Chapter 401: The Scream in the Darkness

There were at least a hundred martial practitioners of various realms belonging to different factions in the vast hall.

After “get out” was shouted, the already quiet hall became so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

Everyone’s gazes followed the finger of this thin Heavenly Sword Mountain youth and locked onto Qin Lie in the corner of the hall.

Thirty martial practitioners had been standing between Qin Lie and that youth. At this time, these people moved out of the way of their own accord.

The space between the youth and Qin Lie became empty, and the two could look at each other without any obstructions.

Qin Lie, whose back was to the crowd, suddenly felt intense gazes gather on him. He immediately realized that the youth’s anger was directed at him.

In front of him, Chang He of Sea Moon Trade Group furrowed his eyebrows and said in a very small voice, “Leave now. I will sell the Astral Thunder Hammer to you for one thousand Earth Grade spirit stones later on.”

“We will leave now. It… would not be good to create trouble at this time,” Song Tingyu mentioned in a low voice.

She understood Qin Lie better than anyone else.

She knew that the current Qin Lie was not the Qin Lie of the past.

The Qin Lie of the past had a gentle temper and was kind to others. He would not make trouble for those that did not offend him first. He rarely caused trouble, and would only show his fangs when he was forced.

However, since he had merged with his previous personality, there was a kind of madness in Qin Lie’s bones. Characteristics of a berserker flowed through his veins.

Even if people did not offend him, the current Qin Lie would occasionally think about causing trouble and offending others. Since the people of Heavenly Sword Mountain had come to challenge him, wasn’t that just igniting the gunpowder?

Bi You of Celestial Artifact Sect had arranged for people to search for Qin Lie. If he fought with these people now, it was likely that Bi You would find traces of him and his identity would be exposed.

Song Tingyu was panicking on the inside.

“Let’s go.” Under the gaze of the crowd, Song Tingyu grabbed Qin Lie’s arm, seeking to pull him away and out of the hall.

“Wait a moment!” Qin Lie’s brow furrowed. His feet seemed to be rooted to the ground and he remained unmoved.

Turning around, he looked at the handsome young martial practitioner from Heavenly Sword Mountain.

“Are you talking to me?” Qin Lie narrowed his eyes. He wore an indifferent expression, and there was no amusement at the corners of his mouth.

“I told you to get out! Did you not hear me?” Li Rong’s finger did not stop pointing at Qin Lie. He stood upright, his thin body resembling a sword out of its sheathe.

As a martial practitioner of Heavenly Sword Mountain, Li Rong had never seen anyone dare to talk back to him when he was around Sea Moon Island. Even elders of Copper rank forces who were stronger than him in realm were polite to him, much less someone of the same generation.

He was used to being superior, and he believed that, down to his bones, he was superior to everyone in the hall. Therefore, he was extremely displeased with Qin Lie’s attitude and his expression became even colder.

“Stop messing around. Let’s go, there’s no need to fight with him,” Song Tingyu said in a soft voice.

Qin Lie ignored her, his body unmoving like a boulder. Looking grimly at Li Rong, he grinned brightly and said, “What if I’m not willing to leave?”

“Then I will beat you until you are willing to!” Li Rong shouted.

A magenta longsword suddenly flew out of Li Rong’s spatial ring. As a martial practitioner of Heavenly Sword Mountain, Li Rong specialized in the sword. When he gripped the handle of the longsword, a wave of intense heat spread from his body.

Li Rong pointed at Qin Lie with the magenta long sword.

“Zzt zzzt zzt!”

Wisps of magenta fire flowed along the length of the sword and rapidly gathered at its tip.

The tip of the sword emitted a speck of crimson energy. As soon as that fiery energy formed, the martial practitioners in the surroundings felt a harsh heat.

Li Rong started moving his arm and the sword in his hand in a circle in front of him. Specks of crimson fire spread from the tip of his sword. As the sword spun, the fire danced in circles.

The specks of fire were like burning raindrops that shot from the tip of the sword. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of these specks merged together to form a fiery drill.

Inside the hall, the other martial practitioners subconsciously moved away from Li Rong and Qin Lie.

A dozen or so Manifestation Realm martial practitioners felt a burning power that was enough to burn their flesh coming from the specks of fire. Their expressions changed and they promptly exited the hall.

“T-this…”

Chang He was sweating profusely. He did not dare to try and get Li Rong to stop, so he could only grit his teeth and shout at Qin Lie, “Friend! I will sell the Astral Thunder Hammer to you for eight hundred Earth Grade spirit stones. Put down the spirit stones, take the Astral Thunder Hammer, and leave! I’m begging you!”

“You shouldn’t be begging me to leave,” Qin Lie snickered. “You should be begging him to.”

He looked at Li Rong.

“I…” Chang He’s face went bright red.

“Get out!” Li Rong shouted.

Li Rong slowly gathered specks of fire, condensing his power in hopes that Qin Lie would retreat and leave the hall of his own accord.

Li Rong had not predicted that, as he continued to power up his killing move, Qin Lie would remain calm and was even able to laugh.

This made him angry.

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh!”

The fire drill that had been formed from hundreds of fiery specks was five to six meters long. It howled as it finally shot from the tip of the sword.

Hundreds of fiery crimson wisps shot straight toward Qin Lie’s chest.

Chang He started to scream.

Song Tingyu’s brow furrowed slightly. Seeing the blazing drill heading for them, she also got angry. She felt that the people of Heavenly Sword Mountain had gone too far.

“Give him eight hundred Earth Grade spirit stones!”

As she prepared to attack, she heard Qin Lie laugh loudly. In the next moment, she realized that Qin Lie had broken free of her hand and grabbed the Astral Thunder Hammer on the crystal showcase, intending to smash it at Li Rong.

“Boom!”

A resounding boom came from Qin Lie’s chest. Numerous bolts of lightning flooded into the Astral Thunder Hammer like snakes slithering into the sea.

Qin Lie swung the hammer!

The Astral Thunder Hammer, which was as long as an arm, suddenly became three times larger, and even grew thicker than Qin Lie’s body.

“Boooom!”

Blue astral lightning was evident inside of the Astral Thunder Hammer. The hammer roared as it ferociously smashed against the fiery drill.

Hundreds of blazing specks scattered in every direction. They resembled the sparks that flew when an enormous hammer struck red-hot metal.

Curses resounded throughout the originally quiet hall. Many martial practitioners that had been observing indifferently from the side screamed as they dodged. They channelled their spirit power to form shields of light, afraid that the flames would touch them.

The Astral Thunder Hammer crashed to the black stone ground.

“Boom!”

Pieces of black stone immediately shattered. The fragments were like cold black stars flying through the sky, all of which were headed toward Li Rong.

Li Rong’s pupils contracted.

“Sword Dance of Fire!”

The magenta sword in his hand quickly stabbed into the air. Crimson sword rays emerged like streams of light.

At a glance, Li Rong seemed to turn into an immortal goddess that was flying through the sky with rainbows. His movements were elegant and contained a strange aura.

There were hundreds of the crimson sword rays, and they formed a whirlwind of blades.

“Pop pop pop!”

All of the black stone fragments were smashed into dust when they came within three meters of Li Rong, the powder dispersing into the air.

Li Rong snorted coldly. Surrounded by the whirlwind of blades, he resembled a sharp sword as he sprinted at Qin Lie.

The black stone tiles in his path were shattered and reduced to dust.

The spectators in the area who saw that Li Rong was truly angry cursed inwardly as they continued to move outside.

Those closest to the four doors were crowded by the people who were moving and were forced to exit, unable to see the fight in the hall.

“If I want you to get out, you have to get out!” Li Rong shouted angrily.

The flaming sword rays shot from his body and formed a waterfall that plunged toward Qin Lie.

“Zing zing zing!”

Earsplitting sounds spread throughout the hall and hurt everyone’s eardrums.

A hint of bloody light suddenly appeared in Qin Lie’s eyes.

He channeled the power of blood!

At this moment, a thick, fiendish blood energy exploded from his sinews, bones, flesh, and blood and merged with his power of lightning and thunder.

Within the Astral Thunder Hammer, the blue astral lightning was tinged with a bloody hue. The vibrations formed by the Astral Thunder Hammer created tiny fragments of dazzling light that shot out of it.

The astral lightning and the sword rays collided.

A blinding, spherical explosion erupted between Qin Lie and Li Rong. The astral lightning and the sword rays exploded over and over.

The lamps above everyone’s heads shattered in continuously while the hall that had been brightly illuminated was suddenly engulfed in darkness.

Within that very darkness, everyone heard Li Rong scream.

……

Chapter 402: Making Out Like a Bandit

The lamps above everyone’s heads were shattered by the astral lightning and the sword rays. The originally bright hall was suddenly devoid of light.

The only light that remained came from the four open doors.

Li Rong screamed.

“What happened?”

A voice came from the second floor, and four figures appeared at the stairs. Of the four, one was Zhao Xuan of Joyful Union Sect, and one was Zhang Chendong of Eight Extreme Temple.

The one who had spoken was a middle-aged man with a face as white as jade. He was Han Xing, the president and founder of Blue Star Association.

Next to Han Xing was a youth in blue robes who was around twenty six years old. He also had the special insignia of Heavenly Sword Mountain on his chest.

His name was Luo Chen, and he was at the peak of the Netherpassage Realm. He was the leader of Heavenly Sword Mountain’s young generation.

Luo Cheng’s grandmother was Luo Nan, a wielder of one of the five “Heavenly Swords” of Heavenly Sword Mountain. She was one of Heavenly Sword Mountain’s most powerful individuals.

Li Rong and the other six martial practitioners had come here with Luo Chen.

Luo Chen had made a special trip to Sea Moon Island to see Zhao Xuan of Joyful Union Sect and Zhang Chendong of Eight Extreme Temple.

These two had become acquainted with Luo Chen with the help of their superiors at Eight Extreme Temple and Joyful Union Sect.

Luo Chen was meeting up with Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong for the Trial that was about to be held. Luo Chen was going to participate in the Trial as a ringer.

Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong each received a sword token from Li Mu and were qualified to participate in the Trial, but they were not confident that they would survive.

As a result, with Zhao Changsheng’s and Li Yi’s arrangements, they joined Luo Chen. They were going to become members of Luo Chen’s group and follow him in the hopes that their chances of survival would increase.

Luo Chen knew that the other Silver rank forces would also send ringers to enter the Trial.

In order to be the champion of the Trial, Luo Chen needed to recruit strong individuals, so Zhao Xuan, and Zhang Chendong could be considered a good match for him.

Today, with the arrangements of Blue Star Association President Han Xing, the three of them met for the first time on the top floor of this large hall.

They had been conversing happily, when they heard the sound of fighting from downstairs. Han Xing and Luo Chen were both cunning people. They did not pay attention to the battle below and continued to talk.

It was only when Li Rong screamed that Luo Chen frowned and stopped his conversation with Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong to descend from the top floor.

“Get a lamp!” Han Xing shouted.

New lamps floated from the entrance to the second floor and were once again above people’s heads.

The large hall became bright again.

“Hm?!

Exclamations of shock resounded throughout the hall as people turned to look at Li Rong.

Rubble covered the ground at the center of the hall. Three enormous pits that the hammer had made were clearly visible.

Li Rong’s chest was covered in blood. He was down on one knee, hate covering his face as he stared at his sword and howled in anger

His longsword had been smashed to pieces by the Astral Thunder Hammer.

This long sword was an Earth Grade One spirit artifact, and Li Rong had cherished it like it was his own life. Since the blade of the sword had been shattered, the spirit diagrams inside had naturally been destroyed. To Li Rong, this was a nightmare.

Along with his wounded body, Li Rong felt as if the sword being shattered had happened to him. He hated Qin Lie to the bone.

“Where is that person?” People searched for Qin Lie.

“Damn it! That person took the Astral Thunder Hammer when he left and didn’t even pay a single spirit stone!” Behind the crystal cupboard, Chang He started to curse.

“What happened?” Han Xing glared at Chang He.

“A boy wanted to buy the Astral Thunder Hammer. When he was trying to bargain with me, he offended Master Li, and the two fought…” Chang He wanted to cry as he looked at Han Xing dejectedly, explaining, “H-he slipped away in the darkness and also took the Astral Thunder Hammer.”

“President, all eighteen lamps were completely shattered. They were worth four thousand Earth Grade spirit stones,” a martial practitioner of Blue Star Association that was hanging up the new lamps carefully mentioned.

Han Xing, the present of Blue Star Association, wore an expression of fury on his face. He hollered, “Are all of you stupid? Don’t you know how to search? Find this person, damn it! I want him to pay for this even if I have to skin him!”

Numerous Blue Star Association martial practitioners shot away like lightning and went to search for traces of Qin Lie in every corner of Sea Moon Trade Group.

“Your sword has been shattered, Li Rong. You probably won’t be able to recover you original strength any time soon.” Luo Chen’s voice was cold. He looked at Li Rong with a frown and spoke bluntly. “It is more important for you to recover. Give up on the current Trial. Oh, hand over the sword token. I need to pick someone else.”

The other young martial practitioners of Heavenly Sword Mountain beside Li Rong looked at him with his shattered sword, experiencing some schadenfreude.

“Senior Brother Luo! I… I can still participate.” Li Rong panicked.

Luo Chen shook his head. His expression became slightly colder, and he extended a hand, saying, “The sword token!”

Li Rong pursed his lips. After a moment of thought, he did not dare to resist and meekly handed over a sword token.

“Brother Zhao, Brother Zhang, let us go up and continue what we were doing.” Luo Chen turned and nodded at Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong. He did not spare another look at Li Rong as he walked back to the upper level.

The other six Heavenly Sword Mountain martial practitioners ignored Li Rong as they followed Luo Chen up the stairs in a relaxed manner.

With his sword shattered, the wounded Li Rong didn’t seem like the person that had come in with them.

In their eyes, Li Rong had immediately become a stranger, and with an unspoken understanding, they excluded him.

Li Rong’s chest ached. He felt deep regret. Having ended up in such a terrible situation, he regretted offending Qin Lie.

……

Outside Sea Moon Trade Group.

Having returned to his actual appearance, Qin Lie wore a long black robe as he casually walked along a crowded street.

Song Tingyu had changed her appearance and was ten meters away from him. She bit her lip as she followed him, watching him with amusement.

The moment that the lamps inside of Sea Moon Trade Group’s hall had exploded, Qin Lie had taken advantage of the chaos to tear off his fox skin mask. When he passed by Song Tingyu, he notified her in a small voice.

Having always worked well together, the two left in the darkness one after the other. Before other people could react, they had secretly left Sea Moon Trade Group.

One hour later, the two met up at a Profound Heaven Alliance base.

“Qin Lie, oh Qin Lie, you are rotten to the core!”

Sing Tingyu pushed open the door to the room that Qin Lie was in. She took off her mask, a moving smile on her charming face.

Inside the room, Qin Lie smiled as he held the Astral Thunder Hammer and fiddled with it fondly. Without looking at her he said, “I like this Astral Thunder Hammer.”

“You didn’t pay a single spirit stone for it,” Song Tingyu said with a smile.

Qin Lie raised his head when he heard this, surprise on his face as he said, “What? Didn’t you say that you were going to pay for it on my behalf? Did you not throw down the spirit stones when you left? Are you that immoral?”

Song Tingyu was both irritated and amused. “You told me to leave quickly! When would I have had the time to throw down the spirit stones? What if I I return to the Sea Moon Business Association now and pay them?”

“Well, I think the value of those lamps is higher than that of this Astral Thunder Hammer. You can pay for those as well.” Qin Lie laughed strangely. He slapped his head and said, “Oh, I forgot! I also shattered that guy’s sword. Since you’re so generous, pay for that as well.”

“Bastard! I’m going to ignore you!” Song TIngyu giggled and rolled her eyes at him. “You’re so shameless!”

“That guy was the one who was asking for it, why are you blaming me?” Qin Lie grunted coldly and said, “I was fine where I was. He offended me! Wasn’t he asking for it?”

“Ah. Celestial Artifact Sect is searching for you everywhere, then you offended Heavenly Sword Mountain and Blue Star Association. If your identity is discovered, I don’t know how many people on Sea Moon Island will be trying to kill you,” Song Tingyu scolded.

“Don’t worry. We will immediately leave Sea Moon Island as soon as I fix the spirit diagrams inside of this Astral Thunder Hammer and forge Terminator Profound Bombs, ” Qin Lie said indifferently.

“You can fix the spirit diagrams inside of it?” Song Tingyu was surprised.

“If I couldn’t fix them, would I have wasted so much time on that person? Would that rabid mutt from Heavenly Sword Mountain have targeted me?” Qin Lie laughed happily.