Chapter 947: Counter Kill (2)

Xiong Gang and the others were shocked, while Master Jin was delighted. Even Li Xiaofei was taken aback. He could clearly sense that the flames just now were anything but ordinary. Their power was immense, enough to reduce even a peak level seven Reaper to ashes in an instant.

If a level eight being were struck by that fire, they might survive, but only barely, and likely with severe injuries. This time, Li Xiaofei had truly underestimated something. He had nearly dismissed all these items as worthless scraps.

“Wahahaha!” Master Jin laughed triumphantly, one hand on his waist. “So what if you four were faster to grab stuff? The true treasure still landed in my hands. Hahaha!”

Xiong Gang was silent, but only for three seconds. Then he also struck a pose, one hand on his hip, and burst into laughter. He said, “Wahaha! So your fire’s strong, so what? You still can’t do a damn thing to my pot... I counter you completely!”

Master Jin was speechless.

Damn. That... is kind of true.

Meanwhile, the square-faced middle-aged man looked down at the giant skewer he had taken and fiddled with it, hoping to discover something special. But nothing happened.

The woman who had grabbed the barbecue rack also examined her prize carefully. Still, she found nothing unusual about it. In fact, compared to the giant skewer, the rack looked even more awkward. Wielding it in battle would be utterly ridiculous. She quietly fell into silence.

Li Xiaofei’s thoughts stirred, and he spoke up, “Maybe these items have some special function when used together.”

The five others immediately lit up. Of course. These objects had originally been part of the same setup. They began experimenting without delay, and soon enough, their efforts bore fruit.

When Master Jin lit the fire with his enchanted stick and the flames began to burn brightly, the iron skewer, the barbecue rack, and the black pot all started to glow with a strange light. Bathed in the flickering firelight, the entire area became shrouded in a hazy, amber mist.

This hazy glow resembled the effect of a formation shield. Li Xiaofei tested it multiple times. Without invoking the Blood-Drinking Sword, he found himself unable to break through the amber mist. Even his most powerful strikes couldn’t affect Zhu Zhixun and the others standing inside it in the slightest.

“I think... I think this pot can trap people,” Xiong Gang suddenly shouted, a wave of clarity rushing over him as though struck by divine inspiration. “Enter the pot!”

Li Xiaofei’s vision blurred. In the blink of an eye, he found himself inside the pot. Everyone was dumbfounded. Li Xiaofei looked around. From his perspective, the pot had become massive. He felt like a dumpling that had been trapped in an enormous black cauldron.

Smack!

Zhu Zhixun smacked the back of Xiong Gang’s head hard.

“What the hell are you doing?! Get Senior out of there right now before he gets cooked alive!” he snapped in a panic.

Flustered, Xiong Gang imagined the scene of Li Xiaofei being released from the pot, and the next moment, Li Xiaofei was ejected cleanly, landing back in his original spot.

A black pound sign-shaped vein popped out on Li Xiaofei’s temple.

Did I seriously almost get boiled just now? That pot...

Li Xiaofei glanced at the large black cauldron. The more he looked at it, the more shocked he felt. As expected of something left behind by Sword Immortal Lin Beichen, even a mere cooking pot, once imbued with the aura of an Emperor, could possess such astonishing power.

This entire set, the firewood stick, the barbecue rack, and the black pot was a perfect offensive and defensive combination. The discovery was nothing short of a treasure, and Zhu Zhixun and the others had truly struck gold.

“S-S-Sorry, Senior, I...” Xiong Gang stammered, bowing apologetically.

Li Xiaofei waved it off and replied, “It’s fine.”

Even when he had been inside the pot, he hadn’t panicked. After all, he wielded a genuine Emperor’s weapon, the Blood-Drinking Sword. A single pot would never be enough to trap him.

“These items, infused with the Emperor's aura, possess remarkable power,” Li Xiaofei said. “Take your time to explore their full potential. With them, the Resistance will definitely be able to hold its ground.”

This journey had certainly been worthwhile. Afterward, they conducted one final sweep of the cave but no further discoveries were made. With that, Li Xiaofei stepped onto his sword and took flight, leading the group away from the Burial Ice Cliff.

***

Icepeak Cave.

The Grand Princess gently stroked two Void Foxes that were resting in her arms. Her expression was calm, eyes focused as she sank into deep thought. The small white fox, after eating a few ice fruits, curled up contentedly and fell asleep. Still so young, it had no understanding of how cruel fate could be.

Outside the cave, the Elders Long and Qi stood guard, maintaining their silent vigil. A royal guard approached swiftly.

“What is it?” Elder Qi asked coldly. “Her Highness is in quiet contemplation. Do not disturb her unless it’s urgent.”

The guard lowered his voice as he said, “The Yeniao Clan has made a move on that boy.”

That boy was the private nickname the powerful members of the Hui Yao clan used when referring to Li Xiaofei. They harbored no small amount of discontent over the Princess’s obvious favoritism toward a disgraced noble from a fallen house.

“Did he die?” Elder Qi’s eyes lit up as he asked quickly.

“No,” the guard replied. “But he’s been pushed to the edge.”

Elder Qi responded coolly, “I’ll report this to Her Highness myself. You’re dismissed.”

The guard didn’t say another word and quickly withdrew.

“I say... maybe there’s no need to report this to Her Highness at all,” Elder Qi said, glancing at Long. “The Yeniao clan and Death God’s Eye are just biting at each other’s throats. No reason for us to get involved.”

Elder Long shook his head.

“You still don’t understand.”

With that, he turned and stepped into the icy cave.

Moments later—

Whoosh.

A streak of brilliant light tore through the sky. The Grand Princess, her aura fully unleashed, moved like a bolt of lightning, rushing toward the location where Li Xiaofei had been cornered.

Elder Long followed closely behind. Elder Qi, watching them leave, couldn’t quite understand his old companion’s decision.

Just days ago, Long had been complaining in private that the boy was a disaster wrapped in a pretty face, that the Princess had clearly lost her judgment, and that the whole thing was becoming a joke. Now, with the perfect chance to let someone else do the dirty work and eliminate him, why was Long reporting it just to have the Princess go save him? Still, he didn’t dare delay. He hesitated for a moment, and then raced after them.

***

A faint shimmer of light appeared. Li Xiaofei reappeared in the icy cavern. It had only been half an hour since he used the Spatial Point Theft to reach the Burial Ice Cliff. He looked around. The Yeniao clan’s forces had still not managed to break through.

“Cowards,” Li Xiaofei sneered.

His plan had succeeded.

Boom!

The icy boulders blocking the entrance exploded outward in an instant as Li Xiaofei shot out like lightning. The Yeniao clan cultivators stationed at the entrance were caught completely off guard. They instinctively raised their defenses and jumped back. But Li Xiaofei had no interest in wasting any more time dealing with them.

Whoosh.

A flash of blade light instantly decapitated two Yeniao clan experts, sending their heads soaring through the air.

“What—?!”

The others were stunned at the sight.

Who is this demon bursting out of the ice cave?

The blade flashed again. Two more Yeniao clan cultivators were felled in the blink of an eye. Li Xiaofei showed no mercy with his strikes as blood sprayed in all directions.

In mere seconds, eight or nine Yeniao clan elites lay dead, their bodies falling like chopped wheat. Zhou Shisan, who had been brimming with confidence just moments earlier, now stood frozen, utterly dumbfounded.

He couldn’t comprehend what had happened inside the ice cave. The man who should’ve been gravely wounded and on the verge of death had, within half an hour, transformed into a terrifying force of destruction.

“Young Master, run!” shouted a level seven cultivator, snapping out of his shock.

He charged forward without hesitation, throwing himself in Li Xiaofei’s path to buy time. Zhou Shisan snapped back to reality and turned to flee in a panic. But he had barely gotten a thousand meters away when Li Xiaofei cut him off effortlessly.

In his hand, he held the severed head of the level seven expert. The corpse had already dissolved upon death. The head resembled that of a humanoid owl, grotesque and contorted in death.

The ice valley ravine Zhou Shisan had personally chosen as a death trap had now become his greatest obstacle in trying to escape.

“You... what are you going to do?” said Zhou Shisan with a trembling voice.

No matter how talented Zhou Shisan had once been, or how admired, brilliant, or favored by the clan, now that all his family's experts had been slain, he felt fear standing before the blood-soaked demon that was Li Xiaofei. It was real, suffocating fear.

His courage, arrogance, fighting spirit, and pride melted away like snow tossed into boiling water.

Li Xiaofei didn’t say a word. His blade rose and fell, turning Zhou Shisan into a corpse. The illusion of humanity faded from his body. He transformed into his true form, a humanoid creature with eagle talons and a fierce raptor’s head. This was the true nature of the Yeniao clan.

Li Xiaofei coldly chopped off one of Zhou Shisan’s talons, lifted it, and scratched it across his own body, deliberately leaving several wounds. Then he proceeded to carve Zhou Shisan’s body into pieces.

After everything was done, he sat down on a nearby block of ice, calmly waiting. It didn’t take long.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Three streaks of light pierced the sky and descended in front of him. It was the Grand Princess, accompanied by Elders Long and Qi. The battlefield, littered with bodies, left the three of them stunned.

Without a word, the Grand Princess rushed to Li Xiaofei’s side. Her eyes were full of concern as she knelt beside him.

“Are you alright? Were you hurt?” she asked, her voice tense.

Li Xiaofei gave a wry, bloodstained smile. He replied, “I walked right into a trap. Got lucky... didn’t die.”

The Grand Princess glanced at the corpses scattered across the ground and said coldly, “The Yeniao clan has gone too far... This cannot be forgiven. I swear I’ll avenge you.”

Elders Long and Qi exchanged glances, dark lines forming on their foreheads.

Avenge him? Did you not see? Every expert of the Yeniao clan is already lying dead at his feet.

These were all level six or seven powerhouses. For the Yeniao clan, a princely branch of the royal tribes, losing more than a dozen members at once represented a significant loss. It appeared that only Zhou Shisan had escaped.

The Grand Princess supported Li Xiaofei and declared with righteous anger, “Rest assured. I will track down Zhou Shisan, capture him, and let you avenge yourself.”

Li Xiaofei replied, “There is no need.”

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The Grand Princess pressed on, saying, “How could I let the matter rest? Even if I kill Zhou Shisan, the Yeniao clan will not dare to retaliate against me.”

“I mean,” Li Xiaofei said, pointing at the pile of mangled flesh, “He’s already dead.”

“Eh?” The Grand Princess froze, her eyes landing on the shredded remains, and she fell silent.

The shock on the faces of Elders Long and Qi became impossible to hide.

What? Zhou Shisan was dead as well? He had even been chopped into minced meat? Had Li Xiaofei done all of this alone?

The Grand Princess asked, “How did you manage it?”

Li Xiaofei took a deep breath and answered, “I was fortunate. When I was trapped in a nearby ice cave, I suddenly advanced to level seven, so I killed them all.”

Elder Long felt a stir in his heart, entered the ice cave to investigate, and examined the area. When he returned, he whispered a few words into the Grand Princess’s ear. The Grand Princess then regarded Li Xiaofei with a new and particularly meaningful expression.