The might of the Furious Volcano.

Tian Chun was currently running with all her might, her mind practically completely blank. She occasionally felt something hit her face, but her vision was currently so blurry that she couldn't even see what was hitting her. She had already lost count of how many days she had spent running, her legs were already so numb that she couldn't even feel them anymore.

Her once chestnut brown hair was caked with dried blood, her face so dirty that it was practically unrecognizable, a large cut going down her entire back. Her right arm was flailing uncontrollably as she ran, every single bone in the arm had been completely pulverized and the arm itself crushed nearly completely flat. She couldn't even try to use her law of water to heal it, there were some strange symbols covering the arm that would immediately block out any Qi that got close to the arm.

A few muffled sounds coming from behind her just barely registered in her muddled head, reminding her that she was still being chased, that she had to keep running. She didn't know why, but the Tian clan had suddenly branded her a traitor and tried to capture her, forcing her to flee for her life. Her parents had been caught and publicly executed in an attempt to lure her out, but no matter how much she wanted to at least try to save them, she couldn't. Their last words had been for her to keep fleeing, she couldn't just go against their last wish like that, so she had to keep running and hiding.

But then the Qing clan joined in on the hunt, teaming up with the Tian clan to track her down and chase after her. But what was even worse was that they didn't seem to be too interested in actually catching her. Tian Chun knew her own strength well, she was so weak that she was practically an ant to any of the five great clans. And the people chasing her were clearly far stronger than her, they could capture her whenever they wished, which meant that they had a reason to not catch her.

It might be that they were trying to lure someone out, or that they simply enjoyed playing with her, watching her squirm like a helpless worm. Tian Chun didn't know, nor would the people chasing her give her time to properly think about it, she could only keep running until she ran out of energy and collapsed.

After what felt like an eternity spent running, Tian Chun felt the last sliver of her strength leave her body. Her right arm was completely crushed and she had a large cut on her back, it was a miracle that she had been able to keep running for this long. But all miracles would someday come to an end, and this was the end of that miracle.

She didn't know what would happen to her once they caught her, but she found it a shame that she would never again be able to see the innocent smile of the youth she considered a little brother. Her legs gave out underneath her and she fell forward, her vision turning completely dark as her eyelids felt as heavy as the world itself. But just as the last sliver of consciousness was about to leave her, a hand supported her shoulder and poured an extremely pure energy into her body, a soft voice reaching her ears.

"Tian Chun, right? Don't worry, they won't get to lay their hands on you."

The pure energy flooded her body and healed the wound on her back, it even broke through the seals on her arm and started to slowly rebuild the shattered bones. Tian Chun's consciousness slowly grew clearer as more energy flooded her body, allowing her to properly open her eyes and see who it was that had saved her, a shocked yelp escaping her lips.

"Qing Lan Yong!?"

She wanted to jump away from him, but the hand he had on her shoulder prevented her from moving away, her body practically frozen in place. She could only gnash her teeth and glare at him, doing her best to show no weakness. This was the man who had ruined Liang Chen's life, the one that had stolen his peaceful childhood and life from him. For this, Tian Chun hated him with every inch of her being, she would never allow herself to show any weakness in front of this man. Qing Lan Yong looked at her indignant expression, lightly shaking his head.

"I know that you hate me, but you must believe me when I say that I am here to save you. It is the least I can do to atone for my cowardice."

After speaking, Qing Lan Yong raised his head, gazing past the needle-leaved trees that made up the dense forest that surrounded them. His gaze landed on the group that had been chasing Tian Chun, which was currently passing by the 10-kilometer tall mountain that stood at the center of the forest. The group sped up when they noticed Qing Lan Yong, quickly arriving only a few tens of meters away from the two of them. Qing Lan Yong's gaze landed on the one who seemed to be the leader of the group, a hunchbacked old man who was strangely chubby for his age, his white hair cut short and slicked back using a thick layer of grease.

"Figures that the leader of a group like this would be you, Qing Mo Cheng."

Qing Lan Yong finished healing Tian Chun's wounds and gave a slight wave of his free hand, one of the trees behind them suddenly vanishing, only leaving behind a small stump that released a faint heat. He sat her down on the stump and took up position in front of her, facing the group of 15 people that had chased her. The strongest in the group was Qing Mo Cheng, who had already reached the middle stage of the Primordial Immortal realm, the third strongest person in the Qing clan. Qing Mo Cheng gave a wave of his hand, stopping the others in the group from moving forward, a bitter smile appearing on his face as he looked at Qing Lan Yong.

"Little Yong, I didn't expect to see you here. I know that we didn't part on the best terms, but I'm still your uncle, I would like it if you called me the same as you did in the past."

Qing Mo Cheng was the brother of Qing Shu Ren, the father of Qing Lan Yong. Qing Shu Ren was the second strongest person in the Qing clan, second only to his own father, Qing Jun Huo. Qing Lan Yong's eyebrows twitched faintly for a short second, but he quickly stopped it before anyone could see it, shaking his head.

"I will not. I stopped being a member of the Qing clan on that day, it is only due to the respect I have for father and grandfather that all I did was sever all ties with you."

The two almost seemed to have a casual chat, but the people behind Qing Mo Cheng could feel the atmosphere grow tense, all of them grasping their weapons with slightly trembling hands. Qing Mo Cheng let out a deep sigh upon hearing Qing Lan Yong's reply, looking at him with an imploring gaze.

"Little Yong, must you really act like this? I know that you are saddened by the loss, but she was just a maidservant, we can find countless more for you. We had to do it for the sake of the clan, we must ALL make some sacrifices for the clan."

Right after Qing Mo Cheng finished his sentence, Qing Lan Yong's eyes narrowed dangerously. The earth in the entire forest suddenly cracked, even the mountain at the center of the forest trembling as cracks grew to cover it. A burst of intense heat spread through the area, several of the trees blazing up as Qing Lan Yong let out a furious shout.

"She was not a maidservant! Her name was Yi Xinyi, AND SHE WAS MY WIFE!"

Qing Mo Cheng quickly put up a defensive wall of Qi to protect the people behind him, preventing the hot air from reaching them as the entire forest trembled from Qing Lan Yong's shout. Had he not made sure to protect her, Tian Chun would likely have turned to ash from just the burst of hot air that bellowed forth from his body. Qing Lan Yong quickly took a deep breath to calm his emotions, his voice becoming completely flat as he spoke up again.

"You know, I hate the Qing clan, I hate it for killing my wife. But you know who I hate even more than the Qing clan? Myself. I abhor myself for allowing you to kill my wife, I detest myself for letting you sacrifice two innocent parents 'for the sake of the clan'. That is a sin that will forever stain me, the sin of cowardice that prevented me from going against my father's words."

Qing Lan Yong could have saved his wife, he could have saved Liang Chen's parents. All he had to do was speak up, force the Qing clan to come up with a different explanation. He could even openly admit the truth if he wanted to, but he was too afraid to go against his father's words, so he had remained silent. Qing Mo Cheng's expression twitched slightly, but Qing Lan Yong spoke up before he could say anything, tilting his head slightly as a faint smirk crept up on his face.

"You've heard, haven't you? About Liang Chen, about the Scourge King? Can you imagine how much pain that child must have been in for his strength to increase so quickly? That's why you're doing this, isn't it? You've heard about how quickly his strength has grown, and you became afraid. You fear the day he will come for the heads of the Qing clan, for the heads of the people who killed his parents."

Qing Lan Yong had paid a lot of attention to Liang Chen after the execution of his parents, eagerly looking for any news of him. And even he admitted that the news he received scared him. In such a short amount of time, he had been able to carve a bloody tale into the Mystic's Hidden Realm history, get a special mention on the Mortal Titan list, join the Storm Wolf sect, and finally, he managed to brutally wound Huang Dong.

If he continued to grow stronger at this rate, how long would it take for his fangs to reach the throat of Qing Lan Yong and the rest of the Qing clan? How long until he could simply swallow them all? He was the kind of enemy that would leave on with sleepless nights. Tian Chun wanted to speak up when she heard that familiar name, ask about what sort of things had happened to Liang Chen after the two parted ways, but Qing Lan Yong once again spoke up before the words could even leave her mouth.

"You wanted to lure him out before he became too strong for you to handle, allowing you to kill him before he became a problem. But I won't let you do that. It was the sacrifice of his parents that ensured that my daughter got to continue living, he lost his family so that I could keep mine. I owe him far too much, so I won't let anyone lay a hand on him or those close to him, just patiently wait for him to come for his promised revenge."

Had it not been for Liang Chen's parents taking the blame for the pregnancy, it was likely that the Qing clan would choose to kill both mother and child to cover up everything. And Qing Lan Yong would have been too afraid to say anything against it. Qing Lan Yong realized that most of Liang Chen's rage was likely directed at him, his fangs would sooner or later come to pierce through his throat. But he was ready to bear that hatred, he deserved to be hated and attacked. But he would not let himself just be killed, he still wanted to live and spend more time with his family after all. Qing Mo Cheng's expression twisted into a grimace, looking deeply at Qing Lan Yong.

"Little Yong, you must learn to see this from the perspective of the clan. For the prosperity of all our clan members, we must all make sacrifices. And this is greater than just our fear, the Dawn's Blade Alliance and the Moon Dragon sect are the ones pushing us to hunt him, you know that we cannot go against them."

Qing Lan Yong couldn't help but furrow his brows, wondering why the Dawn's Blade Alliance and the Moon Dragon sect were so adamant about getting their hands on Liang Chen. Tian Chun didn't even know what the Moon Dragon sect or the Dawn's Blade alliance were, her position in the Tian clan had been far too low for her to learn of them. After smoothening out his brows again, Qing Lan Yong gazed deeply at Qing Mo Cheng, a faint sneer appearing at the corners of his lips.

"We must all make sacrifices for the clan, really? Tell me, didn't you give birth to a son just a few days before the execution of Liang Chen's parents? If I were to tell you that he was a spy from the Tian clan, sent into our clan using the minor reincarnation technique of the Tian clan, would you kill him for the sake of the clan?"

While the Qing clan itself might have a hard time figuring out who in their ranks was a reincarnator from a different clan, Qing Lan Yong had the entire intelligence department of the Nightshield sect at his disposal. It was far easier for him to weed them all out if he just tried. Hearing Qing Lan Yong's words, Tian Chun thought back to what her master had told her right after they met up again, about how they had reincarnated someone as the child of a high ranking figure within the Qing clan.

Qing Mo Cheng's expression twisted even further, to the point of becoming incredibly ugly to look at. Qing Lan Yong hadn't provided any evidence, but his words alone were enough to plant the seed of doubt within Qing Mo Cheng. Seeing that Qing Mo Cheng had no intention of responding, Qing Lan Yong let out a faint laughter.

"Really, such a hypocrite. Well, I guess that's just how all cultivators are. Leave, don't ever think about laying a hand on anyone close to Liang Chen ever again. If you do, I will no longer hold back."

Qing Mo Cheng cast a sideways glance into the distance for a short moment before his expression stopped twisting, becoming completely emotionless. He swiped his interspatial ring and took out a large two-headed hammer, hefting it over his shoulder while looking directly at Qing Lan Yong, a sign that they would not, could not, back down now. Qing Lan Yong nodded his head, his expression growing steely.

"Very well, since that is the stance that the lot of you have chosen to take, then allow me to show you and those rats that are waiting in hiding exactly what my stance is."

Qing Lan Yong swiped his interspatial ring, a three-meter-long halberd appearing in his grasp. The halberd was a deep brown in color, thick orange lanes that occasionally flickered with a red light running over both the handle and the axe head at the tip of the halberd.

Qing Mo Cheng and his group raised their weapons and charged forward, their expressions steely and determined as they charged into what was likely certain death. But Qing Lan Yong only responded with a simple move, he raised the halberd, and then slammed it down on the ground.

The moment his halberd crashed into the ground, everything around him completely vanished. The 100-kilometer wide forest vanished, the 10-kilometer tall mountain a short distance away from them vanished, and Qing Mo Cheng and his group were squashed flat against the ground. The weaker ones died instantly, becoming nothing more than a crimson smear on the earth, which had sunk by nearly two kilometers. The stronger ones survived for a bit longer, all the bones in their bodies pulverized.

Qing Lan Yong didn't make another move, his first attack had yet to finish. At the place where the mountain used to be, the center of the forest, the earth suddenly rose up. A large mountain quickly formed, the top of the mountain suddenly exploding as a thick pillar of magma burst forth, turning into a deadly rain that showered the earth, reducing even Qing Mo Cheng to nothing more than dust.

Qing Lan Yong had received the title of Furious Volcano and was ranked 3rd on the Heavenly Titan list, meaning that the Eternal Dragon Pavilion ranked him as the third strongest Primordial Immortal on this planet. But even they admitted that they simply knew too little of his strength, he might be stronger than his rank suggested. And here, for the first time in 10 years, did Qing Lan Yong once again demonstrate his strength.

A single slam of the halberd changed the geography of the entire area, a once verdant forest becoming a burning wasteland of molten earth. After dispatching Qing Mo Cheng and his group, Qing Lan Yong turned his gaze towards the distant, looking at the base of the volcano he had just created.

"And, are you done watching now?"

Tian Chun, who was safe thanks to being protected by Qing Lan Yong, couldn't help but follow his gaze but was unable to see anyone. Mere seconds after he spoke up, light blue runes suddenly appeared on the ground around them, covering several tens of kilometers in their soft light. Tian Chun suddenly found that all the Qi within her body had become stagnant, unable to move in the slightest. Qing Lan Yong felt the same as her, all the Qi within his body forced into his dantian and then sealed up.

Two blurs appeared in front of them shortly after the runes, a large array, appeared on the ground. The blurs both sent out attacks, moving faster than the eyes could see. Qing Lan Yong's right hand suddenly flew through the air, his halberd following with it, and a blade pierced through his chest, right where his heart would be.

After the two attacks landed, the two blurs revealed themselves as two men, one bald and one with short orange hair, both had completely golden eyes and were currently looking at Qing Lan Yong, who had blood leaking out from the corner of his mouth. The bald man gave a light shake of his head, letting out a sigh.

"Qing Lan Yong, what a shame. Our Venerable Master actually appreciated your talent and would have been willing to take you on as an honorary disciple. With his guidance, you would likely be able to break past the Sovereign God realm before your 100 000th birthday, truly entering the ranks of great cultivators. But the death of Liang Chen comes before everything else, so go in peace and please forgive us."

Just as the bald man finished his words, Qing Lan Yong's left hand suddenly shot forward and clamped down on his throat. His right arm also suddenly shot forward, his missing right hand regrowing at a pace so rapid that he was able to grasp onto the throat of the orange-haired man before he had the chance to react. Qing Lan Yong's gaze landed on the two, his previously emerald eyes turning a strange amber as mottled green scales started to grow on his face.

"Ah, you've finally chosen to enter my range."

The eyes of the two men quickly grew as round as saucers, a shocked expression clearly apparent in them. They had gone through countless reports on the strong cultivators on this planet, but not a single one of them had mentioned that Qing Lan Yong had a bloodline, especially not one that could heal a lost hand within a single second. Just how long had he been hiding this, saving it as a trump card?

The bald man realized that things had gone south, quickly reacting. A silver wing-shaped talisman appeared in his grasp and he quickly crushed it, a ripple running through the surrounding space. Both he and the orange-haired man immediately vanished, teleporting so far that not even Qing Lan Yong was able to sense them any longer. He gave the surroundings a quick sweep before blinking his eyes, his eye color returning to normal as the scales vanished. He turned to Tian Chun and gave a wave of his hand, stopping the magma spewing from the volcano and causing it to fall dormant.

"Well then, shall we leave this place and head somewhere I can more easily keep you safe?"

He didn't wait for her reply, the two suddenly vanishing from the area, the sound of rushing air the only thing remaining on the scorched wasteland that was starting to solidify. In the years to come, new plants would start to grow here, a new forest sprouting and taking the volcano as its center.

While Qing Lan Yong was taking Tian Chun and leaving, the bald man and the orange-haired man fell out of a ripple in space on the other side of the planet, both of them rubbing their throats in discomfort. The orange-haired man clicked his tongue, turning to the bald man.

"Tch, to think that he was hiding a bloodline all along. Senior Brother, what should we do now? Just the Essence Sealing Array we brought along won't be enough to deal with him, there might also be a few body or soul cultivators on this planet that aren't listed in the reports."

They had arrived here under orders of their Venerable Master, Sealing God Empyrean, to assist their new Junior Brother Wu Huan in gaining control over this entire planet. At least, that was the original plan. But just before they left they suddenly received a new mission, directly from their Venerable Master. Find the youth known as Liang Chen and kill him, no matter the cost. The bald man furrowed his brows slightly, eventually letting out a sigh.

"Master said that killing this Liang Chen takes priority over everything else and that we are to spare no expense. It might make us look a bit weak, but I'll contact some more of our brothers and have them bring the other Sealing Arrays. Since things have developed to this point, we can only go with full force. Tell the Moon Dragon sect and the Dawn's Blade Alliance that we can no longer try to do things the diplomatic way, we'll just have to force Liang Chen out of hiding in the most forceful way. Let the flames of war engulf the planet."