Moonlight stretched Li Qingqiu's shadow across the courtyard. With his sword in hand, he stepped toward the house, already able to hear the breathing from within.
His steps were light, not making a sound.
Standing at the door, he placed his palm against it. It was tightly shut—wouldn't budge without force.
He took a deep breath, then abruptly shattered the door bolt from the inside and charged toward the source of the breathing.
The First Alliance Master of the Seven Peaks Alliance, Lü Taidou, was sound asleep on his bed. Despite being a peerless martial artist famed across the land, his alertness was still razor-sharp. The moment the door opened, his eyes snapped open.
He caught sight of a sword light slicing through the dark. Shocked, he rolled off the bed and dodged sideways, but was still struck in the shoulder by the sword.
In his early forties, Lü Taidou had a broad, beast-like face. His beard and sideburns swayed with the impact like fury igniting around him.
Li Qingqiu was surprised—he hadn't expected Lü Taidou to dodge that lethal strike.
'This man's martial strength is far above Yang Jueding's!'
"How dare you!" Lü Taidou roared. His right palm gathered internal energy, flames bursting from it as he struck toward Li Qingqiu.
Li Qingqiu leapt back, raising his sword and channeling energy to block.
Boom—
The window shattered under the force of the clash. Tables and cabinets on either side exploded as well. The entire room trembled.
Lü Taidou widened his eyes. His full-power strike had been blocked. A protective qi barrier now surrounded Li Qingqiu, shielding him from the relentless blaze of inner force.
Even the ground beneath Li Qingqiu's feet cracked, proof of Lü Taidou's formidable strength.
"Who are you?" Lü Taidou asked darkly. He didn't dare withdraw—doing so now would injure his internal organs.
Li Qingqiu raised his eyes. With a flick of his left hand behind his back, he threw something forward. His movements were so fast that Lü Taidou couldn't even react.
Three silver needles pierced through the flaming inner force. Threads of lightning clung to the needle tips as they shot toward Lü Taidou's throat.
They struck clean through.
Lü Taidou's aura collapsed instantly. The surge of energy knocked him back into the wall, then onto the bed, which shattered beneath his weight, sending dust flying.
Li Qingqiu withdrew and turned to leave the room.
He lifted the unconscious disciple from the courtyard and leapt onto the rooftop. Running across, he landed over 100 zhang away and used the Rejuvenation Ghost-Immortal Needles to wake the disciple up.
The disciple jolted awake like from a nightmare, gasping for breath.
Li Qingqiu covered his mouth and whispered, "Keep leading me. Take me to the other Alliance Masters."
This disciple, named Chen Ye, had joined the Seven Peaks Alliance less than half a year ago. He mostly ran errands and guarded gates, not yet having learned any top-tier martial arts.
To him, Lü Taidou was the strongest fighter in the world. That's why he had led Li Qingqiu to his courtyard first, hoping Li Qingqiu would get himself killed.
But from what Li Qingqiu just said… did that mean Lü Taidou was already dead?
Impossible!
Chen Ye's eyes went wide. Looking closely at Li Qingqiu's youthful face, it felt too surreal.
So young it was almost unbelievable.
Li Qingqiu frowned. "You dumb? Deaf?"
Chen Ye snapped out of it and blinked rapidly. Li Qingqiu picked him up again and signaled for directions.
The noise from Lü Taidou's courtyard had already roused nearby disciples. They rushed out of their rooms toward the source of the commotion.
Li Qingqiu and Chen Ye had only moved a short distance when a loud, mysterious horn blared through the night.
From all directions, disciples surged out from various courtyards. Li Qingqiu quickly forced Chen Ye down, hiding them both from view.
"What is that sound?" Li Qingqiu asked in a low voice.
Chen Ye swallowed hard. "It's the Seven Peaks Alliance's intruder horn. If there's even a hint of danger, the horn gets blown. Even if it turns out to be nothing, no one will blame the disciple who blew it. But if there really is an intruder and the horn isn't sounded, the one in charge will be severely punished no matter the reason."
Other horns soon followed in the distance—turns out there wasn't just one.
Li Qingqiu had to admit he had underestimated the Alliance's level of alertness. No wonder there weren't any patrolling disciples at night. The hidden defenses were already this tight.
"Now that the horn's blown, sneaking up on the other Alliance Masters is basically impossible."
Chen Ye's voice trembled. If Lü Taidou was dead, he feared being dragged along to the rest.
Li Qingqiu knocked him out again with a strike to the head.
Then, stripping off Chen Ye's clothes, he quickly dressed himself in the uniform. He even took the disciple's sword before jumping down from the roof.
He continued toward the direction Chen Ye had pointed out earlier.
More and more disciples were emerging from their rooms. Li Qingqiu passed many of them along the way—and now he could truly feel the depth of the Seven Peaks Alliance.
Three thousand disciples might not sound like much on paper, but seeing them in person was something else entirely.
And every one of them was trained in martial arts—this was a real top-tier sect.
As he walked, Li Qingqiu kept thinking about Lü Taidou's inner energy.
'The martial path... it's no joke.'
Li Qingqiu thought to himself that if he hadn't broken through to the third layer of the Nurturing Essence realm, killing Lü Taidou would've been a nightmare. Taking him down would've drained all his vital energy, and escaping the Seven Peaks Alliance afterward would've been next to impossible.
And Lü Taidou was just a martial expert from Guzhou. The Great Li Dynasty had other provinces. There were definitely stronger figures out there.
'Never underestimate the world again.'
Though he had successfully taken out the enemy leader, it made him even more cautious.
Of course, if he had to do it again, he still would. Maybe just choose a better time next round.
With a master like Lü Taidou, the Seven Peaks Alliance wasn't something the Qingxiao Sect could afford to provoke right now. But he couldn't just lock down the sect and wait around for the Alliance to invade.
Wearing a disciple's uniform from the Seven Peaks Alliance, Li Qingqiu didn't draw suspicion. He didn't sneak around either—doing so would've only made him look suspicious. Instead, he moved confidently, brushing past other disciples.
Suddenly, he stopped at the gate of a courtyard.
He turned his head, frowning.
He had just heard faint sobbing, like someone was quietly crying. And not just one person—there was another, not crying, but breathing weakly.
He hadn't planned to get involved, but for some reason, he thought of his junior brothers and sisters.
Zhang Yuchun, Jiang Zhaoxia, and Li Dongyue had been scared when they first came to the Qingxiao Sect too. They'd hide and cry. Wu Man'er wasn't so sensitive—just needed food and he was fine. Li Sifeng and Li Sijin had each other and didn't feel so afraid or lonely.
After hesitating, he stepped into the courtyard and approached one of the rooms. The place was piled with firewood and junk, with no one guarding it.
He gently pushed the door open and squinted into the darkness. The room was full of dry firewood. A child was sitting against the pile, and moonlight poured through a hole in the roof, shining right onto the kid.
The child looked to be only seven or eight years old. Most importantly, he was holding a younger kid—no more than one or two—who was the one crying.
Li Qingqiu entered, startling the older boy, who turned to look at him.
"You want to get out of here?"
Li Qingqiu looked at him and asked straight up.
The boy was dressed in filthy, tattered clothes—reminded him a lot of how Xu Ning used to look.
Faced with the question, the child asked in a daze, "Can I?"
"As long as you want to, I'll take both of you out," Li Qingqiu replied.
The boy instantly stood up, holding the younger child tightly. That kid reeked. The stench coming off the two of them was awful.
"Who are you?" the older one asked cautiously. His name was Yuan Qi. He had never seen Li Qingqiu before, but the moment he realized he could leave the Seven Peaks Alliance, his heart started racing.
Li Qingqiu said, "I don't belong to the Seven Peaks Alliance anyway. I just killed their Alliance Master and was about to leave."
Yuan Qi didn't look scared. Instead, his eyes widened, and tears welled up as he started to smile.
"I'll go with you—but you have to take my little brother too!" Yuan Qi wiped his tears and looked at Li Qingqiu seriously.
Li Qingqiu nodded. "From now on, you and your brother are part of my sect. How's that sound?"
"No problem! We'll join your sect and repay you for this for the rest of our lives!" Yuan Qi replied without hesitation.
Li Qingqiu walked over and took the little brother from Yuan Qi's arms. He wrapped the toddler—barely two years old—in a dirty cloth from the ground and tied him securely to his chest. Then he picked up Yuan Qi with one arm and quickly left the room.
Outside the door, under the moonlight, Yuan Qi finally got a clear look at Li Qingqiu's face. His pupils dilated, and his eyes lit up. That image would forever be etched in his memory.
Li Qingqiu leapt onto the rooftop and continued forward with light steps.
As he moved, he opened the Dao Lineage system panel to check his disciple count. Sure enough, the Yuan brothers had been added. He tapped on Yuan Qi's profile to check his loyalty.
90/80!
Not bad. The kid actually had some heart.
Li Qingqiu didn't bother checking Yuan Qi's fate entries. He instinctively clicked on the younger brother's profile instead.
And immediately regretted it.
'He's just a toddler and still unconscious—how would he even have a loyalty score?'
As expected, the younger brother—named Yuan Li—had a loyalty of 0.
But then, Li Qingqiu's eyes widened in disbelief. He even stopped walking.
[Name: Yuan Li]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 1 year old]
[Loyalty (to Sect Master/Sect): 0/0 (Max: 100)]
[Cultivation Aptitude: Extremely Low]
[Comprehension: Transcendent]
[Fate: Indestructible Tyrant Body, Heart of a Grandmaster, Tenacity]
[Indestructible Tyrant Body: A rare ancient physique, a great creation of heaven and earth. However, as it was born in the mortal world, it requires a special method to awaken.]
[Heart of a Grandmaster: Possesses profound comprehension and creativity in the martial path. Excels in innovation and enjoys sharing insights.]
[Tenacity: No matter the hardship endured, one's willpower will never waver.]
…
He'd struck gold!
Three fate entries. Just the Indestructible Tyrant Body and Heart of a Grandmaster were already insane. Especially the Indestructible Tyrant Body—that one was ridiculously mythical.
Li Qingqiu looked down. It felt like Yuan Li, tied to his chest, was glowing with golden light.
Yuan Qi, still in his arms, saw him stop and glance at his little brother. He nervously asked, "Is something wrong with my brother?"
Li Qingqiu looked forward and resumed walking. Casually, he said, "He might've peed himself."
Yuan Qi froze, then lowered his head, mumbling in embarrassment, "Sorry…"