Chapter 727: Bringer of Disaster
“Why did you show up here, Qin Lie?”
While Lei Yan, Xu Ran and the others continued to talk about the outsider community, Chu Li pulled Qin Lie to the side and asked in a low tone.
“I went to the Ruined Lands along the way and stayed there for some time. After that I tried to get to Terminator Sect as soon as possible, but who knew that I would stumble into something like this again?” Qin Lie looked helpless. “Is it rare for the Land of Chaos to face an outsider invasion?”
“Not really,” Chu Li shook his head, “The Land of Chaos is infinitely vast, and it is connected to many auxiliary worlds. For example, Terminator Sect is currently friends with the Asura Race, and Blood Fiend Sect used to be share a great relationship with the Gray Wing Race when they controlled the Heavenly Calamity Continent in the past. Of course, the Gray Wing Race is colluding with the three great families now.”
“As for the rest of the forces such as Celestial Artifact Sect and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, they also share relations with some auxiliary worlds and exchange cultivation materials on occasion.”
“I heard that Heavenly Sword Mountain had built a trade channel with the Nether Realm as of late too.”
“At any rate, there are plenty of auxiliary worlds that are more or less connected to our world.”
Chu Li paused for a moment before continuing, “There are plenty of outsiders of auxiliary worlds who would make their way towards the Land of Chaos through all sorts of passages. These outsider races are normally scattered, small, and weak. Normally, the Copper rank forces beneath us are strong enough to sweep through the outsider forces already.”
“The only time every Silver rank force in the Land of Chaos was mobilized as one cohesive resistance force was during the Asura Race’s invasion.”
“Since Terminator Sect and the Asura Race had built a tacit understanding with each other, at least thirty outsider races had appeared at many secluded corners of the Land of Chaos.”
“However, all of these outsider races were small communities of insignificant strength. Some of them didn’t even have a complete cultivation system or high intelligence so they were naturally taken out pretty easily.”
Chu Li’s expression slowly turned grave. “In the last five hundred years, there has never been an invading race with an expert in the middle stage of the Imperishable Realm!”
Qin Lie frowned slightly.
“Don’t worry, this land belongs to Terminator Sect. We will take them out for daring to invade us.” Chu Li comforted him slightly before he suddenly looked at Lin Liang’er behind his back. An odd expression appeared on his face. “Why are you carrying a female corpse?”
“She’s still alive.” Qin Lie came to realization and hastily put down Lin Liang’er. Then, he told Chu Li, “Please arrange a place for me, will you?”
“But her soul is totally gone!” Chu Li rubbed his chin and stared at him deeply. “Did you develop a new hobby or something in the year we haven’t seen each other?”
“Save the nonsense!” Qin Lie shot him a glare.
“Alright, I won’t pry any further.” As expected, Chu Li stopped joking. “Follow me.”
The duo didn’t pay attention to Xu Ran and Lei Yan’s conversation. They headed towards the cabin.
Standing beside Xu Ran, Tong Zhenzhen cast a seemingly unconscious glance at Lin Liang’er when the duo departed the area. Her eyes lit up strangely as if she just noticed something.
“What is it?” Xu Ran paused his conversation with Lei Yan temporarily and turned around to look at her.
“It’s nothing.” Tong Zhenzhen smiled faintly. “That girl Qin Lie is carrying with him is pretty interesting.”
“Interesting?” Xu Ran’s eyes were odd. “It’s just a female corpse. What’s so interesting about it?”
Tong Zhenzhen let out a soft laugh. “I’ll tell you later.”
Xu Ran was puzzled by her words, but he chose not to question her at this time. He continued his conversation with Lei Yan.
“You’ll be staying here for now. I guess you don’t need to go to Terminator Sect now, considering the current circumstances. Just stick with us.” Chu Li led him to a wide suite.
Qin Lie put down Lin Liang’er and took a seat, asking, “So the Forefather might show up at Prism Continent himself?”
“If there are more than one middle stage Imperishable Realm experts over there, then Master will have to show his face, I don’t think Senior Uncle Lei Yan can handle the situation by himself.” Chu Li sighed.
“What about Senior Xu Ran and Senior Tong Zhenzhen?” Qin Lie asked in surprise.
“Nominally speaking they belong to Terminator Sect, but in reality they do not need to heed our orders. It just so happened that they were at the sect when the outsiders showed up, and they decided to come over and take a look themselves. There’s no telling if they would risk their lives for the sect, however.” Chu Li looked helpless when he said this. Then, he added after a moment’s thought, “Also, it has been many years since we last saw them. No one knows what realm or combat strength they’re at right now. In any case, the seniors of our sect all say that Senior Uncle Xu Ran has neglected his cultivation ever since he became together with Tong Zhenzhen.”
“So you mean you wouldn’t count on them?” Qin Lie raised an eyebrow.
“It’s not that; I just don’t know them in the slightest. We don’t know what realm they’re at nor how powerful they are.” Chu Li explained snappily.
“Senior Tong Zhenzhen looks… pretty ordinary. Why did Senior Xu Ran give up so much for her? Is she a member of Terminator Sect too?” Qin Lie asked another question curiously.
“She is not from Terminator Sect. She isn’t even a native of the Land of Chaos,” Chu Li shook his head before lowering his voice even though they were inside a room. “Senior Uncle Xu Ran had returned with her after he went out on a solo journey one time. Not long after, he announced that he was withdrawing from the competition for the sect master’s seat. The former sect master was furious because of this, and he did everything he could to investigate her origins. To no avail, however.”
“Senior Uncle Xu Ran himself knew that his choice had angered the sect master, so he quietly left with Tong Zhenzhen before the sect master could react.”
“It was a goodbye that lasted hundreds of years until the former sect master tried to ascend to the Void Realm, lost his soul to the void and ultimately perished. It was only then that Senior Uncle Xu Ran returned with her to attend the old sect master’s memorial service. After that, he vanished again for many years before he returned just in time to encounter the Asura Race’s invasion. While battling against the Asura Race, Senior Uncle Xu Ran helped improve the Terminator Profound Bomb and increased its strength by a lot. His efforts helped us suppress the Asura Race’s might.”
“After the war was over, Senior Uncle Xu Ran left once more. The last time he returned, Terminator Sect happened to be embroiled in a bloody war against Black Voodoo Cult. I heard the Senior Uncle Xu had lendt the sect much aid during that war, and it was only after that battle that Terminator Sect finally suppressed the Black Voodoo Cult and showed the signs of becoming the number one Silver rank force in the Land of Chaos.”
Qin Lie attentively listened to his words.
When Chu Li was done speaking, he broke into an involuntary laugh and said, “Why does this Senior Uncle Xu sound like a bringer of disaster? The first time he returned, he showed up just in time to attend your former sect master’s memorial service. The second time he returned, he showed up just in time to fight the Asura Race’s invasion. The third time he returned, you guys just happened to be fighting the Black Voodoo Cult in a bloody war, and now he returned again for the fourth time only to encounter the outsider race’s invasion.”
Chu Li also laughed along with Qin Lie upon hearing this and nodded. “It actually does feel like that a little!”
It was at this moment Lin Liang’er sent a message to Qin Lie from inside the Soul Suppressing Orb of her own accord, “Let me out for a moment.”
Qin Lie was startled. Staring at the still smiling Chu Li, he hesitated for a moment before he opened a gap from the lightning ball inside the Soul Suppressing Orb.
An icy light flew out of his glabella.
Astonished, Chu Li watched as the icy light entered Lin Liang’er’s tightly shut eyes. Then, her eyebrows fluttered open.
“Ah?” Chu Li’s expression changed.
Lin Liang’er opened her eyes and stood up on the spot. She cast a glance at Chu Li and said indifferently, “I saw you before.”
“You did?” Chu Li looked astonished. “Where?”
“The Land of Buried Gods,” Lin Liang’er said indifferently.
Chu Li wore a strange look on his face as he stared at Lin Liang’er first, then at Qin Lie before asking, “Have I seen her before?”
“Maybe?” Qin Lie wasn’t sure too.
He hadn’t seen Chu Li back at the Forbidden Land of Ice. At the time, he even thought that Chu Li was dead already.
But he knew that Chu Li must have entered the Forbidden Land of Ice even though he failed to find Land of Buried Gods. Moreover, the Forbidden Land of Ice was supervised by the Ice Phoenix.
If Lin Liang’er said that she had seen Chu Li before, then it probably was true. Chu Li might not necessarily recognize her, though.
“What the hell! Why can’t I remember anything then!?” Chu Li pulled at his own hair.
“I’ve seen you before, but you haven’t seen me.,” Lin Liang’er’s tone was indifferent. “Back when you were exploring the Forbidden Land of Ice, I used frost energy to isolate you inside a small area, not letting you get out. Since you hadn’t broken free, you didn’t find the Land of Buried Gods.”
“The Forbidden Land of Ice…” Chu Li tried his hardest to remember.
“She is now called Lin Liang’er, but before she’s been known as ice spirit of the Forbidden Land of Ice.” Qin Lie reacted and explained with a smile.
“The ice spirit!” Chu Li turned pale.
He immediately understood what she meant.
Back at the Forbidden Land of Ice, he already had a feeling that he had stepped into a strange, maze-like formation that ultimately prevented him from getting out.
It was only now that he realized that it was the work of the ice spirit.
“You should thank me for trapping you, or you might’ve died at the Land of Buried Gods already,” Lin Liang’er said coldly.
Chu Li’s expression turned stiff.
“Why did you suddenly ask to come out?” Qin Lie redirected the topic to its proper course.
“That Tong Zhenzhen woman may have discovered my true identity. I can feel it.” Lin Liang’er frowned slightly. “I left a tiny wisp of my soul inside my true body, and it is through that soul I noticed that she was looking at me.”
“You could observe your surroundings all this time?” Qin Lie exclaimed.
“Of course I could.” Lin Liang’er rolled her eyes and said indifferently, “How else would I know in case you did something disgusting to my body while my soul was recovering?”
Qin Lie snorted coldly and gloomily. “I am not that low of a person!”
“While you were frozen under Frost Island, you should have been able to see and think even though you were encased in ice, am I right?” Lin Liang’er suddenly said something that caught Qin Lie unawares.
Qin Lie suddenly turned speechless.
“What did you see? And for how long?” Lin Liang’er asked again.
Qin Lie’s face turned red with embarrassment, and he fell completely silent.
Lin Liang’er shot him a glare but didn’t press him further.
Chu Li stared at the duo in astonishment. Not only was the look on his face strange to say the least, he even let out a couple of odd chuckles.
“Let’s talk about serious business, okay? Serious business is serious!” Qin Lie changed the topic and said with a straight face, “How did Tong Zhenzhen discover your identity?”