An Unwitting Breakthrough

A pale half-moon hung overhead. Several corpses lay strewn across the silent valley, blood pooling around them. A faint scent of blood lingered beneath my nose, making me uncomfortable. I subconsciously reached up and rubbed my nose.

At that moment, a commotion came from the hillside behind me. I looked up and saw the five Blood Battle Mercenaries who had broken out earlier standing blankly on the slope, staring at me. This stirred a bit more excitement in my heart.

With a light laugh, I put away the Dragon Slayer Crossbow and waved at them, signaling for them to come down. After a moment of silence and some whispered discussion, they slowly descended the slope.

Ka Gang swallowed, carefully stepped around two corpses, and came before me. His expression was indescribably vivid as he said, "Young Master Nalan... you're truly incredible!"

The other four were equally stunned and dazed, their expressions eventually turning into deep awe and worship. Mercenaries had always revered the strong, and at this moment, I was undoubtedly one of them!

I gave a dry cough, clasped my hands behind my back, and tried my best to strike the pose of an expert. In an unhurried tone, I said, "Ka Gang, check whether these people are completely dead. If any are still alive, give them another stab."

Ka Gang did not dare say more. He hurriedly agreed and took three others to clean up the battlefield. Only that petite girl remained behind. Perhaps because she lacked experience and was timid, Ka Gang did not let her handle such work and left her on guard duty.

She glanced at me, then turned to look toward the distant Mountain Forest. After a while, she looked back again, her lips parting slightly as she softly asked, "Y-you're so strong, so why did you waste so much time talking to them earlier? Why didn't you just kill them directly?"

I fell silent for a moment before replying, "Because I don't like fighting and killing. That's all brute force, no different from the magical beasts in the Monster Mountain Range."

"The difference between humans and magical beasts is that humans have brains. That's why I prefer wisdom and strategy..."

I coughed dryly, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "If my scheme had succeeded just now and the Wolf Head Mercenary Group had fallen into internal conflict, why would I have needed to act personally?"

After I said that, Ling Er looked at me with worship in her eyes. I felt a little pleased and was just about to say something else when a shrill cry suddenly rang out in the distance!

I turned and saw a figure flip up from the ground, slashing a sword toward another female Blood Battle Mercenary.

Playing dead?

"Qing Xin Jie Jie!"

Ling Er cried out and hurriedly tried to draw her sword to rush over. But perhaps she was too nervous—she only managed to pull it free on her third attempt.

By then, Ka Gang and the other three nearby had already rushed over. The four of them surrounded and attacked that Wolf Head Mercenary, quickly subduing her.

Ling Er and I walked over, and only then did I realize that this person was actually A Li?!

Perhaps because of that, Ka Gang and the others had not killed her, merely restrained her. Ka Gang looked at me and asked, "Young Master Nalan, what should we do with her... A Li?"

I looked down. A Li's long hair was scattered over her body, her left arm pierced through by the Dragon Slayer Crossbow. Blood continuously gushed from the wound as she was held miserably against the ground.

Yet she had not submitted. Enduring the pain, she raised her head high and stared at me, her face filled with struggle and madness as she rasped, "Nalan Ye, you killed my brother and my husband! Even if I become a ghost, I won't let you go!"

"Mad dog!"

I cursed inwardly. There was not the slightest trace of pity or sympathy in my eyes as I looked at A Li. With a cold laugh, I said, "There really are ghosts on the Dou Qi Continent. Unfortunately, with your meager cultivation, you have no chance of becoming one."

I slowly crouched down until my gaze was level with A Li's. Looking at the coldness and madness in her eyes, an inexplicable flicker of fear rose in my heart.

I found it hard to believe. I suddenly sneered and said, "I only killed your brother. I told you already, I'll slaughter your entire family. You can go first. Soon enough, your parents, brothers, sisters, and children will all join you!"

A Li's expression abruptly changed as she screamed miserably, "Nalan Ye, I'm the one who wanted to kill you! What kind of man are you, taking it out on my family?!"

I stood and looked down at her, shaking my head. Then I looked at Ka Gang and said, "Kill her."

Ka Gang hesitated before saying uncertainly, "Young Master Nalan, A Li tried to kill you, so it's only right for you to kill her. But her family... isn't that..."

"Do you think I'm venting personal resentment?"

I coldly swept Ka Gang a glance, and he immediately fell silent. With a cold snort, I flicked my sleeve and continued, "There are many members of the Nalan Family, and I am not the only one traveling outside. If those who ambush and kill Nalan Family members only face consequences themselves, what will happen?"

Shaking my head, I turned away and looked at the sky as it gradually brightened. "Then anyone bearing a grudge against the Nalan Family will go after our family members—this is something I will absolutely not allow!"

I suddenly turned back and glared fixedly at A Li, saying coldly, "Therefore, her family must die! I will use this matter to tell the entire Gamma Empire—the Nalan Family is not to be trifled with. Anyone who dares set their sights on the Nalan Family must be prepared for their entire family to be wiped out!"

A Li died, killed by a Blood Battle Mercenary.

Ka Gang and the others searched the possessions of the dead Wolf Head Mercenaries. Naturally, the best items—the Ring of Holding on Li Wuchen's body and everything inside it—were presented to me by Ka Gang.

Nothing was said that night. I slept lightly while Ka Gang and the others kept watch.

Early the next morning, after breakfast, I naturally continued deeper into the Monster Mountain Range, while Ka Gang and the others decided to return to Green Mountain Town.

As we parted, I gave Ka Gang a letter and asked him to deliver it to the Shop Manager of the Nalan Family's store in Wu Si City. Ka Gang agreed, then slowly left the valley with the others.

Among the group, the petite girl named Ling Er kept looking back at me every few steps. I laughed and waved at the little girl. She immediately hurriedly turned her head back around.

I shook my head, stretched lazily, took out the map to confirm my direction, and set off as well.

The road ahead was long. That letter mainly concerned three matters. The first was A Li. Her entire family definitely had to be killed!

The second was Li Wuchen. This fellow had become a Dou Master in his twenties, so he should have a family backing him. He could not be handled as simply and brutally as A Li. They would first need to investigate carefully, though the exact course of action would naturally be decided by the elders of the family. It was not something I needed to worry about.

The third concerned the token. Last night, I had thrown out three identifying items. The jade pendant and sachet were later recovered from the corpses, but the token could not be found. Losing a token belonging to a core family member was no small matter, but it was not a major problem either. Once it was reported, the Nalan Family had its own methods of distinguishing them...

After traveling through the Monster Mountain Range for more than ten days, I cautiously stood atop a hillside. Using the terrain and waterways as reference, I quickly pinpointed my location on the map.

At the sight of it, I could not help feeling excited. I was already near the lair of the Amethyst Winged Lion King!

If Yun Yun truly arrived and fought the Amethyst Winged Lion King, the commotion would definitely be enormous. I would certainly discover it at once...

Dragging my exhausted body, I found a relatively safe cave nearby to stay in. As I rested and recuperated, I quietly began waiting.

Unfortunately, I did not know Yun Yun's exact schedule, so I could only set out ahead of time. But that made sense. How could someone like Yun Yun possibly have a fixed itinerary for her actions?

Even if she had conceived the idea of confronting the Amethyst Winged Lion King, she would probably wait until the day her mood struck, then suddenly set off...

I waited and cultivated, until one day, I unexpectedly felt the urge to break through!

From a nine-star Dou Zhe, I was breaking through to a Dou Master!

I sat cross-legged on a cushion, my face caught between a smile and tears, completely at a loss whether to laugh or cry. I was busy with something important right now. I clearly hadn't done anything, just my usual cultivation—so how was I suddenly about to break through?

But on careful thought, during my time in the Monster Mountain Range, aside from the Wolf Head Mercenary Company group, I had encountered many magical beasts, even a third-tier magical beast!

After more than a dozen life-and-death battles, I had spent the past few days properly recuperating and calming my mind. Suddenly breaking through today... seemed fairly normal, didn't it?

With a faint sigh, I accepted that breakthrough opportunities were rare. If I didn't break through this time, who knew when the next chance would come? I gave a bitter smile, took out the prepared supplementary pill from my Ring of Holding, and swallowed it in one gulp.

I had consumed plenty of pills, and I was extremely familiar with refining them. The pure, gentle medicinal power slowly spread through my body. I continuously refined and absorbed it, and the Dou Qi within me steadily increased, growing denser and denser.

Once the Dou Qi in my body liquefied, completely changing from a gaseous state into liquid, I would officially step into—the Dou Master realm!

Boom! Boom!

At that moment, a series of deafening explosions suddenly rang out from outside the cave. My mind jolted, and my Dou Qi nearly went awry!

Startled, I hurriedly calmed myself and stabilized my Dou Qi before slightly opening my eyes and listening closely. The direction the explosions came from was familiar—it was the Amethyst Winged Lion King's lair!

Yun Yun had arrived?

I cursed under my breath. At this time, it was impossible for anyone else to come here. I knew it—something was bound to happen if I tried to break through now! Sure enough, by such a coincidence, Yun Yun had arrived today!

But I had already swallowed the pill. Its medicinal power was gentle, but far too vast. With such a mass of medicinal power inside me, I simply couldn't move.

I couldn't help cursing again. Finally, I took a deep look toward the Amethyst Winged Lion King's lair before quietly closing my eyes and accelerating the refinement of the medicinal power.

Thunderous blasts continued to sound outside the cave, occasionally mixed with shouts—Yun Yun and the Amethyst Winged Lion King's battle must have been fierce, right?

It was truly hard to imagine what a battle between Dou Emperor experts would look like!

It had to be spectacular...

I sat cross-legged with my eyes closed, doing my best to refine the medicinal power. But suddenly, my heart skipped a beat, because I hadn't heard any explosions for some time!

"Is it... over?"

I opened my eyes again, scarcely able to believe it. Th-this was much too fast, wasn't it?

So fast that I had only refined a little over half of the medicinal power in my body, with a small portion still lingering within me. But... I had no time left.

Yun Yun was no match for the Amethyst Winged Lion King. Although she escaped this battle, she was Seriously Injured—this was also my only chance to go raise her favorability while she was badly wounded.

Once I missed this opportunity and Yun Yun recovered on her own, she would never again be this vulnerable!

Gritting my teeth, I circulated my Dou Qi and forcibly suppressed the medicinal power. Instead of remaining seated cross-legged, I stood up. After leaving the cave, I looked toward the sky above the Amethyst Winged Lion King's lair, but there was no sign of anyone.

Sure enough, the battle had already ended...

After hesitating briefly, I still began moving through the nearby Mountain Forest, searching for Yun Yun. The favorability of a Dou Emperor expert was simply too important—to me and to my plan!

Because this plan concerned whether I could cultivate to the Dou Emperor realm in the future, or even advance to Dou Zong!