Chapter 823: Mind Eternally Fixed, Black Water Swallows Malice (6000)

On the small mountain, Li Fei was bare-chested, placing a crimson, high-temperature stone against his chest.

This stone is called the 【Flame Heart Scale】, a Grade 5 spell-type implant.

Its temperature in a normal state reaches over five hundred degrees Celsius!

For a human body, this thing carries not only high heat but also the property of scorching the spirit; even high-realm martial artists find it difficult to endure such a thing.

Yet Li Fei now intended to incorporate this 【Flame Heart Scale】 into his own body!

Normally, this item is used for life-bound magic treasures, with its carriers being various steels and minerals, not flesh and blood.

It is nearly impossible for a flesh-and-blood body to bear such an implant.

But Li Fei's Flying Sword Body is capable of creating such miracles!

He held the 【Flame Heart Scale】 against his chest with one hand; soon, the crimson stone began to merge into his chest bit by bit, subsequently transforming into a flow of red flames that coursed through his entire body.

Rumble—

Behind Li Fei, it was as if the "Heavenly Gate" had been thrown open; a massive amount of heaven and earth spiritual energy surged into his body, then, under the effect of the 【Refining Matter】 divine ability, transformed into the corresponding "materials" to fuse with the 【Flame Heart Scale】 inside him.

Integrating an implant into a life-bound magic treasure requires the coordination of various materials, such as special metals, minerals, heavenly treasures, and so on.

But Li Fei possesses the 【Heaven-Mixing Golden Palace】, which can absorb heaven and earth spiritual energy of all attributes, and the 【Refining Matter】 divine ability, which can refine that energy into the corresponding materials, making his process of refining implants even simpler and faster.

Of course, to achieve this, the prerequisite is that Li Fei must have a sufficient understanding of the various "materials" required and a sufficiently deep understanding of his own Flying Sword Body.

The 【Refining Matter】 divine ability can theoretically "refine all things and transform all things," provided that one understands those things well enough.

Regarding the understanding of various "materials," Li Fei has the help of "Grandpa" True Person Qing Ding inside him.

The other party was once the world's number one alchemist, and his level of artifact refining is not low either—at the very least, he ranks in the top twenty in the world!

As for the understanding of the Flying Sword Body, Li Fei had already gained a comprehensive understanding through the "Analysis" Dao rule of Xiang Yunshu, so that was naturally not a problem.

Having quickly completed the preliminary refining of the 【Flame Heart Scale】, Li Fei continued to employ the 【Refining Matter】 divine ability to accelerate the refining speed.

The 【Refining Matter】 divine ability was never a divine ability primarily used for combat, but rather an extremely powerful auxiliary divine ability.

It was just that Li Fei, relying on a massive amount of blood souls, forcibly developed a perfectly good auxiliary divine ability into a powerful combat divine ability!

Now, when refining spell-type implants, the benefits of the 【Refining Matter】 divine ability have finally manifested.

Relying on his unique Flying Sword Body, the characteristic of the Blood Soul Bead not fearing injury, and the "Five Phases Reversal Method" modified by Hao Yi that gives him the ability to "correct errors" time and again, his speed in strengthening his life-bound magic treasure is already more than ten times that of ordinary True Persons!

Now with the addition of the 【Refining Matter】 divine ability, his cultivation speed on the spell side has become even more terrifying!

In fact, those contemporary True Persons also know that the 【Refining Matter】 divine ability is suitable for artifact refining and can accelerate the speed at which they strengthen their life-bound magic treasures, lowering the difficulty of breaking through realms.

But unfortunately, the 【Refining Matter】 divine ability is a martial-side divine ability, and those True Persons find it hard to find a martial arts master possessing it who is willing to sacrifice their own cultivation time and expend divine ability power to serve them.

Only someone like Li Fei, who cultivates both law and martial arts and possesses the 【Refining Matter】 divine ability, can enjoy this convenience.

Originally, Li Fei estimated that he would need at least another half a year to complete the composition of the first "Twelve Malice."

But now with the 【Refining Matter】 divine ability, he estimates that he only needs about four months to complete the refining of the remaining six spell-type implants, thereby beginning to attempt the refining of his second spell-type divine ability!

Li Fei has already decided what the next spell-type divine ability will be—

【Eternal Stability】!

This is a mind-type divine ability, equivalent to 【Indestructible】 on the spiritual level.

The 【Indestructible】 divine ability is an invincible physical defense, while 【Eternal Stability】 is an eternally unshakable spiritual defense!

Once this divine ability is unleashed, as long as the divine ability power is not exhausted, one's mind can be kept eternally fixed in a certain state, and no means targeting the spiritual level can shake it!

Moreover, unlike 【Indestructible】, 【Eternal Stability】 can also be used on others.

The Blood Soul Bead only unconditionally takes effect against spell-type spiritual means; with 【Eternal Stability】, Li Fei has made up for one of his shortcomings and will be able to fear no control on the mind level in the future.

However, 【Eternal Stability】 and 【No Distance】 do not actually go well together, nor can they produce a 1+1 > 2 effect.

Originally, in Li Fei's plan, the second spell-type divine ability he was going to refine next was one that strengthens attack power, similar to 【Annihilation】.

All along, his strongest offensive means have relied on 【Blood Rage】, relying on pure power.

This method consumes a significant amount of blood soul, so he wanted a divine ability that could strengthen attack power.

With 【No Distance】, he can teleport himself or let his offensive means teleport; adding a divine ability similar to 【Annihilation】 would allow his killing power to soar by a significant margin.

But having learned of the "Yin-Yang Dichotomy" and having new plans, Li Fei changed his original proposal.

【Eternal Stability】 indeed does not go with 【No Distance】, but it goes very well with 【Dragon Elephant】!

This "going well" is not a combination of divine ability effects, but a pairing on the "Yin-Yang" level.

Other martial arts masters and True Persons consider divine ability combinations in the hope that various divine abilities combined together can exert a 1+1 > 2 effect, with multiple divine abilities superimposed to form powerful "combo techniques."

But Li Fei's considerations have already moved beyond this level.

He is now thinking from the perspective of the "Yin-Yang Dichotomy," how to pair martial-side and spell-side divine abilities so as to form a perfectly fitting small world, or even be able to "piece together" a complete Dao rule.

From the perspective of realms, while at the Martial Arts Master and True Person levels, he has already begun to consider problems that only Grandmasters and top-tier True Persons would consider, and is even closer to the essence of the problem than they are!

Refine 【Eternal Stability】 first, then refine 【Dragon Elephant】—this is Li Fei's cultivation plan for the future.

To speed up progress, he has already had people help him inquire about the cultivation method for the 【Dragon Elephant】 divine ability.

The cultivation methods for divine abilities are top secret; the 【Eternal Stability】 divine ability is included in the three sets of flying sword refining methods that Xiang Yunshu gave to Li Fei.

The three sets of flying sword refining methods contain a total of fifteen types of spell-type divine abilities and the cultivation methods for three types of Earth Malice formations!

But 【Dragon Elephant】 is a martial-side divine ability, and Li Fei needs to find a way to obtain the cultivation method himself.

In fact, the Xiao family certainly has the complete cultivation method for the 【Dragon Elephant】 divine ability, and should even have all the implants required for it.

But Li Fei is unwilling to take the initiative to owe the Xiao family this favor, so he did not go to them.

Just as Li Fei was cultivating according to plan, he suddenly received news from the Feng Province capital:

"He Lao has fallen ill?"

Li Fei's first reaction upon receiving the news was that the Lu family was playing tricks behind the scenes!

Otherwise, how could a Dao Foundation-stage martial artist fall ill for no reason?

"We suspect that someone secretly did something to Master, but we can't find any abnormalities at all. We have used all kinds of methods, but Master is still muddled all day long, and most of the time he is delirious."

Yuan Mengfei's anxious voice came over the phone: "Marquis, we really have no other choice. Could you please send Master back to Datong Prefecture first and trouble you to ask the physicians at the Martial Academy to help take a look?"

"Wait for me, I'll come right away!"

Li Fei said.

He intends to take a flying escape magic treasure to the provincial capital now and bring He Jian back today; that is the fastest way.

To him, He Jian is not just a master detective who helps him investigate cases, but also an elder he respects.

He respects He Jian's character very much; even if they had no relationship, he would not stand idly by if he could save him.

What's more, He Jian fell ill while helping him investigate a case, so he naturally cannot ignore it.

"Okay, thank you, Marquis!"

On the other end of the phone, Yuan Mengfei was very excited.

After hanging up, Li Fei told Shi Caiming and immediately steered the black boat into the air.

Before leaving, Shi Caiming told him to pay attention to safety and prevent some people from jumping over the wall in desperation.

Li Fei nodded in agreement, but he was not worried.

To be honest, he was actually looking forward to Lu Wenzheng taking extreme measures and making a move on him directly.

That way, he would no longer have to slowly break the other party's "shell" and could start killing directly!

As for his own safety.

He does not believe anyone in the Lu family can threaten him.

In the entire Feng Province, there are only two people who can kill him now.

One is Shi Caiming, and the other is Xu Jing.

There is no need to talk about Shi Caiming; as for Xu Jing, unless the other party has lost his mind, he would not dare to make a move on a regent appointed by the Emperor.

If he really did that, even if Xu Jing is a Grandmaster, he would eventually have to pay with his life, because he would be slapping the Emperor in the face!

Li Fei does not believe Xu Jing would be crazy to that extent.

Even if one takes a step back and assumes the other party really has gone crazy, after the battle with Qi Zhou, Li Fei is confident that he can forcibly strike a gap in a Grandmaster's martial arts domain and escape.

Even if he cannot beat Xu Jing, he is confident in preserving his life.

So he did not hesitate and steered the black boat directly toward the provincial capital.

More than two hours later, Li Fei arrived at the Feng Province capital, successfully picked up He Jian, and then returned to Datong Prefecture with He Jian and his two disciples, while the rest remained in the provincial capital to continue the investigation.

The moment he saw He Jian, Li Fei saw that something was wrong with his mind.

So he immediately employed "Green Spirit" to treat him.

But this time, "Green Spirit" failed to take effect.

He Jian remained drowsy and delirious, and the problem was not resolved.

This was the first time Li Fei had encountered a situation where "Green Spirit" could not take effect, and he immediately realized that He Jian might have encountered a divine ability!

Only divine abilities can ignore martial arts and supernatural abilities.

Li Fei had no choice but to take He Jian to see Shi Caiming and let the other party see what the situation was.

That afternoon, he steered the black boat and landed on the small mountain where Shi Caiming lived.

He then brought He Jian into Shi Caiming's small courtyard and asked him to help take a look.

A fiery red light bloomed from Shi Caiming's body, enveloping only He Jian without causing any impact on the others in the room.

This is Shi Caiming's martial arts domain; based solely on this realm of being able to retract and release at will, Li Fei inferred that the other party possesses at least the cultivation of the peak of the Flourishing Realm!

Enveloped by the martial arts domain, He Jian's mental state clearly improved a lot.

A few seconds later, Shi Caiming withdrew his martial arts domain.

"Principal, how is it?"

Li Fei asked.

Yuan Mengfei and another disciple stood to the side, not daring to even breathe loudly.

This was their first time being in close contact with a Grandmaster.

If not for Li Fei, they might never have had the chance to speak face-to-face with a Grandmaster in their entire lives.

Shi Caiming: "He has indeed been struck by some kind of supernatural ability."

Within the Domain of Martial Dao, a Grandmaster has keen insight into everything.

Although Jiang Ye's 【Evil Spirit】 is sufficiently stealthy, it still cannot escape the perception of a Grandmaster.

Li Fei frowned: "Can it be cured?"

Shi Caiming shook his head: "I cannot cure it; it requires someone with a mind-based or healing-based supernatural ability."

Li Fei was puzzled: "Can't you just use your Domain of Martial Dao to directly eliminate the other party's supernatural ability? Could it be that the person who attacked is a Grandmaster?"

Shi Caiming explained patiently: "I can indeed use the Domain of Martial Dao to forcibly eliminate the supernatural power left behind by the other party, but their ability is very vicious and has already deeply integrated with this person's mind. If I use the Domain of Martial Dao to forcibly eliminate the supernatural power, it will cause serious damage to this person's mind."

Li Fei understood.

Shi Caiming could not take action forcibly, nor could he keep his Domain of Martial Dao activated indefinitely to protect He Jian.

Then, they could only find a Martial Arts Master with the "appropriate expertise" to handle it.

"However, you don't need to worry too much; the other party intentionally held back, and this ability has not caused fundamental damage to this person's mind."

Shi Caiming said.

Li Fei nodded; clearly, the mastermind was also wary of He Jian's status and did not dare to strike too hard.

Otherwise, if a Martial Arts Master wanted to kill He Jian, where would there be any need for such trouble?

"You don't need to worry; I will find someone to save He Lao."

Li Fei said to Yuan Mengfei and the others.

With his current status and position, he was not worried about failing to find a Martial Arts Master with the relevant supernatural ability to take action.

The other party might even be very happy to have Li Fei owe them a favor.

The real problem he needed to consider was how to deal with this Martial Arts Master hiding in the shadows?

If there is a first time, there can be a second.

According to Shi Caiming's judgment, this type of supernatural ability is extremely stealthy, so even if a Martial Arts Master were arranged to protect He Jian 24 hours a day, it might not be enough to prevent it.

In that case, even if He Jian were cured this time, as long as he continued to go to the provincial capital, it might not be long before he was struck again.

Wouldn't that be pure torture for the old man?

Therefore, before resolving the mastermind, Li Fei did not intend to continue sending He Jian to investigate the case.

"Lu Wenzheng!"

Li Fei's gaze was icy.

He didn't even need to guess; he knew it must be this person causing trouble behind the scenes, with the goal of obstructing He Jian from leading people to investigate the case.

It was just that he felt this method was somewhat low-level.

From the night the Crown Prince began to supervise the nation and he was chosen as a regent, the momentum had already been tilting toward his side.

The great ship Lu Wenzheng was on would sink sooner or later!

Even if Li Fei didn't take action himself, Lu Wenyao and the others would take action against Lu Wenzheng!

Sometimes external blades are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows from within are hard to guard against.

Therefore, Li Fei did not believe that Lu Wenzheng finding someone to secretly harm He Jian could have much significance.

It was nothing more than delaying a bit more time.

What use could that have?

Feng Province, provincial capital.

Under the cover of night, Jiang Ye walked into the 'Red Sleeve Dance Hall' for the second time.

Although the dance hall's owner, Zhao Qidong, was already dead, the dance hall still opened every night, and it seemed to have not been affected at all.

Jiang Ye was soon led into the same hall where he had negotiated with Miao Lang before.

Inside the hall, only Miao Lang was sitting on the sofa alone.

Jiang Ye walked straight over and sat opposite him:

"The matter has been accomplished; where is the thing I want?"

He had already received a 'Demon-Feeding Beast' as a deposit in advance, and tonight he was here to collect the remaining payment.

He was not worried that the other party would renege, because the supernatural power he left in He Jian's body was only a tiny bit, which would automatically dissipate after at most one week.

If the other party wanted He Jian to be bedridden for several months, they would have to let him take action again.

Moreover, he also knew that Li Fei had picked up He Jian today, clearly to take him for treatment.

This meant that the Lu family might still need to cooperate with him later.

Jiang Ye had already thought it through; whether they wanted him to use 【Evil Spirit】 on someone else later, or if they had any plans targeting that Marquis of Jing'an, he could negotiate.

The prerequisite was that the price must be sufficient, and he had to collect half the 'deposit' first.

"Don't be impatient; we still have to wait for someone."

Miao Lang said to Jiang Ye.

Jiang Ye frowned, immediately feeling displeased.

His eyes flashed with a fierce light: "What, you want to play games with me? He Jian will recover in at most a week!"

Miao Lang smiled and said very relaxedly: "Brother Jiang, no need to be nervous; we are just waiting for someone. Once the person arrives, the thing you want will arrive."

Jiang Ye stared at him for a few seconds and stopped speaking.

Thus, the two of them waited quietly in the hall.

Jiang Ye guessed that the person who could make Miao Lang wait must be an important figure in the Lu family.

Looking at it this way, the Lu family indeed intended to continue cooperating with him.

"Then I should think carefully about how to raise the price in a moment."

Jiang Ye thought to himself.

Ten-odd minutes later, when Jiang Ye was getting a bit impatient, the door behind him was pushed open again.

Miao Lang immediately stood up and cupped his hands in a very respectful salute:

"Greetings, Grandmaster Xu!"

Jiang Ye was startled.

Grandmaster Xu? The Grandmaster Xu Jing?!

He was shocked and turned his head abruptly to look at the person who had arrived.

A young man with long hair draped over his shoulders stood at the door with an icy gaze.

It was indeed Xu Jing!

"G-greetings, Grandmaster Xu."

Cold sweat broke out on Jiang Ye's back, and he cupped his hands in a very nervous salute.

He had thought that the person coming tonight would be some important figure from the Lu family; even if the head of the Lu family, the Inspector Lu Wenzheng, had come in person, he would not have been as nervous as he was now.

He never expected that a Grandmaster would come!

Xu Jing ignored Jiang Ye and just nodded at Miao Lang.

Miao Lang immediately understood, decisively stepped out of the hall, and closed the door.

Thus, only Xu Jing and Jiang Ye remained in the hall.

Jiang Ye felt that the atmosphere was not quite right and managed to squeeze out a smile:

"I didn't expect you to come and talk to me; it is truly Jiang's honor."

Xu Jing looked at Jiang Ye with eyes devoid of any emotion, as if looking at a dish on the table:

"Your 【Evil Spirit】 is indeed useful to me."

Jiang Ye did not understand this sentence and thought Xu Jing was talking about future cooperation, so he hurriedly said:

"I am honored by Grandmaster Xu's regard; if there is anything you need from Jiang in the future, please feel free to speak!"

"That won't be necessary."

But Xu Jing just shook his head indifferently.

"Ah?"

"I don't need you to take action again; I will take it myself."

As the words fell, deep, dark mist instantly enveloped the entire hall!

Jiang Ye subconsciously wanted to resist, but his 【Evil Spirit】 was directly suppressed and could not be used.

His entire body was further bound by an overwhelming, massive force!

He looked down and saw a large mass of black sludge appearing beneath his feet, pulling him into it bit by bit.

"Spare my life! Spare my life!"

"I am willing to take an oath to serve the Lu family from now on! To serve you!"

Jiang Ye was terrified and shouted loudly.

But Xu Jing did not respond to him and just continued to channel the 【Black Water】 supernatural ability.

There are many powerful supernatural abilities in this world, but not everyone can refine them.

Whether one can refine a certain supernatural ability depends not only on whether one's Dao foundation matches, but also on whether one's body is compatible with all the implants that make up the ability. Can it accommodate them?

Simply put, it is not just people who choose supernatural abilities; supernatural abilities also choose people.

Like Li Fei, as long as the Dao foundation matches, there is no need to consider whether one's body can accommodate the implants or if there is enough compatibility for the implants to grow rapidly; one can just take a large amount of elixirs and 'force it through'!

This method of forcibly "proving the Dao through strength" is something only Li Fei can do, because he does not need to worry about the side effects of any elixirs.

The Innate Elixir-Popping Sacred Body!

That Xu Jing has the aptitude to refine the 【Black Water】 divine ability is his greatest trump card, and also his greatest reliance.

Others only know he possesses such a divine ability, but they do not understand the specific circumstances, nor do they know that this divine ability can directly devour the divine abilities of others!

Back then, Li Fei personally experienced the 【Black Water】 divine ability, but he only thought it was a defensive divine ability capable of absorbing energy.

After others break through to become a Grandmaster with three divine abilities, it is difficult for them to advance even an inch further, and they have no way to increase the number of their divine abilities.

But Xu Jing is different.

He has 【Black Water】 which can devour the divine abilities of others, so breaking through with three divine abilities is not a dead end for him.

He can break through at the fastest speed first, and then slowly fill in the remaining divine abilities by relying on the 【Black Water】 divine ability!

Of course, the difficulty of filling in divine abilities is also very great.

First, it must be a divine ability that is compatible with his own martial Dao domain; not just any divine ability can be used to fill the gaps.

Second is the source of the divine ability.

Whether it is a Rank 7 exotic beast or a Martial Arts Master, which one is easy to get one's hands on?

The Lu family spent decades laying out their plans, expending countless manpower and material resources, just to cultivate a single Rank 7 exotic beast.

For Xu Jing to want to start with exotic beasts is almost impossible; the number of Rank 7 exotic beasts is far fewer than Martial Arts Masters, and those suitable for him are even fewer.

As for Martial Arts Masters.

Among the Martial Arts Masters in this world, which one is not an important big shot?

They are either the head of a province's Zhige Department, a member of the Zhige Pavilion, a bigwig in the military, or an imperial court retainer.

At the very least, they are an Elder or even the Sect Master of some major martial arts sect in the pugilistic world.

How could Xu Jing dare to kill such figures at will?

Back when he plotted against the Sect Master of the Iron Peak Sect, he and the Lu family also spent over a decade laying the groundwork before finally succeeding.

So in the end, Xu Jing set his sights on demonic martial artists.

In any case, these types of people are universally reviled; if it were truly discovered that he killed them, people would only applaud and cheer for him, and there would be no trouble.

Because people like Jiang Ye are extremely cautious, in order to avoid alerting the other party, the Lu family had already begun the business of "raising demonic beasts" in secret years in advance.

In order to lure Jiang Ye into the trap, the Lu family made extensive preparations and various contingency plans in advance.

This time, Li Fei having He Jian bring men to the provincial capital to investigate the case just happened to give the Lu family a perfect excuse, which would not make Jiang Ye suspicious.

If Jiang Ye had known the secret of the 【Black Water】 divine ability in advance, he would absolutely not have come to Feng Province so easily.

Unfortunately, this secret is currently known to only a very few people.

Under the night, the Red Sleeve Dance Hall was brightly lit, with the clamor of singing and dancing.

In the darkness where no one knew, a Martial Arts Master fell silently.

(End of this chapter)