Chapter 871: Zero (1)

The white corridor shattered as a corpse, previously hidden outside the pale passageway, came into view. A flash of sword light streaked past and the corpse was instantly cleaved into a mist of blood.

Yet in the very next moment, the scattered droplets of blood began to transform once again. The exact same scene played out as before. The bloody mist and droplets swelled, expanded, and ultimately transformed back into a dense mass of corpses.

The horde crowded into an even larger white space, blood spurting from the stumps of their necks, pooling into a sea of crimson...

“Return my head.”

“Return my head!”

The shrill cries echoed from within their hollow bellies.

The sight was so terrifying that Yue Zhuoran nearly lost control of his bladder. Twin wings of silver and gold materialized behind Li Xiaofei, their blades suspended in the still air. A flicker of surprise crossed his face.

He hadn’t expected his sword strike to only pierce an illusion. He was still trapped within the enemy’s domain, a miniature world under the opponent's control.

At the same time, he realized that the power of the Blood-Drinking Sword had weakened once more after unleashing that sword strike. The blood energy it had absorbed earlier was not as abundant as it had seemed on the surface.

Of course. After all, it was merely a corpse-duplication technique. No matter how many duplicates there were, the total mass remained constant. They were limited to the true body of Eternal Night.

Li Xiaofei appeared unfazed as he stared at the sea of blood before him and at the swarming headless corpses converging upon him. This gruesome sight, though terrifying on the surface, posed no real threat to him.

However, to defeat this opponent, who clearly had a flair for theatrics, he would first need to find a way to break through the domain-like miniature world. His own Realm of Eternal Samsara was a divine ability obtained from the Secret Time Pavilion. The best way to counter it was simple, survive until the cooldown period expired.

That meant this white space swarming with corpses likely had a time limit as well. If he could hold out until the end, he might be able to escape. The problem was that Li Xiaofei needed to confirm the whereabouts of Si Kongxue and the others as soon as possible. This place was a trap, yes, but even traps required real bait.

That meant the scene Yue Zhuoran had seen earlier was most likely genuine. Si Kongxue and her daughter might actually be here. He had to break the stalemate, and he had to break it fast. There was only one way to do that.

Li Xiaofei began mentally retracing his entire journey since arriving at the Forging Association, reviewing the buildings, the layout, the timeline of events, and how he had moved through it all.

He needed to pinpoint the exact moment he had been lured into this miniature world. It had most likely triggered the moment he had beheaded Eternal Night, Nie Yucheng. But the actual moment of entry... that might have occurred earlier. So he had to go further back.

He thought long and hard, and gradually, the threads of logic came together. Then, he made his decision.

***

At the Forging Association, a plump, fair-skinned middle-aged man held a wine glass in hand, gently swirling the liquid inside. His face wore an expression of pure indulgence.

“Those who toil with their minds rule over others, while those who toil with their bodies are ruled,” he remarked with calm arrogance, his confidence tinged with narcissism. “A brute who only knows how to use violence, even if he wields an Emperor’s weapon, what of it?”

This man was none other than Eternal Night, Nie Yucheng. Though Nie Yucheng only possessed the cultivation of the Six Gods Realm, he had still managed to become the number two figure in Eden within the Xiao Kuang Star Region. It was all thanks to his terrifying talent for manipulation and strategy.

He was bold and utterly ruthless. Once, even a military powerhouse at the Seven Transformation Realm had fallen to his schemes, dying with resentment still in his heart. So even knowing that Li Xiaofei wielded a legendary Emperor’s weapon, Nie Yucheng felt no fear. Instead, he used Eden’s intelligence network and Yue Zhuoran’s betrayal to set today’s trap.

He had already accounted for the powers of the Blood-Drinking Sword. He had already gauged Li Xiaofei’s strength. As long as he lured the boy into his external domain, the Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood, he would be able to grind him down until there was nothing left. And when that moment came, the Emperor’s weapon would be his.

“The life of a genius is truly a lonely one,” Nie Yucheng sighed with theatrical melancholy.

Just then, a voice rang out behind him, “If it’s so lonely... why not just die?”

Nie Yucheng’s face twisted in sudden alarm as he spun around. There stood Li Xiaofei, the very man who was supposed to be trapped, drowning in the Sea of Blood. He had somehow emerged from the domain unnoticed.

“You...” Nie Yucheng opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but the world around him suddenly went black.

In the next instant, a pale cyan space unfolded before his eyes. A sky tinged with bluish-purple loomed above, while the ground below was shrouded in swirling mists. The faint purple fog drifting across the landscape seemed to rise from the netherworld itself, carrying an eerie, deathly chill.

Nie Yucheng immediately sensed something was wrong. The energy within his body, his essence, his spiritual power, and even the laws he cultivated, were being relentlessly drained by this unfamiliar space.

It wasn’t an especially large domain, but its nature was chilling. It felt like a realm of death.

Pa-dap. Pa-dap.

Footsteps echoed through the mist. Li Xiaofei then emerged through the curling fog. His silhouette was calm and composed, yet every step he took carried the quiet finality of a reaper approaching his prey.

“This... this is impossible!” Nie Yucheng’s round, pale face twisted with disbelief. He realized he had been pulled into the other party’s domain space.

But how could this be?

Li Xiaofei was supposed to be the one caught in his domain. He had calculated everything. Li Xiaofei should have been trapped inside his Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood, helpless and cornered.

Domain spaces were the hallmark of a Six Gods Realm expert. Even the weakest domain, once it captured a target, would grant the domain’s master full awareness and control of everything within it. Because in that space, the master was god.

It was a fundamental truth of martial cultivation, one that had never been broken. Even if Li Xiaofei had some secret method to escape, Nie Yucheng should have sensed it the moment it happened. And yet, he had felt nothing, until Li Xiaofei stood behind him and spoke. It was only then that he realized what had happened.

“There’s no such thing as impossible in this world,” Li Xiaofei said, advancing slowly, the Blood-Drinking Sword hanging loosely from his hand. “If you believe there is, it’s probably because your ignorant little brain has never brushed up against real truth.”

Nie Yucheng’s face darkened, but his expression quickly settled into a calm, calculating frown. He understood that he was in danger now. But that didn’t mean he was out of options.

Swoosh.

Five blood-colored golden rings shot out from Nie Yucheng’s palms, spinning swiftly like darting orioles. They whirled around him, forming a tight, impenetrable sphere of defense.

At the same time, a brilliant golden beam surged outward. Thin, needle-like poisoned golden darts burst forth like a torrential storm, raining down upon Li Xiaofei. The same technique, when unleashed by a cultivator of the Six Gods Realm, carried devastating power and lethality.

Li Xiaofei gripped the Blood-Drinking Sword tightly in both hands. Without hesitation, he slashed open his own palm, letting fresh blood stream down the blade. The Blood-Drinking Sword had to be nourished by the blood of the strong to awaken its true might.

So Li Xiaofei chose to feed it with his own. Time was of the essence. He had to defeat Nie Yucheng as quickly as possible. There was absolutely no room for mistakes.

Buzz... buzz...

The power of the Emperor’s Weapon surged forth in an instant. Clearly, Li Xiaofei’s blood had a special catalytic effect on the blade. Twin sword glows of gold and silver flared like the sun and moon blazing across the sky.

The force of the Emperor’s Dao roared to life. It was a power beyond resistance. Every single poisoned needle was then drawn toward the sword’s tip, crushed, and torn apart.

At that moment, Li Xiaofei stepped forward. He unleashed a single strike, Fate Breaker. It was still the most powerful technique he had comprehended to date.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Five sharp, subtle explosions rang out. The five blood-gold rings spinning around Nie Yucheng shattered instantly and the Blood-Drinking Sword pierced effortlessly through his right chest. Sword qi surged and overflowed from the wound.

Pfft—

Nie Yucheng coughed up a single arrow of blood, spraying it from his mouth. His expression withered instantly, and the martial energy radiating from his body began to collapse in a violent implosion.

“Why... why is it like this?”

His eyes were filled with bitter disbelief. He had accounted for every variable, and every possibility. So why... in the end, was he still the one to lose?

As he felt the vitality and blood within him be completely seized by the Blood-Drinking Sword, a flicker of understanding dawned in his heart.

Emperor’s Weapon. Perhaps... this is the true power of an Emperor’s Weapon.

In the hierarchy of martial cultivation, Martial Sovereigns stood supreme, with Immortal Emperors at the peak. When an Emperor grew angry, even the stars and galaxies trembled.

He who was just a Six Gods Realm mortal, had never truly understood what it meant to stand before the might of an Emperor. And yet he had arrogantly believed that, even if Li Xiaofei held an Emperor’s Weapon, he could still prevail.

But the power of an Emperor... was unfathomable. Nie Yucheng felt the cold shadow of death closing in. Yet Li Xiaofei did not deliver the final blow.

“Where are the people I’m looking for?” Li Xiaofei asked coldly, voice like steel.

Nie Yucheng’s eyes lit up slightly. “That woman, Si Kongxue, yes? She’s here. The Forging Association was indeed a trap to lure you out. I personally ensured she and her daughter were kept nearby.”

“Hand them over,” Li Xiaofei said, stepping closer, the Blood-Drinking Sword still humming with killing intent. “Do that, and I’ll give you a clean death.”

“Otherwise,” he continued, voice turning into a chilling whisper, “you know what fate awaits someone like you if you fall into the hands of the Legion. Or, if you’d prefer, you can sample the taste of having your soul offered in sacrifice to the Blood-Drinking Sword. I can promise you, it’s a torment even a Great Luo Golden Immortal wouldn’t survive.”

“I...” Nie Yucheng opened his mouth to speak, but then something seemed to come to mind, and his expression darkened.

“I can’t hand them over,” he said at last.

To Li Xiaofei’s surprise, he no longer appeared afraid of death. Shaking his head, Nie Yucheng continued, “They were chosen by Zero, and chosen by the Reaper titan known as Death God’s Eye. Even if I handed her over, I wouldn’t escape death. And believe me, it would be far worse than anything you could do to me.”

Li Xiaofei’s heart tensed. So his suspicions had been correct all along. This major operation by the Eden and Reaper factions at Stargate Base on Planet Nock was indeed tied to this specific group of people.

But why? Why did Si Kongxue and the others hold such value?

“Why does Death God’s Eye want Si Kongxue and the others?” Li Xiaofei pressed, his tone sharp.

There was definitely a massive secret buried in this. A grim, twisted smile crossed Nie Yucheng’s face. “Because your woman... is important. There’s something on her that Delta, that Reaper titan wants. So much so that he’s willing to descend in person to get it... Hahaha, Li Xiaofei, I almost pity you. Because this time, you won’t be able to save your wife... or your daughter. Hahaha...”