[V6C143 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

This shout came abruptly and was extremely tyrannical. A wisp of origin power shot out of Li Tianquan’s mouth and flew toward Qianye.

The latter felt his ears ringing and his vision turned black. His entire body was trembling and even his organs had suffered the impact, especially the two origin vortices. The newly formed one was spun about rapidly and even showing signs of imminent dispersal.

But Qianye’s reaction came about naturally. The greater part of the incoming origin power was negated by his powerful const.i.tution. The auric gold blood inside revolved continuously, crus.h.i.+ng and incinerating the invasive origin power in the blink of an eye.

Li Tianquan’s expression was awkward after seeing that Qianye merely went pale and didn’t even cough up blood.

Qianye recovered right away. His eyes were filled with killing intent as he placed a hand on the Twin Flowers. “Elder Li, are you trying to kill me?”

Li Tianquan shot a glance at the Twin Flowers. “You would be a corpse by now if this old man wanted to kill you. Do you think your little gun can break through my skin? This is only teaching you a lesson. You have to know that our Jingtang Li Family is not a place for you to be impudent.”

Qianye sneered, “That’s quite the lesson. You were aiming straight for my origin vortex. Why don’t we go to the military police for a.n.a.lysis? Let’s see which army’s disciplinary action would strike at a soldier’s foundations.”

Li Tianquan realized that Qianye wasn’t about to back down and was instead becoming even tougher. He said in a gloomy tone, “General Qianye is indeed too young. This is the frontline and this old man is the supervisor here, so I have the right to act as I see fit. So what if you file a complaint? Do you think the military will believe you without any evidence?”

Qianye narrowed his eyes. “The military’s att.i.tude isn’t important. There are other people interested in your family’s handling of rewards.”

The two locked gazes and the atmosphere in the room almost froze up entirely.

Everyone was well aware that “other people” meant the independent experts who were here for the rewards. Their judgment of matters required no proof. Since they could call Qianye’s payment into question just from rumors, they would likewise be worried about their own rewards not being honored. It wasn’t quite possible that the Li family was targeting Qianye alone.

After a while, Li Tianquan put the teapot he had been fiddling with on the table. His expression also relaxed somewhat as he said, “Since you’re unwilling to admit to your mistake, our Li family isn’t that unreasonable, either. I’ll give you one more month. Your terms will remain as before during this period, but don’t blame me if you can’t get into the top three during this time. Not only will we cancel your contract and dock all your contribution points, but the rewards already issued will also be reclaimed as compensation. What say you?”

Qianye sneered, “Elder Li is truly calculative! But what if I manage it?”

“If you can do it, then this old man will take it upon himself to add thirty percent to your rewards. If you can take the first place three months later, I’ll give you both the Storm Pearl and Stillwater Rebirth.”

Qianye was startled after hearing this. He quickly realized that Li Tianquan was so generous because he simply didn’t believe in Qianye completing these conditions.

Qianye replied, “Since Elder Li has such high hopes for me, then I won’t leave in such a rush. I’ll be staying two more months to reap the contribution points. Stillwater Rebirth is quite useful for me.”

Li Tianquan laughed, “You’re quite confident.”

Qianye did not comment. He soon got up and said with a cold smile, “Then it’s settled, I hope Elder Li won’t go back on his words.”

Li Tianquan hadn’t even finished his “I never go back on my words” when Qianye banged the door in his face. He was so angry that green veins were popping up on his face.

The bookshelf beside Li Tianquan rotated after Qianye left and out walked a young man. Glancing in the direction of Qianye’s departure, he said with a frown, “This brat is so arrogant. Why didn’t you cripple him, Second Elder?”

Li Tianquan shook his head slowly. “This child’s background is too complicated. It’ll indeed be troublesome if he stirs up trouble here.”

The young man said disapprovingly. “Even his relations.h.i.+p with the Zhao clan isn’t clear. Why else would he run over to the Misty Wood? It"s probably because he can’t stay with them.”

Li Tianquan said cautiously, “This child’s objective is unclear. Let’s let him stay for a couple of months. There’s no way he can turn things around entirely. Moreover, there’s no other place like the Misty Wood. It’ll be hard to track him down after he leaves this place.”

The young man broke into a frown. Finally, he said, “I hope Elder Li doesn’t forget our deal,” and left.

Li Tianquan sat down slowly after the man left. His hands grabbed the armrest subconsciously as he recalled the matters from just now.

The old man no longer concealed his emotions as there was no one left around him. He clenched his teeth in anger with green veins popping up on his face. This was his true nature, a far cry from the well-controlled demeanor he had maintained in front of the young man and Qianye.

The short exchange with Qianye just now had made him extremely uneasy. It was as though a large blade was hanging right above his neck. In his sixty years of life, he had never experienced a situation that had gone so awry.

Qianye’s ident.i.ty was complicated and his motives were unclear. Li Tianquan had no plans to get himself involved in this type of trouble. He only wanted to inflict a hidden injury on Qianye—one could easily imagine the eventual fate of a lone, injured person amidst the encircling wolves.

After seeing Qianye, he had found the urge to deal the killing blow more than just once. However, a certain premonition of danger kept lingering around him. As a family proficient in the divination arts, their members, even those who weren’t prophets, enjoyed a sharper premonition than ordinary people. This sense of danger prevented the cautious Li Tianquan from acting out.

Now that he thought about it, that sense of danger became even clearer—this caused his hair to stand on end.

Li Tianquan was greatly astonished because this sense of menace was even capable of causing his heart to waver. He immediately focused on suppressing his apprehension. He thought back to the details of that moment but still couldn’t find anything abnormal—all that was left was the repeated scene of Qianye putting his hands on his revolver.

“What d.a.m.n use can a grade-five gun have?” Li Tianquan was puzzled. Although his roar back then hadn’t achieved its desired effect, he was able to sound out Qianye’s true strength via it. It was roughly between rank thirteen and fourteen. This kind of combat strength was no less powerful than martial geniuses like Li Qingyun and Li Kuanglan, and only slightly inferior to Zhao Jundu.

It was just that the ability to fight against people of a higher level was only useful during mid to lower levels. After reaching the end of one’s potential with successive upgrades, the more important factors were technique, experience, secret arts, and even luck. Around the divine champion level, rank suppression was akin to an insurmountable moat.

Li Tianquan had been at rank-seventeen for a long time—he wouldn"t be entirely helpless even against an old monster like Nangong Yuanw.a.n.g. With a basic level of only rank eleven, Qianye would be totally suppressed if a fight were to break out between them. So where did that sense of danger come from?

Li Tianquan gave it some thought and decided that he would dedicate more time to the divination arts, lest his plans get disrupted again in the future.

Qianye heaved a sigh after walking out of the camp. It felt as though there was a huge rock pressing down on his chest—it was incredibly uncomfortable.

He wasn’t afraid of this matter, but it was indeed nauseating. It was beyond Qianye’s expectations, however, that Li Tianquan didn’t attack him at the very end. He had his hands on the Twin Flowers this entire time and could hardly resist the urge to go back and blast the man with the Shot of Inception.

Qianye sneered secretly as he recalled his confrontation with Li Tianquan. He was already prepared to just walk away. At most, he would lose the few things that had been confiscated. But now, he planned to stay and take first place three months later—he wanted to see how Li Tianquan would handle things at that point.

The Storm Pearl had never been offered to the public before, but Stillwater Rebirth was an item with a definite price tag. Even a clan elder like Li Tianquan would have his heart broken to take out a Stillwater Rebirth from the family warehouse.

There was a pair of eyes paying rapt attention to the main road leading out of the camp. Seeing Qianye walk out of the camp, that person immediately came back to report. Li Qingyun’s expression didn’t change after listening and simply kept on tapping the armrest. He suddenly asked, “About the information from the workshop, his armor is from the Bai clan?”

“Yes, and it’s the work of Bai Songhe no less,” the follower continued in a whisper, “Old Bai’s pieces are all well known. It won’t be hard to find the source.”

Li Qingyun smiled, “Bai clan, Zhao clan, haha, I haven’t seen such an interesting person in a long time. Does Second Elder know about this?”

The follower replied, “Even if he didn’t before, he’ll probably find out this afternoon.”

Li Qingyun laughed once again. “Don’t tell me that old b.a.s.t.a.r.d really embezzled someone else’s items?”

The follower felt somewhat uneasy. “Ninth Young Master, shall we…”

Li Qingyun’s smile disappeared and his expression turned indifferent. “Let’s just watch from the sidelines. Second Elder is indeed selfish, but he isn’t stupid. Contribution points are a different matter, but this armor, he won’t dare touch.”

He paused for a moment and then said with a smile, “Although I am curious if Zhao Jundu will come out of the Zhao clan war zone for this, that really isn’t the way to seek humiliation.”

The one beside him was Li Qingyun’s trusted aide, but even he didn’t dare continue this topic. Seeing that Li Qingyun had nothing else to say, he excused himself after a while.

Qianye had long since sensed the eyes on him when he walked out of the main camp, but such things weren’t unusual for him. He paid it no heed and simply walked on.

A certain person charged out from the side at this point, seemingly hurrying forward with his head lowered. It also looked like he was lost in thought and didn’t notice Qianye.

That person wasn’t weak at all—he promptly sensed someone on the road ahead but seemed to have no intention of stopping or moving away. Instead, he spat out some profanities and sped up.

Qianye also happened to be in a bad mood, so he immediately halted his steps and waited for that person to come cras.h.i.+ng in.

A m.u.f.fled thud rang out as a flash of origin power lit up the camp doors.