Chapter 561: Battle Qi Transforming into a Horse!
Under the young girl’s aggressive questioning, Ming Yan found himself completely speechless. His father, Ming Zhan, slammed the table in a rage, picked up a loose wooden board from the side, and hurled it at him.
“You vile spawn! Did you write this? The orders of parents, the words of matchmakers—this is the natural order of things! How could you write a letter to the Tuoba family breaking off the engagement without informing your parents? What do you take the great matter of marriage for?”
Looking at his furious father and the embarrassed, angry Tuoba Yanran, Ming Yan cast his mind back to half a year ago.
It was a time when he felt utterly hopeless and had gone out to drink his sorrows away. He happened to be mocked by the youths of the Ye and Wucheng families, the other two major families in Guangding City. They sneered that he was lucky—cared for by his patriarch father now, and destined to have a phenomenally talented fiancée in the future.
The group relentlessly ridiculed him, lamenting how unlucky his fiancée was to be stuck with a piece of trash like him.
In a fit of indignant rage, Ming Yan took a small knife and carved into the table: “Although I, Ming Yan, am unworthy, I am not one to cling to a woman’s skirts. I will certainly not ruin Lady Yanran’s life. My character is not yet worthy of her…”
He carved a massive, sprawling essay right into the tabletop. Little did he know that some busybody would actually buy that table and send it straight to the Tuoba family.
Tuoba Yanran was the proud daughter of the Tuoba clan. She condensed her Qi Cyclone at the age of eleven to become a Qi Practitioner, and now, at fifteen, she was already a One-Star Qi Master. She had even been accepted into the Maka Empire’s holy land, the Tianlan Sect, as an inner disciple.
Having never experienced any real setbacks since childhood, Tuoba Yanran didn’t develop an arrogant or overbearing temper. Her family was exceptionally strict, and she was very filial, so she had accepted her fate of marrying a stranger from a young age.
However, within permissible limits, Tuoba Yanran had her own ideas. She had long wanted to meet her fiancé, and if possible, “train” him a bit so he would better meet her expectations.
When she heard that Ming Yan’s talent in the Path of Qi was extraordinary, she had secretly rejoiced. When she heard he had contracted a strange illness, she had worried, asking around for cures and even begging for spirit pills to consolidate his foundation. But receiving that carved tabletop suddenly made her tremble with sheer anger.
She crushed all those pills to dust, spent a month preparing, and left the Tianlan Sect in a fury to demand an explanation from Ming Yan.
Listening to Tuoba Yanran’s angry questioning, Ming Yan had absolutely nothing to say. After a long silence, seeing her anger subside slightly, he stood up and said softly:
“If you do wrong, admit it; if you take a beating, stand tall. Although I wrote it while drunk and provoked by others, it truly hurt Lady Tuoba. No amount of apologies can make up for the humiliation you suffered. Whether you want to kill me or cut me to pieces, I accept it.”
Tuoba Yanran’s small face flushed red. She raised her hand and slapped Ming Yan fiercely across the face. Looking at his swollen cheek, she turned and bowed to Ming Zhan. “Uncle Ming, I do not agree to cancel this engagement. This was my grandfather’s dying wish, and I will honor it. But for Ming Yan to do such a thing makes it very difficult for me to show my face. I ask that you handle this impartially.”
Ming Zhan looked at his son, who stood as straight as a spear piercing the sky. He could actually understand his son’s feelings, but the Ming family was truly in the wrong here. Steeling his heart, Ming Zhan announced the execution of family law: Ming Yan was to be struck one hundred times with a solid iron rod.
The punishment was carried out right at the Ming family gates. Ming Yan’s fiancée, Tuoba Yanran, watched with a mix of anger and heartache as Ming Yan, beaten to a bloody pulp, only let out muffled groans.
“You guy… you might be a bit dumb and have average aptitude, but you have the backbone of a real man. I like that about you. But if you want to become my ideal husband, you still need a lot of training.”
Tuoba Yanran gave a strange smile, acting surprisingly gentle. She stayed at the Ming estate that night, personally preparing hot water and medicinal salves to treat Ming Yan’s wounds.
Ming Yan couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you angry? Why are you doing all this?”
Tuoba Yanran carefully applied the salve. A cooling sensation seeped into Ming Yan’s wounds, significantly easing the burning pain on his back.
The young girl’s gentleness carried a hint of coldness. “Of course I’m angry. But you are my fiancé, and we are one entity. I was angry because you wanted to sever this sacred bond, and angry because you were so easily provoked by others.
“But as long as you are my fiancé and I am your fiancée, my heart will ache for you, and I will take care of you.
“I will strive to be a good wife. I will spur you on when you slack off, encourage you when you are down, and help you when you face difficulties. But you must treat me the same way, and be entirely devoted to me!
“If your heart isn’t true to me, then we will only have a marriage in name. If you dare look for other women, I will kill you myself.”
As she spoke, Tuoba Yanran’s small hand darted out and viciously grabbed Ming Yan’s vitals. A chill shot from Ming Yan’s lower half straight to his brain. He stiffly turned his head and forced a smile. “We are future husband and wife. Naturally, we should respect and care for each other. Let’s put that down first… those are my …, the happiness of my future.”
Tuoba Yanran held on tightly. Leaning gently yet coldly against his ear, she breathed out a faint, orchid-like scent. “I’m not joking. I know very well those are your future. But if you can’t control it in the future, don’t blame me for getting rid of them!”
Ming Yan gasped. To think this woman was this terrifying!
The situation left him with no choice. Although he hadn’t been messing around, being treated like this made him incredibly uncomfortable. He could only say, “This must be fair. I naturally will not seek out other women, but you must not have affairs with other men either. Husband and wife must be utterly sincere and equal for it to last.”
Tuoba Yanran slowly released his vitals and continued applying the salve, her voice as sweet as honey. “You’re right. Let us swear an oath to the heavens together: to be of one mind and loyal to each other. How about it?”
Ming Yan, having barely clawed back a bit of ground, could only nod and swear the oath with her. He thought to himself: This girl’s personality is not to be trifled with. If I want a good life in the future, I can’t lose my dignity as a man. With my strength inferior to hers, I’ll definitely be eaten alive. I can’t act tough.
For a moment, the pressure regarding his future grew heavier and heavier.
Time flew by, and a week passed in the blink of an eye. Under the care of Tuoba Yanran’s medicine, Ming Yan gradually recovered. He became exceptionally dedicated and focused, practicing his family’s cultivation method without any distractions.
Right at this moment, the horrific news of the Tianlan Sect’s annihilation arrived.
“Have you heard? The Tianlan Sect…”
“A holy land with a legacy of four hundred thousand years, having survived the changes of eleven dynasties, claiming to be immortal… and it just ceased to exist like that!”
“I heard a terrifying Qi Ancestor descended and turned the mountain gate into a sea of fire with just one strike.”
“Someone saw the Supreme Sect Master of the Tianlan Sect turned into shattered ice sculptures by a single breath of cold air from the opponent.”
“They are both Qi Ancestor powerhouses; how could the difference be so massive!”
“I heard the Ghost Nether Palace has already started striking out in all directions, subduing the Tianlan Sect’s various branches across the empire.”
“Isn’t the Ming family’s eldest young master’s fiancée a remnant of the Tianlan Sect? I wonder…”
The entire Ming family was on pins and needles hearing this. Although there was no news of anyone hunting down Tianlan Sect disciples, they all felt that Tuoba Yanran had suddenly become a hot potato.
It was Ming Zhan who made the final decision. “The sect is destroyed, and rumor has it the mysterious Qi Ancestor let many Tianlan disciples go. It’s been nearly a month and a half; the possibility of being hunted down is very small. Moreover, the Tuoba family is a powerful clan in the northern empire and related to us by marriage. We might as well proceed with the wedding soon to show goodwill to the Tuoba family!”
When the news reached Tuoba Yanran, her beautiful eyes swelled red from crying for a day and a night. Hugging Ming Yan, she said, “My Master treated me incredibly well. To think that mysterious Qi Ancestor wiped out my sect! Although I am but an ant right now, as long as I have a breath left, I will avenge this blood debt sooner or later! You are my husband; you have to help me.”
Ming Yan, however, fell silent. It wasn’t that he was unwilling, but he remembered Ace’s words from that night. His heart pounded. Although Ace hadn’t come looking for him yet, the annihilation of the Tianlan Sect was highly likely tied to that promise.
He prevaricated, “Yanran, although I aspire to become a Qi Ancestor powerhouse, please forgive me for being unable to accept making an enemy out of an extremely powerful, mysterious Qi Ancestor. The Ming family needs me to support it. I can only say that I am willing to build a life with you, the two of us devoted to each other, but with the family’s responsibilities on my shoulders, I truly cannot promise you this. If I drag the family to the brink of destruction, I would be a sinner.”
Tuoba Yanran stared at Ming Yan with red eyes. Suddenly, she pushed him down, leaned against his chest, and said fiercely, “I want you to be a man today!”
The night passed without words. When Ming Yan woke up the next day, there was only a lingering fragrance beside him and a piece of paper.
Ming Yan unfolded the paper. The handwriting wasn’t delicate as he had imagined, but rather carried a wild and domineering flair.
Ming Yan, I have left. You have your difficulties, and I naturally shouldn’t force you. But the grace of my Master is heavier than a mountain, and the sect’s blood debt cannot go unavenged. I pride myself on being reasonable; since you have your family to consider, your reasons are fair and logical, and you have no obligation to help me.
We had an engagement, so I gave my innocence to you. From now on, all ties of grace and affection are severed, and the engagement is void!
Your reasoning is indeed sound, but you are not worthy to be the husband of Tuoba Yanran. We part ways here, may we both find peace.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have sought you out. Staying at the sect and dying with it might have been better. But since I am alive, this revenge must be taken.
Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; never bully a youth for being poor! In my, Tuoba Yanran’s, lifetime, it is not impossible for me to avenge my sect’s blood debt!
Ming Yan read the wild, domineering letter over and over again. He lit a candle and slowly burned it to ashes.
Meanwhile, in the Bitter Bamboo Swamp in the southern part of the Maka Empire, at the gates of the Ghost Nether Palace.
The current Sect Master, Ming Huo (Nether Fire), was engaged in a massive battle with a mysterious figure. The Ghost Nether Palace was no longer gloomy; scorching flames burned everywhere. Two suns actually appeared in the sky, one of them massive, relentlessly scattering terrifying Solar True Fire.
Like falling meteors, the fire turned the entire Bitter Bamboo Swamp into a country of flames. Aside from the current Sect Master of the Ghost Nether Palace, everyone else was instantly killed or defeated, left with zero combat capability.
Every single one of Ming Huo’s moves was distorted by Ace’s gravitational force field. They couldn’t hit the target at all, and every technique was returned to the Nether Fire Qi Ancestor himself in inconceivable ways.
Refusing to believe it, Ming Huo charged up an ultimate move. A massive, terrifying ghost head formed from Battle Qi, nearly ten meters in diameter and containing horrifying power, appeared and roared as it charged at Ace.
“This is condensed from nearly seventy percent of the Battle Qi in my body! If this move still fails, I will bare my neck and await execution!”
The familiar twisting vortex appeared. In a split second, the ten-meter ghost head vanished and reappeared right behind Ming Huo. Ming Huo’s expression didn’t change; instead, he let out a manic laugh.
“I knew it! But you probably didn’t know—this ghost fire might be a terrifying attack to you, but it’s a massive boost to me! I’m done playing with you.”
The moment he said “I,” the Nether Fire Qi Ancestor transformed that massive ghost head formed from Battle Qi into a herd of galloping steeds. Riding the horses, he sped away dozens of miles in an instant, leaving only the echo of his voice behind.
The surviving disciples of the Ghost Nether Palace cried out in despair: “A Qi Ancestor powerhouse… Battle Qi Transforming into a Horse! These horses can travel a thousand miles in an instant, chasing the sun like a meteor; even Qi Ancestors of the same level can’t catch up. We are definitely going to be retaliated against by that mysterious Qi Ancestor!”
“Damn it, I don’t want to die. Why can’t I transform Battle Qi into a horse!”
“Since the Sect Master abandoned us, why not defect to the mysterious Qi Ancestor? No matter what, he’ll need people to serve him.”
“Right, as long as we know how to be obedient dogs, we won’t have to worry about finding a place.”
The gazes of a few disciples gradually turned mad. They actually began to slaughter their fellow sect members, attempting to kill them and take their heads as a token of allegiance.
Ace watched the retreating Nether Fire Qi Ancestor, his eyes flashing with white light. The world turned black and white in His eyes. Dense lines of force formed force fields one after another, which in turn formed the entire space. In a field of vision imperceptible to the crowd, Ace saw the distortions.
“High-density, high-mass objects can form gravity wells, distorting the space within their range. The gaps between these individual gravity wells are the possibilities for spatial jumps. As long as I seize that gap and construct a stable channel, I can exceed the speed of light and jump instantly.
“Battle Qi transforming into a horse? Horse, come here!”
Ace raised his hand, and dazzling, layered runes appeared at his fingertips, constructing an extremely complex rune structure. Triggering it instantly, an invisible force traveled along the stable, faster-than-light channel. Following the curvature of space, it instantly captured the Nether Fire Qi Ancestor who had traveled a thousand miles in a flash.
“Had enough fun playing?”
The Nether Fire Qi Ancestor was horrified. Before he even had time to struggle, he was captured by the gravity prison Ace constructed using gravitational lines of force. Aside from his head, his entire body was twisted into a mist of blood.
Taking advantage of the moment when the Nether Fire Qi Ancestor’s vitality was severely depleted and his strength weakened, Ace dispersed the dream mist, instantly pulling the Qi Ancestor into a dreamscape.
Within the dream, Ace sat high upon a throne while countless burly figures wielded all kinds of torture instruments. In less than three days, the Nether Fire Qi Ancestor spilled his foundational methods like beans pouring from a bamboo tube. A sliver of a smile appeared on Ace’s lips.
In reality, only fifteen minutes had passed. He crushed the useless head, looked down at the Ghost Nether Palace disciples slaughtering each other, and said softly, “How ugly.”
The sun plummeted suddenly, purifying all of it.
Ace flew slowly through the air, heading precisely in the direction of Guangding City.
The annihilation of the Ghost Nether Palace and the transformation of the southern Bitter Bamboo Swamp into a sea of fire caused not just the Maka Empire, but the entire northern part of the Qi Continent to boil over. People fell into panic. The other four great holy lands in the north also began to contact each other one after another. At this moment, the noble and powerful Qi Ancestors began their secret communications.
Ming Yan in Guangding City also heard the news, leaving him in a state of shock and uncertainty.
“The hexagram pattern attached to me… did he do this, or is it just a coincidence? If he really did this, it’s simply too powerful. Killing two Qi Ancestors consecutively and exterminating holy lands—such a battle record is almost like the rise of a Supreme of Qi!”
A flash of unwillingness passed through Ming Yan’s eyes. Once a Supreme of Qi branded their mark on the Heavenly Dao, no one else could achieve the Supreme realm for nearly millions of years. Even a heaven-defying genius could only swallow their resentment at the Half-Step Qi Venerate realm.
Right at this moment, two suns appeared in the sky, one large and one small. The faces of the experts in Guangding City suddenly turned deathly pale as they recalled the recent rumors.
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