiness because of Prince Yu’s arrival, so could you exempt me from these lashes?”

“Nonsense, quickly go prepare the feast.” Tie Shan says angrily.

Qin Yu says with a smile: “Da Shan, did you become a fool? He doesn’t necessarily have to go prepare the feast himself. Just now that housekeeper went out right after hearing what you had said. Perhaps he went to prepare the feast. Qinglan is playing a trick on you.”

Tang Yuan looks at Qin Yu with a little shock: “Brother-in-law, just now the housekeeper was at the door and your back was facing him, how could you know what he was doing?”

He does not know martial arts and does not even know about the existence of the holy sense.

“Hubby, how can you possibly imagine my brother Yu’s magic power?” Xiao Lu helps Qin Yu answer.

“Magic power?” Qin Yu says with a smile. “When it comes to magic powers, I’m far inferior to my junior sister. Let me introduce a bit, this lady is my junior sister Li’er.” He pulls Li’er’s hand then introduces her to everybody. She gives him a look but does not pull her hand back.

After Qin Yu pulled Li’er’s hand for the first time, she has not resisted too much when he has pulled her hand again. There is a hint of satisfaction at the bottom of Qin Yu’s eyes because his ‘plot has succeeded’ but too bad … she does not see it.

Li’er nods to everybody with an indifferent smile.

“Sister Li’er, are you really my brother Yu’s junior sister?” Xiao Lu looks doubtfully at Qin Yu and Li’er.

“Yan’er.” She suddenly says.

A little head sticks out from a corner of the main hall. Those shiny black eyes are extremely cute.

“Yan’er, come here. Quickly greet your uncle.” Xiao Lu calls that little boy. This boy is none other than her son Tang Yan, looking just about 3 years old. His hair is combed into an upright bunch and his cheeks are ruddy.

Tang Yan walks towards Qin Yu then looks at Li’er. He turns his little face upwards and asks doubtfully: “Uncle, you just said she had some magic power, didn’t you? What is it?”

“Right, what is sister Li’er’s magic power?” Xiao Lu also becomes doubtful.

“She can heal your severed arm.” Qin Yu looks Xiao Lu in the eye and says slowly.

Xiao Lu, Tang Yuan, lady Tang and Tie Shan are all dumbfounded.

……

3 days later, Qin Yu, Li’er, Xiao Lu, Tang Yuan and Tie Shan are walking on the streets of Su Yan City.

“Da Shan, how do you feel about being the commander of this Su Yan City?” Qin Yu asks smilingly.

Tie Shan thinks for a while and says: “I feel so-so. It’s just that dealing with the children of some officials is a little troublesome. But it feels pretty good when I eat and drink with those brothers of mine. Xiao Yu, you’ve seen my robust, good-natured son, he’s very strong, right?”

“Yeah, he’s unusually strong. He’s so young but he can already drink wine.” Qin Yu cannot help giving a smile.

Suddenly his face changes color. Then he gives a faint smile.

“Tie Shan, this Su Yan City has a young man who is fond of holding a folding fan, about 25 or 26 years old and quite cute and handsome, right? There’s a small plait at the back of his head.” Qin Yu asks Tie Shan.

The latter says with a ‘humph’: “Yeah, it certainly does. This is our Su Yan City’s governor’s son, who belongs to the same gang as this Tang Qinglan fella.”

“Brother Ziyou?” Tang Yuan looks doubtfully at Qin Yu.

Qin Yu says with a nod: “Tang Yuan, this friend of yours will most likely lose his little life because … he’s annoyed someone he shouldn’t annoy.”

……

Xun Feng, son of Su Yan City’s governor, likes to have many romantic relationships with women so he and Tang Yuan are compatible. He occasionally dallies with women of good families, but he does this for harmless fun only and has never really exploited them.

Today, Xun Feng and several male servants are taking a stroll on the main streets.

“Wow, what a beauty, what a beauty. I’ve fallen in love with her.” He looks at a nearby woman, feeling his heart pounding in his chest.

The woman ahead of him is dressed entirely in purple with no traces of a smile on her face. There is an extremely grim air about her, but because her facial features can be considered perfect, people will think that she is an ice queen. Her purple lips even add to her lordly, frosty air.

“Young lady, I am Xun Feng, Xun Ziyou.” Xun Feng goes forwards and says with a smiling expression he considers the friendliest.

“Get lost.”

The purple-clad woman says with an expressionless face. Her eyes flash with coldness.

Xun Feng is startled. He cannot help feeling somewhat embarrassed. But he has an unusually thick skin so he continues to say with a smile: “Young lady, I am very familiar with Su Yan City and its every corner. If you want to go somewhere for a stroll, I will definitely be the best tour guide.”

The purple-clad woman’s eyes suddenly turn eerily grim.

“Oh my, brother Ziyou, since when have you become so polite in chasing a beauty? Beautiful lady … I am Wang Shan of Su Yan City’s Wang clan. Why don’t you follow me to the Wang clan to look around a bit?” A slightly sharp voice rises.

At the same time, 2 henchmen go towards this purple-clad woman to grab her.

Wang Shan is different from Xun Feng. Xun Feng play jokes on women at the most, but Wang Shan even abducts them.

“All of you … die!”

The purple-clad woman’s eyes radiate coldness. All of a sudden, her body shoots various rays of light into her vicinity. The 2 henchmen of the Wang clan closest to her are broken into pieces in the blink of an eye. Xun Feng cannot help secretly getting shocked by this. Given his puny power, he simply cannot dodge at all.

“Miss Situ, if you want to kill someone in my Qin dynasty, at least you have to tell me about it first.”

Qin Yu appears in front of Xun Feng immediately as if using teleportation. The rays of light the purple-clad woman shoots towards the place where Qin Yu is standing are easily blocked by him.

“Ah!” As for Wang Shan in another direction, just like his servants, he is reduced to pieces. His blood is all over the ground.

Xun Feng’s face turns very white and is full of disbelief. He never thought that this frosty beauty was such a deadly god.

The purple-clad beautiful woman gives Qin Yu a look. The corners of her mouth slightly curve upwards, which is a rare sight. It is possible that she considers this action smiling.

“Tower master Qin Yu.” The woman’s manner is fairly polite.

Qin Yu says with a smile: “Miss Situ, why are you taking a stroll on the streets of Su Yan City alone instead of staying with brother Yi Da? This brat has some connections with my younger sister’s husband so I certainly can’t watch him die.”

This purple-clad beautiful woman is none other than Situ Xue, one of the 3 leaders of the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon.

“Since tower master Qin Yu has got into action, I’ll spare this brat this time.” Situ Xue casts a glance at Xun Feng then looks at Qin Yu, saying: “Tower master Qin Yu, both Yi Da and Jiao Jiu are in Su Yan City. Perhaps they are in a certain place of the city now.”

Qin Yu nods his head.

“Brother Ziyou.” Tang Yuan has finally run to the scene from the distance.

Just now, Qin Yu, Tang Yuan and the others were 1 km away from Xun Feng. However, to Qin Yu, this distance can be covered in one step and in an instant, so naturally he was able to save Xun Feng’s life in the nick of time.

“Qinglan, they, they and Wang Shan have all been reduced to pieces.” At the moment, Xun Feng’s heart is still pounding.

Seeing this scene and noticing the acquaintanceship between Qin Yu and that purple-clad beautiful woman, Tang Yuan concludes that she is probably also a Xiuzhenist. He immediately tells Xun Feng: “Brother Ziyou, you must have a death wish. Why did you provoke her?”

Xun Feng takes a deep breath then looks at Situ Xue and says in a low voice: “Qinglan, I think … I’m in love with her.” He thinks that nobody can hear him when he talks in such a low voice, but right after he said so --

Qin Yu suddenly turns around and looks at Xun Feng with amazement. Situ Xue also looks at Xun Feng. At the same time, her expression becomes very strange.

“This brat …” Qin Yu does not know what to say for the moment.

Situ Xue is the no. 1 she-devil in the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon and an early Kongming-stage Xiumoist, no less! Even Qin Yu is only about as powerful as she is, yet now an ordinary brat has fallen for such a top expert of the Xiumo path …

“What a madcap.” A faint smile appears on the corners of Qin Yu’s mouth.

Seeing Qin Yu and Situ Xue looking at him in such a manner, Xun Feng thinks about their magic powers just now and figures out that his words have most likely been heard by them. His thinking is already known to them, but he unexpectedly raises his head and looks straight at Situ Xue.

“Are you Miss Situ?” Xun Feng says smilingly. He still remembers what Qin Yu and Situ Xue just said to each other.

Situ Xue, however, says nothing, her eyes still ice-cold.

“I am Xun Feng, Xun Ziyou. Miss Situ, I sincerely like you. But … love must come from both sides. I definitely will not bother you. As long as you remember that Su Yan City has a man called Xun Ziyou who likes you, it is enough for me.”

There is a calm, amiable smile on Xun Feng’s face.

“Ha-ha … Situ Xue, someone even likes you? Good Heavens! Did the sun rise in the west today?” A muscular man comes rushing then looks at Xun Feng and says: “Brat, do you want me to tell you how old this Miss Situ is? Ha-ha …”

“Jiao Jiu.” Situ Xue makes a wave of her hand. A purple electric spark shoots out.

Jiao Jiu makes a wave of his hand. A crescent-moon-shaped light shoots out and collides with that purple electric spark. They then both dissipate.

“Situ, we’ve been friends for so many years, today someone openly said he loved you so I’m also happy for you.” Jiao Jiu then says laughingly to Xun Feng: “Brat, let me tell you something. This year, your Miss Situ is already -- ah, Situ Xue, can you let me finish what I’m saying?”

Jiao Jiu and Situ Xue exchange a blow.

Situ Xue looks at Jiao Jiu with grim eyes: “Shut your mouth a bit, or … today I’ll fight you to the death.”

Jiao Jiu is startled. He immediately stops talking.

“Situ, you and Jiao Jiu have fought each other for so many years, but you’ve never said you would fight him to the death before. Now … you say so because of a mortal. Could it be …” A purple-haired man appears with a hint of mockery.

He looks handsomely evil and strange!

Situ Xue frowns but says nothing. After all, this man is Dungeon King Yi Da, a late Kongming stage expert for whom she is definitely no match.

“Tower master Qin Yu.” Yi Da looks at Qin Yu and slightly nods.

“Brother Yi Da.” Qin Yu also nods. At this moment, various groups of city guards rush to the scene. Qin Yu immediately tells Tie Shan on one side: “Da Shan, casually handle these dead people a bit. You don’t have to care much about this matter.”

Tie Shan also knows that the people in front of him are no ordinary. He nods without delay then orders the guards to deal with the shattered corpses in the surroundings.

“Brother Yi Da, let’s go to that restaurant for a nice chat.” Qin Yu says enthusiastically.

“After you.” Yi Da nods.

Immediately, Qin Yu, Yi Da, Situ Xue, Jiao Jiu and Li’er all head for that restaurant.

“Get a grip, Ziyou. That Situ Xue is no ordinary person. Quit dreaming, will you?” Tang Yuan says solemnly at once. Because of her relationship with Qin Yu, Xiao Lu knows about Xiuzhenist-related matters, and naturally Tang Yuan has learned about some of them from her. As a result, he can guess Situ Xue’s identity.

Xun Feng, however, says resolutely with a shake of his head: “No, Qinglan, at that time Xiao Lu was a Xiantian expert, but you chased her in the same way, didn’t you?”

“I was different, definitely different.” When Tang Yuan has just said these words, suddenly --

A fierce wind appears on the calm street. This strange fierce wind stops in an instant. In the end, Xun Feng, Tang Yuan and the others see a scene that stupefies them. Not far ahead of them, more than 10 have appeared out of thin air during the short period between the appearance and disappearance of the wind.

“All of you stay here. I’ll go meet with Dungeon King.” One of these people tells the others.

End of b8c11.

[wandering]

B8C12: 10 years

On the 2nd floor of the restaurant, there are only the people like Qin Yu and Yi Da because the other customers here have been driven away.

“Brother Yi Da, your method was a little too fierce. Could it be you don’t know how to use money?” Qin Yu looks at what previously was a huge colorful painted rock used as a decoration for the restaurant. The huge rock has been transformed into a mass of frozen liquid. Just now Yi Da put his hand on the rock. It melted instantly, but in just a while, that liquefied rock unexpectedly solidified completely.

Afterwards, Yi Da cast a glance at everybody in the surroundings, and all of those customers went downstairs very quickly.

“Money?” Yi Da gives an indifferent smile then chooses a seat directly and sits down. He points at the opposite seat and says to Qin Yu: “Take a seat.” Qin Yu sits down in front of Yi Da as he was told while Li’er sits down at another table on one side.

“Brother Yi Da, you’ve been staying on the Qian Long continent for some time, have you achieved any results?” Qin Yu holds a goblet up, pours wine and drinks by himself. He simply does not care about Yi Da.

Yi Da makes a wave of his hand. A flagon flies over from one side. He also pours wine and drinks by himself, saying: “Results? The forces your Stellar Tower sent over here are second only to the Penglai Immortal Region’s men in number. If you haven’t got any results, how could I have?”

“Who says I haven’t got any results?” Qin Yu says smilingly.

“Oh?” Yi Da looks at Qin Yu. “You’ve found the 9th jade sword?”

Qin Yu says with a shake of his head: “I haven’t. It was just a black jade case.” Yi Da immediately focuses his attention. Qin Yu however says with a sigh: “Too bad, that black jade case wasn’t the one containing the 9th jade sword.”

“There are very many black jade cases in the Wilderness?” Yi Da slightly frowns.

In his opinion, the immense Wilderness possibly has quite a few natural forging materials, but black jade cases are not something that can be created by nature. The only explanation for these kinds of things appearing in the Wilderness is that someone made them out of boredom and then put them in the Wilderness.

Yi Da does not know who could have done such a nonsensical thing.

“Of course not many.” Qin Yu says with certainty. But he thinks in his mind: “There are only 7 or 8 of them.”

Yi Da gives a rare faint smile: “You were just unlucky. If my men find a black jade case, it’ll definitely have the 9th jade sword. Do you believe me or not?”

“I don’t.” Qin Yu looks him in the eye.

“Just wait for a while, my men are coming here.” Yi Da says smilingly. He has already received a message from his subordinates that says they have obtained a black jade case with even a restrictive spell on it, so naturally he is delighted inwardly. He is not afraid of Qin Yu snatching it either because Qin Yu is less powerful than he is.

“Oh, you’re so confident, brother Yi Da.” Qin Yu slowly drinks wine while waiting.

“Dungeon King.”

A silhouette rushes up the 2nd floor then immediately gets down on one knee. But he slightly hesitates when he sees Qin Yu.

“Tower master Qin Yu is no outsider. Just tell me everything.” Yi Da says indifferently. That subordinate reaches out a hand without delay and a black jade case flies straight out from his storage bracelet. With a sweep of his holy sense, Qin Yu knows that this is none other than … one of his fake black jade cases.

As for the restrictive spell on the black jade case, he himself told Yan Rui to cast it.

Yi Da shoots a beam of light from his hand straight at that black jade case. However, that restrictive spell is broken surprisingly easily. Yi Da’s face changes color at once. He has obtained black jade cases before so naturally he knows how difficult it is to get rid of a case’s Dust Removing Spell.

“Brother Yi Da, didn’t you say if your men got a black jade case, it’d definitely contain the 9th jade sword? Let’s open it to take a look.” Qin Yu says smilingly on one side.

With a cold humph, Yi Da immediately throws that black jade case on the floor. A bang is heard and the black jade case is broken into a good number of pieces.

Inky jade is an ordinary kind of jade and Yan Rui’s restrictive spell has been removed by Yi Da so the black jade case is shattered instantly when Yi Da throws it on the floor in anger. A piece of paper then floats out from inside the shattered black jade case. It says ‘Inky jade case, made of high-grade inky jade, worth 100 silver sycees’.

“Brother Yi Da, this is …” Qin Yu fakes a very shocked expression.

Yi Da says with several cold laughs: “I wonder who the fella that played this stupid trick on us is. Judging from everybody’s character, perhaps it’s that damned Azure Dragon. He likes to fool around the most.”

“Overlord Azure Dragon? This is impossible, right?” Qin Yu says in justification of Azure Dragon.

“Impossible?” In his mind, Yi Da is furious with the individual who fooled him using that fake black jade case. “You’ve only known Azure Dragon for a short time. He likes to butt in other people’s business the most and also likes to make fools of people. He usually plays tricks on people and messes up their situations.” Yi Da has suffered at the hands of Azure Dragon not only once.

Qin Yu recalls for a while and finds that Azure Dragon indeed likes to have fun and stir things up. Too bad for Azure Dragon, he has been made a scapegoat for Qin Yu.

……

The Wilderness’s surface area is too massive while the target of the search is a small black jade case so naturally everybody has to search carefully and slowly. Therefore, even though holy senses are used, an extremely great amount of time will still be needed.

However, Qin Yu is very satisfied with how he passes the days. When he does not meditate or practice, he often plays chess with Li’er, or to be exact, gets thrashed by Li’er in chess, or chats with his relatives. He spends even more time visiting various big cities and scenic places on the Qian Long continent with Li’er.

Month after month, year after year …

The relationship between Qin Yu and Li’er also becomes better and better, but they never talk about who they love and are somewhat ignorant of each other’s feelings. They also do not really care when their relatives joke about them. However … their juniors, that is, some princes, eventually begin to chase girls.

……

It has been 10 years.

10 whole years has passed. During this period of time, the 6 powers have mobilized over 10,000 troops each to search the Wilderness carefully and slowly. The progress has naturally been slow because they all want to carry out a thorough search. However, after 10 years of hard work, the search area has still expanded to the 1 million li mark in the Wilderness.

Because of the order Qin Yu gave in the past, the Stellar Tower’s forces have never gone more than 100,000 li into the Wilderness to reach deeper places.

The demonic beasts of the Wilderness are very formidable, exceptionally formidable.

In the process of going deep into the Wilderness, the other 5 powers’ forces have all suffered some losses, but the Stellar Tower’s forces have never gone deep so nothing bad has happened to them. However, the strangest thing is that, 3 years ago, all of the demonic beasts with some achievements in practice suddenly disappeared. Every power’s forces have failed to find a single Jindan stage demonic beast in the Wilderness ever since.

Strange.

This is very strange. There are still quite a lot of demonic beasts in the Wilderness but why did so many Jindan stage ones all disappear? Where did they actually go?

This has been a major headache to the other 5 powers, but Qin Yu simply has not cared. Instead, he has been learning to play the flute and has occasionally performed it together with Li’er playing the zither. Somehow, even though Qin Yu has been learning the flute for several years, his skill is still far inferior to Li’er’s zither skill.

His chess skill is not as good as Li’er’s, as is his flute skill compared to her zither skill, but he does not mind at all. He keeps playing chess with her and playing the flute in concert with her zither.

……

In Prince Yu’s Mansion, Qin Yu and a young man are sitting face-to-face.

“Let me tell you something, 3rd Uncle. It’s been 10 years but you and Aunt Li’er are still the same whereas this nephew of yours will marry the crown princess soon.” The crown prince of the Qin dynasty Qin Guan says.

Qin Yu is astounded.

Then he immediately says with a smile: “You little brat, you’re not big enough. Your 3rd Uncle’s business is none of your concern.” In fact Qin Guan is not little as he is already 18 years old. On the Qian Long continent, where one can undergo the ceremony of adulthood at age 16, an 18-year-old getting married is nothing special.

“3rd Uncle, it’s not that I’m little, but that you’re too big. You’re so big but you’re still single.” Qin Guan says discontentedly.

All of a sudden, Li’er comes over from the distance, holding a small salver with some bunches of grapes on it. She puts the salver down on the table: “Eat the grapes, Qin Yu. It took me some time to choose them. I already washed them carefully.”

Qin Yu begins to eat the grapes very happily without delay.

“Big brother.” Hei Yu also flies over.

“What’s the matter, Xiao Hei? Don’t steal. These are the grapes Li’er gave me.” Hei Yu opens his mouth and swallows 7 or 8 grapes at a gulp, which makes Qin Yu very worried.

Hei Yu gives a smile: “Big brother, I’m going to tell you a delightful thing.”

“Oh, a delightful thing? What is it?” Qin Yu looks at Hei Yu very curiously. The latter says proudly: “I’m … going to face the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation a half year later!”

“Really?” Qin Yu is astonished.

“Of course it is. But, big brother, Hou Fei already went through the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation several years ago, and my power is even weaker than yours, why do I now have to undergo the tribulation earlier than you?” Hei Yu says doubtfully.

In the Stellar Tower, Hou Fei is now the most powerful. By contrast, Qin Yu has yet to sense when his 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation comes.

Qin Yu says with an indifferent smile: “Who knows? In theory I should have already reached the peak of the late Meteor stage 10 years ago, but I’ve always been unable to sense the arrival of my 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation ever since. However … this is not something that can be forced.”

During the past 10 years of Qin Yu’s stay on the Qian Long continent, Uncle Lan once came to his place. Qin Yu asked why he had been unable to feel the arrival of the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation, because, after all, even Hou Fei had passed this tribulation. However, Uncle Lan only told him not to worry and not to care about it either.

Although Qin Yu has not gone through the tribulation, his soul level has been improving rapidly.

Thanks to staying together with Li’er for 10 years, his soul has now almost reached the early Kongming stage. It should be known that as the soul improves, the difficulty of improving it also increases a lot. Qin Yu has been able to reach his current soul level not only because of the Meteoric Tear, but also because of Li’er’s zither music.

Li’er says smilingly: “This is not something that can be forced. There must be reason for the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation to come so slowly. Your power was already enough long ago, and your soul is even at a far superior level than your power, so in theory it’ll come soon.”

“All right, it’s useless to worry.” Qin Yu says in an unconcerned manner.

Suddenly he notices something. With a turn of his hand, a transmitter appears. Right after Qin Yu makes a holy sense sweep, his faces changes color greatly.

“What happened, big brother?” Xiao Hei asks immediately.

Qin Yu says slowly with a deep frown: “Azure Dragon’s forces of more than 10,000 in total have been annihilated.” Recalling that message Azure Dragon sent him, he has a feeling that perhaps his quiet life can no longer continue.

End of b8c12.

[wandering]

B8C13: Black city

At a place more than 2 million li deep into the Wilderness on the Qian Long continent,

There is a Dragon Rocky lion that is dark red from head to toe, over 100 m long, several tens meters tall and covered entirely in red-rock-like armor. His neck even has 6 thick, sharp spines and his head has a golden horn.

At the moment, the Dragon Rocky lion Qin Yu once met is rushing about in all directions extremely fast with peerless ferocity, causing loud rumblings in the process --

Even high-grade flying sword cannot penetrate his rocky armor, which is several meters thick. “Roar ~~~” The Dragon Rocky lion roars. His golden single horn is flashing nonstop with a frightening light. Flying swords are shattered, miserable cries are heard continuously, heads are sent flying, limbs are severed, flesh fragments are scattered and blood flies up in the air wherever that dark red blur goes.

“Divine beast, it’s a divine beast. Quickly run!”

A Dongxu stage guardian of the Azure Dragon Palace shouts loudly. Now his expression is ferocious, but there is terror in his eyes.

……

In terms of volume, there is a beast even more terrifying than the Dragon Rocky lion -- a Nine-Headed snake, or to be exact, it should be called a Nine-Headed dragon. This Nine-Headed snake is more than 100 m long and the most important thing is that each of his 9 heads is 10-odd m long.

When the 9 heads attack in all directions together, they are even more frighteningly destructive than the Dragon Rocky lion.

Hissing ~~~

The Nine-Headed snake glances coldly at the leader of this over 10,000 strong army of the Azure Dragon Palace, a middle Dongxu stage guardian, with his grim eyes. One of his 10-odd m long necks then turns into a blur and swings at that guardian.

Clack ~~

The middle Dongxu stage guardian dies miserably on the spot without being able to resist at all.

The 9 long snake heads then attack in all directions. The tail of the snake is swung horizontally, smashing Xiuyaoists’ bodies wherever it goes. Even a Dongxu stage expert’s flying sword can only leave a white mark on the body of this Nine-Headed snake at most.

……

Meanwhile, several tens thousand other demonic beasts have formed a complete blockade. The over 10,000 Xiuyaoists from the Azure Dragon Palace have been encircled. None of them can escape now because inside they are being massacred by divine beasts while outside they are being surrounded and exterminated by countless demonic beasts.

In only less than one hour, the forces Azure Dragon mustered have been annihilated.

……

With a movement of his body, the Nine-Headed snake turns into a 3 m tall lanky man. Only this man has 9 snake heads, looking very frightening.

After going through the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation, divine beasts can transform to look like humans, except for their heads, which remain unchanged. This is called ‘half humanization’. Only after overcoming the 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation can they take complete human forms. This Nine-Headed snake is an extremely formidable divine beast and his power has surpassed the Dongxu stage.

“Lord Xue, the Azure Dragon Palace’s forces have been destroyed.”

Nine-Headed snake stands still and says respectfully.

Ahead of him, there is unexpectedly … a snow-white cat, a cute snow-white kitten. However this kitten’s eyes are golden. At this moment, the snowy kitten nods and says: “Nine-Headed, remember that whoever dares to intrude even half a centimeter must be killed.”

“Yes, Lord Xue.” Nine-Headed snake answers respectfully, not daring to hesitate in the least.

The snowy kitten nods its head: “Nine-Headed, I have to go report this matter to Overlord. You arrange someone to deal with the corpses a bit.” After saying so, the kitten makes a movement with its body. In an instant, a white, icy gust of wind rises within several tens meters of it and the cat also disappears.

Only after Nine-Headed snake sees the snowy cat disappear does he let out a long breath.

The snowy cat’s power is simply not something he can imagine. And just thinking about the ‘Overlord’ mentioned by the cat terrifies him.

……

Several tens thousand li away from the place where 10,000 subordinates of Azure Dragon were killed, there is a quiet deep cave which goes into the ground vertically. Nobody knows how deep this cave is.

“Ah ~~~”

Anguished cries keep echoing in the cave until they come out.

The faces of all the members of the 2 groups outside the cave change color greatly. The 2 leaders take out a transmitter each and message the members in charge in the cave. However, they get no replies regardless of how many messages they send.

One message is sent after another, but none of the members who entered the cave answers.

“Men from the Penglai Immortal Region listen. This quiet deep cave was found by our Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon first. If you hadn’t vied with us by sending several thousand men down, why would our Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon have suffered such huge losses? I’m going to report this to Dungeon King.”

The leader of the group from the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon, a black-robed old man, shouts to the leader of the group from the Penglai Immortal Region, a blue-gowned juvenile.

That blue-gowned juvenile says with a cold laugh: “You found it first? It should be my man who discovered this secret place first but your men killed him to silence him. Luckily he had already sent a message, or else we still didn’t know. This time you are to blame for my Penglai Immortal Region losing several thousand men.”

In just a while, these groups have lost more than a third of their power.

The black-robed old man and the blue-gowned juvenile both feel that they cannot account for this so they put the blame on each other.

The black-robed old man says with a cold laugh: “Men from your Penglai Immortal Region are pretty good at lying. All of you are very hypocritical. I won’t waste time talking to you anymore. I’m going to report this to Dungeon King.” He immediately begins to send another message through the transmitter in his hand.

The blue-gowned juvenile also sends another message.

……

In a residence in a small town of the Qin dynasty near the Wilderness,

The leaders of the 6 powers from the overseas Xiuzhen world are gathering here. Searching for that black jade case in the Wilderness is the job of their subordinates. All along, these high-ranking leaders have been strolling about the Qian Long continent to relieve boredom or practicing quietly.

However, now all of them are here.

In just a few days, Azure Dragon’s forces of more than 10,000 have been exterminated while the Penglai Immortal Region and the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon have both lost a third of their men. Such heavy losses never occurred during the 10 previous years, so the 6 big leaders have been shocked by them.

There are 6 thrones.

Qin Yu is sitting in one of them. Hou Fei and Hei Yu are standing behind him. The other 5 seats have been taken by Azure Dragon, Old Freak Three-Eyed, Di Long, Reverend Yan Xu and Dungeon King Yi Da. At the moment, the atmosphere in the house is a bit oppressive.

“What happened, Azure Dragon? How did all of your subordinates die with not even one escaping?” Old Freak Three-Eyed is still in disbelief.

Azure Dragon lets out a sigh. There is, however, very little sadness in his eyes. After all, the forces sent to carry out the search this time all lived near the Qian Long continent and the core forces of his Azure Dragon Palace have not been used yet so he does not really mind after these forces were wiped out. However, from now on, he cannot have anybody on the Qian Long continent search for the black jade case for him.

“Now my forces are all gone so I’ll tell you this piece of info. After going more than 2 million li into the Wilderness, you’ll see a huge black city with at least several hundred thousand Xiuyaoists inside.” Azure Dragon says positively.

The face of everybody present changes color.

Several hundred thousand Xiuyaoists? Even though any of the 6 powers has more subordinates than this, the Wilderness is not their headquarters. They only have a little more than 10,000 subordinates here.

“The forces inside the black city are just a portion. The area outside the city is several tens times larger than the city. This area is full of Xiuyaoists and all of them have at least reached the Jindan stage. Their number even surpasses a million.” Azure Dragon says very solemnly.

Qin Yu and the others all draw a cold breath.

Over a million?

This is perhaps an imaginary number but all of them can see very clearly that the area around that black city must be part of the city’s real power. Such a power with probably 2 to 3 million subordinates is definitely not weaker than the Azure Dragon Palace.

“Then how did your subordinates die?” Old Freak Three-Eyed asks.

However, in their mind, everybody has figured out that they were most likely annihilated by that enormous power.

“That day, a guardian of my Azure Dragon Palace was leading his subordinates searching carefully for traces of that black jade case. They then arrived in that area. A local little Jindan stage Xiuyaoist unexpectedly told my subordinates that whoever entered this area should be killed.” There is a tinge of annoyance on Azure Dragon’s face.

Who is Azure Dragon? Since when have other people been able to treat him this way?

Moreover, there is even the dragon clan behind him so naturally he was not frightened.

“I told my subordinates to only search for the black jade case and not to hurt anybody for no reason.” Azure Dragon suddenly says with fury: “Who could have thought that soon after they advanced, they would be completely surrounded by countless Xiuyaoists and even divine beasts would appear at the same time. So, in just a while, my forces were all gone.”

Everybody remains silent for a long time.

“Everybody, do you still remember a strange thing about the Wilderness?” Qin Yu suddenly says.

Reverend Yan Xu and the others all look at him. Qin Yu says smilingly: “Originally, we could see demonic beasts when going 100 li into the Wilderness. But after we started the search, though we encountered demonic beasts in the beginning and lost quite a few troops because of this, later we didn’t see a single demonic beast. Everybody, do you still remember?”

“Indeed.” Di Long says solemnly with a nod. “We went in 2 million li but we didn’t see a single demonic beast. Now looks like … that black city is a certain power. Perhaps it ordered all demonic beasts directly to gather around the city and not to clash with us.”

“Humph.”

Standing behind Reverend Yan Xu, Reverend Huo Tian gives a cold humph. “That city is very powerful. Its Xiuyaoists can already match the Azure Dragon Palace in number. We didn’t send many troops to this place at all, so why would the power in that city have feared us? Why would it have wanted every demonic beast under it to gather around that city?”

“Fear? Does reluctance to clash with us definitely mean fear? You Xiuxianists’ intelligence is so low.” Yi Da says with a cold smile.

“Yi Da!” Reverend Huo Tian is furious. “Don’t go over the line. This time the Penglai Immortal Region’s men discovered that quiet deep cave first, but your men killed them to hide it from us and monopolize it. Humph, you’ve gone overboard.”

Yi Da says nothing. But Jiao Jiu beside him laughs out loud: “Huo Tian, you’re still such an arsehole.”

“Where’s Miss Situ?” Qin Yu suddenly asks with a smile.

He is amused thinking about her. That Xun Feng of Su Yan City has unexpectedly been chasing her with sincerity and perseverance. Situ Xue has naturally been annoyed by this, but Qin Yu helped him so she promised not to take his life.

Because of Situ Xue, Xun Feng has been bustling about for the past 10 years, but …

If he is like a deliberate fallen flower, then she is like a passionless running stream. She feels weird and uncomfortable because a man pursues her, but she is an early Kongming stage Xiumoist after all, how can she possibly accept a mortal’s feeling for her?

“Situ? She’s in the Wilderness.” Yi Da suddenly bites his lip, causing his blood to ooze out.

Azure Dragon frowns. Those who are familiar with Yi Da all know that, when bites his lip, he has made an important decision. Azure Dragon says smilingly at once: “That quiet deep cave is just a dangerous place, Yi Da, Reverend Yan Xu. Do you think you should fight over it like this?”

Yi Da suddenly says: “I’ve got something to tell everybody. The 9th jade sword is most likely in that cave. However, this cave is even much more dangerous than the places where the other 8 swords were kept.”

The 9 jade swords were originally kept in 9 different places. Every place is more dangerous than the previous one, and the 9th place is the most dangerous.

“How can you be sure?” Old Freak Three-Eyed says doubtfully. “Impossible … you’re plotting something, right?”

Yi Da says with a cold laugh: “Three-Eyed, I’ve given you some face by telling you this info, but you even doubt me. Then you should just stay home. Situ Xue personally sent me this info. She discovered that this quiet deep cave had that familiar aura.”

Familiar aura?

Everybody knows what that familiar aura is.

Of course it is the aura of the immortal that left behind the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion, a place with a lot of treasures. Given Situ Xue’s status, naturally she has seen the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon’s black jade cases. In the past, Yi Da, Situ Xue and Jiao Jiu even joined forces to get rid of the Dust Removing Spells of those cases.

Immediately, everybody no longer has any doubts.

“Tomorrow my Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon’s men are going to set off for that quiet deep cave. As for whether any of you will go or not, I just don’t care.” The corners of Yi Da’s mouth curve up. A faint smile that is both grim and evil appears on his face.

“Go, of course I’ll go. If I don’t go take a look, I’ll be very disappointed. After all, I’ve put so much effort into this.” Azure Dragon is the first to say. On one side, Old Freak Three-Eyed also says: “Azure Dragon will go so I’ll certainly go. I must obtain this 9th jade sword.”

Reverend Yan Xu says smilingly: “My Penglai Immortal Region’s men found this cave first so I’ll surely go.”

“Since you will all go, my Nine Demons Hall will go as well. But … you must not forget that this cave has already killed several thousand men of the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon and the Penglai Immortal Region each. It’s definitely not a nice place.” Di Long folds his arms before his chest and says with a smile.

Qin Yu stands up, turns around and starts to leave.

“Everybody, tomorrow my Stellar Tower will go with you. But … don’t forget that mysterious city. Why did it want all Xiuyaoists to gather around the city?” When he finishes talking, he has already left.

Hou Fei, carrying his black stick on his shoulder, and Hei Yu follow Qin Yu to also leave.

End of b8c13.