Only I am Venerable

Chapter 272: Chapter 270: Furious Rage

Within a hundred-meter radius of their battle, snowflakes continuously drifted down, accumulating to over an inch deep!

It was deathly quiet, as if there was truly nothing left inside.

Just as everyone was wishing they could take a few steps forward to get a closer look, a sudden sense of immense danger emanated from within.

The onlookers, faces pale with terror, retreated once more.

BOOM!

A world-shaking explosion erupted from that spot. Snow and soil on the ground were blasted into the air, scattering in all directions!

Then, the snowflakes filling the sky slowly vanished. The temperature began to return to normal. The scorching sun shone down, and the remaining ice and snow on the ground melted rapidly, turning into streams of water that flowed toward lower ground.

But the two figures in the sky had disappeared.

Just as many were baffled, the two figures flew back from opposite, far-off directions!

HISS!

By now, the crowd had swelled to seven or eight thousand, nearly ten thousand people, yet they all couldn’t help but gasp. They were beyond horrified. ’When on earth did those two fly out there?’

Aside from the Supreme Powerhouses present and a handful of peak Celestial Embracing Realm Martial Artists, absolutely no one understood what had just happened!

At this moment, Qin Li and Cui Leng once again faced each other in the air.

"You’re no match for me!" Cui Leng’s expression was strange. He kept frowning as if suffering from a headache.

"But I’m the one who came out ahead!" Qin Li’s face was quite relaxed as he chuckled. However, a closer look would reveal a faint trace of blood at the corner of his mouth, so faint it would be missed otherwise.

"I didn’t lose out either!" Cui Leng said through gritted teeth.

The crowd below was utterly confused. Even the middle-aged man who had been glaring at Qin Li with such hatred couldn’t help but ask the three old men beside him, "What happened?"

This question was likely on everyone’s mind.

One of the elders, who had a golden complexion, set up a barrier before saying faintly, "That little beast from the Qin Family... he’s not easy to kill!"

Another elder, this one with a jade-like face, grew solemn. He nodded and said, "It seems we’ll have to strike and kill him ourselves. We absolutely cannot let him successfully enter the preliminary grounds for the Golden Palace’s projection!"

The dark-faced elder also frowned and nodded. "Indeed. If that boy enters the preliminary grounds, as long as he doesn’t run into the Cui Family’s Venerable and get eliminated, he’ll definitely be able to enter the Golden Palace. Won’t we have to wait another ten years then? We’ll wait. After we go up the mountain, but before the Golden Palace appears, we’ll find a chance to kill him!"

The middle-aged man asked in horror, "Why can’t we wait for me to kill him myself and avenge my father and brother?"

The three elders said almost in unison, "No. You’re no match for him!"

The middle-aged man’s face instantly darkened. He couldn’t understand it. The fluctuations of power erupting from that boy clearly weren’t that strong, so why did all three of his masters say he wasn’t a match for him? He schemed inwardly, ’No matter what, I will have my revenge with my own hands! Qin Li, just you wait!’

Lin Heng and Shen Le were asking the elders beside them the same question.

The Lin Family’s Earth Venerable Martial Artist standing next to Lin Heng spoke with a peculiar expression, "Young Master Qin... he seems to have launched a Spiritual Attack. Although he couldn’t defeat the Cui Family’s young Venerable in one blow, it appears to have inflicted a significant injury! However, Young Master Qin is ultimately inferior in raw power to the Cui Family’s Venerable, so he also suffered a minor internal injury."

"Are you saying that Qin Li now has what it takes to fight a Venerable Realm powerhouse?" Lin Heng’s face was filled with disbelief.

Shen Le was also dumbfounded. "You’ve got to be kidding me, right?"

...

"Still want to fight?" Qin Li asked with a grin, looking at Cui Leng opposite him as the Innate Purple Qi in his body rapidly repaired his internal injuries.

"Hmph. In the Venerable tournament, you’d better pray you don’t run into me. When the time comes, I’ll make you pay!" Cui Leng’s voice was laced with a hint of pain, as if he was enduring something.

"The feeling is mutual. If you run into me, it’ll be your unlucky day!"

"Hmph!" Cui Leng didn’t reply again. His figure flickered and vanished.

Qin Li descended from the sky and returned to the Qin Family’s group. Everyone immediately crowded around him, their faces filled with concern, but also curiosity.

Qin Li waved his hand and smiled. "I’m fine!"

With that, he turned and boarded his carriage. Shangguan Shiyu followed closely behind.

Once back in the carriage, Qin Li first waved his hand to set up a barrier. Then, with a slight exertion, he spat a mouthful of blood into a flowerpot inside the carriage. A black clot was mixed in with the blood.

"Ah! Qin Li, what’s wrong?" Shangguan Shiyu asked, her voice trembling.

"It’s nothing, just a minor internal injury. Now that I’ve coughed up this blood, I’ll be fine after some rest!" Qin Li waved his hand, signaling that he was alright. He then closed his eyes, and his Innate Purple Qi flowed out like quicksilver spreading across the ground, moving toward the Cui Family’s convoy ahead!

...

The onlookers were all baffled. Even after watching until the end, they couldn’t figure out who had won. But even so, the way they looked at the Qin Family had already changed!

A Celestial Integration Realm Martial Artist had gone head-to-head with a Supreme Powerhouse and fought to a draw! What did that imply?

As for the people from the Cui Family, they returned to their convoy one by one, heads hung in dejection. They continued onward, but their morale had hit rock bottom.

Their Venerable had made a move, using the Cui Family’s most powerful combat technique and the Cold Snow Sword, yet still failed to cut down that boy. To these proud disciples of the Cui Family, the blow was immense!

Meanwhile, after Cui Leng returned to his own carriage and similarly set up a barrier, he couldn’t help but let out a groan. Inside the carriage sat two elders. Upon Cui Leng’s return, four more elders appeared within the compartment.

"Cui Leng, how did that little beast injure you? Was it Spiritual Power?" one of the gloomy-faced elders asked in a low voice.

Cui Leng nodded, his face slightly flushed. He took a porcelain bottle from his pocket, tipped out an Elixir, and tossed it into his mouth. Only then did he say, "That’s right. That boy definitely has a combat technique that uses Spiritual Power!"

The elders in the carriage exchanged glances, their eyes lighting up.

"A Spiritual Power combat technique? We must get our hands on it!" one elder exclaimed, a sharp glint in his eyes.

"Exactly! In all our thousands of years, the Cui Family has only ever possessed one Spiritual Power combat technique, and it’s a defensive one. That boy’s must be offensive!"

"That must be it. Rumor has it that little beast isn’t afraid of a Supreme Powerhouse’s pressure. We originally thought he possessed some treasure that resisted pressure, but now it seems he must have cultivated this kind of Spiritual Power combat technique!"

"That little beast... he really has quite a few treasures on him!" a Cui Family elder lamented. "The sword in his hand is in no way inferior to our Cui Family’s Cold Snow Sword. Then there’s his Spiritual Power combat technique, and the other technique he uses... I think I heard it’s called... the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, Only I am Venerable technique? That name sounds incredibly arrogant, but seeing the boy’s skills, it seems he can live up to it!"

"I happen to know a little about that technique," another Cui Family elder said, stroking his beard. "It was originally a technique that circulated in the secular world. Many people cultivated it, but it has a fatal flaw. A Nirvana occurs once every six months. After the third Nirvana, the cultivator’s soul is scorched, and they die. I have no idea how that little beast managed to cultivate it successfully!"

"Exactly. These are all things we need to find out. We must make them the property of our Cui Family! They will play a crucial role in our grand plan! Therefore, we can’t kill this little beast just yet! We must capture him alive! As for the Qin Family... let them go for now. Lull them into a false sense of security! Once all these secrets belong to our Cui Family, we can wipe them out, bit by bit!"

At this point, Cui Leng suddenly said, "I heard that Qin Li is quite the womanizer. He’s fighting with my good-for-nothing seventh brother, Cui Yuwen, over some woman. I got a look at her today. She’s actually an Innate Spirit Body. If a person like that were to be made into medicine... I imagine the benefits would be immense, wouldn’t they?"

The Cui Family elders all looked up, giving Cui Leng a strange glance. They probably hadn’t expected him to be so heartless as to suggest turning a living, breathing, gorgeous young woman into medicine.

However, Cui Leng’s suggestion truly tempted them. When one’s strength reached a certain realm, things like etiquette, ethics, and morality... they could all be trampled underfoot!

An Innate Spirit Body was a once-in-a-millennium sight, even on Profound Island. If one were to be completely refined into a Spiritual Medicine, it would indeed be a great aid in raising one’s strength!

One of the elders said, "We can capture that girl first and use her to threaten Qin Li. Once he’s spilled all his secrets, it won’t be too late to refine her into medicine!"

"Threatening him... that seems a bit inappropriate. This time, the Lin Family, the Thousand Mechanism Sect, and many other families and Sects have sent quite a few old geezers from the Venerable Realm. If we go too far here, I’m afraid... it will cause a strong backlash from them. And don’t forget, the Qin Family’s Elixirs are also peerless treasures!" another Cui Family elder analyzed, his eyes narrowed.

"Then... we’ll do it after the Venerable tournament ends!" Cui Leng said through gritted teeth. "But, if I run into that Qin Li during the competition, I’ll still eliminate him. At most, I just won’t kill him!"

"Right, then it’s settled! We’ll spare his life for now and find a chance to make our move after the Venerable tournament is over!"

And so, aboard Cui Leng’s luxurious and comfortable carriage, the group from the Cui Family quickly finalized their vicious plan.

...

Qin Li’s eyes were slightly closed, his face ashen. His body trembled slightly as he slowly withdrew his Innate Purple Qi. When he opened his eyes, they were filled with a shocking killing intent!

An immense, furious wave was already crashing through Qin Li’s heart. ’Cui Family,’ he vowed, ’if I don’t see every last one of you annihilated in a crushing defeat this time, then my name isn’t Qin Li!’