Spirit Realm

Late into the night. Armament City was burning amidst intense flames as the buildings of the Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind Districts had all been set ablaze.

The martial practitioners of Dark Asura Hall, Dark Shadow Tower, Purple Mist Sea, Cloud Sky Mountain, and Seven Fiends Valley scoured the once bustling streets of the four great districts as they rounded up any Armament Sect practitioners.

In an alley which led to the Fire District, the cold face of Qin Lie, who was carrying Tang Siqi, was illuminated by the light from the flames. It seemed a bit more weathered and distraught than before.

This entire time he had constantly kept his soul consciousness projected, relying on it to avoid being noticed by higher level practitioners and to explore nearby areas.

Upon discovering any powerful practitioners patrolling in nearby districts, he would deliberately avoid those areas, willing to take the long way around rather than risk encountering those powerful practitioners.

He was still moving towards Armament Sect.

Tang Siqi’s stimulating and mature body laid on Qin Lie’s wide back. After being imprisoned with blood, she couldn’t circulate her spirit sea at all and could only blink helplessly as she lowered her eyes and looked at Qin Lie’s face.

A trace of tenderness, as well as a trace of luster, gradually emerged within her enticing and charming eyes.

“To be like this is also not bad…” she inwardly thought.

Qin Lie’s forward steps suddenly stopped.

They were currently in Fire District and were still a good bit of distance away from Armament Sect’s gate. However, at this point, they could already clearly see Flame Volcano.

Qin Lie’s line of sight passed through the gap between two stone buildings and landed upon Flame Volcano in the distance.

Flame Volcano was currently shrouded in dense darkness. From his point of view, he couldn’t even see a trace of fiery light.

Something wasn’t right!

Qin Lie’s expression became heavy.

Flame Volcano was the living quarters of the inner sect disciples and elders. Upon beginning to forge spirit artifacts, inner sect disciples and elders never cared about the time of day.

Thus, even at the darkest hour of the night, there would frequently be fiery light flickering atop Flame Volcano.

On the volcano, there were also usually a great number of luminous lanterns and crystals which would fill the night with light.

But currently, as he looked from where he stood, the volcano was completely shrouded in darkness. From the looks of it, it was completely silent.

A bad feeling emerged within Qin Lie’s heart.

He stopped where he was, his brows deeply furrowed as his inner heart was thrown into turmoil.

“Should I return to the sect or not?” Qin Lie repeatedly asked himself.

To be honest, he didn’t particularly have any deep affection towards Armament Sect as he had entered Armament Sect purely for the purpose of learning about how to smelt artifacts.

Moreover, even after staying in Armament Sect for the last year, he had only developed somewhat of a friendship with three people: Yi Yuan, Lian Rou, and Tang Siqi.

As for Sect Master Ying Xingran and the three great reverends, it was only because he had shown such extraordinary talent for artifact forging later on that they had treated him like such a genius. It was only because of this that they had ascended to the heavens in one step and treated him so well.

Qin Lie knew very well that the thing that caught their attention was only his talent, not himself.

Thus, he didn’t have any deep feelings for Ying Xingran and his followers.

He only truly had feelings for three people, the first one being Yi Yuan, the second one being Lian Rou, and the final one being Tang Siqi, who was on his back. That was it.

Currently, Yi Yuan had separated from Armament Sect and taken Lian Rou with him, and Tang Siqi was on his back.

At the moment, Armament Sect was under the joint assault of five great forces. The main goal of these five great forces was to exterminate Armament Sect so that they could capture and split its artificers.

It was also to take the wealth that Armament Sect had accumulated over the last few years!

As for him, he was on the execution list!

“Is there still any need for me to return? If I return, is there anything I can bring back to the sect?” Qin Lie asked himself.

He couldn’t find an answer. Somewhat at a loss, he couldn’t find a reason for him to need to return to Armament Sect even after quite some time.

After a while, he finally thought of a reason which convinced him. “My furnace! I need to forge those spirit artifacts! I also need those spirit materials!”

The spirit materials that he required for forging spirit artifacts for Ling Yushi and Ling Xuanxuan, along with his furnace, were all still within his cave.

He had promised Ling Yushi that he would definitely forge a spirit artifact for her. Without his furnace and those spirit materials, he would be unable to fulfill his promise.

Within the alley, he pondered for a while, ultimately deciding to make a trip to Armament Sect.

“If I really find myself at some helpless dead end, I’ll still have the Eye of Frost and can teleport back to the depths of the Arctic Mountain Range!” concluded Qin Lie in his mind.

“Let’s return to the sect!” said Qin Lie as he suddenly turned his head back to look at Tang Siqi.

Tang Siqi’s eyes just gazed upon his face, seemingly lost in a trance.

When Qin Lie had suddenly turned his head, he had caused Tang Siqi’s heart to suddenly be thrown into disorder. The slightest tinge of an intoxicating rosy blush appeared on Tang Siqi’s beautiful cheeks.

Light fluctuated within Tang Siqi’s eyes. Under Qin Lie’s gaze, she blinked. However, it was apparent that she was somewhat nervous.

“Alright.” Having understood her thoughts, Qin Lie didn’t bother saying any more and continued walking forward with her on his back.

Not long after, his footsteps stopped once again. He was currently in the area of a blazing, smoky street—Crossroads Street!

“Crossroads Street. Uncle Han and the rest were all staying at Crossroads Street. I wonder if Uncle Han is still alive?” thought Qin Lie once again as he watched sparks shoot across the street and listened to the tragic cries emanating from within.

He once again reminisced about the time he spent at Nebula Pavilion, thinking about how Han Qingrui had cared for him, as well as his friendships with Kang Zhi and Han Feng.

If there hadn’t been any unforeseen circumstances, then Han Qingrui, Han Feng, and Kang Zhi were most likely currently at Crossroads Street. They were probably under assault!

“Senior Sister Tang, I’m going to use a rope to tie you to my back. I plan to cross through Crossroads Street.”

Qin Lie internally struggled for a while, then sighed. He silently retrieved a leather rope from within his spatial ring and used it to tie Tang Siqi tightly onto his back.

This way, he would no longer need to use his hands to carry Tang Siqi, thus freeing them up.

He would now be able to fight if the need arose!

After being bound to his back by the leather rope, Tang Siqi’s luscious body was now sticking even closer to his own. Her two protruding twin peaks pressed into his broad back, changing shape due to the pressure.

Her two, perfectly straight, alluringly beautiful legs had also been bound by the leather rope and were now wrapped around his waist.

The position caused Tang Siqi’s face to become bashfully red as her heart was thrown into disorder.

“This bastard deserves to die!” she scolded in her mind. Her eyes began to water and undulated like blue waves.

“In a little bit, even I will not be able to predict what will happen, nor will I be able to predict who we shall encounter,” whispered Qin Lie. He solemnly continued, “Within Crossroads Street, there are several people who I have old friendships with, and I don’t wish for them to encounter trouble. If possible, I plan to try and save them. If there is absolutely no way, then I will only be able to give up on them…”

By this time, the martial practitioners of the five great forces had already long since completely broken through all of Armament City’s main gates.

Currently, the martial practitioners belonging to Dark Asura Hall, Seven Fiends Valley, Dark Shadow Tower, Cloud Sky Mountain, and Purple Mist Sea were all within the various large city districts, moving against Armament Sect’s foreign delegates, various disciples, and martial practitioners.

Crossroads Street, which was in front of them, belonged to Fire District and was an extremely bustling neighborhood. It was where the outer sect foreign delegates lived.

Listening to the intense sounds of action from over in the distance, Qin Lie knew that there were definitely people currently over there killing outer sect foreign delegates and cleansing the street.

What he didn’t know was whose people it was. However, when he had sent out his soul consciousness earlier to scout out the area, he hadn’t sensed any extremely powerful life fluctuations.

It was only because of this that he had decided to make this detour.

“I’ll use everything I have to protect you.” Qin Lie’s head turned around once more as he looked again at Tang Siqi. His expression was heavy as he said, “I might be bringing you to walk down the road of death, but this was your own decision. I hope your heart is prepared for whatever happens.”

After he was finished talking, Qin Lie finally began to step forward again, moving towards Crossroads Street with Tang Siqi on his back.

……

Under the darkness of night, tragic cries incessantly emanated out from both sides of Crossroads Street. Each cry that transmitted over was probably the death of yet another outer sect foreign delegate.

Atop the tallest building which oversaw both sides of the street, several figures stood proudly as they condescendingly watched the scene unfold below them. They watched as all of the people within the pavilion style houses on both sides of the street were killed.

“Lu Li has been beside Granny Jiu for quite a long time and is quite used to encountering this scene. I’m afraid there are no fluctuations within her heart.” Shi Jingyun chuckled, and continued, “Yushi, Xuanxuan, you two are probably not quite used to it yet are you?”

Atop the tall building, Shi Jingyun stood impressively, along with Lu Li, Ling Yushi, and Ling Xuanxuan.

The martial practitioners who were currently massacring all of the Armament Sect outer sect foreign delegates found on both sides of the street were none other than the experts of Seven Fiends Valley.

Their leader, was Shi Jingyun.

Lu Li’s expression was as cold as frost, her eyes not showing even the slightest trace of emotion. She seemingly had a coldness which wouldn’t melt even after ten thousand years.

“The flesh of the weak is the meal of the strong. In accordance with this ancient, never failing truth, Armament Sect can only blame themselves for having fallen to today’s events. They were arrogant for too many years, always remaining independent and never joining Profound Heaven Alliance nor Eight Extreme Temple. They didn’t respect those above them, nor did they listen to any instructions which were passed down to them. They flourished for so many years and were slowly rising up.”

Lu Li coldly said, “Unfortunately, there wasn’t even a single peerless practitioner within the sect who was able defend themselves. Although Lang Xie was strong, he had still yet to reach that level. Thus, Armament Sect was unable to avoid this disaster.”

Shi Jingyun’s expression was heavy as he suddenly interrupted, “If we had given Armament Sect another thirty years, Armament Sect could have truly become the third Copper rank force on Scarlet Tide Continent. In forging, they would have a Qin Bing, a genius only seen once every thousand years, at their head. As for Blood Spear, it has always been getting stronger, year after year. Already, it is stronger than any of the purely combative teams of one of the five great forces. This point is something that they have proven time and time again.”

As he observed Lu Li, he continued, “Lang Xie is much stronger than you think! Even when Liang Yangzu, Di Shijiu, and Yuan Tianya attacked together, they were unable to kill him. I just received the news, but Lang Xie has already completely escaped.”

Lu Li’s expression slightly changed as she asked, “Is Lang Xie truly that terrifying?”

“Let me put it this way, the current Lang Xie is already the strongest practitioner amongst the five great forces!” said Shi Jingyun confidently. “The grand hall master of Dark Asura Hall and the mountain master of Cloud Sky Mountain, and perhaps even that fellow of Purple Mist Sea, are not even close to being Lang Xie’s equal in one on one battles! It’s because Lang Xie is too powerful, because Blood Spear is becoming ever so more terrifying, and because a fellow like Qin Bing suddenly appeared that the five great forces were able to reach an understanding and ally together to eradicate Armament Sect!”

Lu Li was secretly stunned.

Ling Yushi and Ling Xuanxuan’s beautiful faces both became slightly pale. It seemed like Shi Jingyun’s words were a little hard for the two sisters to believe.

It was hard for them to accept this brutal reality.

Shi Jingyun sighed in his heart as he looked at the two. He said, “You two need to quickly become accustomed to this. This world has always been this cruel. I hope you two will be able to become as tough as Lu Li, for your hearts to be as hard as hers. Otherwise, in the future, if Seven Fiends Valley also encounters the same situation Armament Sect is in today, I’m afraid the two of you will directly crumble apart.”

“I thank Uncle Shi for his guidance. We shall slowly mature and learn,” said Ling Xuanxuan.

Ling Yushi let out the littlest of sighs, then said, “We will gradually get used to this.”

Shi Jingyun smiled as he nodded before looking back down towards another building and observing the people within the courtyard—it was none other than Han Qingrui, Han Feng, Kang Zhi, Kang Hui, and the rest of the martial practitioners whose origins were Nebula Pavilion.

“To be honest, Yuan Tianya and I spoke to each other, and he wanted me to kill all of these people who left Nebula Pavilion,” suddenly mentioned Shi Jingyun.

Ling Yushi and Ling Xuanxuan’s expressions immediately changed as they hurriedly pleaded in unison, begging Shi Jingyun to show benevolence and let them go.

From the moment the two saw that Han Qingrui was still at Crossroads Street, they had pleaded with Shi Jingyun, hoping that he would let Han Qingrui and the rest live.

It was because of their pleading that Han Qingrui and his people were still alive.

“Alright, that’s enough. As I have already agreed, they will be able to live.” Shi Jingyun chuckled as he continued, “After all, Yuan Tianya isn’t from our Seven Fiends Valley, so giving him face doesn’t mean much to me. Furthermore, in the past, his subordinate Liu Yuntao dared to make a move against the Ling Family. This already has not given any face to your master and in turn hasn’t given face to our Seven Fiends Valley. Thus, I shall completely ignore him today.”

As he said these words, Ling Yushi and Ling Xuanxuan subconsciously let out their breaths.

“Lu Li, I shall leave this side to you. I will go walk around some other areas.” After observing the scene and finding it to be under control, Shi Jingyun, feeling reassured, gave Lu Li some instructions before immediately leaving the area in a relaxed manner.