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Qin Yi's long black hair fluttered wildly. His eyes were filled with shock. With just a casual strike, Xu Zhangqing had been forced to respond with his full strength, and had still suffered internal injuries.
He understood very clearly that Xu Zhangqing had already stepped onto the Immortal's Path and become a true immortal. Yet the gap between him and Chong Lou was still this vast.
"Who are you? How dare you injure our Sect Lord?!" Dugu Yuyun shouted anxiously, rushing forward to support Xu Zhangqing. Qin Yi also took a step forward, staring intently at Chong Lou.
Chong Lou cast a cold glance their way but didn't even bother replying.
"Don't act rashly, Dugu!" Xu Zhangqing said sternly.
Chong Lou frowned slightly and fixed his gaze on Xu Zhangqing.
"Unexpected. Even after her death, she still protects you."
"Do you not understand right and wrong? Ignorant mortals attack Mount Shu, and you actually shield them! As the Sect Lord, your blood and spirit are weaker than that of the weakling behind you!"
As he spoke, Chong Lou's gaze shifted to Qin Yi.
Under those demonic eyes, Qin Yi felt his blood boil within his veins. A chill crept down his spine. An instinctive terror, like a prey facing its natural predator, arose uncontrollably.
"Hm? Your talent is not bad." Chong Lou locked his attention on Qin Yi.
"Go find Jing Tian of Yuzhou City. Let him instruct you. Perhaps, a few hundred or thousand years from now, you might be able to fight me, and relieve my boredom."
His words shocked Xu Zhangqing slightly. There were very few in this world whom Chong Lou acknowledged.
Suppressing his pain, Xu Zhangqing spoke: "Thank you for your assistance."
"Hmph. Whether Mount Shu turns to ash has nothing to do with me. But if the Demon Prison Tower suffers even the smallest damage, I will slaughter every living being on Mount Shu."
With that, Chong Lou turned and soared upward.
His right hand trembled once before he punched toward the mountainside below.
In an instant, the void quaked. Devil Flame roared skyward. That punch tore open space itself. The soldiers and cannons at the foot of the mountain vanished almost instantly, reduced to nothing.
The sight made Wen Ce stumble backward repeatedly before falling onto the ground, his eyes full of terror.
After finishing, Chong Lou ascended rapidly, preparing to leave.
Qin Yi's eyes flickered. His long sword shot from its sheath. Stepping onto it, he turned into a stream of light, chasing after Chong Lou.
"Chang Yi, Junior Brother!"
Seeing Qin Yi fly off, Xu Zhangqing called out anxiously.
"Senior Brother, don't worry. I'll be back soon."
Before the words finished echoing, Qin Yi vanished.
Three minutes later, Qin Yi stood in midair, sword underfoot, frowning deeply. He had pushed his Controlling Sword Flight to the limit, yet he still hadn't caught up to Chong Lou. The gap in strength was far too large, like an ant chasing an elephant.
"Young one, why are you following me? Speak."
Before he even turned around fully, Chong Lou appeared before him.
Qin Yi was startled. Facing this peak existence of the world, he couldn't help feeling nervous.
"Venerable Devil Chong Lou, your strength has already reached the pinnacle of this realm. No one is your match. You've sought a worthy opponent, but none exist."
"Ever since Fei Peng reincarnated, you have had no rival."
"Are you… lonely?"
Chong Lou's eyes narrowed. His hand shot out suddenly, so fast Qin Yi couldn't react, and clamped around Qin Yi's neck.
"Stop spouting nonsense. Speak. One more unnecessary word, and I'll kill you."
Terror flooded Qin Yi, true terror, the kind that comes from standing at the edge of life and death. Inwardly, he was cursing nonstop. What a damn dangerous world, say a few wrong words and you die.
This feeling, of life and death no longer under his control, was suffocating. Compared to Chong Lou, he was far too insignificant.
"In this world, there are no opponents for you, but in other worlds, there are. I can take you to other worlds to fight other experts!" Qin Yi roared.
"You can travel to other realms? No wonder I sensed a strange aura on you. Your identity seems… highly suspicious."
Chong Lou released his grip, speaking coldly.
"I mastered a technique, after studying it for fifty years, I recently uncovered its true meaning. It is an Immortal Technique that allows travel to other worlds. As long as Venerable Devil Chong Lou joins a nation, he may follow that nation's people to other worlds and challenge the experts of those realms."
Qin Yi took several deep breaths and spoke quickly.
He had risked his life to chase down the Venerable Devil just to say these words.
If I can fool Venerable Devil Chong Lou into joining Qin Nation, I'll hit the jackpot! Don't go mad, don't survive, that's the rule!
"Why should I believe the words of a weakling like you? Laughable."
Chong Lou sneered repeatedly. He flicked his sleeve, making the air tremble. A burst of force struck Qin Yi and blasted him straight out of the sky.
"When the day comes that you can stand face-to-face with me as an equal, then speak of such things."
"As you are now, you have no right!"
His voice echoed in Qin Yi's ears, shaking him to the core. He clenched his teeth.
Even as he crashed to the ground and lay sprawled in the grass, Chong Lou's words still rang inside his mind.
Those crimson demonic eyes had been full of scorn, contempt, and cold amusement, lofty, dismissive, treating him as nothing.
Facing Chong Lou, this sense of weakness, this powerlessness… Qin Yi had not felt such a thing in a long, long time. It filled him with despair, anger, and unwillingness.
"Just wait, Chong Lou. One day, I will stand before you."
"And I will make you my subject!"
Qin Yi roared in his heart, eyes turning razor sharp.
This aloof, arrogant Venerable Devil had completely infuriated him.
After calming his emotions, Qin Yi began healing his injuries. Mount Shu had many restorative spell techniques. Though he wasn't highly skilled with them, after three days of effort, he had mostly recovered.
Riding his sword back to Mount Shu, Qin Yi first went to visit Xu Zhangqing.
"Junior Brother Chang Yi."
Xu Zhangqing, who was still recuperating, was momentarily stunned when he saw him, then gestured for him to sit.
"Senior Brother Zhangqing."
Qin Yi nodded.
"It's good that you're unharmed."
But Xu Zhangqing didn't seem quite himself. His face was pale, his gaze unfocused, clearly troubled by something.
Seeing this, Qin Yi's eyes flickered slightly. He understood immediately: the incident with the Demon Prison Tower must have brought back certain memories for the Sect Lord.
"Senior Brother, are you thinking of Miss Zi Xuan?"
Xu Zhangqing's entire body trembled. In that instant, he looked as though he had aged years.
"I wronged her… sigh."
"Matters of love aren't about right or wrong, Senior Brother. Only about willingness."
Qin Yi shook his head and sighed.
Xu Zhangqing also shook his head.
"Junior Brother… have you ever experienced a love so deep it engraved itself into your bones?"
The sudden question stunned Qin Yi. His mind raced back to Earth, where love was often entangled with self-interest, benefits, boredom, and childishness. Could any of that be called love? Much less a love that carved itself into the soul?
Confronted like this, Qin Yi found himself speechless.
Love?
What was love?
Without experiencing it, how could he possibly understand?
"You haven't experienced it, so you can't understand. And since you can't understand, you also can't walk out of it."
"Junior Brother, it's like the Path of Cultivation. If you don't step into it, traverse the vast mortal world, plunge into the abyss, die and be reborn, how can you ever transcend it?"
Xu Zhangqing sighed.
"This path, you must see it, enter it, then walk out again. The day you look back with calmness, remembering it with a smile on your lips instead of regret or longing, that day, you will have succeeded."
Qin Yi frowned. "Senior Brother… isn't that just love?"
Xu Zhangqing smiled and shook his head. "It's the same. All the same."
(End of this chapter)