Chapter 162: Chapter 160: The Unlucky Paradise Celestial Palace

Qin Li awoke from his brief period of secluded cultivation. A divine light flashed in his eyes, and a faint smile touched his lips. He then stood up and walked out of the cave. He appeared to move slowly, yet he vanished in an instant.

After a month of secluded cultivation, Qin Li’s strength had improved significantly.

He was still some distance from the cave’s entrance when a wave of damp air washed over him. The waterfall’s current was incredibly fast and the volume of water was immense. Qin Li thought, ’No wonder this place is so well-preserved. Neither ordinary people nor animals would ever think of trying to see what’s behind the waterfall.’

Qin Li walked out slowly, an invisible layer of Protective Gang Qi covering his body. Just like that, he passed gently through the waterfall’s torrent and stood hovering in the air above the deep pool below.

He released his Divine Sense and found that the deep pool was nearly a hundred meters deep! And there was an underground river at the bottom! Qin Li’s Divine Sense encountered several incredibly powerful aquatic monsters whose forms were unlike anything he had ever seen before. Based on their appearance alone, he could tell they were all extremely dangerous.

Qin Li abandoned any thought of exploring below. He was confident in his strength, but he would never be arrogant. There were far too many things that human Martial Artists could not defeat. Besides, he was still a long way from the pinnacle of power for human Martial Artists.

He had a fortuitous encounter here and cultivated for a month, which had delayed many things. Qin Li couldn’t help but wonder if that powerful Spirit Beast had ended up fighting with the Paradise Celestial Palace.

His figure transformed into a wisp of green smoke and quickly vanished into the air.

Meanwhile, the Paradise Celestial Palace had long since been reduced to rubble. The once glorious and magnificent palace was now a field of ruins.

On that day, the Golden Giant Tiger had shot like lightning toward the Paradise Celestial Palace. It wasn’t long before it entered the palace’s warning perimeter. Many in the Paradise Celestial Palace knew that an overwhelmingly powerful Spirit Beast lived within the Mysterious Land they inhabited, but none had ever seen it.

However, one look at the Golden Giant Tiger’s colossal size and heaven-shaking aura was enough to know it was no friend.

The Paradise Sect Master, Le Wuya, was fuming over his failure to capture Qin Li when he suddenly heard a disciple report that an incredibly tyrannical Spirit Beast had appeared and was currently flying toward the Paradise Celestial Palace.

Le Wuya was instantly alarmed. ’What is that Ancient Demon doing here?’ he thought. As the Sect Leader, he naturally knew of the Golden Giant Tiger’s existence. Not only that, but he was also well aware of the agreement between the Golden Giant Tiger and the Paradise Celestial Palace to mind their own business.

He didn’t dare to be negligent. He knew just how ancient this creature was. In its entire history, the Paradise Celestial Palace had never produced an expert who had broken through to the Venerable Realm. The highest anyone had reached was the Celestial Embracing Realm, and that person had died many years ago. Le Wuya himself was at the peak of the Celestial Integration Realm. Currently, the strongest person in the Paradise Celestial Palace was Elder Wen, who had just broken through to the Celestial Embracing Realm. So, as he went out to personally receive the Golden Giant Tiger, he also dispatched someone to urgently summon Elder Wen.

Seeing the Golden Giant Tiger, Le Wuya’s terror intensified. Many years ago, when he was just a disciple of the Paradise Celestial Palace, he had accompanied his grandmaster and seen the Golden Giant Tiger once. At that time, the tiger didn’t seem to have reached its current realm. ’It seems its strength has increased very quickly!’

At this thought, Le Wuya sighed internally. ’They say the Golden Giant Tiger only reached its current realm because it obtained a peerless treasure. There must be an unparalleled Spiritual Treasure in that Forest! Unfortunately, with this tiger around, no one can even think of touching that Forest.’

As he was lost in thought, the Golden Giant Tiger’s furious voice boomed, "Boy, go get Jilezi of your Paradise Celestial Palace to come speak with me!"

The roar made one’s scalp tingle. With a helpless expression, Le Wuya cupped his hands and said, "Elder Tiger King, this humble one is Le Wuya, the thirty-ninth Sect Leader of the Paradise Celestial Palace. The Elder Jilezi you speak of passed away seven hundred years ago."

"What? Dead? Wasn’t that old coot pretty strong? He died so soon?" The Golden Giant Tiger’s voice was like a clap of thunder. As it spoke, its eyes, filled with a savage light, glared at Le Wuya, revealing sharp, chilling fangs. "So now, a little brat like you is in charge of the Paradise Celestial Palace? Hmph, no wonder you people don’t know the rules. Go on, hand over the person who stole my Spiritual Medicine!"

Le Wuya knew the Golden Giant Tiger wouldn’t have come without a reason, but he never imagined someone would be so audacious as to steal Spiritual Medicine from its territory. A surge of rage filled him. ’Which disciple of the Paradise Celestial Palace was so undisciplined? They must be executed as an example to the others!’

But on second thought, Le Wuya put on a pained expression, even squeezing out a few tears from the corners of his eyes. He choked out, "Elder, you don’t know! We have suffered a great calamity here and are on the verge of being overrun by an outsider! Think about it, for thousands of years, no one from the Paradise Celestial Palace has ever dared to disturb you, Elder. How could it possibly happen now? This... this was all done by the person who infiltrated my Paradise Celestial Palace and went on a killing spree!"

Le Wuya’s reaction was undeniably swift. Whether Qin Li did it or not, there was certainly no harm in pinning the blame on him!

Le Wuya was feeling quite pleased with his quick thinking, but he never expected that the Golden Giant Tiger was currently in a towering rage. Why would it listen to his explanation?

Suddenly, the Golden Giant Tiger roared, "Nonsense! Outsiders can’t even enter this place! You damned human! Not only did you order your subordinates to steal my Spiritual Medicine, but you now want to pin the blame on someone else! Quickly! Hand over the person who stole my Spiritual Medicine, and return my Spiritual Medicine to me! Otherwise, I’ll flatten this entire place!"

At this moment, with the worst possible timing, Elder Wen happened to fly in from a distance. Unaware of the situation and assuming an enemy had invaded, he fully unleashed his immense aura.

This was the aura of an expert at the Celestial Embracing Realm—an aura powerful enough to rival the Golden Giant Tiger’s!

Even though Elder Wen knew of the Golden Giant Tiger and held back from directing his oppressive pressure at it, the display of power was still enough to send the tiger into a complete rage.

And so, a great battle instantly erupted between the two sides.

It could be said that the Paradise Celestial Palace was extremely aggrieved this time. They had no idea what Spiritual Medicine the Golden Giant Tiger had lost, let alone who had stolen it, yet they had to bear the brunt of its fury.

The palace, which had stood for thousands of years, was destroyed in an instant by the battle. Le Wuya, Elder Wen, and the others were also fighting with true anger. Recently, the Sect had already been thrown into a panic by an intruder, causing morale to plummet.

Now, to think that even a Spirit Beast from the mountains had come to bully them... This was simply intolerable!

Thus, a long and protracted battle began.

Although the Golden Giant Tiger was immensely powerful and no one from the Paradise Celestial Palace could defeat it in a one-on-one fight, the problem was, only a fool would try to fight such a tyrannical Spirit Beast alone! All the sect members of the Paradise Celestial Palace at the Celestial Shattering Realm and above joined the fight, using wave tactics to continuously wear down its stamina.

Under the immense drain on its stamina, the Golden Giant Tiger did indeed suffer some setbacks, but the casualties on the Paradise Celestial Palace’s side were even greater! They lost more than half of their members at the Celestial Shattering Realm and above. There had originally been over thirty, but after five days and five nights of fighting, only twelve remained!

If not for powerful experts like Elder Wen, Le Wuya, and Hai Tongtian holding the front line, the casualties would likely have been even more severe!

As for the disciples below the Celestial Shattering Realm—those at the Celestial Level, Earth Level, or even weaker—they couldn’t get close to the fight at all and had long since scattered to hide far away.

Both Le Wuya and Elder Wen felt that if the fight continued like this, their sect would be annihilated before they even found the enemy who had infiltrated the Paradise Celestial Palace! Thus, they requested a truce with the Golden Giant Tiger.

Having fought for so long, the Golden Giant Tiger also sensed that if this continued, even if it managed to kill all of them, it would not escape unscathed.

In particular, Elder Wen and Le Wuya were both extremely formidable. If they were pushed to the point of desperation and chose to self-destruct, not even the Golden Giant Tiger could withstand the blow.

So, the two sides came to an agreement: within one month, they had to find the person who stole the Golden Giant Tiger’s Spiritual Medicine. If they couldn’t, the Paradise Celestial Palace would have to compensate the Golden Giant Tiger with five hundred Upper Grade Spirit Stones!

For the Golden Giant Tiger, this was hardly extortion, because the value of that supreme-quality Spirit Grass was definitely higher than five hundred Upper Grade Spirit Stones!

Just like that, the Golden Giant Tiger temporarily withdrew. The Paradise Celestial Palace was left in a miserable state. Of their original ten-odd Elders, two had been killed by Qin Li, and another three died in the battle with the Golden Giant Tiger, leaving only five.

Only twelve sect members above the Celestial Shattering Realm remained, and their collective strength was no longer comparable to what it once was.

After a thorough investigation, the Paradise Sect Master, Le Wuya, finally confirmed one thing: the person who had stolen the Golden Giant Tiger’s Spiritual Medicine and then diverted the disaster onto them was definitely Qin Li!

But the question was, would the Golden Giant Tiger listen to their explanation? Seeing that the day of their agreement with the Golden Giant Tiger was approaching, and to prevent that damn tiger from coming to wreak havoc on the Paradise Celestial Palace again, Le Wuya simply dispatched Hai Tongtian with two sect members at the Celestial Shattering Realm to deliver the five hundred Upper Grade Spirit Stones.

He would just consider it spending money to avoid a disaster.

「...」

Qin Li’s figure streaked through the air. The Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth poured into his body continuously, replenishing the energy consumed by his Lightweight Skill. In other words, despite sprinting at such a frantic pace, Qin Li hadn’t lost a single shred of his internal power!

The entire world seemed incredibly vivid in Qin Li’s eyes, and he felt the reality of this space more and more. Qin Li couldn’t help but admire the wonders of the Celestial Essence Continent, where so many places similar to Little Worlds could appear on the same planet.

Moreover, the sheer size of this planet completely surpassed Qin Li’s previous understanding of what a planet could be.

As he was thinking, Qin Li’s Divine Sense suddenly and sharply detected several powerful auras fluctuating in the distance, heading in his direction.

With a jolt, he descended, landing atop a mountain peak. He gazed in the direction from which the fluctuations were coming.