Xue Qinghe grabbed Li Zhexian's arm and carefully examined his pale face. She bit her lip, and a ferocious aura churned in her eyes.
"Tai Tan! Damn him!"
Li Zhexian was taken aback for a moment, then he understood.
So, Xue Qinghe had come because of Tai Tan.
"I'm fine," Li Zhexian said, sitting down on a sandalwood chair and looking at Xue Qinghe. "What happened today... made me understand the weight of power even more."
"Because Tai Tan was strong enough, even after he lost the bet, he could mock us and walk away as he pleased."
The night was as thick as ink. The sky seemed to have been splashed with ink by some deity, with not a single star in sight.
Tonight was not a good night to go out.
Li Zhexian picked up his Clear Spring Wine Gourd and took a sip. The dull ache in his chest faded a little more.
Xue Qinghe pressed her lips tightly, her eyes brimming with heartache as she watched him.
"Li Zhexian…"
"…do you want revenge?"
He wiped the wine stain from the corner of his lips.
"A gentleman's revenge is never too late, even in ten years."
"But more importantly…"
Within his calm tone, a killing intent so sharp it startled two plum blossoms into falling from the branch above.
"Why wait ten years?"
"Within two years, I will kill Tai Tan."
Everything Li Zhexian said, Xue Qinghe believed. It's just... she couldn't wait.
She was not a gentleman and could not endure with such patience. The thought of the person who had harmed Li Zhexian getting away with it for even a moment longer made her hatred boil, leaving her unable to sleep or rest.
Just like Zhao Wuji, whose bones and tendons were now shattered, suffering in agony and awaiting Li Zhexian's judgment.
"I've already sent men to the Strength Clan."
"…What?" Li Zhexian looked up.
The night outlined Xue Qinghe's form, a few strands of her hair lifting gently in the breeze.
She was unconsciously stroking her left wrist with her right hand. Her thin, plain white sleeping robe made her figure look tall and slender
In the glow of the luminous stones set into the wall, her beautiful face faintly carried a trace of Qian Renxue's shadow.
"You… why are you looking at me like that?"
Under Li Zhexian's steady gaze, Xue Qinghe grew flustered, her tone carrying a hint of reproach.
The solemn mood she had been building was completely disrupted.
Li Zhexian chuckled. "Brother, you smell a bit nice."
Xue Qinghe's eyes widened instantly. A flush bloomed rapidly across her cheeks, spreading to her ears, burning hot.
Flustered, she practically pounced forward and lightly punched Li Zhexian's shoulder in embarrassment.
"You… what nonsense are you saying!"
Her words tumbled out fast, desperately masking her nervousness.
"I mean... I sent people to the Strength Clan!"
"Tai Tan… will be left barely alive. Do you want to... go there yourself?"
Li Zhexian's brows raised slightly, and then he stood up. "Let's go."
A gentleman's revenge is never too late. A gentleman's honor must be avenged immediately.
The night wind was chilling, the dark clouds hung low, and all the stars were hidden. Tonight was not a good night to go out, but it was a good night to kill.
...
"Dugu Bo, you're a heartless man!" Tai Tan's face was pale with a hint of green, and his steps were unsteady. The poison had already set in deep
His tiger eyes were bloodshot, brimming with grief and boundless hatred, as he stared at the thin old man slowly walking out of the poisonous mist.
"The Strength Clan... nearly a thousand lives, young and old..."
"You… you truly dared commit such a massacre!"
Dugu Bo's gaze swept over Tai Tan's twisted face, utterly indifferent. "You've forgotten my title, haven't you?"
"Tai Tan, bring out the arrogance you showed when you bullied a junior today."
"If you can bully Sword Wine, why can't this old man bully you?"
Gah!
Tai Tan coughed up a large mouthful of blood. The blood splattered on the ground, making a sizzling sound. "Dugu Bo!"
"You... you die!"
Tai Tan squeezed out the last dregs of his strength, summoning forth his Martial Soul True Body.
A twenty-meter-tall Giant Ape rose skyward, covered in coarse, steel-hard hair like quills, muscles bulging like rolling mountains.
Its scarlet eyes glowed with a vicious light, and its half-meter-long fangs were exposed, radiating a terrifying aura that seemed capable of tearing apart a dragon.
However, as soon as the Martial Soul True Body appeared, the Spirit Power inside his body churned violently, and the poison attacked his heart.
"ROAR—!"
Tai Tan's roar was filled with despair.
His colossal fists, like twin mountains, swung down toward Dugu Bo with devastating force.
Even in his dying state, his strike was terrifying.
Before the fists landed—
the crushing pressure had already bent every tree and shrub in the estate to the ground.
Like a mountain about to collapse.
BOOM—!
The fists struck, earth and stone cracking, smoke and dust surging into the sky.
But Tai Tan, blood frothing at his lips, let out a hoarse cry of disbelief.
"Impossible!"
He felt an immense force holding up his fists.
No matter how he pushed his Spirit Power, he could not drive them down even an inch further.
His strength—
was greater than most ordinary Titled Douluo!
Even gravely wounded, how could it be that Dugu Bo—the so-called "weakest" Titled Douluo, known only for poison—could resist him head-on?!
"An ant shaking a tree."
A hundred-meter-long Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor coiled upward along Tai Tan's arm.
With a sudden constriction, the colossal serpent crushed down.
The Giant Ape's body cracked with sickening snaps.
Tai Tan's Martial Soul True Body was ripped apart, shattered to pieces.
Looking at Tai tan, who was now a bloody mess, Dugu Bo said in a low voice, "Someone else is coming tonight."
"The Strength Clan is no more. Tai Tan, I'll leave your life for the next person to take."
With that, Dugu Bo turned into a wisp of poisonous mist and vanished into the thick night.
...
"Hu… ha…"
Tai Tan's limbs were shattered.
Yet the agony of his body was nothing compared to the grief consuming his heart.
The Strength Clan... was gone.
All because he had bullied Sword Wine in the afternoon.
"Ahhh—!"
The great Tai Tan, the Vigorous God famed across the continent, now howled in anguish.
Dirty tears mixed with blood streaked his ruined face.
He looked like a crippled old beast whose den had been destroyed.
Regret surged like a tidal wave, crushing his heart.
And then—
Two figures appeared before him.
"Now you're crying?"
His sobbing cut off. Tai Tan raised his head with difficulty, staring at the newcomers.
His pupils shrank violently.
The aura these two carried was as immovable as mountains.
Titled Douluo!
Another two Titled Douluo!
For offending Sword Wine, four Titled Douluo had descended upon him!
Only now did Tai Tan truly understand—
just what calamity he had invited upon himself today.
He gritted his teeth until they shattered, and bloody foam bubbled from his mouth.
"Kill me… just kill me…"
The Porcupinefish Douluo and the Snake Lance Douluo ignored him.
"The stench of Jade Phosphor Serpent poison. Seems that old venomous ghost came first."
"Tch. Ruthless indeed—he slaughtered the Strength Clan, saving us the effort."
Porcupinefish Douluo, himself skilled in poison, tossed Snake Lance Douluo a detoxifying pill.
Snake Lance nudged Tai Tan over with his toe, coldly staring at his miserable state.
"If you had known this would happen, why did you act as you did?"
"Who told you to be so blind and offend someone you shouldn't have."
"Keep your life. The real master will come and collect it himself."
The two came suddenly—and left just as swiftly.
Moments later, a dozen shadowy figures approached the ruins of the Strength Clan's mansipn.
When they saw the ruins within, the deathly silence—every one of them drew a sharp breath.
Among them, a support-type Spirit Master sniffed the air. His face changed dramatically.
"Not good!"
"It's the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor's poison! Run!"
"The Strength Clan is finished! It has nothing to do with us!"
Before they could even step inside the gates, they fled into the night in panic.
About fifteen minutes later—
Li Zhexian and Xue Qinghe arrived outside the Strength Clan's estate.