Oath of Vengeance

Oath of Vengeance

Inside the Royal Capital, misty rain veiled the city. Atop a towering pavilion...

Qin Long rested one hand on her longsword and clasped the other behind her back. Her clear eyes reflected the dark clouds at the horizon as she gazed for a long time in a certain direction within the city.

Pandora stood beside her, cradling a large bowl filled with crimson liquid and noisily slurping it down with an expression of utter enjoyment.

The two went about their own business, and the air was fairly quiet.

At that moment, the black-robed figure who had appeared at the city gates earlier swiftly flipped down from the pavilion's flying eaves.

He removed his ghost mask and black robe, revealing the attire of a wandering martial hero and a handsome, valiant face. It was Xiao Liang.

He walked over, first taking a sniff beside Pandora's bowl before immediately rapping her on the forehead.

She glared at him and hid the bowl behind her back.

"Pathetic. If you're going to drink, drink human blood and cultivate some Baleful Qi while you're at it. Why are you drinking bloodberry juice?"

At this point, Qin Long dispelled the gloom in her eyes, turned around, and stroked Pandora's head where she had been hit.

"Xiao Liang, don't bully Pandora. She cultivates very diligently. She'll probably break through to the Fourth Level of Qi Refining soon. Don't let one of your Spirit Zombies surpass you in cultivation!"

Qin Long's touch made the Flying Corpse let out a kitten-like purr. Her tiny fangs peeked out slightly, and she actually made a face at Xiao Liang.

This thing's intelligence had been growing higher and higher lately.

Xiao Liang clenched his fist, feeling a little jealous as he said strangely, "Qin Long, how are you so skilled at petting Pandora? It sounds strange to say it, but this thing doesn't have much humanity. If I weren't mentally linked to her, she'd probably bite me too!"

Qin Long snorted and did not answer.

"Old ghost, come out and take a look." Xiao Liang was a man of status now, so he immediately thought of calling for an old grandpa.

"Hehehe, did this Flying Corpse perhaps chew on a rare Deep Sea Blood Crystal? She hasn't fully digested it yet, but trash like human blood is completely useless to her now!"

An exquisite bracelet adorned Xiao Liang's left wrist. The Hundred Tribulations Daoist turned into a wisp of green smoke and poked his head out from it. He stared at Pandora's flat stomach, casually commented a few times, then withdrew back into the Heaven-Earth Bracelet.

A Deep Sea Blood Crystal? Xiao Liang was astonished. That was a rare treasure for cultivating secret blood-path arts. It was not formed from the filthy blood qi of living beings, but a natural product of heaven and earth.

"You gave it to her? You got it from that encounter of yours, right? But that thing would have been useful to you too. I heard that combined with spiritual medicine, it could cleanse one's marrow and transform one's physique. You actually just let Pandora chew it up."

Xiao Liang patted his head, feeling somewhat regretful.

"Pandora absorbed the Deep Sea Blood Crystal thoroughly. It improved her foundation and intelligence, so it wasn't a loss. Since she belongs to you, she belongs to me as well. I think improving her strength is perfectly appropriate."

Qin Long's expression remained calm.

Xiao Liang glanced at her and teased, "I don't recall agreeing to your request for me to devote myself to you. You're already acting like the mistress of the house?"

"I remember you said you were very picky about Dao companions and needed to think it over carefully. But I'm not worried."

"Could it be... that you intend to reject me?" Qin Long suddenly leaned close to Xiao Liang. Her stunningly androgynous face was right before appearance-obsessed Xiao Liang, naturally captivating him.

She extended a slender finger and pressed it against his chest, her red lips parting slightly. "Your heartbeat sped up!"

"That's because your breathing stole all the air in front of me!"

Xiao Liang irritably pushed this damned woman away. It would be a lie to say he was unmoved; her beauty practically matched his tastes perfectly.

Pandora was beautiful too, but her exotic features and identity as a Spirit Zombie made Xiao Liang see her only as a capable fighter and a pleasing ornament.

Qin Long was different. She truly moved Xiao Liang's heart. Her powerful talent and fortune also gave her every chance of accompanying him farther down the path of immortality.

Perhaps for ten years. Perhaps a hundred, or even a thousand.

Precisely because of that, Xiao Liang was unwilling to make a frivolous promise.

The woman before him was as proud as a hawk. She had only just left the nest and had yet to soar through the heavens.

Instinctively, he did not want her to look down on him. He did not want to become a fleeting sight along her path of cultivation.

Judging from their current cultivation levels, he was the one who seemed to be reaching above his station.

A few months had passed, and Qin Long had already broken through to the Eighth Level of Qi Refining. Although she explained that she had consumed a fourth-grade spiritual pill during her fortunate encounter, which had made her progress through the Qi Refining Stage somewhat faster.

But such speed could not be described as merely somewhat faster. It was utterly terrifying.

Late Qi Refining in less than a year!

After obtaining the resources from the Earthfire Hall expedition, Xiao Liang's cultivation speed had increased greatly as well. Yet he had only barely broken through to the Mid Qi Refining Stage—the Fourth Level of Qi Refining.

The difference between them was simply heaven and earth.

"No matter what, I'm very grateful to you. Before my great vengeance is fulfilled, I am no longer alone."

Qin Long suddenly lowered her eyes. No longer teasing Xiao Liang, she leaned against him with a hint of sorrow.

Xiao Liang raised his hand and hesitated slightly. In the end, he gently wrapped it around her back. Before long, he felt a trace of dampness on his shoulder.

This stubborn woman was actually crying. When she had been possessed before, she had been terrified beyond measure, yet she had not cried then.

Xiao Liang was not good at handling such situations. He merely turned his face to the side and accompanied her, silently watching the fine rain within the Royal Capital that seemed as though it would never end.

Qin Long came from a swordsmanship family in the Yan Kingdom, though its influence was not great. It was not even comparable to the mortal family Xiao Liang had been born into.

She had previously only told Xiao Liang that her fortunate encounter came after she was pursued by enemies and fell from a cliff.

With such a dramatic story, Xiao Liang had naturally paid more attention to the fortunate encounter rather than the fact that she had been hunted.

In truth, that day had been the darkest day of Qin Long's life.

A martial sect under Grand General Yan Wuxu had learned that the Qin Family's legitimate daughter possessed extraordinary martial talent and peerless beauty, so they came to demand her. To their surprise, the Qin Family patriarch sternly refused.

Enraged, they slaughtered the entire Qin Family and pursued Qin Long until she had no path to heaven or earth.

Such hatred could end only with death.

Most people in the martial world knew only that some of the top-ranked experts in the Divine Weapon Manual were outstanding and far surpassed their peers, as if they belonged to an entirely different world.

They assumed their own martial talent was insufficient, or that they had not cultivated diligently enough.

They did not know that the strongest figures at the top were always cultivators who had concealed their identities.

No matter how far one trained martial arts, even reaching the Innate Realm, one was still merely mortal. How could mortals possibly defeat cultivators?

Yan Wuxu, a member of the imperial clan, was in fact a cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refining.

Using his exalted status, he had gathered pure women throughout the Yan Kingdom on a massive scale.

He used them as cultivation furnaces to practice wicked arts.

Over the past few months, Xiao Liang and Qin Long had successively crushed the martial sects under Yan Wuxu, cutting away his wings.

At the same time, they had seized every moment to cultivate, all for the sake of taking revenge on him.

"I deliberately showed myself at the city gates earlier. Yan Wuxu should have received the news by now. He has probably already gathered his troops and made preparations."

Xiao Liang spoke in a calm tone.

"Good. I don't want to assassinate him. That would be letting him off too easily. I want Yan Wuxu to understand clearly that the one coming to kill him is here!"

Qin Long moved away from Xiao Liang's shoulder. The faint tear tracks on her face were instantly evaporated by her spiritual power. She gripped the hilt of the sword behind her, her voice brimming with killing intent.

"Break a thousand troops, withstand ten thousand arrows, trample the Grand General's Manor to pieces, then cut off Yan Wuxu's dog head and avenge your family!"

"I'd be more than happy to accompany you in doing something so satisfying."

Xiao Liang raised a hand toward the wanted poster he had torn down from the city gates. Scorching fire force burst from his fingertip, instantly igniting it as he watched its ashes drift into the distance.

(End of Chapter)