"Hall Master, they're all gone!"
"The Deputy Hall Master, the elders and protectors, and all those Elite Disciples—they're all gone."
Before long, a terrified voice reached the main hall.
Soon, everyone saw a panic-stricken disciple come scrambling inside, stumbling and crawling.
Before he even reached them, his voice had already rung through the hall.
The instant the Seven Kills Hall Master saw him appear, his heart clenched hard.
"The Deputy Hall Master is dead too?"
He drew a deep breath and asked in disbelief.
Both Deputy Hall Masters of the Seven Kills Hall were Primordial Spirit Realm cultivators!
Could Qin Wuyou really have killed a Primordial Spirit Realm cultivator?
"Hall Master, that man... he isn't human!"
The disciple dropped to his knees in panic and recounted everything he had seen.
When he heard that Qin Wuyou had summoned a weapon and instantly shattered the Earth-Rank Mid-Grade Killing Formation formed by the Third Elder and a hundred and eight Elite Assassins, the Seven Kills Hall Master's expression turned grim.
When he heard that the elders, protectors, and Elite Disciples had all been devoured in an instant, the Seven Kills Hall Master's nose practically twisted with rage.
Yet that was only the beginning.
When he heard that Qin Wuyou, who had only just advanced to the Purple Mansion Realm, had crushed the Deputy Hall Master's primordial spirit with one hand, the Seven Kills Hall Master's pupils widened sharply in shock.
"He crushed the Deputy Hall Master's primordial spirit right after entering the Purple Mansion Realm? Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"
The Seven Kills Hall Master stared fixedly at the disciple kneeling on the floor.
"It's absolutely true! And that's not all! With one hand, he crushed the Nine-Star God-Slaying Blade the Deputy Hall Master summoned using the formation's combined power. A single strike broke the formation and killed every fellow disciple maintaining it!"
Crack!
The Seven Kills Hall Master smashed the long table before him into pieces with a slap and rose furiously to his feet.
Rage blazed from his eyes, and overwhelming killing intent poured from his entire body.
"Qin Wuyou, if I don't cut you into a thousand pieces, I don't deserve to call myself a man!"
The Seven Kills Hall he had painstakingly built over decades had now lost more than half its strength. That was harder for him to bear than having his own flesh cut away.
And those losses were not even the most painful part.
Worst of all, the reputation their Seven Kills Hall had cultivated over decades would likely be ruined as well.
If they could not even deal with a single Qin Wuyou, who would hire the Seven Kills Hall in the future?
Without clients, their source of income would be cut off.
For the Seven Kills Hall, which made its living through murder, this was nothing less than severing its lifeline!
So no matter how he looked at it, he had to kill Qin Wuyou!
Only then could he salvage the Seven Kills Hall's reputation and business!
But he also knew that Qin Wuyou, who could crush the Deputy Hall Master's primordial spirit with one hand, was no easy opponent.
The Deputy Hall Master had led half the Seven Kills Hall's assassins against him, only for them all to be annihilated.
Thus, before striking again, he had to make every possible preparation.
Ideally, he would ensure there was no chance of failure!
"Send word to Deputy Hall Master Li. Have him oversee the hall's affairs for now. Also, keep the disciples in check. They are not to provoke Qin Wuyou for the time being."
"Once I break through to the Myriad Phenomena Realm, I'll make sure Qin Wuyou dies without a place to be buried!"
As soon as he finished speaking, someone went to relay his orders to Deputy Hall Master Li.
Meanwhile, the Seven Kills Hall Master turned and entered his secluded cultivation chamber.
The chamber measured only a dozen or so square meters, and a brocade box sat in its center.
The Seven Kills Hall Master took a gleaming pill from the box. Merely breathing in its medicinal fragrance made his bottleneck show signs of loosening.
"As expected of a Myriad Phenomena Pill!"
"With this Myriad Phenomena Pill, I'll definitely advance to the Myriad Phenomena Realm!"
"Once I reach the Myriad Phenomena Realm, taking down a mere Qin Wuyou will be as easy as reaching out my hand!"
Xuantian City.
The Lin Lineage.
The moment he received the news, Lin Nantian, head of the Lin Lineage, was stunned senseless.
He even wondered whether he was hallucinating.
Heavens!
What did I just hear?
Qin Wuyou wiped out more than half the Seven Kills Hall single-handedly?
He even crushed the primordial spirit of their Primordial Spirit Realm Deputy Hall Master with one hand?
To him, these events sounded like tales from the Arabian Nights.
Even when Qin Wuyou was in the Myriad Phenomena Realm, he wasn't this domineering or powerful, was he?
How could he have become even more terrifying after his cultivation was crippled?
"First Elder, are you certain the Qin Wuyou you're talking about is the same Qin Wuyou who pursued my Qingxue for three years?"
Lin Nantian even suspected that they had encountered someone with the same name.
He simply could not connect the Qin Wuyou who had displayed such awe-inspiring might in the Underground Cavern with the Qin Wuyou who had fawned over Lin Qingxue for three years.
One was an arrogant, domineering young prodigy with swagger that could blow the heavens apart.
The other was a cowardly, spineless lapdog.
Were they truly the same person?
"Patriarch, it really was Qin Wuyou. He visited our Lin Lineage often enough that I've seen him hundreds of times over the years. Even if I went blind, I couldn't mistake him."
The Lin Lineage's First Elder spoke with a deathly pale face.
He had originally been tracking Qin Wuyou in the Underground Cavern, but after witnessing Qin Wuyou's terrifying strength, he had fled in terror long ago.
Even the Seven Kills Hall's Primordial Spirit Realm Deputy Hall Master had been crushed. Wouldn't a Purple Mansion Realm small fry like him simply be serving himself up on a platter?
Seeing Patriarch Lin Nantian's shock and astonishment, the First Elder was not surprised in the slightest.
Even now, he himself had yet to recover from the shock.
A man who had plainly dug out his Dantian and become a cripple had risen so swiftly in just half a month. No one would have believed it without seeing it with their own eyes.
Yet that was the truth.
Qin Wuyou had not only risen again, but had become even more terrifying than before.
At the Foundation Establishment Realm, he could slaughter Purple Mansion Realm cultivators like dogs.
Upon first entering the Purple Mansion Realm, he had killed a cultivator at the seventh level of the Primordial Spirit Realm.
Either achievement alone would shake the world if word spread.
Where was there even a trace of that cowardly lapdog in the Qin Wuyou of today?
Who would still dare call him a good-for-nothing?
"How is this possible? How could this possibly happen? It's only been half a month! What exactly happened to that little bastard?"
Patriarch Lin Nantian's eyes were filled with shock and doubt.
In just half a month, Qin Wuyou, whom he had believed was destined to become a cripple, had actually risen again like this?
At that moment, Lin Nantian looked as though someone had slapped him hard across the face, his expression becoming extraordinarily complicated.
His badly contorted features held frustration, confusion, fear, and, above all, regret.
"If you'd fucking been like this earlier, I wouldn't have let Qingxue break off the engagement even if someone beat me to death!"
"Patriarch, why not have Qingxue approach him? If she takes the initiative to show goodwill, I think Qin Wuyou will surely weep tears of gratitude. Wouldn't that also let us wipe the slate clean between him and our Lin Lineage?"
Seeing Lin Nantian's regret, the First Elder promptly ventured a suggestion. "If we don't mend our relationship with Qin Wuyou now, and he later demands compensation according to the Marriage Pact, we couldn't afford to pay even if we sold the entire Lin Lineage."
The First Elder was among the few who had known about the Marriage Pact between the Lin Lineage and Qin Wuyou from the beginning. That was why Lin Nantian had sent him to seize it back after Qin Wuyou revealed its existence.
But with Qin Wuyou's current strength, taking the Marriage Pact from him was almost impossible.
That was why the First Elder had come up with this suggestion.
"Absolutely not! How could my Xue'er bow her head to that little bastard? Wouldn't that mean admitting our Lin Lineage was wrong? That our Xue'er was wrong?"
Lin Nantian rejected the suggestion immediately and said bitterly, "Besides, my Xue'er has already chosen Lin Fan in public. If she takes the initiative to admit fault to Qin Wuyou and people find out, what will happen to her reputation?"
"First Elder, never bring this up again! Even if someone has to apologize, it must be Qin Wuyou who comes to apologize to Xue'er and our Lin Lineage!"
"And from now on, don't tell Xue'er anything about Qin Wuyou! She's in poor spirits right now and needs peace and rest. If she learns that Qin Wuyou has been deceiving her for these past three years, I'm afraid she won't be able to bear it."
Seeing that Lin Nantian was still stubbornly refusing to yield, the First Elder could only sigh and say no more.
Yet Lin Nantian suddenly flew into a rage, as though something had just dawned on him.
"I wondered why that little bastard dug out his own Dantian and gave it to Xue'er without the slightest hesitation back then. So he'd already prepared a way out! Otherwise, how could he have become even stronger after digging out his Dantian?"
As though he had suddenly grasped a lifesaving straw, Lin Nantian ground his teeth and continued deceiving himself.
"He clearly dug out his Dantian to make himself stronger, yet now he's made it look as though our Lin Lineage owes him! What a calculating little bastard! If my Xue'er hadn't kept a clear head, she really would have been deceived by that beast in human skin!"
"Qin Wuyou, oh, Qin Wuyou, you deceived my Xue'er for three years. Let's see how you still have the face to come to our Lin Lineage and demand compensation!"
Even the Lin Lineage's First Elder standing beside him was utterly dumbfounded by his patriarch's muttering.
Holy shit! Who the fuck deceived whom?
You and your daughter were the ones who accepted the Heaven-High Bride Price.
You and your daughter were the ones who took Qin Wuyou's Dantian.
And you and your daughter were the ones who broke off the engagement in the end.
You and your daughter took every last benefit, then kicked Qin Wuyou aside.
How have you somehow become the ones who were deceived?
Patriarch, has someone opened a skylight in your skull?
Your talent for turning black into white and striking back with false accusations really is... fucking eye-opening!
Before you continue