The morning following the destruction of the Azure Sky Sect didn't bring peace; it brought a terrifying, hollow silence that stretched across the thousand-mile mountain range. The golden dragon was gone, the war drums were shattered, and the "trash" who had once lived in the dirt was now the only one standing on the peak.
Qin Feng stood at the edge of the Grand Altar, his gaze fixed on the horizon. His clothes, once rags, were now reinforced with silver silk found in the ruins, shimmering with the residual power of the Eclipse Overlord. Beside him, Ye Chen wiped a thin line of blood from her Moon-Severing Blade. The weapon hummed, vibrating with a satisfied hunger after tasting the blood of a 9th Layer expert.
[DING! Act 1: 'The Outcast's Revenge' concluded.] [Total Face-Slapping Points: 150,000!] [Current Cultivation: 5th Layer Foundation Establishment (Stabilized).]
"We can't stay here, Husband," Ye Chen said, her voice sounding more like the Empress she once was, yet filled with a warmth reserved only for him. "The death of a Sect Leader sends ripples through the world's Qi. Within three days, the Heavenly Inspection Bureau from the Central Continent will arrive to investigate the 'disappearance' of a regional power."
"Let them come," Qin Feng replied, though he knew she was right. "But by the time they arrive, there will be nothing left but a cold mountain and a story they won't believe."
He turned to look at the Heart of the Moon, which was now safely tucked into his spatial ring. The ruins were becoming unstable; without the Heart to anchor them, the ancient stones were beginning to crumble into dust.
"System," Qin Feng whispered. "Show me the path to the Central Continent."
[NAVIGATING...] [Target: The City of Nine Cauldrons — The gateway to the Central Continent.] [Warning: The journey requires crossing the 'Sea of Despair'. Strength of 7th Layer Foundation or higher recommended.]
Qin Feng looked at his hands. He was at the 5th Layer, but his combat power was far beyond that. However, he wasn't alone. He looked at Ye Chen. Her eyes were fixed on the East. To her, the Central Continent wasn't just a new map; it was the place where her family was murdered, where her throne was stolen, and where the people who had put the Bone-Piercing Nails in her body still laughed over wine.
"Are you ready to go back?" he asked softly.
Ye Chen's grip on her sword tightened until her knuckles turned white. "I am not going back as a daughter of the Moon Sect. I am going back as your wife. And I want them to feel the same cold they left in my soul."
The emotion in her voice was raw, a mixture of agonizing grief and a newfound, fierce hope. Qin Feng stepped closer and took her hand. The Dual Soul Resonance flared, and for a moment, he felt her heart beating against his own, a frantic, rhythmic vow of vengeance.
"Then we leave tonight," Qin Feng declared.
As they descended the mountain, they encountered a group of surviving outer disciples. These were the ones who had been too weak to fight, the ones who had spent their lives mocking Qin Feng in the mines. They were huddled together, shivering in the morning mist.
When they saw Qin Feng, they didn't draw weapons. They fell to their knees.
"Lord Qin! Please, have mercy!" one of them wailed, prostrating himself in the snow. "We were only following orders! We never meant to..."
Qin Feng stopped. He recognized this man, Foreman Liu, the one who had stolen half of his spirit stones every week for three years. Liu was shaking so hard his teeth were chattering.
"Mercy?" Qin Feng asked, his voice flat. He looked at the man's expensive fur cloak, bought with the blood and sweat of miners like himself. "Did you show mercy when I asked for medicine for my wife's fever? Did you show mercy when you doubled the mining quota while the tunnels were collapsing?"
"I... I was just a servant of the Sect! I had no choice!" Liu cried.
Qin Feng raised his hand. For a second, a violet spark of Eclipse Qi flickered at his fingertips. The disciples closed their eyes, waiting for death. But the strike never came.
"I won't kill you," Qin Feng said, his voice cold and heavy as a tombstone. "Killing you would be too clean. From this day on, the Azure Sky Sect is no more. You are no longer disciples. You are what you always called me: Nothing."
He unleashed a burst of Qi that didn't harm them but shattered their jade cultivation tokens and blocked their meridians. They weren't dead, but they would never cultivate again. They would have to live as mortals in a world that had no place for the weak.
"Go," Qin Feng commanded. "Live the life of a 'penniless dog' for a change. See if you survive as long as I did."
The disciples fled, stumbling over each other in their haste to leave the mountain.
[DING! Emotional Karma Settled.] [Reward: 'Heart of the Unshakable' — Mental resistance increased by 20%.]
By midnight, Qin Feng and Ye Chen reached the edge of the range, overlooking the vast, black expanse of the Sea of Despair. A lone merchant ship was docked at a hidden cove, flying the flag of the Silver Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.
"That ship," Ye Chen whispered. "It's one of the few that dares to cross the Sea of Despair. If we can get passage, we'll reach the Central Continent in two weeks."
"Then let's go make a deal," Qin Feng said, adjusting the weight of his pickaxe.
He knew that the Central Continent was a meat grinder. It was a place where Foundation Establishment experts were common and Golden Core masters ruled cities. But he also knew something else. He had a System, he had an Empress at his side, and he had ten years of mining experience that had taught him one vital lesson:
No matter how hard the rock is, if you hit it in the right place, it will shatter.
"Central Continent," Qin Feng muttered, his eyes reflecting the silver moonlight. "I hope you're ready for us."