Chapter 97: Seizing the Qilin Blood

“You… how is this possible!”

Sheng Shi’an stared at Li Muxian before him, feeling the vast amount of heavenly qi he had just absorbed vanish completely, his cloudy eyes filled with disbelief.

Even the originally wild and powerful hidden blood qi had sunk into dormancy.

He realized that, despite his Tianren realm cultivation, he had now lost all control over heavenly qi and could no longer draw any qi from the surrounding environment.

As if in an instant, he had been cast down from a Tianren martial master to an ordinary man with not a trace of martial qi.

“Master Sheng!”

At that moment, Tu Yao barked sharply, as if trying to rouse the frozen Sheng Shi’an.

His arm muscles bulged, his fist intent shaking the void like a dragon’s low roar; he launched a punch, filling the sky with dark shadowy fists.

Each fist shadow weighed like a thousand-pound hammer, the terrifying rush of air exploding in thunderous crashes; a hundred fist shadows piled atop one another, like overlapping waves gathering unimaginable power before crashing down upon Li Muxian.

Li Muxian turned his head, raising an eyebrow, and said:

“This fist technique isn’t bad, but it’s nowhere near mine—and even if I stood still and let you hit me, it wouldn’t do a thing.”

As he spoke, he reached out and seized the piled fist shadows, which vanished instantly.

At the same time, Tu Yao, not far away, suddenly felt a chill in his spirit, his face twisting in horror.

He felt himself bound by an irresistible force; even the martial qi within his meridians and dantian had turned to stagnant water, utterly immobile.

Soon after, his entire body lost control and flew toward Li Muxian, arriving before him in the blink of an eye.

Then Tu Yao saw Li Muxian flick his fingers, sending two talisman lights flying into himself and Sheng Shi’an.

“Hand over the Qilin blood, and you’ll suffer less.”

Li Muxian spoke slowly, and at once, the Life-Death Talismans within Sheng Shi’an and Tu Yao activated.

A searing, bone-deep itching and pain, like ten thousand ants gnawing their flesh, ravaged their bodies; the two men, who hadn’t felt such agony since reaching Tianren, convulsed violently, screaming like beasts.

“Brother, what demonic art have you cultivated? It’s terrifying!”

Li Yuanling watched the two once-formidable Tianren masters reduced to such a state in Li Muxian’s hands, shrank back, and glanced at him with fear.

Yet she was still gripping her collar, unable to escape even if she wanted to.

At that moment, Li Muxian shook the girl in his hand, her pale face trembling, and said:

“Don’t talk nonsense—how is this demonic art?”

Then he added, threateningly:

“And don’t go spreading today’s events around—I’ve got plenty of little admirers out there. Don’t tarnish my reputation for no reason.”

Hearing this, Li Yuanling bit her lip and muttered softly.

But quickly, she nodded vigorously, hurriedly saying:

“Got it, got it! Don’t shake me anymore!”

…

Soon enough, even masters like Sheng Shi’an and Tu Yao could not resist the torment of the Life-Death Talismans and confessed everything about the Qilin blood.

After obtaining the information he needed, Li Muxian’s gaze flickered, and he turned to gaze into the depths of the cave, squinting:

“Looks like I need to hurry—can’t let that city lord eat all the Qilin blood!”

As soon as he spoke, Li Yuanling beside him suddenly felt the scenery before her rush away once more.

In her vision, she clearly saw the gray-robed elder Sheng Shi’an and Tu Yao both with a finger-sized hole appearing between their brows, falling backward from midair, silently plummeting toward the underground palace below.

Their faces, even in death, wore expressions of terror and disbelief.

Aside from the final agony of the Life-Death Talismans, they could never believe that such a young man as Li Muxian possessed overwhelming martial power that crushed them utterly.

Moreover, after he struck, they had not even a fraction of strength left to resist—helpless, they were slaughtered, their deepest ambitions ending only in death and dissolution.

…

Not long after, Li Muxian carried Li Yuanling through several dark rock caves and arrived before a half-open heavy stone gate.

“Could someone have beaten us here?”

Li Yuanling, dangling in midair, spoke; along the way, she had seen only the corpses of guards—clearly, they were too late.

Li Muxian said nothing. Consuming Qilin blood was already extremely difficult; now that someone had interrupted the city lord, it wasn’t necessarily bad.

Then he carried Li Yuanling through the stone gate.

After advancing dozens of zhang, they reached a narrow rock cliff, beneath which lay a natural underground cold pool.

The pool was deep, its calm surface continuously rising wisps of cold vapor; the extreme chill coated the surrounding rocks in thick frost.

Yet on the other side of the pool, brilliant flames blazed, rolling waves of heat surging outward.

There, four figures clashed rapidly across the pool.

An old woman in white robes moved like the wind, her body a blur of white, her swordlight sharp and terrifying.

The other two were Han Meiyan and Zhang He.

Han Meiyan’s eyes glowed as she struck with palm strikes, using powerful palm winds to swirl crimson-pink mist that slammed into a man whose skin was charred and smoldering with crimson embers.

Zhang He clung tightly to the man, biting into his back, his own flesh torn and bloody, legs broken in several places.

Yet despite the man’s punches and kicks, Zhang He refused to let go, instead tearing off and swallowing mouthfuls of the man’s flesh.

The man’s aura seemed strong, yet unstable; a powerful force within his body relentlessly tore him apart from within.

Thus, facing Han Meiyan and the other two, he could only desperately fend them off.

“You deserve to die!”

Su Zhangqing roared, his appearance as if scorched by fire.

All his hair had been burned away; his skin and face held not a single unblemished patch, only charred, rotting flesh—horrifying to behold.

In addition, Han Meiyan’s poison made him periodically dazed, while the Immortal of the Soaring Waves’ sword qi worsened his wounds.

And Zhang He, clinging to him like a leech, gnawed at him relentlessly, driving him into uncontrollable rage.

(End of Chapter)