Chapter 212: Cold Edge

Li Fei walked into the secret chamber.

This secret chamber was built entirely from steel and infused with special materials capable of resisting a martial artist's internal force, similar to the dungeon at the Green Face Manor.

Once the door was thoroughly shut, unless Li Fei opened it, anyone outside would have to break it down by force.

The secret chamber contained a bathroom, a toilet, food, water, and a large bed.

It looked much like a hotel room.

Li Fei first placed the dozen or so bottles of elixirs he had prepared in advance on the floor, then sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion in the center of the room to begin checking his physical condition.

Neither 【Steel Armor】 nor 【Phantom Leaf】 showed any abnormalities, and the number of blood souls currently stored within the "Blood Spring" was 223.8!

This was Li Fei's greatest reliance; his own vitality was already several times stronger than that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment powerhouse, and with the "Blood Spring" added, as long as he didn't die instantly, he could slowly recover afterward.

He closed his eyes, calmed his mind, and began to perform the "Contemplation of Self-Existence Art."

The next second, a faint sense of Zen appeared around him—calm, empty, and free.

Li Fei first focused his attention on his left arm, using the "Contemplation of Self-Existence Art" to perceive all the 【Steel Armor】 branches within it.

He had repeated this process many times over the past month, and he knew the distribution of all the implant branches in his left arm like the back of his hand.

He began to manipulate his Geng Metal True Qi to adhere to the surface of these implant branches.

Because Geng Metal True Qi was extremely sharp, this process would normally easily damage the implants, but Li Fei did not cut off his connection to the Ten Thousand Blood Bead at this time, allowing him to operate boldly.

Relying on his powerful control, Li Fei completed this step in just over an hour.

He opened his eyes, picked up a bottle of elixirs from the floor, and poured out a pill to swallow.

This was a Spirit-Awakening Pill, which had the effect of rapidly restoring one's mental state.

For this breakthrough, Li Fei had made ample preparations; besides the Spirit-Awakening Pill, he had also prepared Iron Sand Qi-Replenishing Pills to restore his Innate One Qi. Additionally, he had various elixirs for stopping bleeding, replenishing blood and Qi, and healing wounds.

After swallowing a Spirit-Awakening Pill, Li Fei closed his eyes to rest and gather his strength. Once his mental state had returned to its peak, he opened another medicine bottle and took another pill.

The pill he took this time was called a Boiling-Stop Pill, a potent analgesic!

Once the elixir began to take effect, Li Fei started the next step:

First, he cut off his connection to the Ten Thousand Blood Bead, then transformed his Geng Metal True Qi into a sharp blade to slice through his flesh, meridians, and bones, finally "extracting" the 【Steel Armor】 implant branches from his left arm in their entirety.

The logic of the Whole-Body Method was essentially consistent with Li Fei's current operation; Li Fei was drawing on its techniques and the methods for extracting implant branches with minimal trauma.

This process was equivalent to performing surgery on himself—many times more exaggerated than scraping bone to remove poison—and the pain he had to endure was indescribable!

Even with Li Fei's extremely strong willpower, he had still taken the Boiling-Stop Pill before starting.

At this moment, the skin on his left arm looked as if it had been sliced countless times, like porcelain about to shatter, covered in cracks!

Fresh blood gushed out continuously, and Li Fei's forehead and back were drenched in sweat.

Once the implant branches in his left arm were "extracted," Li Fei began to gather the implants while maintaining the Geng Metal True Qi he had previously deployed.

Ten minutes later, Li Fei's left arm had stopped bleeding, and he had successfully gathered all the 【Steel Armor】 implant branches extracted from his left arm into a ball, placing it in his dantian.

If done normally using the Return-to-One Method, this step would have taken Li Fei at least a month to complete.

But now, it had taken him less than two hours.

He "glanced" at the Ten Thousand Blood Bead; the number of blood souls had decreased by 16.

Not bad, he could keep showing off!

After swallowing a blood-replenishing elixir, Li Fei began to repeat the previous steps, but this time, his target was his right arm.

Several hours later, Li Fei had thoroughly transformed into a bloody mess, with a large pool of blood on the floor.

His entire body was essentially falling apart, with wounds everywhere!

Moreover, these wounds were not just on the surface but included his bones; twenty-seven of his bones were fractured, and the implant branches had been extracted from these twenty-seven fracture sites.

Yet, Li Fei's expression remained calm; from the initial excruciating pain, he had even become somewhat numb.

By now, he had successfully gathered all the 【Steel Armor】 implant branches from his four limbs into his dantian; the next steps were the true test:

He had to begin extracting the implant branches from his internal organs.

Compared to the limbs, once the internal organs were injured, the damage would be more severe and more likely to be life-threatening!

Li Fei first chose the liver, because the liver belongs to the Wood element, and Metal overcomes Wood, so the number of 【Steel Armor】 implant branches in the liver was relatively the smallest.

He again used the "Contemplation of Self-Existence Art" to determine the distribution of all branches, then used Geng Metal True Qi to adhere to them, and finally cut and extracted them.

Pfft—

When Li Fei "extracted" the 【Steel Armor】 implant branches from his liver in their entirety, he couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of fresh blood.

He hurriedly re-established his connection with the Ten Thousand Blood Bead, transferring the damage his liver was currently sustaining to the bead, which prevented his condition from deteriorating further.

By this point, his cumulative loss of blood souls had reached 69; if this were an ordinary Foundation Establishment powerhouse, half their life would already be gone.

After swallowing a blood-and-Qi-replenishing elixir, followed by a Spirit-Awakening Pill and an Iron Sand Qi-Replenishing Pill, Li Fei adjusted his breath for over ten minutes before beginning to gather the implant branches extracted from his liver.

Once he successfully gathered this portion of the implant branches, Li Fei paused for a moment.

His mental energy had reached its limit, and he could no longer control enough Geng Metal True Qi to maintain the "channels."

The greatest challenge of this breakthrough for him was not just enduring the damage, but also controlling the Geng Metal True Qi to maintain so many "channels," which was an immense drain on his mental energy!

Fortunately, as his body tissues continuously repaired themselves, Li Fei could steadily reduce the number of "channels" he had to maintain.

What he had to do now was wait quietly; only after a portion of his body tissues finished repairing could he withdraw a portion of the Geng Metal True Qi, thereby continuing to extract from other parts.

May 12th, the third day of Li Fei's seclusion.

Datong Prefecture Government Building.

The Datong Prefecture Garrison Commander and two Deputy Garrison Commanders.

The Chief Inspector of the General Inspectorate.

The Chief Supervisor of the General Supervisory Office and one Deputy Chief Supervisor.

The First Seat of the General Stop-Gong Office and two Steering Envoys.

Deputy Dean Jiang Jin of the General Law Office, and Qi Yiming, a Great Mage of the Possession Realm who was most skilled in tracking.

These big shots at the pinnacle of Datong Prefecture gathered together to hold a meeting.

Also participating in the meeting was an investigation team from the provincial capital, led by Yan Shijin, Deputy Supervisory Envoy of the Supervisory Department, along with a group of officials.

"Please, Chief Supervisor Qu, explain the situation."

Datong Prefecture Garrison Commander Governor Bian Jingru was in charge of presiding over today's meeting and spoke to Qu Xun, Chief Supervisor of the General Inspectorate.

Qu Xun was a man who looked stern and had a sinister gaze.

He nodded, picked up the report in his hand, and read aloud:

"On the night of March 2nd, the 45th year of Hongguang, Zhang Zongyang, a Steering Envoy of the Datong Prefecture General Stop-Gong Office, was murdered."

"In the early hours of March 3rd, Great Mage Qi Yiming of the General Law Office used his own tracking magic treasure to discover that the aura remaining on Zhang Zongyang's corpse was similar to that of an exotic beast, initially suspecting the killer to be an Outlander from the Western Nations (see Chapter 28, Volume 2 for details)."

"Because a previous case at Wu'an University revealed that the Tiefeng Sect might be involved with Western spies, the General Inspectorate began an investigation targeting the Tiefeng Sect."

"After more than a month of investigation, our General Inspectorate has indeed uncovered collusion between the Tiefeng Sect and Western spies!"

Upon hearing this, there was a stir in the room.

At the time, Garrison Commander Governor Bian Jingru had immediately dispatched the Imperial Camp Army to seal the mountain, trapping the entire Tiefeng Sect on Tiefeng Mountain for two full months!

During these two months, the Tiefeng Sect had cooperated with the investigation, and nothing had been found, leading many to believe the Tiefeng Sect was just unlucky to have encountered such a thing.

Little did they expect it was actually colluding with Western spies!

"Qu Xun, is the evidence conclusive?"

Yan Shijin suddenly asked.

Counting it up, Yan Shijin was Qu Xun's direct superior; the supervisory work in Datong Prefecture needed to be reported regularly to the Supervisory Department in the provincial capital, and Yan Shijin was responsible for intelligence in Datong Prefecture.

Therefore, Yan Shijin didn't have much small talk for Qu Xun and asked directly.

Qu Xun nodded: "Of course. Since it involves a Great Martial Arts Sect and a Martial Arts Master, our General Inspectorate would certainly only dare to formally make accusations after obtaining conclusive evidence."

After speaking, he turned his head and gave a look to the Deputy Chief Supervisor beside him, who immediately passed the materials prepared long ago to everyone present.

"This document records the detailed investigation process and the evidence we have mastered, including witnesses and testimonies. You lords may take a look first."

Qu Xun said.

Governor Bian Jingru had already read it in advance, while everyone else present was seeing this information for the first time and read it carefully.

Soon, everyone's expression became grave.

Indeed, as Qu Xun said, it involved a Great Martial Arts Sect and a Martial Arts Master; without conclusive evidence, the General Inspectorate would certainly not dare to make accusations in front of so many high-level officials of Datong Prefecture.

According to the contents recorded in this document, it could basically be determined that the Tiefeng Sect was colluding with Western spies, and the dealings between the two sides had been going on for some years!

"So, do you think the Tiefeng Sect cooperated with Western spies to kill Steering Envoy Zhang Zongyang?"

Yan Shijin looked at Qu Xun and asked.

The meeting room suddenly went quiet.

The information provided by the General Inspectorate could only prove that the Tiefeng Sect colluded with Western spies and had interests in common, but it could not directly prove that Zhang Zongyang's death was related to the Tiefeng Sect.

Qu Xun looked at Yan Shijin: "At least from the clues we have mastered so far, the Tiefeng Sect is the biggest suspect. If we want to find the killer, we have no choice but to take action against the Tiefeng Sect!"

"Heh."

Yan Shijin chuckled, "Could it also be that you pushed out a scapegoat just to close the case as quickly as possible?"

He actually pointed it out directly in public!

This made the atmosphere in the room heavy.

The investigation team had been in Datong Prefecture for a long time and hadn't taken any action before, but ever since Yan Shijin encountered a shooting on the street that day, the investigation team had started to move.

They launched investigations into every level of Datong Prefecture!

The Zhang Zongyang case hadn't yielded results yet, and Yan Shijin, the investigation team leader and Deputy Supervisory Envoy of the Supervisory Department, had actually been shot on the street; this was indeed too much of a slap in the face, leaving Datong Prefecture with no choice but to silently endure the fury from the investigation team.

In just over a month, the investigation team had already sent three imperial officials and over a dozen subordinate officials of Datong Prefecture to prison!

If this continued, the officialdom of Datong Prefecture would likely be turned upside down.

So, just today, the high-level officials of Datong Prefecture took the initiative to convene this meeting and presented such a result to the investigation team—

Zhang Zongyang's death might be related to the Tiefeng Sect.

Although there was no direct evidence to prove this point yet, it was possible that after dealing with the Tiefeng Sect, the "true culprit" would be found.

And the case would be closed.

Yan Shijin felt this was a scapegoat pushed out by Datong Prefecture to deal with the investigation team.

"Lord Yan's words are too severe."

Garrison Commander Governor Bian Jingru, who had been silent, spoke up.

"Lord Bian."

Yan Shijin looked at him, "Please enlighten me."

Governor Bian Jingru met his gaze and said slowly:

"I am also very heartbroken by the death of Steering Envoy Zhang Zongyang, and I also very much want to catch the killer! I believe everyone here is the same as me. If even the safety of an official at the level of a Steering Envoy cannot be guaranteed, does my Datong Prefecture have a future?!"

He emphasized his tone at the end:

"So, regarding the investigation of the true culprit, I would like to ask Lord Yan to believe in our sincerity."

Yan Shijin met his gaze for a moment and nodded:

"It was a slip of the tongue on my part; I ask Lord Bian and all the lords to forgive me."

Everyone present expressed that it was nothing; everyone was just handling the case for the sake of the Great Lan Dynasty.

"Now that it has been discovered that the Tiefeng Sect is colluding with Western spies, and the evidence is conclusive, then regardless of whether the Tiefeng Sect is truly related to Zhang Zongyang's death, we must deal with it!"

Governor Bian Jingru said decisively.

In fact, at another time, even if it were truly discovered that the Tiefeng Sect was colluding with Western spies, the way Datong Prefecture chose to handle it would be very gentle, and it would likely be downplayed, after all, it involved a Martial Arts Master.

As long as "Sword King" Gu Xianfeng did not openly commit treason or do anything too excessive, it wouldn't lead to the disaster of sect extermination.

But it just happened to be discovered at this time that they were colluding with Western spies.

All results would be different!

Seeing that Governor Bian Jingru was determined to move against the Tiefeng Sect, Yan Shijin stopped expressing his views and waited to see what kind of result this play would eventually produce.

"The General Stop-Gong Office and the General Law Office will dispatch people to cooperate with the Imperial Camp Army. I will contact Wu'an University and request them to dispatch a Martial Arts Master. I want to take down the Tiefeng Sect within three days and ensure that Gu Xianfeng does not escape!"

Governor Bian Jingru issued the highest order.

At this moment, the fate of the Tiefeng Sect, a Great Martial Arts Sect that had dominated Datong Prefecture for decades, was decided just like that!

Seeking monthly tickets.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 213 =====