Chapter 695: Dare Not Contend With You

The black flying boat vanished into the horizon.

Chi Chengyu arrived fashionably late.

In reality, it was precisely because he sensed the arrival of this Chief of the Pacification Department that You Ming had decisively withdrawn.

Chi Chengyu arrived at the ruins caused by the battle between Li Fei and You Ming, immediately looking toward Shentu Yue; seeing that she was unharmed, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

He turned his head to look at Li Fei: "Is the Marquis of Jing'an alright?"

"No problem."

"I arrived a step late; I ask for the Marquis of Jing'an's forgiveness."

"Lord Chi is tied up with official business; it is understandable."

After the two exchanged the necessary pleasantries, Chi Chengyu could not help but get to the point:

"Was the person who attacked you a Martial Arts Master?"

"That is correct."

"And he possesses dual divine abilities!"

Shentu Yue, standing to the side, added.

"Dual divine abilities? How is that possible?!"

Chi Chengyu's first reaction was disbelief.

A Martial Arts Master who dared to publicly assassinate a core disciple of the Red Dust Pavilion and a Marquis of the imperial court was already inconceivable; a Martial Arts Master with dual divine abilities?

Chi Chengyu himself had only refined his second divine ability two years ago, relying on the top-tier heritage of the Red Dust Pavilion and the massive resources of the Society of Entering the World.

How could a Martial Arts Master who hid in the shadows and never dared to strike achieve dual divine abilities?

Furthermore, facing a Martial Arts Master with dual divine abilities, how could Shentu Yue and Li Fei have held on until now?

"Uncle-Master, it is true; I saw with my own eyes that the opponent unleashed two types of divine abilities simultaneously at the end."

Shentu Yue said.

Chi Chengyu frowned as he looked at her: "Then you..."

Shentu Yue looked at Li Fei, who was not far away, having shed his scales and donned a dark gold robe once more, her expression complex:

"It was Li... it was the Marquis of Jing'an who blocked the opponent."

"???"

Chi Chengyu suspected he had misheard.

"This person's goal was likely to kill Brother Huang."

Shentu Yue paused after saying this.

If You Ming had wanted to kill her, she certainly would not have lasted until Li Fei arrived.

"He seemed to be intentionally showing off his strength, intentionally hiding his true combat power, and was only forced to reveal his second divine ability by the Marquis of Jing'an at the very end."

Shentu Yue added.

"Huang Jin is dead?"

Chi Chengyu's expression sank.

Huang Jin was also a personal disciple of the Pavilion Master, and someone who had made the candidate list for the overall Wind and Cloud Ranking; he had great hope of breaking through to the Master realm in the future.

For such a person to die was a huge loss for the sect!

A trace of sorrow also appeared on Shentu Yue's face.

"Miss Shentu."

Li Fei walked toward her, "It seems we won't be able to spar today after all."

Shentu Yue pursed her lips, and finally, she cupped her hands toward Li Fei:

"The Marquis of Jing'an's strength far exceeds mine; within the Dao Foundation realm, I dare not contend with you."

These words made Chi Chengyu, standing to the side, freeze for a moment; he had not expected the proud and arrogant Shentu Yue to actually say such a thing.

She had always viewed Zhu Fenghua as her target to chase!

At this moment, many martial artists who had gathered their courage to approach had just witnessed the scene of Shentu Yue cupping her hands in salute to Li Fei, and they had also heard this sentence.

Dare not contend with you!

The surrounding martial artists were stunned!

Li Fei was also somewhat surprised; he had expected Shentu Yue to say something like "I am not your match now, let us fight again in the future."

He had not expected her to be so direct.

Not daring to contend within the Dao Foundation realm meant that they would talk about sparring again once everyone had become Martial Arts Masters.

"Very well, I hope there will be an opportunity to spar with Miss Shentu in the future."

Li Fei cupped his hands in return.

Finally, he looked at Chi Chengyu: "Lord Chi, regarding this assassination today, I also wish to participate in the investigation."

Chi Chengyu: "No problem."

Li Fei nodded and turned to leave.

On the flying boat, You Ming had shed his usual scholarly temperament, his gaze somewhat gloomy.

After Zhu San was silent for a moment, he asked:

"Did your breakthrough go smoothly, my lord?"

This was, after all, a very important matter, and he had to confirm it clearly.

You Ming: "It was still lacking a bit."

For Dao Power to break through from the Wish Realm to the Profound Scene Realm, the most important factors were no longer the amount of Qi and blood, the strength of the power, or the level of mental strength.

The most critical factor lay in the connection of intent and the deeper fusion of the three types of power.

Regarding this, the leader of the New Heaven Society had long ago provided guidance to You Ming.

And You Ming was very clear about what his truest intent was; his Dao Power was only one step away from reaching the Profound Scene realm. Today's 'opening act'—killing Huang Jin was one part, and the second was to break through!

If everything had gone smoothly and You Ming had successfully broken through, he would have been a Martial Arts Master with dual divine abilities and Profound Scene level Dao Power.

Such combat power was top-tier even among Martial Arts Masters!

It was just a pity that he failed to succeed; Li Fei had hindered him from completing the final connection of intent.

"If Chi Chengyu hadn't arrived so quickly, how could I have let that junior be so rampant?"

You Ming said.

He had intended to hide his strength from the beginning, revealing only one divine ability.

Because he did not believe that dealing with a few juniors in the Dao Foundation stage required the use of a second divine ability.

Even if those few were all at the peak of the Dao Foundation stage, individuals infinitely close to being Martial Arts Masters.

But as they had not yet become Martial Arts Masters, he did not take them seriously at all.

He had not expected to be forced by Li Fei to reveal his second divine ability in the end.

"We shall find another opportunity."

Zhu San comforted him, "At least we can make Xu Jing make up his mind."

"Li Fei..."

You Ming's gaze was deep.

He was now looking forward to their next meeting!

"After the foundation of martial arts is built, the first divine ability forms naturally. But to refine a second or third divine ability, one needs to incorporate implants of the middle three grades."

"The people and forces capable of raising middle three grade exotic beasts are clearly traceable. We can deduce which middle three grade implants he might have incorporated based on that person's divine abilities, thereby determining his identity and the forces associated with him."

Inside the room, He Jian said to Li Fei.

Although He Jian's own combat power was not high and he would never be able to build a martial arts foundation in this lifetime, it did not hinder his understanding of the higher realms.

Because some of the major cases he had investigated in the past involved high-level powerhouses.

Thus, Li Fei recounted the various details of his battle with You Ming to He Jian, describing the opponent's divine abilities in detail.

He Jian recorded all of these down.

"The New Heaven Society killed Huang Jin to silence him; the trail has gone cold again."

Li Fei sighed.

"It is not necessarily cold. A Martial Arts Master cannot leave no traces; we will definitely be able to find clues!"

He Jian said firmly.

Martial arts cannot be mastered by working behind closed doors; for a martial artist to become a Martial Arts Master step by step, they will inevitably leave behind many traces of their actions.

The traces of a Dao Foundation stage powerhouse are relatively easy to cover up; after all, there are several thousand Dao Foundation stage martial artists in the Great Lan Dynasty.

But it is very difficult for a Martial Arts Master to cover them up, because there are so few of them.

"I just feel that since the New Heaven Society dared to let this Martial Arts Master strike publicly, they must have made preparations and are not afraid of an investigation."

Li Fei said.

The New Heaven Society is not stupid; everyone knows that letting a Martial Arts Master strike will easily lead to exposure, yet they still dared to let their own Martial Arts Master strike so high-profilely.

That must mean they have something to rely on.

He Jian's expression remained unchanged: "I have always firmly believed one thing: there is no such thing as a perfect crime in this world. Those methods that people think are seamless can all have flaws found in them."

In the field of investigating cases, he was no different from a Grandmaster, possessing firm conviction!

"Very well, I will trouble you, Lord He."

Li Fei chose to trust He Jian.

He could safely leave the matter of investigating the case to this master detective.

What he needed to do was continue strengthening his own power.

The battle with You Ming today allowed him to verify his current combat strength.

The result was satisfying; once the Golden Body and Jade Marrow were formed, it truly brought about a qualitative change!

Clad in divine clothing and driving the Golden Body and Jade Marrow, if a Martial Arts Master wanted to injure him, they would have to rely on divine abilities or use Dao energy of a higher level.

The battle with You Ming served to verify this point.

Besides that, his Blood Bead energy value had previously reached 91%, and the battle with You Ming, which involved absorbing quite a bit of high-quality energy from divine abilities, directly filled the energy value.

The Blood Bead leveled up again:

【Blood Bead

Level: Level 28, 2%

Blood Souls: 1027

Blood Soul Skills: Blood Rage (Strong), Blood Fiend (Strong), Blood Might (Strong), Blood Spring (Strong), Blood Breath (Strong)

Transformation Skill: Blood Demon (Strong)】

With this upgrade, the number of Blood Souls increased by 54, bringing the total number of Blood Souls to 1027.

The key point was that after the total number of Blood Souls exceeded 1000, Li Fei once again gained an opportunity to strengthen a Blood Soul skill!

All of his Blood Soul skills had already been strengthened once, and now they could be strengthened a second time.

When Li Fei performed the first round of strengthening, he prioritized strengthening 【Blood Spring】 because the benefits of this Blood Soul skill were directly proportional to time.

The longer the time, the greater the benefits brought by strengthening this Blood Soul skill.

Normally, Li Fei's second round of strengthening should also have started with 【Blood Spring】.

However, the memory of You Ming's final sword strike echoed in his mind.

The opponent had suddenly erupted with a strike capable of rivaling his own extreme power!

Afterward, Shentu Yue said that it was the opponent's second divine ability.

This forced Li Fei to be vigilant.

Without a second divine ability, Li Fei was confident he could slowly grind the opponent to death!

But with the addition of that strange second divine ability, a sense of crisis arose in Li Fei's heart.

If the opponent could suddenly jump out to kill Huang Jin today, would they find an opportunity to kill him tomorrow?

Previously, Li Fei did not think any Martial Arts Master or powerhouse of a higher level would dare to openly make a move against him.

But now his thinking had changed, and he felt a bit more of a sense of crisis.

Strengthening 【Blood Spring】 required time to accumulate slowly and could not immediately improve his combat strength.

"【Blood Rage】, 【Blood Might】, and 【Blood Breath】—these three Blood Soul skills can all immediately boost my combat strength by a notch."

Li Fei began to ponder.

In the end, he chose to strengthen 【Blood Breath】.

【Blood Breath】 could enhance his endurance in battle and also strengthen his survival ability, making him even harder to kill.

After the first strengthening of 【Blood Breath】, the trigger condition changed from needing the total Blood Soul count to be below 30% to being able to trigger it below 40%, still recovering 5% of the total Blood Soul count per minute.

Now, for the second strengthening, it changed to triggering when the total Blood Soul count was below 50%, recovering 5% of the total Blood Soul count per minute.

At first, Li Fei needed to be at "low health" to recover quickly; now, he could recover quickly at "half health."

The safety threshold was getting higher and higher!

After the second strengthening was completed, the suffix of 【Blood Breath】 became—【Blood Breath】 (Extreme)

"Does this mean it has been strengthened to the limit and cannot be strengthened further?"

Li Fei was thoughtful.

"Then, after I finish my second round of strengthening and finish strengthening all Blood Soul skills and transformation skills, what abilities will be unlocked?"

He thought with some anticipation.

The next day, the major newspaper offices in the provincial capital of Gansu Province unanimously remained silent about what happened outside the Red Sleeve Pavilion yesterday.

Not a single newspaper reported on that battle yesterday.

The matter involved the Red Dust Pavilion, and it was the Pavilion Master's own direct disciple who was killed in broad daylight; the Entering the World Society would not allow such reports to be published!

At this moment, the true value of the saying "a local official is better than a distant superior" was demonstrated.

Those newspapers had even dared to report on Li Fei, the Marquis, a few days ago, but now, under the interference of the Entering the World Society, they did not dare to report a single word of news related to the death of Huang Jin!

Li Fei's Blue Patrol Special Envoy status deterred officials, and the fief of the Marquis of Jing'an was far away in Feng Province.

But the Entering the World Society was truly capable of making these newspapers go bankrupt!

However, although the news was not reported, nearly ten thousand people saw that battle yesterday.

People witnessed with their own eyes that Shentu Yue and Huang Jin combined were no match for You Ming, while Li Fei held off You Ming all by himself!

The common people did not understand martial arts, but they could still see such an obvious contrast in strength.

The common people at the bottom of this era were mostly simple and honest, not the type to tell lies with their eyes open.

Thus, the previous rumors about Li Fei "fearing battle," being jealous of Shentu Yue, and deliberately framing the other party fell apart on their own.

Not only that, many martial artists yesterday saw with their own eyes Shentu Yue bowing to Li Fei and heard with their own ears the words Shentu Yue said: "I dare not contend with you."

The Entering the World Society could make all the newspapers shut up, but they could not make all the martial artists shut up.

These words spoken by Shentu Yue spread quickly.

March 3rd.

Lanling City, Under the Heavens Restaurant.

Two attendants walked out of the restaurant's main gate with a brand-new ranking list and came to that stone tablet.

The surrounding crowd quickly gathered around.

The words "I dare not contend with you" spoken by Shentu Yue had now spread to Lanling City.

People were all guessing when the Under the Heavens ranking list would be updated and what position Li Fei would be ranked in this time.

Soon, the two attendants tore down the existing list and posted the new list on the stone tablet.

"What does this mean?"

"I've never seen this before."

"Why is it written like this?"

"."

People who saw the latest list could not help but ask questions.

It was because the format of this list was unprecedented!

The previous Wind and Cloud General Ranking was divided into two parts: the top row listed the top ten of the general ranking, and the bottom row listed the names of ten candidates.

But this time, three rows of names appeared on the list.

The bottom two rows were eight names and ten names respectively; the eight were the official rankings of the Wind and Cloud General Ranking, and the ten were the candidate list.

At the very top of the list, two names were listed separately in a single row:

Zhu Fenghua, Li Fei.

"Does this mean they are tied for first place?"

Someone guessed the answer.

"Yes, yes, yes, it must be like that."

"So, Zhu Fenghua and Li Fei are tied for first place on the Wind and Cloud General Ranking!"

"."

The crowd became restless.

Under the Heavens had never given a tied ranking when releasing the Wind and Cloud General Ranking, let alone a tie for first place.

This was the first time in history!

But soon people accepted this ranking:

Even Shentu Yue, who was previously second on the Wind and Cloud General Ranking, said "I dare not contend with you" with her own mouth; if such a person was ranked second, who would dare to say they were the undisputed first?

Li Fei deserved to be ranked first!

The new list quickly spread throughout the world.

But "in literature there is no first, in martial arts there is no second"; the strength of martial arts has always been clear.

So everyone who saw this list would soon have a thought:

"When will Zhu Fenghua and Li Fei have a public fight?"

"Who is truly the undisputed strongest in the Dao Foundation Realm?"

PS: My health hasn't fully recovered these past few days, so the updates haven't been very good. I can only manage one update today, please forgive me.

(End of this chapter)