Chapter 401: The Scream in the Darkness

There were at least a hundred martial practitioners of various realms belonging to different factions in the vast hall.

After “get out” was shouted, the already quiet hall became so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

Everyone’s gazes followed the finger of this thin Heavenly Sword Mountain youth and locked onto Qin Lie in the corner of the hall.

Thirty martial practitioners had been standing between Qin Lie and that youth. At this time, these people moved out of the way of their own accord.

The space between the youth and Qin Lie became empty, and the two could look at each other without any obstructions.

Qin Lie, whose back was to the crowd, suddenly felt intense gazes gather on him. He immediately realized that the youth’s anger was directed at him.

In front of him, Chang He of Sea Moon Trade Group furrowed his eyebrows and said in a very small voice, “Leave now. I will sell the Astral Thunder Hammer to you for one thousand Earth Grade spirit stones later on.”

“We will leave now. It… would not be good to create trouble at this time,” Song Tingyu mentioned in a low voice.

She understood Qin Lie better than anyone else.

She knew that the current Qin Lie was not the Qin Lie of the past.

The Qin Lie of the past had a gentle temper and was kind to others. He would not make trouble for those that did not offend him first. He rarely caused trouble, and would only show his fangs when he was forced.

However, since he had merged with his previous personality, there was a kind of madness in Qin Lie’s bones. Characteristics of a berserker flowed through his veins.

Even if people did not offend him, the current Qin Lie would occasionally think about causing trouble and offending others. Since the people of Heavenly Sword Mountain had come to challenge him, wasn’t that just igniting the gunpowder?

Bi You of Celestial Artifact Sect had arranged for people to search for Qin Lie. If he fought with these people now, it was likely that Bi You would find traces of him and his identity would be exposed.

Song Tingyu was panicking on the inside.

“Let’s go.” Under the gaze of the crowd, Song Tingyu grabbed Qin Lie’s arm, seeking to pull him away and out of the hall.

“Wait a moment!” Qin Lie’s brow furrowed. His feet seemed to be rooted to the ground and he remained unmoved.

Turning around, he looked at the handsome young martial practitioner from Heavenly Sword Mountain.

“Are you talking to me?” Qin Lie narrowed his eyes. He wore an indifferent expression, and there was no amusement at the corners of his mouth.

“I told you to get out! Did you not hear me?” Li Rong’s finger did not stop pointing at Qin Lie. He stood upright, his thin body resembling a sword out of its sheathe.

As a martial practitioner of Heavenly Sword Mountain, Li Rong had never seen anyone dare to talk back to him when he was around Sea Moon Island. Even elders of Copper rank forces who were stronger than him in realm were polite to him, much less someone of the same generation.

He was used to being superior, and he believed that, down to his bones, he was superior to everyone in the hall. Therefore, he was extremely displeased with Qin Lie’s attitude and his expression became even colder.

“Stop messing around. Let’s go, there’s no need to fight with him,” Song Tingyu said in a soft voice.

Qin Lie ignored her, his body unmoving like a boulder. Looking grimly at Li Rong, he grinned brightly and said, “What if I’m not willing to leave?”

“Then I will beat you until you are willing to!” Li Rong shouted.

A magenta longsword suddenly flew out of Li Rong’s spatial ring. As a martial practitioner of Heavenly Sword Mountain, Li Rong specialized in the sword. When he gripped the handle of the longsword, a wave of intense heat spread from his body.

Li Rong pointed at Qin Lie with the magenta long sword.

“Zzt zzzt zzt!”

Wisps of magenta fire flowed along the length of the sword and rapidly gathered at its tip.

The tip of the sword emitted a speck of crimson energy. As soon as that fiery energy formed, the martial practitioners in the surroundings felt a harsh heat.

Li Rong started moving his arm and the sword in his hand in a circle in front of him. Specks of crimson fire spread from the tip of his sword. As the sword spun, the fire danced in circles.

The specks of fire were like burning raindrops that shot from the tip of the sword. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of these specks merged together to form a fiery drill.

Inside the hall, the other martial practitioners subconsciously moved away from Li Rong and Qin Lie.

A dozen or so Manifestation Realm martial practitioners felt a burning power that was enough to burn their flesh coming from the specks of fire. Their expressions changed and they promptly exited the hall.

“T-this...”

Chang He was sweating profusely. He did not dare to try and get Li Rong to stop, so he could only grit his teeth and shout at Qin Lie, “Friend! I will sell the Astral Thunder Hammer to you for eight hundred Earth Grade spirit stones. Put down the spirit stones, take the Astral Thunder Hammer, and leave! I’m begging you!”

“You shouldn’t be begging me to leave,” Qin Lie snickered. “You should be begging him to.”

He looked at Li Rong.

“I...” Chang He’s face went bright red.

“Get out!” Li Rong shouted.

Li Rong slowly gathered specks of fire, condensing his power in hopes that Qin Lie would retreat and leave the hall of his own accord.

Li Rong had not predicted that, as he continued to power up his killing move, Qin Lie would remain calm and was even able to laugh.

This made him angry.

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh!”

The fire drill that had been formed from hundreds of fiery specks was five to six meters long. It howled as it finally shot from the tip of the sword.

Hundreds of fiery crimson wisps shot straight toward Qin Lie’s chest.

Chang He started to scream.

Song Tingyu’s brow furrowed slightly. Seeing the blazing drill heading for them, she also got angry. She felt that the people of Heavenly Sword Mountain had gone too far.

“Give him eight hundred Earth Grade spirit stones!”

As she prepared to attack, she heard Qin Lie laugh loudly. In the next moment, she realized that Qin Lie had broken free of her hand and grabbed the Astral Thunder Hammer on the crystal showcase, intending to smash it at Li Rong.

“Boom!”

A resounding boom came from Qin Lie’s chest. Numerous bolts of lightning flooded into the Astral Thunder Hammer like snakes slithering into the sea.

Qin Lie swung the hammer!

The Astral Thunder Hammer, which was as long as an arm, suddenly became three times larger, and even grew thicker than Qin Lie’s body.

“Boooom!”

Blue astral lightning was evident inside of the Astral Thunder Hammer. The hammer roared as it ferociously smashed against the fiery drill.

Hundreds of blazing specks scattered in every direction. They resembled the sparks that flew when an enormous hammer struck red-hot metal.

Curses resounded throughout the originally quiet hall. Many martial practitioners that had been observing indifferently from the side screamed as they dodged. They channelled their spirit power to form shields of light, afraid that the flames would touch them.

The Astral Thunder Hammer crashed to the black stone ground.

“Boom!”

Pieces of black stone immediately shattered. The fragments were like cold black stars flying through the sky, all of which were headed toward Li Rong.

Li Rong’s pupils contracted.

“Sword Dance of Fire!”

The magenta sword in his hand quickly stabbed into the air. Crimson sword rays emerged like streams of light.

At a glance, Li Rong seemed to turn into an immortal goddess that was flying through the sky with rainbows. His movements were elegant and contained a strange aura.

There were hundreds of the crimson sword rays, and they formed a whirlwind of blades.

“Pop pop pop!”

All of the black stone fragments were smashed into dust when they came within three meters of Li Rong, the powder dispersing into the air.

Li Rong snorted coldly. Surrounded by the whirlwind of blades, he resembled a sharp sword as he sprinted at Qin Lie.

The black stone tiles in his path were shattered and reduced to dust.

The spectators in the area who saw that Li Rong was truly angry cursed inwardly as they continued to move outside.

Those closest to the four doors were crowded by the people who were moving and were forced to exit, unable to see the fight in the hall.

“If I want you to get out, you have to get out!” Li Rong shouted angrily.

The flaming sword rays shot from his body and formed a waterfall that plunged toward Qin Lie.

“Zing zing zing!”

Earsplitting sounds spread throughout the hall and hurt everyone’s eardrums.

A hint of bloody light suddenly appeared in Qin Lie’s eyes.

He channeled the power of blood!

At this moment, a thick, fiendish blood energy exploded from his sinews, bones, flesh, and blood and merged with his power of lightning and thunder.

Within the Astral Thunder Hammer, the blue astral lightning was tinged with a bloody hue. The vibrations formed by the Astral Thunder Hammer created tiny fragments of dazzling light that shot out of it.

The astral lightning and the sword rays collided.

A blinding, spherical explosion erupted between Qin Lie and Li Rong. The astral lightning and the sword rays exploded over and over.

The lamps above everyone’s heads shattered in continuously while the hall that had been brightly illuminated was suddenly engulfed in darkness.

Within that very darkness, everyone heard Li Rong scream.

……

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