Chapter 329: Chapter 327: Vexed to the Point of Spitting Blood
"Really?" Shen Longxing asked, grabbing the young Thousand Mechanism Sect disciple’s hand in excitement.
"Uh, Sect Leader, it’s true!" The young disciple from the Thousand Mechanism Sect was clearly unaccustomed to such close contact with the Sect Leader. He looked flustered and thrilled as Shen Longxing held his hand.
Shen Longxing beamed and said, "Good, good!"
The upper echelons of the other families were also beaming with genuine smiles. This time, the super-powers of Profound Island had suffered losses that could only be described as devastating. It would take them seventy, eighty, or even over a hundred years to recover their former strength.
That was why the Cui Family’s treasury was so critically important to them all.
"Quick, take us there!" Shen Longxing said eagerly.
"Right away!" the Thousand Mechanism Sect disciple readily agreed. But then a troubled look crossed his face. "However, Sect Leader, the place is blocked by a heavy stone door. It’s very difficult to get in!"
Shen Longxing waved his hand dismissively. "With so many heroes here, what’s a mere stone door?"
The Thousand Mechanism Sect disciple lowered his head. In truth, they had already broken through several stone doors, only to find that the number of doors in the underground passage just kept increasing. That was why he had returned to report.
The group followed the Thousand Mechanism Sect disciple toward the suspected location of the Cui Family’s treasury, their faces all alight with excited smiles.
The deaths and injuries were certainly painful, but the reward was right before their eyes! As for how to divide the spoils, that wasn’t a problem at all. The major super-powers would split it evenly, and the remaining families and sects would be content with the leftovers.
And so, both Shen Longxing and Lin Zixiang were already mentally dividing up the treasures of the Cui Family’s vault.
Arriving at the area that had been reduced to ruins, Shen Longxing was practically bursting with impatience. "Where is it?" he asked.
"Right there!" The Thousand Mechanism Sect disciple pointed to a cleared-out spot amidst the rubble.
Sure enough, a dark opening was revealed in that spot. It seemed to have once been located inside a room.
"This must be it! This has to be the place!" Shen Longxing exclaimed excitedly.
Lin Zixiang, also filled with excitement, added, "That’s right. From a feng shui perspective, this is the very core of the Cui Family’s estate. Their treasury must be in here!"
The Thousand Mechanism Sect had already cordoned off the area, forbidding anyone from the other families and sects from entering.
The stench of blood in the air hadn’t faded in the slightest, but it had no effect on the crowd whatsoever.
"Shall we go down?" Shen Longxing said with a grin to the leaders of the other super-powers.
Just then, a faint scream echoed up from below. Shen Longxing’s expression changed slightly. "What happened?"
Someone quickly came up to report. A Thousand Mechanism Sect disciple scrambled out of the opening, panicked and on the verge of tears. "Sect Leader, the tunnels below are a complex maze! Seven or eight of our men are already dead! It’s a death trap! There are countless mechanisms and hidden passages... No matter how careful our people are, we can’t avoid taking casualties!"
Shen Longxing’s expression shifted again. In truth, if it were only the Thousand Mechanism Sect’s people here, he wouldn’t have batted an eye, no matter how great the casualties.
But with not only the five super-powers present but also many High Level, middle-level, and Low Level families and sects, he would naturally feel resentful if the Thousand Mechanism Sect were forced to continue leading the charge.
The others were of course sharp and perceptive. They chimed in, "Sect Leader Shen, there’s no need to worry. Each of our families will send fifty men to explore with you. The Thousand Mechanism Sect has worked hard and accomplished much. When the time comes, we will let your sect choose their rewards first!"
Only then did a happy smile finally appear on Shen Longxing’s face.
Finally, several hours and a number of casualties later for each family, they found the last stone door. A group of Martial Artists worked together to open it, and a cloud of smoke suddenly billowed out, swarming toward the excited faces of the crowd!
Shen Longxing and a few others, seeing that things had gone wrong, retreated explosively in an instant. In the end, only Shen Longxing, Lin Zixiang, the other leaders of the super-powers, and a few of their trusted guards managed to escape.
Countless others were left behind forever, poisoned to death on the spot.
Only after the poisonous fog had completely dissipated did everyone venture back down, only to find the Cui Family’s underground treasury completely empty!
It was like a great beast with its mouth wide open, mocking them. Shen Longxing and the others were so devastated they felt like dying.
This time, with the exception of the ever-discreet Ice Edge, the other five super-powers had all participated, only to end up with such a result!
Someone found Cui Buping’s body inside the treasury. They discovered that the Cui Family Patriarch had indeed been killed by poison!
This discovery plunged everyone into a deep state of dejection.
The reason was simple. This was without a doubt the Cui Family’s treasury, and Cui Buping’s death here confirmed one thing: someone else had already been here!
Someone had definitely been here!
So, who could have possibly entered this place, bypassing all of the Cui Family’s defenses without a single soul knowing?
In that moment, almost everyone’s eyes turned toward... Fengsha City. The Qin Family!
A disciple from the Lin Family said with a ferocious expression, "Qin Li. It must have been Qin Li! There’s no one else who could have pulled this off!"
"That’s right! We have to go to Fengsha City and demand justice from the Qin Family!"
"Yes, find the Qin Family and make them spit out every treasure they swallowed!"
With that Lin Family disciple starting it off, many others began to roar furiously, as if to vent all the frustration they’d suffered at the Cui estate onto the Qin Family.
"All of you, shut your mouths!" Lin Zixiang barked, his face ashen. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the crowd. "Have you all lost your minds? Let’s not even talk about whether the Qin Family did this or not. Even if they did, if they were able to pull this off so secretly under these circumstances, do you really think you can do anything to them?"
Everyone looked at each other, completely speechless.
There was nothing to say. If the Qin Family really was behind the looting of the Cui Family’s treasury, then with the forces they had left, even if they could destroy the Qin Family, it would be a pyrrhic victory.
No one could afford that kind of loss.
Fortunately, there were continuous reports of finding the Cui Family’s other vaults. Many Spirit Stones, weapons, and various other treasures were discovered, which brought a small measure of comfort to the families who had suffered such heavy losses.
But it was only a small measure.
At this moment, nearly every member of the Profound Island families and sects who had participated in the siege of the Cui Family wanted to cry but had no tears left. The rewards from this venture were completely disproportionate to their investment!
Their losses had reached an intolerable level!
If life had a do-over button, not a single one of them would choose to so eagerly attack the Cui Family again.
In truth, not everyone had wanted to attack the Cui Family at this time. But once one family took the lead, the others, fearing they would be left behind and miss out on the benefits, all dispatched their elites.
The situation escalated from there until, in the end, many small and medium-sized families and sects had gambled their entire elite forces on this siege of the Cui Family.
Unfortunately, life offered no second chances. Everyone, including the five super-powers, wanted to weep but couldn’t.
At the same time, their fear of Fengsha City’s Qin Family reached a new height. They no longer dared to underestimate them in the slightest. Many recalled the attack on the Qin Family during the Venerable Tournament; legend had it that three peerless experts were guarding them. Others remembered seeing a low-key woman in black at the Thousand Mechanism Sect during Young Master Shen Le’s wedding. She had managed to blast away a Great Power at the Shattered Void realm and even injure him... It was only now that many people were beginning to have an epiphany.
How could people with such strength be easy to deal with? How could they possibly let others bully them?
Fengsha City’s Qin Family became a topic the tyrannical powers of Profound Island were unwilling to discuss. It also became the one family that everyone, including the five super-powers, was most unwilling to provoke.
Someone even said, "It’s better to provoke a super-power than to provoke the Qin Family of Fengsha City!"
Because the Cui Family, one of the super-powers, had been utterly annihilated by the allied forces of Profound Island in just a few short days. Their entire family had been slaughtered.
And yet Fengsha City’s Qin Family had reaped the greatest rewards from this conflict!
Of course, this was merely speculation on many people’s part. But it was also a conclusion that almost everyone had reached.
In all of Profound Island, besides Qin Li, there was no one else who could make the leaders of the five super-powers cough up blood in fury!
But Qin Li, the architect of this entire affair, hadn’t given it a second thought. His mind was completely occupied by something else.
According to a report from the Qin Family members sent to the Mortal Realm, Bu Yunyan, Zhao Qianqian, and the Little Fox—three women of considerable strength—had gone missing within the Qin Family’s vassal state!
The news was shocking. However, the Qin Family disciples had no reason or need to lie. They said the three women had vanished without any warning.
There were no signs of a struggle, nor had anyone sensed anything unusual. They had even been seen the night before their disappearance.
The next morning, all three of them were gone.
This news shook the entire dispatched Qin Family team, and it alarmed Qin Li when he heard it. ’What kind of power in the Mortal Realm,’ he wondered, ’could possibly get the better of the Little Fox and the others?’
Therefore, Qin Li, along with the Snake Woman and Leng Yao, bid farewell to the people of the Qin Family, left Profound Island, and headed for the Qin Family’s vassal state.
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I’m still in the countryside today, using someone else’s internet to upload this. Sigh... It’s the New Year ancestor worship period, and a lot of relatives came back home. I drank too much. I almost never touch alcohol all year, but today I drank what must have been half a bottle of strong *baijiu*. My head is still spinning. I didn’t want to miss an update, so I pushed myself to write a Chapter.
I hope my brothers and sisters can understand. If you can’t, well, there’s nothing I can do. I did my best. I’ll be heading back tomorrow. After I get home and rest a bit, I’ll make it up to everyone with an explosive release.
Alright, that’s all. I’m going to bed with a headache.
Bye everyone! (To be continued. If you want to know what happens next, please log on to www.qidian.com. More Chapters, support the author, support official reading!)
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