Nebula Pavilion.
Liu Yuntao sat on top of a hard wooden chair while lightly knocking the table with one hand, seemingly waiting for something with a sullen look.
Dark Asura Hall’s Yuan Tianya had long been arranged to rest at the VIP tower, so the only one left to accompany him inside the house was Wei Xing. As time passed, Liu Yuntao’s expression grew colder and colder.
“How much longer until daybreak?” he said out of nowhere.
“Four hours,” immediately responded Wei Xing.
“Today is the first day after rising to the position of Pavilion Master in Nebula Pavilion.” Liu Yuntao cocked his head to aside and looked at Wei Xing. “There are many people who are watching both of us. If Qin Lie doesn’t die tonight, both you and I will be disgraced.”
“I know.” Wei Xing nodded.
Both of them turned silent immediately after.
Ten minutes later, a hall master under Liu Yuntao rushed in and quietly but respectfully exclaimed, “Both mother and son, Du Jiaolan and Du Fei, were found, murdered inside the Du Family’s house, and Du Heng… was killed by an arrow beside Vice Pavilion Master Du’s body! Qin Lie… is still alive, and he is heading deeper into the city in hiding.”
“Crack!”
The armrest on Liu Yuntao’s chair was crushed as he abruptly stood up and exclaimed with an extremely terrible expression, “Brother Wei! Please go and personally have a look!”
Wei Xing nodded and, without another word, exited Nebula Pavilion straight away.
At a corner of Icestone City.
Ling Chengzhi, Ling Feng, and the members of the Ling Family were woken up by the commotion inside the city. Bleary-eyed, they arrived at the courtyard entrance and listened to the cries and sounds of martial practitioners running about. They all grew cautious on the inside.
“Did something happen inside the city tonight?” Ling Feng frowned.
“Both Liu Yuntao and Du Haitian has taken the position of Pavilion Masters, and tonight was to be the greatest day of their lives. Are they using the opportunity to do something to establish their power?” Ling Family’s elder, Ling Kangan, said with the utmost worry, “All of you, be careful. It will be best if you close the doors tight and ignore everything that happens outside.”
“What goes up must come down. If Du Haitian dares to kill my big brother, naturally, he won’t think twice to kill us as well.” Ling Chengzhi’s face was ashen as he weakly said, “Let’s hope that the Ling Family can survive tonight. Then, we will be able to leave the first thing in the morning and meet up with the people from Seven Fiends Valley.”
While they were talking, the sound of clothes flapping came from not far away, causing the members of the Ling Family to turn pale.
“Not good!” They all thought that misfortune was about to befall them.
“Can this be the brothers of Ling Family?” Liu Yan’s voice came from far away, and not too long after, he could be seen running over with his brothers from the Discipline Hall.
“Big Brother Liu!” Ling Feng exclaimed. “Why have you come over at midnight?”
“Something big has happened.” Liu Yan truthfully answered, “Qin Lie challenged Du Haitian on the streets and beheaded him on the spot. After that, he murdered Du Jiaolan and Du Fei. Even Du Heng was killed with an arrow. Du Haitian’s entire family has been eliminated by him in just four hours. Now, the entire city has been riled up to hunt him down. I was afraid that the Ling Family may be affected, so I quickly came over to notify you.”
“H-he killed Du Haitian’s entire family?” Ling Chengzhi stuttered.
“Yes. Du Haitian’s entire family is dead. Qin Lie has gone completely crazy; now, all of Icestone City has been turned upside down because of him.” Liu Yan’s expression was severe. “I heard that the people from Seven Fiends Valley have come looking for you. If you truly have a way out, I hope that you can leave Icestone City as soon as possible so that the Ling Family will not be affected by the aftermath.”
“They’re dead, the Ling Family’s enemies are all dead!” Ling Chengzhi was no longer listening to Liu Yan; instead, he was dancing wildly with hot tears flowing out of his eyes. He actually cried out in sheer happiness.
“The heaven pities us! The heaven pities our Ling Family!” Ling Kangan was also shedding tears.
“Qin Lie!” Ling Feng’s entire body shuddered somewhat as he tightly clenched his fists. His expression was filled with excitement.
“Kill! Kill! Kill!”
An inhuman voice resounded inside Qin Lie’s head as his eyes gradually became filled with violence and bloodthirsty thoughts.
“Boom boom boom!”
Thunder resounded again and again from inside his chest bones, and when he headed to Commerce Street, thunder and lightning also repeatedly struck his surroundings.
“Over there! He’s right over there!”
Three Nebula Pavilion martial practitioners at the ninth level of Refinement were patrolling nearby, and after they heard the sound of thunder, they quickly rushed over.
All three of them were martial practitioners under Du Haitian. In addition, they had all gone to Ling Town before and saw Qin Lie with their own eyes.
The moment they saw Qin Lie, bleeding all over while running along the road with a crazed expression, they did not think twice to block his way. One of them yelled, “Qin Lie! You will die today!”
“Scram!”
A wild and rampaging wave abruptly appeared from Qin Lie’s body, and as the killing intent in his eyes solidified, he madly rushed towards the three like a bloodthirsty beast unleashed from its cage.
“Crack Crack Crack!”
Three light blue Thunder Lightning Balls swiftly formed in front of his chest before shooting outwards like three shooting stars.
The Thunder Lightning Balls struck their targets dead center!
There were three bone shattering sounds, and the three martial practitioners at the ninth level of Refinement were thrown up into the air like cannonballs before they landed on the ground while bloodied all over.
Qin Lie did not even look at the three dead men as he swiftly passed over their corpses and continued onwards.
This was the seventh wave of pursuers he had killed along the way. There were twenty or so bodies that were left behind the path he had taken.
“Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong with my body!”
Qin Lie roared madly in his heart with a hideous expression, his eyes filled with violence and madness.
He felt that his entire body was in pain, but instead of burning out and feeling exhausted, he was getting excited!
A surge of new energy seemed to be flowing out of the Soul Suppressing Orb little by little, and this energy caused the blood in his entire body to gush as if burning, so hot that his head was spinning and the only thing that he could think of was a mad thirst for blood. He felt an impulse to destroy everything before him!
It was as if that energy had ignited him and made him impossibly excited, urging him to murder in his madness until the very end!
“I am Pei An. We have met before at Li’s Shop, but today, I have been ordered to kill you.” On the streets in front of him, a burly man garbed in a big red cape stood proudly and coldly yelled at Qin Lie while holding a broadsword.
The seven martial practitioners under Wei Xing stood still at both the left at right corners of the street. They all held their respective spirit artifacts and frostily stared at Qin Lie.
“You must be careful, Hall Master Pei. He has taken more than twenty lives along the way,” someone warned him. “Look at his eyes. You can see that this guy has obviously gone completely crazy, and madmen are the scariest because they have no regard for their own life.”
“More than twenty men, eh?” Pei An grinned. “Interesting. I haven’t met such an interesting person in a long time. Come!”
Laughing loudly, Pei An walked towards Qin Lie while dragging his broadsword along the ground. Sparks flew from the stone ground like a fire dragon being dragged along by him, lending him a magnificent aura.
“Whoosh!”
The broadsword swung upwards, and the thick flames turned into a river that was like the undying flames from the Fire River of Purgatory, pouring right down onto Qin Lie’s head.
“SCRAM!”
Qin Lie exploded into a terrific roar and quickly stuck his left arm out.
“Boom boom boom!”
Thunder rumbled from the bones inside his arms, as if there were a thunder dragon roaring inside his veins. A terrific wave of thunder abruptly exploded from his palm.
The was the muscular strength of the Heavenly Thunder Sacred Body!
As if the mountains had crumbled and the earth had split in half, the thunder energy made contact with the fiery river above him!
“Bang!”
The fiery river instantly dispersed into countless sparks. The thunder continue to rumble and rampage, slamming into Pei An’s chest like an undercurrent.
“Dooong!”
Pei An’s chest resounded with a terrific dull sound as if a gong had been struck. Then, his face turned red as his burly figure flew backwards, rolling on the ground for ten meters.
A pair of deep markings a few inches deep could be clearly seen beneath his feet. It was as if they were ran over by a metal car!
“Crack Crack Crack!”
A crisp sound akin to the sound of beans being fried could be heard from every one of Qin Lie’s joints. Qin Lie was originally thin and smart-looking, but right now, it was as if he had grown a few inches taller and was overflowing with a violent and maddening aura.
The wisps of wondrous energy seeped out yet again from inside the Soul Suppressing Orb, and a new energy filled Qin Lie once more!
“Lock!”
His hands crisscrossed in the air and, with strange hand movements, conjured ten chain-like bolts of bright lightning that flew out of his ten fingertips.
The ten bolts of crystalline lightning were as thick as fingers and two arms long. They clipped onto Pei An’s large body, and as the lightning began to jump, Pei An couldn’t help but scream out in pain.
Qin Lie arrogantly closed in and repeatedly punched Pei An with his fists filled with thunder energy; every hit landed on Pei An’s chest.
As if struck by a huge hammer, Pei An’s chest immediately sank a few centimeters inward, and his entire complexion abruptly turned dark gray as the light in his eyes slowly began to vanish.
“H-hall Master Pei!”
All of his subordinates were so shocked they could faint. When they saw Qin Lie rushing towards them, they actually lost their courage to stop him and quickly retreated.
At this very moment, Qin Lie was like a violent beast or a god of brutality that had walked out of the ancient depths!
“SCRAM!”
Qin Lie yelled and continued rushing forwards. He did not glance at them.
A trace of icy-cold energy flew out yet again from the Soul Suppressing Orb. The energy spread out from inside his body and kept him in fighting condition.
“Why is there a trace of the Soul Devouring Beast’s aura inside this energy?” A trace of doubt appeared inside Qin Lie’s eyes.
From the moment he owned the Soul Suppressing Orb, the orb had never provided him with any energy. The only thing he knew was that there were countless unknown seals sealing many mysterious doors, preventing him from exploring deeper within for his memories.
However, ever since he had absorbed the Soul Devouring Beast’s main soul with the Soul Suppressing Orb inside the stone forest, he began to faintly feel the changes inside the orb.
He couldn’t say exactly what the change was, and he was also unable to detect where the Soul Devouring Beast’s main soul was. He only knew that a strange energy had slowly appeared inside the orb which he could detect but not capture… To be frank, he didn’t pay it too much attention.
But to his surprise, at a critical moment where he was about to become completely exhausted, he could feel the energy inside the Soul Suppressing Orb spreading outwards. It excited him and also caused him to regain his combat capabilities!
“Miss, what’s wrong?” Inside a quiet patio, Liang Zhong suddenly walked out and looked at Xie Jingxuan who was just standing there.
—she should be cultivating or resting at this time.
“My heart is a little troubled, and I feel like taking a walk alone. Do not follow me,” Xie Jingxuan answered indifferently before silently vanishing like a ghost; her trail and aura had disappeared almost too quickly.
Liang Zhong was left stunned and confused inside the courtyard.
Half an hour later.
The white garbed Xie Jingxuan appeared in front of Qin Lie. Staring at Qin Lie, brimming with murder and eyes filled with brutality and madness, she frowned slightly before saying in a cold and hard tone, “I said very clearly back then at the stone forest. If I sensed anything that even resembled the Soul Devouring Beast’s aura, I would not question you for a reason. Instead, I would kill you right then and there!”