Chapter 11: Assassination

He sensed something was wrong, but the skeleton’s sharp claws had already reached the back of his head.

Li Ze disappeared in an instant, and the corpse puppet struck empty air.

Li Ze opened his eyes.

There was no sun or moon here, only star sand suspended like tears.

Li Ze had been brought into the spear’s space by Xing Yao; outside, only a dark long spear lay quietly on the ground.

“Xing Yao, you came just in time!”

“You flatter me, Young Master!”

Li Ze sat cross-legged on the star-patterned stone platform, took out cinnabar paper, and drew runes with his fingertips dipped in blood.

Chaos spiritual energy condensed into red-gold patterns in the void, each stroke appearing to sever time itself.

“Young Master, seven breaths have passed in the outside world.”

Xing Yao’s voice was as light as a breeze, her slender hand brushing through the air.

Li Ze returned to the stone cave.

The corpse puppet was lunging toward the unconscious Qing Ruanning, its withered claws tearing through the yin wind.

Li Ze bellowed: “Yang energy of heaven and earth, gather!”

The masculine Yang energy of the world converged onto the talisman.

The Yang Talisman transformed into a golden dragon that coiled around the corpse puppet’s body.

The talisman’s fire blazed brightly, and the ghostly green flames formed from a thousand years of obsession crumbled inch by inch.

The yin energy was absorbed by the talisman like a receding tide.

The corpse puppet’s hunched body froze in mid-air.

As the last speck of light in its eye sockets flickered out, it actually looked like a form of liberation.

He stepped forward and let out a very soft sigh: “A thousand years of waiting couldn’t even earn a ‘I’m back’… the obsessions of this world are, in the end, just scabs formed by time.”

During this time, Li Ze had fallen into danger several times, and Cai Xiaonuo had almost stopped breathing from watching.

She realized that if only she and Sister Qing had come together, they really would have died here.

Cai Xiaonuo didn’t speak another word, becoming much quieter.

The young woman waved her sleeve, and the withered skeletal remains were swept into a storage bag while the half-length crimson sword returned to its sheath.

Li Ze looked at Qing Ruanning, who was lying quietly on the ground.

Li Ze tore a piece of his own clothing and, with slightly trembling fingers, untied the silk ribbon at Qing Ruanning’s waist.

The lapels of her white dress were half-open, revealing a large expanse of snowy skin and undulating curves.

The fabric on Qing Ruanning’s abdomen had been torn by the corpse puppet’s claws, and a deep wound that exposed the bone was gushing blood.

“It hurts… (⁄ᵒ̶̶̷́⁄⁄ᵒ̶̶̷̀⁄)”

Qing Ruanning’s eyelashes trembled slightly, her weak voice almost inaudible.

Li Ze comforted her in a deep voice: “Endure it.”

With faint spiritual energy condensing on his fingertips, he gently peeled away the fabric stuck to the wound.

The mangled wound was exposed under the light of the fire talisman, its edges tinged with an eerie greenish-black—the corpse poison had already begun to spread.

He sprinkled medicinal powder evenly over the injury.

Qing Ruanning suddenly arched her body, cold sweat soaking the two strands of hair at her temples.

“Don’t move.”

Li Ze held her shoulders down and wrapped the wound layer by layer with the torn cloth.

The blood quickly soaked through the fabric, and he had no choice but to tear a large piece of the lapel from Qing Ruanning’s own clothes.

“Xiaonuo…”

Qing Ruanning suddenly grabbed his wrist: “Xiaonuo, look into my eyes!”

The flickering light was reflected in the depths of her eyes.

“Just now… that sword technique…”

“Stop thinking about sword techniques!”

“Your abdominal injury is serious, don’t talk.”

She wanted to say something, but bit her lower lip due to the intense pain.

Li Ze lowered his eyes to avoid her gaze and continued bandaging: “Let’s focus on surviving first.”

When the last strip of cloth was tied tight, Li Ze pulled her outer robe closed.

Qing Ruanning smiled weakly: “Now… it’s finally your turn to hold me!”

Outside the cave, the yin wind wailed.

When Li Ze picked her up on his back, Qing Ruanning rested her forehead against the hollow of his shoulder.

Her breathing grew heavy, clear against his ear.

Qing Ruanning, with slightly reddened eyes, looked at her delicate-featured Junior Sister and felt an inexplicable sense of peace.

“Junior Sister… you’re so good! ~”

After hearing this, Li Ze felt a tingle run through his entire body.

“We are from the same sect, Senior Sister doesn’t need to be so polite!”

Later, Li Ze returned to the sect, and Qing Ruanning was sent for treatment.

Two days later, the injuries were mostly healed.

Cai Xiaonuo went to the Mission Hall to collect the spirit stones earned from the task.

She took a flight array toward Mengxi City.

Li Ze sat on the array patterns, feeling the cool breeze and admiring the bustling city ahead.

This kind of leisure was very pleasant.

Suddenly, Li Ze’s sharp perception felt rapid air fluctuations in the surroundings.

The girl’s movements were lithe as she easily dodged three green swords.

The girl turned around, and three masked men in black appeared in the distance behind her.

Li Ze snorted coldly: “Heh!”

“Two at the fifth stage of the Spirit Realm, one at the sixth.”

“Their realms are all above mine. Someone really wants me dead!”

An ant at the fourth stage of the Spirit Realm, and one who was a piece of trash without a spirit root, had actually dodged!

The three of them were truly surprised.

They immediately split their positions to surround the girl.

“We must complete the task Senior Brother Wang assigned us.”

“Quick, Second and Third, don’t give her a chance!”

“Understood! If we don’t finish this, it’s our heads on the line.”

The three of them cast spells simultaneously, and a bright yellow light array appeared beneath the girl’s feet.

The three shouted in unison: “Lock!”

Iron chains came from all directions of the array.

Li Ze’s footwork was ghostly, easily dodging them.

Then, the dark long spear emerged from his palm, stabbing directly into the chain where the array’s core was located among the countless links.

The large array shattered like glass.

They were stunned; the girl before them.

She had actually accurately identified and destroyed the array core in a single strike.

“It seems we’ll have to spend a bit more effort.”

A cold female voice drifted over: “No need, because you’re all about to die!”

Before the girl’s words had even faded, her figure vanished from the spot like a phantom.

It wasn’t a teleport; rather, her movement technique had been pushed to the limit, leaving behind a faint afterimage.

“Puchi!”

The dark long spear shot out as fast as a gale.

They had no time to react.

Two of the masked men were accurately pierced through in succession.

Their leader, however, reacted in time and escaped the killing blow.

“Third! Second!”

“You’re quite clever!”

“Squelch~”

Immediately after, the sound of flesh being pierced followed, and the leader also fell.

Li Ze picked up a token: “Disciple of the Yin Yang Sect.”

“Heh! Senior Brother Wang.”

Li Ze could more or less guess who it was.

He searched the three bodies and found a thousand spirit stones.

The rest was just junk that didn’t catch Li Ze’s eye, but this could still be considered a profit.

Later, Li Ze went to Mengxi City and bought some cinnabar paper, yellow sand paper, and materials for array flags.

Inside Cai Xiaonuo’s residence in the Peach Blossom Garden.

“Cai Xiaonuo, watch closely!”

“I will now teach you how to draw the Spirit Gathering Array Flag.”

(๑•̀ㅂ•́): “Okay, Senior!”

Cai Xiaonuo watched Li Ze; the brush followed his heart, and every stroke flowed with light as if it possessed its own divine charm.

Once finished, the array patterns on the flag lit up.

Next was the Mountain-Crushing Suppression…

Cai Xiaonuo didn’t understand it, but simply called it magnificent.

(ﾟ▽ﾟ): “Senior is so amazing, I want to try too!”

“Try it when you have free time later.”

“Next, Xiaonuo, observe carefully how I draw talismans.”

“The first one is the Sound Transmission Talisman. The divine sense controls spiritual energy to seal the sound frequency within the talisman. It is then sent to another Sound Transmission Talisman via quantum transmission.”

“The second one, the Fireball Talisman…”

“The third one…”

Li Ze spent half a day drawing hundreds of talismans in one go.

Inside the secluded stone cave, various types of spiritual energy gathered rapidly and were sucked dry by the girl.

“This speed is still too slow!”

Li Ze wanted to restore the Long Star Spear because if the spear didn’t recover to a certain level, its divine abilities couldn’t be used.

The Heaven’s Chosen are blessed by the Heavenly Dao; their cultivation speed is much faster than his own.

Once the Heaven’s Chosen comes to kill him, he won’t have enough power to counter them.

Cai Xiaonuo looked at the dark long spear in front of her: “Senior, you say we can’t even handle absorbing this little bit of spiritual energy.”

“The big sister inside the long spear has eaten so much spiritual energy.”

(￣▽￣) “She can actually keep eating, big sister is really amazing~”

A dreamlike portal appeared, and Xing Yao stepped out of the dark red spear barefoot…

[ Thanks to Wei Jie for the Inspiration Capsule ]