The Imperial Martial Pill Venerable

In the valley carved out by the great battle, heart-palpitating ripples of power still lingered.

Amidst the swirling dust and sand, Qin Ya stood holding his spear, Breaking Army. His expression was indifferent, and a biting chill emanated from him, as cold as an eternal, unmelting glacier.

"Do you want to end up like him?"

His cold words rang out. Although his aura was somewhat depleted, the killing intent in his tone remained sharp, and the two Era-Defining Kings were thoroughly intimidated.

After all, this was the young man who had slain Dongmen Gu!

One of the Era-Defining Kings took a step forward and demanded coldly, "You may be powerful, but you can't have come out of that fight unscathed. Do you really think you're still a match for us?"

As he spoke, the Era-Defining King unleashed his aura. It was as vast and majestic as a great mountain, bearing down directly on Qin Ya.

But Qin Ya merely knitted his brows. A murderous aura, like that of a Nine Netherworld Asura, instantly erupted from him. A cold light gleamed in his eyes as he spoke. "Care to try me?"

The two Era-Defining Kings were startled. A flicker of eagerness crossed their eyes, but as they gazed upon Qin Ya, suffused with killing intent and spear in hand, they dared not take a single step forward.

"Hmph! I don't believe you have any strength left to fight!"

One of the Era-Defining Kings snorted. His figure blurred, and in the blink of an eye, he was before Qin Ya. He thrust out his palm, unleashing a surge of vast, terrifying Palm Qi.

"Courting death!"

Qin Ya snorted, then hissed in a low voice, "Space, Condense!"

A mysterious ripple spread through the void, and the Era-Defining King's body abruptly froze in place. In that instant, the spear in Qin Ya's hand hummed as he thrust it forward!

The spear tore through the air. In the same moment the Era-Defining King was frozen, his chest was run through. The Power of Destruction erupted from the wound, instantly extinguishing his life force.

One spear thrust, another Era-Defining King slain!

Hiss…

The remaining Era-Defining King gasped, stumbling back several steps. He stared at Qin Ya, his eyes filled with terror.

"ROAR!!"

"Roar…"

Just then, a series of roars echoed from the distance. The Evil Spirits in the basin seemed to have sensed the battle and were now pouring out, a tide of Evil Qi rolling toward them like a bank of dark clouds.

'This is bad. I have to go.'

Qin Ya's expression changed. In his current condition, he dared not get caught in that ocean of Evil Spirits. Unleashing his Mysterious Speed, he turned and fled.

Seeing this, the remaining Era-Defining King from the Dongmen Family snapped out of his stupor. He hoisted the bodies of Dongmen Gu and the other slain King onto his back and quickly departed. A few breaths later, the spot was completely overrun by Evil Spirits.

"Go, let's go!"

"Dammit, the fight caused too much of a commotion and drew all the Evil Spirits here."

Gazing at the dense, ocean-like army of Evil Spirits, everyone's skin crawled. Not daring to linger, they instantly fled into the distance.

A short time later, the crowd had fled in a sorry state for over a hundred li before the horde of Evil Spirits finally retreated. Fortunately, no Martial Artist was injured in the chaos.

"What?! Both of them are dead!"

At that moment, a thunderous roar of fury erupted. Everyone turned to see Dongmen Ming, his face a livid mask. He was staring at the two corpses, a sinister chill glinting in his eyes. He stormed over to Qin Ya, his voice cold. "Qin Ya, you have just declared war on my Dongmen Family!"

Hearing this, Qin Ya replied leisurely, "Declare war? Heh. Dongmen Gu wanted to kill my friend, and he wanted to kill me. I killed him, so what? As for a declaration of war… Hmph. From the very beginning, there has been no possibility of peace between the Dongmen Family and me!"

He then added in an icy tone, "If you want to avenge them, I don't mind dealing with you as well. It wouldn't be much more trouble."

Dongmen Ming's expression was darker than a thundercloud, but he was helpless. Qin Ya's Martial Power was simply too great. He had even killed an Era-Defining King like Dongmen Gu. The members of the Dongmen Family currently in the Slaughter Ruins were utterly powerless against him.

In fact, Qin Ya could crush them whenever he pleased!

'Damn it, damn it all!!'

Dongmen Ming roared inwardly, seething with impotent rage.

He was a peerless genius of the Dongmen Family! When had he ever suffered such humiliation? And to be humiliated by a mere youth, no less!

At this thought, a sweet, coppery taste filled his throat. He gritted his teeth, forced himself to swallow the blood rising in his gullet, and said venomously, "This isn't over, Qin Ya. The Dongmen Family will make you pay."

"I'll be waiting," Qin Ya said indifferently.

Dongmen Ming shot him a final glare, then led his people away.

Meanwhile, the members of the other factions watched Qin Ya with expressions of pure awe.

Regardless of the circumstances, Qin Ya's strength had earned their respect. There were few in the entire main city capable of slaying an expert of Dongmen Gu's caliber.

"A monster like him is a rare sight indeed."

"Terrifying… absolutely terrifying."

"A Half-Step King slaying Dongmen Gu… It's simply unheard of."

The crowd broke into a flurry of disbelieving discussion.

Mo Bokong walked over, a look of amazement on his face. "Qin Ya, it's only been a few days, yet your combat strength has improved this much. It's truly shocking."

Qin Ya just chuckled. "I had a few lucky breaks, that's all."

They found a place to catch up and chatted for the better part of the day.

Before long, the camp was rebuilt.

Various factions continued to converge on the location.

On this day, the leaders of the factions decided to hold a meeting.

Inside a simple house built of packed earth and stone, the leaders of the various factions were gathered: Dongmen Ming, Sima Yu, the Jinlin City Lord, Ning Bai, Lin Leimu, and others.

Just then, Qin Ya and Mo Bokong walked in.

All eyes were instantly drawn to them—or rather, to Qin Ya, who followed behind Mo Bokong. A peculiar gleam appeared in many of their eyes. Dongmen Ming, however, merely let out a cold snort, his fists clenched as he fought to suppress the rage burning in his heart.

"Everyone, my apologies for being late."

Mo Bokong saw all the gazes directed their way and knew exactly who they were for. He smiled and cupped his fists in greeting, and the others returned the gesture.

"City Lord Mo, no need for formalities."

"Heh, we only just arrived ourselves."

And with that, the meeting officially began.

Sima Yu presided over the meeting, and no one objected. After all, the Sima Family was one of the main city's two great Noble Families. Had Dongmen Gu still been alive, it would be uncertain who would take the lead, but as things stood, the role fell to Sima Yu.

Sima Yu began with a faint smile. "According to our scouting reports, the Yin Yang Evil Spirit Tribe contains a total of seventy-six Great Fiends—forty Yin Evils and thirty-six Yang Evils. In addition, there are one thousand three hundred Evil Spirits comparable in strength to a King, and over twenty thousand more on the periphery. This scale is rarely seen in the Slaughter Ruins."

"Frankly, with our current strength, dealing with a tribe of this size will be extremely difficult. We must therefore allocate our forces strategically. It is the only way we'll be able to pick off the tribe's high-level combatants one by one…"

"Now then, please report the forces you each have at your disposal."