Chapter 73: Chapter 71: An Enraged Jin Quan

What startled Ji Lin wasn’t the Wolf Fang Sect’s actions, but the Void Sect’s demand that Liu Hui be teleported back first.

He hadn’t yet had time to report the details and outcome of the contest with the Wolf Fang Sect, much less Liu Hui’s dazzling performance.

’Why does the Sect place so much importance on Liu Hui?’

What Ji Lin didn’t know was that before this, Liu Hui’s performance on the Void Road had already won over several of the old masters in the Secret Realm.

If Yang Ming hadn’t insisted, they would never have let Liu Hui come out and take such a risk.

Now that the Wolf Fang Sect was about to move and the situation was still unclear, the safest course of action was to teleport Liu Hui directly back to the Void Sect’s headquarters.

After Ji Lin announced the message from headquarters, Liu Hui flatly refused.

"I’m not leaving! I’m staying with my Master. Unless you let us leave together!"

This gave Ji Lin a major headache. If it were any other disciple, he would have cut the chatter, subdued them, and forced them to comply.

But Liu Hui was different. A cultivator in the Refining God Realm who possessed a Domain and could slay someone in the Purity Realm with overwhelming power... such talent was, if not peerless for all time, at the very least unprecedented.

Back in the Void Sect, in terms of status, his position as a Void Realm Elder might not even compare to Liu Hui’s.

"This happened suddenly. The outpost only has a Forbidden Teleportation Array right now. It’s a one-time-use array and can only transport one person," Ji Lin explained patiently.

But Liu Hui wouldn’t budge. He made his attitude clear: where Mo Qi went, he went.

"That’s enough. Liu Hui, listen to Elder Ji Lin. Go back first," Mo Qi said after a moment’s thought, having made his decision.

To outsiders, Liu Hui’s strength might seem impressive, but to Mo Qi, it was far from enough.

The person he had provoked was the Sect Leader of the Wolf Fang Sect!

If Liu Hui stayed with him, he wouldn’t just be no help; he’d be a liability.

Mo Qi could move more freely on his own.

"Master? I..."

Liu Hui tried to insist, but Mo Qi cut him off.

"No more arguments. Consider this an order!"

This was the first time Mo Qi had given Liu Hui a command in his capacity as Master. Though a thousand protests screamed in his heart, Liu Hui could only agree.

"Very well. I will await your return at Uncle Niu’s Kitchen God."

Liu Hui stepped into the Forbidden Teleportation Array and vanished from the outpost.

While everyone else was shrouded in gloom over the Wolf Fang Sect’s impending actions, two people were actually quite pleased.

Those two were Qi Tian and Diao Qing.

"Diao Qing, that pest Liu Hui is finally gone. Mo Qi has no one to protect him now," Qi Tian said in an excited voice transmission.

Diao Qing’s heart was also filled with anticipation, but he appeared perfectly calm on the surface. He replied, "Patience. The Wolf Fang Sect has done us a huge favor this time. Once the conflict starts, things will get chaotic. We can use that opportunity to take down Mo Qi."

"Qi Tian, keep a close watch on Mo Qi for now. He might try to act on his own. Don’t let him slip away."

"Right. Leave it to me."

From Qi Tian and Diao Qing’s undisguised stares, Mo Qi easily guessed their intentions.

’Looks like I’ll have to deal with these two troublemakers before I make my escape,’ Mo Qi thought.

Mo Qi had indeed been planning to go it alone.

The moment Ji Lin made the announcement, he knew the Wolf Fang Sect was coming for him.

Even though reinforcements from the Void Sect were on their way, Mo Qi didn’t believe for a second that people like Ji Lin would go all out to protect him.

Besides, he wasn’t in the habit of entrusting his safety to others.

...

At that same moment, Jin Quan, having returned to his outpost, saw his precious son, Jin Sanpang.

He pulled Jin Sanpang into his own room and examined him carefully. After finding only superficial wounds, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"San Pang, tell your father, how did you end up here? And how did you get hurt?"

Gone was the aggressive demeanor Jin Quan had shown when facing the Void Sect. Now, his expression was gentle and kind as he looked at Jin Sanpang with doting eyes, lightly pinching his son’s cheek.

Jin Sanpang rubbed his plump, bald head, closing his eyes in enjoyment. "Father, Brother Cheng brought me here. He..."

Jin Sanpang recounted everything that had happened, from beginning to end.

As Jin Sanpang told his story, the smile on Jin Quan’s face slowly faded, replaced by a bone-chilling cold.

"Wait, you’re saying Zhang Cheng was killed?"

As if remembering something, Jin Quan pulled a Communication Jade Slip from his robes, probed it with his Divine Sense, and began to read its contents.

It was a message from the Wolf Fang Sect’s headquarters. Jin Quan had been too anxious to see his son to read it earlier.

The message in the Jade Slip was from the Wolf Fang Sect Leader, Zhang Shao. He rebuked Jin Quan for failing to protect Zhang Cheng and ordered him to stall the Void Sect to help the thirty thousand incoming Beast Soldiers lock down the area.

"Yep. Brother Mo chopped his head off with one slash," Jin Sanpang said. "Brother Cheng was really mean. He even had his Blood Lion bite me."

"But then Brother Mo saved me and even roasted the Blood Lion for me to eat." Jin Sanpang licked his lips as if still savoring the memory, his craving unabated.

The corner of Jin Quan’s mouth twitched as he forced a smile. An image of a simple, honest-looking, yet calm figure flashed through his mind. "San Pang," he asked, "is this Brother Mo you’re talking about named Mo Qi?"

"Yes! Father, you know Brother Mo?" Jin Sanpang asked, delighted.

"Heh heh... know him? Of course I know him!" Jin Quan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The man was his son’s savior, but also one of the main culprits who had ruined his grand plans.

"Then, Father, can you bring Brother Mo to our home? I really like Brother Mo."

Jin Quan was speechless. ’Silly boy,’ he thought, ’he’s from the Void Sect. How could I possibly bring him here?’

"San Pang, do you still have that roasted chicken Zhang Cheng gave you?" Jin Quan asked, changing the subject.

Jin Sanpang took out a roasted chicken.

"This is the only one left."

Jin Quan took the roasted chicken, raised it to his nose, and sniffed. His expression changed in an instant.

Poison. A deadly poison!

A poison so lethal that not even he, with his Void Realm Cultivation, could withstand it!

"Fine, Zhang Shao. And you, Zhang Cheng. You and your father have gone too far!" Jin Quan roared in fury. He crushed the roasted chicken into dust, and the powerful aura erupting from his body blasted the entire palace to smithereens.

Jin Sanpang might be naive due to his Innocent Heart and simple mind, but Jin Quan was a hardened veteran of the world.

How could he not know that Zhang Shao and his son had long been dissatisfied with Jin Sanpang?

In terms of both talent and strength, Jin Sanpang was the undisputed number one among the younger generation of disciples in the Wolf Fang Sect.

Furthermore, Jin Sanpang was without guile—as innocent as a blank sheet of paper—which had won him the favor of many of the Sect’s powerful figures.

Therefore, despite his simple mind, more than half of the Sect’s leadership wanted to name Jin Sanpang as the heir to the position of Sect Leader.

Jin Quan had assumed that, constrained by their status, the Sect’s rules, and the watchful eyes of those powerful figures, Zhang Shao and his son wouldn’t dare make a move against Jin Sanpang.

But who could have imagined that Zhang Cheng had not only repeatedly tried to poison him in secret but was also brazen enough to lure Jin Sanpang into the heart of a Beast Tide.

If Mo Qi hadn’t appeared out of nowhere, even if Jin Sanpang had survived the Beast Tide, he would have died at Zhang Cheng’s hands.

"I have worked myself to death, toiling and bleeding to build up the Wolf Fang Sect, and what do I get in return? You won’t even spare my only son! Zhang Shao, this is not over!"

The more Jin Quan thought about it, the more furious he became. He had gone to such great lengths for the Wolf Fang Sect, even risking condemnation by the Mountain and Sea Empire to perform an Array Formation that would trigger a Beast Tide, all just to secure more benefits for the Sect.

Yet Zhang Shao and his son had stabbed him in the back. The betrayal chilled him to the bone.

The commotion drew the other members of the Wolf Fang Sect over.

"Lord Jin, what’s happening? Are we under attack?"

Jin Quan took a deep breath and patted Jin Sanpang’s shoulder.

"San Pang, wait here for me for a moment. I’ll take you to find Brother Mo in a little while."

"Really?" Jin Sanpang was overjoyed. When they had left the Earth-level Spiritual Ore deposit, Mo Qi had escorted him to the Wolf Fang Sect’s outpost and then left, telling him they would meet again if fate willed it.

That had made Jin Sanpang miserable.

"When have I ever lied to you?"

"Okay, I’ll wait for you here, Father. Hurry back, okay?"

Jin Quan smiled and nodded. The moment he turned around, the smile vanished, replaced by a killing intent so intense it was almost tangible.

"All of you... must die!"

A Grotto Heaven materialized above Jin Quan’s head, sealing off the entire Wolf Fang Sect outpost. Like a tiger pouncing on a flock of sheep, he began a bloody massacre.

"AH! Lord Jin, what have we done wrong? Why are you doing this to us?"

"Lord Jin, stop! We can talk this through!"

"Lord Jin, we... AHH!"

In moments, the Wolf Fang Sect’s outpost was littered with corpses, and rivers of blood flowed.

Jin Quan became a life-reaping demon from Hell, slaughtering every last person in the outpost.

He did this for two reasons.

First, these people must have all participated in the plot against Jin Sanpang. Otherwise, Zhang Cheng alone could not possibly have lured Jin Sanpang here without his knowledge while also leaving behind the coordinates for a One-Way Teleportation Array inside the Basic Beast-Attracting Array.

Second, everyone here had seen Mo Qi. Once the Wolf Fang Sect issued a warrant for Mo Qi’s capture, his identity would be immediately exposed. Mo Qi was his son’s savior, so this could be considered repaying the favor.

Jin Quan was a ruthless man who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. He could be cold-blooded, merciless, and even savage, but he had a single soft spot: his son, Jin Sanpang.

He would do anything for Jin Sanpang.

After the slaughter, Jin Quan set the outpost ablaze, destroying the bodies and erasing all traces of his deed.

"Let’s go. We’ll go find your Brother Mo."

Jin Quan took Jin Sanpang’s hand and left without a backward glance.

...

Mo Qi didn’t wait at the Void Sect outpost for reinforcements. He slipped out alone before dawn.

He had to get away before the Wolf Fang Sect’s operation was in full swing.

Otherwise, once his identity and whereabouts were exposed, he would be hunted by every expert in the Wolf Fang Sect, a fate that meant certain death.

Lest he forget, he had been marked with an aura brand. Zhang Shao could pinpoint his location.

A hundred li from the outpost, Mo Qi came to a stop.

"You’ve been following for long enough. Come on out," Mo Qi said calmly, glancing toward the dark, dense forest behind him.

Two figures emerged. It was none other than Qi Tian and Diao Qing, sent by Wang Xinglong.

"Pretty sharp, aren’t you? Go on, keep running," Qi Tian sneered. "With Liu Hui gone, who’s left for a piece of trash like you to hide behind?"

"Are your injuries all healed?" Mo Qi asked with a slight smile.

"Hmph! It’s more than enough to deal with you!" Qi Tian snorted.

"So you’re that confident you have me cornered?"

Qi Tian froze for a second, then burst out laughing. "Stop putting on a brave face. If you weren’t scared out of your mind, why would you be running away this late at night?"