The head master has a new female apprentice

Chapter 460 Zhou Qing's Frenzied Revenge! (6k)

Surprisingly, Zhou Qing made no attempt to conceal his presence.

Currently, his talent skill [Reduce Presence] only has 2 points, which is completely ineffective against those in the Spirit Severing Realm, and they cannot ignore it.

Instead of acting furtively and arousing suspicion, it's better to do the opposite and appear openly and confidently in front of everyone.

"After all, with the Liu family's current illustrious reputation and the patriarch presiding over the clan, who would dare to provoke them in the middle of the night?"

Zhou Qing smiled coldly, his aura suddenly subdued, instantly suppressing it to the level of an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator.

He straightened his robes and swaggered towards the towering ancient willow.

Under the moonlight, he respectfully bowed deeply to the three Spirit Severing Realm experts in the treetop, his posture so perfect that no one could find fault with it.

But those three high-ranking Spirit Slayers didn't even bother to lift their eyelids, continuing to breathe with their eyes closed.

One of them even frowned slightly and waved his hand impatiently, as if shooing away an annoying mosquito.

To them, a mere Nascent Soul cultivator wasn't even worthy of their attention.

Zhou Qing didn't take it to heart; instead, he revealed a meaningful smile.

He calmly took out the array plate and array flag from his storage bag and began to set up the array right under the noses of the three people.

Shen Yunzhou, watching from afar, felt his heart race with a mixture of tension and admiration.

My brother-in-law's mental fortitude is absolutely amazing!
As the array flags landed, Zhou Qing took out a large number of high-grade and top-grade spirit stones as energy for the array.

Just as he was about to complete the final step, a cold snort suddenly came from above.

On the treetop, the white-haired old man in the mid-stage of the Spirit Severing Realm slowly opened his eyes, his cloudy gaze filled with a hint of doubt.

"Young man, what are you doing?" The old man frowned, his gaze sweeping over Zhou Qing's face. "Wait... I feel like I've seen you somewhere before?"

Zhou Qing slowly raised his head, revealing a chillingly bright smile: "It's nothing, just set up a small formation."

His voice was eerily soft, "That way, if we fight, no one outside will hear a thing, and more importantly..."

He slowly straightened up, a cold glint flashing in his eyes: "To prevent you from tearing through space to escape."

This formation was the same four-colored restriction he had used to kill Xuan Yuan Sha and Xuan Yuan Shuo, and it also came from the Silver-Ranked Assassin, number 47, of the Blood Pact Pavilion.

Upon hearing Zhou Qing's threatening words, the old man, who was in the mid-stage of the Spirit Severing Realm, finally realized that something was wrong.

The other two also opened their eyes at that moment. Soon, one of them looked at Zhou Qing, whose hair was completely white, and his pupils shrank, as if he had thought of something.

He immediately stood up and said, "Zhou Qing? You are Zhou Qing?"

Upon hearing this, the other two immediately realized what was happening, and the shock in their eyes was quickly replaced by greed.

Zhou Qing's lips curled into a cold smile, and the Vulnerable Wind Sword was already in his hand.

He turned to look at the figure emerging from the darkness: "Yunzhou, want to come along?"

"Shh-"

A yellowish-brown sword light instantly pierced the darkness and rushed into the formation.

Shen Yunzhou appeared, wielding three longswords that shimmered with yellow light. His face was filled with suppressed excitement, and his eyes were fierce as he stared at the three people in the formation.

"Insolence!" a member of the Liu family at the Spirit Severing Realm roared, his robes billowing even without wind. "Zhou Qing, you're walking right into a trap!"

“That’s right, I delivered myself right to your door.” Zhou Qing interrupted him directly, a mocking glint in his eyes. “How about I remove the formation? Let the entire Liu family know that I, Zhou Qing, am in your hands, how about that?”

Upon hearing this, the three men's expressions immediately changed.

If Zhou Qingzhen were to fall into the hands of the Liu family, the news of those two inscription-level divine abilities would inevitably attract countless covetous individuals.

At this critical moment when the patriarch is about to pass away, such a change is absolutely unbearable for the Liu family.

Even if you want it, you have to do it secretly.

They hurriedly tried to contact the patriarch and the family head in secret, only to find that, just as Zhou Qing had said, all means of communication were blocked by the formation.

I almost forgot, this young man in front of me is not only incredibly strong, but also a high-level fourth-grade array master.

"That's more like it." Zhou Qing looked at the three people's expressions change instantly, and a strange smile appeared on his lips.

The tetanus ointment in his hand trembled slightly. "Two early-stage and one mid-stage fighter, the battle should be over soon."

He walked slowly forward, each step making the air within the formation even more stagnant: "I suggest you unleash your strongest killing moves directly, unleashing your full power in a single battle. Otherwise..."

A cold glint flashed in Zhou Qing's eyes. "You should know what methods I possess."

The three men's expressions were uncertain, and fine beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads.

Within this completely isolated formation, if the opponent were to unleash that terrifying inscription-level divine power, they wouldn't even have a chance to escape.

"Since you are so arrogant, then I will satisfy you!" The leading elder grinned maliciously, and suddenly a thick gray line appeared around his body, which spread rapidly and instantly enveloped Zhou Qing and Shen Yunzhou.

In an instant, the scene before their eyes changed drastically.

They stood in a void of gray space, surrounded by countless distorted human faces.

These faces emitted silent wails, each one piercing the soul like a sharp needle.

Moreover, each of these faces was constantly changing, gradually transforming into the faces the two were most familiar with—Shen Juefeng, Han Yi, and Xiao Yaoyao.
Even their deceased aunt and third aunt crawled toward them with contorted faces.

"Welcome to the 'Corridor of Vengeful Spirits'," the old man's voice echoed in the void. "Here, those you cherish most will become vengeful ghosts seeking your deaths."

Just as the two were surrounded by vengeful spirits, the black curtain of the monk on the left surged in like a tide.

The entire gray space was instantly covered by a pitch-black starry sky, with each star transforming into a strange eye.

Thousands of eyes blinked simultaneously, projecting a suffocating sense of oppression.

Shen Yunzhou suddenly found his hands and feet becoming incredibly heavy, as if every eye was imposing a shackle on his soul.

"The Thousand-Eyed Cage," the cultivator's chilling voice rang out. "Every eye can see through your deepest fears."

The figure of the cultivator on the right split into countless afterimages, rapidly shifting between reality and illusion.

The third layer of meaning seeped in like mist, and the entire space began to distort and deform.

Shen Yunzhou suddenly realized that his arm had become unfamiliar, as if it no longer belonged to him.

Even my memories are starting to get confused, and I can't tell what's real and what's an illusion.

The three layers of artistic conception are perfectly nested and superimposed.

The vengeful spirits howled in their ears, the Thousand Eyes imposed shackles on their bodies, and the distorted mist constantly altered their sensory perception.

The three forces merged perfectly, forming a suffocating prison of despair!

Zhou Qing slowly closed his eyes, and strands of golden threads, barely visible to the naked eye, seeped out from his body, silently penetrating the three realms of intent.

These golden threads, as if alive, moved between the gray mist and the black curtain.

In the blink of an eye, he suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils flashing with purple-gold lightning: "Then, the hunt officially begins."

……

Under the cover of night, the Liu family patrol team passed by with torches, the guards chatting and laughing, completely unaware that a life-or-death duel was unfolding just inches away within the restricted area.

Not long after the patrol team had gone far away, the space rippled like water.

With a soft "pop," the four-colored barrier shattered—

The ground collapsed, creating a huge crater a hundred feet in diameter. The spirit willow tree was also cut in half, its trunk covered with crisscrossing sword marks, and splinters of wood scattered all over the ground.

Shen Yunzhou knelt on one knee by the pit, his chest heaving violently, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes gleaming with excitement.

In mid-air, Zhou Qing stood on the void, his black clothes fluttering in the wind.

Five crimson crystal cores slowly rotated in front of him, emitting an eerie light.

As he waved his hand and put the crystal core into his storage bag, three soaring streams of resentment suddenly erupted, transforming into a sky-covering gray mist that swept across the entire Liu family.

The fog was filled with roars of resentment, anger, and despair, as if countless wronged souls were wailing.

"Go!" Zhou Qing grabbed Shen Yunzhou's arm, and the two transformed into two streaks of light, one golden and one yellow, and soared away.

The entire Liu family was thrown into chaos in an instant.

"This fluctuation of spiritual energy indicates the fall of a Spirit Severing Realm cultivator?!"

"How is that possible? Who could silently kill a Spirit Severing expert in the Liu family's ancestral land?"

Several Nascent Soul Realm elders rushed out of their secluded cultivation area, their faces pale as they stared at the rapidly spreading gray mist around them.

The lower-ranking tribesmen were in complete chaos.

Some people stood frozen in place, while others staggered backward, exclaiming, "Ugh—I'm so dizzy!"

Countless members of the Liu family with weaker mental strength suddenly knelt on the ground, clutching their heads and letting out shrill screams.

Their eyes quickly became clouded with a grayish hue, and their skin turned a deathly bluish-gray.

Dusty saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth, and his body swayed mechanically like a marionette—he had become a mindless gravedigger.

"who is it?!"

A roar filled with overwhelming rage erupted from the depths of the Liu family's ancestral land.

The entire world trembled, and a terrifying supreme pressure swept out like a tsunami...

……

Within days, news of the silent killing of three Spirit Severing Realm experts from the Liu family spread rapidly throughout the entire Sixth Tail.

What's even more shocking is that no one noticed the whole process, not even the Liu family patriarch who was stationed at the ancestral land.

The lingering emotions that erupted after the three Spirit Severing Realm cultivators perished spread like a plague, engulfing nearly half of the Liu family's territory.

Nearly ten thousand of the weaker members of the clan were corrupted by it and turned into mindless tomb keepers.

The Liu family is now furious, but they have no choice but to urgently evacuate some of their clansmen and belongings from the core area and set up multiple restrictions to prevent the obsession from eroding them.

Even so, those contaminated territories can only be temporarily sealed off, and it is difficult to purify them in a short period of time.

"Is there even a need to guess? It must have been done by the remnants of the Shen family!"

"Indeed, who else but the Shen family patriarch, Shen Canghai, could have killed three Spirit Slayers in the Liu family's ancestral land without leaving a trace?" "The Liu family really tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice instead. Once their patriarch passes away, who in the vast Liu family will be able to uphold its reputation?"

"Didn't we hear that the Yan family swore an oath to Heaven to protect them?"

"Ha, just empty talk. Do you think the Yan family will always be by their side? You have to be strong yourself to succeed."

……

Inside the private room, Shen Yunzhou listened to the discussions outside, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

He turned his head to look at Zhou Qing, who was meditating with his eyes closed, and chuckled in a low voice, "Brother-in-law, I haven't felt this good in a long time since the Shen family was destroyed! Working with you is really exhilarating!"

Zhou Qing slowly opened his eyes, a slight smile playing on his lips: "How's the matter I asked you to investigate?"

Shen Yunzhou immediately took out a jade slip: "All the mines of the Liu family in the sixth tail are located here."

"Currently, only two mines are guarded by Spirit Severing Realm experts; the rest have probably been transferred to the Shen family's old mine at the Fifth Tail."

Zhou Qing took the jade slip, glanced at it, and nodded, saying, "While it's not as good as I expected, it's enough. Are you ready?"

Shen Yunzhou's eyes flashed with murderous intent: "Ready to serve at any time!"

"Let's go." Zhou Qing stood up.

The two donned special masks and transformed into two streaks of light, heading straight for their target mine.
Seven days later, another shocking piece of news spread throughout the Sixth Tail:

Two important mines belonging to the Liu family were attacked, and the resentment of the fallen Spirit Slayer turned the entire mountainous area into a dead zone.

Strangely, the Liu family only sent some Nascent Soul Realm experts to investigate, while all the Spirit Severing Realm experts remained hidden, fearing they would suffer the same fate as their colleagues.

It should be noted that, apart from a few who surrendered at the Spirit Severing Realm, the rest of the Shen family members had died in battle.

The only person with such methods nowadays is the long-lost patriarch of the Shen family.

For a time, all the cultivators of the Sixth Tail were secretly watching, waiting to see how this good show would end.

……

Meanwhile, on the most bustling main street of the Sixth Tail, in a three-story pharmacy called "Wandan Pavilion," soothing incense smoke rose from a bronze incense burner.

In the hall, a burly man wearing a bronze tiger-striped mask sat quietly on a rosewood chair, his rough fingers tapping the armrests intermittently.

Several young waiters kept stealing glances at the customer, but were too intimidated by the oppressive aura emanating from him to approach.

After about half a cup of tea's time, the beaded curtain of the inner room was lifted by a hand wearing a jade thumb ring.

The shopkeeper, sporting a goatee, strode over with a broad smile, carrying a storage bag embroidered with gold thread in both hands.

"You've been waiting for a long time, esteemed guest." The shopkeeper bowed respectfully, wrinkles appearing at the corners of his eyes. "As per your request, all the pills have been prepared, and we'll also give you an extra bottle of top-grade Nourishing Heart Pill."

The burly man silently accepted the storage bag, a wisp of spiritual energy emanating from his fingertips as he probed it.

After confirming that everything was correct, he nodded slightly, placed a bag of spirit stones on the table, and got up to leave.

"Please wait, sir!" After checking the storage bag, the shopkeeper hurriedly took two steps forward, but the next second he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

The other person's eyes, hidden behind the mask, swept over him coldly, and a scorching, magma-like pressure suddenly descended, instantly soaking the shopkeeper's back in cold sweat.

"S-Senior, please calm down!" The shopkeeper's face turned pale, and he hurriedly bowed. "I just wanted to say that your spending this time has reached the standard for our Purple Gold VIP, and I would like to present you with a VIP token."

"No need." The burly man's voice was deep and rumbling like thunder. He withdrew his imposing aura and strode out of the pharmacy.

Only after that burly figure disappeared around the street corner did the shopkeeper breathe a sigh of relief and wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

"These old monsters at the Spirit Severing Realm," the shopkeeper muttered under his breath, but couldn't help but weigh the bag of spirit stones in his hand, a greedy smile on his face. "They're really generous with their money."

……

On the long street, the big man seemed to be strolling around casually, but in reality he was walking and stopping frequently, making all sorts of turns.

He would occasionally pause in front of a stall, but always kept his divine sense covering a radius of a hundred feet around him.

Only after the sun had set and he was sure no one was following him did he slip into an abandoned mansion in the outer city.

The courtyard was overgrown with weeds, and the carved wooden door of the main house had long since rotted away.

The burly man entered the inner room with practiced ease and called out in a low voice, "Fourth Brother."

"Squeak-"

The dilapidated wooden door to the inner room was pushed open, and a middle-aged man with a pale face slowly walked out.

He was terribly thin, with bluish veins clearly visible under his almost transparent skin, and every step he took seemed to require all his strength.

This person was none other than Shen Juefeng, the fourth master of the Shen family, who was publicly beheaded by Bai Fengyin, the deputy palace master of Tianhuang Palace, five years ago!

The burly man ripped off the mask, revealing Shen Lieyang's angular face.

He rushed forward and supported the swaying Shen Juefeng, his voice filled with rare concern: "How are you recovering today?"

Shen Juefeng couldn't help but cough twice: "It's better than yesterday, but there are still cracks in my soul."

He gave a wry smile. "It will take at least six months to fully recover."

Upon hearing this, Shen Lieyang's eyes showed even deeper pain.

He gently patted Shen Juefeng's shoulder, his voice hoarse: "This is already very impressive. As expected of the former pride of our Shen family, you were able to escape with a wisp of your remnant soul from the hands of a late-stage Supreme Realm expert."

Shen Juefeng shook his head slightly: "If you hadn't killed two members of the Yan family at the Spirit Severing Realm first, allowing your obsessive emotions to engulf the battlefield, I wouldn't have been able to escape from under Bai Fengyin's nose amidst the chaos."

Upon hearing this, Shen Lieyang's expression suddenly darkened.

His clenched fist trembled slightly: "It's a pity that everyone died and we were ultimately outnumbered and outmatched. I'm sorry to you, I'm sorry to Qingci, I'm sorry to the entire Shen family!"

His eyes were red and his voice was choked with emotion.

The regrets of these past years have kept coming back.

He never expected that Liu Rushuang, with whom he had shared a bed for many years and who had even given birth to twin sons for him, would still secretly leave a backup plan and open the Shen family's protective formation at the most critical moment.

What no one expected was that this betrayal would allow the Liu family patriarch to lead a large number of powerful figures to storm in, catching everyone off guard and causing so many clansmen to die tragically.
Shen Juefeng looked at his once spirited third brother and sighed softly.

She reached out and patted his shoulder in return: "It's not entirely your fault. If we're really going to assign blame, then I'm a sinner too."

"I killed my second brother first, then my sister-in-law and Liu Rushuang, and severely injured your main body, greatly weakening the Shen family's power, which gave the enemy an opportunity."

"You're kidding me!" Shen Lieyang suddenly raised his voice, rubbing his reddened eyes vigorously. "Even without all this, how long could our Shen family hold out against so many Supreme Realm experts joining forces?"

Shen Juefeng looked at him calmly: "Since you can think this way, why do you take all the blame on yourself?"

He paused, "Even without Liu Rushuang disrupting the formation, since the other side was determined to deal with us, they could have easily entered the Shen family under the guise of a visit. Wouldn't the result have been the same?"

Shen Lieyang took a deep breath and slowly exhaled the pent-up frustration in his chest.

Hearing that made him feel much better.

"About the Qingci siblings?" Shen Lieyang looked at Shen Juefeng nervously, his voice unconsciously lowering.

Shen Juefeng's expression froze for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure: "It's all in the past. You were also bewitched by your sister-in-law's words back then. Besides..."

His gaze toward Shen Lieyang became complicated. "You died in that battle to protect your clan. Now, you are nothing more than a second Nascent Soul cultivator who survived by sheer luck."

"Boom!"

Shen Lieyang suddenly knelt down and kowtowed three times.

When he looked up again, his forehead was flushed: "Fourth brother, I really didn't mean to hurt you back then."

"I was just jealous of your talent and wanted to cause you some setbacks in your business. Who would have thought that those bastards from the Flying Thieves Alliance would harm my brother and sister-in-law?"

“I told you, it’s all in the past.” Shen Juefeng reached out to help him up, his eyes resolute. “Blood debts must be avenged, and I’ve taken my revenge. Now, we brothers should unite and face the real enemy together!”

Shen Lieyang nodded vigorously, wiping his face haphazardly: "Okay, let's not talk about it anymore, let's not talk about it anymore."

He forced a smile and took out an exquisite storage bag from his pocket, handing it over: "These are the pills I bought according to your prescription. See if they're suitable for you?"

Shen Juefeng took the items and examined them for a moment, a glint of light flashing in his eyes: "Good! With these things, we can at least halve the recovery time."

He looked up and smiled sincerely, "Thank you, Third Brother."

"No need for thanks among family." Shen Lieyang waved his hand, then suddenly lowered his voice, "By the way, I heard some rumors on my way back."

He then recounted in detail the news that five members of the Liu family had successively fallen at the Spirit Severing Realm.

Shen Juefeng's brows furrowed suddenly: "We've been lying low and recuperating in the Fifth Tail for the past few years. Before we came to the Sixth Tail, we heard that the Xiao family patriarch and two elders had been killed. The person who did it was none other than Zhou Qing."

"The Xiao family patriarch was furious and is searching everywhere. Even cultivators from the forbidden lands are gathering at the Fifth Tail, which is why we had no choice but to move here."

He paused, "But who could have imagined that, no sooner had we arrived than news came that three powerful cultivators from the Liu family at the Spirit Severing Realm had died silently in their own residence, and now two more mines have been lost..."

A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips. "Truly, heaven is on my side."

Shen Lieyang's eyes flashed: "Fourth brother, could it be that Father made a move?"

Shen Juefeng shook his head: "Father was seriously injured that day. Although he managed to escape, it will probably take five years for him to recover."

He said with certainty, "Besides, given his old man's style of doing things, he would never do such a roundabout way."

"Then who else could it be?" Shen Lieyang frowned.

Shen Juefeng said in a deep voice: "Three months ago, the Xiao family was destroyed. Three months later, the Liu family lost five Spirit Severing Realm experts in succession. Crossing the two tails will take exactly three months."

"You mean... Zhou Qing?" Shen Lieyang's voice suddenly tightened.

Shen Juefeng's gaze darkened slightly, and he said in a low voice, "Perhaps he did it, but we can't be sure. Mainly because my understanding of him is really limited."

Upon hearing this, Shen Lieyang slowly exhaled, a complex expression appearing in his eyes: "If it really was Zhou Qing's doing, then we owe him a huge favor. My niece Hanyi has indeed found a good Daoist partner, it's just a pity..."

Before he could finish speaking, another long sigh escaped his lips.

Mentioning Shen Hanyi, both of them looked somber, and the room fell silent for a moment.

After a long silence, Shen Lieyang broke the silence first: "Zhou Qing's actions are clearly to avenge Han Yi. How... should we respond?"

Shen Juefeng took a deep breath, as if exhaling all the pent-up frustration in his chest, then a glint of light flashed in his eyes, and he resolutely said—

“Help him!”

(End of this chapter)