96: Chapter 96 Killing Zhao Yan

Li Changsheng raised his head and looked into the distance.

The remaining few black-clad men, including the injured leader, saw the middle-aged man lying in a pool of blood, and their expressions changed.

"He... he killed Senior Brother Xu..."

"Retreat!"

Someone shouted, and the few black-clad men turned and ran, quickly disappearing into the night.

Zhao Yan also wanted to run.

But just as he took a step, a flash of sword light blocked his path.

Li Changqing.

She held her sword, staring at him coldly.

"Want to run?"

Zhao Yan's face turned pale, and he stepped back, hitting a rock.

Li Changsheng stood up and walked toward him step by step.

With every step, a trail of bloody footprints was left on the ground.

Zhao Yan looked at him, his eyes filled with fear.

"You... you cannot kill me... I am a Disciple of the Qinglan Sword Sect... My uncle is a Foundation Establishment Cultivator... How dare you kill me..."

Li Changsheng did not speak.

He simply walked up to him and looked down at him.

"Zhao Yan,"

He spoke, his voice hoarse.

"From the time we entered the Sect until now, what you owe me must be repaid today."

Zhao Yan's lips trembled, and suddenly he knelt down with a thud.

"Li Changsheng! I was wrong!"

"I shouldn't have caused you trouble! I shouldn't have sent people to kill you!"

"You... you spare me! I will give you Spirit Stones! I will give you Spirit Medicine! I will do anything you want!"

Li Changsheng looked at him with no pity in his eyes, only calmness.

"Shi Tiezhu's arm was broken by people you ordered."

Zhao Yan's face turned pale.

"Li Xiaocao was hunted down because you colluded with the Blood Fiend Sect."

Zhao Yan lowered his head.

"Those twelve people just now were brought by you."

Zhao Yan trembled all over, unable to speak.

Li Changsheng slowly raised his hand.

In his hand, he held a sharp stone shard he had picked up from the ground, though no one knew when he had grabbed it.

"You..."

Zhao Yan widened his eyes.

The stone shard slashed across.

Blood sprayed.

Zhao Yan clutched his throat, fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and finally stopped moving.

Li Changsheng stood where he was, watching his corpse, and let out a long sigh.

The feud was settled.

But his vision went black, his body swayed, and finally, unable to hold on any longer, he collapsed.

"Big Brother Changsheng!"

"Brother Changsheng!"

"Brother Changsheng!"

Three cries of alarm, and three figures rushed over.

But Li Changsheng could no longer hear them.

He fell into deep darkness.

In the darkness, he seemed to hear a voice coming from very, very far away.

"Withered Wood Meets Spring... the price... is..."

The voice grew more and more distant, more and more blurred.

Finally, he could hear nothing.

Darkness.

Endless darkness.

Li Changsheng's consciousness floated in the darkness, with no direction, no time, nothing.

He did not know where he was, nor did he know how much time had passed.

He only remembered that last scene—Zhao Yan falling, his own vision going black, and then he knew nothing more.

Was he dead?

Probably not.

If he were dead, he wouldn't have consciousness.

That meant he was still alive.

But if he was alive, why couldn't he wake up?

He tried to open his eyes but found that his body simply wouldn't obey him.

His limbs felt like they were being pressed down by something, unable to move.

His eyelids felt like they were filled with lead, unable to open.

The only thing that could move was his consciousness.

This feeling was very strange.

It was like being trapped in a narrow space, able to perceive the outside, but unable to participate.

What did he perceive?

There was a warm touch, soft and small—it was Xiao Cao's hand, holding his hand.

There was warm liquid dripping onto his face—it was tears, Sister Changqing's tears.

There was a heavy sigh—it was Tiezhu, muttering something in a low voice.

And... a faint scent of medicine.

Someone was applying medicine to him.

He tried hard to open his eyes, wanting to tell them he was fine, but his body still wouldn't obey.

Forget it.

Let's rest first.

He was too tired.

His consciousness sank back into the darkness.

It is unknown how much time had passed, but Li Changsheng finally opened his eyes.

What came into view was Li Changqing's tear-stained face.

"Brother Changsheng!"

She cried out in surprise, "You're awake!"

Li Xiaocao pounced over at once, hugging his neck and sobbing loudly.

"Big Brother Changsheng! You scared me to death!"

Shi Tiezhu also crowded over, his honest face wearing a smile of surviving a disaster.

"Brother Changsheng, you finally woke up, we were all worried to death."

Li Changsheng wanted to sit up but found his whole body sore, especially the wound on his chest, which was still throbbing with pain.

He looked down and saw that the wound had been bandaged and covered with a thick layer of ointment; it must have been Li Changqing's doing.

"How long was I unconscious?" he asked.

Li Changqing wiped her tears.

"A day and a night."

A day and a night.

Li Changsheng silently calculated the time.

Fortunately, it wasn't too long.

He propped himself up to sit, looking around.

They were still in that depression by the lake, and outside was still that greyish light.

On the island in the distance, that stone palace stood quietly, the palace door still left ajar by a slit.

"What about the others?"

He asked.

"Those from the Blood Fiend Sect, and the Jinyang Sect, and the Qingxin Pavilion?"

Li Changqing shook her head.

"I don't know. After you fell unconscious, we didn't dare to move around, so we stayed here guarding you."

"After those Blood Fiend Sect people ran away, they never came back."

"The people from the Jinyang Sect went to that stone palace yesterday, tried it, couldn't get in, and retreated."

"Couldn't get in?"

"Yes. The palace door looked like it was ajar, but there seemed to be some Restriction; it couldn't be pushed open at all."

"They tried all sorts of methods, but none worked."

Li Changsheng was silent for a moment, then stood up and stretched his body.

Although the wound was still hurting, it didn't affect his movement anymore.

The Medicinal Pill for healing inside his body was still working, and the medicinal power was repairing his damaged Meridians bit by bit.

"Let's go," he said.

"Let's go take a look at the stone palace."

The four of them packed up, crossed the gravel embankment again, and climbed onto the island.

The island was still covered with Spirit Medicine, but the four of them couldn't bother to pick any.

Their gazes were all drawn to that stone palace.

Looking at it up close, the stone palace looked even more ancient than it did from afar.

The blue-grey giant stones were covered with the marks of time.

Traces of weathering, traces of rain, and... traces of swords and blades.

The palace door consisted of two heavy stone doors, tightly shut, leaving only a thin slit.

The slit was only as wide as a finger, impossible to squeeze through.

The doors were engraved with dense, intricate runes.

Li Changsheng didn't recognize those runes, but he could perceive the spiritual power fluctuations contained within them—very ancient, very deep, and also very dangerous.

"Is this the Immortal Cave of an ancient great expert?"

Shi Tiezhu muttered.

Li Changsheng did not answer; he simply reached out and pressed his hand gently against the door.

In an instant, the Evergreen Plant Truth Scripture inside his body suddenly started circulating automatically!

That sense of attraction he had felt since the first time he saw the stone palace became even stronger at this moment!

It was as if something was calling to him from behind the door!

He took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement in his heart, and withdrew his hand.

In front of him, there were forty or fifty fellow Disciples of the Qinglan Sword Sect present; Li Changsheng exchanged greetings with Senior Brother Zhou, Meng Qing, and others he knew.

But he felt deeply moved in his heart.

At that time, the Qinglan Sword Sect had gathered its Disciples.

On the plaza, nearly a hundred people at Qi Refining Level 3 or above had gathered.

He didn't know how many had been dragged in this time, but only these fifty-odd remained; the casualties were heavy!

Just then, a noisy sound of footsteps came from behind.

Li Changsheng turned around and saw a group of people walking towards them.

Leading them was Zhou Yuan of the Jinyang Sect, who was at Qi Refining Level 7.

Behind him followed a dozen or so Jinyang Sect Disciples, and Lin Jingyun was among them.

On the other side were a dozen or so Qingxin Pavilion Disciples, led by a delicate-looking female Cultivator at Qi Refining Level 6.

And over there were seven or eight Medicine King Valley Disciples, led by an arrogant-looking young man at Qi Refining Level 7.

Further behind were twenty or thirty Loose Cultivators, a mixed bag of people, with all sorts of characters.

And at the very back of the crowd, a few black-clad figures were staring coldly at Li Changsheng.

The people from the Blood Fiend Sect.

That leader was still there, only his face was pale, and the wound on his shoulder hadn't healed yet.

There were only three people left beside him, all appearing to be at Qi Refining Level 4 or 5.

Seeing Li Changsheng look over, a trace of wariness flashed in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by coldness.

All the factions had arrived.