Chapter 42: The Price of Blood Exchange

Zhao Chuanxiong had no intention of being used as bait…

The risk was too high. And fishing? How can you fish if the bait isn’t eaten?

Even a single bite would leave the bait terribly damaged!

“Blood exchange… You actually underwent a blood exchange…”

Under the overwhelming gust from Ogre’s brutal punch, the boy mask exploded into fragments, its pieces flying in all directions.

Zhao Chuanxiong’s face turned a deep crimson, his body pinned to the earth like a wooden stake by Ogre’s blow. His knees, already shattered—with broken patellae and snapped cruciate ligaments!

Blood seeped from his chest as shrapnel from his smooth iron long blade embedded in his hollow chest cavity, exposing raw flesh, organs, and nearly visible ribs!

One move…

Just one move!

Ogre had grown even stronger!

The first time we saw him, Ogre was barely into his Bone Tempering stage. Facing his combined assault with the Eight Trigram Staff, there was no choice but to flee for survival.

The second time—even though unseen—the Eight Trigram Staff had been brutally shattered, proving that Ogre had perfected his Bone Tempering.

And now, Ogre had undergone a Blood Exchange!

Each surge in power was a monumental leap!

Eight years of Bone Tempering!

Many fighters require at least eight years of Bone Tempering before they’re eligible for a Blood Exchange, and the transition—from perfected Bone Tempering to Blood Exchange, known as the ‘Thousand-Day Blood Exchange’—takes a full three years!

Even a prodigy could never achieve such a terrifying leap in just one year!

“Who in the world are you…”

“Who are you?!”

Zhao Chuanxiong kept spitting blood as his eyes fixated on that adorable Cute Cow Mask.

The cuter the mask, the more his heart trembled with dread!

He couldn’t recognize it…

He couldn’t recognize it at all!

If there truly were a fighter in Feilei City with such a breakthrough, it wouldn’t have been hidden—it would have been declared throughout the city!

Even the noble families would have gone into a frenzy!

But there wasn’t any word of such a person anywhere in Feilei City.

Li Che regarded Zhao Chuanxiong with cold indifference, his gaze as sharp and unyielding as twin blades of winter frost.

The arm that had smashed Zhao Chuanxiong’s chest was suddenly retracted, trailing spurts of blood, ready to strike again.

With the terrifying power of a Blood-Exchanged fighter, another punch meant Zhao Chuanxiong was sure he would die!

“The fish is caught! Save me!!!”

Zhao Chuanxiong roared, exhaling like thunder, as if he wanted to expel every last bit of breath he had left!

A thunderous boom echoed around him!

The eyes beneath Li Che’s mask remained unmoved.

Sure enough, Zhao Chuanxiong was nothing more than bait—a lure. Si Mu Bai, in alliance with Lingying Sect… truly wanted to eliminate him.

This Ogre, in Feilei City under Lingying Sect’s control, craved a mouthful of unbridled qi.

After his shout, Zhao Chuanxiong poured every ounce of strength into collapsing onto the snowy ground, rolling away in a desperate bid to escape.

He was terrified.

Ogre’s unyielding eyes filled Zhao Chuanxiong with dread.

He knew…

Ogre had long understood that this was a trap—a fishing ambush set specifically for him!

Yet, Ogre still intended to devour him—the bait!

Damn it!

Zhao Chuanxiong had underestimated Ogre’s determination to kill him…

How could it be so overwhelming?

What deep hatred, what bitter grudge!

All because, back in Liu’s Courtyard, he had been bullied alongside the Eight Trigram Staff?

But you, Ogre, haven’t even been seriously hurt—how can you hold such a grudge?

Such a colossal physique, yet such a narrow mind!

Li Che looked coldly at the rolling, blood-soaked Zhao Chuanxiong in the snow. With a sudden upward swing, his blood-stained hand shot up, his fingers curling like chalk screeching harshly on a blackboard, blasting through the silence like thunder!

In the night, silver threads that were nearly invisible suddenly snapped into motion.

In that fleeting moment, the air exploded, wailing like the cries of ghosts!

Thunk!

On the ground…

Scalding blood burst up three feet high in an instant!

Zhao Chuanxiong’s head and neck were torn asunder; his wide, staring eyes still flickered with shock, anger, and bewilderment.

Why?

Why!

Even in death, Zhao Chuanxiong’s defiance and fury remained boundless!

At that moment, all his hatred was reserved for Si Mu Bai!

After surviving for so long, why force him to walk to his death?!

Si Mu Bai may act like a damn fisherman, but using Zhao Chuanxiong’s life as bait is unforgivable!

Damn the hatred!

Thin strands flowed silently, tainting the round droplets of blood.

In a tremor, those blood droplets burst into a crimson mist.

Thousand Spider Silk!

Around the massive Ogre, countless silver threads intertwined like electric currents, lashing the air and shredding the falling snow.

His back arched as he roared like a dragon, with blood and qi erupting from his pores like a furious serpent, enveloping him completely.

Beneath his mask, his eyes remained as calm and deep as still water.

There, three figures wearing children’s masks with varied expressions stood atop a rooftop, as rain and snow slanted down, stirring a grim and foreboding air.

Further off…

In the distance, an indifferent figure without a mask held a finely crafted iron longbow, its surface intricately carved with exquisite patterns. With cold, sharp eyes and a tilted head, he observed Ogre’s imposing figure.

In the next moment, the bow was drawn to its limit, the string trembling, as blood and qi soared like a dragon in the night!

Awe-inspiring might!

That man… Li Che recognized him!

It was none other than Si Mu Bai’s assistant—the very man Li Che had seen when he met Si Mu Bai at Jinhuang Pavilion.

Si Mu Bai’s trusted aide: the Blood-Exchanged fighter Guo Zhan!

That makes four!

A full set of four Blood-Exchanged fighters!

What a heavily valued lineup!

Especially Guo Zhan, who stood afar drawing his bow and signaling from a distance—a fighter whose Blood Exchange was perfected!

As he drew his bow, the very air seemed to freeze, sending chills down Li Che’s spine, as if he were being stalked by a ferocious beast in the wild!

In comparison, Zhao Chuanxiong was a mere small fry against these four titans.

“Si Mu Bai… you really think highly of me.”

Li Che squinted, facing the four Blood-Exchanged fighters with no fear—only a strange thrill.

Inside his chest, the Dragon Elephant Vajra Dao Fruit pounded wildly, its frantic beat as if it too craved this battle.

In the next moment, his stomping shattered the mixed earth and snow, erupting like a falling curtain before settling down again!

The Dragon Elephant Vajra pulsated fiercely, pushed to its very limit by his command!

Now, with his cultivation at a perfected Bone Tempering level and under Vajra Transformation, he could unleash the raw power of a completed Blood Exchange…

His back arched, with nine massive tendons roaring like nine furious serpents guarding his spine like a dragon’s, and his entire skeletal frame tempered by Tiger Bone Refining bursting forth with boundless strength!

“The battlefield… cannot be here.”

Right behind him was his own courtyard.

Inside, Zhang Ya still held XiXi. If they were caught in the crossfire, those arrows from the perfected Blood-Exchanged fighters…

would be as dangerous as a rampant machine gun!

Li Che was certain; his body shot off in an instant, darting toward another section of Xu Ji Courtyard.

“Thinking of leaving?”

“After killing Zhao Chuanxiong and using him as bait… you still want to run?”

Three Blood-Exchanged fighters from Lingying Sect let out voices that were half-laugh, half-cry—a perplexing mix of anger and sorrow echoing along the courtyard walls.

Within Xu Ji Courtyard, as the lights in the houses went out, many woodcarvers watched in silence, too afraid to intervene…

In the realm of Blood-Exchanged fighters, interfering meant certain death.

With power erupting from his peerless horizontal refining, Li Che’s speed reached its peak. His feet struck with such force that the rain and snow shattered and the air was crushed!

After a few leaps, he was already far away.

Yet the Blood-Exchanged fighters were extraordinary too, quickly catching up to Ogre!

Zhao Chuanxiong was dead. They had to kill Ogre and present his head as proof, or else face the wrath of a Divine Inspector.

In a night so dark you couldn’t see your fingers, rain mixed with snow howled fiercely!

It was a deep, lightless darkness.

Yet five bursts of blood and qi soared like crimson lanterns racing through the pitch-black night!

Within the narrow, winding lanes of Xu Ji Courtyard, a frantic chase ensued!

The scene had descended into complete chaos.

…

…

Outside Xu Ji’s Wood Carving Shop.

In a dark alley, rain and snow fell coldly upon the earth.

An old man’s ears twitched as he listened to the chaos drifting out from Xu Ji’s Wood Carving Shop on the wind; a flash of unusual color crossed his eyes.

“Ogre…”

“The lone hero of this city? How interesting…”

The old man chuckled, revealing a mouthful of yellowed teeth.

At the other end of Long Street, the sounds of wind and snow were suddenly drowned out by steady footsteps on the cobblestones—the friction of shoes on stone, soft yet resonant like bells or drums.

The old man’s brow furrowed in discontent.

He gently patted the child Lu Chi, whose eyes were as wide as bronze bells and who wore a Nezha braid, in the dark alley.

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