Qin Family Third Elder Falls!

Qin Family Fortress!

Qin Hao was wailing like a ghost, and the clan members passing by stared at him in horror, especially the younger cousin he had just been talking to.

A quarter of an hour earlier, when Qin Hao had come out with his head hanging low, he had happened to run into a younger cousin he usually got along well with.

After they chatted, Qin Hao learned that his uncle had taken a group of people to kill that bastard. His mood immediately lifted. The more he thought about it, the happier he became, until at last... he burst into tears.

His cousin had stood there, dumbfounded. He had seen people weep for joy, but when had he ever seen someone cry this miserably from happiness?

Though Qin Hao was just as terrified inside, he still couldn't control his expression or his tears. Yes, his tears fell as if they were worthless, one after another. He wept so bitterly that everyone around him grew uneasy, as though the sky were about to fall.

Something was clearly wrong. Someone immediately ran to report it, and before long, several elders hurried over together.

"Don't tell the head of the Household yet."

After warning everyone, the elders sent them away.

When Qin Hao saw them, his eyes flickered. Still crying, he called out, "Uncles, help me! I don't know what's happening to me!"

An elder hurried over and grabbed his hand. A wisp of True Essence flowed into Qin Hao's body and swiftly circulated through him.

After a long while, the elder frowned in bewilderment and exclaimed, "How strange. There's nothing wrong with his body!"

"Let me check his Sea of Consciousness."

Another elder came over, pressed a finger to Qin Hao's brow, and closed his eyes.

"His Sea of Consciousness is fine too?" That elder was equally astonished.

This made no sense. His body was perfectly fine, so why was he like this?

Amid his sobbing, Qin Hao suddenly looked terrified. He had just remembered how Hanyu had forced him to swallow something.

He immediately shouted, "It was a pill! He fed me a pill!"

"What happened?"

Qin Tiannan strode over, his gaze cold as he looked at everyone.

Qin Hao could only repeat the story of being force-fed a pill while he wept.

At the entrance to Qin Family Fortress, a group of cultivators now landed on their swords, their clothes in tatters. One elder wore a grim expression.

"What happened to you?"

One of the cultivators hurried out from the group and explained. Qin Tiannan's expression turned icy. In a low voice, he said, "So I sent you all to get our face back, and you came crawling home after one exchange?"

Everyone fell silent, not daring to breathe.

Qin Tiannan's expression darkened, murder flashing in his eyes. "Very good. If thirty men weren't enough, then we'll send more. Anyone who opposes the Qin Family must die!"

Bai Junya leaned her head against the dressing table, her pretty face full of worry. For some reason, a face suddenly surfaced in her mind, followed by the conversation they'd had that day...

"Move aside. Even if I don't invoke my standing as Lord Bai's Matriarch, I'm still your elder by seniority. What gives you the nerve to stop me?"

An argument came from outside the door. From the sound of it, her mother was the one reasoning with them.

Outside Bai Junya's boudoir, Lin Ruojun trembled with anger as she faced the group before her.

"She's your cousin. You're guarding her as if she were a criminal?"

One cultivator looked torn and gave a bitter smile. "Aunt, please don't make things difficult for us. We really can't let you through. If the clan elders hold us responsible, we'll be in serious trouble."

"Exactly, Aunt! The clan elders gave the order. There's no point making life hard for us juniors!"

Another cultivator also smiled bitterly, over and over.

Not far away, Bai Chong'an watched quietly from behind a wall, showing only half his body. He sighed helplessly.

Suddenly, a thunderous crash erupted from Bai Junya's boudoir!

A water dragon coiled out and smashed the entire door to pieces. It then swept up one cultivator after another and hurled them into the sky...

"Half-step Divine Peeking cultivators are a pain to deal with!"

Hanyu watched the waves of force surging toward him, his head aching. He slammed out with both iron fists. The force swept over his wrists, shredding his sleeves inch by inch, then quickly swallowed him whole.

When the waves of force dissipated, Hanyu stood there looking battered. His once-intact clothes had been torn to shreds yet again.

Third Elder Qin clicked his tongue in amazement. He was still fine after that. Just how had this guy tempered his body?

"Hurry up and conjure a pill to save me!"

Hanyu shouted inwardly.

The little Artifact Spirit answered at once. "Didn't you give one to your gourd-shaped girl today? There aren't any left."

"You son of a bitch, didn't you say you could make three a day?"

Hanyu was on the verge of tears.

The little Artifact Spirit sounded aggrieved. "I lost the fight for permissions. I still only have access to the bottle. I only got to borrow the permissions today because we were both getting something out of it."

Damn it!

You two weird things are a pain in the ass every single day.

One stupid bottle keeps spitting out unknown pills, leaving me scrambling to keep up.

And one little Artifact Spirit keeps picking and choosing, only ever wanting luck and divine abilities.

"Then tell me, what do I do about him now?"

Hanyu watched the waves of force surge toward him again, utterly helpless.

"Use your steel-like body and steel-like will to beat him up?"

The little Artifact Spirit tried to encourage him, though its voice lacked conviction.

This time, Hanyu really moved. Gritting his teeth, he withstood the waves of force as Third Elder Qin swung his saber and sword. Each wave was stronger than the last.

His burly figure flashed past. A massive fist shot toward Third Elder Qin's face. Third Elder Qin immediately rose into the air, the waves of force never letting up.

Roars boomed across the former site of the inn. The bluestone paving shattered, and the destruction began to spread to the surrounding buildings.

After his first attack failed, Hanyu bent his knees and sprang upward, leaping almost as high as Third Elder Qin. Another fist came flying. The old man's waves of force faltered, and he swiftly dodged away.

The sky above them became a blur of two interweaving figures. One darted through the air, shifting position in brief bursts; the other repeatedly dropped down, sprang back up, and pursued without pause.

"Damn it, is the local Prefectural Yamen dead? There's this much commotion, and no one's coming to arrest the old bastard!"

Hanyu chased after him, cursing under his breath.

He had no idea that, at that very moment, a figure was trembling in hiding inside the Prefectural Yamen.

The prefect was utterly helpless. "You big shots can fight all you want, but please don't let it spill over onto me!"

If only he'd followed the example of his predecessors and taken a post down south. In places like this, you could keep ordinary people in line, but who else? Some terrifying powerhouse always showed up, someone you couldn't afford to provoke.

What was I even doing this for?

Whatever grievances the prefect nursed, the battle continued to rage.

"Why does this old bastard hurt more with every hit?"

Hanyu leaped into the air, only to be smashed down by the waves of force. Wounds began splitting open on his hands and feet, blood trickling out.

"His technique! It stacks up power before releasing it, like waves crashing one after another."

The little Artifact Spirit had spotted the trick.

"How do I break through it?"

Hanyu asked with a frown.

"Use your steel-like..."

The little Artifact Spirit's voice grew quieter and quieter.

Damn it!

Hanyu could only keep relying on his body, brushing past Third Elder Qin again and again. More and more cuts opened across him, but the other man seemed to be struggling too.

Third Elder Qin began to slow down. He wasn't in the Peeping God Realm, and controlling his body in midair consumed a tremendous amount of energy—especially while he was constantly attacking.

Flying on a sword was entirely different from flying unaided. Sword flight relied on an external object and allowed brief periods of flight; even Divine Bridge cultivators could manage it. How far they could travel depended on how abundant their True Essence was.

Unaided flight was different. It meant controlling the entire body and moving freely through the sky. It was more agile than flying on a sword and was a defining ability of Peeping God Realm powerhouses.

A Half-step Divine Peeking cultivator could manage it too, but it consumed far too much True Essence. They couldn't move with the same ease as a Peeping God expert.

And so, during one dodge, Third Elder Qin was a fraction too slow. Hanyu's eyes lit up as he seized the old man by the ankle.

"Get down!"

He flung him down with all his strength. Third Elder Qin plummeted like a lead weight,

crashing hard into a pile of rubble. He didn't have a body anything like Hanyu's; he immediately spat out a mouthful of blood, his entire back burning with pain.

Hanyu dove from above, both iron fists slamming down toward him.

A deafening crash rang out. Dust billowed sky-high from the rubble.

When it settled, only Hanyu remained, his clothes in tatters and his body drenched in blood. He stood to one side, panting. Beneath his feet, Third Elder Qin's chest had caved in. He was well and truly dead!

The Qin Family's Third Elder had fallen!

The third update is here. Please enjoy!