Chapter 64: Snowfall of Fateful Confrontations
by xennovelSnowflakes danced high above.
Li Che’s spirit transformed into a chessboard that enveloped the area around his little courtyard. His Pure Heart was slowly depleting, yet he clearly detected Zhao Xuanhai stepping into the alley.
With Zhao Xuanhai now present, Li Che realized that the Xu Family must have sold him.
They handed him over to the City Lord’s Residence. Back then, Zhao Xuanhai represented the City Lord’s side and intended to draft Li Che into carving wooden statues, but Xu Helil had intervened.
Now, not long after Li Che’s emergence as a master wood sculptor, Zhao Xuanhai appeared outside his private Workshop.
Was it a coincidence?
Not really; Li Che didn’t mind.
In fact, he had a vague premonition that Zhao Xuanhai would show up.
After all, in this world one must prepare for both fortunes and misfortunes—and the Xu Family’s behavior today was unusually erratic…
This stirred caution and scheming in Li Che’s mind.
And sure enough, Zhao Xuanhai had arrived.
Looking up, Li Che felt the biting chill of midwinter, the cold of heaven and earth, and an aura of lethal desolation.
Snow swirled down from above, settling on a chessboard formed by divine energy emanating from the “Chess Sage” Dao Fruit.
It was as if the snow were roasted by flame—instant evaporation!
“Xu Family… our ties are done.”
Li Che murmured softly.
The “Chess Sage” Dao Fruit activated, allowing him to monitor every move Zhao Xuanhai made.
“Zhao Xuanhai, a divine cultivator whose essence flows like a river, hasn’t even stepped into the Divine Foundation… care for a battle?”
Li Che murmured under his breath.
Since Zhao Xuanhai had come today, he would be kept. As a top expert of the Lingying Sect, Li Che would show no mercy—such an opportunity was too good to waste…
For if spared, he would eventually become a major threat to XiXi.
“Can I let him live?” Li Che wondered, looking down on him as if he were merely a chess piece on a board.
No, he didn’t have to keep him alive…
And if necessary, he would use the 6,000 rounds of Nanmu Gatling he’d stockpiled over six months with his Muduya to blast him to death!
As for the troubles that might arise if Zhao Xuanhai were spared…
Some might even suspect that Ogre and Li Che shared an intricate bond…
But so what?
As long as Zhao Xuanhai could not set foot in his courtyard or unlock its door,
a single door would separate them—like a barrier between heaven and earth.
Whether Zhao Xuanhai lived or died was none of Li Che’s concern.
Kill him…
It would be Ogre.
Li Che pulled out a pre-prepared Cute Cow Mask from his pocket and gently placed it over his face.
A feeling of familiarity and reassurance washed over him.
Lifting his head, his jet-black hair spiked sharply while his eyes blazed with lethal intent.
“Zhao Xuanhai…”
“Ogre’s back again,” he taunted.
……
……
Creak.
His footsteps on the soft, snow-covered cobblestones of the alley produced a barely audible creak.
“Li Che, born a clodhopper and training in martial arts for three years, has now perfected his Bone Tempering. Remarkable indeed—a prodigy in both combat and wood carving…”
“But mere Bone Tempering isn’t enough to fear. Though he’s become a woodcarving master and may even command a spark of divine essence, according to Xu Beihu’s intel, Li Che hasn’t cultivated Xu Ji’s Suspended Thought Sword—his divine nurturing remains incomplete.”
“Also nothing to worry about.”
Zhao Xuanhai’s hulking form carried a heavy saber weighing around 800 jin, which, when swung with raw muscle, delivered devastating damage.
Not only was Zhao Xuanhai a powerful divine cultivator, but his martial prowess was formidable as well—he possessed early Qi Meridian cultivation, a body of serpent-like tendons and tiger-like bones, truly extraordinary.
Capturing a Bone Tempering-complete Li Che should be a cakewalk.
Even for a martial prodigy, being merely Bone Tempering-complete, he wouldn’t dare slip up.
Suddenly.
With a heavy step, the accumulated snow in the narrow alley burst forth, rippling out and crashing against the walls, shattering into countless flakes.
Zhao Xuanhai donned an angry Boy Mask, his coarse jet-black hair standing on end like needles piercing the air.
Beneath the mask, his eyes crazily scanned the surroundings…
Within his inner vision, his divine essence trembled wildly, as if fixated by a terrifying venomous snake!
Every hair on his body stood on end!
Creak…
His ear perked up and his snake-like pupils contracted; he heard an extremely faint sound, as if from a great distance…
yet it also seemed impossibly close.
That was…
the twang of a bowstring being drawn!
It was as if a divine archer, bow drawn like a full moon, had locked onto him from every direction—cutting off every escape route.
He had nowhere to hide, completely exposed under the divine archer’s targeting!
The slight friction between the arrow and the bowstring rang out like thunder in Zhao Xuanhai’s ears.
“Who?!”
Zhao Xuanhai roared in anger as his blood surged forth, unleashing the ‘Fen Nu Mi Tuo’ divine essence in a resounding burst!
However, in the very next instant…
the falling snow was pierced and shattered into powder.
A dark, humming streak of light, accompanied by the roar of wind and thunder, tore through the alley from its far end at an astonishing speed.
Furious, Zhao Xuanhai’s eyes fixed on the incoming arrow!
“This is…”
“Chenkū Baigui Fenglei Arrow!”
“The remnants of the Si Family?!”
With his vast experience, the moment he sensed the Chin Ku Zhen Gui divine essence within the arrow, he immediately knew who had launched it!
Si Family… its surviving divine cultivators!
Daring to assassinate him at this moment?
“Si Family… allied with the Xu Family? Trying to kill me?! No… that can’t be. With the Si Family doomed, it must be the Xu Family that struck!”
In an instant, Zhao Xuanhai’s mind raced with countless thoughts.
If not, who else would have known… that he would come into this alley?
Without time to think further, the arrow neared—its path resonating with the wail of a hundred ghosts and chenkū resentments, while countless ghostly silhouettes swirled about it!
Zhao Xuanhai roared, took a step back, then stomped heavily as his blood and divine essence ignited like oil on fire, exploding in an instant!
Divine essence…
Fen Nu Mi Tuo!
Like a surging river, his divine essence burst forth in a torrent, flowing wildly around him.
A massive, flame-like statue of Mituo encircled him like a golden bell.
Then—
a crisp, resounding crack!
It was as if an ancient bell, dormant for a millennium, had been struck forcefully!
The metal arrow, seemingly suspended in midair while spinning at high speed, scraped against the Mituo divine aura, sparking countless fiery sparks!
With eyes blazing, Zhao Xuanhai’s left hand—red as a branding iron—twisted like a coiled snake, blocking the arrow.
“Chenkū Baigui Fenglei Arrow… infused with Chin Ku Zhen Gui divine essence, it must be from the Si Family’s true line…”
“But this archery skill is still only rudimentary; the divine essence it carries is nothing more than a nascent nurturing phase.”
“They think one arrow is enough to kill me?”
A burst of hot air erupted from Zhao Xuanhai’s nostrils as his hooked fingers clenched fiercely; in that instant, the arrow exploded with a deafening force, sending splinters flying, leaving him momentarily stunned.
Yet, emerging from the shattered arrow…
was a pristine divine chess piece—a star of unparalleled brilliance floating amid countless fragments.
“What is this… divine essence?”
It wasn’t Chin Ku Zhen Gui, nor was it Suspended Thought Sword!
In fact, it didn’t even belong to the realm of the seven emotions!
So pure!
For a moment, Zhao Xuanhai was utterly captivated.
But in the very next moment, the white divine chess piece vanished, replaced by…
a charming Cute Cow Mask, and beneath it… those deep, unruffled dark eyes.
Zhao Xuanhai was stricken with horror—as if the breathtaking beauty he once admired had suddenly morphed into a coarse, booger-picking brute—nearly stopping his heart.
The divine chess piece he had been so infatuated with had abruptly transformed into the very Ogre nightmare that had once bombarded him!
It left him momentarily paralyzed with shock!
“Where is my divine chess piece?!”
Zhao Xuanhai instinctively roared low.
Li Che cast a puzzled glance at Zhao Xuanhai, unsure why he harbored such a ludicrous illusion.
Without a word, Li Che’s fingers clenched tightly as the Pure Heart Dao Fruit unleashed an exquisitely forged Iron Long Spear from within its cosmic realm!
The Dragon Elephant Vajra immediately entered its second stage—Angry-Eyed Vajra!
Instantly, his blood and qi erupted in a burst!
The Angry-Eyed Vajra, activated through Blood Exchange and refined through nine cycles of cultivation, propelled Li Che’s combat prowess nearly to the zenith of his Qi Meridian.
Using the Wind and Thunder Arrow to envelop the hidden divine chess piece, then deploying the free-placement power of the Chess Sage, he appeared right beside Zhao Xuanhai.
When facing divine cultivators, close combat was the best chance!
Li Che gripped his spear; with a tremor along its shaft, it erupted like a burst of wind and snow—launching his attack: the Xu Ji Eight-Link Bone-Shattering Spear!
Countless spear shadows pierced the sky and earth!
Transcendent martial skill!
Zhao Xuanhai’s Vajra body, forged by intertwined Fen Nu Mi Tuo divine essence, was shattered by that transcendent spear strike!
Against divine power, only transcendent martial skills could stand a chance!
This Ogre before him had, astonishingly, mastered another transcendent martial skill!
With his Vajra body broken, Li Che’s peak martial prowess exploded, its suffocating pressure making Zhao Xuanhai’s temples throb and his face flush red in an instant!
Desperate to unleash his colossal, river-like divine essence and break through the fierce Ogre before him, he sought to create distance!
Li Che had anticipated this; beneath his mask, his expression remained impassive.
One hand wielded the spear; the other clenched into a fist!
The Chin Ku Zhen Gui divine essence, extracted from Divine Foundation Fragments and contained within his Thousand Analysis Hand, merged explosively into that transcendent punch!
The Divine Foundation level of divine essence utterly overwhelmed and shattered his Fen Nu Mi Tuo!
A Divine Foundation cultivator’s essence naturally surpasses its peers, exerting innate hierarchical suppression…
One move followed another, a chain of predatory maneuvers…
It was like an unparalleled chess master calculating every step, even foreseeing dozens more ahead…
Oppressive, suffocating, and nearly breathless!
That Ogre… became even more terrifying!
“Damn it!”
“I’m doomed…”
Zhao Xuanhai muttered.
Boom!
In the next moment, he exploded mid-air, with blood and flesh flying in all directions.
Even the drifting snow was stained blood-red!
PS: Monday—please support with follow reads, recommendations, and monthly votes. Let’s push for Sanjiang once more, everyone! Support Old Li again!