Chapter 948: Shamelessly Mooching Off A Woman

“I didn’t expect Zhou Shisan to be so despicable.” She comforted Li Xiaofei and said, “I truly sympathize regarding your friend’s fate. Don’t worry, I’ll explain the situation to the King-ranked clan Council in my own name. You don’t have to take responsibility for Zhou Shisan’s death.”

It was clear that she had learned about the succubus Xue’s experience from the elder.

“No need.” Li Xiaofei responded calmly, “I’ll handle it myself.”

Under the watchful eyes of the two elders, Li Xiaofei remained composed as he began to clean up the battlefield and collect the spoils of war. The corners of their mouths twitched slightly.

All the hunting treasures previously earned by the Yeniao clan now belonged solely to Li Xiaofei. These rewards were even greater than robbery. Once everything was settled, they returned.

The hunting period had come to an end. Everyone returned to the Wind Ruins clan’s fortress. Experts from the other King-ranked clans also began to return one after another.

“What? The Yeniao clan is finished?”

“I heard they encountered a horde of Void Beasts and were surrounded and slaughtered.”

“There were such terrifying Void Beasts in the Frost Plains? The Yeniao clan’s team had a peak Stage Seven expert.”

“Zhou Shisan died too?”

All sides who heard the false news were utterly shocked. The false information had been deliberately spread by the Grand Princess. She didn’t want Li Xiaofei to become the center of attention or the target of all forces, so it would be easier to defend him later in the Ancestor Court.

Additionally, the body of the succubus Xue, which had been left in the ice cave, was retrieved by people the Grand Princess sent and was temporarily preserved as evidence.

No matter what, the Yeniao clan was still a King-ranked clan, and not just any member, but a princely branch. Though they had declined over the years and were now weaker than even some non-princely top-tier clans, their foundation remained deep.

One could never underestimate a princely King clan. Wei Xiaotian and Liu Shaji had also returned from the hunt.

“Spill it. Were you the one who took out Zhou Shisan?” asked Brother Wei. His sharp eyes seemed to see through everything at a glance.

“Don’t talk nonsense,” replied Li Xiaofei.

Wei Xiaotian sneered, “You think I can’t see through this kind of thing? You’ve been wanting to take him out for a while now and just never had the chance. He must have tried to set you up, and you used the opportunity to kill him, didn’t you?”

Li Xiaofei replied, “Damn, I should start calling you Wei Sees-Through from now on. With everything you know, how are you still alive?”

Wei Xiaotian grinned. He had completely turned into another Liu Shaji. Recently, he had shed all remnants of his past image as the number one pretty boy of Chongque City.

Liu Shaji said, “Look at you. Got dragged into trouble by the Grand Princess, went out to hunt and still got schemed against. I bet you didn’t harvest anything this time, huh? Wahaha! Let me tell you, my haul was massive! I even killed a level seven Void Beast! Hahaha, this time I hit the jackpot!”

He was ecstatic and felt he had finally outshone Li Xiaofei for once. Li Xiaofei looked surprised. Void Beasts were extremely difficult to kill in such a frigid realm. Otherwise, the Grand Princess wouldn’t have brought so many powerful cultivators just to hunt a single Void Fox.

It seemed Liu Shaji had grown stronger again. But when it came to harvests?

Heh.

Li Xiaofei resisted the urge to speak of all he had seen and gained at the Burial Ice Cliff. Not just him, even Zhu Zhixun and the others had gained enough to leave Liu Shaji in the dust ten times over.

“As long as you’re happy.” Li Xiaofei turned and headed into his stone chamber to begin seclusion.

Liu Shaji froze for a moment. Something about Li Xiaofei’s reaction didn’t seem quite right.

“Why do I feel like... he kind of looks down on the two of us?” Liu Shaji muttered.

Wei Xiaotian replied, “Be more confident. Remove the words ‘kind of.’ And to be more accurate, it’s not that he looks down on both of us—it’s you, showing off.”

Liu Shaji fell silent.

***

Inside the room, Li Xiaofei sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, seemingly resting. In reality, he was actually comprehending the five sword techniques.

The sword skills left behind by the Sword Immortal Lin Beichen were incredibly profound. They were no longer simple techniques, but patterns that triggered the natural energy and laws of the world. They could unleash immense power. The only drawback was that Lin Beichen hadn’t left names for these five moves.

I’ll just call them the First Sword, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sword,

Li Xiaofei thought, resigning himself to his terrible naming skills.

To avoid drawing attention by absorbing heavenly energy, Li Xiaofei suppressed the Immortal Force within his body and relied solely on his mind to cultivate and comprehend the techniques.

Back at the Burial Ice Cliff, he had already memorized the five sword techniques in full. What he needed now was to master them completely and integrate them into his own style. The more he studied them, the more he felt their overwhelming power.

These are definitely Emperor-grade combat arts,

Li Xiaofei could barely contain his joy.

The technique he had previously developed, Fate Breaker, had only barely touched the edge of what could be called an Emperor-grade combat art. But these five sword moves were the real thing; they were authentic Emperor techniques.

As he continued his comprehension, he constantly compared them against Fate Breaker. His understanding of the sword Dao was rising at an astonishing pace. He had no idea how much time had passed when a knock suddenly came from outside the door.

Li Xiaofei opened his eyes. Sword light flickered faintly within his star-like pupils before vanishing without a trace.

“What is it?” asked Li Xiaofei.

“The Grand Princess is preparing to set off. The clan chief asked me to inform you to get ready for departure.”

The voice of a Death God's Eye clan expert came from outside the door.

“Got it. I’ll be there right away,” replied Li Xiaofei, standing up.

His comprehension session had not yet reached completion. Even so, Li Xiaofei could now face enemies using only the variations of First Sword through Fifth Sword, without activating any Immortal Force.

Relying purely on physical strength and speed to execute these techniques suited his current disguise perfectly. To enhance the disguise further, Li Xiaofei had transformed the sword techniques into saber techniques. This way, no one could decipher their true essence.

Inside the fortress, the experts from the five King-ranked clans were already prepared to depart. The Yeniao clan’s forces had been completely wiped out. Their bodies had been recovered and were temporarily stored within the fortress. They would be guarded by the Wind Ruins clan until someone from the Yeniao clan came to claim them.

The Grand Princess didn’t say much. She immediately led the group as they set off. The team once again ventured into the vast, boundless snowy plains beneath the eternal night. Bone-piercing winds and snowflakes sharp as blades lashed at them.

The deeper they went into the Frost Plains, the more terrifying the cold became. In theory, absolute zero was the lowest possible temperature. But for reasons unknown, even Li Xiaofei felt that the cold was breaching his defenses faster and faster. The white cloak given to him by the Grand Princess could no longer fend off the overwhelming chill.

This cold went beyond mere physical low temperatures. It carried a penetrating force and lethality that bordered on a law-like nature. Even the Grand Princess had now donned a thick fur coat for warmth.

She walked beside Li Xiaofei. Two white Void Fox cubs, one perched on Li Xiaofei’s shoulder, the other on hers, let out soft cries as if they were communicating. They were rather affectionate toward both of them.

These two cubs weren’t afraid of the cold at all. On the contrary, the more terrifying the freezing winds became, the more energetic they appeared. At this point, the Grand Princess had even started to develop a fondness for the two little foxes.

Everyone marched through the frigid night for three days and three nights. Several members of the group had already suffered frostbite by the time they finally arrived at the second safe fortress.

This fortress was larger than the Wind Ruins clan’s stronghold. It was situated beneath a glacier and constructed entirely from ten-thousand-year-old black ice, which blended seamlessly into the surrounding environment. It looked both majestic and dreamlike. The stronghold was garrisoned by the Holy Night clan, one of the King-ranked clans.

“Haha, welcome, welcome! Please, all of you, come in,” Elder Xu Buyi of the Holy Night clan greeted them warmly with a broad smile, personally extending the fortress’s hospitality to the entire group.

Unlike the previous guardian from the Wind Ruins clan who had only shown respect to the Grand Princess and Zhou Shisan, Xu Buyi treated everyone with equal courtesy and enthusiasm. He hosted a grand banquet and invited the leaders of each clan.

He also arranged for the fortress’s medics to treat those suffering from frostbite without delay. After the feast, he personally visited each patient, offering free ointments and food.

Since the Grand Princess’s hunting mission in the Frost Plains had already been completed, they didn’t linger long. After resting for a day, the group resumed their journey.

So the cycle continued. As they traveled, Li Xiaofei quietly honed his techniques. The Blade and Sword Supreme Ding Hao had passed down a cultivation method called Dual Sacred Body of Blade and Sword, which followed the principles of Yin and Yang, represented by the Ice Sword and the Flame Saber.

In such a bitterly cold realm, cultivating the Ice Sword aspect gave him a natural advantage. Li Xiaofei immersed himself in the secrets of the Ice Sword and gradually entered a deep state of focus.

Unknowingly, as he continued walking across the Frost Plains, a place cold enough to kill even level seven experts, Li Xiaofei gradually stopped feeling the chill. Instead, he began using the ever-present cold air to nourish his sword.

During this time, more people were chosen by the realm and received fortuitous opportunities. Li Xiaofei entered the realm twice. Both times were unremarkable as each entry involved fighting monsters and clearing trials, after which he received a reward of infused power.

As a result, his strength advanced significantly. He had successfully reached the second transformation, Essence, of the Seven Transformation Realm. At this stage, a perfectly round core of Immortal Force spun within the acupuncture points of his twelve principal meridians and Eight Extraordinary Meridians. These acted like Immortal Force accelerators, instantly enhancing and speeding up the Immortal Force flowing through his meridians.

Li Xiaofei’s cultivation progressed at an astonishing pace. Besides him, Zhu Zhixun, Lord Jin, and others also entered the realm once each. All of them returned alive and received various unique rewards.

As for the Reaper faction, thirty-six of their members were summoned by the realm. Ultimately, twenty-six returned safely. Their rewards varied.

Among them, the most powerful reward went to Elder Qi, who received a rib bone from an unknown and mysterious creature. The rib was slightly curved like a blade and was incomparably hard. When the Reaper infused it with bloodline energy, it emitted a faint blade-like gleam, razor-sharp and deadly.

Elder Qi presented the item to the Grand Princess. The Grand Princess, in turn, bestowed it directly upon Li Xiaofei. What else could Li Xiaofei say? After several rounds of refusal, he finally accepted the rib bone and added it to his collection.

“Don’t do this again,” he said with displeasure. “When you act like this, you put me in a tough spot. How do you think others will see me? Do I look like some pretty boy relying on a woman’s connections? Don’t let it happen again.”

“Alright, alright, I got it,” the Grand Princess replied with a forced smile.

Elder Qi nearly had a heart attack. It seemed their esteemed princess truly had fallen under the spell of beauty.

“Damn it, damn it all,” Liu Shaji growled through clenched teeth as he stared daggers at Li Xiaofei.

He feared his brother’s hardship, but feared even more when that brother started riding a luxury carriage, so to speak.

When will this bastard finally hit some bad luck?

Wei Xiaotian was also gritting his teeth.

Among everyone present, only Elder Long remained calm. He had seen through the Grand Princess’s intent. It wasn’t infatuation with a man’s looks. Nor was it love clouding her judgment. It was an extremely calculated and brilliant move.

In the end, the rewards it brought would be no less than the gains from this expedition into the Holy Ruins. In fact, Elder Long was certain the Grand Princess had shifted her entire focus onto Li Xiaofei. The training expedition into the Holy Ruins had become secondary.

The bitter cold continued. Many level six experts were pushed to the brink and were suffering terribly. Roughly another month passed in this torment. After resting at all eleven fortresses, on the forty-seventh day, the group finally emerged from the Frost Plains.

Up ahead, the sky gradually brightened. Crimson light spread across the horizon, illuminating heaven and earth. Li Xiaofei looked ahead and was immediately struck by a sense of foreboding. The chill faded as waves of heat surged toward them.

“That’s the Fire Domain up ahead,” Wei Xiaotian said. “A scorched wasteland where the toxic flames underground can kill even level seven experts... Damn it, I think this is our limit. We can’t go any farther. Any more, and we’re really gonna die.”

The Fire Domain. A stage seven high-risk zone within the Holy Ruins. Some areas even reached mid-to-high stage eight danger levels. It was a true land of death.