79: Chapter 79 Killing someone by destroying their spirit! Qin Hai, your expression is priceless!

About an incense stick's time later.

A deafening roar approached from afar, carrying boundless rage from being toyed with, echoing frantically through the mountain forest.

Soon after, the massive Green Scale Flood Dragon returned.

It flew back to the canyon entrance, its massive slit pupils filled with irritability and confusion, circling in place as if searching for something.

Qin Ming, hiding in another pile of rubble, was scared out of his wits.

He curled his body into a ball, his breathing nearly coming to a halt.

"Why did this Tier 3 Demon King come back?"

"Didn't the Patriarch lure it away?"

The Green Scale Flood Dragon clearly didn't care about a small fry like him. After confirming that the aura it detested had completely vanished, it unwillingly twisted its massive body and dove back into the cold pool deep within the canyon.

Another moment passed.

A figure stumbled over from afar, flying and leaping; it was none other than the returning Patriarch Qin Hai.

At this moment, he was more than ten times more disheveled than before.

His luxurious long robe was tattered, covered in claw marks and bloodstains; his hair was disheveled, and his aura was chaotic.

Clearly, he had paid a bloody price to shake off that Green Scale Flood Dragon.

Yet, his face bore a sickly, irrepressible ecstasy.

"It's done!"

"Although the process was extremely dangerous and I nearly lost my life, I finally succeeded!"

"A Tier 4 Spiritual Plant, the heavenly spirit herb!"

"As long as I have it in hand, my Qin Family can give birth to a Golden Core True Lord!"

"By then, the entire Huoyang Commandery will belong to my Qin Family!"

As soon as he landed, Qin Ming, who was hiding behind the rubble, scrambled out, his face full of relief.

"Patriarch! You've returned!"

Patriarch Qin Hai looked at him, suppressing the excitement in his heart, his voice hoarse from weakness: "Where is the item? Did you get it?"

Qin Ming's expression stiffened, then turned blank and innocent.

"Patriarch... I, I don't know!"

"I rushed in and saw the heavenly spirit herb on the stone platform, but just as I reached out to take it, it... it vanished into thin air!"

The smile on Patriarch Qin Hai's face froze instantly.

"Vanished?"

His voice rose sharply, filled with disbelief.

"What do you mean it vanished? Qin Ming, explain yourself clearly to this old man!"

"It was just... in the blink of an eye, the herb was gone!" Qin Ming was so anxious he was about to cry, "I don't know what happened, it was as if something snatched it away from a distance!"

Patriarch Qin Hai stared at him intently.

In those murky old eyes, the ecstasy and anticipation rapidly faded, replaced by chilling murderous intent and suspicion.

"Snatched from a distance?"

For this heavenly spirit herb, he had schemed for decades, not hesitating to sacrifice clansmen as bait, and even burning his essence blood and risking his life to lure away the Demon King.

Now, this guy he had entrusted with such a heavy responsibility was telling him the item was gone?

How could such a coincidence exist in this world!

The only explanation was that Qin Ming had seen the treasure and become greedy, stealing it for himself!

"Qin Ming, I'll give you one last chance."

Patriarch Qin Hai's voice became hoarse and low, each word squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Hand over the heavenly spirit herb."

"Patriarch! I really didn't! I swear!"

Qin Ming was so scared he fell to his knees with a thud, gesturing to the heavens and earth in his defense, "If I stole the heavenly spirit herb, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death!"

"A fine 'die a horrible death'!"

Patriarch Qin Hai laughed out of extreme anger, having already concluded that Qin Ming was acting.

"Since you refuse to hand it over, don't blame this old man for being ruthless!"

Before the words faded, a cold glint flashed in his eyes, and his withered palm, imbued with vigorous spiritual power, struck down onto the top of Qin Ming's head!

"Patriarch, you..."

Qin Ming's face was filled with disbelief. To his death, he couldn't understand why the Patriarch, to whom he had been so loyal, would kill him.

With a muffled bang, Qin Ming's head exploded, red and white matter splattering everywhere.

The headless corpse collapsed softly.

Patriarch Qin Hai couldn't be bothered to even look, immediately crouching down to roughly rip the Storage Pouch from Qin Ming's waist, his Divine Sense instantly probing inside.

It was empty.

Aside from a few bottles of Medicinal Pill and some miscellaneous items, there was absolutely no sign of the heavenly spirit herb!

"How could this be?"

Patriarch Qin Hai was completely stunned.

Could it be... he really didn't take it?

Then where is my herb?

Where on earth did that Tier 4 Spiritual Plant go?

Could it still be inside?

"Roar—!"

Just as his mind was shaken and he couldn't figure it out, a roar, more furious and violent than any before, suddenly exploded from deep within the canyon!

The rage in that sound seemed ready to overturn the entire sky!

Immediately after, the earth began to shake violently.

The massive body of the Green Scale Flood Dragon, carrying a monstrous, fierce aura, rushed out from the canyon entrance once again!

This time, its huge slit pupils had turned blood-red!

It had just returned to the cold pool only to discover that the heavenly spirit herb it had guarded for over a century had vanished into thin air!

That was the supreme treasure it had prepared to use to break through to Tier 4 and completely transform into a dragon!

Now, everything was gone!

As soon as it rushed out of the canyon, it saw the weakened, blood-stained Patriarch Qin Hai.

It was this human!

It was this cunning worm!

The Green Scale Flood Dragon instantly locked all its fury onto Patriarch Qin Hai.

Patriarch Qin Hai was terrified, a chill shooting from the soles of his feet straight to his crown.

He couldn't figure it out!

He completely couldn't figure it out!

If the heavenly spirit herb was still inside.

Why would this beast be so suddenly furious?

He was currently severely injured, his essence blood depleted, and less than one-tenth of his spiritual power remained; he was simply no match for this enraged Tier 3 Demon King.

Escape!

This was the only thought in his mind.

Patriarch Qin Hai drove his remaining True Qi to the limit, transforming into a streak of bloody light, and fled frantically into the distance without looking back.

And that completely crazed Green Scale Flood Dragon let out an earth-shattering roar, its massive body crushing all the trees and rocks along the way, pursuing relentlessly, vowing to swallow this treasure thief whole!

Watching the two figures—one fleeing and one chasing—disappear into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

"Hehe..."

An irrepressible low chuckle drifted out from a hidden corner.

"Hahahaha..."

Jiang Feng's figure slowly walked out, his face wearing an indescribable sense of gratification.

Behind him, Yao Shifei covered her mouth and chuckled lightly, her eyes shifting, full of charm.

This trip was a massive profit.

Without any effort, he had made that old geezer Patriarch Qin Hai lose his clansmen's lives, suffer severe injuries from burning his essence blood, and finally, be saddled with a massive scapegoat, chased by a Tier 3 Demon King in the Secret Realm with nowhere to run.

And he himself had obtained a Tier 4 Spiritual Plant that even a Golden Core True Lord would be jealous of, without a single scratch.

This feeling was too satisfying!

Not far away, the Huangfu Sisters were completely dumbfounded.

They stared blankly at Jiang Feng, then looked at the jade box in his hand containing the heavenly spirit herb, their minds completely blank.

Calculating human hearts, using a borrowed knife to kill, the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind...

Only then did they understand that the most terrifying thing about this man was never how strong his cultivation was, but this unparalleled intelligence that could toy with the hegemon of Huoyang Commandery in the palm of his hand!

Huangfu Yunni and Huangfu Yunshang, the two sisters, simultaneously recalled that sentence from their father, Commandery Lord Huangfu Hao.

"We'll talk after we leave the Secret Realm..."

In an instant, their two exquisitely beautiful faces flushed red, as if they were about to drip blood.