"Friend, what are you doing? I clearly helped you. Why are you attacking me?"
Xuanyuzi shouted loudly.
"Thanks for nothing!" Qin Chuan said, his face dark with anger, and then swung his spiked club again in a sweeping arc.
By now, Qin Chuan had already reached the Heavenly God Realm, and the spiked club he wielded was also a Heavenly God-grade treasure. So, when he swung it, the power was enough to cause the heavens to tremble and the earth to shake!
Whoosh!
The massive shadow cast by the spiked club completely blocked the sunlight over Xuanyuzi's head.
"You... You're completely unreasonable!" Xuanyuzi was both shocked and enraged. Flustered, he hastily raised his hands to block.
Boom!!
A thunderous sound erupted as his body was blasted backward like a cannonball, crashing through several ancient mountain peaks before finally embedding itself in the side of another, looking like a character from calligraphy dangling there.
"You!!"
Just as he was about to speak, Qin Chuan charged at him again, bringing the spiked club down with tremendous force.
Rumble!
The mountain peak collapsed entirely under the blow, rocks flying in all directions, dust billowing into the sky, shaking the earth itself.
When the dust finally cleared.
A massive crater had appeared in the ground, with Xuanyuzi lying in the center like a character from a Chinese calligraphy hanging there.
His strength was indeed formidable. Despite such a beating, he was still unharmed, albeit looking a bit disheveled.
"What do you want from me?" Xuanyuzi lay there, helplessly looking at Qin Chuan not far away, asking weakly.
"I'm done now," Qin Chuan said, putting away his spiked club and waving casually. "Why didn't you fight back?"
"Well… It's always better to be peaceful and make money through harmony," Xuanyuzi said with a forced smile as his eyes darted around. "Heh, I just want to be friends with you, not enemies."
He had to admit it.
A part of him feared for his life.
In fact, he had an uncanny intuition, one that allowed him to sense impending danger and avoid calamity. He could instinctively tell who could be messed with and who couldn't. And this intuition had never failed him.
Thanks to this ability, Xuanyuzi had earned a reputation as someone who feared nothing and no one, despite always choosing the easier targets.
Whenever he was sure that the other party couldn't harm him, he would act recklessly.
But when he encountered someone stronger, he would act courteous and humble, leaving the opponent with no reason to pick a fight.
This was how Xuanyuzi had managed to stir up trouble for so many years without ever being killed.
When he first saw Qin Chuan, his intuition immediately told him this was someone not to provoke.
Messing with Qin Chuan would mean the end!
Originally, Xuanyuzi had planned to rob Qin Chuan, knowing the man had many treasures. But upon sensing the danger, he quickly switched to trying to make friends.
And just to be cautious.
Before meeting Qin Chuan, he had trapped Qingyang Zhenren, hedging his bets. If Qin Chuan turned out to be weak, he'd extort him. If Qin Chuan was strong, he could use the gesture of trapping Qingyang as a favor to make friends.
What he hadn't expected was that Qin Chuan would attack him on sight!!
This left him bewildered and even more fearful that Qin Chuan might have seen through his intentions.
"Sorry, I got a bit carried away just now," Qin Chuan feigned an apology before explaining, "Actually, you didn't need to trap Qingyang Zhenren. I sent Qin Zi here to train him, and someone like Qingyang would have been perfect for sharpening his courage. You meant well, but you've disrupted my plans."
He couldn't let anyone think he was intentionally putting his son through hardship. What if such rumors reached Qin Xiao Zhu's ears? That would be disastrous.
Although Qin Xiao Zhu probably wouldn't believe it, Qin Chuan wasn't willing to take any chances.
Other people's opinions didn't matter, but he had to ensure his actions as a father were beyond reproach!
"Oh, I see..." Xuanyuzi, already feeling guilty, was relieved by Qin Chuan's explanation and didn't overthink it.
"Should I release Qingyang Zhenren now?" Xuanyuzi tentatively asked.
"No rush, let the kid deal with all the pursuers for now. It's all part of his training," Qin Chuan said, shaking his head.
He wasn't in a hurry to free Qingyang Zhenren. Otherwise, he'd miss out on earning a large sum of Pindie Points.
"Shall we go find your son then? I know where he is," Xuanyuzi offered with a smile.
"First, let's check on Qingyang Zhenren. Where did you trap him?" Qin Chuan asked.
"Hehe, in a very special place," Xuanyuzi chuckled, his grin somewhat eerie.
Before long.
The two of them arrived at a massive swamp. The stench was overwhelming, and yellowish bubbles were constantly rising to the surface.
"What is this..." Qin Chuan's expression turned strange. This looked an awful lot like a cesspit.
Was this distinguished old man into the same stuff as Qin Xiao Zhu?
"It seems like an insect latrine. The bugs here are huge, so their latrines are, well, proportionately large," Xuanyuzi said awkwardly.
Qin Chuan's eyes glowed with golden light, piercing through the surface of the swamp to see Qingyang Zhenren trapped below.
Qingyang Zhenren was enveloped by over a dozen colorful beams of light, confined in the center. He was desperately protecting his head, clearly afraid his hair would get dirty.
"Let me out!"
"Xuanyuzi, you old scoundrel! How dare you humiliate me like this? I'll never forgive you!!"
"Arghhh!"
Qingyang Zhenren howled like a trapped beast, furious and humiliated.
"Who are you? And why are you here?"
At that moment, a cold, rough voice sounded, filled with hostility.
Qin Chuan and Xuanyuzi turned around.
They saw a burly, dark-skinned man standing on a large leaf of the towering grass, looking down at them with disdain.
"And who are you?" Xuanyuzi asked, clearly irritated.
He had a reputation as a troublemaker, having once been infamous alongside Qingxuan Sanren, with people referring to them as the South Xuanyuzi and North Qingxuan duo. Who dared speak to him this way?
"How dare you! I'm the one asking the questions here!" the dark-skinned man barked arrogantly.
"You're being a bit too overbearing, aren't you?" Qin Chuan said coldly.
"Silence! You're just a mere First Heaven Heavenly God. How dare you speak here?" the dark-skinned man scolded once more.
Qin Chuan and Xuanyuzi exchanged glances.
"Let's kill him."
Qin Chuan sighed, waving his hand dismissively.
"Gladly!"
Xuanyuzi nodded vigorously, a cruel smile spreading across his face as he walked toward the dark-skinned man.
Xuanyuzi was currently a Third Heaven Heavenly God, while the dark-skinned man was only at the Second Heaven.
Clearly, this man was a soft target for Xuanyuzi, someone to crush with ease.
"What... What are you doing? This is Lord Obsidian's territory! I warn you, don't act recklessly!" The dark-skinned man's voice wavered as he realized the gap in their strength.
"Who cares about Obsidian or whatever? I haven't even enjoyed anything yet, and you want to charge me?" Xuanyuzi sneered. With a wave of his hand, a massive palm swept across the ground, causing the earth to tear apart and sending debris flying everywhere.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ahhh!
The dark-skinned man screamed, obliterated without a trace.
"Hmph, so weak, and yet you dare act arrogant in front of me? You were asking for death!" Xuanyuzi sneered in disdain.
But at that moment.
A powerful and terrifying pressure suddenly surged from the horizon. In an instant, the winds howled, and lightning flashed as storm clouds rapidly gathered, forming a massive vortex. From within the vortex, a voice filled with authority rang out.
"Who dares cause trouble in my domain?!"