Chapter 59: A City Full of Killers

The residence where Li Youyi lived was only a few miles from the Suihe River, separated by a bustling commercial district with three streets and a low-lying, tile-roofed fishing village.

As long as he reached the riverbank, he could dive in and escape.

Relying on the endless magic power within his body, he could lurk at the bottom of the river for a day and a night without suffocating. Other martial practitioners could not match his stamina.

……

With the Ghost Banner draped over him like a black cloak, Li Youyi moved like a streak of black lightning, crossing three bustling streets in just a few breaths. In the distance, he could already see the masts and sails of countless boats docked at the Suihe River, and faintly hear the laughter and banter of fishermen finishing their day's work.

Suddenly.

A sense of unknown danger struck, and every hair on Li Youyi’s body stood on end.

Without a second thought, he pushed off with his legs, his Clear Void Cicada-Chasing Steps exploding into action to alter his trajectory.

"Boom!"

A thumb-thick, four-fletched long arrow slanted down from the sky.

The arrowhead sank deep into the stone pavement.

The shaft, still vibrating, stood as tall as a man above the ground.

Its flight speed far exceeded the speed of sound; only a moment later did the piercing whistle of the arrow reach the ears of Li Youyi, who continued to flee.

Such immense power—had he not dodged it, even with his corpse-cloth soft armor and the Ghost Banner, he would have been severely wounded.

A female freak-species, three meters tall with black feathered wings, hovered three hundred meters in the air, holding a three-meter-long giant bow. Nine arrows remained in the quiver on her back.

A look of surprise flashed in her deep blue eyes.

That brat on the ground clearly couldn't see the arrow, so how did he sense it in advance?

Not only a martial artist, but also a Mind Master?

She nocked a second arrow, the silver bowstring, thin as a hair, glowing as she drew the giant bow.

This bow was a magic artifact.

She was determined to claim the Five Seas Pill from the Five Funerals Temple.

"Whoosh!"

The long, piercing whistle sounded again.

Li Youyi dodged the second arrow by a hair's breadth, but his right ear was grazed, blood trickling down.

It was Murong Xiao, ranked twenty-first among the top hundred martial artists of Lizhou.

Relying on her flight advantage and a low-grade magic artifact bow, she had killed over ten Seventh-Aperture martial artists. She had even ambushed a Five Seas realm expert; though she failed to kill them, she had escaped unscathed.

During the intervals when he took Zhao Zhizhuo to reshape his apertures, Li Youyi had visited the Seventh-Aperture Hall and learned the details of Lizhou’s top hundred martial artists.

Because he had to dodge those two arrows, Li Youyi’s speed was hindered, and he was caught up to by a masked expert sprinting along the rooftops to his right.

This masked expert was also a freak-species, with long, lithe limbs and impressive speed.

"Whoosh!"

He kicked off the eaves, causing them to collapse in a shower of tiles.

In the next instant, he was above Li Youyi, his phoenix-shaped axe carving a trajectory that tore through the air.

It looked as though Li Youyi’s head was about to be severed.

Li Youyi shifted his shoulders, his figure blurring and appearing a step away, dodging the axe while backhanding a sword strike.

"Pfft!"

This masked Seventh-Aperture martial artist, despite blocking with his other phoenix-axe, was sent flying, crashing through the wall of a fisherman’s house, his abdomen gushing blood.

He prided himself on speed above all other Seventh-Aperture martial artists, yet he had lost to Li Youyi’s even more uncanny movement technique.

"Whether you are Xie Jin or Li Youyi, you had better make your identity clear before you die."

Flag Master Shi Chuanyu of the Lin Bang Sect caught up, his voice shrill and feminine, throwing a dense volley of flying needles.

Having accompanied the sect leader and vice-leader to meet Yang Qingxi, Shi Chuanyu was naturally no simpleton. He was an Eighth-Aperture martial arts prodigy who had received a Five Seas Pill from the Yang Clan, though he had failed to break through.

Naturally, such Eighth-Aperture prodigies and top-hundred martial artists—those with immense combat power or potential—usually had a chance to obtain a second Five Seas Pill.

As for the Pure Immortal Bodies, obtaining a third or fourth pill was no surprise.

However, every martial artist could only consume one Five Seas Pill per year. Failure meant a year of recuperation before trying again.

Because of his misjudgment, the Lin Bang Sect had suffered heavy losses, so he had to come personally to make amends. Moreover, killing Li Youyi carried a reward of a Five Seas Pill.

He was fully confident that after consuming this Five Seas Pill, he would surely step into the Five Seas realm.

With his Eighth-Aperture-to-Five-Seas talent and strength, the Lin Bang Sect would have to be renamed the "Shi Sect" from now on.

"Clang! Clang! Clang..."

Li Youyi retreated rapidly, his long sword dancing like a rainstorm, knocking down every single needle.

In that brief interval, three more figures caught up.

Among the three, the top-hundred martial artist Yao Zhengsheng was the most oppressive. His four-meter-tall giant ape body, carrying a newly forged thousand-jin iron staff, caused the ground to tremble with every step he took on the street.

The other two Seventh-Aperture martial artists were masked, one wielding a sword and the other a spear, circling from the rooftops to block Li Youyi’s path to the Suihe River.

Unlike the top-hundred martial artists, they were terrified of future retaliation from the Cangli Tribe and dared not reveal their true faces.

In an instant, Li Youyi was trapped in a life-or-death net. Whether from the sky or any direction on the ground, every single one of them was a top-tier expert.

Even worse, a steady stream of other Seventh-Aperture martial artists, interested in the Five Seas Pill and magic artifacts, were rushing over. Some hid in the shadows, waiting for Li Youyi to be wounded and weakened before jumping out to kill him and scavenge the spoils.

"I can't wait any longer, or I really won't be able to get out today!"

"Kill!"

Li Youyi let out a long roar, crushing the second blood bag tied to his scripture belt, and charged toward the two masked Seventh-Aperture martial artists blocking his path, his fighting spirit reaching its peak.

The sword-wielding Seventh-Aperture martial artist’s magic power overflowed, wrapping around him like smoke and clouds as he lunged, slashing horizontally at Li Youyi’s legs.

The spear-wielding Seventh-Aperture martial artist coiled like a full bow, then mobilized the strength of his entire skeleton and muscles to thrust, dozens of spear shadows appearing at once like a wall of impenetrable forest.

"Whoosh!"

Murong Xiao, flying in mid-air, predicted Li Youyi’s movement trajectory and loosed an arrow.

A three-pronged ambush!

Though the three had not known each other before this, they coordinated seamlessly in an instant—a perfect manifestation of their rich combat experience.

Li Youyi had been most vigilant of Murong Xiao in the sky; the moment he charged out, he changed his trajectory with a movement that defied the laws of physics, slashing his sword at the lunging sword-wielder.

With the scripture belt’s augmentation and the mystery of the Clear Void Cicada-Chasing Steps, Li Youyi could push his movement to a ghostly level, advancing and retreating freely, shifting left and right; no one could predict him.

"Boom!"

The man-tall arrow falling from the firmament smashed into the ground three feet to the right of Li Youyi’s figure.

The sword-wielding Seventh-Aperture martial artist looked at the young figure leaping above his head and the yellow light slashing down, his face filled with shock; he had no time to rise and block.

"Pfft!"

The yellow light left a bloodline across his face, from his brow to his chin.

Split in two by a single sword strike!

Before his two halves could even fall apart, Li Youyi had already escaped several feet behind him, sprinting toward the Suihe River at top speed.

The sky darkened, the sunset growing colder.

Li Youyi inwardly shouted that heaven was helping him.

As long as night fell, even if these pursuers were highly cultivated, their vision would inevitably be affected.

His chances of escape would increase significantly.

From behind came Shi Chuanyu’s shrill voice: "Li Youyi, do you really think those people in the residence can live to enter the city? Offending the Lin Bang Sect means you must pay a tragic price; those two women will be sent to the Baoyue Pavilion, and I hear one of them is a Pure Immortal Body."

Li Youyi’s heart sank to the bottom.

But he quickly calmed down, reasoning that Shi Chuanyu was saying this on purpose—it was a tactic to distract him and disturb his focus.

After all, according to Zhao Zhizhuo, Cangli had not yet left Jiuli City. With his twenty-man personal guard escorting them, how could the Lin Bang Sect dare to deal with Zhao Meng and Cai Yutong without an absolute advantage?

And even if those nameless, faceless dead-men were to strike, Zhao Zhizhuo could definitely hold them off.

Zhao Zhizhuo’s combat power would not lose to the top ten of the top-hundred martial artists, and might even be stronger.

Shi Chuanyu added: "Do you think I’m bluffing? With such a commotion, haven't you noticed that the City Defense Battalion hasn't arrived yet? Is this the kind of influence the Lin Bang Sect has?"

Li Youyi turned his head to glance at him, revealing a set of white teeth clenched tight.

……

Yang Qingxi sat in the main hall of the command deck of a two-hundred-meter-long armored warship anchored in the center of the Suihe River. Before her was a table covered with a light cyan embroidered tablecloth, decorated with a hundred birds and cloud patterns.

On it were exquisite silver wine sets, exotic fruits, and a magic artifact bone lamp.

Wisps of magic energy drifted from her slender, snow-white fingertips, fueling the bone lamp.

The hazy light made the surroundings indistinct; no one could see her figure, and no one could hear the voices within the lamp’s illumination—everything became illusory.

The light made her Pure Immortal Body skin look even more delicate and snow-white; any man would likely be unable to resist wanting to touch it, or grab it, to feel the softness and elasticity of her flesh.

Yang Qingxi gazed toward the shore a hundred paces away.

Because night had fallen, both the residential area on the bank and the rows of fishing boats on the river were lit with bright yellow lamps.

In a narrow alley, magic power collided intensely, yellow sword light flashing.

Walls of houses collapsed from time to time, and blood splashed into the night sky.

The battle was nothing short of tragic.

"To actually be able to break through to the Suihe River bank, it’s truly quite impressive." Yang Qingxi wore a veil, her eyes like two pools of clear spring water, devoid of any fluctuation.

Xue Zheng stood guard at the entrance of the main hall, his body like cast silver, his skin having a ten-percent metallic texture.

He spoke with a sound like grinding metal: "Eldest Miss, let me end this!"

"End it for what? Isn't watching the show fun? A game of cats catching a mouse—I find it quite interesting." She said.

Previously, Yang Yun had planned the ambush on Shenlong Street, and Yang Qingxi had scolded him severely. She felt her younger brother took an ordinary Seventh-Aperture martial artist too seriously, and he shouldn't have appeared at the scene of the ambush himself, leaving behind evidence.

But as the intense reactions of Li Songlin and Cangli followed, Yang Qingxi sensed something was wrong.

After a thorough investigation, she discovered many strange things.

That was why, this morning, she had let Yang Yun do as he pleased. She wanted to see why Li Songlin, Cangli, and Li Ling valued Li Youyi and the people in that residence so much, hoping to dig out the secrets within.

Especially the secret of the Pure Immortal Body transformation.

"Rustle!"

A breeze brushed the great river.

A handsome figure in silver robes and white garments landed silently from the night sky onto the deck at the bow of the armored warship.

No one knew where he had come from.

In fact, no one had even noticed when he landed on the ground.

Until he spoke voluntarily: "For the Eldest Miss Yang to anchor her ship here, she truly has daring courage. Aren't you afraid that the things we are plotting will be discovered by some of the old fogies in the city?"

This handsome, noble figure held a two-foot-long bone flute, his voice filled with an intoxicating masculine magnetism.

If Li Youyi were here, he would definitely recognize him. He was the very guest who had worn a Buddha-head mask and ambushed the Cangli Tribe’s coffin-carrying team alongside Shi Jiuzhai in the Town of Buried Immortals.

The clothing, accessories, bone flute, voice...

The only difference was that this mysterious guest was not wearing the Buddha-head mask at this moment.

(End of Chapter)