Chapter 199: The Past

“Yan Chi! How is Yan Chi not dead yet?!”

Sect Master Ying Xingran screamed, “That year I saw you and Lang Xie injuring him severely before blasting him into Flame Volcano with my very own eyes. After that, we even found his bloody corpse beneath Flame Volcano. How can he still be alive?!”

“That corpse probably isn’t his. He really is alive, and he is even scarier than before,” Feng Rong replied bitterly.

It was at this moment that Qin Lie and Tang Siqi had walked inside. The moment the duo appeared, Ying Xingran and the three great reverends’ attentions instantly fell on them.

“It’s good that you came back, it’s good that you came back.” Ying Xingran put down the heavy burden in his heart.

Ever since Feng Rong had arrived, the three great reverends and him had been asking about Qin Lie. They were still worried even after learning from Feng Rong that Qin Lie had left with Tang Siqi, afraid that the duo would be captured or killed amidst the chaos.

To them, Qin Lie and Tang Siqi were the sect’s future, the key to Armament Sect resurgence.

In their minds, they themselves could be captured or die, but Qin Lie and Tang Siqi must not fall into danger!

“Instructor Feng, who is Yan Chi?” Qin Lie walked over with a stern expression. “Is he that Blood Shadow? Why did you and Lord Lang Xie want to kill him in the past?”

“Qin Bing, you do not need to worry about these trivial matters,” Ying Xingran said.

“Mn, it is only a matter of the past. It has nothing to do with you,” Feng Rong said tiredly.

“I want to know!” Qin Lie exclaimed, “I want to know the past relating to Blood Spear, I want to know the man named You Hongzhi, I want to know the enmity between Blood Spear, You Hongzhi, and Yan Chi!”

When he mentioned You Hongzhi’s name, everyone inside the hall changed their expressions a little. But they did not feel strange about it.

They naturally had assumed that Qin Lie had also read the sect’s secret scriptures, which was why he knew about You Hongzhi’s existence and the man’s involvement with Blood Spear.

Feng Rong looked at Ying Xingran.

After some thoughts Ying Xingran nodded and said, “The sect’s future will fall on him sooner or later. There are some things that he should know. Say it, there are no strangers here anyway.”

“About… Master. How much do you know about him?” Feng Rong swallowed yet another pill before she asked.

Qin Lie repeated what Tang Siqi had said, “This is all recorded in the secret scriptures. I know nothing that isn’t in there.”

Ying Xingran and the three great reverends nodded quietly.

“Master… Master died by Lang Xie’s hands,” Feng Rong said softly.

“Why?” Qin Lie asked.

“Back then, You Hongzhi was chained to a spirit pattern pillar and burned with hot flames as punishment for his atrocities.” Chief Reverend Luo Zhichang interrupted suitably, “The fire seemed to have failed to burn away his ruthlessness. Not long after the punishment ended, he learned some kind of bloody spirit art out of seemingly nowhere. Furthermore, his cultivation improved by leaps and bounds as his power only continued to grow stronger.”

Wariness filled Luo Zhichang’s eyes. “A few years later, his realm and power far exceeded Fire Spear’s spear master at the time. That man seemed to have a special kind of charisma. Back in those years, there was a large portion of martial practitioners who admired him greatly. When his realm and power exceeded Fire Spear’s spear master, he then challenged him directly and took down the spear master. That was how he rose to the top.

“After he had taken over Fire Spear, he had changed Fire Spear into Blood Spear. Later on he began to recruit new members and teach them the bloody spirit art he cultivated. He had even created the blood pools to massively increase the strength of our martial practitioners. Due to his existence, Blood Spear grew stronger and stronger, causing the forces around Blood Spear to fear Blood Spear’s reputation.”

At this point, Luo Zhichang looked at Feng Rong and said, “Yan Chi, Lang Xie, and Feng Rong are the first members to have learned under him. Yan Chi was Lang Xie and Feng Rong’s senior brother. Yan Chi’s cultivation talents were actually slightly weaker than Lang Xie and Feng Rong, but his character was incredibly similar to You Hongzhi. They were practically made from the same fold. That was why he highly regarded Yan Chi, and why Yan Chi admired him greatly.”

“Why was he killed by Lang Xie?” Qin Lie asked again.

“That’s b-because Lang Xie discovered that master had cultivated into a fiendish rebound. Lang Xie saw it with his own eyes that he was feeding on human blood!” Shocking fear appeared on Feng Rong’s face. “I’ve saw it too during a battle. He was feeding on human flesh! Drinking human blood! He grew scarier and started to look less like a human!”

Tang Siqi’s face turned as white as a sheet. Her body shook slightly, and her mind was greatly shaken.

“He ate people?” Qin Lie’s expression had also changed.

“Later on, Master grew increasingly crazy and he only became more irritable. There were many junior brothers who sometimes failed at their tasks, and he would break all their necks directly.” Feng Rong looked down. “At the time, everyone was scared, and there were many of junior brothers who would attempt to discretely escape from Blood Spear . In the end, however, they were all killed by Yan Chi under his orders.

“When Lang Xie found out that Master was feeding on human blood, that was when he made up his mind to kill Master. After that, Lang Xie and I had found Sect Master and three great reverends and told them about our master’s bizarre condition.” Feng Rong glanced once at Ying Xingran. “After a thorough discussion, Sect Master and three great reverends all felt that master was too dangerous and was afraid that he would one day lose control, so…”

After a pause, Feng Rong said, “First, we weakened his body with a slow acting poison. Then, we ambushed him while he was cultivating. At long last, we finally managed to kill him. After the news of Master’s death had spread out, Yan Chi slaughtered his way up Flame Volcano in attempt to take revenge against the sect master and three great reverends. However, once he was dealt a grievous blow by Lang Xie and I, we blasted him off a cliff.”

Feng Rong and Chief Reverend Luo Zhichang had explained those secret pasts and cleared up the relationship between You Hongzhi, Yan Chi, and Blood Spear.

This matter was not very well known even among some of the elders of inner sect, so this was the first time they learned the whole truth.

Just like Qin Lie and Tang Siqi, their faces were also a little pale. Their expressions were somewhat unnatural as well.

In their eyes, the blood sucking You Hongzhi was already not human. He had become a monster that was even scarier than a wild beast.

When you add that onto You Hongzhi’s dictatorial actions later on and the murder of many Blood Spear disciples, they slowly lost their respect of him. After Ying Xingran and the three great reverends had thought over the matter carefully, they were afraid that You Hongzhi would one day lose control and commit mass murder.

That was why they had cooperated with Lang Xie and Feng Rong and, after a period of planning, finally eliminated You Hongzhi.

“Is Yan Chi dead?” After a long time, Qin Lie asked again when the crowd turned quiet.

Feng Rong’s eyes were dark. She shook her head. “He’s still alive. I’m the one who was injured instead. The current Yan Chi is probably no weaker than Lang Xie! I can’t believe he still has such combat power even after suffering an injury as terrible as that. All these years in Dark Shadow Tower, revenge was probably the only thing he thought of, so he most likely hasn’t stopped cultivating since. On the other hand, I did slack off these years after I’ve met A’Hai.”

She admitted that she was no longer Yan Chi’s match.

This caused Ying Xingran and the three reverends to grow even more worried.

They knew very well that Yan Chi wasn’t Di Shijiu, Liang Yangzu, or Yuan Tianya.

This man had seen You Hongzhi as his father, and he hated Ying Xingran and the three great reverends to the bones for killing You Hongzhi.

If Yan Chi climbed up Flame Volcano, they would not be captured alive or imprisoned to forge spirit artifacts.

—They would be killed by him on the spot!

Right now, Feng Rong had admitted that she wasn’t Yan Chi’s match. The only one who could fight against Yan Chi, Lang Xie, was now completely missing.

If Yan Chi were to attack them at this moment, who could stop him?

Who would be left alive?

They were all feeling a little hopeless.

“Qin Bing, stay here while we make some preparations. We will tidy all of the sect’s secret scriptures and put them into safekeeping inside your spatial ring!” After a while, Ying Xingran made a snap decision and yelled, “The situation may bode ill for us, but the future of the sect must not be destroyed! As long as Qin Bing is alive, as long as he researches the sect’s secret scriptures, then Armament Sect will not perish. There will still be hope for a resurgence in the future!”

The moment he said this, the three great reverends and seven great elders’ expressions were all shaken. They all placed their gazes on Qin Lie.

“The five forces still need some time before they can take control of Armament City completely. They will probably not enter this place just yet.” Even on the brink of death, Ying Xingran was very rational. “We still have time to gather the sect’s most precious items. All of you should properly pack all your artifact forging experiences within this short time frame as much as possible.”

The three great reverends and seven great elders nodded in unison.

“Qin Bing, you will wait here for us. Once we have finished gathering our things, you will leave with Siqi along the same route through the underground passage!” Ying Xingran exclaimed.

Qin Lie’s eyebrows were deeply locked.

The reason Tang Siqi and him had braved difficulties and returned to Armament Sect was because they hoped that Ying Xingran and the three great reverends would have a way to solve the sect’s crisis. But from the looks of it… they had expected too much.

It was just as Yi Yuan and Pang Feng had said. Armament Sect was finished. No one could save the sect from the combined attack of the five great forces.

“Maybe, maybe…” While Qin Lie was thinking, an idea flashed across his eyes. After pondering for a moment, he said, “Sect Master, I will go back to the cave and gather up some things. Then I will go to the plaza at the foot of the mountain and wait for you all at the last spirit pattern pillar.”

Just as Ying Xingran and the three great reverends were about to stop him, he continued, “The spirit diagrams inside the twelve spirit pattern pillars are the true essence and core of the sect! Once this is over, the twelve spirit pattern pillars will either be destroyed or split among the forces. I will no longer ever have the chance to see them again.”

“Before I leave the sect, I want to try one last time and see if I can take away the spirit diagrams of the last spirit pattern pillar! I wish to preserve the sect’s essence in its entirety!” Qin Lie said powerfully.

Ying Xingran, the three great reverends, and the seven great inner sect elders’ expressions were all shaken slightly when they heard his words.

“Alright! Give it one last try!” Ying Xingran exclaimed.

And so, Qin Lie turned around and left.

Under Tang Siqi’s surprised gaze, he swiftly entered the mountain peak’s Procedural Hall and went to his cave on the side of the mountain first. He picked up a furnace and collected all of the spirit materials, putting them into his spatial ring.

After sweeping a glance around the cave and finding nothing else important remaining, he then swiftly left .

He leaped all the way from the mountainside and arrived at the plaza at the foot of the mountain shortly after. He sat down once more beneath that spirit pattern pillar.

Sucking in a deep breath, he calmed himself down and connected all the information he had gathered together.

After a while, he finally looked at the spirit pattern pillar before him and gathered his mind consciousness once more. He slipped inside the spirit pattern pillar.

His wisp of consciousness had entered that strange space once more, meeting with the mummy-like old man again.

“I knew you would come back,” the old man said darkly.