Only I am Venerable

Chapter 276: Chapter 274: The Tragedy of Elder Yu

Son of a bitch!

Qin Li cursed inwardly. In the pale white sky, a golden figure shot out from a swirling cloud of mist like a bolt of lightning. Two massive, sharp talons came slashing viciously toward Qin Li, the waves of energy they radiated making one’s heart tremble!

Wielding Blood Drinking, Qin Li unhesitatingly slashed at the lunging golden shadow with a streak of purple Sword Qi!

With a piercing cry, the golden shadow instantly dodged aside, stirring up a powerful gust of wind. The strong current immediately dislodged a number of rocks from the cliff face, sending them clattering down below.

Below, Elder Yu burst into laughter. The Spirit Beast attack he had been so eagerly awaiting had finally arrived. However, his laughter lasted only for a moment before the shower of debris cut it short. He pulled back into his alcove, cursing inwardly, hoping Qin Li and the Spirit Beast would take each other out.

Only then did Qin Li get a clear look at the golden shadow. It was actually a gigantic Golden Eagle!

Its wingspan was over ten meters long!

The Golden Eagle dove into a swirling cloud of mist, then shot back out an instant later. It opened its beak and spat a blast of golden Power straight at Qin Li. This Power was incredibly dense; Qin Li didn’t dare to take it head-on. His only choice was to leap into the air, using the Cloud Ladder Jump to shoot upwards.

BOOM!

With a massive explosion, the small alcove where Qin Li had just been hiding was blasted into a massive crater over ten meters deep and twenty to thirty meters in diameter!

Countless large chunks of rock rained down from the crater, scaring Elder Yu, who had just been about to sneak away. He scrambled back into his own alcove, watching in horror as the deluge of stone fell past him, muttering over and over, "Qin Li! Qin Li! Qin Li!"

To his disappointment, he didn’t even see a shred of Qin Li’s sleeve among the debris. His face fell, but then lit up with excitement again. ’Qin Li, oh, Qin Li,’ he thought, ’this is what they call digging your own grave!’

’You think you’re safe just because you climb fast? Haha, this is exactly what I was waiting for. Go on, have fun playing with a flying Spirit Beast in a place like this! I’m not sticking around for the show!’

"Hahaha!" Elder Yu was ecstatic. Although he couldn’t kill his mortal enemy Qin Li with his own hands, watching him get torn to shreds by a Spirit Beast was just as satisfying. He let out a few suppressed laughs. Then, after the last of the rocks had fallen, he turned around in his alcove, took a dagger forged from Celestial Meteorite Iron from his robes, and thrust it lightly into the cliff face. He then began to slide his way down.

The dagger was incredibly sharp and hard, cutting through the stone wall as if it were tofu, without sustaining the slightest bit of damage. Although this method of descent was a bit clumsy, for a Martial Artist of the Venerable Realm, it was the best option, as he didn’t have to worry about running out of Primordial Power and losing his grip.

As the saying goes, "going up the mountain is easy, but coming down is hard." This was especially true on a cliff as steep and sheer as if it had been carved by a knife.

Even at Elder Yu’s level, he didn’t dare to be arrogant. Though his descent was rapid, he kept it controlled enough that he could stop at any moment.

’Qin Li, oh, Qin Li, I wonder if I’ll see your corpse fall past me soon? Even better, maybe that Divine Sword of yours will fall down first. You’re dead anyway, you might as well give it to me!’

As Elder Yu savored the thought, two terrifying auras suddenly locked onto him. He broke out in a cold sweat. Then, with the speed of a thunderclap, he slammed a palm into the cliff face, blasting out a crater seven or eight meters deep and three or four meters high. He quickly dove inside to take cover.

A whistling blast of Power grazed past Elder Yu’s body, tearing his robes. The skin exposed to the air instantly broke out in goosebumps.

Elder Yu stared at the entrance of his makeshift cave, still shaken, when he suddenly sensed an even greater danger. Accompanied by a sharp eagle’s cry, he heard a deafening RUMBLE!

The section of the cliff where Elder Yu was hiding was directly blown apart by an immense force!

With no way to dodge, Elder Yu took the hit. Sent flying into the open air amidst a shower of rock fragments, he roared and swung a backhanded sword strike at one of the giant hawks!

"Damn feathered beast, die!"

This full-powered strike of Sword Qi from a Venerable Realm expert was exceptionally fierce. Even steel could not have withstood such a blow!

Moreover, the Sword Qi was fiery red and carried an immense, searing heat. A scorching current spread through the air along with the Sword Qi, completely dispersing the swirling mists.

But unexpectedly, the black shadow simply tilted its body and dodged the incredibly sharp strike. It then turned its huge head toward Elder Yu, a flicker of deep mockery flashing in its hawk eyes!

The other black shadow shot toward Elder Yu like a bolt of lightning!

Elder Yu roared and slashed at the charging giant hawk again, bellowing, "You beast! Don’t you dare dodge!"

Whether it understood or was simply disdainful, this time, the glossy black hawk didn’t dodge at all. Instead, it flapped its wings violently, sending waves of energy like giant tsunamis crashing toward Elder Yu’s Sword Qi.

A series of small-scale storms formed in mid-air. The other giant black hawk now also flapped its wings, blowing away all the mist within a hundred-meter radius.

Elder Yu was completely unable to withstand the colossal force of the two giant hawks’ attack. He let out a terrified cry and began to plummet, his body falling rapidly through the swirling clouds of mist. He struggled desperately to get back to the cliff face; if he could just reach it, he’d have a sliver of hope!

At this very moment, Elder Yu was filled with endless regret. ’How could I have been so bewitched to follow that little bastard Qin Li up this ten-thousand-fathom cliff? I recall that as far back as seven or eight hundred years ago, when I first participated in the Supreme Tournament, I heard a Sect senior speak of the legends of Black Tortoise Peak: "one python, one eagle, two hawks, and Three Monkeys." The creature attacking Qin Li was most likely the "one eagle," and the ones attacking me are clearly the "two hawks"!’

’According to legends from over two thousand years ago, the "two hawks" were already Spirit Beasts that had broken through to the Venerable Realm. After two thousand years, just how terrifying must their power be now?’

These thoughts flashed through Elder Yu’s mind. He hoped that the two black hawks would let him go, but his hopes were dashed. The two black hawks stuck to him like shadows, diving after him from above, relentlessly unleashing terrifying attacks that gave him no time to get near the cliff face!

Climbing a twenty-li-high cliff required immense stamina and energy, but falling down took only a moment. In the end, Elder Yu’s descent grew faster and faster. Even with his Venerable Realm cultivation, he was completely unable to control his fall. As he passed through the last swirling cloud of mist, he could already see the vast expanse of tents on the Xuanwu Platform where the families and Sects were camped, and the people below, looking up like ants.

Elder Yu let out a bloodcurdling roar: "Qin Li, I won’t let you go even if I become a ghost!"

BOOM!

BOOM!

Two more incomparably massive blasts of energy slammed into Elder Yu. How else could he have been falling so fast? This speed left Elder Yu without even the strength to self-destruct!

On the Xuanwu Platform, the commotion had already alerted everyone. Someone looked up toward the highest point and saw a black dot plummeting downward, with two other black dots seemingly in pursuit.

But Elder Yu’s bloodcurdling, final roar made the color drain from everyone’s faces. Could it be... that the two black dots were Qin Li’s helpers?

"Look! That’s Elder Yu!" Pang Wen stood with Elder Jin and Elder Tie, their eyes filled with endless horror as they watched the falling figure.

"Second Brother!" Elder Jin let out a cry of extreme anguish, looking as if he wanted to grind his teeth to dust.

THUD!

With a tremendous sound, Elder Yu’s body, like a wooden stake, plunged deep into the ground of the Xuanwu Platform!

In the sky, the two giant black hawks let out a taunting cry, then did a final dive before pulling up high, vanishing into the flowing mists in an instant.

Everyone was stunned by the scene. Countless people rushed over, only to see, to their horror, a bottomless hole in the ground!

Immediately after, Elder Jin and Elder Tie ran over frantically, pushed through the crowd, drew their swords, and began to dig!

"Second Brother!" they shouted as they dug.

"Second Brother!"

Their cries were piercing, like a cuckoo weeping blood.

They dug seventeen or eighteen meters down before they actually found Elder Yu’s... corpse!

That’s right, it was a corpse. Elder Yu was long dead!

What was even more terrifying was that the immense impact had, in the instant he hit the ground, completely vaporized all of Elder Yu’s flesh and blood, fusing it with the earth. All that remained was the powerful skeleton of a Supreme Martial Artist!

The Black-faced Iron Elder let out a grating howl. Elder Jin, with trembling hands, grabbed the skeleton and flew back up.

The body of a Supreme Martial Artist was truly formidable; the skeleton was almost completely undamaged. But this very fact sent a cold sweat down the spines of the onlookers!

The reason was simple. Just moments ago, the owner of this skeleton had let out a final, agonizing roar. A moment later, only a skeleton remained!

All his flesh and blood, his internal organs, had completely vanished!

"Heavens, that’s horrifying!"

In the crowd, some of the more timid women couldn’t help but crouch down and vomit, but no one laughed at them. Even the men who usually prided themselves on their courage were now pale-faced, their eyes filled with terror.

Many people couldn’t help but look up at the inscrutable Black Tortoise Cliff, all wondering just what had happened up there.

"Qin Family, I’ll slaughter every last one of you!" the Black-faced Iron Elder suddenly roared, bellowing toward the Qin Family’s encampment.

Elder Jin and Pang Wen, who had rushed over, had no time to stop Elder Tie before he flew toward the Qin Family’s camp.

Just then, a loud BANG resounded. Two massive waves of energy blasted Elder Tie back. Although he wasn’t seriously injured, he still spat out a mouthful of blood.

A cold voice drifted over from that direction. "Who do you think you are? You dare to run your mouth here?"