Ning Yan, Wu Jianwu, and the Captain had no idea where the Green Spirit Pharmacy was located. But seeing the ruins of the city left them astonished.

Xu Qing suddenly blurred into motion, vanishing from inside the sun and appearing in the city right in front of the former location of the Green Spirit Pharmacy. His expression was grim. The medicine shop had long since been reduced to rubble. The entire area was in shambles. The sign was still there, but it was broken into a handful of pieces.

Ling’er appeared next to Xu Qing, a dazed look on her face as she looked at what was left behind of the shop.

The Captain and the others appeared one after another. Looking around at the devastation, the Captain cleared his throat.

“Little Ah Qing, um… did we go the wrong way? There’s no medicine shop here!” He took a few steps forward, squatted down, and picked up a few of the pieces of the sign. He looked back at Xu Qing. “Actually, it looks like there really was a medicine shop here at one time…. Hey, check out this sign. It looks like one of the characters is ‘Green.’”

Xu Qing’s expression became grimmer.

Ning Yan blinked a few times and then quietly said, “My condolences, Biggest Bro….”

Xu Qing’s eyes turned ice cold.

Meanwhile, there was no way Wu Jianwu could possibly pass up an opportunity like this. Sighing, he said, “The sea of life becomes a cesspit; the beautiful flowers have turned to **. Don’t believe me, just take a look—”

Before Wu Jianwu could finish his poetry, the parrot flew out and excitedly said, “The great heavens spare none from sorrow!!”

Xu Qing radiated intense coldness as he glanced at the parrot.

And then Ling’er finally reacted; her face swelled with fury. This was her shop. Her home! And now it was destroyed. Sensing Ling’er’s anger, the shadow also pulsed with emotional fluctuations of rage.

Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior flew out into the open, thrumming loudly. “Milord. Milady. Say the word and I’ll go slaughter whoever did this!”

Not to be outdone, Li Youfei stepped forward and furiously said, “That’s right! I want to see who had the outrageous gall to do something like this!”

He called the Bitter Life Mountains home as well, and considering that the grandmaster’s medicine shop had been razed to the ground, he felt like it was his responsibility to help. It didn’t matter who was responsible, he would do everything possible to deal with them.

The arrival of Xu Qing and the others had now caught the attention of the gray-robed cultivators who were bustling about in the area. With malicious gazes, they started surrounding them.

Before they could get very close, though, a prismatic beam of light approached at high speed. Ignoring the gray-robed cultivators, it shot to Xu Qing and resolved into the leader of the Epactic Soil Sect, Chen Fanzhuo.

After the grandmaster’s medicine shop was destroyed, he had been keeping a close eye on the area, and therefore, hurried over as soon as he realized Xu Qing was back. Expression one of fury, he clasped hands and bowed.

“Grandmaster, I wish I could have done something, but I was powerless to keep your medicine shop safe.”

Face expressionless, Xu Qing looked at Chen Fanzhuo. “Who’s responsible?”

“It’s a new group that decided to take over this area. They drove everyone away and then started building their sect headquarters here. The leader is a dwarf who calls himself Sir Tree-Dao.”

Upon hearing his words, Li Youfei’s eyes went wide. He felt like his mind had just been struck by 100,000 lightning bolts, leaving him reeling mentally. Rushing over to Chen Fanzhuo, he said, “Are you sure it’s a dwarf called Sir Tree-Dao?”

Looking surprised, Chen Fanzhuo nodded.

After seeing that nod, Li Youfei no longer felt like he had been struck by 100,000 lightning bolts. Instead, it felt like 10,000,000 lightning bolts smashing into him. Grief welled up within him. Trembling from head to toe, he flopped to the ground in front of Xu Qing.

“Grandmaster… this is a misunderstanding. It must be a misunderstanding…. Sir Tree-Dao is a novitiate apprentice of mine…. I can handle this. I’ll deal with it! Right now!!”

Li Youfei was actually terrified. The thought of his own novitiate apprentice causing a disaster like this left him shaking to the core. He wished he could track that apprentice down right now and slap him to death.

Xu Qing looked calmly back at Li Youfei.

That gaze made Li Youfei think about all the experiments Xu Qing had carried out on his own body. Then he thought about everything else he had seen and experienced recently, and he couldn’t help but look over at ‘grandpa.’

Shivering again, he raised his voice and said, “Grandmaster, I’ll handle this post haste!”

He quickly sent his divine sense out and locked onto a specific location. Then, throwing all caution to the wind, he unleashed the power of his Nascent Soul cultivation and shouted, “I’m the Master of your sect leader, fools! Back down now! Make a single wrong move and you’re all dead!”

Such words backed by a Nascent Soul cultivation base left the gray-robed cultivators feeling so shaken that none of them dared to do anything.

With that, Li Youfei unleashed all of the power he was capable of to rush toward the spot his divine sense had locked onto. Inside he was cursing to death. You damn unfilial apprentice! Where did you get the outrageous gall to destroy the medicine shop of someone as terrifying as this??

Truth be told, he actually liked this apprentice a lot. But because he had so many enemies, he had never told Sir Tree-Dao his true identity and background. As a result, he couldn’t just stand by while his apprentice did something so suicidal. Moving at top speed, he quickly arrived at Sir Tree-Dao’s sect headquarters. Not holding anything back, he made a beeline for the building where he sensed his apprentice’s aura.

Sir Tree-Dao was still there kneeling respectfully in front of the black-robed old man, receiving some cultivation pointers.

“Sir Tree-Dao, your cultivation base is passable. But your techniques are all random. If you want to cultivate my personal techniques, you need to do something about all of those miscellaneous things you learned before. You’re talented, but sadly, you became an apprentice to the wrong Master. That’s why you haven’t made much cultivation progress in the past few years.”

Deep within the black-robed old man’s eyes was a flicker of greed. He actually had his own reasons for accepting Sir Tree-Dao as an apprentice. Just as he was about to continue speaking, he noticed something outside and frowned.

Meanwhile, Sir Tree-Dao very respectfully said, “I was a fool in the past, Master. Ai. If only I’d known that there is always someone better out there. But instead, I became an apprentice to the wrong Master.” The moment he finished speaking, he heard a familiar voice from outside.

“Sir Tree-Dao, get the hell out here right now to talk to your Master!”

Sir Tree-Dao’s eyes went wide, and his jaw nearly dropped. Turning, he watched as the door of the building slammed open and Li Youfei appeared there.

Sir Tree-Dao didn’t recognize Li Youfei’s appearance, but he definitely recognized his gaze, his voice, and his fluctuations. In the blink of an eye, Sir Tree-Dao realized that this was the mysterious person he had previously called Master. Stunned, he opened his mouth to speak. However, Li Youfei wasn’t in the mood to sit around pondering the situation. As soon as he laid eyes on Sir Tree-Dao, he reached out to grab him.

“Come with me right now, you rebellious apprentice! If you apologize to the grandmaster this instant, and offer compensation, you might still get out of all this alive!”

There was no way Sir Tree-Dao could resist. That said, he wasn’t even sure what was going on. However, before he could do anything, the black-robed old man snorted coldly.

“How impudent!” Backed by his Spirit Trove cultivation base, the black-robed old man’s cold snort echoed like heavenly thunder.

Li Youfei staggered backward, blood oozing out of his mouth as he finally looked at the old man in black. “Guru Blackeyes!”

“Li Youfei!” Guru Blackeyes said coolly. “So, you’re the one who had Sir Tree-Dao as an apprentice before. Well he’s my apprentice now. As of now, he’s not your concern!”

Li Youfei could obviously see that his apprentice had left his tutelage to join another Master, so he nodded. Looking at Sir Tree-Dao, he said, “Well, what are you going to do?”

Sir Tree-Dao hesitated for a moment, then clasped hands to Li Youfei. “Senior….”

“Fine, I get it,” Li Youfei interrupted. If things had been like they were before, he would have continued to vent his anger. But now, he could breathe a sigh of relief. “Very well. As you said, this doesn’t have anything to do with me. You’re no longer my apprentice. But considering that we used to be apprentice and Master, Sir Tree-Dao, let me give you a little warning…. You really pissed off the grandmaster.”

Li Youfei shook his head. At almost exactly the same time, footsteps could be heard outside, along with some agonized shrieks. A moment later, Xu Qing arrived with everyone else.

Sir Tree-Dao was clearly surprised at that.

However, Guru Blackeyes simply looked over the group quickly, then said, “A few measly Nascent Soul cultivators? Since when did people like that think they could start showing off? Sir Tree-Dao, you’ll now get a chance to see that technique I taught you in action.”

Guru Blackeyes stood, his expression tranquil. Clasping his hands behind his back, he walked out of the room with a single step. There, his Spirit Trove cultivation base erupted, causing a secret trove to appear over his head. The secret trove seemed full of erupting volcanoes. And it was just possible to hear the roar of a heavenly dao within it, which caused the surrounding natural laws to stir. Meanwhile, innumerable projections appeared behind him, vicious and howling with rage.

It was a very impressive sight. Then Guru Blackeyes took a second step forward, placing him right in front of Xu Qing and the others. Behind him, his secret trove emanated astonishing pressure, causing rumbling sounds to fill heaven and earth. What was more, a black magical symbol began to form in the sky overhead. It was fully 3,000 meters in size, and pulsed with enough might to shatter boulders.

“Watch closely, my apprentice. This is the technique I just imparted to you. The Grand Devil Seal!”

Guru Blackeyes casually waved his hand with the intent of crushing the pitiful animals in front of him.

A strange expression appeared in the Captain’s eyes. Ning Yan sneered and Wu Jianwu stood there with his chin stuck up. Xu Qing’s face was completely expressionless. And then, all of them turned to the Heir Apparent and clasped hands.

“Grandpa.”

The Heir Apparent, who had been playing with the parrot, turned and looked at Guru Blackeyes.

One look.

That was all it took for Guru Blackeyes’ mind to start spinning. Going numb from head to toe, he flopped to the ground, all while his Grand Devil Seal faded from existence. Then, all the blood in his body sprayed out of his mouth. Clearly, he didn’t have as much blood as the Captain, making it hard to tell how badly he was injured. Everything went deathly silent.