Chapter 432: Attack First!
Chu Li and the others had been searching for the Black Voodoo Cult martial pract.i.tioners for some time now.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t pinpoint the location of the Black Voodoo Cult martial pract.i.tioners and also didn’t have a Black Voodoo Cult token to do so. This made their search inefficient to the point where it could just be called mindlessly roaming through the forest.
In addition to that, the martial pract.i.tioner in their number that had been afflicted with the toxin gradually worsened and became unable to resist it.
That person only had five days left.
If Chu Li could not find Ye Yihao within five days and kill the Eight-winged Centipede or get a drop of its blood, his poisoned junior brother’s True Soul would dissipate. His junior brother would die.
This was why Chu Li was in a rush and did not want to chat more with He Wei and Qin Lie—he did not have time to waste.
However, when Qin Lie took out a Black Voodoo Cult token and threw it into his hand, Chu Li’s impatience and restlessness disappeared along with the arrogance on his face.
“We’re cut from the same cloth!” Chu Li exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.
“Four Black Voodoo Cult tokens!” Surprise shone in He Wei’s bright eyes, her opinion of him rising.
Behind Qin Lie, the three members of Terminator Sect that held themselves arrogantly were inwardly shocked.
They knew exactly how difficult it was to deal with martial pract.i.tioners of Black Voodoo Cult and knew how strange and malevolent the Yu Family clansmen were.
Having obtained four tokens and killing four Black Voodoo Cult martial pract.i.tioners, Qin Lie immediately won a sliver of their respect.
“Senior Brother, take the Black Voodoo Cult token and find the position of those Black Voodoo Cult sc.u.m!” a member of the Terminator Sect shouted. “Ren Peng doesn’t have much time left!”
“I know.” Chu Li gripped the token and probed it with his mind consciousness, his expression solemn.
“Qin Lie, put me down,” Song Tingyu whispered into his ear.
“Wait,” Qin Lie replied. He was waiting for Chu Li’s response, his brow deeply furrowed.
He Wei of Heavenly Sword Mountain walked over to Qin Lie out of curiosity. She looked at him and Song Tingyu closely, asking in a small voice, “Did you two really kill four Black Voodoo Cult martial pract.i.tioners?”
“I didn’t do anything.” Song Tingyu’s expression was indifferent. “Qin Lie killed them by himself.”
He Wei was even more surprised.
After a moment of thought, she said in a soft voice, “Be wary of Luo Chen. Before entering the Trial, he declared that he would make trouble for you.”
“Du Xiangyang told me the same thing.” Qin Lie’s expression was disdainful.
“You encountered Du Xiangyang?” He Wei asked in surprise.
“We met and fought once. He’s very powerful,” Qin Lie said.
“Of course he’s powerful. He originally had a high chance of being Heavenly Sword Mountain’s ringer in this Trial. If Luo Chen had not taken part, he would be the leader of Heavenly Sword Mountain’s partic.i.p.ants. Such a pity...” He Wei shook her head slightly. After a short pause, she then asked, “Since you fought Du Xiangyang... who won?”
“He did.”
Qin Lie narrowed his eyes and thought back to the fight in the land of fire. When Du Xiangyang formed the Burning Soul Firebeam, Qin Lie had to use Blood Escape to avoid it.
He had been the loser.
However, he hadn’t understood the power of the Burning Soul Firebeam at the time. He also hadn’t refined the three drops of Fire Qilin blood into blood essences.
Upon meeting Du Xiangyang a second time, Qin Lie wanted to have a rematch.
Du Xiangyang, however, did not indulge him.
When Du Xiangyang encountered Qin Lie for a second time, he had hid far away and considered him bad luck. He hadn’t wanted to waste time and energy on him.
“Yes, I thought that would be the case.” He Wei chuckled softly as if that were the way things ought to be.
She was familiar with how powerful Du Xiangyang was. She knew that Du Xiangyang was only slightly less powerful than Luo Chen.
—and Luo Chen was the most terrifying Netherpa.s.sage Realm martial pract.i.tioner in Heavenly Sword Mountain!
“However, I’ll admit that you’re pretty strong as well. You were able to kill four Black Voodoo Cult martial pract.i.tioners, which is more than enough proof of your ability to protect yourself in the Graveyard of G.o.ds.” He Wei’s voice took on a low tone and she advised, “Come with me. You cannot fight Black Voodoo Cult alone. Ye Yihao is even more frightening than Du Xiangyang. You definitely can’t measure up to him. Only by coming with us will you be able to help your friend.”
Qin Lie looked at He Wei in suspicion.
He felt this He Wei was very strange. This woman was from Heavenly Sword Mountain but was close to Chu Li. Furthermore, she had been friendly to him since the beginning.
This puzzled Qin Lie.
“What is this woman planning?” Qin Lie thought inwardly.
As if she could see Qin Lie’s hesitation and suspicion, He Wei thought to herself for a moment and then, in an even softer voice, she said, “Uncle Mu and my father are very close. I heard Uncle Mu talk about you. You also have a recipe to forge the Terminator Profound Bomb, right? That came from Uncle Mu...”
Qin Lie gaped in shock.
“My dad... is from Terminator Sect. Since I like practicing swordsmans.h.i.+p, and because he is a good friend of Uncle Mu, my father sent me to Heavenly Sword Mountain to learn the way of the sword,” He Wei explained.
Qin Lie nodded, finally understanding, and said, “So that’s how it is.”
No wonder this He Wei had been friendly to him since the moment they met. She was not like Du Xiangyang who had only stopped acting against Qin Lie after discovering that he was powerful after fighting him.
She was acting this way because of Li Mu.
“I cannot find any trace of Black Voodoo Cult movements. They probably aren’t anywhere within a fifty kilometers of us.” Chu Li shouted in irritation. He stopped scanning the surroundings and pulled at his hair out of stress.
“We know the general direction they are in,” Qin Lie said in a timely manner.
Upon hearing him say this, Chu Li, He Wei, and the other martial pract.i.tioners looked at him in surprise.
“Take out the Memory Fragment Crystal,” Qin Lie said softly.
Song Tingyu immediately handed it over.
“See for yourself.” Qin Lie gave the Memory Fragment Crystal to He Wei. “Sealed within this Memory Fragment Crystal are the memories of a Black Voodoo Cult martial pract.i.tioner. If you examine it, you can discern the general direction that the Black Voodoo Cult martial pract.i.tioners are in and figure out where they gather.”
“Good!” Chu Li was elated. “You did pretty good, little brother!”
He Wei took the Memory Fragment Crystal, and instead of handing it to Chu Li, she examined it herself.
Ten minutes later, He Wei opened her eyes and gave it back to Qin Lie. She then pointed in the same direction that Song Tingyu had specified earlier. “Over there!”
“Go!” Chu Li shouted. He nodded at Qin Lie and asked, “Want to come with us? You’re trying to cure your woman. If Ye Yihao and that voodoo insect are killed, she will definitely be fine.”
“I...” Song Tingyu’s pale cheeks faintly flushed red.
She wanted to say that she wasn’t Qin Lie’s woman, but Qin Lie already nodded and firmly shouted, “Gladly!”
“Let’s go!” Chu Li ordered.
So Qin Lie carried Song Tingyu on his back, joining Chu Li and He Wei’s group in heading toward the gathering place of Black Voodoo Cult.
The second day.
Qin Lie and He Wei’s sword tokens softly rang at the same time. The ringing gradually intensified.
“Five sword tokens… which means five people from Heavenly Sword Mountain. Definitely Luo Chen’s group.” He Wei touched her sword token to sense the situation then prepared to ignore it. “We will continue. Don’t stop for them.”
Qin Lie didn’t respond and simply continued to carry Song Tingyu in silence.
“Ding! Ding!”
Qin Lie’s and He Wei’s sword tokens continued to chime more and more frequently. This meant that people with their own sword tokens were constantly sending messages and quickly approaching them.
“So irritating!” He Wei frowned, her face full of anger. “They know that we’re going to ignore them, yet they’re still going to pursue us. What are they trying to do?”
“Aside from you, Du Xiangyang, and those of us from the Scarlet Tide Continent, every other Heavenly Sword Mountain martial pract.i.tioner in the Graveyard of G.o.ds follows Luo Chen. If we were also on Luo Chen’s side, we would have met up with them. Since we were in such a hurry to get away from them, they can definitely tell who we are. They should be coming for me.” Qin Lie’s gaze was filled with murder.
“Luo Chen’s people?” Chu Li turned to look back at He Wei from his position at the front, an irritated expression on his face.
“Mn, it’s definitely them.” He Wei nodded.
“They won’t leave us alone?” Chu Li asked.
He Wei nodded again.
“Stop for now.” Chu Li waved his hand and came to a halt. His face was grim and he sneered, “I want to see what they want to do when they get here!”
“This is none of your business! They’re coming for me!” Qin Lie yelled.
“This was none of my business before you gave me the Black Voodoo token and the Memory Fragment Crystal.” Chu Li’s brow furrowed. “Now, however, you’re coming with me to kill people from Black Voodoo Cult. From now on, your business is my business!”
Chu Li waved a hand, stopping Qin Lie just as he was about to speak, and said, “Don’t waste your breath. I want to see what they really want to do!”
His face was full of disdain as he scoffed, “I hate people that fight their fellow martial pract.i.tioners the most! This Luo Chen is the ringer of Heavenly Sword Mountain, but he doesn’t understand how to unite people and only wants to use the Trial to eliminate others. This kind of person… ha! I despise people like him!”
“Don’t worry, Qin Lie,” He Wei said, trying to comfort him. “Nothing will happen. Even if Luo Chen appears, he wouldn’t dare to try anything with Chu Li here.”
“I don’t have anything to be afraid of.” Qin Lie shook his head, not bothering to explain further. He knew that Chu Li and the others had good intentions.
“Let’s wait!” Chu Li shouted irritably.
An hour later.
A group of five people burst out of the woods. The person leading them was Luo Chen.
Luo Chen was dressed in white, and his gaze was as sharp as a sword. Almost in a flash, he arrived in front of Qin Lie’s group.
Behind him, along with two other Heavenly Sword Mountain martial pract.i.tioners, were Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong.
“Chu Li! He Wei!”
Upon arrival, Luo Chen swept his gaze across Qin Lie. His main focus, however, was on the other two, and he couldn’t help but shout.
Chu Li snorted coldly and didn’t respond.
He Wei frowned and impatiently asked, “What are you in such a hurry to do, Luo Chen? Are you taking action against us?”
Luo Chen had an icy expression on his face. He shook his head and nonchalantly said, “I have no grievances with you.”
“Then why have you come?” He Wei asked coldly.
“I came for him!” Luo Chen pointed at Qin Lie, releasing a sharp blade-like presence. “I have some business with this person! If you do not interfere in the matter between the two of us, you can just leave. I definitely won’t say another word.”
“He Wei, look after her for me.” Qin Lie calmly put Song Tingyu down and walked toward Luo Chen.
Before he could go far, however, a figure suddenly moved to block him.
It was Chu Li.
With his back to Qin Lie, Chu Li faced Luo Chen and provoked him, “I want to interfere! What are you going to do about it?”
Luo Chen’s face became cold as he suddenly became silent.
Qin Lie was shocked.
After a moment, he moved past Chu Li and said, “This is between me and him.”
“I already told you! Since you offered that Black Voodoo Cult token and the Memory Fragment Crystal, your business is now my concern!” Chu Li snorted in a domineering manner. His figure flashed, and he appeared next to Qin Lie once more. He impatiently shouted, “I have so much pent up anger and didn’t have someone to vent it on! Since these people came searching for us, don’t blame me for using them to vent! In this Graveyard of G.o.ds, a person can do whatever they want if they’re powerful enough. The more people die, the better!”
Chu Li had been feeling wretched as his junior brother slowly weakened. Since he hadn’t known how to find the people of Black Voodoo Cult, he needed an outlet for his emotions.
The arrival of Luo Chen and the others gave him that outlet Regardless of whether or not he had a close relations.h.i.+p with Qin Lie, Chu Li was going to take advantage of this opportunity.
He was clearly kicking up a ruckus on purpose.
Qin Lie froze. Looking at this murderous person whose eyes were filled with fighting spirit, he was stunned.
From Chu Li’s actions alone, even if he didn’t have anything to do with Luo Chen, it was clear that he was ready to make trouble. Luo Chen just happened to come at such an inopportune time.