“No!” The centaur god bellowed after seeing the end of his beloved crows.

He couldn’t react in time either. A fiery plume touched and set him on fire.

“Destroy!” He wasn’t afraid in the beginning and formed a mudra in order to freeze everything including this fire around him.

“Buzz.” Alas, the condensing layer of frost was burned away all the same.

“Ah!” He let out a shriek since the flame penetrated his body.

His powerful vitality and power couldn’t suppress this incinerating flame. He rolled on the ground in agony but the fire didn’t relent.

“Run, the farther away, the better the chance of losing it.” Li Qiye chuckled while looking at the rolling centaur.

The centaur heard him and ran for his life. Sure enough, the flame around him weakened quite a bit.

Upon realizing this, he mustered all of his strength to fly towards the horizon while leaving a blazing trail behind. Due to the location of the flame, it looked like his butt was shooting out fire and propelling him upward.

With him gone, not just Zhou Qiushi’s group but the centaurs also became slack-jawed. 

Their leader, an Aramanthine Eternal, was running for his life in such a pitiful manner. They would never believe it if they weren’t seeing it with their own eyes right now.

They eventually regained their wits and turned white - staggering backward, gripping their bow, and assuming a defensive stance.

“Scram, I will spare all of you today but I won’t be so nice next time.” Li Qiye glanced at them.

The centaurs were ecstatic to hear this and immediately fled in the other direction.

“Come back.” Suddenly, Li Qiye spoke so they became frozen, not daring to be reckless.

“Tell your Empress that I need a maid right now and for her to come. Go.” He smiled and dismissively waved.

The centaurs were naturally furious but they could only run, aware of his might.

Zhou Qiushi’s group stood there in a daze. They wouldn’t know what to say even once they have calmed down.

A shocking event had just transpired and more would come due to this message. Du Wenrui was the only one who took it in stride.

“Come out now. The show’s over.” Li Qiye said flatly after the centaurs were gone.

With that, a figure appeared not far from there, gripping his weapon tightly. It was Treasure Source True God who warned Li Qiye earlier.

The young ones were surprised since they didn’t notice someone hiding so close to them.

“Still want revenge?” Li Qiye smiled, not caring at all.

The true god tasted this feeling of disdain for the first time, being viewed as an ant by someone else. Alas, he knew Li Qiye was far stronger than him. That centaur god earlier was also stronger than him but all the guy could do was run.

“I will never give up for as long as I live.” The true god was on edge the entire time. He calmed down after seeing Li Qiye not wanting to attack.

Nevertheless, he still had a determined expression and coldly uttered: “Kindness must be repaid. I will avenge Teacher Deng.” 

“Very courageous, I will spare you again today but this is the last time. Run as far away as possible, don’t seek death.” Li Qiye shook his head in response.

“I won’t give up, I won’t!” The true god put away his weapon and stared straight at Li Qiye to say this before leaving.

“It’s good to pay a debt of gratitude but unfortunately, you will never be able to avenge him. Only death awaits you.” Li Qiye smiled.

The true god paused in silence for a bit before leaving.

“He won’t give up.” Du Wenrui said while looking at the departing figure.

He has seen plenty of people and knew that this guy was hellbent on getting revenge despite knowing the power gap.

“Seems like he received a lot of kindness.” Li Qiye didn’t mind killing another person.

“Indeed, it’s too bad.” Wenrui shook his head: “His achievements today might have something to do with Deng Rensen. Rensen was only a regular teacher there. To have someone willing to die for him like this, looks like he did his job.”

Du Wenrui was relatively surprised because Rensen wasn’t considered an exceptional teacher. Plus, he was narrow-minded too. Having a student ready to die to avenge him might be his biggest accomplishment.

Li Qiye only smiled back, not commenting on the situation.

“Boom!” Suddenly, the entire garden started trembling.

“What’s happening?” The young ones shook back and forth, needing some time to stabilize.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!” Bright dots appeared in the sky, seemingly originating from a certain location in the garden and looking like fireworks.

“Hmm, someone opened the ancient courtyard.” Wenrui was taken aback.

“What is that?” The young ones have never heard of this place in Sacred Mountain, only the Sacred Orchard and Beast Garden.

“It’s a part of Beast Garden.” Wenrui looked at Li Qiye and said: “It’s normally sealed and only a selected few know how to open it. How strange to see this happening today.”

“Someone came prepared then.” Li Qiye chuckled.

“This might not be a good thing.” Wenrui pondered: “Many ancient sacred beasts are slumbering in there so why does someone want to open it? When they wake up, even the experts will be crushed into a pulp.”

“We’ll find out when we get there.” Li Qiye smiled.

Wenrui was more nervous than anyone else and immediately headed for the courtyard. The others followed right behind him.

“Dean, what are ancient sacred beasts? Are they the real ones?” One student became curious.

“Not real or anything like that. After reaching a certain power level, these beasts would enter the courtyard and sleep there, hence the added adjective. True Emperors are afraid of them too.” Wenrui explained.

“I see.” The student understood.

***

Meanwhile, the entire garden was in upheaval with news traveling across the mountain.

“Goldtypha True Emperor found a sealed area, let’s go take a look!” A student shouted.

“What kind?” Others became excited.

“I don’t know, I think there are slumbering sacred beasts in there, super strong ones. Hehe, maybe we can grab some treasures while they’re sleeping, maybe some eggs too.” One ran towards the courtyard.

Students in both the orchard and garden were stirred after receiving the news. They stopped their current task and ran for the ruins.

***

“The brat came prepared.” Several old men were located in a certain location on the mountain. The director was among them.

“People have always been coveting our academy. Is this Goldtypha’s idea alone or Orchid Sage’s?” A different old man’s eyes became fierce.

“Just watch for now.” One more added.

“Are we ready for everything possible?” Another worried.

“Don’t worry, Geezer Du is here, he’ll be able to handle this.” The director calmed them down.

The old men exchanged glances and stopped speaking.