Chapter 100: Chapter 99: The World is Mine to Roam
As he spoke, Qin Li’s gaze shifted to Zhao Xinghe. A smirk played on his lips. "And you... Your Highness, the esteemed Crown Prince. A desolate place like Yellow Sand City... the people are savage, the security is poor... ferocious Spirit Beasts roam freely. It’s not a place for a noble... personage of your distinguished status to linger."
Qin Li deliberately stressed the word "noble" as he continued.
"Furthermore, my woman is not someone you can get any ideas about, understand? The Imperial Capital... the Imperial Palace... *that’s* your home! As for this pack of Earth Level guards you have with you, they’re not even worth a fart in my eyes! Of course, you can go running back, cry and throw a fit, and beg your Emperor father to send Celestial Level masters to annihilate me. Oh, but don’t worry, in a little while, I’ll deliver myself right to your doorstep. I’ll be waiting in the Imperial Capital for you to try and kill me!"
A look of profound contempt curled Qin Li’s lips. "If you even dare."
"What makes you so sure I wouldn’t dare?" Zhao Xinghe’s face was ashen. No one had ever dared to speak to him this way, especially not some insignificant nobody he hadn’t even given a second thought. It was utterly shocking, utterly infuriating!
"Because you’re afraid of dying!" Qin Li roared with laughter, his head thrown back. "That’s why you don’t dare!"
With that, he turned and swaggered away.
"Because you’re afraid of dying, that’s why you don’t dare!" The words were like a needle, plunging deep into Zhao Xinghe’s heart. The piercing sting of humiliation made him want to tear Qin Li to pieces. The Earth Level guards around him all stared at their master, their faces masks of disgrace. If he gave the order, they would throw their own lives away to hack Qin Li into a thousand pieces.
For this was a matter of a Martial Artist’s dignity!
They were proud Earth Level Martial Artists, yet to be humiliated so thoroughly by a young man... they would rather have died!
A furious light flashed in Zhao Xinghe’s eyes. His mouth opened slightly, just as he was about to give the command, when a sudden sharp CRACK echoed through the silent, luxurious dining hall.
Immediately after, the cups, bowls, and plates on every single table began to explode, one after another!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Shards of all sizes flew through the air!
Finally, the luxurious crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, as if not to be outdone, let out an earth-shattering BOOM and exploded completely!
The room was instantly plunged into darkness!
"Ah, my hand! It’s cut!" a girl shrieked.
"My head! Ah, my head is bleeding! Damn it, I’m hit..."
"My face! My face! My face!"
Amidst the flying shrapnel, the room descended into utter chaos.
The once-composed young masters and demure young ladies of the Noble Families were now a panicking mess, looking no different from a troupe of clowns.
"All of you, shut the fuck up!" Shangguan Buhui was so furious he could have coughed up blood. He roared, "Anyone who doesn’t shut their mouth right now will be kicked out of the family!"
At that, the room fell completely silent.
As he walked away, Qin Li patted the shoulder of Shangguan Hongfei, who was standing outside, petrified, a strange and dumbfounded expression on his face. Qin Li smiled. "Shangguan, thank you. I’m afraid I might have gotten you into trouble."
Shangguan Hongfei’s face twitched violently. He fought back the urge to smash his fist into the smiling young man’s face and said stiffly, "It’s fine. I answer to the Patriarch. He won’t dare do anything to me. You should get going."
Qin Li grinned. "Then I’ll see you around!"
Watching Qin Li’s carefree retreating figure, Shangguan Hongfei’s lips twitched. After a long moment, he muttered, "Who the hell wants to see you again? Damn walking disaster!"
...
Leaving the Shangguan Mansion, the two snobbish gate guards bowed and scraped, watching Eldest Young Master Qin swagger off into the distance. They couldn’t help but wonder why Hong Fei hadn’t escorted him out.
By now, night had fallen. A cool evening breeze caressed him, slightly cooling the boiling blood in his veins. Since he had dared to start trouble, Qin Li naturally wasn’t afraid of making it a bigger mess.
’Work with a high profile, live with a low profile.’ That was a motto from Qin Li’s past life, a principle most people abided by. In that society, with its comprehensive legal system and the decline of Martial Arts, there was no room for being flashy. People even used to joke that for the gangs in Huaxia, being high-profile was just asking to be wiped out.
And yet, as a master of Martial Arts, how could Qin Li not harbor another thought in his heart? ’I want this sky to no longer shield my eyes! I want this earth to no longer bury my heart! I want all of creation to understand my will! I want all the gods and buddhas to scatter like smoke and ash!’
What is freedom? What is being truly unbound?
This is it!
But for someone who had been shackled for thirty years under a sky where nothing was free, to be suddenly thrust into the Celestial Essence Continent—a world with a crude legal system where the strong reigned supreme—it was hard to adjust his mindset all at once.
Yes, Qin Li could kill without batting an eye, but he could do the same in his past life.
But defying the Noble Families, unafraid of the rich and powerful—that was something the Qin Li of his past life could never do. In Huaxia, gangs could only survive in the shadows. No matter how strong you were, no matter your enterprise, you had to bow your head to authority. You could never take the initiative to provoke the great houses.
Because in that world, the Law was set by others!
Here on the Celestial Essence Continent, the Law was also set by the rich and powerful. But this... this was a world where might made right, where strength demanded respect!
All that mattered was strength. If you could break through to the Celestial Level, you could walk all over the emperor, and he would do nothing but smile appeasingly at you!
’In that case, why should I hold back? Why should I bow my head?’
’When I have the power and the ability to stomp on these scumbags, these elitist snobs, why should I act like I’m beneath them?’
’I can roam heaven and earth as I please!’
At that moment, the Innate Purple Qi in Qin Li’s body surged wildly. He finally grasped the heaven-storming, heroic spirit that Prince Wu had once possessed!
What did it mean to be the ’Only I am Venerable’?
’Only I am Venerable’ meant that destiny must always, *always* be held in your own hands!
In Heaven and on Earth, Only I am Venerable!
Only with this spirit surging through one’s chest could one unleash the full might of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, Only I am Venerable Technique!
Qin Li took a deep breath and let out a long, piercing cry!
The sound wave billowed out with overwhelming power, like a clap of thunder tearing through the sky!
Nearly the entire Yellow Sand City was jolted awake by the cry. Many old masters in seclusion snapped their eyes open, expressions of shock and horror on their faces. A single thought arose in their minds: ’Since when did Yellow Sand City have another Celestial Level Martial Artist?’
Shangguan Tie slowly opened his eyes. A puff of white mist drifted up from the crown of his head as a sharp light flashed in his eyes. Nearly a year of secluded cultivation had allowed this old man, who had seemed to have no hope of a breakthrough, to reach the ninth rank of the Earth Level in one fell swoop!
If not for that cry, he might have even tried to push all the way to the Celestial Level!
Letting out a long breath, Shangguan Tie stood up in his secret chamber. ’I wonder how much time has passed,’ he thought. ’I should go see what’s happened while I’ve been away.’
...
Qin Li went straight back to South City to find Hu and the other two. The carriage and horses were ready. Hu had already settled his mother and stepfather, promising to return in glory one day. The two elders, long since living a comfortable life, hoped their son would find even greater success, so they naturally wouldn’t hold him back.
Inside the carriage, Qin Li closed his eyes to rest. They headed north into the slums, where Watermelon had been waiting for a long time. After a tearful farewell with his parents, he gritted his teeth and climbed aboard.
The experienced driver cracked his whip in the air. The powerful, tall horses lifted their hooves and galloped north along the main road.
Soon, the towering ancient city was left far behind, shrinking in the distance.
Qin Li never once looked back. He repeated a vow in his heart: ’Yellow Sand City, I will be back! Though I am not leaving in disgrace, in the eyes of those snobs, I am still just a clown, someone they can crush at will. Very well. The day I return, our roles will be reversed!’
Sharing the carriage, Watermelon looked with awe at this Martial Uncle who was close to his own age. He had a feeling that, overnight, his Martial Uncle’s entire demeanor had undergone a world-shaking change.
His Martial Uncle had originally been very low-key, with the gentle and refined air of a scholar. But tonight, he was like a completely different person, radiating an aura of incomparable arrogance and dominance! He wasn’t emitting any fluctuations of Primordial Power, yet his presence alone made it hard for Watermelon to breathe.
It wasn’t just Watermelon; Hu and the other two also sensed this silent change in Qin Li. For them, however, they were glad to see it.
Because only those with great ambition could achieve great things!
Gentleness, peacefulness, a low profile... these were traits that belonged only to insignificant people! At least, that was how it was in this world where the strong devoured the weak.
...
"Good. Very good. Excellent." After saying this three times, Shangguan Tie’s chest heaved, his anger palpable.
He stared coldly at his defiant son, then glanced at the equally displeased Crown Prince. He let out a long breath and said coolly, "If Shiyu is unwilling, then I will risk my life to stop this marriage. If Shiyu *is* willing... then none of you—I don’t care who you are—has the right to stand in her way! Shangguan Buhui, you are an utter fool! Things have already come to this. You are the Patriarch now, so it is useless for me to say more. I will leave you with one final thought: you will regret this."
With that, Shangguan Tie’s earlier excitement vanished completely. His interest waned as he declared, "I am returning to seclusion. Unless the family faces a true crisis... do not disturb me!"
He didn’t spare a single glance for the crowd of his descendants, both men and women, who were clamoring to show him their cuts and bruises. Shangguan Tie simply turned and walked away. A bleak thought rose in his mind: ’I have so many descendants, yet not a single one of them has any promise. They’re all a bunch of worthless cowards!’
From start to finish, Shangguan Tie hadn’t even given the Crown Prince a single glance. What was a deep foundation? What was a commanding presence? What was true power? One only needed to look at Shangguan Tie to understand!
So what if he was the Crown Prince? His own daughter was an Imperial Consort! He might be the future emperor, but he wasn’t the emperor *yet*!
"Heh heh, Your Highness, my father just has a temper. Please don’t take it to heart. As for Shiyu’s matter... her father is no longer with us, and as her uncle, I can still make the decision!" Shangguan Buhui quickly plastered a sycophantic smile on his face.
"There’s no need. I’m no longer interested in this marriage," Zhao Xinghe said, his face dark. He barked an order to his guards, "We’re returning to the Imperial Capital!"
