Chapter 281: Breaking the Realm, A Leaf Obstructing the View

On the long street, Li Fei stood holding his blade, wearing a ghost mask, with a corpse split in two at his feet.

"Go!"

The remaining four Seven-Nether Guards completely lost their will to fight and turned to run.

Seeing the Seven-Nether Guards retreat, Lou Yujun did not hesitate and also quickly turned to flee.

She was working for a 'paycheck' and had no need to risk her life.

Swish—

Li Fei stepped forward to pursue Lou Yujun.

He could let the other Seven-Nether Guards run, but he had to keep Lou Yujun, this Foundation Establishment powerhouse.

However, in terms of absolute speed, Lou Yujun was faster; just as she was about to pull away from Li Fei, her mind suddenly shook violently, and she was plunged into a boundless sea of blood!

When a martial artist's blood energy is surging, their fighting spirit is high, and their mental focus is intense, the effectiveness of the same technique will diminish if used repeatedly in a short period.

Li Fei had already used 【Blood Might】 on Lou Yujun once before, consuming 10 Blood Souls; this time, he directly used the Blood Souls stored in the 'Blood Spring', consuming 21. !

The doubled-power mental shock hard-controlled Lou Yujun for nearly a second; by the time she regained her senses, Li Fei had already caught up behind her and thrust his blade.

At this moment, Lou Yujun had no time to dodge or turn to block, so she could only explode her Torrent Force to its limit, forming a waterfall-like barrier behind her.

The True Blood Force was blocked by this barrier, but the Ghost-Slaying Blade that followed, bolstered by violent power, pierced directly through the barrier and into Lou Yujun's back!

Shing—

The blade, stained with blood, protruded from Lou Yujun's lower abdomen.

This sword-path powerhouse continued to exert force, wanting to dash forward and put distance between herself and Li Fei, but as a surge of blood-evil energy poured out from the Ghost-Slaying Blade and exploded inside her body, she completely lost the power to resist.

"Pfft—"

Lou Yujun spat out a mouthful of blood.

If not for the sufficiently powerful life force of a Foundation Establishment powerhouse, she would already be dead.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

Li Fei struck Lou Yujun with several consecutive palms, continuing to use the blood-evil energy to severely damage her body and implants.

He did not intend to kill her outright, but to capture her alive!

After confirming that Lou Yujun had no strength left to resist, Li Fei grabbed her by the back of the neck with one hand, hoisting the Foundation Establishment powerhouse like a chicken.

With this, the battle ended.

The four Seven-Nether Guards and the special-grade gunmen on the rooftops to the left and right had all run away, leaving only the corpses on the long street and Li Fei, who was holding Lou Yujun with one hand.

Suddenly, Li Fei felt a sense of alarm, sensing danger coming from behind.

A black shadow, nearly merged with the surrounding darkness, held a long sword and stabbed at the back of Li Fei's head at extreme speed!

Li Fei possessed the extraordinary ability 'Danger Perception'; in the 'Tyrant Body' state, his perception ability was further enhanced, and in the 'Blood Demon State', the Tyrant Body was greatly strengthened, as was his perception.

But even with such strong perception, he only detected the danger when the opponent was already within ten meters of him.

Not only that, the assassin moved extremely fast without making a sound—no footsteps, no wind.

This was a top-tier assassin, someone sent by the 'Shadow King'!

They struck suddenly when Li Fei thought the situation was settled and his spirit was at its most relaxed.

Such an assassin was indeed terrifying!

The next instant, the long sword in their hand was only an inch away from the back of Li Fei's head.

A burst of True Blood Force erupted from Li Fei's body, blocking the sword.

Swish—

The long sword contained terrifying force and instantly pierced through this layer of True Blood Force.

At the same time, Li Fei lowered his head, leaned his body forward, and lunged ahead.

The assassin added another layer of force to their hand, thrusting the blade forward and stabbing Li Fei in the back.

The Level 3 protective suit was pierced, followed by muscle tissue as hard as granite.

The assassin channeled their force, and surging sword Qi erupted from the tip of their blade, pouring into Li Fei's body!

"Got you!"

The assassin's eyes brightened, feeling they had successfully completed the assassination.

But the next second, they sensed something was wrong; they did not feel their sword Qi pierce the opponent's heart, but rather, all the sword Qi vanished as if sinking into the sea.

The assassin immediately pulled back the sword, wanting to turn and leave.

But the blade was firmly locked by Li Fei's powerful muscle tissue and force, preventing them from pulling it out smoothly at the first moment.

The assassin chose to abandon the sword and retreat without hesitation.

When they turned to flee, Li Fei also finished turning and unleashed a full-power 【Blood Might】.

The assassin, who was preparing to flee at full speed, stiffened.

Their resistance to spell-type attacks was not as good as Zhang Shan's, nor as good as Lou Yujun's, who possessed a clear sword heart, so they had not yet broken free from the sea of blood by the time Li Fei rushed in front of them.

Swish—

Li Fei swung his blade calmly.

The head flew high into the air.

A powerful Foundation Establishment assassin had fallen!

On the roof of a dance hall in the distance, Feng Sanniang opened her mouth slightly, watching this scene in shock.

When the assassin struck suddenly and successfully stabbed Li Fei, she thought this Green-Faced Ghost would still die here tonight.

She never expected that after taking such a sword strike, the opponent would be able to complete a counter-kill instantly as if nothing had happened!

"Just how strong is his defense? What exactly does it take to truly kill him?"

Feng Sanniang could not help but start to ponder.

Just then, Li Fei, still holding Lou Yujun with one hand, turned around, his gaze crossing the thousand-meter distance to meet Feng Sanniang's on the rooftop.

Feng Sanniang was startled; a charming smile appeared on her face, and she bowed slightly to Li Fei in the distance.

Their gazes met, completing a 'conversation' across the distance:

"Remember our agreement."

"Rest assured, sir~"

Over an hour later, after confirming he was not being followed, Li Fei brought Lou Yujun into a courtyard.

This was a new stronghold he had the Qingyuan Property Management Company build in the Datong Prefecture city.

Before arriving here, he had already sprinkled rooster blood on himself and Lou Yujun in advance.

"Ghost Master."

Company men were guarding the courtyard; upon seeing Li Fei, they bowed with expressions of awe.

Li Fei threw the unconscious Lou Yujun, whom he had been carrying, onto the ground and pointed at her, saying:

"Find special iron chains to lock her up, feed her Qi-Dispersing Pills, and keep a close watch on her during this time."

"Yes, Ghost Master, rest assured, your subordinates will certainly handle it!"

Two company subordinates took the order.

Lou Yujun's body had been severely damaged by the blood-evil energy and she was heavily injured, so Li Fei was not worried about her escaping.

He wanted to keep this Foundation Establishment powerhouse to negotiate terms with the Duanmu family.

After dealing with Lou Yujun, he left the stronghold.

On the way, Li Fei looked at the Ten Thousand Blood Bead inside his body:

【Level: 14, 1%

Blood Souls: 242

Blood Soul Skills: Blood Rage, Blood Evil, Blood Might, Blood Spring

Transformation Skill: Blood Demon】

After nearly two months of accumulation, the Ten Thousand Blood Bead was not far from leveling up; tonight's battle allowed him to absorb quite a bit of energy, and it finally leveled up successfully.

With this upgrade, his Blood Souls increased by 26; with one more upgrade, Li Fei's total Blood Soul count would exceed 300!

He checked the 'Blood Spring' inside his body again; the number of stored Blood Souls had become 71. , due to using 【Blood Might】 at full power twice.

From now on, he could store 2. 2 Blood Souls in it every day, an increase in storage speed of nearly 15% compared to before.

Besides the successful upgrade of the Ten Thousand Blood Bead, Li Fei also felt an anomaly with the 【Illusion Leaf】 implant between his eyebrows.

It felt as if something was about to break through his brow and grow out.

This was the precursor to entering the Body-Breaking Stage from the Embryo-Nurturing Stage.

Li Fei's 【Illusion Leaf】 had been in the Embryo-Nurturing Stage for over forty days; if he broke through to the Body-Breaking Stage tonight, his breakthrough speed would be even faster than Zhao Yi's.

Zhao Renjie, the Great Mage who had cultivated to the Possession Stage, took over a hundred days to break through from the Embryo-Nurturing Stage to the Body-Breaking Stage, while Zhao Yi only took fifty-three days.

Although she had the assistance of the Dream-Like Decree, one could still see Zhao Yi's talent.

Theoretically speaking, her minimum limit in the future would be the Possession Stage!

And now, Li Fei's breakthrough speed even surpassed Zhao Yi's.

"It was originally expected to take a few more days; could it be that it was stimulated by tonight's battle?"

Li Fei speculated in his heart.

He had been subjected to the 'Dragon Might' channeled by Zhang Shan tonight, and perhaps such a mental attack caused the 【Illusion Leaf】 to be stimulated, thereby entering the Body-Breaking Stage ahead of schedule.

Over an hour later, Li Fei did not return to the Martial University, but walked into another unmanned stronghold.

He had prepared the elixirs needed for the 【Illusion Leaf】 implant at this stronghold.

After taking the elixirs, the strange sensation coming from between his eyebrows grew stronger, and a pale green leaf-shaped pattern lit up.

Li Fei felt as if something was burrowing into his scalp.

Once martial path implants are cultivated to the Qi Transformation Realm, the "branches" spread throughout the martial artist's entire body, except for the brain.

Art-based implants are the exact opposite; even when cultivated to the Spirit Transformation Realm, the space they occupy remains only the brain.

Therefore, in theory, these two types of implants can coexist, occupying different parts of the human body without interfering with each other.

It is just a pity that in reality, these two types of implants influence each other, and the higher the realm, the more pronounced this becomes.

When 【Phantom Leaf】 was about to break through to the Body-Breaking Realm, the 【Steel Armor】 implant inside Li Fei's body immediately became restless.

This time, even with Li Fei's powerful control, suppressing it by force was somewhat difficult.

He was not panicked by this and took out a bottle of elixirs he had prepared in advance.

This is the "Ice-Continuity Pill," specifically used to alleviate the conflict generated between metal-attribute implants and wood-attribute implants.

Metal generates water, and water generates wood.

【Steel Armor】 is a metal attribute, and 【Phantom Leaf】 is a wood attribute, so it is suitable to use the "Ice-Continuity Pill," a water-attribute elixir, to harmonize them.

During the Embryo-Nurturing Realm, Li Fei had already asked Shangguan Xiao to help purchase "Ice-Continuity Pills" on the black market; the price of this type of elixir is not particularly expensive, at 39 yuan per pill.

However, it causes damage to the human body's meridians; if taken long-term, all the meridians in the body will atrophy and become blocked, thereby affecting the circulation of innate Qi and force within the body, and it may even affect the implants!

This is the reason why dual cultivation of arts and martial arts cannot reach the later stages; no one can rely on elixirs forever to resolve the conflict between the two types of implants.

But none of these were problems for Li Fei.

He swallowed an Ice-Continuity Pill; the medicinal effect was absorbed by the two implants, while the damage caused was transferred away by the Myriad Blood Bead.

Very quickly, the 【Steel Armor】 implant stopped being restless and returned to calm.

Li Fei could focus on breaking through his realm.

He sat cross-legged on the bed and began to practice the meditation method of the Nightmare Sect, meditating on a towering tree in his mind.

This continued for over two hours, and the leaf-shaped pattern between Li Fei's brows gradually faded.

He slowly opened his eyes, and as his thoughts stirred, a faint ripple of art-based energy emanated from him.

【Phantom Leaf】 had successfully broken through to the Body-Breaking Realm!

From now on, Li Fei could cast arts.

Of course, he could not cast all arts; he could only cast arts related to the 【Phantom Leaf】 implant.

At his current realm, there are three types of arts he can cast:

Hypnosis, Phantom Image, and the Art of Leaf-Obscuring-the-Eye!

First is Hypnosis, which can only take effect on ordinary people, and it must be someone with relatively weak willpower; one can influence the other party's thinking by casting it.

This type of art is the favorite of all major evil sects.

Then there is Phantom Image; after releasing it on a target, it allows outsiders to see multiple phantoms of the target, making it difficult to confirm the real body.

This type of art is usually used in combat; for example, after casting it on a martial artist, others see only phantoms, and if they want to use a gun to deal with this martial artist, the difficulty becomes very high.

The final "Art of Leaf-Obscuring-the-Eye" is a signature art of the Nightmare Sect, also known as the Invisibility Art!

After casting the art on a target, others will subconsciously ignore the target's existence, as if they had not seen the target at all, thereby achieving the effect of invisibility.

Of course, this kind of invisibility is not true invisibility; if one makes a large disturbance or attacks others, the invisibility effect will be broken immediately.

Li Fei recalled the assassin he encountered tonight; he suspected that the other party might have had a similar art cast on them before attacking, which was why they had such strong concealment capabilities that he never sensed them.

"Might as well test the effect."

Li Fei suddenly felt playful.

Compared to the martial path, the arts of this world actually interested him more, because he always felt they were more mysterious.

A practitioner in the Body-Breaking Realm must rely on relevant materials and prepare a ritual in advance to cast arts, but since Li Fei had the Dream-Like Token in his hand, he did not need to be so troublesome.

He could directly cast arts with the help of the Dream-Like Token, and the effect of the casting would be even better.

Taking the Dream-Like Token from his bosom, Li Fei operated according to the casting content recorded in the booklet Zhao Yi gave him.

With a thought, the green leaf-shaped pattern between his brows lit up again, and then a ripple of art-based energy was injected into the Dream-Like Token.

Li Fei muttered words, all of which were very awkward syllables; for this, he had specifically set aside one hour every night to practice.

Very quickly, Li Fei had a profound feeling; the Dream-Like Token in his hand shot out a beam of light that struck him.

"Did it work?"

Li Fei felt a sense of fatigue coming from the 【Phantom Leaf】 implant.

With his cultivation at the early stage of the Body-Breaking Realm, he could only cast arts a few times in a short period.

Opening the door, Li Fei walked out and soon arrived on the main street.

He walked beside a passerby, who acted as if they had not seen him at all and continued on their way without looking sideways.

Li Fei reached out his hand and waved it a few times in front of the other person, but the other person still had no reaction.

Leaf-Obscuring-the-Eye, it worked!

PS: Only one chapter tonight.

(End of chapter)