Chu Li said, “Yes, I did.”

　　 “You… You…” Elder Du pointed at him, his ruddy face reddening by the second. “Do you realize what you’ve done!”

　　 Chu Li scoffed. “I’ve already killed him anyway. That guy deserved to die!”

　　 “Didn’t you know that he’s the son of an Enlightened Master? How can an Enlightened Master stop himself from avenging his son’s death?” Elder Du yelled. “You’ve gone crazy, haven’t you? You even dared to provoke an Enlightened Master?”

　　 Chu Li grinned from ear to ear as he asked, “Honorable Master Du, I’m still alive right now, am I not?”

　　 “You’re alive because the Heavenly Demon Statue warded him off!” Elder Li spat coldly. “Are you planning on staying in Heavenly Demonic Sect for the rest of your life?”

　　 “I should be fine even if I leave. He doesn’t know who I am anyway!” Chu Li replied with a smile.

　　 Elder Du asked impatiently, “Aren’t you very clever? Have you not wondered why he managed to follow you all the way here?”

　　 Chu Li frowned and asked, “Perhaps he has left something on me so that he can use it to track me down? Something similar to the Soul-tracking Perfume?”

　　 “The tricks used by Enlightened Masters are too profound to be understood. Catching you is a piece of cake to him. You’ll certainly get killed!” Fu Qingya replied. “You should be obedient and stay in Heavenly Demonic Sect if you wish to live. You can go out again after about a year.”

　　 Chu Li laughed and said, “Enlightened Masters are powerful indeed, but our Heavenly Demon Statue is more powerful. What secrets does this Heavenly Demon Statue contain?”

　　 “The secrets of the Heavenly Demon Statue aren’t for you to know,” Fu Qingya replied calmly. “You shouldn’t assume to know how powerful Enlightened Masters truly are either. You better behave and hide in the sect for now.”

　　 Chu Li asked, “Didn’t we drive him away already?”

　　 “He has retreated temporarily. He may not dare to enter Heavenly Demonic Sect, but he might be waiting for you outside. The moment you leave the sect, he’ll certainly try to kill you. It’s impossible to expect him to forget about avenging his son’s death!” Fu Qingya shook his head and said, “You’ve really messed things up. You must think that you’re very powerful now that your martial arts skills have improved, but you’re thinking too highly of your abilities!”

　　 Chu Li chuckled.

　　 “Off you go!” Fu Qingya muttered impatiently. “I’ll get someone to bring you a Heavenly Demonic Stone soon!”

　　 Chu Li gave a fist salute and left.

　　 Once he was gone, Elder Bai sighed and said, “This young man has been stirring up more and more trouble these days…”

　　 He did not know how to feel about this situation. After all, provoking an Enlightened Master required a certain amount of confidence and it was truly impressive that Zhe Ying had actually managed to flee from an Enlightened Master.

　　 “Thankfully, we have the Heavenly Demon Statue.” The other three elders shook their heads and laughed humorlessly.

　　 Fu Qingya said, “I’ll guard the basilica for some time after this in case the Enlightened Master shows up again.”

　　 “He’ll be back?”

　　 Fu Qingya replied, “I believe he has suffered some injuries, so he probably won’t attack us again too soon.”

　　 “That’s good…” The Four Grand Elders sighed in relief.

　　 Activating the Heavenly Demon Statue was not an easy task. It felt like they were emptying themselves completely whenever they had to do it, and it would take them two days to recover. Therefore, they might not be able to handle another attack if the Enlightened Master happened to come again soon.

　　 “This is a very tricky problem,” Fu Qingya muttered with a frown.

　　 “That little scoundrel has gotten into huge trouble now!” Elder Bai huffed.

　　 Fu Qingya said, “It’s too late to say such things at this point. Let’s think of a way to resolve this problem… Fortunately, he has gotten into trouble with only the Ji Dynasty’s Emperor. Nonetheless, this will cause alarm to the other countries as well, so they’ll be even warier of Heavenly Demonic Sect disciples now.”

　　 “Indeed…” The Four Grand Elders sighed in resignation.

　　 Outsiders had always been very wary of Heavenly Demonic Sect disciples. After what had happened, the situation would only take a turn for the worse.

　　 Fu Qingya said, “However, this is both a good and a bad thing. By making them warier of Heavenly Demonic Sect, they won’t dare to harm our disciples as they’ll fear retaliation from us!”

　　 “That’s true.” Elder Du laughed. “The things this young man does are too insane and frightening.”

　　 “If he can come out unscathed, Heavenly Demonic Sect will have a solid reputation from now on,” Fu Qingya said calmly. “The eight major sects won’t have the nerve to mess around with us, so even if Heavenly Demonic Sect can’t be considered one of the eight major sects, we’re good enough to be on par with them!”

　　 The Four Grand Elders chuckled and nodded.

　　 Given their ability to protect a disciple who had dared to provoke and escape from an Enlightened Master, the other sects would begin to watch out for Heavenly Demonic Sect.

　　 Only the strong were respected in the martial arts world. There was no need to talk about humility and keeping a low profile. The most effective way to survive was to demonstrate one’s capabilities.

　　 Fu Qingya waved a hand and turned around to leave.

　　 By the time Chu Li returned to his room, Fu Qingya had already sent someone to bring him a palm-sized Heavenly Demonic Stone.

　　 Chu Li pursed his lips and did not say anything else. It seemed like Heavenly Demonic Sect was really running out of Heavenly Demonic Stones. Even the sect leader was being so stingy with them.

　　 Chu Li rested his head against the Heavenly Demonic Stone and soon felt a cooling sensation flow into his mind.

　　 He was becoming increasingly familiar with this cooling sensation from the Heavenly Demonic Stone. When he opened his eyes on the morning of the next day, he found that the Heavenly Demonic Stone had already healed the injury in his soul to a large extent since the void of his mind had appeared again.

　　 The Buddha and the Heavenly Demon in the void of his mind had also been helping him recuperate by using the glowing lotuses to strengthen his soul until he had fully recovered.

　　 He used the Omniscient Mirror to observe the Heavenly Demon Statue again and felt a sense of regret for he had not been able to observe the battle between the statue and the Enlightened Master through the Omniscient Mirror yesterday. If he had managed to observe it in detail, perhaps he could have gained some insight into the secrets hidden within the Heavenly Demon Statue.

　　 What Chu Li was most delighted about was that the Heavenly Demon Statue had indeed dispelled the Enlightened Master’s energy in the void of his mind as he had expected. After having endured this blow from the Heavenly Demon Statue, the mark Leng Wufeng had left on him was fully erased.

　　 He put down the Heavenly Demonic Stone and did not bring it along with him as he vanished abruptly to reappear on a mountaintop in the Li Dynasty. He sat there and waited in silence to see if Leng Wufeng could track him down as he wanted to check whether or not the mark had truly disappeared.

　　 After a while, Leng Wufeng still did not show up.

　　 If the mark was still on him, Leng Wufeng would have rushed over by then.

　　 Chu Li had realized that Enlightened Masters also had abilities that were similar to divine powers just as how he came to possess an ability that was similar to his God’s Limbs after having achieved his current cultivation level in the Heavenly Demonic Power. Although this ability could not allow him to travel as far as the distance allowed by his God’s Limbs, it was superior in terms of agility.

　　 Thus, his God’s Limbs and Heavenly Demonic Power could complement each other just fine since one allowed him to travel over a long distance while the other enabled him to travel much faster over a short distance.

　　 With this, Chu Li set his heart at ease and started making preparations to return to the Ji Dynasty so that he could settle in at King An’s Imperial Residence in Fairy’s Capital.

　　 Since King An was gone, Consort Xiao would naturally take charge of King An’s Imperial Residence. This would significantly benefit the High Duke’s Public House because their influence would grow stronger if they were working together with the Imperial Residence. Furthermore, Leng Wufeng would not be too wary of an Imperial Residence that was managed by a woman.

　　 …

　　 At the High Duke’s Public House.

　　 Jade Guardian Island was brilliantly illuminated and looked as bright as day. In fact, it appeared to be more beautiful than it was during the daytime.

　　 Xiao Shi and Xiao Qi sat together in a gazebo in the backyard while Su Ru waited upon them by serving them tea and some light refreshments. The two sisters were not in the mood for a conversation as they were both worried about Chu Li. After all, killing a Prince was a very risky thing to do.

　　 Xiao Shi sighed quietly. “I really don’t know if he’ll be able to stick it out this time.”

　　 “He’ll be fine.” Xiao Qi shook her head.

　　 Xiao Qi had a strange feeling in her heart that allowed her to sense Chu Li’s presence. Although he was thousands of miles away from her, she could still sense him so she knew that he was alive.

　　 Then, they heard a clear and melodious chirping sound as a snow finch swooped down and landed on Xiao Qi’s shoulder like a white streak of light.

　　 Xiao Qi retrieved the bamboo tube tied to the snow finch’s leg and opened it to take a look. After that, she sighed and said, “King An is dead. The Emperor has issued an order to conduct a worldwide manhunt to find the killer!”

　　 “He’s really dead?” A smile appeared on Xiao Shi’s face.

　　 Xiao Qi said, “The Emperor had drawn a portrait when he issued the order. Whoever finds the killer will receive a handsome reward.”

　　 “He must be really furious this time!” Xiao Shi muttered with a huff.

　　 “The person in the Emperor’s portrait is Du Feng, so Chu Li must have used Du Feng’s identity to kill King An,” Xiao Qi said while frowning. “I’m afraid this will implicate Snow Lunar Pavilion.”

　　 Xiao Shi frowned. “Why would Chu Li use this identity?”

　　 Xiao Qi slowly shook her head.

　　 Xiao Shi asked, “He can’t possibly be that foolish, right? Could it be that he has a personal grudge against Snow Lunar Pavilion?”

　　 Xiao Qi rolled her eyes at her.