A thousand miles away from the 'former' Penglai Island, one of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect's Sufferance-tier elites s.h.i.+vered all over and muttered with a look of utter disbelief, “Brother Thousand Sword… has fallen?”

The spiritual mark that the Thousand Sword Daoist had left him with had already faded.

It meant that the person was utterly dead, with not one fragment of his Yuan Spirit left.

The seven Sufferance-tier elites all turned toward the single Mahayantier elite of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect then, only to find that said elite was staring somewhere far away and looked even more shocked than they were. He only came to his senses after a long while, looking almost disembodied as he whispered, “The White Brows Daoist and his disciples are all fallen?”

His voice was quiet, but it was even more shocking than a bolt from the blue when the seven Sufferance-tier elite heard him.

A Mahayantier elite, fallen?

Ever since that upheaval over two thousand years ago, the immortal sects, demonic sects, and ancient daemon cultivators all secluded themselves. Even the occasional conflict were small squabbles, which was why no Sufferance-tier elite had died, let alone a Mahayantier… of course, the ones who died to heavenly retributions did not count.

Even if there had been several monstrous beings born unto the mortal realm out of nowhere and gained meteoric rise, none of them slain a Mahayantier elite.

“Ancestral Master…”

After a dozen seconds, one of the Sufferance-tier elites came to his senses and asked, “What should we do now?

The Mahayantier elite of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect took out a communications jade charm then. He appeared even more baffled even as he spoke to someone, and a look of shock and worry showed up between his brows.

After a while…

He put away the jade cham and cried out in panic, “Return. Everyone must return at once!”

“Every last member of their Penglai Sect has been wiped out—the elders, the disciples, their Sufferance-tier elites, and two Mahayantier ancestral masters are all fallen.”

The Ten Thousand Swords Sect's Sufferance-tier elites were left astonished. But before they could ask anything, the Mahayantier elite put weight behind every word and said seriously, “They were all killed by Jiang He!”

At the Martial Arts Department (MAD) Headquarters in Jingdu City, thanks to the Bezoar Detox Pills, Amoxicillin Capsules, and seven days of hard work, the Daemonic Qi lingering over w.a.n.g Hou's body were all extracted.

He clutched at his thermal cup the office and had an enjoyable sip while smiling smugly. “I really am the luckiest. Not only did the Daemonic Qi failed to hurt me, I even gained something out of that injury by ascending up to Void-tier advanced. With such progress, I might even reach Zero-Void if I get attacked another two or three times.”

Zhou Yu and several high-ranked MAD officials were sitting nearby.

One of them was the divine-tier elite who brought Jiang He his mutated rice and Mosquito Cutter, and his lips twitched by reflex… there were a lot of good things about w.a.n.g Hou, but he always loved to brag in front of others.

Do you even remember what you look like when you returned from the Wanshougong of West Mountain?

Your face had been blackened after the Daemonic Qi entered his body, and I had to help you get to your own bed. It is questionable whether you would have survived if Jiang He did not give you those medicine, and you are already putting on airs now?

Of course… the divine-tier elite only thought that and did not have the guts to actually say it.

Meanwhile, w.a.n.g Hou had a few more sips of his tea before moving on to the heart of the conversation, saying, “Today, I've called everyone here to announce something important… now that things have become stable at the Hua Nation, I want to use this time to go on a journey and see if I could gain some providence while doing my best to improve myself.”

The others were not surprised.

w.a.n.g Hou had already revealed his plans before, and his leaders.h.i.+p-style at the MAD was really the 'I don't care' type.

He would be hitting something if it was a big deal, and barking 'don't trouble me' if it was not.

After some thought, Zhou Yu stood up as well, cleared his throat and asked, “Minister w.a.n.g, could I have some time off as well?”

“I would soon gain complete grasp over the Boundary of Wills, and I want to confine myself a little to try charging up to divine-tier…”

w.a.n.g Hou chuckled in response. “I'll permit your leave. The last few years have been hard on you and you would have long since reached divine-tier if not for the various affairs in the MAD. There are also some treasures at the vault that strengthens will and spirit, and I'll give special permission for you to get them later.”

Delighted, Zhou Yu grinned. “I won't hold back, then.”

The others all offered their congratulations to Zhou Yu ahead of time then, with someone teasing, “Deputy Zhou, remember to treat everyone after you've ascended.”

“Treat! There has to be a treat!”

The office was all cheerful and at peace when…

Bang!

Someone crashed through the office.

It was a rank-eight martial artist.

He was the chief of intelligence in the MAD headquarters, and he looked beside himself with worry as he exclaimed, “Bad news, Minister w.a.n.g…”

The look on everyone's faces changed then.

Three minutes later…

A satellite image was delivered before w.a.n.g Hou and it displayed a mushroom cloud of immeasurable proportions.

The mushroom cloud and flames from the explosion covered everything else, and nothing in the center of the explosion could be seen clearly. After w.a.n.g Hou got in touch with the military, a specialist said, “It must be a hydrogen bomb of terrible yield… it was at least a hundred and fifty tons in yield!”

“Those part of the seas are under the island nation's jurisdiction, but they should not have the ability to create nuclear bombs!”

“Minister w.a.n.g, the position of explosion is mostly ascertained…”

The intelligent department soon provided an accurate location of the explosion by calculating the coordinates. w.a.n.g Hou stared at the report pa.s.sed to him at that, his eyes twitching as he muttered, “This is…”

He was a little uncertain, and hence sought out Elder Lin… who soon gave them a definitive answer.

The old man appeared a little perplexed as he said, “This is indeed the location of the Penglai Sect… Could it be…”

Elder Lin's eyes widened at w.a.n.g Hou as a bold idea occurred to him, but he soon refuted that thought himself and said, “It shouldn't be Jiang He since he is still at Lingzhou City. How could he have run off to throw bombs at the Penglai Sect?”

w.a.n.g Hou chuckled bitterly. “He is overseas!”

Elder Lin's whole body shuddered at that.

His idea was definitely right, then—moreover, Jiang He had been at odds with the Penglai Sect's True Habitant of Nine Dragons.

After that, w.a.n.g Hou whipped out his phone and dialed Jiang He's number, but ended up reaching a voice message saying 'unable to reach the number at the moment.' Beside him, Elder Lin thought about it a little before saying, “Minister w.a.n.g, let's head overseas. I know the Penglai Sect and we could get some information.”

Soon, Elder Lin had moved and flown overseas.

He knows the location of the Penglai Sect and had once received a jade charm that permitted him free entry into their territory. However, after becoming utter disillusioned with the sect following the invasion against the Sky Demons, Elder Lin crippled his mystic energies and cultivation on his own initiative, erasing his connection with the Penglai Sect.

Now, though the tsunamis and tidal waves had calmed down when Elder Lin reached the Penglai Sect, all he could see was mountain boulders and charred debris of buildings left everywhere. Then, he soon saw a stone plaque on which the word 'Penglai' was emblazoned in gold.

The plaque itself was made with special materials that resembled immeasurably st.u.r.dy golden ores, though it was actually so light it floated on a water.

Lin Tianzheng's eyes narrowed at that and he could not help inhaling sharply.

He recognized that plaque!

He had seen it on both occasions when he entered the Penglai Sect's Secret Realm, because it stood in front of the Penglai Sect's mountain gates.

Aside from that, there were also pieces of corpses remaining in the sea.

Lin Tianzheng's heart raced at that. He appeared full of disbelief as he took out a jade charm, charging it and feeling it repeatedly…

And yet, he sensed nothing.

“The Penglai Sect… is gone?”

“How could this be?”

“A secluded immortal sect with a history of several thousand years and untold numbers of elites. How could a hydrogen bomb wipe them out just like that?”

Ah…

It was not a hydrogen bomb.

Those had radiation, and Elder Lin sensed nothing ever since arriving. Moreover, according to Jiang He, he had always used his own 'homecooked bombs'…

So, Jiang He had used those to blow up the Penglai Sect?

After that, Lin Tianzheng combed through several hundred kilometers of the ocean around that location and found nothing. He was not sure if there were survivors from the Penglai Sect, just as was not sure that Jiang He had survived.

Still, he was lucky enough to pick up a Spatial Ring and aside from some medicinal pellets, there was a premium-grade soul item and several Penglai Sect cultivation manuals.

By night, Lin Tianzheng had already returned home.

He informed w.a.n.g Hou about everything he had found.

w.a.n.g Hou, however, was chuckling after Lin Tianzheng said that he was not sure if Jiang He was dead or alive. “Don't worry, the good never live long while plagues live for thousands of years. The kid would definitely be alright even if both of us died.”

Lin Tianzheng appeared pensive then and appeared to disagree with the 'plagues live for thousands years' statement. Did Jiang He not single handedly earned the peace that the Hua Nation now enjoyed? How did the kid become a plague?

w.a.n.g Hou scowled at that and said, “I'm just giving an example, Elder Lin. Why so serious?”

Meanwhile…

Jiang He was snoozing away and only woke up after sleeping for an entire day.

He then stepped outside his farm to find dark clouds covering the skies, with the occasional flicker of thunderbolts. At the same time, both eaglets were crying out shrilly and rearing their heads skywards, looking challenging at the clouds of retribution.

“The Four Retributions of the Nine Lesser Heavens?”

“Are my eagles weathering the retribution?”

Jiang He was not surprised, though when he looked at the clouds at retribution that spanned just around five kilometers… he found them rather weak.

Both golden eaglets possessed the bloodlines of divine beasts, with the Blazing Violet-Golden Eaglet itself connected to mutated divine beasts. They would make short work of the Four Retributions of the Nine Lesser Heavens, and were even allowing the thunderbolts to strike their bodies, honing it and easily weathering through the heavenly retribution.

Pleased, Jiang He took out a huge pile of soul items and said, “Now that you are Daemonic Pellet tier and could use mystic treasures, these would work for you. Each of you can pick some to use for now since sage items would not work much for you, so I'll give you those later.”

Dumbo and the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers had their share too, and were grinning broadly.

He then glanced at his phone to check the time when he exclaimed, “Eh? It's already the twenty-first? I'd actually slept the whole day!”

Time really flew.

Telling his two maids, cat, dog, eaglets, and the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers to return inside his farm then, he grinned. “Let's go home and deal with the Ten Thousand Swords Sect for now. It's no different if I bring you guys out to play later anyway.”

He streaked forward rapidly with Royal Sword Flight.

It was an easy for him to fly at six times the speed of light after becoming a full-fledged Sufferance-tier elite.

Soon, he returned to Jinyintan Village, though several cultivators rushed toward him just as he landed at his farm. The one in the lead was a middle-aged Daoist carrying a long sword over his back, and he possessed a powerful aura that did not lose out to the White Brows Daoist.

“Brother Jiang He…”

The Daoist was all smiles as he approached, and quickly introduced himself when Jiang He appeared suspicious. “The name is Jin Sidao. My Daoist t.i.tle is the Lord of the Dragon Abyss Sword and I hail from the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, and I am here today to offer a humble apology and to make amends.”

As he spoke, he lowered his back in a bow, and there was a sincere apologetic look on his face.

Behind him, the chieftain of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect as well as several of their Sufferance-tier elders were bowing as well.

Hence, Jiang He became a little embarra.s.sed despite being overflowing with killing intent at first, and could not help saying, “I was ready to find out where you people are and go wipe you out. Well, I have no excuse to attack now that you lot are doing this.”