Chapter 339: Chapter 337: Killing Intent in the Dark Night
At this very moment, Chen Haichao was in his room, his face ashen as he stared at a letter. It had been sent back at the cost of the sender’s life—one of the Sea Tide Gang’s deeply embedded agents in Hai City.
The letter stated that by the time the Gang Leader read this, the agent would likely be dead. Everyone in Hai City had gone mad, frantically hunting down and killing members of the Sea tide Gang. Soon, all the gang’s forces in the city would be slaughtered to the last man! They didn’t even... have a chance to escape!
Thanks to the deep roots they had established over many years, the Sea Tide Gang was like a Supreme Emperor in Hai City. As a result, all its members were accustomed to a high-profile lifestyle, appearing wherever they pleased. This meant that practically every one of them was easily recognized by those around them.
Before this incident with Qin Li, no one could have ever imagined that the immensely powerful Sea Tide Gang would suffer such a devastating blow. It was nothing short of... a catastrophe!
Chen Haichao’s hands couldn’t help but tremble slightly. That was hundreds of years of the Sea Tide Gang’s blood and sweat!
And because of one damned young man, it was all ruined in an instant!
"I’ll kill him with my own hands! I’ll make sure he... suffers for all... eternity!" Chen Haichao snarled, veins bulging on his forehead as he ground his teeth.
The people around him now understood what had happened. Disbelieving at first, their shock quickly turned to collective fury.
Vice Gang Leader Yang Hua said with a venomous expression, "That Qin Li seems to have gone out to sea. On these waters, if we can track him down, we’ll make sure he has a watery grave!"
"Exactly. He’s powerful on land, but out here on the ocean, if we sink his boat, there’s no escape for him!" the gaunt-faced elder, the Sea Tide Gang’s Fifth Master, added through clenched teeth.
"That animal destroyed years of our hard work! Our entire force in Hai City is gone, and those people in Hai City... they all deserve to die!" Chen Haichao’s eyes blazed with hatred. "Fifth Master! Take five hundred of our elites and set out for Hai City at once. I want you... to... slaughter... the entire city!"
Chen Haichao’s words stunned everyone. Yang Hua looked up at him and asked, "Gang Leader, are you sure about this?"
"An act like that would be an affront to heaven!" someone else advised. "If we really turn Hai City into a river of blood, the Yan Kingdom’s Tributor families will certainly not let it rest!"
Chen Haichao sneered. "I spent all those years painstakingly managing that place precisely because I didn’t want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. However, that little bastard has forced my hand! The Royal Family’s Tributors? Hmph. So what if they won’t let it go? What can they do? Chase us out onto the Great Sea? Am I supposed to be afraid? Fifth Master, do as I say! Turn Hai City into a city of the dead for me! Then bring me back all of its wealth! If you won’t do it, I... will go myself!"
The gaunt-faced elder saw a vicious glint in Chen Haichao’s eyes and suddenly recalled that over the years, no one who dared to defy the Gang Leader had ever met a good end. He inwardly steeled himself. ’It’s just killing. Killing one person is murder, and killing a hundred or a thousand is still murder. What’s the difference?’
’So be it. Since those damned commoners in Hai City had the audacity to make such a move, they... truly deserve to die!’
...
When Qin Li and the Snake Woman were still several miles from the island, they found a secluded spot and shattered their small boat. It exploded into splinters no bigger than the palm of a hand, which scattered across the vast ocean. Even the most experienced sailor would have trouble discerning anything from the debris.
The two exchanged a look, and then their figures shot through the air, racing toward the island.
Such a distance was nothing to them. As she flew through the air on a single breath of Primordial Qi, the Snake Woman finally recovered that world-despising confidence of hers.
The Shattered Void realm wasn’t just an empty title. In truth, her fear of the Great Sea was nothing more than a deep-seated instinct. Even if she were to actually fall into the water, she wouldn’t be in any real danger.
Upon reaching the Shattered Void realm, strength was no longer just a means of attack. Through personal insights into the Martial Dao, nearly every Shattered Void Martial Artist developed their own unique specialties.
She She’s specialty was poison!
This method of attack, while somewhat unorthodox, was what she excelled at most.
Furthermore, after reaching the Shattered Void realm, She She’s poison cloud could now cover a radius of a hundred meters! It was incredibly potent. Even experts of the same level wouldn’t dare to test its might.
However, she had never used this technique in front of anyone, not even Qin Li, because this was her final, hidden Ultimate Skill.
As a Martial Artist of the Shattered Void realm, she would have no opportunity to use it unless she was facing an even stronger opponent.
Today, however, her chance had come.
Qin Li and She She had originally planned to sneak onto the island. With their abilities, they were confident that no one there could possibly detect them.
But then, Qin Li and She She noticed a pier that was suddenly bustling with activity, as if a large group was preparing to set sail.
Generally, even experienced sailors would rarely choose to set sail so late at night. The two immediately grew suspicious and crept closer to investigate.
In the dead of night, sound traveled far. Thus, they didn’t even need to use their Divine Sense to overhear the conversations on the pier.
"Silence! Look at yourselves! What is this disgraceful behavior? Remember, you are the most elite existence in the Sea Tide Gang! You are all Celestial Level Martial Artists!"
The loud reprimand from the gaunt elder, the Fifth Master, quieted the men’s discussions. He then roared, "You think this is cruel? Then think about our fellow gang members who were brutally murdered! Yes, I know you’ve always looked down on them, believing most of them were just ordinary folk with little strength, while you are the gang’s elite warriors. But... have you ever stopped to think where it all came from? The food you’ve eaten, the goods you’ve used, the women you’ve enjoyed, and the enormous funds spent to train you all these years—where did it all come from?"
As the Fifth Master spoke, he became more agitated, his face flushing red. The uproar on the pier subsided, and many men fell into deep thought, their expressions pensive.
"Have you ever thought about it? All the daily provisions for the entire Sea Tide Gang were provided by those very brothers you’ve always dismissed! And now... they’ve all been slaughtered by the damned people of Hai City! I ask you, can something like this be tolerated?"
After a moment of silence on the pier, a heaven-shaking roar suddenly erupted.
"NO!"
The Fifth Master breathed an inward sigh of relief. ’It’s not just that these elite warriors couldn’t understand; he himself wasn’t willing to do such a thing either. But the Gang Leader had given the order. If he didn’t execute it, death was likely the only path left for him. So, he could only harden his heart. When it came down to it, his own life was certainly more precious than anyone else’s.’
Seeing that he had successfully stirred up the emotions of the elite members, the Fifth Master decided to fan the flames even higher, roaring, "So, tell me, what should we do?"
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
"Slaughter them all!"
The warriors on the pier let out earth-shaking cries for blood. A murderous aura surged into the night sky, carried on the sea breeze.
Qin Li and She She exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in the other’s eyes. It wasn’t that Qin Li hadn’t considered that Chen Haichao might retaliate against Hai City, but he never imagined the revenge would be this utterly vicious and desperate—a completely reckless act!
’Truly, it is better to offend a gentleman than to cross a villain.’
’This Chen Haichao was the very definition of a cruel and ruthless villain, one who would seek revenge for the smallest slight and drag countless innocent people into his fury.’
’Hai City had a population of at least a million people!’
’And how many people actually took part in slaughtering the Sea Tide Gang members? At the very most, fewer than five thousand! Moreover, the vast majority of the Sea Tide Gang’s elite forces in Hai City had been annihilated by the Snake Woman, Leng Yao, and himself.’
’Yet Chen Haichao was directing his rage at every single person in Hai City. Such pettiness was simply beyond words.’
"What do we do?" the Snake Woman asked Qin Li via voice transmission.
"We’ll let them feed the fish," Qin Li said, his tone casual as if discussing some trivial matter. But even the Snake Woman could detect the lingering fear in his voice.
This affair had been linked to him from the very start. If they hadn’t coincidentally encountered these men—if they had missed each other and this group had stormed into Hai City, slaughtering its entire population—the event would have undoubtedly become a heavy burden on Qin Li’s conscience.
’I may not have killed Boren, but Boren died because of me. And in this case, the "Boren" would number in the millions!’
Although the Snake Woman was technically a cold-blooded creature, her disposition had become increasingly human. Her thought process was now not so different from a normal person’s, and she too felt immense fury at the Sea Tide Gang’s plan.
"They really do deserve to die," She She said coldly, her eyes narrowed.
"I’ll deal with the ones heading out to sea," Qin Li said. "You stay on the island and take care of Chen Haichao. Remember, as for the small fry, if they aren’t truly evil, you can spare them."
The Snake Woman nodded, a cold glint in her eyes. ’In her opinion, there weren’t many people on this island who *didn’t* deserve to die.’ But since Qin Li had put it that way, she would use her Spiritual Power to differentiate them. While she couldn’t claim to be a perfect judge of good and evil, the vast difference in their realms meant her assessments would be largely accurate.
At this point, the Sea Tide Gang’s elite warriors on the pier had already begun to board the ships, every one of them radiating a palpable killing intent.
It seemed the Fifth Master had successfully whipped them into a furious bloodlust. When Qin Li probed the area with his Divine Sense, all he could perceive was a sky of Blood Red.
The Fifth Master was the last to board. For some unknown reason, as he gazed back at the island veiled in darkness, he was suddenly struck by an ominous premonition. ’It felt... as if he would never be coming back.’
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