Chapter 319: Chapter 317: Is the Killing Over? Let the Wedding Continue
BOOM!
With the thunderous sound, a massive, bottomless black hole several meters in diameter instantly tore through the azure sky, and the surrounding space began to collapse!
The resulting energy storm instantly engulfed an area over a thousand meters across, leveling a small mountain below in the blink of an eye! Everything on the mountain—trees, grass, stones, and all manner of birds and beasts—vanished in an instant!
After the energy storm passed, the thousand-meter radius looked as if it had been plowed over countless times... leaving only flat, scorched earth!
As for the scholarly old man—the Fourth Elder from Lengqiu Palace—he had been utterly annihilated by Qin Li and the Snake Woman’s combined attack, not even a trace of him remained.
In the last moment before his consciousness plunged into darkness, the scholarly elder couldn’t believe it. ’These two could have easily captured me, yet they had no desire to interrogate me at all. They just killed me outright!’
"Why not keep him alive to question?" The Snake Woman watched as the collapsed space was completely repaired by the world’s natural laws in a matter of moments. The sky was azure once more, showing no sign of the harrowing battle that had just taken place.
"What could we have learned?" Qin Li sneered. "Those people were just small-time thugs from Lengqiu Palace. They probably knew less than I do!"
"Heavens... what exactly did Master pass down to you?" the Snake Woman muttered, shaking her head slightly.
Qin Li didn’t answer. He glanced at the land flattened by the energy storm and chuckled. "This would be great farmland for a bountiful harvest!"
Just then, high in the sky in the direction of the Thousand Mechanism Sect, a brilliant, blood-red flare erupted. It spread out like a powerful ripple, expanding in all directions at an incredible speed.
The Snake Woman and Qin Li exchanged a look and dove for the ground at top speed. The Snake Woman barked, "Behind me!" As she spoke, she instantly reverted to her true form—a massive, hundred-meter-long black python—and plunged headfirst into a nearby mountainside.
A testament to her power as a peak Super Spirit Beast, she charged straight for a large stone cliff on the mountainside without the slightest hesitation.
CRASH!
With a deafening roar, rock and soil flew everywhere!
The Snake Woman’s true form shot into the mountain like a meteorite, burrowing an unknown depth into the rock.
Following behind her, Qin Li sealed his six senses. He was stunned as he felt the sheer depth she bored into the mountain. ’I never knew this snake had such a ferocious side.’
Only then did a world-shaking BOOM reach Qin Li’s ears.
The Snake Woman, who had begun to slow, renewed her frantic downward plunge. In that brief instant, the two of them had already burrowed a full two hundred meters into the mountain.
Even so, the Snake Woman—now back in human form—and Qin Li could still feel the raging energy overhead. She instinctively moved to shield Qin Li with her body.
Qin Li put a hand on hers. "Don’t move, She She," he said in a low voice. "We’re not in danger."
Qin Li’s Divine Sense had remained outside, closely monitoring the situation. They were still seven or eight li from the Thousand Mechanism Sect, and the terrifying energy storm had already begun to weaken by the time it reached their position.
But even in its weakened state, it had leveled countless mountains within that seven-to-eight-li radius. The Thousand Mechanism Sect, however, being at the eye of the storm, had ironically been spared the worst of the impact.
The two waited for the energy storm to pass completely before emerging from the tunnel. Covered in dirt, they looked at each other in horror. "Could a Martial Artist at the Shattered Void Realm have self-detonated?"
They could think of no other explanation for such astonishing power.
"We have to get back and check!" Worried about Leng Yao and the others, Qin Li shot off toward the Thousand Mechanism Sect, his body a blur that left a trail of green smoke in the air.
The Snake Woman followed close behind. When they returned, they found that while the Thousand Mechanism Sect had avoided catastrophic damage by being directly beneath the epicenter, many of its buildings had still collapsed, trapping some of the less powerful disciples.
Qin Li spotted Leng Yao in the crowd and breathed a sigh of relief. He landed and walked over to her. Before he could even ask, Leng Yao said, "Our family’s disciples are all unharmed!"
"That’s good. It’s all thanks to you." Qin Li knew that moments like these were the true test of a person’s composure and ability to adapt. Clearly, Leng Yao had what it took.
Leng Yao looked at the dust-covered Qin Li and, without a second thought, reached out to brush the dirt from his clothes. "You scared me half to death," she said. "I thought something had happened to you."
Her words were simple, but her concern was plain to see.
"We’re fine," Qin Li said with a smile. He squinted, his gaze joining the many others fixed on the vast, misty sky. "Leng Yao," he asked quietly, "none of the Shattered Void Realm experts came back down?"
Leng Yao nodded. "That’s right," she said softly. "Only five or six of the Venerable Realm experts from the Cui Family escaped. The rest were all killed by the experts from the other families. Thankfully, the realms of most of the Cui Family’s Venerable Realm Martial Artists were unstable. It seems they used Elixirs or other methods to forcibly raise their cultivation. Still, the other families suffered heavy losses as well. This battle... it’s a tragedy for the entire Profound Island!"
Just then, gasps erupted from the crowd below. Qin Li looked up to see a black dot descending from the sky, moving faster and faster. As it drew closer, he saw it was none other than the Old Ancestor of the Thousand Mechanism Sect, Shen Chong.
But this Shen Chong looked gravely injured. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, his robes were in tatters, and they were stained with numerous patches of blood.
Shen Le and Leng Fangfei rushed out from somewhere to Shen Chong’s side. Below, members of every clan and Sect gathered around, their faces etched with anxiety. Clearly, they all wanted to hear the news directly from him.
Shen Chong took a shallow breath and said weakly, "The Cui Family had three Shattered Void Martial Artists. We killed one together, one self-detonated, and the last one escaped, gravely wounded."
An uproar swept through the crowd.
Gasps of astonishment filled the air. It was unbelievable!
These were experts of the Shattered Void Realm! To think one was killed, another forced to self-detonate, and a third gravely wounded and forced to flee—their side’s strength was truly terrifying!
But then, a sense of unease settled in. Why had Shen Chong returned alone? Where were the others?
Before anyone could ask, Shen Chong sighed, his expression turning grim. "On our side," he said, "there were no deaths."
Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. But Shen Chong’s next words left them all, including Shen Le, utterly petrified.
"Our injuries are too severe. The self-detonation of a Shattered Void Realm Martial Artist is truly something else... truly something else," Shen Chong lamented, before a relieved smile touched his lips. "We old folks are done for, but the last of the Cui Family won’t live long either! So, you have nothing left to worry about. This Profound Island belongs to everyone! It’s not the Cui Family’s Profound Island! And it’s certainly not... some Profound Island of the Land of the Far West!"
"Old Ancestor..." Shen Le’s voice choked with emotion. Even at his level of cultivation, he could sense the profound weakness radiating from Shen Chong.
"It’s nothing. We old fossils may be heavily injured, but we’ll be fine after a few dozen—or a hundred—years of secluded cultivation!" Shen Chong said. Then, under the care of the Shen Family disciples, he prepared to enter seclusion to recuperate.
At this point, the Cui Family’s collapse was irreversible. All that remained was for the various powers of Profound Island, large and small, to agree upon how to carve up the enormous cake that was the Cui Family.
Thus, many eyes turned toward the leaders of the six remaining major powers.
Shen Longxing, the Sect Leader of the Thousand Mechanism Sect, was nowhere to be seen. It seemed the deep-seated hatred from long ago still weighed too heavily on him; even with so much happening, he remained in seclusion.
Lin Zixiang, Patriarch of the Lin Family, laughed heartily. "Casualties were unavoidable, but the worst is over! Young Master Shen’s wedding ceremony is still incomplete. I say we return and see the wedding to its conclusion. After all, this is the most important day of these two young people’s lives, and we must see things through. Once the wedding is over, we can all gather to agree upon the next step. What do all you heroes say to that?"
Everyone present, each with their own calculations, agreed to the proposal.
However, Lin Zixiang seemed to deliberately overlook Qin Li’s presence, the earlier warmth he had shown him now completely gone.
Qin Li sneered inwardly. ’So this is what it means to be driven by self-interest.’ If he were to make a scene now, the Qin Family would surely have to be given a large share of the Cui Family’s immense assets.
The problem was, no matter how powerful Qin Li was personally, a family with the deep-rooted foundation of the Lin Family would never truly see him as an equal. And Qin Li, for his part, truly didn’t care. In fact, if he had his way, he preferred to avoid the spotlight altogether. He had no interest whatsoever in so-called benefits.
Besides, as the instigator who had disrupted the wedding, Qin Li felt a pang of guilt toward Shen Le.
But just because Qin Li didn’t care didn’t mean the other Qin Family disciples felt the same. Seeing Lin Zixiang and the others deliberately ignore Qin Li, almost all of them wore expressions of displeasure.
Leng Yao, on the other hand, remained perfectly composed. For her, the mastermind behind her past suffering was dead and the Cui Family’s destruction was at hand. The next step was to go to sea with Qin Li, find the two remaining Spirit Flowers, refine the Strengthening Pill, and then enter seclusion to improve her strength.
The Snake Woman was even more indifferent. To someone who had lived for thousands of years, worldly wealth and glory were as fleeting as passing clouds.
Shen Le, however, turned his gaze toward Qin Li. As the heir to a major Sect, he was far more sensitive to these political slights than most. He felt a flicker of dissatisfaction at Lin Zixiang for ignoring Qin Li, and he inwardly grumbled about his own father "neglecting his duties."
Qin Li looked at Shen Le, smiled faintly, and said, "Is the killing over? Then let the wedding continue."
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