Unfortunately, the middle-aged man’s aura spread for several miles, and not even the movement of a rabbit could escape his notice. Yet, he didn’t sense the slightest fluctuation of Primordial Power.

’The intruder is an expert!’

The middle-aged man’s expression turned exceedingly grim. It was one thing for a disciple to be killed outside the Sect, but for two to be killed so silently, right at their own doorstep... it was like someone had viciously slapped him across the face.

An old man behind him bent down, staring at the wounds on the two dead disciples for a long time. He even touched one lightly before saying calmly to the others, "It was a Divine Weapon."

The few people of varying ages behind him exchanged glances, seeing the confusion in each other’s eyes. One of them, an old man who looked to be at least a hundred, was skeletally thin with a face crisscrossed by wrinkles as deep as gullies. He looked so frail you’d think a strong gust of wind could blow him over.

He spoke slowly in a deep voice, "Divine Weapons are mostly relics from Ancient Times. Very few remain in the mortal world, but most of our Hidden Sects possess some. Could it be... that one of our enemies has come knocking?"

Another person shook his head. "How is that possible? The entrance to our Paradise Celestial Palace has never been discovered, from the Ancient Era until today. Besides, the Illusion Array set up by the Ancestor is extraordinary. How could any common person break it? What’s more, if the entrance Array was broken, how could we not have noticed?"

The middle-aged man leading them gritted his teeth. "Don’t forget, we just had a disciple return!"

"Sect Leader, do you mean to say that Bu Jingfeng brought someone back?" a red-faced old man with the appearance of a fifty-year-old asked, his expression somewhat unnatural.

This man was Bu Jingfeng’s master, one of the Elders of Paradise Celestial Palace, Hai Tongtian. He looked to be only in his fifties, but in reality, he was over one hundred and seventy years old. His strength had already reached the Celestial Integration Realm.

The Sect Leader of Paradise Celestial Palace, Le Wuya, said flatly, "I never said Bu Jingfeng brought him in. I only suspect that the intruder followed him and waited for him to enter before coming through our entrance!"

"But... how is that possible?" the others chimed in.

The skeletally thin old man said faintly, "It’s not impossible. Our Paradise Celestial Palace has been at peace for far too long, so much so that we’ve forgotten that in the Ancient Era, a Sect like ours... was nothing special. There were countless existences far more powerful than us!"

"Elder Wen, don’t be an alarmist. While our Paradise Celestial Palace may not be a top-tier sect today, we are no weaklings to be slaughtered at will! The Ancient Era... Hmph. No matter how powerful the Ancient Era was, it has long since been annihilated!"

"That’s right, Elder Wen. Don’t bolster their morale while lowering our own! In my opinion, this is no big deal. Just give the order to find the killer, interrogate them for their accomplices, and then we’ll go and annihilate their entire clan. Problem solved!"

"It’s easy for you two to say! The intruder got in without a sound and killed two of our Celestial Level disciples. If not for the Lifebound Plates every disciple in the Sect has, we wouldn’t even know this had happened! Find the killer? How are we supposed to do that?" In his anger, the wrinkles on Elder Wen’s face seemed to bunch up even more.

"Alright, that’s enough arguing." The Paradise Celestial Palace Sect Leader, Le Wuya, cut them off. "All of you, return at once and order your disciples to stay put for the time being. No one is to go out without permission! For those in seclusion on the various mountains, send them messages by flying crane. Tell them all to be careful. If they spot any trace of the enemy, they are to report it immediately. If you can’t win, run. And if you really can’t escape... then self-destruct! If anyone disobeys, you will deal with them as you see fit!"

As Le Wuya spoke, he furiously flew back toward the palace. But just as he was halfway there, he suddenly spun around and shot back down toward the mountains below like a bolt of lightning. He then spread his vast, tide-like Divine Sense, but sensed nothing. Only then did he sullenly withdraw his Divine Sense and turn back.

The few Elders also flew off in different directions. Their residences weren’t in this area, and they were all rushing back to inform their respective disciples. Although they had talked big and dismissed the assassin, they knew that anyone who could instantly kill two Celestial Level Martial Artists without a sound had to possess strength at least at the Celestial Shattering Realm.

While they themselves weren’t afraid of such a Martial Artist, their disciples—both at the Celestial Level and below—were no match for the intruder. None of them wanted to suffer a major loss of strength under their command, as it could even affect their own standing within the Sect.

It wasn’t until long after they had all left that Qin Li crawled out from under a pile of dead leaves and branches. ’That was close,’ he thought. He hadn’t expected the disciples of Paradise Celestial Palace to actually have the legendary Lifebound Plates!

Within a certain range, if a disciple died, their Lifebound Plate would shatter instantly. But if the distance was too great, the connection would be lost, and it would fail.

This incident served as a real wake-up call for Qin Li. The Noble Sects of the Mysterious Land all had their own secrets. He couldn’t act as recklessly and brazenly as he had in the secular world. That approach just wouldn’t work here.

In truth, Qin Li had to come here for two main reasons. First, he was worried that Paradise Celestial Palace would take revenge on the people around him. There was a high probability they would vent their anger on others if they couldn’t find him. Qin Li couldn’t allow such a thing to happen; he would never be able to forgive himself. Therefore, it was better to take preventative measures and, if the opportunity arose, simply wipe out their entire Sect!

’Even if I can’t destroy them, I’ll at least turn this place upside down! I’ll run them so ragged they won’t have the time or energy to even think about getting revenge on me. That’s the only way.’

The second reason was that Qin Li was treating this as a dress rehearsal for his journey to Profound Island.

The trip to Profound Island was bound to be filled with all sorts of hardships and obstacles. Qin Li had never imagined that he could simply enter Profound Island and smoothly take Shangguan Shiyu away.

Since he could see that Shangguan Shiyu had an Innate Spirit Body and was a peerless genius for cultivation, how could her Sect on Profound Island not see it? How could they willingly let such an astonishingly brilliant talent be taken away by him?

As for his father’s family, Qin Li had never, ever considered relying on them.

In both his past life and this one, Qin Li’s creed had always been: it’s better to rely on yourself than on others. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Besides, whether his father’s family would so easily accept his mother, or whether they would be willing to accept him, a disciple from the secular world, was still an open question.

But in truth, Qin Li didn’t care whether they accepted him or not.

Since there had been no news of his mother for so long, it was highly likely that she and Qin Xue had already entered Profound Island, found his father’s family, and established a foothold there. But another worry lingered in Qin Li’s heart: after suffering for thirteen years, would his mother continue to face scorn and ridicule on Profound Island? ’If that’s the case, then this time, I’ll just bring Mother back with me as well!’

’They don’t even care about you, so why should we go fawning over them?’

But that was the worst-case scenario. For now, before entering Profound Island, Qin Li wanted to properly hone his skills and, at the same time, familiarize himself with the affairs of the Mysterious Land.

That way, he wouldn’t be completely clueless when the time came.

Paradise Celestial Palace was truly worthy of being called a Little World overflowing with Spiritual Qi. It was just like a legendary Blessed Land. Most of the animals in the mountains possessed spiritual intelligence, and all sorts of rare flowers, exotic plants, and precious medicinal herbs could be seen everywhere.

Qin Li collected them without a shred of politeness. He didn’t plan on coming back a second time anyway, so he didn’t care if his harvesting was malicious. Big or small, as long as it was mature, he took it all.

However, he couldn’t find any of the medicinal ingredients listed on the Pill Formula Leng Yao had given him. Qin Li sighed to himself. ’It seems those things really are celestial treasures, not something you can just find anywhere.’

The Mysterious Land where Paradise Celestial Palace was located was immense. Standing on a high peak and looking into the distance, he could see it spanned a thousand miles!

There were rolling mountains everywhere. On some of them, Qin Li saw excavated cave residences. It seemed this was where the disciples of Paradise Celestial Palace cultivated.

Qin Li casually approached a nearby mountain with a cave residence. As he neared the entrance, he heard the voices of a man and a woman coming from inside. It sounded like a pair of disciples who were dual cultivating, currently flirting with each other.

"Senior Brother, Master just came by personally to tell us to be careful these next few days. He said if things get bad, we should move back to the Celestial Palace. Do you think that’s necessary?" a woman’s charming voice called out.

"Of course not. Hmph, that old bastard was just staring at your chest for the longest time, practically drooling! I’m not letting you go back there!" a man’s jealous voice rang out.

The woman giggled. "Senior Brother is getting jealous. This Junior Sister has always been yours and yours alone!"

"Bullshit! You little vixen, you think I don’t know about the crap you pull with Second Senior Brother behind my back? Dammit, you’re just a little slut!" The man’s voice was thick with intense jealousy.

"Heeheehee, if Senior Brother can completely satisfy me, then I won’t have to go looking for Second Senior Brother... Ah... Be gentle!"

...

「A moment later」

The cave residence fell silent. Qin Li walked out with a nonchalant expression. To his surprise, he had found a few mediocre-quality Spirit Stones inside the cave. They looked to be low-grade Spirit Stones at best. Compared to the ones he got from Prince Wu, these were far inferior.

Still, this was the first time Qin Li had obtained Spirit Stones from anywhere else, so he naturally accepted them without hesitation. This couple’s strength was much higher than the two Qin Li had killed earlier; they were both at the High Tier of the Celestial Level. Likewise, if he hadn’t used a sneak attack, it definitely wouldn’t have been so easy.

Qin Li, however, felt not a single shred of guilt for killing them. ’The people in this place are all perverts! If they were allowed to roam the world, they would surely be nothing but a pack of Demons.’

’It’s better to just kill them all.’