Chapter 819: Supreme Treasure

How could there be a fight happening amidst ruins? It had to be the people who had crossed the river earlier.

Li Xiaofei rushed over. He caught a glimpse of the fight from a distance, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Husi and Fei Lun were working together to besiege the red-haired, stunning beauty, Chu Xiang.

Hua Dongcheng appeared to be injured. His face was pale as he sat off to the side, meditating and circulating his energy. Chu Xiang was no weakling, but even so, she was showing signs of faltering under the joint assault of Husi and Fei Lun.

Why they were fighting, Li Xiaofei didn’t care in the slightest. What shocked him was, wasn’t Husi supposed to be dead?

He had personally witnessed Husi perish in the Heavenly River. His flesh had dissolved, and his bones had sunk into the river, disappearing without a trace. Why was he now very much alive, jumping around and battling like nothing had happened?

"Woof?" Even the Black Emperor was stunned.

The mute girl widened her eyes in disbelief.

At that moment, the beleaguered Chu Xiang noticed Li Xiaofei and the others approaching. Her eyes lit up as she called out loudly, "Friends, help us! We will reward you handsomely!"

Husi’s heart sank at the sight. Judging by how Li Xiaofei had risked his life to save the old Chancellor, this man was not only powerful but also someone with a strong sense of justice. If he truly decided to intervene, the two of them would have no chance.

Husi hurriedly shouted back, "Sir, this matter has nothing to do with you. Please, do not interfere. Our Mythic Mercenary Group will also reward you generously afterward!"

Li Xiaofei’s gaze never left Husi. The ‘dead man’ was currently radiating energy and full of vitality. No matter how he looked at it, there was no trace of death about him. His life force was powerful and vibrant, untouched by even the faintest wisp of decay. Even the wound on his left shoulder was fresh as it wept vivid blood. It was clearly the body of a living person.

“Everyone, stop fighting, ”Li Xiaofei spoke calmly.

Chu Xiang was overjoyed. But Husi and Fei Lun showed no intention of halting their assault. Li Xiaofei's figure moved in a flash. To the latter two, it was as if their vision blurred.

Bang! Bang!

A torrent of unstoppable force slammed into them. They were sent flying, crashing to the ground and staggering backward for dozens of meters. Only after carving two deep trails into the broken stone pavement did they barely manage to steady themselves.

“If you all ventured into danger together, then you're comrades. How can comrades turn on one another?” said Li Xiaofei clearly.

His words struck fear into both Husi and Fei Lun’s hearts. Anyone could hear the fury in his tone. That brief, lightning-fast exchange just now had also shattered the last sliver of hope in their hearts; they were absolutely no match for Li Xiaofei.

“It wasn’t us who started it! This wretch attacked me first!” Husi hurried to defend himself. “The wound on my arm was because she ambushed me. She... she was trying to kill us!”

Fei Lun added, “I swear, we didn’t strike first!”

“That’s not true!” Chu Xiang quickly protested loudly. “I found a treasure in the ruins. They were jealous and greedy, and they ambushed us! They injured Hua Dongcheng, and I had no choice but to fight back. I wounded his left arm during the struggle...”

Perhaps it was due to her anger, but Chu Xiang’s face flushed red. The three continued arguing endlessly. But with Li Xiaofei present, none of them dared to strike again.

In truth, Li Xiaofei wasn’t interested in who had started the fight. His main concern remained fixed on Husi.

After a moment of contemplation, Li Xiaofei suddenly made a move, throwing a palm toward Husi as he declared, “It must’ve been you who ambushed them. How dare you lie to me, you’re courting death!”

A powerful gust surged from his palm. It was Dragon in the Field, one of the famed Dragon-Subduing Eighteen Palms.

With Li Xiaofei’s current life level and cultivation, the technique was unleashed at a power level countless times beyond its original limits. The roar of a dragon echoed in all directions, its silhouette forming within his palm, a strike of unmatched might.

“It wasn’t me...” Husi’s face went pale as he instinctively tried to dodge. But how could he possibly match Li Xiaofei?

Crack!

The palm strike landed squarely on his left shoulder. The sound of bones shattering rang out as most of his upper body was nearly turned to pulp. Blood sprayed from Husi’s mouth. He nearly collapsed from the pain, but as a cosmic lifeform, he managed to remain conscious. Stumbling backward, he was caught by Fei Lun.

“You’ve gone too far!” Fei Lun was furious. Realizing there was no escape, he cursed out loud in rage.

But Li Xiaofei did not strike again. That palm thrust had merely been a test. If Husi was hiding something, a blow that severe would surely expose it. Yet, everything about Husi’s injury, from his reaction, his physical condition, and even his expression, was unmistakably that of a living person.

How strange.

Li Xiaofei couldn’t help but recall something the Youming Ferryman had once said, “Seeing doesn't always mean the truth”

It seemed the Youming Ferryman had long anticipated such occurrences, and treated them as nothing unusual.

Whoosh.

Li Xiaofei flicked his finger, sending a pill through the air.

“Take this. It’ll heal your wounds,” said Li Xiaofei.

It was a valuable healing medicine. This gesture stunned both Fei Lun and Husi, who had been cursing in rage and preparing to die moments ago. Husi took the pill and, after a brief hesitation, swallowed it in one gulp.

At that moment, he also realized that Li Xiaofei had never truly intended to kill him. That earlier strike had been purely physical. While it looked severe, no foreign energy had invaded his body. He could have recovered easily with some circulation of his blood and qi, even without the pill.

Li Xiaofei giving him this pill was clearly an act of goodwill. As a seasoned veteran of the Mythic Mercenary Group, Husi was no fool. Though he didn’t understand why Li Xiaofei was doing this, he didn’t hesitate to accept the kindness extended to him.

“You said earlier that you found a treasure here. What exactly was it?” asked Li Xiaofei, turning to look at Chu Xiang.

Chu Xiang hesitated for a moment, then took a piece of broken iron from her robes and said, “It’s this. It looks like a fragment of a furnace. It’s unusually heavy, and when I infused it with true qi, it produced an incredible force.”

Li Xiaofei took the irregularly shaped iron shard from her hands.

Black in color, it weighed at least several million kgs. It was clearly some kind of metal. But even with Li Xiaofei’s keen eyes, he couldn’t determine what material it was made of. There were some yang-style rune patterns etched onto its surface.

Li Xiaofei examined it closely, feeling like the raised markings looked vaguely familiar. However, due to the number of missing parts, he couldn’t identify what the object originally was. He tried infusing it with a small amount of energy.

Buzz.

The fragmented metal immediately lit up with brilliance and rose into the air. Li Xiaofei found he could sense and control it with his will alone.

Boom!

The metal shard transformed into a streak of light and slammed heavily into a pile of ruins in the distance. Dust billowed skyward. The impact left a deep crater nearly a hundred meters in diameter, with cracks radiating outward like a spiderweb.

Li Xiaofei’s scalp tingled. That was terrifying. One had to understand, this was the ruined land beyond the Heavenly River. Even a broken stone slab here was unimaginably tough. Li Xiaofei himself could only leave faint marks on such surfaces.

Yet this metal shard had caused such devastating destruction in an environment like this? This was no mere broken scrap of metal. It was clearly a supreme treasure.

“Where exactly did you find this?” Li Xiaofei asked, deeply intrigued.

Chu Xiang replied, “I picked it up over there, in that pile of ruins.”

Li Xiaofei was speechless.

Picked it up?!

An item like this, whether in Chongque City or in certain sectors of the Star Battlefield, would be a priceless treasure fought over by countless cultivators. And yet it had just been lying around, picked up like a discarded cabbage on the roadside?

Is Chu Xiang’s fate truly so heaven-defying? Or are the opportunities on the other side of the Heavenly River simply too numerous to count?

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Li Xiaofei scanned the surroundings. The realm of Heaven was beyond the Heavenly River. More precisely, they were in the outskirts of Heaven.

The suburbs. What kind of miracles would lie within the core region of Heaven?

Li Xiaofei returned the black metal shard to Chu Xiang and said, “Keep this safe. Don’t let it fall into the hands of anyone with evil intentions.”

Chu Xiang was completely stunned. She stared at Li Xiaofei as if looking at some alien being. Not even in her wildest dreams had she imagined he would actually return the treasure to her.

She had already prepared to use it as a bargaining chip to earn Li Xiaofei’s protection. Yet now, it had been given back to her, just like that.

Is there truly someone this selfless in the world? He didn’t show even a hint of greed for such a supreme treasure?

Or... could it be that he was secretly infatuated with me? That he admired my beauty and had a hidden crush on me, which was why he returned the metal shard?

Thinking it over carefully, that had to be it. Ah, what a dilemma...

Though he is young, handsome, and incredibly strong, I have already promised myself to Hua Dongcheng.

Chu Xiang found herself in a bit of a bind.