"Waaaah…"

Yan Peng suddenly burst into loud sobs without any warning.

This left Qi Qingshan at a complete loss.

I'll bring up the past, let it all out, Qi Qingshan thought. Even if Yan Peng beats me up, it doesn't matter. What I did back then was wrong. As long as this can resolve his inner conflict and we can be brothers again, that's all that matters… But why is he crying? What's going on?

"Qi Qingshan, do you know… do you have any idea!"

Yan Peng gesticulated wildly, saying angrily, "I'm not impotent! I'm just disgusted! Whenever I'm with another woman, the image of you holding her flashes in my mind. I can't perform! It disgusts me to death!"

BANG!

As he spoke, Yan Peng punched Qi Qingshan again.

"Yan Peng, that's not fair!"

Qi Qingshan spat a mouthful of blood to the side, his eyes wide. "You were never even with her! How can you have such deep feelings? So deep that you can't accept any other woman?"

"You don't understand! You don't get it!" Yan Peng shouted. "You got her too easily! You could never comprehend my pain! Some women, you only need to see them once to have them etched into your heart for a lifetime. After that, there's no room for anyone else. Compared to her, other women are just… filth! Sleeping with other women is like sleeping with filth!"

Qi Qingshan was speechless.

A strange look came over his face.

"Why did you just let her die?" Yan Peng suddenly grabbed Qi Qingshan by the throat. "She gave up her status in a major sect for you and bore you a child! How could you just let her die?"

"Yan Peng, you knew what her situation was!" Qi Qingshan's face flushed, the veins on his neck bulging.

Ever since his wife contracted that strange illness, Yan Peng had left physicians from unknown origins at the Floating Cloud Sect's gates more than once. Wasn't that all to treat her? Not only that, Yan Peng had also secretly left expensive herbs at the Floating Cloud Sect. He had left fifty or sixty century-old Lingzhi plants alone! Yan Peng must have known the state my wife was in!

"If only she had been with me…" Yan Peng released his grip on Qi Qingshan's neck and muttered, "If she had been with me, I would have traded years of my own life to ensure her health and safety!"

"And I… I was no different!"

Qi Qingshan suddenly tore open his robes. "I was no different!"

Yan Peng looked at Qi Qingshan's chest, and his pupils constricted.

Qi Qingshan's chest was riddled with several deep, hollow scars. Though they were old wounds, they were still shockingly deep.

"How did you get these?" Yan Peng asked in a low voice.

"Conventional methods couldn't cure her illness, so I searched for unorthodox remedies," Qi Qingshan said. "I drew my heart's blood for her countless times. I extracted my own marrow and carved flesh from my own body for her… but none of it could save her life!"

As he spoke, Qi Qingshan pulled up his sleeve, revealing an arm covered in scars, clearly from where he had cut away his own flesh.

"Let me go! I'll show you my back, show you how I extracted the marrow!"

Pinned down by Yan Peng, Qi Qingshan struggled to twist his body.

"There's no need… no need to look…"

Yan Peng shook his head. He got up and sat to the side, burying his face in his hands.

If Qi Qingshan had gone to such lengths for her, what more was there to be angry about? It was time to let it go.

The room fell silent, but the sound of the rain outside did not subside.

"Old Yan…"

After a long silence, Qi Qingshan said, "Back then, when I tricked you into drinking, I was wrong. As your brother, I apologize. I truly was… I was muddled. I never should have used such a despicable method!"

Yan Peng, who had held this grudge for over twenty years, felt the corners of his mouth twitch. "Forget it," he said. She's dead. It doesn't matter anymore.

"Qi Qingshan, your cultivation hasn't improved in years. Is it related to what you did for her?" Yan Peng asked.

Qi Qingshan didn't speak, merely nodding.

The air grew quiet again.

In the next room, Su Xuan and Dai Xiu felt it was not their place to speak and just listened quietly. They both breathed a sigh of relief, sensing the feud between the two men was about to be resolved.

"Old Yan, you just said your son wasn't yours, so…" Qi Qingshan began cautiously, "why did you mobilize your entire sect to attack my Floating Cloud Sect after he died?"

Yan Peng pointed to his own face. "Pride."

"Then who is his real father?" Qi Qingshan asked.

"You don't need to know. I've already killed his real father with my own hands," Yan Peng replied.

"Li'er didn't kill him," Qi Qingshan stated. "The real murderer is someone else. This was all a misunderstanding between us."

After saying this, Qi Qingshan called to the next room, "Su kid, toss me your phone."

Su Xuan pulled out his phone, opened a surveillance video, and tossed it to Qi Qingshan.

Qi Qingshan caught the phone and showed the video to Yan Peng. On the screen, a masked person could be seen killing Yan Xiaosong outside Su Xuan's bookstore.

Qi Qingshan tossed the phone back to Su Xuan and said to Yan Peng, "Someone is deliberately trying to sow discord between our sects, to provoke a bloody battle. Whoever did this has sinister intentions!"

Yan Peng was silent for a moment before saying in a hoarse voice, "We'll find the mastermind. We'll see who's trying to screw with us!"

Qi Qingshan nodded firmly. "Naturally!"

Yan Peng added, "But if you're deceiving me again, then between us… it's a fight to the death!"

Qi Qingshan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and said slowly, "If I'm lying, you can come and take my head whenever you wish."

Yan Peng parted his lips. "Fine!"

SPLATTER!

A cold gust of wind blew a torrent of rain into the hall, soaking the floor.

"Old Yan," Qi Qingshan's voice had softened considerably. "After we get through this crisis, the gates of the Floating Cloud Sect will always be open to you. If you ever want to visit, just come. No one will stop you."

"Why would I visit your Floating Cloud Sect!" Yan Peng teased. "It's even poorer than my Spirit-Taming Sect!"

"She's buried in the mausoleum on the back mountain," Qi Qingshan said, as if to himself. "You kept picking fights with the Floating Cloud Sect all this time… wasn't it just so you could see her grave?"

Yan Peng neither confirmed nor denied it, instead asking abruptly, "How is my niece, Li'er? It's been a long time since I last saw her."

Qi Li was the spitting image of her mother. Every time he fought the Floating Cloud Sect, he would use it as an excuse to search for a glimpse of Qi Li, just to see what the girl she bore had grown up to look like. He would start a fight just for the chance to see her.

"Elder Liu locked her in the dungeon!"

The moment his daughter was mentioned, Qi Qingshan grew anxious. "Old Yan, the reason I asked you to come was to ask for your help in rescuing Li'er!"

"Why the hell didn't you say so earlier?"

Yan Peng shot to his feet, just as anxious, and started for the door. "I was planning to launch an all-out attack on the Floating Cloud Sect tonight anyway!"

"Not so fast, not so fast!"

Qi Qingshan quickly grabbed Yan Peng to stop him. "We already have a plan. We just need your cooperation, and then we can act immediately!"

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