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Li Qiye glanced at the few human cultivators and flatly said: “This is a troubled place with an incoming disaster. Blood will stain the land and bones will fill this ocean, so leave while you can. Return to your homes.”

After hearing this, the humans darted their eyes at each other with hesitation. One or two people left, but the rest remained.

Li Qiye was not too persuasive since he knew that they didn’t completely trust him.

“Hehehe, just a human brat spouting nonsense. What a naive fool.” A gloomy voice sounded at this moment.

The water splashed and separated to form a road on the sea. An old man emerged from the depths with more than ten ministers dressed in both scholarly and martial uniforms. Every single one of them was full of blood energy and looked quite extraordinary. [1. In ancient China, the imperial court was divided into martial officers and scholarly/literature officers.]

The old man had a huge turtle shell on his back, showing that he was a demon turtle. His bean-sized eyes were flashing with glints. It was clear at first glance that this was definitely a vicious character.

“The Turtle Minister.” Someone murmured after seeing this old man: “It looks like the Immaculate Expanse wants to get involved too.”

The arrival of this old man and his followers made the waiting cultivators feel a great pressure. Prior to this, many great powers had shown up, but none were at the level of the expanse. If the expanse was now here, the other lineages like the Golden Isle and the Void Imperfection Three Schools might be on their way as well.

Once they were here, it wouldn’t be as easy for the great powers to get a piece of the pie. As for the minor sects and vagrant cultivators, they would only be able to stand to the side as they were unqualified for this competition.

The Turtle Minister was the prime minister of the Immaculate Expanse, a great military leader under Daoist Lin. He was a competent official and took care of the expanse’s administration for the daoist. Moreover, his own cultivation was great since he was a famous Virtuous Paragon.

Li Qiye lazily glanced at the turtle and said: “Just a turtle, stop blabbering or I’ll make turtle soup out of you.”

The minister wasn’t happy to hear this. He was considered a great demon upon taking a form different from a turtle, so he absolutely despised others calling him a turtle.

“Little animal, you killed my master’s attendant and dared to shame my Immaculate Expanse. Your crime is punishable by ten thousand deaths! I don’t care which sect you are from, you won’t be able to escape death today!” He pointed at Li Qiye and uttered: “If you want a quick death, kneel and surrender or I’ll mince you into pieces as revenge...”

“Prime Minister, leave this little beast to me!” A loud cry came from the horizon. A billowing flame emerged as if there was a sea of fire in the sky.

A person flew closer, accompanied by a great heatwave that seemingly wanted to boil the sea. The moment he stepped onto Peacock Land, a terrifying heat assaulted the earth. The vegetation nearby was instantly ignited.

This was a middle-aged man with a stately presence. He didn’t try to hide his blood energy at all, instead letting it roam free. Divine rings opened around him as if he was a God-Monarch.

A large Golden Crow existed inside these rings. It carried the sky and gave off a holy aura.

Someone blurted after seeing him: “Golden Crow Monarch, the junior brother of the Extreme Yang Monarch!”

Another murmured: “The Extreme Yang School is here, so it won’t be long till the Golden Isle and Void Imperfection Three Schools are here as well.”

This man strode into Peacock Land and stepped onto a high peak. He looked at Li Qiye with a murderous intent in his eyes.

The Golden Crow Monarch told the Turtle Minister: “Prime Minister, this beast killed my nephew. Out of consideration for our friendship, leave his dog life for me. I will take his head to my senior brother.”

The turtle smiled and replied with haste: “Please go for it. Just leave his body so that I can also take it back to report.”

This conversation made it seem like Li Qiye was already a dead man that couldn’t do anything about it.

In fact, many didn’t deny the monarch’s strength. Although he was the Extreme Yang Monarch’s junior brother, he joined the school even earlier. Some believed that he became a paragon even before his brother.

At this school, strength dictated seniority, not who joined the earliest.

Because of his constitution, the Golden Crow Monarch couldn’t cultivate the Extreme Yang Physique, so his brother became stronger than him. Nevertheless, he was still a Prosperous Era Paragon, stronger than the Turtle Minister.

Many held their breaths when they saw a paragon wanting to take Li Qiye’s life. Everyone could guess that Li Qiye was also a Virtuous Paragon. Who was stronger between these two?

“I’m afraid the Golden Crow Monarch has the advantage.” Someone was more optimistic about the monarch: “After all, the Extreme Yang School is an Immortal Physique lineage that has stood strong for millions of years. Plus, he is a charming spirit; both his body and soul are innately superior from birth.”

Many people felt that this was a reasonable statement. The monarch had many treasures since he came from a big sect — this was an advantage that not just anyone could have.

“Clank!” A chain covered in a crimson light appeared in his hand. This flashing light made others shudder; its fiery light seemed to pierce deep into the bones.

He held the chain with both hands and glared at Li Qiye: “Will you surrender, or do I have to force you by piercing your clavicles and dragging you around like a dead dog?” [1. In Wuxia, it is believed that when your clavicles are pierced, you can’t gather qi.]

Li Qiye was still holding the cauldron. He slightly raised his brows and lazily responded: “Either come and die or scram, don’t disturb me.”

The monarch was infuriated by this slight. He was a supreme expert, yet this junior held him in such contempt, prompting him to shout: “Little beast, die!”

A clunk was heard after he declared his intention. The chain in his hands thrust forth like a scorpion tail, aiming for Li Qiye’s clavicles.

“Clank!” However, against all expectations, the chain did not pierce Li Qiye’s clavicles. Rather, the other side of the monarch’s chain fell into Li Qiye’s hand.

Li Qiye gave a deep shout: “Come here!” The chain that the monarch was holding suddenly coiled around his wrist.

“Whoosh!” The monarch was involuntarily dragged to Li Qiye.

“Boom!” The monarch heavily slammed into the Peacock Tree, the impact causing him to suddenly see stars.

“Ugh!” Before he could recover from the dizziness, the chain coiled around the Peacock Tree once and turned back to wring his neck.

“No!” The monarch was still screaming as his limbs convulsed. In a split second, he was bound to the Peacock Tree and strangled to death. His true fate wanted to break out of his body, but there wasn’t any opportunity. His true fate was sealed within his body and perished alongside it.

This all happened too quickly. People couldn’t even react in time to the monarch being strangled alive.

“Go!” After seeing his death, the Turtle Minister was shocked. He ordered and ran with the rest of his men.

“Whoosh!” The chain soared like a true dragon. Before the turtle and his officials could dive down into the ocean, the chain wrapped around their necks.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!” All of them crashed into the Peacock Tree.

“No—” The group was scared out of their minds and screamed. Alas, their cries didn’t last long as they were also strangled to death and hung there on the tree.

In a short period of time, those who were strapped to the Peacock Tree all had their eyes wide open for they died with grievances.

They came to get revenge for their disciples, but they didn’t expect to pay with their own lives in the process. They had truly underestimated Li Qiye’s strength. In their minds, a nameless human junior could only be an ordinary paragon at best. If he was stronger than this level, then he would have been quite famous already. Thus, they were confident in their victory.

But alas, they couldn’t have imagined that they wouldn’t be able to block even one move from him. They died indignant deaths full of unanswered questions.

People were horrified to see these corpses hanging from the Peacock Tree and couldn’t help but shiver.