Chapter 444 - 440: Hu Xiaopang

At that moment, Qin Li was majestic, like a god descended to the mortal realm. A domineering aura that looked down upon the world invisibly enveloped the surroundings, forming an oppressive presence that belonged to Qin Li alone—an aura of "Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, Only I am Venerable"!

This was no legendary aura of a king, but an oppressive presence generated from pure power! It gave one the feeling of being completely invincible!

Hai Jinzun’s face was ashen, and his heart... was like dead cinders. His mind was a complete blank. Even now, he couldn’t understand—and likely never would—why he, a magnificent grandmaster at the Middle and Late Stage Realm of Pill Nascent Soul Transformation, had been defeated so inexplicably by Qin Li.

And it had been a direct confrontation where his opponent hadn’t even used Primordial Power...

If word of this got out, likely no one would believe it. It simply defied all common sense and people’s understanding of the world. It was utterly inconceivable.

His eyes were devoid of their former spirit. His graying beard trembled slightly in the wind, but it had lost its former heroic vigor, replaced by the desolate air of a hero in his twilight years.

Hai Jinzun knew he had lost, utterly and completely. Though he didn’t understand why, at this moment, he was truly and wholeheartedly convinced of his defeat.

However, that was an entirely different matter from his hatred for Qin Li and his burning desire to kill the man and be done with it.

Hai Jinzun struggled to lift his head. The excruciating pain in his arm did nothing to diminish the hatred in his heart. He was waiting, waiting for Qin Li to mock him, ridicule him, and taunt him!

He didn’t care. In fact, it would only intensify his killing intent and hatred for Qin Li, making it all the more righteous in his mind to kill him!

But to the surprise of Hai Jinzun and everyone present, Qin Li merely gave Hai Jinzun a cool glance, his eyes filled with pity. Then, without a word, he turned and left.

Hai Jinzun was driven nearly insane. This attitude from Qin Li was far more unbearable than any open mockery, ridicule, or taunting could ever be. Because it was clear the other man was simply ignoring him!

Complete and utter disregard!

That look of pity proved that from the very beginning, Qin Li had never considered him a worthy opponent!

The fist on Hai Jinzun’s remaining arm was clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white. Veins bulged on his forehead, and he looked as though he might grind his teeth to dust. He couldn’t hold back, forcing a few words through his clenched teeth.

"Qin Li, I was defeated by your hands today, and I am utterly convinced of my loss! But mark my words, the Hai Family will never let you go!"

"Utter fool." Qin Li tossed out the two words and walked away without looking back.

There were dozens of people here, belonging to various families and Sects, but not a single one of them dared to make a move to stop Qin Li!

Just as the crowd fell silent, exchanging stunned glances, Qin Li’s indifferent voice drifted back from a great distance: "Hu, the City Lord of Yellow Sand New City, is my brother. Whoever dares to touch him, I will kill!"

The plump youth watched Qin Li’s retreating figure and his fluid, graceful steps. They seemed slow, yet in an instant, he had covered a great distance. The youth’s expression grew uncharacteristically solemn as he murmured to his dazed junior martial sister beside him, "That man’s footwork... it’s far superior to our Hundred Transformations Shadowless Step! And... with that kind of strength, who would dare claim he only has brute force?"

Clearly, many people shared the plump youth’s thoughts. Most of them wore complicated expressions; they had originally planned on using various methods to obtain the Ancient Map from Qin Li.

As for Qin Li’s strength, in their eyes, while he wasn’t a total pushover, he was by no means a powerful Martial Artist. Thus, these people had almost never considered the possibility of being unable to defeat Qin Li, and what they would do then!

Fortunately, they had witnessed it for themselves today: a man, relying on pure strength alone, could pummel a Martial Artist at the Pill Nascent Soul Transformation Realm so thoroughly that he couldn’t even fight back. He didn’t even get a chance to counter-attack before having an arm brutally smashed!

Who would dare to so casually provoke such a fierce and valiant individual?

The plump youth suddenly seemed to have an idea. He grabbed his junior martial sister’s hand and shot off like a bolt of lightning, chasing in the direction Qin Li had gone.

Hai Jinzun remained standing where he was, allowing the Hai family members to tend to his injured arm. No matter how much it hurt, he clenched his jaw and remained silent, which couldn’t help but elicit a sliver of admiration from the onlookers.

It was nearly dawn. The eastern sky was beginning to show the pale white of morning, and a streak of brilliant, magnificent purple qi appeared on the horizon.

Seeing that streak of purple qi, Qin Li stopped, closed his eyes, and focused his mind, absorbing this purest of energies between Heaven and Earth. As for the battle just now, no one but Qin Li himself knew just how much power he had truly consumed.

Those who didn’t know, of course, assumed Qin Li had defeated Hai Jinzun by relying solely on the strength he cultivated under the hundred-fold gravitational pressure on the second floor of the Golden Palace.

In reality, however, the truth was that Qin Li had been circulating the Innate Purple Qi Technique, completely converting the Innate Purple Qi he had absorbed into an endless, immense power!

In the past, Qin Li would have converted the Innate Purple Qi into Primordial Power. This was because both Primordial Power and Innate Purple Qi are, in essence, forms of the Spiritual Qi between Heaven and Earth. Ultimately, they all must be converted into applicable power by a Cultivation Technique.

But at Qin Li’s current realm, there was no longer any need to conform to this world’s system for Martial Artists by converting Innate Purple Qi into Primordial Power before a fight.

All he needed to do was directly convert the Innate Purple Qi into immense energy through the Innate Purple Qi Technique, which then became terrifying power. That was more than enough!

This was because Innate Purple Qi itself was far stronger than Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi! Before reaching Pill Nascent Soul Transformation, Qin Li wouldn’t have dared to do this, as his body at the time had not been strong enough to directly withstand the power produced from converting Innate Purple Qi.

But the advancement of his realm, his cultivation under the immense pressure in the Golden Palace, and reaching the Bloodline Realm of the fifth layer of the "Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, Only I am Venerable" combat technique... all of these things combined had forged Qin Li’s current, terrifying strength!

But regardless, Hai Jinzun was still a very powerful Martial Artist. How could someone at Pill Nascent Soul Transformation be a nobody? To suppress such an expert to the point where he was completely unable to fight back, the stamina Qin Li had just expended was staggering!

He had consumed at least fifty percent of it!

After absorbing the final wisp of Innate Purple Qi, Qin Li spoke nonchalantly toward the barren plains several hundred meters away, "You’ve both been watching for a while. Aren’t you going to come out and say hello?"

Qin Li had actually noticed the two of them spying on him long ago, but he didn’t care. To others, his recent actions would have just looked like he was closing his eyes to regulate his breathing for a moment. Besides, the two of them didn’t seem to harbor any malicious intent; it was more a sense of curiosity.

Most importantly, Qin Li recognized them. It was the same young couple who had snatched the fake map intentionally released by Han Mei!

Afterward, that fake map, mistaken for the real one, had found its way back into Han Mei’s hands!

This was a point that satisfied Qin Li to no end. Han Mei had taken a fake map back to her Sect to claim credit for it. When the truth eventually came to light, her expression would surely be priceless!

It was also because of this that Qin Li harbored no ill will toward the couple.

The plump youth pulled his junior martial sister out by the hand. He walked over with a sheepish, downcast look, like a child who’d been caught doing something wrong. Anyone who didn’t know the fatty’s true character would surely mistake him for a harmless, innocent babe.

"Um, hehe, Young Master Qin, my apologies. My junior martial sister and I really admire you, and we were hoping to befriend you, so... so we followed you. Uh, we absolutely had no intention of spying on Young Master Qin’s cultivation!"

The fatty swore this earnestly, a fawning smile plastered on his face, which made his junior martial sister beside him want to die from embarrassment. ’This fatty,’ she thought, ’is getting more and more shameless!’

Qin Li smiled faintly. He glanced at the people in the distance, who had followed but now stood watching from afar, not daring to approach. "To meet is to be bound by fate," he said. "Let me buy you a drink!"

"Hehe, I couldn’t possibly allow that. Please, allow me to treat you." The fatty demurred with a friendly expression. Then, under the dumbfounded stares of the crowd that had followed them, he slung an arm over Qin Li’s shoulders and walked off with him as if they were old friends who had known each other for years.

Hai Jinzun’s arm was bandaged, his graying beard fluttering in the wind. His eyes shot daggers of pure venom as he asked the person beside him, "Who is that damned fatty? He seemed to have come with our group, so how can he be so chummy with that Qin Li?"

The mere mention of the fatty brought indignant looks to the faces of the Hai family members. One of the Elders said resentfully, "Who knows where that fatty crawled out from? While you were fighting Qin Li, he was over there spouting all sorts of nonsense. It was incredibly annoying!"

Hai Jinzun’s expression was grim and unsettled. He said slowly, "Forget about everyone else for now. Immediately send a message back to the family. Tell them to send the Law Enforcement Elder!"

"Is... is that appropriate?" one of the Hai family members asked with some hesitation.

"There’s nothing inappropriate about it. That Qin Li has the Ancient Map!" Hai Jinzun said coldly.

...

Inside a restaurant in Yellow Sand New City, which had just opened its doors early in the morning, the first few guests arrived: none other than Qin Li and the martial sibling pair, the fatty and his sister.

Qin Li requested a private room, casually ordered a few dishes and a pot of wine, and only after they were settled did the fatty begin to introduce himself.

"Young Master Qin, my humble name is Hu Xiaopang, and this is my junior martial sister, Li Ping," the fatty said, looking a little embarrassed. His name was rather... distinctive. Because he’d been a chubby baby, his uncultured father had directly given him such a name. He had protested it many times over the years, but to no avail.

Qin Li was in the middle of drinking tea and nearly spat it out upon hearing the name. Forcing himself to swallow, he shot the fatty a strange look. ’That name really is a perfect fit,’ he thought. ’A name that practically screams "chatterbox" and "fatty."’

Hu Xiaopang knew his name was ridiculous. He rolled his eyes and continued, "My junior martial sister and I are just disciples from a minor, unranked Small Sect on the fringes of the Land of the Far West. We came here purely for the excitement, to see the legendary Ancient Divine Temple. Having the honor of meeting Young Master Qin has truly made this trip worthwhile!"