Only I am Venerable

Chen Huo froze, stunned. He stared blankly at Qin Li and asked in disbelief, "Young Master Qin, you... what did you say?"

"Did you think that after ordering the murder of my Qin family members and offering up a group of scapegoats, you’d be off the hook?" Qin Li sneered. "If it were any other family that was already an enemy of the Qin Family, perhaps I would have let it go. But your Chen Family... Years ago, before you had even risen to prominence, you came to us, seeking to attach yourselves to the Qin Family. You begged us to open an apothecary in Chen Family Castle. Can you deny this? So, the moment you turned on the Qin Family and harmed our disciples, you became a treacherous villain! Therefore, take your own life. Once you’re dead, I guarantee I will not hold the Chen Family responsible any further. Whatever becomes of the Chen Family in the future will have nothing to do with the Qin Family!"

"Hah... haha..." A strange, grating laugh rumbled in Chen Huo’s throat. He suddenly stood up. The people beside Qin Li were about to move, but Qin Li stopped them.

Chen Huo straightened his back, turned to face the members of the Chen family, and declared loudly, "I, Chen Huo, willingly offer my life in exchange for the Chen Family’s survival! Now, as Patriarch, I announce my final decision: My descendants shall never again be allowed to hold the position of Chen Family Patriarch. I also ask the elites of the Chen Clan to, for the sake of my sacrifice for the family, treat my wife, children, and descendants with kindness!"

As Chen Huo spoke, he let out another wretched laugh, then struck his own heart with a fierce, backhanded slap. His heart meridians were instantly severed, and he collapsed, dead.

"Patriarch..."

"Father!"

"The Patriarch is dead!"

The remaining members of the Chen family were all Chen Huo’s trusted confidants and from his direct lineage. Seeing their Patriarch dead, they were overcome with grief and began to wail.

"Alright, leave the valuables and go," Qin Suo said with a soft sigh and a wave of his hand. He knew full well of the Chen Family’s treachery, and he also knew that if the Qin Family had fallen, the Chen Family would have bullied them even more relentlessly. ’But at this moment, I can’t help but feel like a villain. The sight of the weeping Chen family members, looking like a group of young women forced into prostitution, is just irritating.’

Qin Li just smiled faintly. ’I’ve never cared what others think of me. A great deal of the knowledge and many of the ancestral sayings from that other world—a world that is already fading from my memory—are, I now realize, completely applicable in this one.’

’Winners are kings, losers are villains! Cut the weeds and pull up the roots!’

’By comparison, I’ve already been merciful enough. If it had been the Qin Family that fell, I fear not even a single baby would have been spared.’

With these thoughts, Qin Li slowly turned his gaze to Feng Ping, who stood to the side, looking somewhat numb. A faint, unreadable smile touched his lips as he asked, "You... are the Feng Family Patriarch?"

Feng Ping was slightly taken aback, but he quickly replied respectfully, "I am Feng Ping, an Elder of the Feng Family. Greetings, Young Master Qin. The Feng Family has greatly offended the Qin Family. I have brought the Feng family members here to apologize to the Qin Family."

"Then, you know what must be done?" Qin Li asked lightly.

Feng Ping gritted his teeth, hardened his heart, and shouted, "The Feng family disciples who participated in injuring the Qin family members that day, step forward!"

A dozen or so men, their faces ashen, stepped forward like the walking dead. They had no choice. They had wives, children, and elders to support in the Feng Family. If they didn’t step forward today to appease the Qin Family’s wrath, not only would they themselves meet a terrible end, but their families would also suffer.

This was the difference between a truly great family and a small, local clan like the Chen Family. Chen Huo had been a Patriarch whose word was law in the Chen Family, and he was sufficiently powerful. Yet, at a critical moment, his people completely disobeyed his orders and even tried to rise up in rebellion. It was clear that the Chen Family had no prior experience in handling such situations.

But the Feng Family was different. The Feng Family’s rules were extremely strict and could not be broken by anyone at will. Even if the Patriarch’s son made a mistake, he would be punished according to the family rules!

This was one of the fundamental reasons why the Feng Family had been able to endure for millennia. Presumably, if the Chen Family could withstand this major blow and persevere, they too would undergo a complete transformation. But that was no longer Qin Li’s concern.

The Feng family members who stepped forward were completely numb, their faces devoid of expression. It seemed they had accepted their fate. ’After all, who can we blame? Our family just isn’t as powerful as theirs.’

’Otherwise, wouldn’t we be the ones happily holding the butcher’s knives to the throats of the Qin family right now?’

Watching the dozen or so Feng family disciples step forward, Qin Suo felt his scalp tingle. ’Is my brother really going to order another massacre?’ He opened his mouth slightly, as if to say something, but then closed it again.

Qin Li’s eyes darted. He suddenly turned his head and asked Qin Suo, "By the way, we still have a group of Feng family disciples locked up back at the estate, don’t we?"

Qin Suo nodded. ’I also want to know how Qin Li plans to deal with them.’

"Mm, they’ve been eating and staying at the Qin Family estate for so many days. We’ve treated them with fine food and drink. That must have cost a fair bit of money, right?" Qin Li asked with a serious expression.

Qin Suo immediately nodded and said, "Indeed. The Qin Family has always treated its guests this way. Even with prisoners, we have never been neglectful!" Inwardly, however, he scoffed, ’Never been neglectful? Those men are one step away from starving to death! For days now, they’ve only been given one steamed bun or a specially hardened flatbread each day, with just a tiny bit of water. It’s just enough to keep them from dying.’

Feng Ping stood there, dumbfounded. He couldn’t figure out what Qin Li was thinking or why he’d suddenly brought up those men. A thought flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning in the dead of night: ’That little bastard Qin Li... he can’t possibly think it’s not enough money, can he? Damn it, this is almost all the liquid assets the Feng Family could muster! We’ve already handed over so many priceless Heavenly and Earthly Treasures, all sorts of Spirit Stones, Meteorite Iron, and Rare Metals!’

Before Feng Ping could speak, Qin Li’s gaze fell back on the group of men who had stepped forward to die. He said lightly, "Actually, you don’t have to die."

Qin Li’s words were like a sudden clap of thunder on a clear day, exploding among the Feng family disciples who had already resigned themselves to being walking dead. They abruptly raised their heads, their breathing ragged as they stared at Qin Li. Many of them couldn’t help but swallow hard. Then, all of them turned their gazes to Feng Ping.

Feng Ping was the one in charge. If he didn’t speak, none of them dared to utter a word. To do so would be a breach of rules, punishable by a severe penalty. Even if they died, their families would be implicated.

Feng Ping finally understood completely. ’So that’s it! Qin Li wants to keep exploiting the Feng Family! But can I refuse? Do I dare refuse?’

He didn’t dare!

Despite his lofty status in the Feng Family as the presiding Elder, he did not dare make a decision to abandon his family’s disciples. The Feng Family had an ancestral decree: The descendants of Feng must do everything in their power to ensure the safety of all Feng family disciples!

"Young Master Qin... what are your other demands?" Feng Ping asked, a bitter taste in his mouth.

Qin Li smiled faintly and said, "Rest assured, I’m not going to bankrupt your Feng Family. I just want the Feng Family to help me find a few types of Heavenly and Earthly Treasures. Later, I’ll have someone give you a list of what I need and the required quantities. If the Feng Family can produce these items within a year, then none of these men will have to die, and we will certainly release the Feng family disciples who are currently guests at the Qin Family estate! However, their room and board... will be calculated separately. Ahem, the food at the Qin Family estate is just too good."

’Even I feel like I’m going a bit too far,’ Qin Li thought. ’But then again, if the family that fell today had been the Qin Family, the outcome would have been the complete annihilation of our clan!’

’So, what I’m doing is by no means excessive!’

Did Feng Ping have any power to refuse? Leaving the dozen or so men behind to be locked in the Qin Family dungeons, Feng Ping led the rest of his people away, his steps faltering and his back heavy with the burden.

That afternoon, several more families and Sects arrived at the Qin Family’s plaza. Be they Patriarchs or Sect Leaders, they all knelt obediently, begging for the Qin Family’s forgiveness.

Qin Li left the handling of these families and Sects to Qin Suo, telling him to remember one thing: offerings that were too small were absolutely unacceptable. If he didn’t want a bloodbath, that was fine, but the murderers of Qin family disciples had to be eliminated!

Faced with Qin Li’s demands, Qin Suo finally breathed a sigh of relief. ’After all, the Qin Family will eventually have to restore this plaza, and I truly don’t want a terrifying aura to permanently hang over it.’

Qin Li understood this as well. He knew his actions from the previous day had already intimidated many people, so he naturally couldn’t be bothered to handle these matters personally.

But at this very moment, the entire Profound Island was in a state of panic!

The three forces led by the Golden Eagle, the Spiritual Eagle, and the Ink Eagle had been relentlessly raiding and wiping out over twenty Small Sects and minor families. These were the families and Sects that had killed Qin family disciples and then refused to apologize. They thought they were powerful, but before the Golden Eagle, Spiritual Eagle, and Ink Eagle, they were pathetically fragile!

Their elite forces were crushed with overwhelming force, and their most valuable treasures were plundered. The most incredible part was that no matter how these families and Sects hid their most precious treasures, the Qin family members could always find them.

In reality, none of them knew that within each team sent out by the Qin Family, there was a powerful Spirit Beast with eyes so sharp they surpassed any human capability.

Qin Li kept track of the time, using Homing Falcons to provide a new list to the Golden Eagle and the others each day. Any who dared not come to offer apologies were to be annihilated!

More than twenty days passed in a flash. No fewer than 120 families and Sects—powers of Low, Middle, and High Level—had come to the dilapidated Qin Family plaza, bringing vast amounts of treasure to apologize and beg for the Qin Family’s forgiveness.

There were also over forty families and Sects whose elite forces were eliminated with lightning speed by the Golden Eagle and his cohorts, leaving them with almost no chance of recovery.

But as for the Lin Family, the Wang Family, and the Xiao Family, even on the twenty-ninth day, there was still no movement from them whatsoever!

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!