Chapter 982: Unexpected

Guan Lian and Wan Bin had to treat the situation seriously after seeing the incoming bloody light and hearing the screams.

“Stop collecting the Sun Cores for now! Kill that man!” Guan Lian yelled harshly.

The young Blue Flame Manor martial practitioners scattered across the dazzling crystals were just as infuriated as he was as they transformed into balls of flames and rushed in from all directions.

“Brother Lian, the Ji Family ordered us not to fight amongst ourselves,” Wan Bin reminded with a frown on his face.

“He’s the one who taunted us first! Are you saying we should let him go after he killed two of our brothers?” Guan Lian said angrily.

The flames had turned his face completely red. Clumps of scarlet flames sprouted from underneath his neck.

The scarlet flames jumped like lightning before they gradually took on the form of a scarlet, burning bird. A mournful and shrill cry later, the scarlet bird pounced towards Qin Lie.

“A Vermillion Bird!” Qin Lie exclaimed in shock.

The scarlet bird was obviously a rank seven Vermillion Bird with fiery power comparable to that of a Nirvana Realm martial practitioner.

“No wait, that’s not right!”

Qin Lie’s face abruptly darkened when he realized that the rank seven Vermillion Bird only had a soul left.

In fact, even its soul was trapped firmly by some kind of power.

He quickly realized what was going on. He knew that Blue Flame Manor had taken down the Vermillion Bird Realm, so these people had probably killed a portion of Vermillion Birds and used their souls to cultivate some dark spirit arts.

This rank seven Vermillion Bird soul was one of those poor things who were refined by Guan Lian and transformed into his killing tool.

“Ice shield!”

A door of cool, ice crystals abruptly appeared before the bloody light.

The scarlet Vermillion Bird ran head first into the ice shield.

“Bang!”

As ice and fiery sparks scattered, the Vermillion Bird cried mournfully again as it flapped its wings.

The ice shield protecting the bloody light had already vanished in an instant.

Not far away, the bloody light abruptly drew close to an approaching fireball.

“Over here!”

A middle stage Fragmentation Realm Blue Flame Manor martial practitioner was wrapped inside the fireball. He let out a cold snort and summoned a Fire Qilin from his body.

Qin Lie was about to press down on his enemy’s head when the savage-looking Fire Qilin abruptly emerged and caught him off guard.

The roaring Fire Qilin abruptly scattered into a torrent of fireballs.

There was a blurry face in every fireball. The faces let out shrill howls from the fireballs that seemed capable of intimidating one’s soul.

The howls pained Qin Lie’s eardrums a little.

“Bang!”

A ball of flame exploded right in front of his chest, and hundred millions of sparks flooded over him like a swarm of insects.

A terrific impact struck him in the chest.

As a result, Qin Lie was thrown backwards like a bloodied football.

The bloody light abruptly rolled towards Naji and Zhuang Jing.

“How dare a mere early stage Fragmentation Realm martial practitioner attack so many of us alone? Do you think yourself invincible or something?”

The middle stage Fragmentation Realm Blue Flame Manor martial practitioner laughed strangely before he channeled his spirit art once more.

This time the clumps of fire flew towards Qin Lie like meteors.

At this point, the bloody light had faded away to reveal Qin Lie.

His chest was scorched black. There were even some sparks still burning across the wound.

The Blue Flame Manor martial practitioners who were going to work together to kill Qin Lie came to a stop.

“Is he really just an early stage Fragmentation Realm martial practitioner?” One of them couldn’t help but sneer at Qin Lie with a strange look on his face. “From the way he charged us I almost thought it was a group of late stage Fragmentation Realm martial practitioners!”

“Holy shit! Is this guy crazy? Did he seriously just try to rob what belongs to Blue Flame Manor with his cultivation?”

“I don’t see a family crest or a sect symbol on him. Was he with us when we came in?”

“I don’t remember him though.”

The Blue Flame Manor martial practitioners whispered among themselves.

Meanwhile, the fireballs had already surrounded Qin Lie like a school of sharks.

“Zzzt!”

The rank seven Vermillion Bird’s soul that smashed Qin Lie’s ice shield into bits stared at Qin Lie once more.

“Come back.” Guan Lian beckoned.

The Vermillion Bird soul transformed into a beam of scarlet flames and vanished into his sleeves.

“Just an early stage Fragmentation Realm martial practitioner. I can’t believe he scared me earlier,” Wan Bin swore.

Guan Lian was just as amused as he was.

Earlier, he and Wan Bin were shocked when they saw the charging bloody light.

They weren’t able to distinguish Qin Lie’s cultivation immediately because he was wrapped inside the bloody light.

When the Blue Flame Manor martial practitioners had gathered around and a middle stage Fragmentation Realm martial practitioner had blasted Qin Lie’s chest with great skill, destroying the bloody light and revealing Qin Lie’s true form, they scanned him with their soul consciousness and discovered that he was just at the early stage of the Fragmentation Realm.

Everyone relaxed at that moment.

None of the Blue Flame Manor martial practitioners were at the early stage of the Fragmentation Realm. Therefore, Qin Lie instantly became a non-threat in their eyes.

On the other side, Naji of the Asura Race and Zhuang Jing had quietly approached them.

The duo had hidden behind a Crystal Moon Core and purposely concealed their presence. They stared at what was happening from afar.

They both wore complicated expressions on their faces.

“Was I mistaken? That can’t be. When I fought him earlier, he… definitely didn’t feel like a mere early stage Fragmentation Realm martial practitioner. Plus, he killed almost all of the Lunar Temple martial practitioners and most of them were at the late stage of Fragmentation Realm. So why…”

Naji pondered his next move carefully and refrained from doing anything reckless.

After Qin Lie was struck by a middle stage Fragmentation Realm martial practitioner, exposed, and surrounded by the fireballs, he was starting to doubt his own judgment.

He was wondering if Qin Lie wasn’t as powerful as he imagined.

If Qin Lie’s true combat strength was equivalent to one middle stage Fragmentation Realm martial practitioner only, then there was no way he was going to reveal himself in a hurry.

It was because he couldn’t beat all of Blue Flame Manor’s martial practitioners alone.

“If this is all you got then this is where we part ways. I will wait until my clansmen show up and clash against Blue Flame Manor before I reveal myself.” Naji made a merciless decision in his mind.

He decided to abandon Qin Lie.

Zhuang Jing’s eyes were also sparkling with thought.

“I said from the beginning that the only reason you were able to kill my sect mates is because of the Serene Moon Race’s holy artifact. Without it, at your current realm… hmph!”

“Haah, I’m so unlucky. My True Soul is still being imprisoned by him. I hope he won’t ask me to help him.”

“In fact… it would be best if he was killed by Blue Flame Manor. That way, I’d be freed and the holy artifact will fall into my hands!”

A cruel smile spread across Zhuang Jing’s face.

Her True Soul had just been shackled by Qin Lie’s Blood Arts: Soul Shackle. It wasn’t fully bound to Qin Lie’s soul.

Of course, Qin Lie could command her to do anything through the deadly threat that was Blood Arts: Soul Shackle while he was still alive.

But if Qin Lie was killed before he could react, she wouldn’t die as a result.

On the contrary, she would be freed completely with his death.

That was why she hoped that Blue Flame Manor could kill Qin Lie immediately before he could react. This way, she would be able to free herself from her clutches and obtain the Seren Moon Race’s holy artifact.

“Come on, what are you waiting for, Guan Lian, Wan Bin? Kill him already!” Zhuang Jing cried in her mind.

While Naji and Zhuang Jing were harboring malicious thoughts in her mind, Qin Lie watched the flames burning on his chest as his pupils slowly turned white.

Deep frost was pouring out of every pore of his body.

Several seconds later, his entire body was wrapped by cold frost that eliminated the sparks on his chest entirely.

His expression finally turned serious as he stared at the fireballs surrounding him. He finally thought of Blue Flame Manor’s martial practitioners as a real opponent.

He realized that Zhuang Jing’s earlier advice was actually true.

Blue Flame Manor was incomparable to Lunar Temple.

It was absolutely a mistake to think that Blue Flame Manor’s martial practitioners could be slaughtered as easily as Lunar Temple’s martial practitioners.

He wasn’t unaware that the main reason he was able to kill Lunar Temple’s martial practitioners as easily as he did was because of the holy artifact, Moon Tear.

Lunar Temple’s spirit arts didn’t feel threatening when they landed on his body.

It was because the silver moon mark he possessed could dispel and even absorb some of the moon energy contained inside the lunar attacks. That was why he never thought that Lunar Temple’s martial practitioners were all that powerful.

Now, he knew that Lunar Temple’s martial practitioners would have been to unleash their spirit arts’ true strength had their opponents been Blue Flame Manor, Naji or even Ji Qi instead of him.

Lunar Temple were supposed to be on par with Blue Flame Manor. The only reason they appeared incredibly weak to him was because of the silver moon mark.

Thanks to the fireball a middle stage Fragmentation Realm Blue Flame Manor martial practitioner had thrown at his chest and hurt him slightly, he was shaken out of his arrogance.

“Blue Flame Manor is a Central World force. They can’t be underestimated even if they’re just a second tier Gold rank force.” He frowned.

By now, Guan Lian, Wan Bin, and the rest of the Blue Flame Manor martial practitioners were slowly closing in on him.

They looked very calm and collected. They were smiling mockingly like how a hunter would towards his trapped prey.

“Which force do you belong to in the Central World, boy?” Wan Bin said arrogantly. “You can’t possibly belong to a top Gold rank force. Now speak, how did you come in?”

The Blue Flame Manor martial practitioners laughed loudly.

“I don’t know what you used to kill two of our brothers, and I don’t care. After I learn of your identity, I’m going to kill you and get an answer from your family,” Guan Lian said proudly.

He wasn’t going to stop at killing Qin Lie. He was planning to ask for compensation from the force behind Qin Lie too.

“Which force do I belong to in the Central World, you ask?” Qin Lie narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin for a moment. Then, he said with sudden seriousness, “Strictly speaking, I belong to the Nether Continent.”

“Nether Continent?” Wan Bin laughed involuntarily.

“Could you be…” Guan Lian’s expression abruptly changed as he mistook Qin Lie’s meaning. “Are you a Dark Nether clansman?”

The Blue Flame Manor martial practitioners who looked relaxed suddenly turned serious when they heard this.

“Do you mean the Dark Nether Race of the fifteen most powerful ancient races? That can’t be… can it?” Naji also said after the moment of surprise was over, “It is true that the royal race of Nether Realm, the Dark Nether Race looks almost exactly the same as the human race. If they change the color of their eyes and hair, then it is true they can’t normally be distinguished from a human being.”

His eyes turned stranger and stranger as he looked at Qin Lie.

Zhuang Jing was also full of doubt.

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