Spirit Realm

Carrying an aura of chilly darkness, the vile ghost unleashed a rationale-destroying mind wave and charged right into the center of Fang Tong and the others. In an instant, their consciousness became blurred, and illusions bloomed one after another in their heads. They could not make heads or tails of anything.

“Go!” Gao Yu exclaimed in a low tone.

Three vengeful spirits formed from the Rank Two Ice Soul Python’s soul also flew out from his Ogre-faced Rings in the shape of three white ghosts and surrounded Fang Tong from three different directions.

“Gao Yu, how dare you help Qin Lie and attack us, are you planning to commit suicide?!” Fang Tong’s expression was severe. “Your elder sister is still in Nebula Pavilion! Your Gao Family is also part of Nebula Pavilion’s vassal forces. Are you going to let the entire Gao Family be exterminated because of your impulsive actions?!”

Qin Lie’s expression also changed.

He had guessed that Gao Yu would not actually kill him, so he didn’t really move out of the way when he saw that vile soul rushing at him.

This was because he did not feel murderous, bone-chilling, killing intent from the vile soul, so he thought that Gao Yu was just putting on a show.

—He had not expected Gao Yu to actually attack Fang Tong!

Just as Fang Tong had said, Nebula Pavilion had Gao Yu’s weakness in their grips. His sister and all of the Gao Family members’ lives were held by Nebula Pavilion’s Liu Yuntao, so Qin Lie himself did not expect that Gao Yu would act so boldly.

“If all of you are dead, then who will know that I helped Qin Lie?”

Gao Yu’s expression was cold, and the Ogre-faced Rings on his hands glittered with a green light. A few more vengeful spirits and evil ghosts formed from spirit beasts souls actually materialized and locked down Fang Tong and his men like persistent evil spirits, preventing them from escaping the vengeful spirits’ encirclement.

“Did you think that I’ve only this many men?” Fang Tong’s gaze hardened. “My subordinates are just around the corner. The moment they hear the sounds of fighting, they will immediately rush over!”

“No one is coming.” Like a phantom, Gao Yu rushed Fang Tong without warning even as he spoke indifferently along the way, “I scouted the area for a while before I attacked you. Those brothers of yours have long since gone to hell.”

While he was speaking, the mark of the Demon God’s shadow vaguely appeared within Gao Yu’s eyes.

An evil and destructive aura swiftly flowed out of Gao Yu’s body. Qin Lie could clearly see that every pore of Gao Yu’s body was seeping with countless wisps of cold, dark demonic energy that were as black as ink.

While Fang Tong and the others looked ashen, Gao Yu dropped inside their group like a transformed demon.

The moment he went inside, the aura of those vile ghosts and vengeful spirits abruptly strengthened multiple times and turned extremely brutal. They continuously charged, tore, and bit Fang Tong’s men even as they attacked their souls with mind waves.

Qin Lie watched from the sides and realized that Fang Tong and his men’s lives were swiftly depleted in just a short amount of time.

—It was as if their lives were being sucked out of their bodies and souls.

Soon enough, Fang Tong and his men were no longer breathing, and just like that, they were mysteriously killed by Gao Yu.

“Put a bolt of lightning on them so that Nebula Pavilion will not trace their deaths back to me.”

While Qin Lie was still caught by surprise, Gao Yu had withdrawn the vengeful spirits and evil souls back into the Ogre-faced Rings. The mark of the Demon God’s shadow also slowly faded from his eyes and disappeared.

“Oh,” Qin Lie answered once before adding a bolt of electricity onto Fang Tong’s body. Then, he said, “You’ve become stronger.”

Gao Yu gave a cold and proud smile. “I may not be confident fighting against you, my natural enemy, but I have absolute confidence that I can beat every other martial practitioner of the same level! Fang Tong was just at the early stage of the Natal Opening Realm. When I was at the ninth level of Refinement I could already beat him down to the ground, so naturally, killing him now is not a problem at all!”

After a pause he continued, “Ever since I was at the Arctic Mountain Range, I’ve gradually absorbed some of the soul fragments of Demon God’s shadow and learned a few things…”

Qin Lie nodded and said, “Thank you.”

“Shhk!”

Gao Yu did not answer right away but instead picked up a random sword and slashed a wound across his chest. Then he said, “You stabbed me with this sword.”

Qin Lie glanced at the wound once and nodded again.

“This pill is for you. It can help you quickly recover some strength. I found it on a Dark Shadow Tower martial practitioner’s body back at the Arctic Mountain Range.” Gao Yu threw a green pill about the size of a longan at him, paused for a moment, and then started, “All of Icestone City has been locked down, and every main city gate have elites standing by. It would be best if you hide inside the city and not show yourself as much as possible.”

“I still need to kill Du Heng.” Qin Lie grit his teeth and said, “When you’re cutting a weed, you must take out its roots!”

“You must kill him?” Gao Yu frowned.

Qin Lie nodded. “I must! I swore before Du Haitian that if I didn’t die, then I will kill his entire family!”

“I knew you were a madman!” Gao Yu snorted coldly before putting down the bow on his back. “I’ve prepared everything for you. That useless dog is still at Drunken Fragrance Garden. After his father died, it’s as if he had lost his soul and only knows how to cry hysterically. He didn’t even hunt for you at the city gates.”

Receiving the bow, Qin Lie asked with a face filled with surprise, “How did you know I would come to the Du Family? How did you also know I still want to kill Du Heng?”

“A feeling.” Gao Yu thought for a while before shaking his head. “...an indescribable feeling. I’ve fought you many times in the combat room, and we’ve fought together in the stone forest as well. I’ve always thought that there was something crazy hidden deep within your bones and that once you got impulsive you would go crazy until the very end.”

“Keep searching! Look everywhere!” It was at this moment the shouts of the Du Family’s Patriach came from not too far away.

Gao Yu’s expression changed as he yelled, “Go. This is as far as I can help you. I hope you can leave Icestone City in one piece.”

Qin Lie also understood that the current situation was urgent and that it wasn’t the best idea to stay in one spot for too long. After Gao Yu finished speaking, Qin Lie simply gave him a deep look before turning around and running towards inside of the city.

A few minutes after he left, Gao Yu held his chest and cried out on the same spot, “Someone, come quickly!”

“Over there! There’s someone screaming over there!”

Not too long after, Du Family’s Patriarch and three Elders came together, and their expressions grotesquely twisted when they saw Fang Tong and his men’s bodies.

“I am the hall master of Nebula Pavilion’s Discipline Hall, Gao Yu. Qin Lie has just killed Fang Tong’s men and injured me. He’s currently heading outside the city!” Gao Yu threw down coldly with a ghastly expression before unkindly ordering the Du Family’s clansmen with a yell, “Follow me! We’ll hunt down this man at the city gates!”

“Yes!” Du Family’s clansmen answered his call and swiftly followed Gao Yu’s footsteps in the opposite direction Qin Lie was heading to.

……

Midnight, at the street in front of Drunken Fragrance Garden.

The deep pit on the streets was still there, and so was Du Haitian’s beheaded corpse. His subordinates had all left to hunt down Qin Lie with the Nebula Pavilion martial practitioners near the city gates.

Du Heng was the only one kneeling beside the corpse and weeping, traumatized. He letout many annoying low roars.

“Du Haitian can be considered formidable already, so how did he have such a useless son?” Beside the street in the VIP room of the second floor, Crimson Flame Association’s Ge Hong looked at Du Heng below the window and frowned while drinking.

To his side was Xiong Ba’s group, Water Moon Sect’s Luo Wei, Na Nuo, and so on.

At this moment Liu Ting, Wei Li, and the other juniors had all returned to the pavilion, and the rest of the experts of Nebula Pavilion had spread out to hunt for Qin Lie. Therefore, the only ones left inside Drunken Fragrance Garden and Bright Moon Tower were those from outside forces such as Crimson Flame Association, Water Moon Sect, and Seven Fiends Valleys, drinking. The only Nebula Pavilion martial practitioners left would be Kang Zhi and Zhuo Qian.

“He definitely is garbage. He should be hunting for Qin Lie right now, not crying at his father’s corpse.” Xiong Ba’s face was filled with disdain and he scoffed. “Such a character would probably never get a chance at revenge in his entire life. If Qin Lie doesn’t die this time, it will only be too easy for him to kill such a person.”

“Unfortunately, that kid is dead for sure,” interrupted Water Moon Sect’s Elder Luo Wei. “I just received news that not only has Shattered Ice Manor’s Yan Wenyan sent the order to lock down the city, even Dark Asura Hall's commanders outside the city have reached the city gates to assist Nebula Pavilion in eliminating Qin Lie.”

“Dark Asura Hall’s commanders?” Ge Hong’s expression changed. “Aren’t they leaving for Dark Asura Hall with the First Hall Master tomorrow morning?”

“That was the original plan.” Luo Wei explained, “There were a lot of them, so they didn’t enter the city and temporarily stayed in the few towns outside the city instead. If it wasn’t for tonight’s business, they would be meeting with the First Hall Master and returning to Dark Asura Hall tomorrow morning, but now… in order to protect Liu Yuntao’s image, the few commanders near the city gates have already slipped inside.”

“Then Qin Lie truly is dead for sure.” Ge Hong gave a soft sigh. “Anyone of the commanders can easily kill either of us. Naturally, Qin Lie will not survive as well.”

Xiong Ba and Na Nuo’s group inside the house all felt their faces fall when they heard his words. They were almost certain that Qin Lie was a goner.

……

“Let’s go. There’s no need to wait for further news any longer. He’s definitely not going to survive the night.” In the other room, Li Zhongzheng received the letter from the messenger bird’s neck that had just arrived and glanced at it before standing up drunkenly. “I just received news from a friend at Dark Asura Hall that a few of their commanders have gone to the city gates. They should be going after Qin Lie.”

“Then he is already a dead man!” A person stood up with one hundred percent certainty.

Lu Li also nodded and stood up. With a cool expression, she said, “How unfortunate…”

“How can a kid with no background like him survive after killing the Vice Pavilion Master of Nebula Pavilion?” Li Zhongzheng laughed coldly. “What can he do even if he gets out of Icestone City? Will Crimson Flame Association or Water Moon Sect dare to accept him? Who will dare to cover for him? The person behind Liu Yuntao is Dark Asura Hall’s First Hall Master, Yuan Tianya!”

While speaking, the group got up and prepared to leave.

At this moment, Du Heng’s cries came again from below, and Li Zhongzheng cursed underneath his breath, “Dammit, if it weren’t for that retard screaming like a banshee, this daddy here was gonna drink for a little while longer…”

“Swoosh!”

The sound of a flying arrow suddenly rang out and caught everyone’s attention.

Following the sound, they looked to the streets.

A silent arrow broke through the sky like lightning, dragging a bolt of deep blue electricity behind it and heading straight for Du Heng’s neck.

“Spurt!”

The silent arrow pierced through Du Heng’s neck, and the annoying cries finally ended with a start.

Everyone looked in the direction the arrow came from, and then, they saw the bloodied and cruel-looking Qin Lie standing in the shadow at the far corner of the street.

While they were crying out in surprise, Qin Lie turned around and subsequently disappeared once again into the darkness.