Only I am Venerable

"Who are you?" A thought stirred in Qin Li’s mind. He immediately sensed that there was more to Hu’s situation than met the eye. It was clear from Hu’s wounds that he hadn’t been injured for just a day or two. The sudden appearance of this man, in particular, made Qin Li think, ’This... this seems to be a trap, and they’re waiting for me to walk right into it!’

As he watched the confident man float gracefully toward him, Qin Li’s gaze grew profound and icy. ’Is this really a trap?’ he wondered. ’Unfortunately for them, it remains to be seen who will be the one caught in it!’

The newcomer was a middle-aged man of about forty with a handlebar mustache, a square jaw, a high-bridged nose, and a wide mouth. His eyes were bright and sharp, glinting with a shrewd light. He wore a navy-blue long robe and carried an ancient longsword on his back. He had the dignified air of a seasoned master, and though his steps seemed slow, his pace was surprisingly fast.

His hands were tucked into his sleeves. Fixing his eyes on Qin Li, he said coldly, "We paraded him through the streets for a month straight. Today was the final day. Just as we expected, you couldn’t resist showing up. Excellent!"

’Paraded through the streets for a month?’

Leng Yao’s eyes instantly turned ice-cold, like two sharp swords stabbing into the middle-aged man’s face.

The middle-aged man, however, seemed completely unfazed. He merely glanced at Qin Li and sneered, "Now that you’re here, don’t even think about leaving!"

’No wonder so many people were throwing rotten eggs and spoiled vegetables at Hu,’ Qin Li thought. ’So he’s been suffering this humiliation for a whole month!’

A storm brewed in Qin Li’s heart. He ignored the middle-aged man and walked over to Hu, reaching out to take his wrist. As he did, his brow slowly furrowed.

Hu’s meridians were in chaos, and a Restriction had been placed on his Dantian. The wounds on his shoulders, where the iron chains had been driven through, were especially severe.

Looking at Hu’s chapped lips, Qin Li let out a long sigh.

"Brother, you shouldn’t have come!" Tears welled up in Hu’s eyes. He was clearly moved, but he said, "I’m already crippled. The worst that can happen is death. You really shouldn’t have come!"

Qin Li looked up at the middle-aged man again and asked slowly, "Who are you?"

"Me? I’m just a nobody. Or to be more precise, I’m a victim whose fellow disciple you killed. Hmm, one of the victims, that is." The middle-aged man looked back at Qin Li with a calm expression, then smiled and pointed at Hu. "What do you think of his predicament? It would be interesting if it were you in his place, wouldn’t it?"

At that moment, large formations of soldiers began marching toward Qin Li’s position from different directions in the distance.

Judging by the killing aura emanating from the soldiers, this was an army that had been tempered on the battlefield, one that had waded through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The crowd of onlookers finally sensed that something was wrong. Many tried to leave, but unfortunately, all escape routes had already been blocked by the soldiers.

"A victim?" Qin Li narrowed his eyes. The Primordial Power fluctuating from the man before him was intense; his strength was at least at the Celestial Integration Realm. ’Ever since I came to this world, I’ve killed many people. I really can’t guess where this man is from.’

Just then, She She also stepped out of the carriage and stood with Qin Li.

Upon seeing She She, the middle-aged man’s eyes lit up, and he couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, "They say Young Master Qin is quite the ladies’ man, and it’s clearly true. The women by your side are all heavenly beauties. It’s truly enviable."

Qin Li paid the man no more mind. He used his Innate Purple Qi to slowly restore the meridians in Hu’s body while simultaneously undoing the Restriction on his Dantian. Then, as if no one else was around, he took a small vial from his robes, opened it, and poured out two Elixirs. "Take these," he said softly.

A look of utter astonishment covered Hu’s face. He never dreamed that his power could actually return! ’This little brother, whom I haven’t seen in years, has become so incredible!’

After watching Hu swallow the two Elixirs, Qin Li asked quietly, "Where are your wife and family?"

Hearing this, Hu could no longer hold back his tears. "They killed them!"

"Who? The Cyan Dragon Royal Family?" The corner of Qin Li’s mouth twitched uncontrollably. He still remembered the shy smile on Hu’s face when he’d said he didn’t want to leave the Cyan Dragon Kingdom. That smile was because he’d had a son; he had fulfilled his parents’ dream and made a name for himself.

’Zhao Xinghai,’ Qin Li thought, ’have you also become as short-sighted as your brother now that you’re the emperor?’

Qin Li gripped Hu’s hand tightly and said in a low voice, "Don’t worry. I will get revenge for you!"

Tears were also streaming down Leng Yao’s face. She asked in disbelief, "Your wife and child were both killed? By whom?"

"I killed them." Before Hu could answer, the middle-aged man, who had such a dignified and righteous appearance, spoke with a faint smile. "I led my men to raid his home and asked him for Young Master Qin’s whereabouts. Unfortunately, the man didn’t know what was good for him. So, I killed his child first, then had my men take his wife in front of him. Heh heh, young lady, what do you think? I’m a pretty frank person, wouldn’t you say?"

The onlookers stared at the middle-aged man in disbelief, their mouths hanging open. They never would have dreamed that the national traitor they had been insulting for a month actually seemed to have been framed! And the man who they thought was a righteous Royal Tributor now struck them as someone utterly and completely shameless.

"HAHAHAHA! You ignorant fools! You really believe whatever the Royal Family tells you!" The middle-aged man let out a few hearty laughs, looking up at the sky. He then shot a disdainful glance at the crowd before turning to Leng Yao with a provocative look. "Want to kill me? Go on, try it!"

"You’re courting death!" Leng Yao gritted her teeth, her body blurring into an afterimage as she thrust her weapon toward the middle-aged man with incredible speed.

"A fine attempt!" the middle-aged man bellowed. With a flick of his hands from within his sleeves, dozens of white points of light instantly appeared in the air, shooting toward Leng Yao and targeting all the vital points on her body.

From the looks of it, it was as if Leng Yao was actively charging into the path of those Hidden Weapons!

Judging from the surging power emanating from these Hidden Weapons and the continuous, piercing shriek they made as they tore through the air, no one could possibly survive being hit by them.

Qin Li’s figure flashed. With a sweep of his sleeve, a series of CLINK-CLANK sounds echoed in mid-air, and all the Hidden Weapons fell into his hand. At the same time, with a flick of his wrist, Qin Li sent the Hidden Weapons flying back at the middle-aged man!

This all happened in the blink of an eye. The middle-aged man snorted coldly as a heaven-shattering aura erupted from his body. With lightning speed, he drew the longsword from his back and swept aside all the incoming Hidden Weapons. At the same time, his sword pulsed with a black light as he viciously... swung it down at Qin Li!

"Die!" the middle-aged man roared, his voice thick with endless hatred.

BOOM!

The massive explosion caused many of the surrounding onlookers to bleed from their noses and mouths; some of the old and weak were even killed by the shockwave on the spot!

But looking at Qin Li, his sword was still sheathed. He stood there calmly, empty-handed. The middle-aged man’s sword, however, had shattered! Only the hilt remained in his grasp.

A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of the middle-aged man’s mouth. He stared at Qin Li in utter disbelief, his eyes filled with horror as he stammered, "Impossible... this is impossible! You’re just a wet-behind-the-ears kid of twenty! How could you possibly be my match? How could you be my match?!"

In the sky, another twenty or thirty people floated down. There were men and women, old and young. The gazes most of them directed at Qin Li were filled with intense hatred.

Just then, a series of shouts echoed from the distance.

"His Majesty the King has arrived!"

The soldiers lining the street automatically parted to either side, clearing a path for a procession of luxurious carriages. The one in the center, adorned with an ornate canopy, bore the unique emblem of the Cyan Dragon Kingdom’s Royal Family.

Zhao Xinghai’s heart was a knot of contradictions and unease.

He held no hatred for Qin Li, even though Qin Li had personally killed his brother. After all, if Qin Li hadn’t intervened, he would still be a wandering Prince in a foreign land, and his dream of reclaiming his kingdom would have been nothing but empty talk. If he’d had the power, he would have killed his patricidal, usurping brother with his own hands. Furthermore, his beloved little sister, Zhao Qianqian, was still with Qin Li.

Therefore, he had absolutely no reason to move against Qin Li.

But the world is full of such coincidences. Some ancestors of the Zhao Family’s Royal Family had entered Profound Island after reaching the Celestial Shattering Realm. However, those ancestors on Profound Island were not the true power controlling the Zhao Family Royal Family from behind the scenes.

The true puppet masters of the Zhao Family Royal Family hailed from another Mysterious Land in the West, a place thousands of miles away from the Cyan Dragon Kingdom!

That nation was immensely powerful, with experts as numerous as the clouds. Within its territory were several such Mysterious Lands. In fact, thousands of years ago, the land that was now the Cyan Dragon Kingdom had been a secular nation controlled by one of those Mysterious Lands.

However, that Sect was extremely low-key, and the great distance meant they might only send someone over once every few decades, or even centuries. By the time they learned that the nation they once controlled had been destroyed, the Cyan Dragon Kingdom had already been established for several decades.

Of course, just like the Fire Sword Wang Family of Profound Island, secular nations were nothing more than bargaining chips in their eyes, to be traded away at any time. They cared little for the vast territories themselves.

Thus, the Cyan Dragon Kingdom became a vassal state of that Sect. But the Sect quickly forgot about the matter, and a very, very long time passed without them ever sending anyone again.

It wasn’t until war broke out between the New Qin Empire and the Five Nations Alliance that the old King of the Cyan Dragon Royal Family remembered to ask the great power behind them for aid.

And so, as the war was nearing its end, that Sect finally sent people over. However, they didn’t prove to be of much use, and the war ended shortly thereafter.

It was then that someone in that Sect finally recalled that thousands of years ago, a disciple had left, discovered a Mysterious Land in the territory of the Cyan Dragon Kingdom, and established a sect there named the Paradise Celestial Palace!

This was the very reason the Cyan Dragon Kingdom had been taken as a vassal state by that distant Sect. This time, the disciples sent over had also been given a mission by their masters: to see how the affiliated sect was faring in the modern day.

They never expected that what would greet them were... utter ruins!