Only I am Venerable

"Eldest Martial Sister, have you still not found those two damned bastards?" The Second Martial Brother, clad in blue, had long since lost his former suave composure. His eyes were filled with venomous hatred.

Han Mei shook her head, her eyes flashing with indignation and anger. "Perhaps they’re dead," she said. "That woman was hit by my Vein-Eroding Palm; she definitely couldn’t have survived. As for the man... maybe he’s been lost to the sea as well. There could be powerful aquatic Spirit Beasts in this ocean."

Even though Han Mei didn’t quite believe it herself, it seemed to be the only explanation. She refused to believe the two of them could evade her, not under the sweep of her sect’s unique and powerful Divine Sense.

"Enough, Second Martial Brother. Let’s put this aside for now. We... we must find the Spirit Flower first!" Han Mei gave her junior martial brothers and sisters a cool glance. Although their gazes were still filled with the same reverence as always, she felt like she could detect something else in them now.

She couldn’t help but curse inwardly: ’If you’re dead, you got off easy. But if you’re not, and I ever see you again, I’ll cripple your cultivation, blind you, and drag you back to the sect. I’ll make you empty the chamber pots for the female disciples every single day! I will make the rest of your life... a living hell of regret and resentment! I swear it... I swear it!’

The people Han Mei had brought with her were all disciples of the same master: the Palace Master of the Moon Shaking Immortal Palace. Back in the sect, they were used to walking with their heads held high. They never imagined suffering such a major setback on this training expedition. It seemed their master’s constant warning—’Never underestimate anyone in the world’—was true after all. To think that in this backwater place they’d never given a second thought to, an expert of such power could be hiding, someone who could even force their Eldest Martial Sister to retreat in defeat...

The young man in blue couldn’t help but ask, "Eldest Martial Sister, do you think those two... could they be like us, from the West?"

The others also took on pensive expressions. It seemed they agreed with their Second Martial Brother’s theory. For their proud hearts, admitting that the two were from the East was simply too great a torment.

But Han Mei had no intention of using this as an excuse to whitewash her own failure. "I don’t think so," she said coolly. "Forget it. Don’t bring this up again. The next time I see him, I will grind his bones to ash!"

Among the group, only the cute-looking girl in the yellow skirt remained confused. There were still many survivors on that island, and over the past few days, her martial siblings had captured and interrogated them. The Sea Tide Gang was, in fact, a pirate-like organization.

’If that’s the case,’ she thought, ’then that man and woman did nothing wrong. Instead, it was our group, the ones who wanted to uphold justice, who made a mistake. And if you make a mistake, you should be brave enough to admit it. But from the way Eldest Martial Sister is acting, it seems like she won’t be satisfied until she kills those two.’

’Shouldn’t good people be on the same side?’ The girl in the yellow skirt pondered this over and over, but couldn’t make any sense of it.

"Let’s head to that large island first and ask around," Han Mei said coolly. "The people there have lived on these islands for generations. If someone has seen that Spirit Flower, we’ll have them lead us to it." With that, she led her junior martial brothers and sisters, and they flew off toward the island.

「Meanwhile」

Qin Li and She She had also returned to the island. Seeing the two of them, Old Zhang and his entire family were overjoyed.

Old Zhang had spent the last few days here and had caught a great deal of precious seafood, some of which even he, a lifelong fisherman, had never seen before. He was certain they would fetch an astonishing price back home, and so his gratitude for Qin Li deepened.

"Young Master Qin, you’re finally back!" Old Zhang looked much more vigorous than when Qin Li had first met him, his face glowing with health. "Miss Leng just headed onto the island. Should I have someone call for her?" His son stood beside him, staring at Qin Li with eyes full of adoration, yet too timid to approach and speak.

"Heh, no need. You all just carry on with what you’re doing. I’ll go find her myself." Qin Li said, preparing to head into the island’s rugged terrain to look for Leng Yao. But then, he turned back suddenly. "Has anyone come asking about me these past few days?"

Old Zhang replied with a baffled expression, "No, absolutely no one has been here!"

Qin Li nodded. ’That woman really is arrogant,’ he thought. ’Just sweeping with her Divine Sense, not even bothering to speak to these people.’ This, however, suited Qin Li’s purposes perfectly. He didn’t want to get these ordinary folk involved in his troubles.

When he found Leng Yao, her face was flushed with excitement. Seeing Qin Li, she gave him a rare smile. "Did everything go alright?"

Qin Li just nodded. ’Best not to mention the suffocating pressure he’d been under,’ he thought. ’No need to make her worry.’

Immersed in her own tremendous happiness, Leng Yao didn’t think to ask why Qin Li and She She had taken so many days to return. Instead, she said, "Guess what I found?"

"A top-grade medicinal herb?" Qin Li couldn’t think of anything else that would make Leng Yao this excited, short of some Heavenly and Earthly Treasure.

Leng Yao gave a mysterious smile, then carefully took a plant from her Storage Ring, a clump of soil still attached to its roots. It was an exceptionally beautiful, deep purple flower. Its blossoms looked like a butterfly with wings unfurled, and it gave off a deeply refreshing fragrance, yet it emitted no spiritual fluctuations whatsoever.

An ordinary person would see it and assume it was just a pretty flower, but very few would know that this flower was an indispensable ingredient for refining the Strengthening Pill!

Leng Yao’s Storage Ring was one Qin Li had acquired after looting the Cui Family’s treasury. While such items were rare, they weren’t unheard of. A great family with deep foundations would surely have at least a few.

Although the space within Leng Yao’s ring wasn’t large—only a few cubic meters—to her, it was an incredibly rare treasure that she cherished. Of course, it also offered her immense convenience.

"Is this... a Phalaenopsis?" Qin Li’s heart leaped with joy. He couldn’t believe they had found one of the two Spirit Flowers they needed right here!

"Yes, it’s a Phalaenopsis! And this one is at least five hundred years old! Even better, I found forty-one of them in total! If we can find just as many Cold Jade Flowers, we could refine at least a hundred Strengthening Pills!" Leng Yao was practically beaming with excitement. She continued, "I already harvested the flowers from the others and have been sun-drying them these past few days. This one, I want to take back and see if I can propagate it. If we can learn to cultivate the Heavenly and Earthly Treasures we find, we’ll really be set for the future!"

Qin Li smiled. "Then here’s to your success, future Alchemy Master!"

A blush crept up Leng Yao’s fair, delicate face, adding to her allure. But a flash of determination crossed her eyes as she thought, ’Alchemy Master? I like that title... but I only want to be an Alchemist for you alone.’

Qin Li, for his part, wasn’t worried about cultivating these Heavenly and Earthly Treasures. He was confident that the Spiritual Water in his Golden Palace, condensed purely from Spiritual Qi, would not let him down.

Besides, Qin Li’s own Storage Ring held a large number of Heavenly and Earthly Treasures as well. He planned to transplant them all into the back garden of the Golden Palace later.

"All that’s left is the Cold Jade Flower. Here’s the plan: She She, you and Leng Yao will stay here. I’ll sneak over to the Sea Tide Gang’s island and scout around. It would be best if I can get it directly, but if not, we can split up and search for it."

The Snake Woman knew Qin Li’s skills were unique—even that terrifyingly powerful woman hadn’t been able to detect him—so she didn’t object to his suggestion.

Leng Yao, however, felt a pang of worry at the thought of Qin Li going without a powerful expert like the Snake Woman by his side. Still, she didn’t voice her concerns, not wanting to wound his pride. She could only gaze at him and say softly, "Be careful."

Though he had a feeling the terrifying Demoness had already left, Qin Li was still extremely cautious, flying just above the ocean’s surface. And as it turned out, his caution was not unfounded. When he was still a couple of miles from the island, he saw a group of more than ten people rise into the air.

The one in the lead was none other than the woman in white!

Qin Li’s heart went cold. ’This woman is unbelievably persistent! She’s still looking for me?’ As the thought crossed his mind, he silently sank beneath the waves and concealed his aura. He then noticed that among the group was a man dressed in the uniform of the Sea Tide Gang, and they were all flying in the opposite direction.

Qin Li hesitated for a moment before deciding to follow them, staying hidden in the sea. The group flew a great distance, a good twenty-some miles from the Sea Tide Gang’s main hideout, before finally landing on the edge of another island.

Qin Li was now about two or three miles away from them, with only the top of his head poking out of the water. Amidst the rising and falling waves, his presence was completely undetectable.

He slowly extended his immensely powerful Divine Sense across the water, stretching it toward the group on the shore. He was just in time to catch the words of the man from the Sea Tide Gang.

"Esteemed experts, this is the place. But there’s a terrifying Spirit Beast guarding that area! We never dare venture deep into this island!"

"No matter. Your task of guiding us here is complete."

The cool, detached voice of the woman in white registered in Qin Li’s powerful Divine Sense. ’Could they be searching for some kind of treasure, too?’ he wondered.

At that moment, the Second Martial Brother in the sapphire-blue robes spoke with a sinister tone, "Eldest Martial Sister, now that we’ve found the place, this man..."

"Ah?!" The guide from the Sea Tide Gang was scared out of his wits. He immediately fell to his knees and began kowtowing frantically, wailing, "Esteemed experts, please spare me! I have an eighty-year-old mother at home and an infant in the cradle..."

Seeing that his Eldest Martial Sister didn’t object, the young man in sapphire-blue robes let a cold sneer grace his lips. With a flick of his finger, he shot out a bolt of Qi Force, and the man from the Sea Tide Gang dropped dead on the spot.

A pained expression crossed the face of the girl in the yellow skirt. An older female disciple beside her chided, "Little Sister, scum like that deserve to be eliminated! With a soft heart like yours, you’re bound to suffer for it sooner or later."

AROOO!

Just then, a deep, muffled beast’s roar suddenly echoed from the depths of the island!