Chapter 976: Chapter 970: The Yun-Slaying Saber
Merchants and travelers came and went through Highsun City.
It had been three months since Li Xinnian arrived in Deston Prefecture.
The senior members of the clan all had their own matters to attend to.
In the face of such major events, they seemed accustomed to cooperating with a tacit understanding to deal with unknown dangers and enemies.
Conversely, Li Xinnian himself was looked after because he was a junior in their eyes. For the past three months, he had merely been taking his time to learn and get used to other situations.
And he did indeed need that.
Back in the Azure Cloud Prefecture, Li Xinnian was accustomed to issuing orders.
No matter how monstrous the enemy, he only needed to dispatch the clan’s Dark Crows to claim a person’s life.
All he had to do was weigh whether or not the action would bring about any adverse consequences for the family.
Right now, even Senior Dream Demon, whom he had brought along, had gone off to act alongside the clan elders.
Being left entirely alone truly left him at a loss for what to do.
As for Great-Uncle Changsheng and Great-Aunt Changyao…
Great-Uncle Changsheng had stated that he was making the most foolproof preparations for an escape.
“Have I been a bit too arrogant?”
Li Xinnian raised his head, watching the cultivators coming and going. A hint of a smile appeared on his handsome face.
“A few months ago, the furthest place I had ever traveled to was the Westfall Prefecture.
Only upon arriving in Deston Prefecture did I realize that this place gathers the top experts from all over the world, and every single one of them is an old monster.
And then there’s the Yun family…”
At the mention of the Yun family, Li Xinnian’s expression darkened.
“The Yun family has Ba Siyu’s protection, and everyone at Silver Wolf Lake is a vassal.
However, the moment something happens to the Yun family, those vassals who followed them from the Shadowfell Prefecture won’t pay them any mind.
Calculating it like this, the Yun family only amounts to three Divinity Transformation realm cultivators and an old ancestor who might pass away during meditation as soon as tomorrow.
Ba Siyu wants a vicious hound. A dead vicious hound is only good to be eaten as meat.”
“I just need an opportunity. Time will give me the answer, but for now…”
Li Xinnian walked into the secret room within the Chamber of Commerce.
The secret room was spacious and empty, containing an array formation that shielded against perception.
Standing in the center of the room, one could see portrait after portrait plastered across the walls in every direction!
[Xu Qing’an of the Silver Wolf Lake Xu family, over 3,600 years old, Mid Divinity Transformation realm, skilled in sword arts.]
[Ai Feichi of the Silver Wolf Lake Ten Absolutes Pavilion, over 2,300 years old, Early Divinity Transformation realm…]
[Yu Gui of the Divine Bird Totem Rainfeather Tribe, over 12,000 years old, Peak Divinity Transformation realm…]
[Guest Elder Han Lingmiao of the Silver Wolf Lake Yun family, Peak Nascent Soul realm, 321 years old.
Possesses an unknown Dharma Treasure, making his path to immortality smooth and unhindered…]
Sheet after sheet of intelligence reports and portraits were laid out in the secret chamber.
Li Xinnian’s gaze was calm, yet he resembled a hunting leopard staring at its prey one by one.
“I possess the Blood Demon Physique. I only want their blood to strip away their Dharma power and cultivation foundations.
The Origin Spirit Physique is an ancient bloodline, an ancient and righteous bloodline, making it my perfect disguise.”
Amidst Li Xinnian’s murmurs, which sounded as though he were overcoming his own inner struggles…
On the floor of the secret chamber, the array formation flickered with light.
Three figures, whose limbs were viciously nailed down, gradually materialized.
Their faces were filled with terror, as if they were looking at a malevolent ghost, yet they were utterly unable to utter a single word!
“Only by doing this can I catch up to Big Brother, catch up to Min Tiange, and catch up to this glorious great era!”
Li Xinnian’s long robes whipped loudly as a demonic wind surged within the secret chamber.
He abruptly thrust his right hand outward, his sleeves billowing straight.
From his downward-facing palm, three threads of blood shot out and, under the terrified and despairing gazes of those three individuals, pierced straight through their chests.
The blood threads gradually grew thicker as the blood churned and flowed through them.
The aura radiating from Li Xinnian grew even more intense.
“Soon, it will be soon… Yun Manlou, Old Ancestor of the Yun family, it will very soon be your turn.”
The blood-red Dharma array on the ground shone brilliantly.
It was precisely the Eternal Spirit-Refining Eight Directions Formation that Li Xinnian had originally obtained from Duanmu Yushu!
“Wait for me. I will devour you all, one by one.”
Meanwhile, inside the Ancestral Space.
Li Wei watched Li Xinnian in the secret chamber, who had his head thrown back in a trance-like obsession, relishing the sensation of blood and Dharma power flooding his body.
Ever since the South Sea had become filled with those cultivators despised by the world, Li Xinnian had begun practicing various bizarre and unorthodox cultivation techniques.
Moreover, after the family obtained a massive amount of the Zhao clan’s flesh and blood, Li Xinnian’s progression became entirely out of control.
Aside from Nangong Qingya and Li Wei, even his own family members were kept in the dark by Li Xinnian.
[Your descendant Li Xinnian, through the Blood Illusion Demonic Art and the “Blood Demon Physique,” consumed a massive amount of the Zhao clan members’ blood, acquiring the trait:
Dao Physique of Longevity, granting a lifespan 50% longer than ordinary cultivators.]
[After two hundred years of consuming ten drops of the Zhao clan’s Old Ancestor’s Body Integration realm blood, as well as the blood of the Zhao clan’s six Void Refinement realm old ancestors, a massive amount of Dharma power is stored within his body, and his cultivation has reached the Peak Divinity Transformation realm.]
[…]
[Your descendant Li Xinnian is currently devouring the blood of three cultivators from Silver Wolf Lake.
Among them, Han Lingmiao possesses the “Body of Ten Reincarnations via Possession” of a Divinity Transformation realm cultivator.
From within Han Lingmiao’s body, Li Xinnian discovered an even more profound network of cultivation foundations, acquiring the trait: Path of Perfect Divinity Transformation realm.
As he cultivates, he will gradually reach a flawless Divinity Transformation realm, with combat power surpassing ordinary Divinity Transformation realm cultivators by a hundred times.]
“Someone who seized a body to re-cultivate?”
Among the three cultivators captured from Silver Wolf Lake, this one struggled the most violently.
But before Li Xinnian, his resistance was meaningless. The instant the Hidden Edge Sword, bestowed by Li Yaozu, was unsheathed, a silent arc of sword intent pierced straight into his spiritual sea, crushing the ancient remnant soul into nothingness.
The blood threads continued to churn, siphoning the blood of the three cultivators.
A look of joy crossed Li Xinnian’s face as he used his Dharma power to pry into the anomalies within Han Lingmiao’s body.
“This… just how many times has this person seized a body to re-cultivate? How are the Dharma power and Spirit Soul within his body so bizarre?”
Not daring to be negligent, he couldn’t wait to imitate this method of cultivation, using it to temper his own Spirit Soul and internal meridians.
Resting the “Zhao-Slaying Saber” bestowed by the Old Ancestor across his lap, Li Xinnian murmured,
“This name is no longer fitting. Let’s just call you the Yun-Slaying Saber for now. You, too, shall accompany me to feast upon the blood of the Yun family.”
The blade of the Yun-Slaying Saber quivered.
This long saber, which Li Wei had once used to slaughter enemies, had originally gleamed with a brilliant silver light, but it was now gradually being coated in a thin film of blood.
[For many years, the supreme-grade Dharma Treasure, the Zhao-Slaying Saber, has followed Li Xinnian in absorbing the flesh and blood of the Zhao clan, gradually acquiring the “Bloodthirsty” trait.
Having been renamed “Yun-Slaying” by your descendant Li Xinnian, its Artifact Spirit has become like an addict, slowly altering its properties and the way it utilizes the “Void Refinement Saber Arts.”
Without Li Xinnian’s will to restrain it, any ordinary cultivator who wielded the Yun-Slaying Saber would inevitably be eroded by its Artifact Spirit, their mind corroded by bloodlust until they strayed into the demonic path.]
[Yet your descendant bears the Blood Demon Physique. With the added protection of the family’s mind-guarding Dharma Treasure, he forcefully suppresses and purges the creeping demonic nature within, preventing it from taking root.]
[Year 806]
It had been over half a year since they arrived in Deston Prefecture. No one knew what Xinnian was busying himself with every day.
Inside the Chamber of Commerce, Li Changsheng and Li Changyao consistently looked utterly bored.
Having arrived in this place filled with disputes from all sides, this brother and sister pair had instead ended up enjoying a leisurely time.
“Brother, you stroll around Highsun City every single day, wandering here and there. What difference is there between you and a street loafer?”
On the street, Li Changyao, dressed in white, wore a look of utter helplessness.
Rolling her eyes, she pushed her older brother, who was sitting in a wheelchair, all over the place.
It wasn’t that he was crippled; he was simply lazy… Had it not been too bizarre to drag someone around on a flat cart, Li Changyao guessed her older brother would have laid on a bed and made her, his younger sister, pull him through the streets.
Li Changyao slightly suspected that this older brother of hers was treating her like a driver.
“You are completely wrong about that. What do you mean, ‘street loafer’? One must plan thoroughly before making a move.
Right now, Deston Prefecture and the Wu tribes are fighting back and forth; who can say for sure that Highsun City won’t fall on any given day?
Furthermore, there is the Lotus Ferry Nunnery, Min Tiange’s Peerless Pavilion, and even Ba Siyu.
I can see right through it—every single one of them is secretly harboring malicious schemes in the dark, and all of them want to break through their cultivation realms.”
Li Changsheng grinned and said,
“We not only need to fight them covertly, but we must also carefully keep our guard up.
And you—your temper is just as explosive as the High Ancestor’s.
Since the family’s Void-Soul Exchanging Dao Technique hasn’t been applied to you, don’t even think about trying to fight those people.
It’s best if you just obediently follow my orders and stop thinking about stirring up trouble all day long.”
“Since when do I stir up trouble…”
Just as Li Changyao’s voice faded, Li Changsheng narrowed his eyes slightly.
A rumbling sound echoed from the clouds above, and a shadow gradually enveloped them.
Looking up, they saw spirit ships passing by from the Wu tribe battlefield one after another.
An unshakable, hostile aura began to radiate from Li Changyao’s body, and the pink longbow that had accompanied her for hundreds of years had already materialized in her hand.
“What are you doing? Someone else will naturally deal with them!”
Li Changsheng suddenly sprang to his feet, snatched the longbow right out of Li Changyao’s hands, and stowed it back into his spatial ring.
Hoisting his wheelchair onto his shoulder, he dragged Li Changyao into the crowd to hide.
Alongside a dark-faced Li Changyao, he watched the imposing man standing at the bow of the leading vessel among the dozen or so spirit ships.
This man was clad in a full suit of armor and wore a flowing cape.
With an eagle-like gaze staring straight ahead, he looked incredibly imposing and domineering.
“What right does he have? A deserter—what right does he have to command an army? What right does he have to act so high and mighty?!”
Li Changyao squeezed these words through clenched teeth.
“If this were our Azure Cloud Prefecture, I would have him executed this instant!”
Bi Shihu.
Li Changsheng stared calmly as the man passed overhead, his tone flat.
“He is still capable. Escaping from the Shadowfell Prefecture, leading his defeated troops to Deston Prefecture, going from being ostracized to winning over twenty major battles consecutively.
Now he is under the protection of the Imperial Protectors Guard, solely to preserve his army.
He is a talent; it is no wonder he is just as famous as Great-Aunt Tianyue.”
“Brother, what is there to praise about such a person?” Li Changyao’s expression was ugly. “I want to kill him!”
As if feeling that wasn’t enough to vent her anger, she added, “I want to personally grind his bones to dust and scatter his ashes.”
“The higher they stand, the harder they fall.”
Li Changsheng smiled and said,
“You are taking him too seriously. In the matter of the Shadowfell Prefecture border pass, both he and the Yun family are merely chess pieces.
The ones we need to fight are the people behind the scenes. Your archery arts reaching great mastery is what is of the utmost importance.”
“Mn.”
Li Changyao nodded obediently; whatever her older brother said went.
Looking again at her older brother’s cultivation level, it was even lower than it had been during their trip to Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems back in the day.
Li Changyao furrowed her brows tightly.
“Brother, why is your cultivation getting lower and lower? It has already dropped to the Early Nascent Soul realm now. Who knows when it might regress all the way back to the Golden Core realm.”
“My cultivation regressing to the Golden Core realm is exactly because I am going to break through to the Divinity Transformation realm.”
Li Changsheng smiled indifferently.
“Once I reach the Mortal realm, if I can dig out that pair of eyes inside my head, that will be a true liberation.
I have researched the Spiritual arts of the Human Emperor’s Eye of Authority for hundreds of years, and I have slowly figured out some of its workings. When that time comes…”
Li Changsheng watched the spirit ships drifting further and further away.
“Then I won’t have to hide anymore. Slaying Divinity Transformation realm cultivators will be like slaughtering pigs to me, and killing Void Refinement experts will merely require a bit more effort.”
“As for you, you want to grind Bi Shihu’s bones to dust and scatter his ashes.
Your Ice Phoenix bloodline needs to devour spiritual fire. Only when you reach the next realm will you be able to glimpse the laws of ice and fire.
With the Void-Soul Exchanging Dao Technique, you will definitely break through to the true Void Refinement realm within ten years.”
Li Changyao’s eyes widened perfectly round. “Brother, how can you see through everything?”
“I can even see where the spiritual fires of heaven and earth are hidden. You already ate all the spiritual fire in the Azure Cloud Prefecture. Deston Prefecture is a good place; the matter of your spiritual fire is settled.”
Hearing this, Li Changyao’s eyes lit up.
A white light welled up in Li Changsheng’s eyes as he looked around in all directions, and everything in the world turned a pale white.
In the north and south, two clusters of flames could be seen slowly rising, with one cluster still actively shifting about.
“The uses of the Human Emperor’s Eye are extensive indeed.”
—
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