Chapter 467: Body Refining! Ten Thousand Returning to One

The seventeenth year of Jiawen.

A heavy snowfall fell upon Yushan City, and the floor heating in the warm pavilion was burning hot.

An eight-year-old child lay on a sandalwood desk, watching his father use a cinnabar brush to write the four characters "Loyal to the Sovereign, Serving the Country" on red plum-blossom paper.

The ink, still wet, shimmered with fine golden light under the heat of the charcoal fire.

"Father, when I grow up, I want to be just like you—go to the battlefield, kill the enemy, and be loyal to the sovereign and serve the country!"

The little boy looked up and said to his father with a serious face.

"Hahahaha, good! You are worthy of being a son of the Qi family!"

A hearty laugh from his father rang out in the study, and the gilded waist plaque representing a level-15 military officer at his waist clinked crisply.

The change began at the second watch of the night.

When the boy was awakened by the sudden barking of dogs, a thick, bloody stench seeped in through the door cracks, and the sound of iron armor clashing came from the courtyard.

Angry shouts, screams, and the sounds of explosive force followed one after another.

Soon, the boy was taken away by the family guards; the last image he saw was his father, whom he considered invincible, being struck by a blade and sent flying, crashing into and collapsing the pavilion in the courtyard!

"Qi Shou is colluding with the enemy! We are under orders to arrest the entire Qi household. Those who resist will be killed without mercy—"

A powerful voice resounded throughout the entire Qi residence.

Father colluding with the enemy?

How could his father, who had been writing "Loyal to the Sovereign, Serving the Country" in the study just hours ago, possibly collude with the enemy?

The Qi family had been loyal for generations; how could they possibly collude with the enemy!

The eight-year-old boy could not understand.

It's fake!

Everything is fake!

I am just dreaming; once I wake up, everything will be fine.

But Qi Zhou lived this nightmare for thirty-five years.

Thirty-five years later, a new Emperor ascended the throne.

The Qi family was exonerated.

That same year, Qi Zhou, who had reached the cultivation base of a Martial Arts Master, was promoted to the Chief of the Yu Province Zhige Department!

After thirty-five years of living under an assumed name, at the peak of his life, he could finally restore his original name and tell everyone openly that his real name was Qi Zhou.

When the current Son of Heaven was still the Crown Prince, Qi Zhou was already a clear-cut member of the Crown Prince's faction.

After the Son of Heaven ascended the throne, he naturally became a trusted and important minister.

He was first appointed as the Chief of the Yu Province Zhige Department, then transferred to the central cabinet, becoming a member of the Zhige Pavilion.

In the twenty-eighth year of Hongguang, the imperial court decided to establish twelve universities, and Qi Zhou, who had just broken through to become a Grandmaster, was sent down from the center and appointed as the President of Tianqu University!

Such an appointment was comparable to that of a high-ranking regional official.

It was enough to show the Son of Heaven's trust and reliance on Qi Zhou!

But it was also in this year that the Xintian Society was founded.

Qi Zhou was one of the founders of the Xintian Society!

"Was the tragedy of the Qi family merely because they were framed by treacherous people?"

"No, the root cause is the corruption of the imperial court's system!"

"Official corruption, local infighting, military decay... five hundred years of deep-seated problems! That is why we were beaten all the way to the capital by the Westerners!"

"Little Qi, the imperial court is a giant web. Various rules, interest struggles, internal fighting—they have woven this web densely. This is a giant web woven by countless people over five hundred years!"

"No one can make big moves on this giant web, because the more you move, the tighter this web will pull."

"Although His Highness the Crown Prince is wise and has grand ambitions, once he ascends the throne, he will still be unable to change this world!"

"As long as he continues to act within this web, he will always be tied up, with countless forces pulling at him, preventing him from unfolding his plans."

"If you want true change, you must burn this web!"

"..."

In the wild jungle, Qi Zhou once again recalled the words his close friend had said to him.

These words were spoken to him by Qiming during their all-night talk before the current Son of Heaven ascended the throne.

However, these words still did not truly move him.

What finally made him decide to found the Xintian Society was a small incident that occurred after the current Son of Heaven ascended the throne:

A level-14 military officer was imprisoned with his entire family for colluding with the enemy.

Whether this officer had truly colluded with the enemy, Qi Zhou did not actually know; he only knew that the other party stood on the side of the then-Second Imperial Prince and belonged to the opposing faction.

After the Son of Heaven ascended the throne, all opposing factions naturally had to be purged.

So, whether or not one colluded with the enemy was not important; what mattered was whether one had stood on the wrong side.

Was the Qi family exonerated truly because they were wronged?

Or was it because Qi Zhou had stood on the right side and followed the right person?

How would future generations view the Qi family?

These questions haunted Qi Zhou like a nightmare.

That snow from back then had piled up in his heart, never melting...

"President Qi."

Li Fei's voice interrupted Qi Zhou's memories.

"Hmm?"

Qi Zhou looked at Li Fei.

After repelling Boerhu, the three of them returned together.

It was now evening, and the three of them landed from the air to rest in the dense forest.

"The State Preceptor's Hun Tian Luo Pan is about to dissipate. Next, we need to conceal our aura and tracks. Does President Qi have any way to do this?"

Li Fei asked.

Boerhu would not let them leave so easily; he would inevitably send people to hunt them down.

The Hun Tian Luo Pan could help the three of them conceal their aura and tracks, but this power had already exhausted most of its strength while analyzing Boerhu and the Twelve Heavens Blood Sha Array, and it could not be maintained indefinitely.

Qiu Zi'an was the most severely injured, and since she was better at fighting than other things, Li Fei asked Qi Zhou if he had any relevant supernatural abilities that could help conceal their aura and tracks.

"I have a 【Shadow Concealment】 supernatural ability that can conceal aura. Once the Hun Tian Luo Pan dissipates, I will cast 【Shadow Concealment】."

Qi Zhou said to Li Fei.

The 【Thread Manipulation】 supernatural ability could remotely control others, and the 【Shadow Concealment】 supernatural ability could conceal the aura of 【Thread Manipulation】.

Combining the two supernatural abilities, Qi Zhou could launch remote sneak attacks and plot against others without anyone knowing.

He could also control puppets from a distance without being detected.

"Good, then I will trouble President Qi."

Li Fei said to Qi Zhou.

Qi Zhou smiled: "Marquis Jing'an, you don't need to be so polite. This battle was successful thanks to you."

Then the three stopped talking and sat cross-legged on the ground to recuperate.

There was no need to mention Qiu Zi'an; she was the most severely injured, had already taken healing elixirs, and was simultaneously activating her transcendent healing ability, stabilizing her injuries along the way.

Li Fei also took elixirs to restore his spirit and the origin of his implanted body, making up for his own consumption.

In a few hours, through 【Blood Breath】, the blood souls within the Ten Thousand Blood Pearl had long since recovered by half, currently at 2048 blood souls.

The 【Blood Breath】 reinforced to the limit could rapidly restore 50% of blood volume.

For the remaining 50%, Li Fei's daily recovery rate was 384, and it would take five days for the Ten Thousand Blood Pearl to be fully restored.

As for the blood spring, there were still 1126 blood souls remaining.

Li Fei sat cross-legged, fully activating the 【Object Refining】 supernatural ability to refine his own flying sword body!

The more thorough the understanding of things, the higher the upper limit of the 【Object Refining】 supernatural ability. Now that Li Fei had the blessing of the Hun Tian Luo Pan, it was the best time to exert the 【Object Refining】 supernatural ability.

He did not want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so from the moment they retreated, he had been constantly analyzing himself with the help of the Hun Tian Luo Pan.

After a few hours of traveling, he had thoroughly analyzed his flying sword body once through the Hun Tian Luo Pan and obtained enough information.

Now, taking advantage of the rest time, he directly activated the 【Object Refining】 supernatural ability to start refining himself!

Looking at the whole world, only someone like Li Fei, who "refines the body into a weapon," could directly use the 【Object Refining】 supernatural ability to strengthen himself.

Normally, strengthening a flying sword body requires various heavenly materials and earthly treasures, and even various metal ores.

Li Fei was now in the wilderness, with nothing; even if he knew the method of strengthening, he could not complete it.

But he had blood souls.

This thing, which came from the Ten Thousand Blood Pearl and was closely related to his own life, was the "material" that best suited him!

Compared to fusing various metal ores into the body, using blood souls as a substitute would not have the slightest impurity, nor would it cause any damage to the body.

Through the analysis of the Hun Tian Luo Pan, blood souls were more suitable for strengthening oneself than various metal ores!

So he used the 【Object Refining】 supernatural ability to refine blood souls, and then fused the refined "matter" into himself to strengthen his flying sword body.

The blood souls within the Ten Thousand Blood Pearl began to decrease rapidly, and a faint golden light bloomed on Li Fei's body surface, a sharp aura shot into the sky, and was then concealed by the Hun Tian Luo Pan above his head.

Boom—

An invisible "Heavenly Gate" opened, and a large amount of heaven and earth energy poured into Li Fei's body continuously.

Besides metal ores, strengthening a flying sword body also required various heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

Li Fei did not have heavenly materials and earthly treasures, but he could absorb heaven and earth energy of all attributes.

So he cast 【Hun Tian Golden Palace】, absorbing heaven and earth energy into his body, using heaven and earth energy as a kind of "raw material" to refine directly.

【Hun Tian Golden Palace】 could absorb heaven and earth energy of all attributes, so Li Fei's "material library" could be said to have everything!

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, light, dark, wind, thunder—energy of various attributes poured into his body according to Li Fei's needs, and then were refined into his flesh and bones.

【Hun Tian Golden Palace】 + 【Object Refining】, the cooperation of the two supernatural abilities had initially manifested.

Such a disturbance naturally alarmed Qi Zhou and Qiu Zian.

"This is..."

Even with the cultivation base and vision of two Grandmasters, they felt their horizons broadened at this moment.

They could roughly perceive that Li Fei's body strength was increasing at a terrifying speed!

The two felt that what was in front of them was no longer a person, but a peerless precious sword.

A peerless precious sword that was still constantly being refined and constantly becoming stronger!

"It seems the opportunity has arrived; he is worthy of being the first in history."

Qiu Zi'an sighed.

Qi Zhou looked up at the Hun Tian Luo Pan above his head, his expression somewhat complicated.

As time passed, the momentum on Li Fei's body became stronger and stronger, and roaring sounds were constantly erupting from within his body, his entire skeleton was roaring!

Flesh, internal organs, meridians... were all absorbing heaven and earth energy of various attributes at a very fast speed, and at the same time, they were also absorbing blood souls.

"Still not enough! The heaven and earth energy is still not enough!"

While refining, Li Fei noticed that his speed of absorbing heaven and earth energy was not fast enough.

Various heavenly materials and earthly treasures all contained highly condensed heaven and earth energy, and he was now directly using heaven and earth energy to replace heavenly materials and earthly treasures, which required absorbing enough heaven and earth energy in a short time.

The speed of 【Hun Tian Golden Palace】 absorbing heaven and earth energy already exceeded that of a Martial Arts Master of the same level by several times, but it was still not enough.

Li Fei used the 【Object Refining】 supernatural ability to consume blood souls, and then threw them into the "Heavenly Gate" opened by 【Hun Tian Golden Palace】.

The 【Object Refining】 supernatural ability emphasizes "equivalent exchange." Now he used blood souls as an exchange item to exchange for the temporary strengthening of the 【Hun Tian Golden Palace】 supernatural ability!

This is the same principle as consuming life force in exchange for the strengthening of force, martial arts, supernatural abilities, etc.

It's just that Li Fei's life force is exceptionally abundant...

The next second, the invisible "Heavenly Gate" seemed to have expanded several times!

Boom, boom, boom—

Qiu Zi'an and Qi Zhou even heard explosive sounds, as if giant invisible mountains were moving rapidly in the air!

The two changed their expressions again.

It was their first time seeing a Martial Arts Master who could absorb heaven and earth energy at such a terrifying speed!

If it weren't for the Hun Tian Luo Pan above his head helping to conceal the aura, the experts within a radius of several hundred miles would probably have noticed the commotion here.

This terrifying absorption speed lasted for more than thirty minutes before it stopped.

In this process, Li Fei's body first gradually expanded to over three meters tall, and then slowly "condensed" back to two meters.

Finally, it settled at just over one meter nine, and the whole person was still a circle "expanded."

Li Fei slowly opened his eyes, his gaze like substance, as if two sword lights shot out.

His skin was pale gold, full of power, looking like a person cast from diamond!

The blood souls within the Ten Thousand Blood Pearl became 1021.

But in fact, in the process just now, the blood souls Li Fei consumed were not 1000+, but 2000+!

He consumed 2000+ blood souls and a massive amount of heaven and earth energy, completing the strengthening of his own flying sword body.

After strengthening, because the physique was enhanced and life force increased, the total number of blood souls increased by 1000+ at once!

So now the "data display" of the Ten Thousand Blood Pearl should be: 1021/4847.

The upper limit increased by 1000+!

Li Fei stood up from the ground and walked forward.

Swish—

He disappeared from the spot instantly, and then there was a series of loud noises, and tree after tree was snapped!

Just with a "light" step, Li Fei rushed out more than thirty meters, crushing everything along the way!

He stopped, looked down at his hands, and then slowly clenched his fists.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

This was the sound of blood flowing in his body, like a rushing river!

After strengthening, under the Sword State: Golden Body and Jade Marrow, even without using 【Blood Rage】, his own body strength was enough to be comparable to about 300 units of Blood Rage force!

And the increase in body strength was only secondary; this strengthening mainly enhanced the body's defense and damage-bearing capacity.

"How is it?"

Not far away, Qiu Zi'an asked.

Li Fei walked back in one step and said simply to this female Grandmaster:

"There has been a breakthrough."

A smile appeared on Qiu Zi'an's face, and she didn't ask much:

"That's good."

Subsequently, the three people present all felt something, and almost simultaneously looked up at the top of their heads.

The Hun Tian Luo Pan that had been following them all the way dissipated.

In the process of strengthening the flying sword body just now, Li Fei had also been using the power of the Hun Tian Luo Pan, so he could complete the refining almost perfectly.

And this also completely exhausted the last trace of power of the Hun Tian Luo Pan.

"The Hun Tian Luo Pan is gone. President Qi, please cast your supernatural ability."

Li Fei turned his head and said to Qi Zhou.

"Easy."

Qi Zhou nodded calmly.

The next second, a shadow shrouded the three of them.

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(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 468 =====