Chapter 802: Lodging the Spirit in the Thousand-Shadow Domain

High in the air, under the cover of a shadow, three people were flying rapidly.

After the Heaven-Mixing Compass dissipated, Qi Zhou switched to using his 【Shadow-Veiling】 divine ability to conceal the three of them.

On the way here, the Barbarian-Slaying Army had taken a week.

Now on the return journey, the three were flying directly through the sky, and their speed was much faster.

After repelling Borhu yesterday afternoon, the three had traveled for several hours, rested for the night, and continued their journey the next day.

Qi Zhou's 【Shadow-Veiling】 divine ability had to mask the aura and tracks of three people simultaneously, so it could not be sustained indefinitely; thus, the three would land to rest for thirty minutes after every hour of flight before continuing.

After another rest period ended, the three ascended once more, but they had not flown far when Li Fei spotted a tribal settlement below.

This was likely a branch of some Northern Barbarian tribe, with a population of only two or three thousand.

It was almost impossible for a Heaven-Capital realm expert to exist in such a branch, and with the combat power of Li Fei and his companions, they could easily wipe it out.

However, the most important thing now was to return safely; as for military merit, they already had enough, and Li Fei did not intend to invite unnecessary trouble.

Qi Zhou and Qiu Zi'an also merely glanced at the settlement, neither showing any reaction.

Just as the three swept over the settlement, Li Fei sensed something abnormal.

The shadow sweeping across the clouds suddenly twisted into a vortex, and invisible forces appeared out of thin air, as if intangible, transparent threads had been hooked onto his body without him knowing when!

"When..."

Li Fei felt a jolt in his heart.

Immediately following, a massive pulling force surged from these invisible threads, forcibly dragging him down from the sky!

He was about to activate 【No-Distance】, but tens of thousands of 【Thread-Pulling】 had already woven into an invisible web, turning the sky around the three into a thick, viscous amber in an instant.

Martial Dao Domain, expand!

Boom—

Thunder exploded in the air.

While Li Fei was being pulled by the 【Thread-Pulling】, Qiu Zi'an encountered the most violent attack!

The number of 【Thread-Pulling】 hanging on her was far lower than on Li Fei, but the pressure of the Martial Dao Domain she faced first was the strongest.

Having already suffered heavy injuries, Qiu Zi'an could not erupt with her own Martial Dao Domain to form a counter-impact in time.

The 【Thread-Pulling】 affected her movements and the circulation of her internal energy, while the Martial Dao Domain hindered her from using divine abilities.

Although it was only for an instant, it was enough for another Grandmaster.

The amber-like air squeezed toward Qiu Zi'an with the impact force of hundreds of tons!

But these were only the prelude.

Thousands of dark red threads intertwined to form a giant sword dozens of meters long, stabbing toward Qiu Zi'an.

As this sword struck, the invisible threads hanging on her tightened simultaneously, dragging her into the path of the blade.

The internal energy erupting from her body was constantly diverted, neutralized, and absorbed by these invisible threads, causing her defenses to be continuously weakened.

Not only that, the more intense her counterattack, the greater the power of the killing blow she faced!

Qi Zhou's long-prepared killing blow, aimed at the already heavily injured Qiu Zi'an, could be considered a sure success!

A moment of life and death.

A brilliant golden sphere of light suddenly erupted from within Qiu Zi'an's body.

A golden dragon coiled on the surface of the sphere, looking magnificent and imposing.

Bang!!!

The dark red giant sword struck this golden sphere, ultimately only causing it to cave inward and making the golden dragon upon it appear much more illusory, but it failed to pierce the sphere.

"Peace Token?"

Qi Zhou, who had distanced himself from the two the moment he struck, saw his expression change.

A Peace Token capable of blocking a Grandmaster's attack could only be of the highest grade.

And there were not many such Peace Tokens in the entire Imperial Palace!

In this operation, among all the experts of the Barbarian-Slaying Army, only the commander, Bai Yan, had obtained a Peace Token of this level.

Beyond that, Qi Zhou guessed that Li Fei might also possess one.

In any case, it was impossible for Qiu Zi'an to have one.

"Unless..."

Qi Zhou's eyes turned ruthless, and he plummeted toward the ground like a meteor!

The invisible threads hanging on Li Fei and Qiu Zi'an simultaneously erupted with powerful pulling force, forcibly dragging both of them down from the sky.

Amidst the roaring sound of falling sparks, the three crashed into the Northern Barbarian settlement below like meteorites!

The earth trembled and cracked into spiderweb patterns, and two dazzling rays of light rose from the dust.

The dark red Martial Dao Domain instantly swallowed a radius of a thousand meters, almost shrouding the entire settlement within it.

A purple flame bloomed within the red Martial Dao Domain, initially spreading several hundred meters outward, but it was quickly suppressed and forced back, ultimately only able to maintain a range of about a hundred meters.

Within the Martial Dao Domain, Li Fei stood beside Qiu Zi'an, who had activated the Peace Token, and looked at her:

"Principal Qiu?"

Blood spilled from the corner of Qiu Zi'an's mouth, and she shook her head:

"Thanks to the Peace Token you gave me, I am fine."

That was right; the top-grade Peace Token she had on her was one Li Fei had quietly given her.

"When did you give her the Peace Token?"

Qi Zhou's voice came from all directions, making it impossible to determine his true location.

"Qi Zhou, are you fucking crazy?!"

Qiu Zi'an wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and shouted in anger.

This female Grandmaster had a fiery temper, and at this moment, she completely erupted.

"Is Principal Qi a member of the New Heaven Society?"

Li Fei said in a deep voice, stating a guess.

It was unlikely that Qi Zhou was a mole for the Northern Barbarians; as a Grandmaster from the Central Plains and a university principal, what could the Northern Barbarians use to bribe him?

Therefore, it was most likely that he was a member of the New Heaven Society; otherwise, there was no explanation for why he would suddenly attack him and Qiu Zi'an.

"A member of the New Heaven Society? How could he possibly be a member of the New Heaven Society?"

Qiu Zi'an was very surprised to hear this.

Decades ago, Qi Zhou had been a staunch 'Crown Prince partisan,' and after the current Son of Heaven ascended the throne, he became an undisputed 'Emperor partisan,' a trusted confidant and high official of the Son of Heaven.

Otherwise, how could he have served as a university principal?

And how could he have been selected for the Barbarian-Slaying Army this time?

Therefore, Qiu Zi'an had never doubted Qi Zhou and had no defenses against him.

If not for the Peace Token Li Fei had quietly given her, she would be dead by now.

"Since when did the Marquis of Jing'an start suspecting me?"

Qi Zhou's voice came from all directions once again.

He did not deny it.

"You bastard, you really are a traitor?!"

Qiu Zi'an was furious, and she immediately recalled the details before Bai Yan's death:

"When Commander Bai died, was that also your doing?"

At the time, everyone thought Qi Zhou had used 【Thread-Pulling】 to save Bai Yan, to allow Bai Yan to retreat more quickly.

But if Qi Zhou was a member of the New Heaven Society, that was also his best opportunity to act, because the Heaven-Mixing Compass overhead had been temporarily interfered with by Nomuhan.

Qi Zhou still did not speak.

To Qiu Zi'an, this attitude was an admission, and she was suddenly enraged:

"You beast, I will definitely slaughter you!"

Li Fei also narrowed his eyes, his killing intent overflowing.

So, Bai Yan's death had also involved Qi Zhou's hand!

He actually did not know Qi Zhou's identity; he had only been very suspicious of the other party's uncharacteristic decision to follow them.

Since the start of the war, the other party had fought very conservatively and did not look at all like someone who would sacrifice his life for the country or fight desperately regardless of the cost.

Yet, when they could have safely retreated, he had risked following them?

Li Fei certainly would not suspect Qi Zhou of being a traitor just because of this point.

It was just that, out of his usual caution, he had kept an ace up his sleeve.

After successfully strengthening his Flying Sword Body last night, he had hidden it from Qi Zhou and secretly given the Peace Token the Emperor had given him to Qiu Zi'an.

For one, his Flying Sword Body had been strengthened, his defensive power had greatly increased, and his reliance on the Peace Token was no longer as great.

For another, Qiu Zi'an was the most heavily injured, and an extra Peace Token meant an extra layer of protection.

If any accident really happened later, at least this female Grandmaster would definitely stand on his side.

Facts proved that Li Fei's caution was correct!

He carefully sensed his own body, but there was no abnormality, as if the hundreds of invisible threads that had been hanging on him had never existed.

Qi Zhou's 【Thread-Pulling】 combined with 【Shadow-Veiling】—even Qiu Zi'an, who was also a Grandmaster, had been caught unaware, let alone Li Fei.

Without a perception-type divine ability, the 【Shadow-Veiling】 divine ability was very difficult to crack.

Therefore, even knowing that there were still 【Thread-Pulling】 threads secretly placed on him by Qi Zhou, Li Fei still could not find these invisible threads.

"Be careful, his 【Spirit-Lodging Thousand-Shadow Domain】 is best suited for places with many people; he specifically chose this battlefield."

Qiu Zi'an said to Li Fei, while simultaneously transmitting all the intelligence she knew about Qi Zhou via sound transmission.

Like the vast majority of Grandmasters, Qi Zhou broke through to become a Grandmaster using three divine abilities.

The first realm of a Grandmaster is Peak Flourishing, and the second is Divine Derivation.

If a Martial Domain is composed of only three divine abilities, it is very difficult to expand the Martial Domain to its limit, let alone derive new variations.

Therefore, the upper limit for a Grandmaster who breaks through with three divine abilities is usually the Peak Flourishing realm; very few people can break through to the Divine Derivation realm.

Conversely, a Grandmaster who breaks through with four or five divine abilities will easily expand their Martial Domain to the limit, reaching the pinnacle of Peak Flourishing. Subsequently, by combining several divine abilities, they derive new variations and break through to Divine Derivation.

As for a seven-divine-ability Grandmaster like Boerhu, they reach Divine Derivation the moment they break through, and can quickly reach the Establishing the Dao realm!

At the Martial Master realm, the more divine abilities one has, the harder it is to break through.

Once one reaches the Grandmaster realm, it is exactly the opposite: the more divine abilities, the easier it is to break through.

Since Qi Zhou broke through with three divine abilities, barring any accidents, his limit in this life can only stop at the Peak Flourishing realm.

He himself is very clear about this point.

However, even the weakest three-divine-ability Peak Flourishing Grandmaster is enough to thrash a seven-divine-ability Martial Master!

What's more, Li Fei currently only has three divine abilities, so he is not worried.

The only one to be concerned about is the female Grandmaster, Qiu Zi'an.

The opponent is a Grandmaster who broke through with five divine abilities, with a cultivation base at the peak of the Divine Derivation realm, and her killing power is astonishing!

Fortunately, she was severely injured, and now even maintaining her Martial Domain is difficult.

Even in a one-on-one head-on confrontation, Qi Zhou has a high degree of certainty that he can win.

But he still chose to ambush Qiu Zi'an first, striving to completely control the situation.

Unfortunately, he still did not succeed.

However, he had also prepared a second plan.

The place where the three of them fell at this moment was one he had specially chosen.

Besides 【Thread Manipulation】 and 【Shadow Concealment】, he has one most core divine ability, named 【Spirit Parasitism】.

【Spirit Parasitism】 allows him to entrust a portion of his own mind into other living beings, capable of absorbing others' mental energy, thereby remaining undying for a long time.

【Thread Manipulation】 combined with 【Spirit Parasitism】 allows Qi Zhou to possess hundreds or thousands of clones!

Just as Qiu Zi'an finished introducing Qi Zhou's three divine abilities, a figure stepped on a sonic boom cloud and charged toward them at high speed!

This person is a Northern Barbarian warrior over two meters tall; his own realm is only at the Tudu level, but at this moment, he is erupting with power far exceeding his own limits.

Most of this power comes from the transmission of 【Thread Manipulation】 and belongs to Qi Zhou's internal force.

As the person rushed out of the purple-fire-shrouded Martial Domain, his speed immediately slowed down.

He pushed his palms forward, overlapping; the fierce gale lifted the ground, and the violent palm force, like the waves of an angry sea, came sweeping toward Li Fei and Qiu Zi'an!

In an instant, Li Fei felt as if he were in the middle of the ocean, at the very center of a sea storm, and would be torn to shreds in the next second!

The majestic heavenly might was suffocating.

"Mysterious Scene Dao Force?"

Li Fei's eyes sharpened; he somewhat understood what the effect of the 【Spirit Parasitism】 divine ability combined with 【Thread Manipulation】 was.

If one only used 【Thread Manipulation】 to transmit one's own internal force and control another's limb movements, it would be impossible to strike with Dao Force no matter what.

Dao Force requires the martial artist's 'essence, qi, and spirit' to be perfectly unified, while the target controlled by 【Thread Manipulation】 is merely a marionette; it works for simple martial arts, but for slightly more complex martial arts, it would lack the charm.

But it is different with 【Spirit Parasitism】.

Qi Zhou entrusts a portion of his own mind into the target, transmits his own internal force via 【Thread Manipulation】, and then controls it with his mind.

In this way, the target he controls is temporarily equivalent to one of his clones.

As a Grandmaster, his Dao Force naturally reaches the Mysterious Scene level, so at this moment, this Northern Barbarian warrior controlled by him also unleashed Mysterious Scene level Dao Force!

"Let me."

Li Fei said to Qiu Zi'an, stopping her from making a move.

He stepped forward and slashed out with his blade.

Facing Mysterious Scene level Dao Force, he knew he could not gain the upper hand in technique, so he had no intention of trading blows with it at all.

His entire body transformed into a golden stream of light, charging straight toward the monstrous giant wave hundreds of meters high in front of him.

Boom—

The giant wave was split from the middle, the earth shook, and the rocks collapsed downward.

This Northern Barbarian tribe's outpost seemed to have experienced an earthquake!

Li Fei forcibly broke through this style of Mysterious Scene level Dao Force with one slash and arrived in front of that Northern Barbarian warrior.

The qi, blood, and internal force within this person's body suddenly erupted; his flesh and blood disintegrated, and his bones emitted a groan of being unable to bear the burden.

His whole body seemed to have been completely ignited; he suddenly erupted with even greater power, ignoring the Ghost-Slaying Blade Li Fei slashed with, and his right leg swept toward Li Fei's temple like a battle axe, his trouser leg burning to ashes in the supersonic oscillation!

Li Fei did not dodge or evade, letting this kick strike his head.

Bang!!!

The explosive sound of metal and stone colliding spread far away; Li Fei only shook his head slightly, then slashed the Northern Barbarian warrior in front of him in two.

While slashing this blade, Li Fei also consumed 100 Blood Souls to launch a 【Blood Might Divine】, striking the mind Qi Zhou had entrusted!

With just one strike, this cluster of mind was beaten into pieces.

But this cluster of mind scattered without being destroyed, turning into countless broken stars, and quickly flew out of Qiu Zi'an's Martial Domain.

"As expected..."

Li Fei's mind sharpened.

【Spirit Parasitism】 not only allows Qi Zhou to entrust a portion of his mind into others, but also makes this portion of his mind extremely difficult to be obliterated!

If not for this, a single 【Clone】 divine ability could achieve the effect of Qi Zhou's two divine abilities superimposed, and the effect would be even better.

The number of clones created by the 【Clone】 divine ability is limited, and after a clone is destroyed, it cannot be restored in a short time.

But Qi Zhou's 'clones' are different.

As long as his mind is not destroyed, his internal force is sufficient, and there are enough living beings around, he can continuously create new clones!

Another sonic boom sound came, and another Tudu-level Northern Barbarian warrior charged into Qiu Zi'an's Martial Domain again.

This Northern Barbarian warrior had already 'ignited' himself while rushing over; his whole body's qi and blood were exploding, his acupoints were bursting, and his meridians were severed!

Clearly, Qi Zhou had used more than one 'self-mutilating' secret technique.

He is using these 'clones' as disposable consumables!

There are thousands of Northern Barbarians in this place where the three of them fell, so Qi Zhou has plenty of 'consumables'.

Under these circumstances, the optimal choice is naturally to attack Qi Zhou's true body directly.

But Qi Zhou has the 【Shadow Concealment】 divine ability.

Neither Li Fei nor Qiu Zi'an has a perception-type divine ability, so they cannot find where the opponent's true body is.

As for leaving this place.

At this moment, Qi Zhou's 【Spirit Parasitism Thousand Shadow Domain】 has already shrouded a radius of a thousand meters; if they do not break his Martial Domain, the two of them cannot leave.

One only needs to look at Qiu Zi'an's Martial Domain, which has been suppressed to less than a hundred meters, to know that with this female Grandmaster's current state, she definitely cannot break the 【Spirit Parasitism Thousand Shadow Domain】.

Qi Zhou's plan is very simple: wear Qiu Zi'an to death first, and then free up his hands to slowly deal with Li Fei!

(End of chapter)