Chapter 199: Chapter 197: Core
Sun Tai, the closed-door disciple of the Thousand Kills Sect’s Supreme Elder and a forty-two-year-old Celestial Shattering Realm Martial Artist, had been utterly humiliated by a sixteen or seventeen-year-old disciple of unknown strength from Fengsha City’s Qin Family. Not only that, he had been driven completely mad...
This news immediately spread in all directions as if it had grown wings.
The first reaction of nearly everyone who heard the news was... impossible!
Countless people, at different times, all uttered the same single word.
The Qin Family of Fengsha City, a clan that specialized in alchemy, was considered to have mid-tier strength. In reality, however, they fell just a bit short of that mark.
In fact, the Qin Family wasn’t even as powerful as the Four Seasons Sect. After all, the Four Seasons Sect was rumored to have a Sect Leader who might have reached the Venerable Realm!
And on Profound Island, the Four Seasons Sect was merely a mid-tier sect.
The main reason the Qin Family was even rated as mid-tier was because they were a clan specializing in alchemy!
Clans like theirs typically possessed an extremely powerful network of connections, so most factions were unwilling to offend them. For one, it was completely unnecessary. For another, who knew when they might refine a brand new, powerful elixir?
Maintaining a good relationship with such a clan was a very necessary thing to do.
It was for this very reason that everyone in the Qin Family, from top to bottom, took the threat from the Thousand Kills Sect seriously but felt no fear. They had never been short on allies.
If a large-scale conflict truly broke out, they wouldn’t necessarily be afraid of the Thousand Kills Sect!
Besides, this was just a conflict between the younger generation. Unless Qin Li had killed their Young Sect Leader, the elders of that sect probably wouldn’t personally make a move against the Qin Family.
If elders had to personally intervene every time a junior was bullied, Profound Island probably wouldn’t have survived to this day. It would have been depopulated long ago!
Even the disciples of Profound Island’s super-factions usually had to rely on their own abilities to clean up any trouble they caused. Constantly bringing up one’s family or sect was a quick way to earn contempt.
...
「Po Jun Mountain, Thousand Kills Sect.」
The Sect Leader of the Thousand Kills Sect, Pang Weiran, sat in the main seat. Below him sat an old man with white hair and a white beard, his eyes slightly closed as if he were asleep.
Pangqi stood below, chin up, facing his father with a defiant look. "Yeah, that’s right! I’m the one who spread the rumor," he declared loudly. "But it’s not really a rumor, is it? Hasn’t the truth come out? That kid really is a disciple of Fengsha City’s Qin Family! And yes, I’m the one who sent Uncle Sun Tai... Hey, didn’t you guys once say it would be great to get the formula for the Qin Family’s Jade Dew Pill? I don’t think I did anything wrong!"
"You monster! You still dare say you did nothing wrong!"
Pang Weiran flew into a rage, his eyes blazing with fury. He pointed a finger at his defiant son and cursed, "If it weren’t for you, how could your Uncle Sun Tai have ended up like this? If you, you little beast, hadn’t been driven by lust, how could you have provoked such a terrifying opponent..."
"Terrifying?" Pangqi interrupted his father with a smirk. "You actually think someone who’s only in the Celestial Shattering Realm is terrifying? What a joke. We could send any disciple from our sect at the Celestial Integration Realm to crush him, couldn’t we?"
"You bastard! Do you think the Qin Family is made of paper? I can’t get through to you! Get out! Go to the back mountain and face the wall! If you dare come out again without my permission, I’ll break your damn legs!" Pang Weiran roared.
"Hmph. If my legs are ’damn legs,’ what does that make yours?" Pangqi muttered under his breath as he walked out, completely unconcerned.
"Why you..." Pang Weiran shot to his feet, about to give chase, but Pangqi saw him and bolted away in a flash. Pang Weiran slumped back into his seat, breathing heavily. He sighed to the old man beside him, "Uncle, I’ve made a fool of myself in front of you. My foolish son is ignorant and has caused such a disaster. As for Junior Brother Sun Tai..."
Only then did the old man slowly open his eyes. "Forget it," he said faintly. "It was his own incompetence. You can’t blame the Young Sect Leader. However, Sect Leader, if we let this matter go, I will not agree. Sun Tai’s talent may have been average, but he served me faithfully for many years, always attentive and never making a single mistake. And now, someone has shattered his mind with Spiritual Power... Sect Leader, others might not see it, but can you not see it? Also, do you really believe a teenager did this?"
"Uncle, you mean..." Pang Weiran looked at the old man, pondering. A vicious glint flashed in his eyes. "Could it be that one of the old fossils from the Qin Family made a move?"
Pang Weiran continued, narrowing his eyes, "That Qin Family kid does have some strength. If we just go and kill him directly, I’m afraid... it would provoke a fierce backlash from the Qin Family, which would be of no benefit to our Thousand Kills Sect."
The old man gave Pang Weiran a cool look and asked, "Then what is your plan, Sect Leader? Are you saying... that the great Thousand Kills Sect is afraid of a clan that isn’t even mid-tier?"
"Heh, Uncle, your anger isn’t entirely because of that boy Sun Tai, is it? From what I understand, his status as your closed-door disciple wasn’t actually that high in your eyes... It’s just that this incident has made you lose face, and you want to get it back. If that’s the case, wouldn’t killing that kid right away be letting him off too easy?"
The old man rolled his eyes and pouted. He wanted to argue but felt that his Sect Leader nephew was right. So, he could only nod and look at Pang Weiran, waiting for him to continue.
Pang Weiran gave a cold smile. "Hmph, the Qin Family thinks they’ve produced a peerless genius, don’t they? What if, after they spend years nurturing him, after this genius reaches the peak of the Celestial Shattering Realm or even breaks through to the Celestial Integration Realm... he were to die ’accidentally’ in the Venerable Tournament? Wouldn’t everyone in the Qin Family be so frustrated they’d cough up blood? And after losing this peerless genius who could have led their clan to glory, how far... could the Qin Family possibly go?"
"Sect Leader, you mean to have..." The old man sucked in a sharp breath. He then stood up, looking refreshed and invigorated, and started walking out. "Since the Sect Leader plans to unveil that great secret of our Thousand Kills Sect in three years, I have nothing more to say. I will wait three years!"
...
"A good thrashing! Acting so arrogantly right at our Qin Family’s doorstep! If we don’t break their damn legs, they’ll think the Qin Family is afraid of them!" Qinling Mountain, his face flushed with excitement, loudly praised his treasured great-grandson.
All the core members of the direct lineage looked at each other in dismay, finding Qinling Mountain’s words somewhat unbelievable. This was not the Qin Family’s traditional way of handling things.
As an Alchemy Clan, their motto had always been: be modest, be low-key, and be amicable to prosper. This was the rule the Qin Family had always followed.
Therefore, Qinling Mountain’s words today were tantamount to overthrowing the clan’s entire philosophy from the past!
How could this not shock everyone in the Qin Family?
"Father, is this... a good idea?"
Qinling Mountain’s eldest son, Qin Wenxuan’s paternal grandfather, Qin Jingzhong—also one of the Qin Family’s Celestial Integration Realm Elders—a refined-looking old man, asked with some hesitation.
"Hmph, what’s not good about it? In terms of strength, our Qin Family isn’t that far behind. For all these years, we’ve dedicated ourselves to the art of alchemy. If we had focused solely on developing the clan’s power, I believe we wouldn’t be much weaker than that Thousand Kills Sect!" Qinling Mountain said coolly.
Qin Jingzhong nodded, agreeing with his father’s words. He then looked up, a hopeful light in his eyes. "Father, then you mean... for the Qin Family’s future?"
"From now on, for clan affairs, we will focus on nurturing Qin Suo! Neither you nor your son will participate in the clan’s management anymore. We will use the clan’s full resources to refine those few elixirs! Hmph, first, we’ll raise the overall strength of our Qin Family! Then, the core of our martial power will be your great-grandson, Qin Li! The main purpose of refining those elixirs will be to supply them to Qin Li!"
As Qinling Mountain gave his orders, Qin Suo was overjoyed. His luck was so much better than his father’s, his grandfather’s, and even his great-grandfather’s. The position of the Qin Family’s future Patriarch was his for the taking!
At the same time, he looked at Qin Li with a touch of envy. He knew that from this day forward, even though he would be the Patriarch, the one who would be remembered and revered by future generations could only be Qin Li!
However, he wasn’t jealous. A fire ignited in Qin Suo’s heart. He swore a silent oath to himself: ’I must build the Qin Family into an even stronger clan! I hope that when future generations of the Qin Family speak of this period in history, they will also say with pride that Patriarch Qin Suo made a great contribution to the clan’s glory back then!’
Qin Li stood there quietly, feeling all kinds of gazes upon him. He was quite moved. ’For Qinling Mountain, the powerful Patriarch of the Qin Family, to make such a decision in such a short time... he truly is a man of courage!’
’Without courage, how could he so decisively delegate authority to a junior? Without courage, how could he dare to bet everything on a family disciple who just returned from the secular world a few days ago?’
"There is one more thing!" Qinling Mountain said, casting a gentle glance at Qin Li before continuing slowly, "I do not approve of Qin Li participating in the Venerable Tournament three years from now."
"Huh?"
Gasps of surprise immediately rose from the crowd. Everyone looked at Qinling Mountain in disbelief. ’With Qin Li’s aptitude,’ they thought, ’his chances of making it to the final round of the Venerable Tournament in three years are extremely high!’
’And as for the treasures inside the Golden Palace, who in the world wouldn’t be green with envy? Who wouldn’t want them?’
Only a few people present understood Qinling Mountain’s meaning. Qin Li also understood the Patriarch’s intentions. He smiled slightly and said, "We can decide whether I go or not later. There are still three years, after all. But for now, there’s somewhere I need to go first!"
