Chapter 424: Supernatural, Destiny

In the valley, the dazzling golden light converged.

Dozens of secret sentries and guards scattered in the valley were all hit by the golden light and fell to the ground.

Because the situation was unclear for the time being, Li Fei intentionally controlled the strength of his strike, not killing these people directly.

After his heart and mind power reached the "God-Connecting Realm," his Dao strength level broke through to the As You Wish Realm, able to control *jinli* roundly and as one wished, thereby achieving the feat of knocking down dozens of people simultaneously in one move, with everyone injured but not dead.

"Who is it?!"

A sharp shout came.

The man with the scar who had traded with Tuso before held a big saber and killed toward this side with murderous intent.

Apart from him, three others also surrounded him.

"Four Dao Foundation Realm martial artists?"

Li Fei raised his eyebrows, somewhat surprised.

Dao Foundation Realm martial artists were not Chinese cabbage; one could see this from the number of people joining the Blue Patrol Pavilion in each province.

If Feng Province didn't have two universities, the total number of Dao Foundation Realm martial artists in one province wouldn't even be 80.

That four Dao Foundation Realm martial artists could appear in such an ordinary valley was really too abnormal!

The man with the scar rushed the fastest; the *jinli* of the 【Infinite Brightness Fire】 just now was too scattered and didn't pose any threat to him, plus he didn't know that the dozens of martial artists in the valley had been knocked down simultaneously, so he still didn't know Li Fei's terror.

Instantly crossing a distance of tens of meters, the man with the scar held the big saber with both hands and performed a simple downward hack.

Earth-yellow saber *qi* surged from the saber body, covering the sky and earth as it attacked Li Fei.

The surrounding air solidified rapidly, turning into copper walls and iron barriers, and the momentum as heavy as a mountain pressed down from the sky.

The earth under his feet seemed to have come alive at this moment, turning into a giant beast choosing people to devour, opening its mouth to swallow Li Fei.

Dao strength—【Earth Beast】!

The man with the scar was a 6th-grade Dao Foundation Realm martial artist; although he hadn't reached the 7th grade, he could barely perform Dao strength, and combined with his two core-level supernatural abilities, the power of this 【Earth Beast】 was not bad.

Li Fei stood calmly in place; the mud under his feet sank downward, and his body emitted faint golden light.

The *jinli* from all directions twisted together fiercely, wanting to crush Li Fei and press him into the ground.

A series of sparks splashed, and in the surprised eyes of the man with the scar, Li Fei stood safely in place.

Li Fei raised his right foot and made a stomping motion.

Boom!!!

The earth shook violently.

The dirt pit on the ground became deeper, and the man with the scar lost Li Fei's figure at once.

A strong sense of crisis arose in his heart, and relying on instinct, he turned sideways, retracted the saber, and assumed a defensive posture.

The next second, his protective *jinli* was hit.

Only then did the man with the scar see clearly that what hit him was a golden palm.

He hurriedly activated the circulation of *jinli*, wanting to introduce Li Fei's power into the earth under his feet.

He specialized in earth-attribute high-level *jinli*, and was actually better at defense than attack.

However, before his *jinli* circulation could start, that golden palm split his protective *jinli* apart like a hot knife through butter in the posture of a hand saber!

Too fast! Too sharp!

Subsequently, the hand saber hit the big saber in the man with the scar's hand.

This big saber was a level-4 alien weapon; using a flesh-and-blood body to collide hard with a level-4 alien weapon, the final result was that the big saber was hacked with a notch!

The man with the scar was terrified, immediately activating the core-level supernatural ability "Rock Body," turning his own flesh and blood and bones into a substance as hard as rock to resist the subsequent impact.

The surging power came from the saber body; the webbing between the man with the scar's thumb and index finger split, and the big saber in his hand flew out.

Immediately after, that golden palm turned over, palm facing downward, and slapped heavily on his chest.

*Peng peng peng peng*—

A series of crisp sounds came from the man with the scar's whole body, as if a giant rock that had been completely smashed, and he collapsed at once!

He didn't even have time to introduce the impact force he suffered into the earth under his feet, and his internal organs were already severely damaged, breaking one after another.

*Pa*—

With a loud explosion, another pit appeared on the ground.

The scarred man had been driven into the ground by Li Fei with a single hand, with only his head exposed; he had already fainted from the impact.

The three Dao Foundation Establishment martial artists charging toward this side hadn't even seen clearly what had happened; they only heard a series of explosions before the scarred man, who possessed the strongest strength and defense among them, was 'planted' into the ground.

The expressions of the three changed drastically, and before they could react, Li Fei vanished from their field of vision once again.

Swish—

The air was torn apart, and the earth was likewise torn asunder. A straight crack appeared on the ground, and weeds and mud were churned up, forming a dragon of earth that crashed toward one of the Dao Foundation Establishment martial artists.

The next second, this person was also 'planted' into the ground.

Immediately following were the third and the fourth.

In the blink of an eye, all four Dao Foundation Establishment martial artists had been dealt with by Li Fei.

He stopped and stretched his limbs.

From beginning to end, the Ghost-Slaying Blade had not been unsheathed; he had only used one hand to face the enemy.

This level of combat didn't even count as a warm-up for him now.

Suddenly, a beam of starlight descended from the sky, falling toward Li Fei.

Li Fei felt something in his heart and dodged in advance, but he was still struck by this beam of starlight in the end.

This starlight seemed like fate itself; it could not be avoided, only faced.

At this moment, Li Fei was in the Sword State: Golden Body and Jade Marrow, with his defense maxed out, yet he failed to prevent this starlight from entering his body.

He frowned slightly. After the starlight entered his body, a sense of nausea immediately arose, and the circulation of his internal Jinli suddenly went awry, but it was quickly calmed down.

And then, there was no then.

"Is that it?"

Li Fei was stunned.

Such a profound method, which made it impossible for him to even dodge and rendered all his defenses completely ineffective, resulted only in making him feel a bit nauseous and causing a slight problem with his Jinli circulation?

Inside the mountain cave, Qi Jin was situated within a grand formation set with over a hundred star stones, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

This grand formation had used up all the star stones and was originally intended to cast the 'Star Fate-Entering Technique' when Li Fei formally broke through his realm.

The commotion outside just now had alarmed Qi Jin, and relying on the connection of fate established with Li Fei, he immediately knew that Li Fei had tracked him down.

Qi Jin knew that in a head-on confrontation, he was certainly no match for Li Fei, and he also knew that the defensive forces outside definitely couldn't stop this Marquis of Jing'an with his terrifying combat power, so he decided to stake everything on one throw, exerting his full strength to activate the formation and use the 'Star Fate-Entering Technique' on Li Fei in advance!

He wanted to forcibly disrupt Li Fei's fate and cause Li Fei to suffer qi deviation, thereby winning a glimmer of survival for himself.

Unfortunately, under normal conditions, Li Fei's own fortune combined with the fortune of a Marquis was too difficult to shake.

Qi Jin failed to successfully disrupt Li Fei's fate and ended up suffering the backlash himself.

He raised his head in despair, only to see the thick iron door of the mountain cave split down the middle, and Li Fei, wearing the Golden Thread Jade Red Qilin Armor, walked in with a leisurely gait.

Glancing at the formation arranged inside the cave, Li Fei looked at Qi Jin:

"Will you confess clearly yourself, or shall this Marquis use some methods on you?"

Qi Jin gave a miserable laugh:

"I am willing to confess truthfully, but some matters involve oath-based sorcery, which I cannot speak of; I ask that my lord forgive me."

As soon as his words fell, his vision blurred; Li Fei had already arrived before him, lifted him up with one hand, and injected a surge of Jinli into his body, causing him to lose his ability to move.

Afterward, Li Fei carried Qi Jin out of the cave with one hand and then moved through the valley at an extremely high speed, controlling all the martial artists who had been knocked down.

After finishing all this, Li Fei returned to stand before Qi Jin:

"Speak."

"I was entrusted by someone to cast a spell to interfere with your breakthrough."

Qi Jin said quite straightforwardly.

As for who entrusted him, that was obviously content he could not speak of.

Next, he informed Li Fei about the 'Star Fate-Entering Technique'.

The reason he confessed this key sorcery so readily was mainly to demonstrate his own value, thereby saving his life.

As for the matter of Hao Yi, Qi Jin naturally didn't dare to mention even a single word.

"Star Fate-Entering Technique?"

After hearing Qi Jin's description, Li Fei's expression became grave.

This sorcery could just now forcibly disrupt his Jinli circulation while he was in the Sword State: Golden Body and Jade Marrow; if it were really used suddenly at the critical moment of his future breakthrough, it might truly cause him to fall short of success!

Li Fei asked a few more questions, and seeing that he couldn't get any key information, he decisively cast the 'Gate of the Dream Realm'.

After entering the Dream Realm, Li Fei first observed left and right, and after confirming there was nothing unusual, he cast a sorcery to conceal himself, leaving behind a false projection in place, and then entered Qi Jin's subconscious world...

A moment later, Li Fei exited the Dream Realm and looked at Qi Jin with a cold gaze:

"You are trading with Westerners?"

He had seen information related to star stones in Qi Jin's memories.

Upon hearing this, Qi Jin's pupils contracted, revealing a look of terror.

He had just felt his mind go into a trance, and many pieces of information related to star stones had involuntarily surfaced in his mind; he hadn't expected Li Fei to know about it so quickly.

"What kind of method is this?"

Qi Jin was already a sorcerer who had condensed True Power, and the vast majority of methods targeting the mind were difficult to take effect on him.

Yet he hadn't even sensed any sorcery fluctuations just now!

The look in Qi Jin's eyes as he looked at Li Fei held a bit more awe: "I only know that star stones are a specialty of the Western Continent and are a treasure of the Deni Kingdom's royal family."

"Deni Kingdom?"

Li Fei realized that this matter was likely not that simple.

Back when he was in Xingcheng, he had caught Western spies and local officials collaborating; he still remembered that they were secret agents sent by the Meijia Kingdom.

Now he had encountered another transaction related to the Deni Kingdom's royal family.

It seemed that although the seven Western nations had been defeated back then, they had never given up their schemes against the Great Lan Dynasty!

"These star stones were only handed to you tonight; in that case, are the Westerners who traded with you still inside Lanling City?"

Li Fei asked.

Qi Jin hesitated for a moment and pointed at the scarred man not far away:

"They were the ones who traded with those Westerners tonight and then brought the star stones to me."

Thus, Li Fei decisively entered the Dream Realm again and then successively infiltrated the subconscious projections of the four Dao Foundation Establishment martial artists.

The subconscious minds of these people were all very guarded; they were clearly professionally trained and had also been implanted with oath-based sorcery to guard their secrets to the death.

However, their memories of trading with Tuso and the others last night and tonight remained, even if some key parts—such as who they were taking orders from, or where the martial arts secret manuals used for the trade came from—were sealed by the oath-based sorcery.

But Li Fei could still find a lot of important information through the fragmented memory images.

After exiting the Dream Realm, a hint of killing intent appeared in Li Fei's eyes as he looked at the scarred man and the others.

To think they actually traded so many martial arts secret manuals to the Westerners, even including the inheritance of top-tier Dao Foundations and peerless martial arts!

When he was in Xingcheng, he had witnessed with his own eyes the wolfish ambitions of the Western nations, and now seeing that the Deni Kingdom had even sent royal family members to the Great Lan Dynasty to carry out secret missions, he was even more certain that there would definitely be another war between the two continents in the future!

Under these circumstances, there were actually people within the Great Lan Dynasty trading martial arts secret manuals to Westerners, which ignited a fire of rage in Li Fei's heart.

When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact; once the flames of war ignite and the Great Lan Dynasty is defeated, many people he cares about will be affected.

This was something he could not tolerate!

Next, Li Fei waited in place while continuously exploring the subconscious minds of the people present in the Dream Realm.

Except for Qi Jin, the others were all dead soldiers raised by the forces behind the scenes; it was basically impossible to count on these people to serve as witnesses or to dig key clues out of their mouths.

Moreover, besides the four Dao Foundation Establishment martial artists, the other dozens of martial artists didn't even know who they were truly serving.

They were orphans from a young age, raised in secret in some place, and then did things for others.

Li Fei actually didn't need to ask; he could roughly guess which family these dead soldiers belonged to.

To be able to raise four Dao Foundation Establishment martial artists as dead soldiers, it could only be those major forces with a heritage of over a hundred years; there weren't many such forces in the world, and even fewer had a grudge against Li Fei.

Over an hour later, Lu Lu Wenxing arrived at this valley with a squad of men.

Li Fei had greeted Lu Lu Wenxing before leaving and had taken a communication jade talisman with him.

This communication jade talisman was a standard magic treasure; two made a pair, and they could conduct long-distance communication through sorcery within a certain range.

After Li Fei dealt with the people in the valley, he used the communication jade talisman to notify Lu Lu Wenxing to bring a squad of men over.

"Keep a close watch on these people."

Li Fei instructed Lu Lu Wenxing, then vanished from the spot.

He directly cast Sword State: Heaven and Earth Unbound, rushing back to Lanling City at the fastest speed.

Lu Lu Wenxing and the others were not like Li Fei, who could completely conceal his figure, so their sudden departure from the city in the middle of the night might have already alarmed those hiding in the shadows.

Li Fei now had to race against time to find those Westerners before they could react!

In a basement in the outer city of Lanling City, a Westerner was using a wireless telegraph machine to send a telegram.

Beside him were placed volumes of martial arts secret manuals; these were exactly what the scarred man had traded to them tonight.

However, this Westerner was only classifying these manuals and sending out their names and the general content involved, not sending the complete content of the manuals.

Although these Westerners had learned the script of the Eastern Continent, they needed to first convert the text on the manuals into Western script through their own understanding before they could send the content out.

Such translation would inevitably cause errors.

Moreover, almost every martial arts secret manual had corresponding illustrations, detailing the routes of Jinli circulation; this content also couldn't be sent via telegram.

Therefore, in the end, these martial arts secret manuals had to be physically sent away.

Sending the telegram now was just to let the rear determine how these manuals should be distributed in the future.

Tuso was sitting to the side, holding a secret manual and reading it.

This manual was precisely the peerless martial art that the scarred man had traded to him tonight.

After reading for a while, Tuso closed the manual in his hand and shook his head.

"My lord, what's wrong?"

An attendant to the side asked.

"The script of these Easterners is too complex and too profound. For the same character, not only are there many pronunciations, but there are also many meanings; even when used in different contexts, the meaning it represents is different."

Tuso frowned and said, "The more profound these martial arts secret manuals are, the more profound and difficult to understand the meanings of the characters become. If there is no teacher to guide, it is almost impossible to learn by oneself; this is also the confidence they have in trading these profound martial arts to us."

The attendant to the side didn't care: "Just capture some Eastern martial artists who understand martial arts to be teachers; this kind of thing is being done in secret by every country."

"No, Rune, if we want to truly practice Eastern martial arts to a profound realm, we must deeply study their culture."

Tuso sighed with emotion, "Just as they are also earnestly studying and exploring our scientific technology."

"But our bloodline power is something they will never be able to possess."

The attendant named Rune said with a proud expression.

The Western Continent had no exotic beasts, but it had 'Strange People', which is to say, people whose bloodlines were naturally different from ordinary people.

These people were similar to exotic beasts, possessing more powerful physiques and various extraordinary abilities.

In the Western Continent, they called people naturally possessing bloodline power 'Transcendents'.

Many countries also regarded Transcendents as 'God-Gifted', believing this was a gift bestowed upon humanity by the gods!

The nobles and royal families of every country were inevitably Transcendents who possessed bloodline power.

Eastern martial artists needed to incorporate implants postnatally and needed to practice diligently to possess powerful strength.

Whereas the Transcendents and God-Gifted of the Western Continent were born with powerful strength; the more powerful a person's bloodline, the more their strength would grow with age, without any need for effort.

This was the point of Rune's pride.

People of the Western Continent could learn the martial arts and sorcery of the Eastern Continent, while people of the Eastern Continent would never be able to possess their bloodline power.

"Yes, so destiny is on our side; we will definitely rule this continent!"

A flash of fanaticism crossed Tuso's eyes.

Suddenly, his expression changed drastically, and an image surfaced in his mind:

A young man in a golden robe was walking toward him with a blade, and a huge sense of crisis, like a monstrous tidal wave, swept over him, covering the sky and the earth!

The next second, this image shattered.

Tuso came back to his senses, and a large amount of sweat secreted from his body, and his physical strength also drained away rapidly!

"My lord?!"

Rune to the side was greatly alarmed, "What's wrong with you?"

Tuso's expression was ugly; he took a small glass bottle containing blue liquid from his bosom and drank the liquid in the bottle in one gulp.

His physical strength recovered rapidly, and he muttered: "I have seen fate!"

"Fate?"

Rune was startled in his heart.

Tuso was a member of the Deni Kingdom's royal family; the Leonard family was known as the 'Destiny Family', and family members were born with the extraordinary ability to perceive fate!

The more relevant it was to oneself, and the closer the timeline, the easier it was for people of the Leonard family to perceive fate.

It was just that fate is impermanent, and human power is too insignificant, so sometimes the fate perceived is not necessarily something that will definitely happen, but merely a possibility.

Tuso was not of the direct royal line, but his bloodline power was no weaker than some of the direct line, and the vast majority of the fate he perceived was accurate.

"What kind of fate is it?"

Rune asked with concern.

"Li Fei!"

Tuso gritted his teeth and shouted this name, saying word by word:

"This Marquis of Jing'an is coming for us!"

PS: Celebrating the festival, there's a little less update today; wishing everyone a happy Winter Solstice~

(End of this chapter)