Only I am Venerable

’He’s a clever one,’ Qin Li thought.

Little did he know, Cao Hong was also breathing a silent sigh of relief. He was grateful for his own cleverness—he hadn’t resisted, hadn’t even thought of escaping. While he couldn’t be certain of Qin Li’s true power, Cao Hong was acutely aware of his own. He was at the peak of the Shattered Void realm! For someone to control him so effortlessly and then release him so casually proved they had absolute confidence in their strength. They weren’t the least bit worried he would try to run.

’Power like that... he must be at least at the Pill Nascent Soul Transformation stage!’

Therefore, instead of harboring any hatred for Qin Li, Cao Hong’s attitude now held a trace of reverence. People naturally stand in awe of the strong. He didn’t even resent his two employers; after all, he had accepted the mission of his own free will. Besides, he had his own deep-seated, unforgettable grudge against Lengqiu Palace.

Cao Hong composed himself and began, "Lengqiu Palace... rumor has it that the sect was founded by one of the Purple-eyed Descendants..."

"Wait!"

Qin Li cut him off after just that one sentence. A storm raged in Qin Li’s heart, his shock written plainly on his face as he stared at Cao Hong in disbelief. "Is that true?"

Cao Hong was secretly pleased. ’Looks like I’m going to live,’ he thought. ’If I hadn’t thrown out a piece of quality information, this man, who seems so affable, would have surely killed me with a single blow. He’s actually a ruthless one.’

"Of course it’s true. It’s not really a secret in the Land of the Far West," Cao Hong said, carefully glancing at Qin Li. Seeing no signs of displeasure, he continued, "You must not be from around here. Most people in the Land of the Far West know that the great war of the Primordial Era was fought between the Outer Celestial Demons—the Purple Eyes—and the native masters of the Celestial Essence Continent."

"If everyone knows, why hasn’t anyone wiped them out? Don’t you know their legacy commands them to destroy every Martial Artist on the Celestial Essence Continent?" Qin Li stared at Cao Hong, his disbelief mounting. Only now was he beginning to understand that the situation was far more complex than he had ever imagined. The two races he had assumed were mortal enemies actually knew of each other’s existence and had coexisted for years!

Cao Hong gave a bitter smile. "Wipe them out? Who has the power to do that?" He then began to tick off the major powers of the Land of the Far West as if listing his own family heirlooms. "Take the Moon Shaking Immortal Palace, a sect led by women. Their guiding principle is to remain detached from worldly conflict—’live and let live,’ basically. Then there’s the Hai Family, who only see profit; they’d cooperate with anyone if it benefits them. Tongtian City is just a loose alliance of various families and sects. It’s all well and good in times of peace, but if a war were to break out, none of them would be willing to sacrifice their own main forces. So, unless it’s truly a matter of life and death, these powers will never genuinely unite!"

"So everyone just lets them be?" Qin Li’s brow furrowed deeply, his expression filled with concern. He finally understood why Lengqiu Palace dared to send its people to operate so openly in the Martial World.

"Well, it’s not as if they’re given free rein. There are always checks and balances at play," Cao Hong said, a hint of resignation in his tone. "For the past hundred thousand years or so, Lengqiu Palace has kept a low profile, never actively causing trouble. After all this time, they’ve basically put down roots on the Celestial Essence Continent. Besides, this world doesn’t truly belong to any one group. As long as they don’t attack first, no one has a reason to move against them!"

Qin Li considered this and had to agree with Cao Hong’s assessment. Indeed, after more than a hundred thousand years, most people had probably grown accustomed to the presence of the Purple Eyes.

Still, Qin Li shook his head. "But the Purple Eyes have never forgotten their vengeance. They are preparing for it every single moment."

Cao Hong laughed. "And who’s going to do anything about it? How long is a man’s life? Even if you could live for a thousand years, who would care what happens after they’re gone? In any case, hasn’t it been peaceful for over a hundred thousand years? No one wants to be the one to break this equilibrium. Besides, whoever makes the first move is doomed to a tragic end. With that in mind, who would be the first to stand up and fight the Purple Eyes?"

’In the end, it all comes down to the fact that human Martial Artists just aren’t united!’ Qin Li thought. ’If everyone could band together and cooperate with sincerity like the great sages of the Primordial Era, it would be impossible for the Purple Eyes to establish themselves so openly in the Land of the Far West!’

At this thought, Qin Li suddenly found the situation ironic. The memories inherited from the Primordial Great Power, Hu Yanbo, seemed so incompatible and powerless in the face of modern reality.

’Can I defeat all the Purple Eyes and wipe them out all by myself?’

’Besides, I myself am a soul from an Outer Realm. Are all the Purple Eyes truly evil? Look at Tongtian City, the Hai Family, or the Moon Shaking Immortal Palace... are any of these powers truly righteous?’

As he thought, a sense of profound loneliness washed over Qin Li. All his desperate, painstaking cultivation, all his preparations for a large-scale counterattack from the Purple Eyes... was it truly necessary, or was it all just a futile effort?

Seeing Qin Li lost in thought, Cao Hong was tempted for a split second to flee. But then he felt the atmosphere in the room instantly grow heavy. He immediately lost all courage to escape. ’This man is a monster,’ he thought, ’far too powerful. I can’t test his patience again!’

Qin Li suddenly let out a self-deprecating laugh. ’It seems this idea of making enemies of all Purple Eyes is misguided,’ he thought. ’If they don’t treat me as a foe, why should I treat them as one? I absolutely must get the eighth Ancient Map, but my attitude toward the Purple Eyes needs to change.’

’At the very least, there’s no need to escalate this to a matter of racial animosity!’

’All I need to do is ensure my family and loved ones can live happy, peaceful lives. That’s more than enough!’

’As for maintaining peace on the Celestial Essence Continent... whoever wants that job can have it. I’m done with it!’

In that instant, the shackles that had weighed on Qin Li’s mind for so many years finally shattered. What emerged was a brand new Qin Li... a Qin Li who would live entirely for himself.

Whether it was the Prince Wu of old or the more recent Hu Yanbo, they both belonged to a bygone era. With the passage of time, the world had changed far too much.

Being aware of potential dangers was a good thing, but to be so overwrought as to tie the fate of the entire world to oneself... that was truly unnecessary.

With his mind clear, Qin Li looked at Cao Hong and said calmly, "Now, tell me the details about Lengqiu Palace."

"I once had a friend... someone with Purple-eyed blood. But that was decades ago." A look of reminiscence softened Cao Hong’s face, and a gentle light flickered in his eyes.

Qin Li instinctively sensed that Cao Hong’s friend must have been a woman.

"I met her by chance. I had taken a contract to assassinate a very powerful individual, but in the process, I ended up saving a young woman. At the time, I had no idea she was one of the Purple Eyes. Later, she fell in love with me. She was a weak cultivator. In her twenties, she had only reached the Celestial Level, which meant she had no future in Lengqiu Palace. Her father’s Purple-eyed bloodline wasn’t particularly pure, and her mother was from the Celestial Essence Continent. Because of this, she wasn’t valued in Lengqiu Palace and held no status."

A faint smile touched Cao Hong’s lips as he spoke. "But she was brilliant. Aside from her slow cultivation, she could learn anything else in an instant. If this weren’t a world where martial strength is everything, I believe she could have become a great master of the arts! But unfortunately, the good times didn’t last. Someone in Lengqiu Palace discovered that she was involved with me... and so, they killed her."

As he said this, Cao Hong’s fists clenched so tightly his nails dug into his palms, and veins bulged on his forehead. "Those bastards! They didn’t give a reason, didn’t give her a chance to defend herself—they just executed her! By the time I found out, it was too late. I tried to storm Lengqiu Palace thirty-seven times! And every single time... I failed."

Cao Hong let out a wretched laugh. "The world knows me as the seventh-ranked assassin, a man who has never failed a mission. But what they don’t know is that I’m just a pathetic loser who couldn’t even avenge his own woman!"

At this, Cao Hong buried his face in his hands, his shoulders trembling with uncontrollable grief and rage.

Qin Li hadn’t expected such a story from this man. He must have loved the woman with Purple-eyed blood deeply. No wonder his words didn’t carry the expected hatred for the Purple Eyes; it was because of this past.

"With your skills, infiltrating Lengqiu Palace shouldn’t be that difficult," Qin Li said, looking at Cao Hong with confusion. If not for his own Innate Purple Qi and powerful Divine Sense, even he would have struggled to detect Cao Hong’s approach.

’Could it be that the weakest members of Lengqiu Palace are at the Pill Nascent Soul Transformation stage? That’s impossible. If that were the case, they would have wiped out all the other sects in the Land of the Far West long ago. Why would they have waited until now?’

"Lengqiu Palace raises a unique kind of Spirit Beast. The beasts themselves are very weak—not even at the Celestial Level—but their Spiritual Sense is even sharper than that of a Pill Nascent Soul Transformation Martial Artist! They can detect any stranger who gets close and sound a warning..."

Qin Li shook his head with a wry smile. ’This Cao Hong really has some bad luck,’ he thought. ’He could probably sneak into any other place and use any number of methods to kill his target. But at Lengqiu Palace, he was thwarted by a Spirit Beast that wasn’t even Celestial Level.’

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