Utter Madness

The speaker was a woman. As she spoke, she turned her gaze toward her son lying in bed.

At the sight of Wang Jinxi in this state, the woman clenched her fists, her eyes filled with a towering murderous intent.

The two women sitting side by side nearby also looked tense, anger burning in their eyes. The three fathers were no different.

Seeing how aggrieved his wife looked, Wang Jinxi's father fell silent for a moment.

He looked at the other five, a rare note of hesitation entering his voice.

"Actually, I have a way to avenge our sons, but it's definitely illegal, and we might have to pay a very steep price."

Wang Jinxi's father drew a deep breath as he spoke.

The others all turned toward him, including the other two women.

Seeing the resolve in their eyes, Wang Jinxi's father sighed. "You all know about the Evil Soul Master organization, right? The Holy Spirit Cult.

"That organization is quite infamous across the entire continent. We're all Soul Masters. I don't believe any of you haven't heard of it."

Wang Jinxi's father watched them as he spoke.

At the mention of the Holy Spirit Cult, most of their expressions changed. The three women's faces also turned extremely grim in an instant, even fearful.

The Holy Spirit Cult was an enemy of the entire world, as well as the Federation's most wanted organization.

Its atrocities were too numerous to record even on every strip of bamboo. It could practically be called the most evil organization in the world.

None of them were fools. Now that Wang Jinxi's father had mentioned the Holy Spirit Cult, they quickly understood what he meant.

But precisely because they understood, uncertainty and hesitation began to creep into their expressions.

Once they enlisted that organization, there would be absolutely no turning back.

If they hired the Holy Spirit Cult, or rather, hired someone from the Holy Spirit Cult to assassinate Li Qingxun...

If the assassination failed-or even if it succeeded-it could very well bring enormous trouble down upon them.

They were all deeply hesitant about that, but then they looked at their children.

They looked at the children lying there, none of whom had regained consciousness even now.

The hesitation in their eyes was once again replaced by murderous intent.

It was not that these parents failed to realize their own children were chiefly responsible for what had happened.

But after Li Qingxun had struck with lethal force, they had abandoned every other thought and laid all the blame and responsibility at his feet.

That was clearly wrong, but these parents did not care at all. All they could see was the wretched state of their children.

And in the end, that sight wore away the last of their fear.

So, after hearing Wang Jinxi's father out, the three women were the first to take a stand.

"My Wang Jinxi won't wake up for at least another half month. Even if he does wake up, he might be left disabled."

"His severe injuries might never heal. They still haven't been able to heal either of his arms."

Tears filled Wang Jinxi's mother's eyes as she spoke. The other two mothers exchanged a glance, a vicious glint flashing through their eyes as well.

"Tell us, Jinxi's father. How much money do we need?"

"Our three families will pool the money. Whatever the price, we'll pay it. I want that little bastard dead."

"If possible, kill every last one of his relatives and friends too!"

"If that Wu Changkong hadn't been there, we could have made a move. Otherwise, I would have slaughtered that little bastard with my own hands to avenge my child!"

The mothers spoke one after another, their voices steeped in murderous intent.

The three men sitting there also nodded in silence.

Seeing that everyone agreed, Wang Jinxi's father fell silent for a moment.

Then he walked aside, picked up the phone, and slowly dialed a number that had long lain buried in his memory.

A gentle breeze swept past, and the three-day break slipped by in a flash.

Over those three days, because of Gu Yue, Tang Wulin had made a point of inviting her, Xie Xie, and even Li Qingxun to the Beef Clay Pot Shop.

After strolling around the snack street, the group also tried the clay-pot beef.

Li Qingxun had originally expected Light Dragon to show up looking for trouble, but he never came.

However, the owner, whom they called Uncle Li, did not look well at all.

His face was already somewhat swollen.

Clearly, someone had probably extorted protection money from him recently, leaving him looking thoroughly haggard.

Still, when he saw Xie Xie arrive, he smiled at him and arranged a meal for the group.

Once the break ended, the day of their return to class arrived in the blink of an eye.

The morning passed as quickly as ever. After a brief lesson on Martial Souls, they had the afternoon off.

That evening, however, the entire group gathered in the training room, a rare occurrence.

Wu Changkong had already conducted a brief review that morning.

That evening's combat training would be harsher than any before it.

After every visit to the Spirit Ascension Platform, their combat training became a little stricter.

Wu Changkong stood before them. With Li Qingxun present, he did not limit himself to two-ring cultivation.

He truly could not beat Li Qingxun with two-ring cultivation, so he chose to use four-ring cultivation instead.

The four children would fight him directly.

"The rules are simple. As long as you can touch the hem of my clothes, you win."

"If you win, your classes for the next two days will stay exactly as they are. But if you lose..."

"Your fifteen running laps tomorrow will become fifty, and you'll have an additional training session in the afternoon."

Wu Changkong was very blunt. His creed was simple: victory brought no reward, but defeat would certainly bring punishment.

After hearing Wu Changkong's words, the group, who had still been somewhat relaxed, all grew serious.

Even Li Qingxun looked a little grave. He had not cared at first, but Wu Changkong looked at him and deliberately added another sentence.

"I did promise that you wouldn't have to do the daily runs, but if the team loses this time, you'll have to run those laps with everyone else."

That was truly painful for Li Qingxun. He genuinely hated running, though not because his stamina was lacking.

Rather, this kind of straight-line running served no purpose. For Soul Masters, it was purely a waste of stamina.

They could not simply waste their stamina and then expect it to rise to a higher level.

It was not efficient foundational exercise, and its effects were limited.

Besides, they could exercise in places like the workout room. There was absolutely no need to put themselves through all this here. It was nothing but a waste of time.

That was precisely why Li Qingxun hated running. So, after hearing Wu Changkong's words, even he grew unusually serious.

Seeing how earnest the youngsters looked, Wu Changkong's expression remained unchanged.

He stood there quietly and settled into a sword stance.

As he raised his hand, the Frost Sword appeared in his grasp.

Powerful icy energy swirled around his palm, and his gaze grew a little more serious as well.