Chapter 1811: Steal

Steal

Amidst full-body pain, Li Leider struggled to open his eyes.

The first thing to enter his vision was a stretch of pure white ceiling. Looking at the familiar ceiling above, he fell into a daze for a moment... At the same time, a voice rang out from beside him:

"You're awake?"

Li Leider turned his head to look, only to see Mo Jue sitting by the bed, peeling an apple while smiling.

"Fourth Martial Uncle..." Li Leider attempted to climb out of bed, but immediately after, a burst of pain came from his chest. He was forced to stop his movements, his face incredibly pale.

"Your injuries haven't fully healed yet, don't make movements that are too big." Mo Jue immediately supported him, slowly and gently helping him sit up.

Li Leider recovered for a while before finally remembering the events that happened prior to falling unconscious. He lowered his head to look at his chest. Through his collar, a clear, crack-filled scarlet palm print could be seen branded onto his body. Right now, it was stinging with pain, seemingly not only printed on his skin, but also deeply branded into his broken bones.

This palm... struck truly too ruthlessly.

Mo Jue thought for a bit. "Probably over half a month."

"?"

Li Leider was dumbfounded.

He was actually beaten so badly that he fell unconscious for half a month??

Li Leider recalled scenes from that great battle, and a strong sense of powerlessness arose spontaneously... After stepping into Rank 8, he had thought the gap between him and his Master could be narrowed a bit, but he hadn't expected the disparity in their strength to remain no different from nine years ago.

If Chen Ling hadn't gone easy on him, he, an Eight-Stage Thief God Path practitioner, probably wouldn't have even been able to last five seconds.

Although Li Leider was disappointed, those original negative emotions of anger, irritability, and unwillingness had already been pretty much vented during the great battle. At this moment, his entire person was more peaceful than ever before. Facing the chasm in strength between him and Chen Ling, there was no extreme anxiety for progress, only objective and calm thought...

What did he have to do to become as powerful as him?

In Li Leider's mind, Chen Ling's words from the Ancestral Shrine surfaced once again.

Red Star Aspiration Power, huh...

Li Leider's fists clenched tight once more.

He took a deep breath, forcefully dragging his not yet fully recovered body off the bed. Limping, he put on his shoes, preparing to head outside.

"Where are you going?" Mo Jue immediately stopped him. "Your injuries haven't healed yet, it's best not to walk around casually."

"I... still have some things to do."

"What things? Are they that urgent?"

"...Mhm."

Li Leider fell silent for a moment. "I need to... become stronger as quickly as possible."

Seeing the resolute determination flash through those deep blue eyes, Mo Jue silently sighed in his heart... Sometimes, this guy was just like his Master; if he was truly determined to do something, no one could hold him back.

"Then take this." Mo Jue took out a pair of crutches from who knows where and handed them to Li Leider. "Make smaller movements when walking. If the bones shatter again, it'll be very hard to heal."

Li Leider saw that extremely plain pair of crutches and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, but after hesitating for a moment, he still honestly accepted them... He wasn't a World-Ending Calamity and didn't have such perverted regenerative abilities. He could only slowly recuperate.

"Oh right, there's one more thing."

Mo Jue seemingly remembered something and took out an Optical Disc from his embrace.

"Your Master already went out a week ago... Before leaving, he asked me to pass this item to you."

Seeing that Optical Disc, Li Leider's gaze slightly condensed.

...

A few minutes later.

The space of the Optical Disc unfolded. Leaning on his crutches, Li Leider once again returned to the center of the prison.

Compared to his elegance and composure last time, this time, his entire body was wrapped in bandages, leaning on a pair of plain crutches. He looked to not have the slightest aura of the King of the Fire-Stealers, appearing as wretched as could be.

So much so that when those Scarlet Heaven Cultists saw his appearance, they all froze for a moment...

Then, bursts of sneers and whispers rang out from deep within the prison.

Not the slightest emotion rippled in Li Leider's deep blue eyes. He merely calmly landed his gaze on the nearest Scarlet Heaven Cultist, then raised his hands...

At this moment, in Li Leider's perception, that Red Star Aspiration Power that drifted erratically like smoke was actually exceptionally clear.

Li Leider froze.

As if realizing something, he abruptly lowered his head to look at his chest.

"This is..."

Beneath the branded palm print, deep within those shattered bones, some residual, minute Red Star Aspiration Power had already seeped into his bone marrow...

Li Leider could clearly feel this wisp of Red Star Aspiration Power at all times. Perhaps also because of this bizarre coexistence over the past half-month, their Aura not only made Li Leider no longer unfamiliar with it, but even quite familiar, as if it was originally a part of his own body.

So it turned out...

That battle was for this?

Sensing that extremely minute wisp of Red Star Aspiration Power across the air, unprecedented light surfaced in Li Leider's deep blue eyes!

In the next second, his palm abruptly clenched tight!

Steal——!

Thud!

The Scarlet Heaven Cultist's chest was once again dyed in blood color. A beating heart had already appeared in Li Leider's palm out of thin air... At the same time, a minute wisp of Red Star Aspiration Power also drifted into Li Leider's body.

The moment Li Leider actively absorbed the first wisp of Red Star Aspiration Power, an indescribably profound feeling rose within his body. That sky-reaching Divine Pathway leading to the Divine Path Star actually deflected slightly, pointing toward a brand new possibility.

Is this...

Red Star Aspiration Power??

The corners of Li Leider's mouth curled up uncontrollably. The power brought by the Red Star Aspiration Power caused his entire person to tremble with excitement.

He abruptly turned his head to look at the hundreds of Scarlet Heaven Cultists in this prison, as if looking at an extremely sumptuous feast, unprecedented desire flowing from his eyes!

In this kind of crazy and bizarre gaze, all the Scarlet Heaven Cultists inexplicably broke out in goosebumps.

Li Leider directly tossed away the crutches beneath him.

Limping step by step, he walked slowly toward the terrified crowd. The Torchlight projected his bandages and overcoat onto the pitch-black walls like a gradually expanding demon.

"One day, I will become as strong as you, and even surpass you..."

"Master."

...

Oom——

The booming whistle of a ship resounded through the sky.

On the frozen sea, a steamship advanced slowly on the iceberg-filled ocean surface. At the very front of the deck, a figure wearing a brown overcoat stood alone, squinting at the end of the distant horizon.

At the intersection of sea and sky, the outline of a giant sword towering between heaven and earth slowly took shape.

The biting cold wind brushed past Chen Ling's cheeks. In those red eyes, worry and nervousness appeared rarely.

"Are you certain?" Chen Ling spoke in a deep voice.

"You guys... really discovered Jian Changsheng's whereabouts?"