Only I am Venerable

Chapter 275: Chapter 273: The Crisis Arrives

"Pah! Get the hell down!" Qin Li thrust his hand straight into the cliff face, pried out a large rock, and hurled it down toward the voice below.

The rock whistled as it plummeted. Though its speed was incredible, the chances of actually hitting the target were minimal. For a Supreme Martial Artist who had been famous for many years, Qin Li’s act was more of an insult than anything else.

The man below couldn’t help but curse, "You little bastard! Once I catch you, I’ll make you wish you were dead!"

"Catch me first, you old bastard, then we can talk!" Qin Li retorted. He suddenly felt his pursuer closing in and cursed inwardly, ’Old fox.’ He pushed himself to climb even faster.

The one chasing Qin Li from below was none other than Elder Yu, one of the three great ancestors of the Thousand Kills Sect!

His power had already reached the peak of the Human Venerable realm!

However, breaking through to the Earth Venerable realm would likely be difficult, as he had less than a hundred years of life remaining. A century was a lifetime for an ordinary person—many didn’t even live past sixty or seventy. But for a Venerable Realm Martial Artist, it could pass in just a few sessions of seclusion.

If he couldn’t break through to the Earth Venerable realm, his lifespan would soon run out, and he would have no choice but to face death.

This was why almost all Martial Artists chose to continue their arduous training after reaching the Venerable Realm. No one wanted to die; the longer one lived, the more one clung to life!

Within the Thousand Kills Sect, Elder Yu’s seniority was extremely high. He was already over seven hundred years old. In his youth, he had been handsome and dashing, once a renowned figure on Profound Island.

His ability to cultivate to his current realm was a testament to his outstanding talent and diligent hard work. As such, he was a man of immense self-confidence!

He had been planning to ambush Qin Li for some time now. Ever since seeing Qin Li fight the Cui Family’s young Venerable, Cui Leng, to a standstill, he knew it was impossible to rely on Pang Wen to kill Qin Li.

Although Pang Wen’s strength had reached the late stage of the Celestial Embracing Realm, he had yet to reach its peak. Against a Qin Li who could withstand a Venerable, he stood no chance at all.

Therefore, the three elders had secretly agreed: they absolutely had to kill this Qin Li before the Venerable tournament began!

To their surprise, however, the Thousand Mechanism Sect and the Lin Family had been closely protecting the Qin Family, leaving Elder Yu both furious and helpless.

Today, he hadn’t actually expected to be able to kill Qin Li; he had just come to scout for an opportunity.

Although the Xuanwu Platform was flat, it wasn’t entirely barren. Especially near the cliff, weeds and shrubs grew in thick patches.

Just as Elder Yu emerged, he saw Qin Li’s shadow flit across a patch of weeds and low shrubs, heading straight for the cliff. If he hadn’t seen him with his own eyes, he would never have detected any fluctuation in Qin Li’s aura!

Without hesitation, Elder Yu immediately gave chase. At first, he was careful to suppress the energy fluctuations emanating from his body, as he didn’t want to alert anyone else. Although Qin Li could fight Cui Leng to a stalemate, Elder Yu was supremely confident that he could cut the boy down with his sword in under a hundred exchanges.

Qin Li’s ape-like agility caught Elder Yu completely off guard. Initially, the elder had been quite excited, as the Thousand Feet Peak where he had spent years in seclusion was a sheer cliff, a thousand zhang high! For hundreds of years, Elder Yu had climbed it up and down every single day!

While its height couldn’t compare to the Black Tortoise Cliff, Elder Yu considered himself one of the world’s foremost experts in climbing.

But today, he had truly met his match. To make matters worse, the little bastard was constantly harassing him by throwing rocks from above, enraging him.

"You little bastard, do you have any idea who I am? The answer would scare you to death—" Before Elder Yu could finish, a rattling crash echoed from above. This time it was even better: a whole shower of rocks!

The assault choked the rest of his words back down his throat. He swung his arms, unleashing waves of Power that pulverized the rocks of all sizes, then roared, "You little bastard! Do you think this is funny?"

"Old bastard, I’m playing ’Smash the Turtle.’ How is that not fun? I think it’s a blast! Let’s see what gives out first, your shell or my supply of rocks!"

As he spoke, another cascade of rocks rained down from above.

By now, Elder Yu was seething with uncontrollable rage. In all his years of fame, he had never suffered such a humiliation. The full aura of his Venerable Realm cultivation burst forth, disintegrating the falling rocks into dust with its pressure alone. Then, he shot up the cliff face, recklessly burning through his stamina in a desperate bid to catch Qin Li.

After this chaotic exchange, Qin Li had already climbed more than ten li, while Elder Yu had reached nine and a half. The gap between them was now only half a li!

The commotion Qin Li created, with a constant stream of rocks falling from above, had attracted the attention of several of the families and Sects camped below.

When Qinling Mountain’s figure appeared like a lightning flash at the entrance to Qin Li’s empty tent, he couldn’t help but stomp his foot and sigh. "That disobedient little rascal. Can’t he ever just stay out of trouble?"

Shangguan Shiyu arrived a moment later. She gazed worriedly at the cliff face, less than a hundred meters away. Hearing the intermittent sounds of falling rocks, her heart tightened with anxiety.

Qin Hanyue and Qin Wenxuan rushed over as well. "What’s happening?" Qin Hanyue asked.

Qin Wenxuan, his face fraught with tension, asked, "Great-Grandfather, is that Qin Li up there?"

"Who else would it be!" Qinling Mountain shot Qin Wenxuan an irritated glare. "The problem is, I suspect someone followed him up, and the two of them are fighting! We can’t hear a thing from them, which means they’re incredibly far up! At that height, it doesn’t matter who it is—a fall means certain death!"

Qin Hanyue gasped, her face paling. "Who would follow Li up there? Someone from the Cui Family?"

Qinling Mountain shook his head. "I don’t know. All we can do now is wait."

Over at the encampments of the Lin Family and the Thousand Mechanism Sect, the commotion had also been noticed. Shen Le squinted into the pitch-black distance, listening to the clatter of falling debris. He asked the people beside him, "Who is up there?"

The elders beside Shen Le all shook their heads. One of them finally mused, "We don’t know who, but it’s clearly more than one person, and they’re fighting!"

Another strained his ears to listen. After a long moment, he frowned and said, "One of them is Young Master Qin. The other... is an old man. More than likely, it’s one of the Supreme Elders from the Thousand Kills Sect!"

"What? Qin Li? What is he doing all the way up there?" In the darkness, Shen Le’s face grew pale as he stared at the shadowy cliff. Even with his power, he couldn’t hear the sounds from that altitude. One could only imagine the height!

The mere thought sent a chill down his spine!

"Young Master Qin seems to be skilled at communicating with Spirit Beasts. He probably heard the legends about Black Tortoise Peak and went up searching for one," a Thousand Mechanism Sect elder said slowly. "And the person chasing him is obviously there to take his life."

"Then what can we do?" For the first time, Shen Le felt utterly helpless. He suddenly realized just how insignificant his own power was, how far he still had to go!

"All we can do is wait. In the meantime, we can help Young Master Qin by protecting the rest of the Qin Family. That is enough."

"Indeed. Young Master, your intentions are benevolent. That is more than enough."

Shen Le nodded. ’I suppose that’s all we can do,’ he thought.

Over in the Lin Family’s area, Lin Heng’s eyes gleamed. He had immediately guessed that one of the people on the Black Tortoise Cliff was likely Qin Li. After sending someone to observe the Qin Family’s camp, his suspicion was confirmed when he learned they had all gathered in one spot. He knew then that one person on the cliff had to be Qin Li, and the other was from either the Cui Family or the Thousand Kills Sect!

Lin Heng’s eyes shone brightly in the darkness as he muttered to himself, "Qin Li, you have to pull through this. If you’re still alive and kicking after the Venerable tournament, then I’ll be your friend, no question. I’ll do everything I can to persuade the Lin Family to support the Qin Family and build you into a truly powerful clan. When that day comes, the Lin Family will reap endless benefits!"

At the same time, countless other factions camped near the cliff had also been alerted. Nearly everyone was looking up, craning their necks in anticipation of the outcome.

...

Qin Li was now on the lower-middle section of the Black Tortoise Cliff, where he found a small, recessed cave. It was shallow, only about a meter deep and two meters high, but it was enough for him to sit down and catch his breath.

He was now a full twenty li above the Xuanwu Platform!

Meanwhile, the relentlessly pursuing Elder Yu was at nineteen li. Relying on the formidable power of a Venerable, he had forcibly carved a hole half a meter deep and a meter high into the hard rock, where he now sat, panting.

This altitude was an unprecedented challenge for him. He hadn’t thought much about it while chasing Qin Li, but now he was in a predicament with no easy way out.

At this point, even climbing down would be extremely difficult. Of course, he could move sideways for a dozen or so li to find a gentler slope, but Elder Yu clearly lacked Qin Li’s nerve. Everyone knew Black Tortoise Peak was home to many incredibly powerful Spirit Beasts. Venturing over there blindly would be more dangerous than sliding back down the cliff.

Qin Li’s stamina was also draining rapidly. While his recovery rate was astonishingly fast compared to others, it was beginning to fall short of this frantic rate of consumption.

Just then, the sky began to lighten. Qin Li narrowed his eyes, his powerful Divine Sense locked onto Elder Yu below. ’I wonder what would happen if I absorbed a wisp of Innate Purple Qi here?’ he thought.

Suddenly, a tidal wave of inexplicable danger crashed over him!