"Young Master… you… you should hide, quickly!" Qin Xue caught up to Qin Li and hesitated for a moment before urging him, "You know Qin Feng's status in the family. You injured him, so they won't let you off! Also… your injuries, you need to rest and recover. I have a distant relative with an empty residence in the South City…"
Qin Li gave a bitter smile. 'Hide? Where can I hide? Not to mention, the Qin Family has eyes and ears all over Yellow Sand City. Even if I could get away, what would happen to my mother, Qin Hanyue? Would she have to suffer in my place? That's not a result I want to see.'
Besides, Qin Li had been seriously injured in his desperate fight against Qin Feng. The gap between the two was simply too vast! A Yellow Level First Stage Martial Artist with First-Level Primordial Power facing off against a Profound Level Sixth Stage, High-Level Martial Artist with Fifth-Level Primordial Power would normally have been killed instantly!
If Qin Li hadn't possessed an Ultimate Skill of his own, his fate today would have been absolutely miserable. The bloody gash on his neck, still aching faintly, was a stark reminder that this was a world where the strong devoured the weak. Without strength, you had no right to speak!
'It seems I've gained the Shangguan Family's protection for now, but who knows what tomorrow will bring? And who can guarantee that he and that young lady from the Shangguan Family will actually end up together?'
'Even if they could be together, how could he, Qin Li, let a woman protect him? He couldn't do it!'
The battle today had also brought Qin Li a great reward. He discovered that when his Essence, Qi, and Spirit merged into one, and his focus reached a wondrous critical point, an extremely powerful energy would surge from within his body. It was this miraculous energy that had supported him, allowing him to kick Qin Feng away and severely injure him at that critical moment.
Qin Li also discovered that when he threw all his concentration into a battle, his Innate Purple Qi Technique would begin to absorb external energy at a frantic pace!
Otherwise, he never would have been able to dodge that attack from Qin Hu!
One had to understand, both of those Qin Family brothers were true geniuses! Although Qin Hu was already eighteen and one stage lower than Qin Feng, in a world where reaching the Profound Level before the age of twenty was considered a sign of a bright future, no one would dare call Qin Hu mediocre!
Qin Hu's combat experience was clearly far greater than Qin Feng's. If Qin Hu had been the one to strike first today, Qin Li would have, in all likelihood, suffered a crushing defeat.
The gap in their cultivation realms was not something that could be compensated for in other ways. While his Innate Purple Qi Technique could substitute for Primordial Power, the battle techniques of this world were absolutely not something the Martial Arts he learned in his past life could replace! From watching the brothers Qin Feng and Qin Hu, Qin Li could already tell that the battle techniques they cultivated were by no means simple. Most experts could Transform Palm into Saber—for instance, shattering a brick with a single palm strike. That involved focusing all the body's Power into the palm in an instant to break the brick, a feat that fell into the category of hard-style techniques.
But when the brothers Qin Feng and Qin Hu used Transform Palm into Saber, though nothing could be seen, it produced an invisible Qi Force with a sharpness in no way inferior to a real blade! 'That is a true battle technique!' Qin Li felt a touch of envy in his heart.
Therefore, as Qin Li silently circulated the Innate Purple Qi Technique to heal his injuries, he was also considering how he might obtain a High-Level battle technique.
Seeing Qin Li's silence, Qin Xue thought he was worried about his mother, Qin Hanyue. She couldn't help but whisper, "You don't need to worry about the Madam. She is, after all, the Old Master's daughter. No one can do anything to her!"
Qin Li slowly shook his head and gave a faint smile. "It's too late to leave now."
The two of them looked up as a squad of Qin Family Guards suddenly rushed out in front of them. The one in the lead was a man in his thirties, with a fair, beardless face. It was Qin Ze, the man who had been following beside Qin Hongyuan that day. Qin Ze nodded at Qin Li and said impassively, with a blank expression, "The family is convening a clan assembly. The Old Master has sent me to summon you!"
Just then, another group of men on horseback charged over from a different direction. The leader, mounted on a powerful black horse, stared coldly at Qin Li, then glanced at the fair-faced man in his thirties. He said hatefully, "We were a step too late. The little bastard got lucky. Let's go…" With that, the group spurred their horses and rode off.
As Qin Li was surrounded by the guards, Qin Xue quietly explained, "These are the Old Master's Personal Guards. The ones who just arrived are the First Master's men."
Qin Li nodded. The First Master was Qin Feng and Qin Hu's father, Qin Yongzhi, the current de facto head of the Qin Family. He spent most of his time in the Imperial Capital and probably didn't know what had just happened here yet. This meant that the group of men just now had likely been sent by Qin Yongzhi's official wife, the madam of the family's first branch, Mo Lan.
Her motive, of course, was self-evident. She wanted to kill Qin Li before anyone else could, to vent her hatred. Once it was a done deal, Qin Hongyuan couldn't possibly do anything to her over a dead illegitimate son, could he? As for the Shangguan Family's marriage proposal, there were plenty of outstanding disciples from the side branches. Surely one of them would be willing to marry that monstrous girl from the Shangguan Family!
In truth, Mo Lan had just narrowly avoided a catastrophe. What she didn't know was that Shangguan Tie's entire reason for seeking a marriage alliance with the Qin Family was for Qin Li! If she had dared to kill Qin Li, Shangguan Tie would have surely dared to exterminate her!
'It seems the Old Master is on the Young Master's side after all,' Qin Xue concluded internally, her anxious heart easing somewhat.
...
Inside the Qin Family's largest assembly hall, a crowd of several hundred people had gathered. Nearly all the clan members within five generations residing in Yellow Sand City were present. A low buzz filled the hall as the crowd murmured in hushed tones, their voices a mix of surprise, anger, and schadenfreude.
Qin Hongyuan sat in the highest seat of honor. Beside him stood a group of the Qin Family's legitimate descendants. Qin Hu, his face ashen with fury, stood by Mo Lan, who was sobbing so hard she seemed on the verge of fainting. He supported his mother, and anyone could see his rage, as if the slightest provocation would unleash his thunderous wrath.
As Mo Lan wept, she glared with venomous eyes at a beautiful woman standing opposite her. Though the woman was dressed plainly and wore no makeup, she was a natural beauty. She stood with her hands by her sides, her expression calm, seemingly unfazed by either favor or disgrace.
Deep within her eyes, however, one could still see a flicker of anxiety. This woman was none other than Qin Li's mother, Qin Hanyue.
At that moment, Qin Hanyue's heart was a turmoil of mixed emotions. She was not only worried for her precious son, but also furious at the attitude of her own family members!
'When Qin Li was so enraged by Qin Hu that he coughed up blood and fainted, not a single person in the Qin Family stood up to speak a word of justice for him, let alone call a clan assembly.'
'Why is it that when my son is wronged, you all can't wait to clap and cheer, but when your son suffers a little, you blow it completely out of proportion? You want to pass judgment on my precious son? In your dreams!' Qin Hanyue sneered inwardly. 'You all want to know who his father is, don't you? And you, my beloved father… if you dare to harm Qin Li later, I'll tell you all myself who the man I love most… is! And if you really provoke me… Hmph!'
Just then, Mo Lan was finally and completely enraged by Qin Hanyue's composure. Her own son's future was uncertain, yet Qin Hanyue stood there, perfectly serene, without the slightest hint of guilt on her face. From the day she had married into the Qin Family, she had found this stunningly beautiful sister-in-law to be an eyesore. Nearly twenty years of resentment erupted all at once.
"Qin Hanyue, you shameless, despicable bitch! The bastard you gave birth to is going to destroy the future of the Qin Family! If we can't kill that piece of trash today, then I don't want to live anymore!" she wailed through her tears.
Qin Hanyue lifted her head. A film of tears misted her beautiful eyes, but a stubborn smile appeared on her face. She looked at the tantrum-throwing Mo Lan with disdain and said, "I am proud of my son. Heh. He's trash? …Then what does that make the one who got beaten up?"
HISS! A wave of sharp gasps went through the crowd.
Because of Qin Hanyue's words, the noisy assembly hall instantly fell silent. Everyone stared, dumbstruck, at the noble, aloof woman standing below Qin Hongyuan.
A collective silence!
It was only then that nearly everyone suddenly thought of a crucial question: How exactly did Qin Li—at the first stage of the Yellow Level, with Primordial Power not even at the first level, and knowing no battle techniques—defeat the Qin Family's greatest genius in its entire history?
Just then, the doors to the assembly hall creaked… and were pushed open. Everyone subconsciously turned their heads to look.
A handsome boy of thirteen or fourteen walked in, silhouetted against the blinding sunlight. He moved with a steady gait, and his eyes held a strange, world-weary depth that made people instinctively overlook his age.
Qin Li!
All the Qin clan members felt a jolt of excitement. The real show was about to begin!