Chapter 46: Snowfall and Shadows

Snow fell in a flurry, and the air grew cold and desolate once again.

Concealing his aura with the Sleeping Dragon Elephant technique, Li Che merged into the darkness and watched indifferently as Zhao Xuan, stupefied by the scene, sprang forward.

The woman who had begun training alongside him had only just perfected her Skin Polishing technique. As for Li Che… toppling a hundred Zhao Xuans with one hand was no challenge—he was utterly unthreatening.

Yet she dared to muster the courage to step onto the battlefield of Blood-Transfusion Warriors, even post-battle—danger still loomed high.

He confirmed that Zhao Xuan had come under the guise of collecting heroes’ remains, not as a backup for the Lingying Sect.

Li Che shook his sleeve and released his Sleeve Crossbow, capable of blasting Zhao Xuan’s head in an instant, then silently withdrew.

As the active power from the Dragon Elephant Vajra Dao Fruit waned, an overwhelming fatigue and weakness instantly enveloped him.

It felt as though his very spirit and vitality were being drained dry.

The second phase of Angry Gaze Vajra bestowed an enormous boost—more akin to a metamorphosis of life itself!

The effect was phenomenal, and his explosive power unmatched… but the toll was equally immense.

At that moment, Li Che sensed a decline in his vital energy; after dispatching three Blood-Transfusion masters from the Lingying Sect with a thunderous burst, his legs weakened.

However, his own body refinement had reached perfection in Bone Tempering, granting him rapid recovery. By the time he leapt back to his courtyard, his legs had regained strength.

Using the Sleeping Dragon Elephant technique to conceal his aura, he circled his courtyard three times to ensure no Lingying Sect cultists lurked, before ghost-like slipping back inside.

Shedding his bloodstained clothes and removing his mask, Li Che exhaled a cloud of stale air and dashed straight into his wood shed.

He emptied out all the grimy spoils wrapped in the clothes of a Blood-Transfusion Warrior of the Lingying Sect who had been smashed to pieces.

This was his grisly harvest from looting the corpse after battle!

For once, Li Che’s heart stirred with excitement as he subconsciously rubbed his hands together.

Any friend accustomed to killing knows how valuable the habit of perusing a corpse is in the martial world.

It was his first time looting a corpse; in previous kills, he had completely overlooked this crucial step.

“I guess my experience in the martial world is still lacking… too young, far too young…”

Li Che shook his head.

The corpse yielded only a few bottles, a couple of booklets, and a thumb-sized wooden carving of the ‘Three-Headed, Six-Armed Wrathful Spirit Infant’ from a Lingying Sect Blood-Transfusion Warrior.

Filled with surging emotion, Li Che began to tally his spoils.

“Eighteen Gold Leaves, three Silver Notes (each worth 500 taels)… I’ve snagged a fortune fit for the Blood-Transfusion Warriors! Now that’s what I call wealth!”

Li Che’s eyes gleamed. Even as a prodigious woodcarver at Xu Ji’s Wood Carving Shop, amassing such wealth in one go sent shivers of exhilaration down his spine.

“Silver Notes are tricky to handle, but there’s no shortage of buyers in the market—though they’ll haggle a bit.”

Besides that, there were various bottles and jars, many containing remedies for injuries and for nourishing vital energy.

From one porcelain bottle poured out a rounded pill exuding a strong, pungent metallic scent.

Li Che spent ages trying to identify it with no success; a sniff revealed his blood and qi churning tumultuously within.

“This was looted from Guo Zhan’s corpse… and it doesn’t seem like an ordinary pill.”

“Hmm, I’ll ask around in the market sometime.”

After tucking the pill away, his gaze fell on two booklets, prompting him to rub his hands together in anticipation.

He picked up the first book, retrieved from a Lingying Sect Blood-Transfusion Warrior.

Opening to the first page, six bold characters leapt out at him.

“Six Shifts Blood-Transfusion Technique!”

This was a complete Blood-Transfusion martial art!

Moreover, it wasn’t the ordinary lower-tier Three Shifts Blood-Transfusion Technique.

Six Shifts Blood-Transfusion Technique belonged to the mid-level category of blood-transfusion arts.

Blood-transfusion required Nine Shifts of vital energy, achieving perfection only when qi flowed like mercury and marrow hardened like gold and stone!

“It certainly alleviated my urgent needs, though it isn’t a Divine Essence Technique—such techniques are rare anyway. With this Blood-Transfusion art, I can finally push for a breakthrough…”

Yet Li Che wasn’t too disappointed; his public cultivation was only at the early stage of Bone Tempering, and to request a Blood-Transfusion Technique from Xu Ji, he’d need to perfect it first.

At the normal rate, that would take about two to three years…

Two to three years to progress from beginner Bone Tempering to perfection—reasonable for a prodigious martial artist.

Shifting his gaze to a book looted from Guo Zhan’s body…

After flipping through its pages, Li Che’s eyes suddenly narrowed in shock!

It wasn’t a Divine Essence Technique, nor a Blood-Transfusion art…

But it was a martial art!

And not just any ordinary martial art…

It was a Divine Martial Art!

Chenkū Baigui Fenglei Arrow!

……

……

Bluestone Street outside Xu Ji’s Wood Carving Shop.

The air was arid, almost searing—even the falling snowflakes evaporated before touching the ground under bricks as hot as irons.

Several figures drifted in, each wearing wooden child masks, their hands clasped behind them, alighting on the buildings lining the side of the street.

“Hahaha, Furious Crown Prince—the four-regimen Divine Foundation technique—appearing in Feilei City…”

“Is this… my sect’s opportunity?”

“Hahaha, even Dharma Master cultivates the ‘Divinity of Wrath’. This one’s divine essence hasn’t yet forged a Divine Foundation. If he could be absorbed by Dharma Master… then he might advance further and crystallize the ‘Three-Headed, Six-Armed Furious Prodigy’ divine form!”

A figure wearing a smiling mask spoke, his tone brimming with uncontrollable mirth.

“However, tonight’s ‘Cattle Capture’ plan was an utter failure. Si Mu Bai also suffered a major blow; when the Nine-Planet-level Chin Ku Zhen Gui clashed with the Furious Crown Prince, he was swung around like a ragdoll—hahaha… it was brutal.”

“If it weren’t for the Old Master of the Si Family, who had forged his Divine Foundation, Si Mu Bai would have been skinned alive, his muscles crumpling—hahaha…”

“As an ally, I should feel pity for Si Mu Bai, yet all I can manage is laughter… I just can’t stop—hahaha…”

The gazes beneath the other masks were grim, barely bothering with the uncontrollably laughing figure.

“Ogre… there’s someone behind him! No wonder he suddenly appeared in Feilei City, jeopardizing our sect’s grand plans…”

“So-called heroes always have hidden puppeteers pulling their strings…”

Their voices were heavy. Ogre was untouchable, and with someone capable of manifesting a Divine Foundation akin to the Furious Crown Prince lurking behind him, he was even more enigmatic—inciting fear and unease.

But the figure with the smiling child mask burst into loud laughter.

“Hahaha, why worry so much? Isn’t Ogre meant to be a hero?”

“Having someone back a hero is just to reassure the masses, providing a psychological anchor so that the citizens of Feilei City don’t crumble too quickly…”

“And sabotaging heroes? That’s the easiest thing of all!”

“That Furious Crown Prince may be formidable, but without a forged Divine Foundation, what is there to fear?”

“Once Ogre falls from grace and the people lose their heroic pillar, those pulling the strings behind him will have to resort to drastic measures. The more they intervene, the sooner they’ll be exposed.”

……

……

After counting his loot and stowing away the grimy items, Li Che returned from the wood shed to his courtyard. He rubbed cold snow on himself to erase the scent of blood before finally stepping inside.

Inside, the house was brightly lit!

His wife, Zhang Ya, nervously gripped the Muduya, recalling the mechanism Li Che had taught her.

Seeing that her returning husband was indeed her consort, her tense nerves suddenly relaxed.

She hurried over to Li Che, circling him and scrutinizing his condition. When she saw he was uninjured, she sighed with relief before leaping into his arms and clinging tightly to his waist.

It was as if she intended to expel all her nighttime anxiety and uncertainty.

“Everything’s fine now.”

Li Che gently patted his wife’s soft shoulder, feeling her slight trembling as he spoke in a soothing tone.

Zhang Ya nodded softly.

The couple embraced in silence while XiXi lounged arrogantly on the bed, kicking aside the covers and sleeping soundly, like a cherished gift.

Throughout the house, the heat from the charcoal stove dispelled the chill, creating an extremely cozy atmosphere.

Some time later.

After a while, Li Che felt his beloved stir in his arms, only to see Zhang Ya raise her pretty face, her eyes gleaming with determination.

“My husband…”

“I want to practice martial arts.”