Qin Lie laid on the ground with his whole body numb and lightning still flowing in his muscles and veins.
His true realm was only at the sixth level of Refinement. If it wasn’t for the power of thunder from the Ninth Heaven, it wouldn’t have been possible for him to achieve such shocking results.
Just from the martial practitioners who came from Yan Ziqian’s side, if any of them truly had the intent to kill him, it would’ve been difficult for him to win.
Once the vicious battle ended, the thunder scattered. Because he had used too much strength with his lightning strikes, his mind immediately weakened.
Tu Ze’s group of seven came up to him and were clicking their tongues with surprise. The look in their eyes caused him to feel uneasy from the bottom of his heart.
“Brother Lie, what just happened?” Kang Zhi’s chubby face was squished together, and he was laughing, abnormally flatteringly. “It seemed like you caused the thunder and lightning in the sky? How did you do it? This guy, you’re normally as delicate as a girl, but once you started battling, it’s as if you’re a completely different person. Your murderous intent was so wrathful and vicious, even I was scared just from watching you. You really have your own way of doing things!”
“It was all thanks to the spirit artifact.” Qin Lie’s face was weak, and he didn’t care how curious they were. He simply took out a piece of the Umbra Lightning Condor’s beast core, narrowed his eyes, and started regulating his breathing.
Tu Ze and the others, upon seeing him like this, stopped questioning him and all sat by his side, taking out some spirit pills to heal themselves.
After a while.
Qin Lie felt like his strength was gradually coming back. He heard Tu Ze and the others chattering and slowly opened his eyes.
“Just about time you woke up.” Tu Ze grinned, casually threw him a jade tablet, and said, “Mn, this jade tablet is for you. With this jade tablet, you can come to Nebula Pavilion anytime, and become a core member of Nebula Pavilion.”
He picked up the jade tablet. Seeing that there was a nebula cloud design on it, Qin Lie was a bit stunned, “This…”
He knew that becoming a part of the Limestone ranked force, a core Nebula Pavilion member, was something very difficult. The Ling Family and the children of other forces all desperately cultivated just to become one of the core members of Nebula Pavilion. They did that for the sake of breaking through into the Natal Opening Realm before they turned twenty, to get Nebula Pavilion’s favor.
The brothers Ling Chengzhi and Ling Chengye, had reached the Natal Opening Realm, but unfortunately they were limited by their age and couldn’t enter Nebula Pavilion. They could only exist as martial practitioners of vassal forces.
Of the large Ling Family, only Ling Xuanxuan had a chance at entering the Natal Opening Realm before twenty years of age to carry on and enter Nebula Pavilion for cultivation.
Tu Ze threw out the command token and made it clear that he could use it to become a core member at anytime. This greatly shocked Qin Lie.
“The command token is only one of the things.” Zhuo Qian smiled sweetly, threw him a wineskin, and continued on with a smile, “I told you that if you find the Stellar Iron, I’ll treat you to a drink…”
Before Qin Lie could say anything, she spoke again, “We’ve just finished calculating. You killed seven archers from Shattered Ice Manor alone, and those seven people were all at the fifth level of Refinement. Of the two that you killed after that, one was at the seventh level, and the other was at the eighth level. Mn, seven level fives counts as fifty contribution points, a level seven counts as eighty contribution points, and a level eight count as a hundred contribution points. Adding the Ice Soul Python materials that you retrieved, that all totals to three hundred fifty contribution points…”
Zhuo Qian’s voice paused, and her smile became even more brighter and wider. “You haven’t even entered Nebula Pavilion, and you’ve already won eight hundred and eighty contribution points, hehe, with that many contribution points, as soon as you come over, you can exchange it for a lot of things.”
Tu Ze and the others were all smiling.
Qin Lie felt a bit confused and asked, “Contribution points? There’s contribution points for killing people?”
“Contribution points is a common thing that the core members of Nebula Pavilion use, it can be used to exchange cultivating items such as spirit arts, spirit skills, spirit artifacts, spirit pills, and more from the pavilion. There are many ways to receive contribution points. As long as you contribute to Nebula Pavilion, you can get a corresponding amount of contribution points. You can get contribution points from capturing and killing spirit beasts, turning in spirit materials, and helping the pavilion with gathering specific items. Killing an enemy of Nebula Pavilion naturally can also earn you contribution points…”
Tu Ze grinned with his mouth opened wide and explained to him in detail, “Shattered Ice Manor and Nebula Pavilion have always endlessly fought bloody battles. Because of Dark Asura Hall’s restrictions, killing martial practitioners from Shattered Ice Manor doesn’t officially earn you contribution points, but unofficially the pavilion will still give additional contribution points. Today you’ve killed nine people. We had already calculated for you, and we will report it for you, including the materials from the Ice Soul Python. Hehe, you haven’t even been to Nebula Pavilion, and you have already received a windfall.”
“You guys were the ones who killed the Ice Soul Python, so it shouldn’t it be your contribution points, not mine?” Qin Lie asked in surprise.
“We weren’t able to save it ourselves, and in the end, you were the one who got it back, so naturally it counts as yours. Mn, all seven of us have no objections. Say no more, we said it's yours, so it’s yours!” replied Tu Ze as he waved his hand.
Qin Lie nodded his head and stopped being courteous. “Then thank you.”
“Haha! Good brother!” Tu Ze laughed loudly.
“There’s more!” Fatty Kang Zhi was smiling as he threw Qin Lie a leather bag. The leather bag was bloated, and it seemed like there were many things within.
“We thoroughly searched just now, and found some cultivating materials that might be somewhat useful to you from the nine people of Shattered Ice Manor that you killed. Hehe, they’re all just things like spirit pills and spirit stones. Mn, the weapons and spirit artifacts on them aren’t really of high quality; they’re also very large, and not convenient to carry. It might not suit you, so we didn’t tidy it up for you. But after we go back to the pavilion, we’ll still help you exchange it into corresponding contribution points,” Kang Zhi explained.
Qin Lie weighed the leather bag in his hands, revealed a pleasantly surprised expression in his eyes, and thanked them once again.
The three days after that, everyone first healed their injuries near the lake. When Qin Lie felt that his spirit energy was more fully replenished, he lightly sparred with Chu Peng, who was at the seventh level of the Refinement Realm, without the help of the power of the lighting from the Ninth Heaven to learn from each other.
He, whose true level was at the sixth level of Refinement, didn’t have an obvious disadvantage in his match against Chu Peng.
His level was slightly lower, but because his body was tough, along with the fact that he used lightning and thunder in his strikes, it limited Chu Peng a lot. Even though Chu Peng was an entire level above him, Chu Peng couldn’t get any advantage over him.
“The spirit art you have cultivated is very strange. If you find a suitable spirit artifact to coordinate with it, your power will certainly become very terrifying.” Watching the two of them battle, Tu Ze scratched his chin and said, “After we return, I’ll head to the pavilion’s Spirit Artifact Armory and try to find one for you. Hopefully, I can find a spirit artifact that can increase your battle strength.”
Qin Lie smiled. Because Chu Peng was injured, he didn’t use all of his power, so he felt that his body’s strength could very possibly exceed Chu Peng’s by a lot!
Of course, he didn’t completely reveal it. Privately, he felt that if he used his full strength instead of the lightning, he should be able to compete against Kang Zhi, who was in eighth level of Refinement.
“It’s impossible for Yan Ziqian to have brought too many people to the Arctic Mountain Range, and this time he suffered a loss. According to his cautious personality, without a complete certainty, he shouldn’t come and risk himself again. Mn, let’s stay for a couple more days and see if we can get some more Stellar Iron. Brother Lie, are you coming back to Nebula Pavilion with us?
“No, I still have to go back to the Ling Family,” Qin Lie rejected. Now was the time when lightning strikes occurred frequently. He still needed to rely on the special environment within Herb Mountain to continue to cultivate his Heavenly Thunder Eradication, so he apologized and said, “Big Brother Tu, since you have all pretty much recovered already, I’ll leave first. Until next time.”
Even though Tu Ze and Zhuo Qian tried their best to keep him with them, Qin Lie was determined to leave first, so the seven of them couldn’t do anything but watch him leave regretfully.
After Qin Lie left, Tu Ze and the others still stayed by the lake and continued to work hard for the Stellar Iron.
Ling Town, at dusk.
“Almost half a month has passed and Qin Lie still hasn’t showed up. Looks like he really was in an accident,” Ling Chengzhi said with creased brows. He was in the town’s martial arts arena, sitting on the spectator’s seats and looking at the Ling Family youths below.
Beside him was Ling Family’s Patriarch Ling Chengye and Ling Yushi.
Ling Xuanxuan was wearing a fiery tassel short skirt, standing in the middle of the martial arts arena in a neat and relaxed manner and yelling at the Ling Family’s martial practitioners as though she was a military instructor. Her little face was filled with arrogance as the snow white skin of her beautiful arms and legs laid mostly exposed. Her skin was so bright and lustrous that it distracted many vigorous youths; they couldn’t focus no matter what.
In order to let her be at ease and concentrate on her cultivation, Ling Chengye had already personally promised her that she would no longer be bound to her engagement with Qin Lie.
Ling Xuanxuan had already relaxed, and with Qin Lie not showing up for half a month, she had already gradually forgotten that someone like that even existed in the Ling Family.
“Big Brother, in the past five years, Qin Lie had never taken any abnormal actions. This time, he didn’t return for half a month, maybe… he already died in the mines.” Ling Chengzhi’s mind slightly trembled. He lowered his voice and said, “In this half a month, there was no lightning striking down onto Herb Mountain. The badly withered medicinal herbs had clearly recovered a lot. Even though we still were not able to gather enough spirit herbs to turn into Nebula Pavilion this time, we shouldn’t be affected too much in the future.”
“Sigh, I promised Qin Shan to take care of him, but even I couldn’t enter the mine…” Ling Family’s Patriarch shook his head and sighed softly. He looked at Ling Yushi beside him and was actually relieved in his heart as he continued, “If he was really in an accident, then that would mean Yushi has dodged a bullet, and doesn’t have to be engaged to him anymore?”
“What if he appeared again?” Ling Yushi locked her eyebrows and inquired in a gentle voice.
She didn’t know why, but she still had the feeling that Qin Lie wouldn’t have succumbed to an accident that easily. She couldn’t fathom the reason why she thought that way, but she felt like Qin Lie wasn’t as simple as everyone else thought.
Only now, she still couldn’t confirm for sure nor could she be certain whether Qin Lie was really strange or not.
“If he really appears, sigh, then that means you are unlucky. Daddy can only follow the promise I made with Qin Shan back then, and let you two be engaged earlier.” Ling Family’s Patriarch had a helpless expression on his face. “Sigh, it’s not that I hope he would get into an accident, it’s just, it’s just that his reappearance would really trouble our Ling Family. Engagement is something troublesome, and the spirit herbs on Herb Mountain… are our Ling Family’s roots.”
“Mn, we still don’t know how to deal with Nebula Pavilion. That bitch of a woman has been pressing us often lately, even I am running out of patience!” Ling Chengzhi’s face was dark. He took a deep breath and asked, “Big Brother, we...?”
“Stop talking! The time isn’t right!” scolded the Ling Family’s Patriarch as he cautiously looked around them. Seeing that the Du Family wasn’t watching, he then said in a low voice, “I will soon personally bring some people up the Arctic Mountain Range. Hopefully, we can find some spirit plants and herbs to cover the loss from Herb Mountain and give Nebula Pavilion an explanation.”
“Going to the Arctic Mountain Range again?” The expression on Ling Yushi’s soft, beautiful face changed slightly as she said with a fearful heart, “Last time there was a lot of damage, and it sacrificed many members of our clan. With our Ling Family’s strength, going deep into the Arctic Mountain Range is too risky, Father, you need to consider this carefully.”
“We don’t have a choice!” Ling Family’s Patriarch shouted.
“The fool is back!”
"The fool is back in town!”
“Oh, he isn’t dead yet?”
At this moment, many people were yelling from the town’s entrance. When Ling Chengye and the others, who were on the spectator seats, heard those shouts, their expressions all turned strange as they were depressed in their hearts.
In the two brother’s eyes, Qin Lie’s return was essentially a leaking roof in the rain; it only brought the Ling Family new troubles.
Ling Yushi’s tranquil face also revealed a slightly helpless and bitter expression as she sighed within her heart: So this is fate, huh?
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