Only I am Venerable

After bidding farewell to Lin Yunlan, Qin Li stepped out of the courtyard and saw Qin Suo running over excitedly with a few others. Upon seeing Qin Li, he laughed with delight. "Haha, I didn’t think a family would actually show up! Looks like they’re really scared!" Qin Suo was smiling, but when he saw the lack of amusement on Qin Li’s face, he couldn’t help but ask, "Li, you don’t seem very happy."

Qin Li shook his head slightly and asked, "Brother, do you know which family has come?"

"Er..." Qin Suo actually didn’t know which family it was. He had simply heard that a family had come to apologize and admit their wrongs, so he rushed over to share the good news with Qin Li.

Just then, someone beside Qin Li whispered, "It’s the Chen Family, from one hundred and thirty li away from Fengsha City..."

Qin Suo nodded, and as if recalling something, the smile on his face gradually faded.

Qin Li asked again, "Then, Brother, do you know how much loss and how many casualties the Chen Family caused our Qin Family?"

"I know. Of course, I know!" An angry expression slowly crept onto Qin Suo’s face, and he said hatefully, "We had two large shops in the Chen Family’s territory, Chen Family Castle. Half a month ago, when the Qin Family was at its most vulnerable, the Chen Family—who had always been so polite to us—suddenly turned on us. They smashed our two shops, stole all the medicinal herbs and Elixirs inside, and severely injured six of our staff while lightly injuring two shopkeepers. They also killed one of our Qin Family disciples, who was at the Celestial Integration Realm. Of the six who were severely injured, four were crippled and can no longer work. The other two... didn’t make it. They died."

As Qin Suo spoke, the rims of his eyes couldn’t help but redden. His voice trembled as he said, "Li, I was wrong. I can’t believe I didn’t even consider these things."

Qin Li waved his hand and said softly, "You need to consider things from the family’s overall perspective, so it’s not entirely your fault. However, I hope you’ll remember one thing, Brother. Even a single apprentice or servant of our Qin Family is not someone others can insult! If we want to become a powerful family, we must first have the strength and the will to protect our own people!"

Qin Li didn’t say much more. He believed Qin Suo would soon think it through and completely understand his meaning.

Waving his hand again, he said, "Brother, go and gather everyone in the Qin Mansion. Let them all see with their own eyes what fate awaits those who dare to insult our Qin Family! If anyone wants revenge, we will hand their enemies over to them and let the victims exact it themselves!"

Qin Suo was stunned for a moment, but then his eyes lit up. He knew that if they really did this, the entire Qin Family’s unity would become terrifyingly unprecedented!

Never mind a family like theirs; he feared that even the super-factions of Profound Island had never attempted something as audacious as what Qin Li was proposing!

Soon, everyone from the Qin Mansion, over a thousand people, was summoned. Adding those from the various other courtyards and all the Qin Family disciples, servants, and attendants within Fengsha City, the total number of people gathered was actually over ten thousand!

And this was with some people still at their posts, unable to leave. Otherwise, the number would have been double!

As the saying goes, a crowd of ten thousand seems as boundless as the sea.

The plaza in front of the Qin Mansion was packed so tightly with members of the Qin family that not a drop of water could trickle through. The four severely injured but surviving Qin staff were wheeled out. When they saw the dense mass of several hundred members of the Chen Family kneeling on the ground, the four men’s eyes widened. Then, hot tears streamed down their cheeks.

Their emotions surged, almost beyond their control. The people around them were their own family members, who were also crying as they tried to comfort the crippled men in the wheelchairs.

The several hundred members of the Chen Family had originally been kneeling there, feeling only embarrassment and humiliation. But when they suddenly saw the disciples of the Qin Family surging forward, gathering in ever-increasing numbers until they formed a dense, dark mass of over ten thousand people, the shame and indignation in their hearts abruptly transformed into terror!

It was a Tremble that reached deep into their souls. The Chen Family had always been a minor family, their strength far inferior to that of the Qin Family. Even the pre-Qin Li era Qin Family was countless times stronger than them.

To say nothing of the current Qin Family, which was no longer the clan whose ancestral tenet was to ’prosper through peace’!

Feng Ping and the other members of the Feng family were also waiting nearby. Watching this scene unfold, they all felt their scalps tingle. They knew full well that most of the surrounding members of the Qin family were weak. A single person chosen at random from the Feng Family’s ranks could probably fight their way in and out of this crowd several times over.

But when over ten thousand people actually gathered here, all they could feel was boundless fear. It was only now that they seemed to suddenly realize that the Qin Family was, in fact, a truly great family!

They could summon so many clansmen in a matter of moments!

At the same time, these people couldn’t help but wonder: ’The Qin Family has gathered so many people here... what are they planning to do?’

"What on earth is the Qin Family planning?" Far in the distance, within a large crowd of onlookers, someone asked the person next to them with a look of horror.

"Heaven knows what the Qin Family is up to. They’re really not the same as they used to be!"

"Yeah, it’s terrifying. The Qin Family really is a huge clan. In just a short while, there are over ten thousand people, and look, more are still streaming over there!"

"Sigh, it looks like the Qin Family is playing for keeps this time!"

"Playing for keeps? What do you mean? Murder? Aren’t they afraid those other families will rise up in rebellion?"

"Afraid?" someone said with disdain. "I think it’s those families and Sects that should be afraid! Didn’t you see the Chen Family’s Patriarch? As soon as he reached the Qin Mansion’s gate, he knelt on the ground without a second word and hasn’t dared to lift his head since."

"Hmph, serves them right! The Chen Family begged for the Qin Family’s shops to set up in Chen Family Castle back in the day. When the Qin Family fell on hard times, they hit them while they were down, smashing their shops and killing several of their staff. People like that deserve to die!"

"But it was just a few staff members. Isn’t the Qin Family going a little too far?"

"Too far? You’re... you’re hopeless. It’s precisely because of this attitude that, externally, no one will dare to provoke them again. And internally... if you were one of the Qin Family’s staff, wouldn’t you pledge your undying loyalty to the Qin Family?"

"Er..."

The various discussions among the distant onlookers had no effect on the scene here. Despite the grand spectacle of over ten thousand people, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. No one spoke, let alone whispered amongst themselves. But if you were to look into the eyes of the members of the Qin family, you would see that they were almost all filled with deep emotion and steely resolve.

To belong to such a powerful family was a blessing for every one of its members, and in that instant, the Qin Family’s unity was completely sublimated, reaching a new height!

Just as Qin Li had once said, the soul of the family... had been forged!

Meanwhile, the members of the Chen Family knelt there. Those among them who had participated in smashing the Qin Family’s shops and injuring their staff were ashen-faced, trembling like leaves in the wind. They seemed to foresee the fate that awaited them.

But they had no choice. Some of the Chen Family members stole a glance at their Patriarch, who was kneeling at the very front with his rear end stuck high in the air. A complex mix of feelings welled up inside them, leaving a bitter taste in their mouths. ’If our Patriarch had this kind of backbone,’ they thought, ’then even if our clan were to be wiped out, at least we wouldn’t have been born into this family for nothing.’

’Unfortunately, we were born into a family of cowards.’

The Chen Family’s Patriarch, Chen Huo, knelt there and heard footsteps in front of him. Then, a pair of black boots appeared in his line of sight. They belonged to a young man. ’Could it be Qin Li?’ Chen Huo wondered. He didn’t dare to raise his head, simply crying out, "The sinner, Chen Huo, has come to atone to the Qin Family! I beg Young Master Qin, in his magnanimity, to spare my entire Chen Family..."

Feelings of humiliation, indignation, and resentment slowly welled up in Chen Huo’s heart. But for the sake of the entire Chen Clan, he had to endure it. Chen Huo knew that the clansmen behind him were probably thinking all sorts of things about him, because he, Chen Huo, was the one who had given the order to move against the Qin Family!

’But if those people hadn’t egged me on, would I have been so foolish as to try and smash an egg against a rock?’ Chen Huo felt more wronged than anyone!

Silence!

On the uneven, pockmarked plaza, there was dead silence. Everyone’s gaze was fixed on Qin Li’s cold, stern face.

Chen Huo waited for a long time, but there was no reply. The person was still standing before him, not moving, not speaking.

"The sinner, Chen Huo, has come to atone to the Qin Family! I beg Young Master Qin, in his magnanimity, to spare my entire Chen Family!" Chen Huo’s voice had changed, now laced with a sob. In all his one hundred and thirty years of life, this was the first time he had ever faced such a scene! The aura of hatred generated by over ten thousand people placed immense pressure on Chen Huo, who was only at the Celestial Shattering Realm. He felt as if he couldn’t breathe, as if his mind was about to collapse.

"Chen Huo, you know you were wrong?" a faint, somewhat mocking voice sounded above Chen Huo’s head. "Well then, raise your head."

Chen Huo couldn’t help but lift his head. Looking at the jade-faced young man before him, his nose tingled, and tears streamed down his face. He kowtowed repeatedly, crying, "Young Master Qin, be magnanimous! Spare the Chen Family! Please, spare the Chen Family!"

Qin Li glanced at the four severely injured and crippled staff members sitting in their wheelchairs not far from him. He said gently, "Do you have anything to say? Don’t be nervous. Say whatever is on your minds."

The staff were clearly a little intimidated by Qin Li, but their gazes toward Chen Huo were filled with a bone-deep hatred!

One of the men, who looked to be in his forties, hesitated for a moment. Then, steeling himself, he had his wheelchair pushed in front of Qin Li and asked, "Young Master, can I really say anything?"

Qin Li nodded.

The man in his forties couldn’t stop the hot tears from flowing once more. He choked out, "Young Master, my thirty years of service to the Qin Family... they weren’t in vain! WAHHH!"

Then, the staff member fixed his eyes on Chen Huo. He looked at Chen Huo’s tear-streaked face, which was twisted into a mask of begging, and spat viciously.

"Ptooey!"

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