Chapter 101: Seize Lives a Thousand Miles Away, After the Matter Is Done, Brush Off One

Deep winter has passed, early spring has arrived.

The spring rain continues incessantly, without end.

Heaven and earth still accompany the harsh cold.

The accumulated rainwater draws heat from between heaven and earth, bringing a chill that accompanies the spring wind, sweeping across the land, feeling even more bone‑piercing than the thick snow of deep winter.

Li Che, wearing a horse mask, had his qi and blood sunk to the utmost extreme, soundless, his eyes deep and tranquil, as he swiftly glided across the main street of the prefecture city.

His speed was extremely fast; each tap of his toes was like a dragonfly skimming water, causing the pooled water to ripple outward, his whole body shooting out smoothly, covering several meters in an instant.

He ran in the direction away from the Qin Manor.

"Homage to Immortal Artificer Bodhi Barrett" was created by Li Che based on the concept of a sniper rifle from his previous life; the basic idea is the same, perhaps the craftsmanship differs, but Li Che, using the Immortal Artificer Dao Fruit at lv3 level together with the Thousand Analysis Hand's analytical power, synchronously devised and built it according to its power and effect.

The resulting lethal power should be roughly the same.

Homage to Immortal Artificer Gatlin, it is firepower coverage, a thousand revolutions per second.

The latter, however, takes penetrative and explosive power as its main killing traits.

It can achieve long‑range sniping, its range……far exceeding that of the Immortal Artificer Gatlin improved from the wood‑passage crow.

Or rather, the two are not the same kind of mechanism in concept.

Black clothing merging into the spring water, Li Che wearing a horse mask became extremely calm, as if everything between heaven and earth were captured and listened to in each of his breaths.

Everyone's personality actually has many facets; most of the time what shows to others is a normal temperament, or the persona presented in public.

But often, in private, when no one is around, the displayed personality can be completely different.

Li Che felt that he himself was like that.

Wearing the cute ox mask, transforming into an ox demon, he becomes irritable, unrestrained, and fearless.

When killing, he relies more on martial cultivation, his body inflates, his major tendons twitch and shake, and he overwhelms with violent force.

But wearing the horse mask, Li Che becomes very calm, disliking head‑on clashes and preferring long‑range killing.

Archery, sniping, and the like……are very suited to him.

Bind souls within a hundred miles, seize lives within a thousand miles!

This is the horse mask.

But at the root, the ox demon and the horse mask are both Li Che……

The Chess Saint Dao Fruit in his chest throbbed incessantly, the Heaven Earth Chessboard net expanded, continuously spreading outward.

Slowly it began to envelop half of Golden Light Prefecture City.

Golden Light Prefecture City is huge, much larger than Fēiléichéng; the range of the Immortal Artificer Barrett is far, and with the Heaven Earth Chessboard aiming of the Chess Saint Dao Fruit, a sighting scope is essentially unnecessary.

Thus Li Che can achieve long‑range strikes.

Only one strike; whether it succeeds or not, Li Che will end today's assassination attempt.

The threat posed by Qin Yuqing is too great; if left unchecked, allowing the enemy to inch closer bit by bit, gradually endangering his family, this is not what Li Che wishes.

He deliberately chose today because he had agreed with Shangguan Qinghong to go to the Imperial Observatory to take the Guest Official examination.

This can provide an alibi for his assassination.

Everything must be steadied.

Stability is also a fine virtue.

Tap——

A step landed, Li Che's tall figure suddenly halted, no longer moving forward; the surrounding spring rain swayed, the spring wind was biting.

Each icy raindrop struck the bamboo hat, emitting a dull thud.

Beneath the horse mask, his eyes burst forth with brilliant light.

Glancing around, he now stood somewhere in the outer city of Golden Light Prefecture City, roughly several dozen li from the Qin Manor.

"About right."

Having settled on a position, Li Che's eyes flashed like lightning; he suddenly raised them, beneath the horse mask the lower jaw of the angular cover dripped with water.

Heaven Earth Chessboard, net unfurled!

It kept spreading, spreading……

Soon it enveloped the Qin Manor within his perception.

Inside the Qin Manor there was a divine‑physique expert seated in command; Li Che did not dare to underestimate him, the network of the Heaven Earth Chessboard continued to expand, soon permeating the Qin Manor, and the view from within the manor flowed into Li Che's eyes.

Having locked onto Qin Yuqing's aura, the moment the chessboard enveloped the Qin Manor, her aura appeared on the board, bursting forth with intense black qi.

That was a fierce killing intent aimed at him!

Li Che's eyebrow beneath the mask twitched slightly.

"What a venomous woman, her desire to kill me is actually this intense……"

Li Che reflected, this venomous woman likely has no proof that he killed her son Cao Qingyuan.

On the surface, Li Che is a wood‑carving master from Fēiléichéng, gentle and amiable, kind to others; yet this venomous woman, despite lacking evidence, still harbors such intense killing intent toward an honest man.

This is largely because he comes from Fēiléichéng.

Just because of that, they want to kill him……

What else is this if not a venomous woman?

Li Che's heart sank, killing intent also spilled out, leaving no hesitation at all.

Raising the Immortal Artificer Barrett gripped in his hand, the intertwined engravings on it can store divinity and qi‑blood; this is the nature of Dragon Tooth Huangyang spirit wood, a seventh‑grade spirit wood, which is naturally extraordinary.

All around was silent; Li Che stood upon the black‑tile roof, assumed a horse stance, then lifted the mechanism.

He slightly raised the angle, and under the lock of the Heaven Earth Chessboard, aimed point by point.

Gazing into the Heaven Earth Chessboard, there was Qin Yuqing's aura, dark to the point of exuding intense black qi.

Beneath the horse mask, Li Che showed no expression.

Horse Face, Hundred-Li Soul-Lock!

Thousand-Li Life-Arrest!

Boom——!

Li Che's body suddenly swelled up, but he did not fully unleash the Vajra Dragon Elephant; merely his flesh swelled a circle, and the overbearing qi and blood were completely poured into the Divine Artifice Barrett.

The bloody flowing light, as if coming to life in an instant, began to twine and spread, coiling like it was charging, and all gathered into the barrel.

Behind Li Che, the divine foundation of the Three-Eyed Wrathful True Sovereign suddenly emerged.

Moreover, to ensure the accuracy of the carnage.

Li Che's mind stirred.

In the chessboard, a pitch-black divine piece of the temple god suddenly appeared before Li Che, exploding with a "bang", and also merged into the dragon-tooth bodhi within the barrel.

The momentum rose steadily.

The rain filling the sky twisted entirely!

Heaven and earth suddenly fell silent.

Li Che felt only the sound of his own breathing through the mask remained.

"Hail to the Divine Artifice."

"Burst."

Li Che slammed down the trigger mechanism.

In an instant……

As if a fine rope twisted from divinity suddenly snapped, the dam holding back the floodwaters flung open its gate!

Boom————!!!

A thunderous explosion like heaven and earth shaking erupted instantly from the crimson-red mechanism clenched in Li Che's grasp!

An extremely powerful shockwave instantly swept up countless spring rains, spreading in concentric circles, an invisible energy ripple like a rainwater lotus blooming behind Li Che.

The black tiles beneath his feet shattered completely, flung upward by the terrifying shock, breaking again into countless fine powder.

A violently fierce gale suddenly lifted Li Che's clothing, clinging tightly to his body, perfectly outlining his extraordinarily robust musculature!

Bang!

Under the recoil, Li Che stepped back a pace and stamped his foot heavily.

Like a dragon's roar, a howl burst forth from the barrel.

Scorching flowing light, like a winding flood dragon, akin to a thunderclap beyond the heavens!

Before the gas explosion could even detonate, a scorching flow of light, wrapped in rolling air waves, twisted and shattered countless spring rains, tearing a vacuum in the air!

Sweeping across the skies above Jin Guang Prefecture City!

At the moment Li Che, tens of li away, erupted with the bodhi dragon-tooth, he no longer cared whether this shot would hit or kill Qin Yuqing.

He completely removed the horse-face mask, his breath fully restrained, and put away the "Hail to the Divine Artifice Bodhi Barrett".

A white jade-like chess piece floated in his palm.

He clenched his five fingers.

……

……

Qin Manor.

Qin Yuqing sat with dignified grace, her ample figure tightening the outlines of her robes, leaving traces on much of her smooth white skin beneath the fabric.

She was thinking, pondering who had killed her gray-faced covert operative.

She first suspected Li Che, the woodcarver from Fēiléichéng, whose suspicion was great.

After all, that covert operative of hers had been assigned to monitor Li Che, but inexplicably ran back to see her, and ended up shot dead before the gates of the Qin Manor.

But she also did not rule out the Gongyang family, for the Gongyang family's Wrathful Giant Spirit divinity is also a branch of the anger divinity, and the Qin and Gongyang families have long been at odds; moreover, Qin Yuqing secretly did away with several collateral branches of the Gongyang family, torturing them to death.

Therefore, the Gongyang family indeed had suspicion.

Moreover, the bald donkeys of the Mind-Ape Temple also had motive……

Her slender fingers rubbed her temples; Qin Yuqing truly felt a headache.

"Divine archer…… Three-Eyed Wrathful True Sovereign divinity……"

"Could it be…… that Cao Guang that good-for-nothing really isn't dead?"

Qin Yuqing's narrow eyes opened slightly, a glint flashing.

"Could it be that someone from a branch of the Divine Sect made a move?"

"The Three-Eyed Wrathful True Sovereign, the main mountain gate of the Yúnzhōu Qianyuan Divine Sect, suppresses such a Guiyi Miao; the temple god seems to be precisely the three-eyed……"

"However, the possibility is extremely low……"

Qin Yuqing lazily stretched, gazing at the copper mirror as tall as a person, seeing her plump and beautiful visage unchanged in the reflection, her vermilion lips involuntarily curling slightly.

She remained this beautiful; even after bearing children, she was still a radiant flower.

Back then, how did she blindly fall for Cao Guang of Fēiléichéng, that good-for-nothing man who had nothing but a handsome face?

Back then, she actually devoted all her thoughts to him, even bearing him a son.

Consequently, she now has no marital value with other clans in Jin Guang Prefecture City; were it not for her decent talent and excellent livelihood, she would not have become a true successor of the Goldsplit Gate.

Otherwise, how could she have her current standing in Jin Guang Prefecture City?

Although she is called the Jade-Faced Poison Rakshasa, …… how is this not a form of respect?

"What a pity for my son……"

Qin Yuqing thought of her son, her heart still giving a faint ache; as a mother, she always regards her son as a treasure in her palm.

"Don't worry, child; Mother won't let you die in vain. Mother will send your corpse to the Corpse God Sect, and you will be able to live on in another way……"

My mother will avenge you—if we can't find the murderer, everyone who came from Feilei City is a suspect; they're all the killers...

Mom will help you... kill them all!

Qin Yuqing closed her eyes.

In her heart she silently mourned, yet a murderous intent surged like a flood.

Suddenly.

Between heaven and earth, there seemed to be an extremely sharp sound, vaguely as if a thunderclap tore through the hazy cloud vault.

Qin Yuqing startled, then abruptly opened her eyes; in the next instant, her willow-leaf eyebrows trembled violently.

Her voluptuous delicate body kept trembling, her hairs standing on end!

"What… is that?!"

She abruptly turned and saw a stream of light bursting from beyond the heavens, countless qi waves parting the air, a scorching breath sweeping across heaven and earth, like a furious dragon bursting forth from the Nine Dragons River!

Like a piercing rainbow through the sun, ripping the azure sky!

Fast!

Too fast!

From the moment Qin Yuqing saw it to when she reacted, that stream of light had already approached and descended into the Qin manor!

The terrifying heat was like a blazing great sun falling down!

As a newly broken-through True Qi Grandmaster, Qin Yuqing's eyesight was superb; naturally she saw that as the stream of light burst forth, the air rippled with faint waves, and as it swooped in, rings of white qi exploded around it.

Before the explosion even sounded, the stream of light had arrived!

Too fast!

In the mere time it took Qin Yuqing to blink her fair eyelids, that stream of light had already entered the Qin manor's courtyard.

It caused a great commotion!

Boom—!

Within the Qin manor, the divine sense of the newly quiet Divine Aspect Old Ancestor naturally sensed this terrifying stream of light!

Countless divinity surged like the waves of great rivers exploding.

But this stream of light was too fast!

Only a blink or two.

That stream of light invaded the courtyard, nearly at the speed of tearing through space, ripping the sound barrier.

It shot toward the graceful Qin Yuqing, who stood before the mirror admiring her beauty!

"What is this?"

"What is it?"

Qin Yuqing's hairs stood on end; her newly broken-through Grandmaster sixth sense let her feel an unprecedented danger, and she almost instinctively activated her own qi and blood.

Behind her, a vast divine foundation suddenly rose, hovering like a jade disc at the back of her head, emitting a mournful wailing sound.

Divinity and qi and blood were all activated by her at this moment.

But she seemed only able to do these things.

That blood-colored stream of light was already right before her eyes.

Qin Yuqing's eyes froze, staring at the dissipating stream of light as its true form was revealed—it was…

A drop of tear, a blood-colored tear, like amber.

Made of spirit wood, its surface engraved with myriad delicate patterns, testing the blade's craft and skill, nearly supernatural craftsmanship, and those patterns were filled with divinity.

When it came within ten steps of her, the divinity on it erupted wildly.

A terrifying rank pressure, like a mountain pressing on her body, made her divinity unable to be mobilized, and her whole body's qi and blood turned stiff!

"This is… temple god divinity!"

"Someone wants to kill me!"

"Unreasonable…"

"Kill me!"

A piercing scream finally burst from Qin Yuqing's mouth.

Her qi and blood, divinity all gathered before her, almost an instinctive life-saving measure.

However…

Pfft—!

An intense tremor erupted, that blood-colored tear bead, with unparalleled penetrative power, pierced through Qin Yuqing's divinity and qi and blood.

Even a Grandmaster's true qi could not resist in the slightest, being tyrannically torn apart.

That piercing power was too strong!

Qin Yuqing's eyeballs were bloodshot; she clearly saw everything shattering, saw that tear-shaped thing pierce her proud chest, tear open her fair skin, and flood into her bosom.

Then, she felt that drop of tear…

…explode inside her body!

Bang—!

In an instant, Qin Yuqing felt the pain of being sliced by a thousand blades, her whole body blown into fragments, her consciousness instantly extinguished.

Rumble rumble…

Countless flesh and blood were rolled into beads of flesh and blood.

These were the chunks of flesh gouged out when the Bodhi Blood Tear exploded inside the human body and the Spirit Wood Bodhi Thread coiled in that instant.

These flesh and blood turned into blood-colored beads, scattering across the ground.

Thud—!

Terrifying penetrating force, after blasting open Qin Yuqing, slammed heavily into the ground of the Qin mansion; the entire house instantly shattered completely, countless luxurious objects shattered into fragments, reduced to ruin.

The ground was even blasted into a pit five meters in diameter; within the pit, thick smoke rose billowing, with faint firelight flickering inside.

Everything fell into silence; the shockwaves raged, as if the intercepted spring rain resumed its patter.

The Qin mansion experienced a deathly silence lasting about five or six breaths.

The next moment, a vast aura erupted, and one figure after another rushed from all directions of the Qin mansion.

However, the Divine Aspect hovering above the manor let out a furious roar, causing these Qin mansion direct and branch cultivators to abandon their idea of going to watch the excitement.

However, almost all of the Qin family's direct lineage appeared outside Qin Yuqing's small courtyard.

When they pushed the door open and saw the small courtyard reduced to ruins, and saw Qin Yuqing's miserable state.

Each of their eyes bottomed out with a flash of endless bewilderment.

After the bewilderment came overwhelming terror!

No…… how did he die like this?

A streak of light came from beyond the heavens, striking Qin Yuqing; Qin Yuqing died on the spot, torn apart, his flesh and blood gouged into beads.

The peerless beauty instantly turned into a red powdered skeleton, its flesh and blood gouged away.

Such a way of death is truly too bizarre.

Isn't this as good as being able to kill whoever one wants?

Nothing can block it!

Divine Archer?

But this is already beyond what a Divine Archer can explain; where exactly did this streak of light come from?

How, from such a distance, could its power still terrifically slay a Perfected Divine Foundation Master?

Like a dark cloud, it firmly enveloped the heads of the two Qin brothers.

It made their livers and gallbladders churn violently, their hands and feet turn icy cold.

Boom—

Suddenly.

An extremely elderly figure appeared, drifting into the courtyard where Qin Yuqing was executed.

Qin Hao Nan and the other hastily performed the rites.

"Greetings, Ancestor."

The Qin mansion's Divine Aspect cultivators are also the foundation of the Qin mansion as a Divine Aspect clan!

The Qin family's Ancestor, with his entire person emanating divinity, seemed like a deity come to life, stepping out of a painting, as if a sculpture could move.

The old man was extremely aged, his whole body exuding an intense deathly aura, as if about to enter the earth at any moment.

His gaze was murky as he appeared in the courtyard.

His face resembled the bark of a thousand-year-old tree, furrowed and rugged, and he twitched it.

He clenched his five fingers.

The next moment, a bead of Qin Yuqing's gouged flesh and blood floated into his palm.

With his index finger and thumb, he crushed the blood and flesh, and a coiled strand of spirit wood silk was flung out.

"Seven-tier spirit wood……dragon tooth boxwood……"

"Also containing divinity, the Three-eyed Wrathful True Lord, and……the divinity of the Spirit Child Temple of the Three-eyed Wrathful True Lord……"

"This is not an arrow……"

"It is the Way of Mechanisms."

"Tang……Mechanism……"

The old man's gaze was murky, yet in an instant it became immeasurably profound.

……

……

The white【Immaculate Heart】divinity chess piece was grasped in Li Che's palm.

By the time Li Che opened his eyes, the terrifying gale brought forth by the explosion of Dragon Tooth Bodhi had already vanished without a trace.

Everything returned to calm.

He did not know whether that shot of Bodhi Dragon Tooth had killed Qin Yuqing.

A true sniper never looks back at the result.

The surging spring wind and rain were cut off.

The warmth from the burning charcoal brazier filled the flying eaves and upturned corners of the pavilion.

He shook off the raindrops clinging to his black combat attire, tidied his clothes after the deed, and Li Che's countenance was refined and gentle.

He raised his head, puffed his chest, spirited and vigorous, and stepped into the Imperial Observatory.

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(End of chapter)