Chapter 126: Silver‑Armored Knight

Li Xuan subconsciously entered the space of the Palm Heaven Bottle.

At the instant Li Xuan's figure vanished, a silver‑white crossbow bolt struck Li Xuan's afterimage directly, "You scared me to death!" Li Xuan collapsed onto the ground, panting wildly in terror.

It was Li Xuan's first time feeling death so close; Li Xuan could sense that if this bolt hit, his life would be over instantly.

More importantly, Li Xuan did not notice the crossbowman's presence; before he could locate the opponent, the bolt nearly pierced his chest.

"As expected, my strength is still too weak, but this guy uses a crossbow, so his combat power must be low; otherwise he wouldn't choose a crossbow as a weapon. If I can locate him, there's still a chance to defeat him," Li Xuan said, frowning as he thought.

Crossbows, as high‑damage war weapons, hold an awkward status on Douluo Continent: the strong cannot use them, the weak cannot afford them.

He didn't know whether the outside crossbowman had left, and Li Xuan didn't want to appear so soon, so he simply ate a meal.

In the City of Slaughter, time is the easiest thing to blur; Li Xuan didn't know whether the meal was breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

After drinking and eating his fill, Li Xuan took out a fine‑steel shield and then left the Palm Heaven Bottle space.

"Dong!"

The moment Li Xuan left the Palm Heaven Bottle space, a crossbow bolt hit Li Xuan's fine‑steel shield with pinpoint accuracy.

The bolt's massive force slammed into the shield, instantly numbing Li Xuan's arm.

Li Xuan's shield was thirty centimeters thick and extremely heavy; it could only be transported by retrieving and releasing it with a Kongming Crystal.

Only then did the powerful bolt suffer under Li Xuan's shield.

The opposing crossbowman was visibly stunned by the result, then launched a triple burst, yet still could not affect the fine‑steel shield.

Instead, it gave Li Xuan a chance; through a gap in the shield he could see what the opponent actually was.

Near a nearby hillock, a soldier cloaked entirely in silver‑white armor crouched; anyone capable of wearing full plate must be a senior soldier, perhaps even a general.

Li Xuan noticed the silver‑armored man holding a silver‑white hand crossbow; the weapon was finely crafted, its surface engraved with a layer of silver‑white roses, and Li Xuan could feel soul power ripples emanating from it when it was used.

This… is actually a Soul Guide Device! He watched the silver‑armored man deftly change bolts and cock the crossbow.

Li Xuan slowly furrowed his brows.

"Why does it not look human? Could it be a puppet?" Li Xuan muttered softly.

Seeing that the bolt in his hand posed little threat to Li Xuan, the silver‑armored man drew a silver‑white long sword from his waist and stepped toward Li Xuan's shield.

"You think you're the only one with ranged means!" Li Xuan snorted coldly, channeling soul power within his body; in an instant, a dozen fireballs appeared behind him.

One fireball after another surged toward the silver‑armored man.

The silver‑armored man felt the power of the Burning Heart Divine Flame fireballs and even actively dodged them.

Moreover, his footwork was extremely agile, not as simple as the steps in Li Xuan's Eight Trigrams Wandering Dragon Palm.

Li Xuan continued to control the fireballs while carefully observing the silver‑armored man's movements, hoping to learn something.

After a few minutes of Li Xuan's fiery onslaught, the silver‑armored man's armor was renewed; the dust and grime had been burned clean by the flames.

At that moment, Li Xuan was only two meters from the silver‑armored man. He snorted, surged forward, and his palms, like knives, rushed toward the man's face.

"Clang!"

The silver‑armored man sheathed his sword to defend, and Li Xuan's fist landed steadily on the silver‑white long sword, making his scalp tingle.

"Damn, I can't beat him! Retreat!" Li Xuan felt the opponent's strength could crush him, so without hesitation he turned to leave.

The silver‑armored man seemed to short‑circuit, moving stiffly.

Seeing the scene before him, Li Xuan was also stunned, but his reaction was faster than the silver‑armored man's; he swiftly stuffed the hand crossbow, bolts, and long sword hanging from the man's waist into his Kongming Crystal.

Then the silver‑armored man returned to normal, and Li Xuan easily slipped away from his grasp.

Li Xuan kept fleeing outward, while the silver‑armored man chased him madly from behind.

When Li Xuan and the silver‑armored man reached a point one kilometer from the Killing Treasure Vault, the silver‑armored man suddenly stopped and ran back.

Li Xuan watched the retreating silver‑armored man, shook his head helplessly, and concluded that the man was a puppet whose range was within one kilometer of the Killing Treasure Vault.

Now that the silver‑armored man had neither long sword nor bolts, Li Xuan's safety increased dramatically.

He glanced around; everywhere were large pits he had dug to find corpses, though they remained unfilled.

Li Xuan thought briefly and returned to the Palm Heaven Bottle space.

Li Xuan first took out that silver‑white hand crossbow.

The hand crossbow was half a meter long and half a meter wide, entirely silver, its surface embossed with a layer of white roses, looking extremely luxurious and grand.

Li Xuan loaded a bolt onto the crossbow, then infused the mechanism with soul power; instantly the silver‑white roses began to emit a faint silver glow.

"Swoosh…"

A sharp whoosh rang out, and a Purple Thunder Walnut tree not far from Li Xuan was snapped cleanly in half by the bolt!

Although the Purple Thunder Walnut tree wasn't very thick, it still proved the true power of this bow‑crossbow.

Additionally, Li Xuan felt that after infusing soul power, the bow‑crossbow imparted much more energy to the bolt and gave it a wind‑type attack, making the bolt fly faster and sharper.

"It's a pity that the silver‑armored man isn't a normal person; if he were, using soul‑powered bolts I would have had no chance to enter the Palm Heaven Bottle space, certain death!" Li Xuan stroked his chin, speaking seriously, and felt the pressure—his combat power still needed to improve.

Then Li Xuan took out the silver‑armored man's long sword.

The sword was 1.2 meters long, blade width three fingers, weighed fifteen jin three liang, naturally curved, entirely silver, with a layer of white roses embossed on the surface.

"Could it be another Soul Guide Device weapon?" Li Xuan said, delightedly running his hand over the sword.

Li Xuan slowly lifted the sword and infused some soul power into it.

Sure enough, the silver‑white long sword began to emit a faint silver light; Li Xuan could feel that once the patterns were activated, his strength increased by half.

(End of Chapter)