Chapter 2269 - 2228: Realm of Sorrow Ascending

That old man was Huang Que. The only reason he helped that Immortal of the First Mold was because he was using him—once the man brought the Golden Blood Boy Disciples up from underground, he could just pick up the ready-made spoils. His power was terrifying, his methods astonishingly brilliant, enough to inspire dread and awe.

Only, he wanted to take away two Golden Blood Boy Disciples; how could the Myriad Heroes possibly agree? Though the old man's Cultivation Realm was in the Seven Molding Realm of Heavenly Beings, incomparably powerful, if the Myriad Heroes attacked together, he absolutely would not be able to flee. Before the old man could fly off, the crowd of experts roared into motion and pounced on him in unison.

The old man seemed long prepared. With a wave of his hand, the Storage Ring on his finger lit up, and over twenty experts flew out from within. The weakest among these twenty-plus experts had the Fifth Decline of Heavenly Beings, the strongest had reached the Second Molding of the Immortal. These twenty-some people were there to cover his retreat. As soon as they emerged from the Storage Ring, they moved to shield the old man's back, blocking the Myriad Heroes.

This old man not only had a powerful cultivation base; before coming to snatch the Golden Blood Boy Disciples, he had clearly made full preparations and laid out meticulous plans. Otherwise, he could not have succeeded so easily, nor would he have released over twenty experts to cover him at the critical moment.

These twenty-some experts were indeed powerful, but ultimately, they were far too few in number. Facing the assault of over ten thousand heroes, they could only hold out for a short while. When those ten thousand Myriad Heroes attacked together, unleashing their killing moves, the twenty-odd experts were instantly beaten into utter rout—injured or slain, they tumbled from the sky.

Yet at this moment, that old man of the Seventh Mold of the Immortal, using the brief protection of his twenty subordinates, seized the chance to escape and vanished from sight. With his Seventh Mold of the Immortal cultivation, his speed was unimaginably fast.

Seeing the old man disappear without a trace, the Myriad Heroes still refused to let him go and immediately began tracking him. Among them, a Second Molding Immortal possessed the Thousand-Mile Tracking Spell and instantly located the old man's trail, leading the crowd of heroes in pursuit.

"I recognize that old man. He's Qiu Xianji, Sect Leader of the Ninth Level Grand Faction, Immortal Mechanism Sect. That crafty little old bastard must be fleeing back to the Immortal Mechanism Sect…"

"That little old bastard's cultivation is at the Seventh Mold of the Immortal. His reshaped physical body is already complete. Even if he obtains the Golden Blood Boy Disciples, what use are they to him?"

"Qiu Xianji himself is beyond using them, but he has a son, and he has disciples. If his son grows stronger, if his disciples grow stronger, his influence will swell. The Immortal Mechanism Sect has always wanted to be promoted to a Tenth Level Immortal Sect. These Golden Blood Boy Disciples are Qiu Xianji's opportunity. Whether or not he personally uses them, as long as he gets them, the two Golden Blood Boy Disciples can allow the Nine Immortals Sect to advance to a Tenth Level Great Sect."

"Mm, that makes sense. Whether that little old bastard goes back to the Nine Immortals Sect or not, we just follow him. There's no way he escapes."

The crowd of heroes discussed as they chased after Qiu Xianji.

Leaving aside Qiu Xianji fleeing with two Golden Blood Boy Disciples and the Myriad Heroes doggedly pursuing behind, meanwhile, when Wang Xiaoqiang was cultivating in the underground secret chamber, he had already sensed the massive tremors aboveground, knew something had happened, and that his three women and one brother would most likely meet misfortune. In his anxiety he nearly suffered Qi Deviation, but in the end he forced down his emotional turmoil, calmed his mind, and continued cultivation. An hour later, the Thousand-Mile Soul Search Technique finally reached Dacheng.

Once he succeeded, Wang Xiaoqiang had no time to feel joy. His arms shook, Blood Qi erupted, and the underground secret chamber blasted upward, blowing open the ground along with it.

Then, like a dragon leaping, he shot out and landed on the surface. With his Heavenly Eye opened for a sweeping glance, his heart instantly sank. The once-sprawling estate had only broken walls and shattered eaves left; the ground was a ruin, bodies and bloodstains everywhere. Under the morning sunlight, the scene looked desolate and tragic.

Reality matched his premonition. Wang Xiaoqiang's heart plummeted. As his gaze swept about, he found that all the corpses in the estate were male, none of whom he recognized.

Extending his gaze farther, he finally spotted Little Zhang, Jiangh Churan, Zhou Jingzhe, and Du Lingfei. He immediately flew over, first checking Jiangh Churan. Once he reached her, he tested her breath and saw she was gravely wounded and unconscious. Only then did he slowly let out a breath of relief, then went to check the other three. The outcome was the same—Little Zhang, Zhou Jingzhe, and Du Lingfei were also severely injured and passed out.

These four had only been struck by the shockwave of Divine Sense and not by a direct Divine Sense killing attack; that was the only reason they had survived.

Seeing this, Wang Xiaoqiang exhaled a long breath, moved the four together to one spot, then began healing them. Under the nourishment of Wang Xiaoqiang's Wood Element Spiritual Qi, their injuries recovered and they woke up quickly.

Having narrowly escaped death, all four had mingled relief and grief on their faces—especially the three women, who were crying uncontrollably, because their children were gone.

Jiangh Churan's two sons were missing without a trace; Zhou Jingzhe's and Du Lingfei's children had died in the womb. Wang Xiaoqiang, for the first time experiencing the agony of losing his children, felt grief surging up from within, his hatred impossible to bear. He threw back his head with a furious howl, "Who was it? Who did this?!!"

The pain of injured wives and slain children triggered the sorrowful factors within his body; his Realm of Sorrow climbed once again. That rage-filled grief shot straight into the Spiritual Aperture of his brain, causing Wang Xiaoqiang's Divine Soul, Divine Spirit, and Divine Sense to all be stained with that furious sorrow…

At this moment, Wang Xiaoqiang's eyes were blood-red, his features twisted, his face full of hatred. His eyebrows and hair gradually turned white. Centered on him, a wave of grief and rage spread outward…

Beside him, Little Zhang, Zhou Jingzhe, Jiangh Churan, and Du Lingfei stared at Wang Xiaoqiang in shock, infected by his sorrow, their own grief and rage becoming unbearable; they wept without end…

The tide of grief and fury kept spreading, reaching out to a radius of a hundred miles. Within a hundred miles, everyone stopped what they were doing, faces filled with grief and rage, covering their faces and sobbing in pain without cease…

After a long, long time, Wang Xiaoqiang's grief and fury gradually subsided, his sorrow reined in, and only then did the people within a hundred miles stop crying.

Only, Wang Xiaoqiang's eyebrows and hair never recovered; they had become permanently white.

Also changed was his Divine Sense. Because it had been infused with that grief and rage, it now exuded an Aura of Sorrowful Death, its power directly multiplied, no longer comparable to ordinary Divine Sense at all.

He had only two strands of Divine Sense, yet the might of these two strands could match four or even five strands of normal Divine Sense…

In other words, with his cultivation base at the Second Decline of Heavenly Beings, Wang Xiaoqiang could annihilate experts at the Fourth Decline or even Fifth Decline of Heavenly Beings.

If he used the "Hundred Miles to Death" technique, he could slaughter experts at the Sixth Decline or even Seventh Decline of Heavenly Beings. If he used the "Thousand-Mile Soul Search" technique, he could annihilate experts of the First Mold, even the Second Molding of the Immortal.

Because his Realm of Sorrow had surged upward once more, Wang Xiaoqiang's strength suddenly skyrocketed—he could now kill across ten cultivation realms. Though his grief and fury had ebbed, the killing intent in his heart had not lessened in the slightest; his mind was filled with the notion of slaughtering all beings under heaven…

"Little Qiang, when those two children kicked in the womb, they emitted Golden Light; after they were born, they also radiated Golden Light. It was extremely abnormal. That must be the reason for their calamity. At the time, we don't even know how many experts suddenly arrived. The Divine Sense pressure they formed was like a tidal wave, blasting us flying and knocking us out. As for what happened after, we know nothing," Jiangh Churan recounted.

"Mm. I'll investigate right now. You all go into my Storage Ring to recuperate." Wang Xiaoqiang said this and collected the four into his Storage Ring. Though the four had snatched back their lives, his two sons had died in the womb, and his two newborn sons' whereabouts were unknown—whether killed or kidnapped. To him, this hatred was as deep as a Blood Sea. If he did not avenge it, he would swear he was no human.