Chapter 3: The Second Guardian Spirit, the Bright Magic Beast!

"Ah! My hand!"

Suddenly, Xiao Tianmie's shrill scream rang out amidst the grim demonic qi.

Xiao Qingran sneered: "Xiao clan rules? Truly laughable!"

As he spoke, Xiao Tianmie let out another pig-slaughter-like scream.

"Ahhhh! Xiao, Xiao Qingran! I... I'll kill you! Bastard!"

The elders came to their senses, and the Guardian Spirits charged toward Xiao Qingran, but soon stopped in place, not daring to move rashly.

Because Xiao Qingran's hand was clamped around Xiao Tianmie's throat.

And Xiao Tianmie's face was pale, sweating so profusely from pain that his clothes were soaked, both hands hanging limp.

Clearly, he had been crippled.

"Xiao Qingran, you're courting death!" Xiao Xuan's hair stood on end with rage: "Do you know what Guardian Spirit Tianmie awakened? An S-rank Void Devouring Flame Guardian Spirit..."

S-rank!

Xiao Qingran naturally knew how rare it was.

Xiao Qingran glanced at Xiao Xuan, and his grip on Xiao Tianmie's throat tightened further.

"Old dog, if I were you, I'd apologize immediately instead of spouting bullshit!"

"Apologize to my mother! If you don't want him dead, do it now!"

At this moment, the silently watching Xiao Zhanyan spoke up; he hadn't expected things to develop to this point.

Xiao Zhanyan's expression was complex: "Xiao Ran, stop messing around. You shouldn't have self-detonated your Guardian Spirit no matter what, and you shouldn't have harmed Xiao Tianmie. Let him go..."

"Shut up! Xiao Zhanyan, are you even a fucking man?"

"Old dog, since you won't speak, then I'll make my move!"

Xiao Tianmie screamed repeatedly: "Ahhh! Clan Head, save me!"

"Y-yes, sorry! Release Xiao Tianmie, whatever you want can be negotiated." Xiao Xuan's gaze was like knives; if it could materialize, Xiao Qingran would have died countless times over.

Xiao Qingran looked down at Xiao Tianmie and said coldly: "Your turn, Xiao Clan Young Master."

"I was wrong! Xiao Qingran, we're all Xiao clan members, we're family! Spare me! I don't want the Flame Cave anymore, I'll give it back to you! I swear, I'll compensate you double!"

Xiao Tianmie was like an obedient dog, none of his previous arrogance remaining.

He realized belatedly; at this moment, he was truly afraid!

Xiao Qingran was simply a madman; he could even self-detonate his Guardian Spirit?

Without a Guardian Spirit, a Spirit Master's cultivation would slowly decline, eventually turning back into an ordinary person.

Who could endure falling from a lofty Spirit Master to a lowly ordinary person?

"Double compensation?" Xiao Qingran smiled faintly; the next instant, his wrist abruptly exerted force, "But you don't have two mothers."

Crack!

Xiao Tianmie's eyes widened, his neck lost support, and he was flung aside like a dead dog.

The light in his eyes gradually faded; until death, he couldn't believe it.

In the ancestral hall, everyone else wore dazed expressions, unable to believe it; Xiao Qingran had actually killed Xiao Tianmie!

Xiao Xuan reacted, rushing over immediately to check Xiao Tianmie's condition.

Throat twisted broken, beyond saving.

"Such ruthless methods!"

It's over!

Xiao Xuan's hair stood on end with rage; his whole person seemed to have aged ten years.

A long while.

Only then did he slowly utter: "Someone, serve Xiao Qingran a cup of poisoned wine!"

Everything was over.

Xiao Qingran knelt beside Li Qingqing.

The Three-Headed Hellhound self-detonated; without a Guardian Spirit, he was a cripple.

"Xiao Qingran assassinated a clan member, he deserves death!"

"It's gone, my Xiao clan's hope of ranking as China's number one clan is gone!"

"If this son isn't eliminated, the public anger cannot be appeased!"

"Hehe, Xiao Zhanyan, you really found a good wife, gave birth to a good son!"

"..."

The elders spoke one after another.

Not a single person pleaded for Xiao Qingran, including his father.

A guard held a crystal-clear cup of poisoned wine, arrived before Xiao Qingran, and said coldly: "Young Master Xiao Qingran, please do it yourself! Go with some dignity, don't make us dirty our hands."

Xiao Qingran lifted the white jade cup, his heart filled with intense unwillingness!

He stared at the cup; in a moment of distraction, his whole person suddenly appeared on a stretch of desolate land.

Before him stood a massive black gate, covered in skull patterns.

It looked heavy in texture, emitting a gloomy and desolate aura.

Atop the gate were two blood-red characters written in flamboyant script — Nine Li!

Xiao Qingran was both shocked and puzzled.

Creak!

Right then, the sealed gate suddenly opened a crack.

Under Xiao Qingran's gaze, a fair hand reached out, slowly pushing open the incomparably heavy gate.

A handsome man walked out from within.

Inside the giant gate was utter darkness, filled with an inexplicable suction force, as if one more glance would cause one's soul to sink in, never to be reborn for all eternity.

Xiao Qingran hurriedly withdrew his mind, not daring to look again.

In that instant, he seemed to feel pairs of terrifying eyes within the giant gate sweep across his body.

A thread of blood light suddenly flew out from the darkness, sinking into the space between his eyebrows.

Streams of information surged into his brain like a tide; a cultivation method appeared out of thin air.

Demon God Refining Art!

"In the barbaric era, the nine heavens and ten earths, demon beasts ran rampant, the myriad gods enslaved, our clan survived in the cracks, using demons as food, gods as qi, refining and absorbing... this shall be the Demon God Refining Art!"

"What a domineering cultivation method!"

Xiao Qingran was utterly shocked.

Boom!

The giant gate closed once more.

The man's eyes displayed a silver vortex, captivating the heart, a head of silver long hair fluttering.

An harmless appearance, but a powerful aura had already spread out from him, covering heaven and earth.

"Annoying, Xiao Hei self-destructed, doesn't that mean I'll be responsible for guarding the gate from now on, fuck!" The man rubbed his head, muttering to himself.

Xiao Qingran's heart trembled.

Xiao Hei?

Referring to his guardian spirit, the three-headed hellhound?

The man walked before him, sizing him up and down, "Actually has some courage, barely enough to make me follow."

The handsome man extended his slender fair palm, smile warm like the wind: "Young Master, first meeting, I am your guardian spirit Yin Lingzi, you can call me A Yin."

"Guardian spirit, Yin Lingzi, A Yin?"

Xiao Qingran's pupils suddenly contracted.

He somewhat woodenly extended his hand: "Hello, A Yin!"

A massive stream of information seemed to travel along Yin Lingzi's hand, transmitted into his brain.

Yin Lingzi!

Also known as the Bright Magic Beast.

One of the great generals of the Ancient Jiu Li Clan.

Yin Lingzi's true form is a firefly, a famously renowned magic beast from the ancient era.

It cultivated into a demon under a ginkgo tree born during the chaos opening period, possessing the innate talent to foresee the future, skilled in illusion arts and evasion arts.

Afterwards followed the Demon God leader Chi You, campaigning against the God Clan.

Xiao Qingran's heart had already stirred up towering waves, his originally despairing eyes once again burning with light.

An extremely powerful new guardian spirit!

He is not a cripple!

Just at this moment, a guard's cold urging voice suddenly came from beside Xiao Qingran's ear.

"Young Master Xiao Qingran, Young Master Xiao Qingran? Don't make things difficult for me!"

Xiao Qingran only felt the scene before him shake, and he had already returned to the ancestral hall, as if he had dreamed a dream.

"Hmm."

Holding the wine cup, Xiao Qingran's mouth curled into a cold sneer, his gaze falling on Xiao Xuan: "Old dog, this wine, you should keep it to drink yourself!"

Having spoken, he flung the wine cup out, drawing an arc through the air.

"Insolent! Originally wanted to let you leave with dignity, refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit! Die!"

Xiao Xuan flew into a rage, spiritual power sweeping out, shattering the wine cup into sharp fragments that lunged straight at Xiao Qingran.

Hiss!

The torrent of fragments pierced straight through Xiao Qingran's body, unhindered by any obstacle, not leaving a single drop of blood.

"This, this is an illusion?"

"Huh? Xiao Qingran disappeared!"

"What's going on?"

"This is traces of a space evasion art! Chase him for me!"

"I, Li Qingran, from this moment on, change Xiao to Li, no longer a member of the Xiao family!"

Inside and outside the ancestral hall, a deafening sound rang out; as for his figure, it had long since vanished to who knows where.