Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

The thicket was littered with thick layers of fallen leaves, and Chen Li used them to hurriedly cover the corpse before he had just stepped out of the shrubbery when a patrol team arrived, chatting and laughing as they walked this way.

He quickly hid behind a tree, calmly waiting for them to pass.

Not until the figures were out of sight did he get up and set off.

The deep autumn night carried a chilling, murderous cold, yet Chen Li’s blood was hot, almost boiling, as his heart pounded violently.

Moving through the shadows, he was like a panther strolling silently, with light footsteps that made no sound. Occasionally, when he heard the night patrols, he would keep his distance, proceeding with extreme caution, but without slowing down. In just the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, he had arrived near Qiao Guanyuan’s residence without any alarm.

He concealed himself behind a large tree in the darkness, holding his breath as he carefully surveyed his surroundings.

In the distance, sentries were everywhere, with no fewer than ten people visible. Clearly, Qiao Guanyuan had increased his security since the last assassination attempt.

Chen Li suppressed his increasingly rapid heartbeat as well as the urge to risk a bold move.

"Just wait, just wait a little longer, it’s still early!"

He waited quietly as time ticked by, though he didn’t know for how long.

The dawn was beginning to break, and those sentries showed no sign of tiredness—it must have been the effect of the Ascension Elixir.

"I can’t wait any longer. If I do, it will be daylight!"

"Tomorrow, Qiao Guanyuan will learn that two of his surveillants have disappeared, and he may even find their bodies. Without a doubt, I am the prime suspect."

"Does this world need evidence?"

"No, it doesn’t!"

"Suspicion is enough! By then... Never mind assassination, it’ll be good enough if Zhou Hong and I can escape with our lives from being hunted down!"

Chen Li slowly stood up, drew his sword, and approached a hidden sentry in the tree branches like a silent ghost, swiftly and noiselessly.

After a dozen steps, he lightly tapped his toes and glided elegantly across the tree in a silent leap.

The sentry clutched his throat, eyes bulging, mouth gaping trying to sound the alarm, but could only make a hissing noise as blood poured from his mouth. His body swayed and fell from the tree, caught by Chen Li who was already waiting below and quickly dragged into the shadows.

One by one, Chen Li dispatched the sentries in the same manner.

Assassination, at times a sword could be more practical than a spell or a magic artifact, silent and undetected.

But his luck ran out there.

As he pounced on one of the guards, someone, alerted by the strong smell of blood, had found a body.

"Ah, Li Lai is dead!"

"An intruder! Everyone on alert."

"Quick, go inform Boss Qiao."

Chen Li sliced off half of a guard’s head with his sword and, seeing this scene, sneered and decided to no longer hide.

He immediately summoned his amulet and at the same time continued to unleash his spiritual power with a snap of his fingers.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

...

Chen Li’s Grandmaster-level spiritual power snaps had been optimized to be nearly on par with a mid-tier, first-order spell.

Typically, the power of offensive spells exceeds that of magic artifacts of the same grade, and magic artifacts are more powerful than talismans of the same grade. However, casting spells is cumbersome, hard to learn, and difficult to master – higher-level spells require not only verbal incantations but also hand signs.

The higher the level, the more this is the case.

In gaming terms, it’s like skills have too long of a casting time. By comparison, using magic artifacts and talismans is much faster and more convenient. On the battlefield, things change in an instant; no one gives you time to slowly recite spells and perform hand signs.

This is what made Chen Li’s spiritual power snaps seem extraordinarily impressive.

A high-tier, first-order protective talisman shield could be broken in just two hits, and as for cultivators without protection, it was a bloody massacre.

Caught off guard and exhausted in the early hours, many guards had not even managed to activate their amulets before they were struck and their chests blasted open with a hole the size of a bowl, dying pitifully.

To conserve his spiritual power, Chen Li did not crazily deliver extra blows as he had the last time.

In fact, with such lethal wounds, there was no need for an extra blow.

He rapidly launched spiritual power snaps, taking down one guard after another, while moving as if he could shrink the earth under his steps, stepping past bodies at a fast pace. His time was limited; he needed to act quickly.

The longer he delayed, the more enemies would arrive.

"Bang!"

A magic artifact struck his protective shield heavily like a meteor, causing it to wobble, sparking countless light fragments.

Chen Li twisted his body, releasing spiritual power snaps like a sudden fierce storm.

"Bang" "Bang"—the protective shield shattered.

With another blow, his chest was pierced through.

The attacker, struggling to remain upright, spat out blood profusely while letting out a miserable chuckle, "Don’t think because you’re wearing a mask... I can’t recognize you... You are..."

Chen Li’s expression turned ugly, and he turned around to smash the man’s skull with another blow.

He hurried to Qiao Guanyuan’s gateway when suddenly, his sharp senses picked up a trace of danger, and he swiftly dodged to the side.

The next moment.

Boom! The gate burst open, and a silver streak of light flashed rapidly before hovering mid-air.

An invisible blade’s edge pulsed around the sword, emitting a buzzing drone.

Qiao Guanyuan stepped out, his body shrouded in a layer of golden light.

Seeing this, Chen Li’s face slightly altered. Having traveled to this time, he was no longer as naive and ignorant as when he first arrived; this was the golden shield, the strongest defense technique of the Qi Refinement Realm, said to be able to withstand a hit from someone at the Foundation Establishment level, rarely seen on the market.

Qiao Guanyuan scanned the surroundings, and upon seeing bodies everywhere, his face darkened with surging rage, "Chen Li, you are courting death. I never..."

Chen Li could not be bothered to waste words and took advantage of the moment Qiao was speaking to unleash rapid strikes of spiritual power onto Qiao’s golden shield with his fingers, like a gusty downpour, but even after several hits, it only dimmed slightly.

"Courting death!"

Qiao Guanyuan’s face twisted with fury as he bellowed.

The silver light hovering in mid-air suddenly flashed by.

Its speed was lightning fast; in the blink of an eye, Chen Li could only manage to awkwardly sidestep, his protective shield already torn apart by the silver light, then bursting like a soap bubble.

Just as he dodged one strike, the silver light circled back, attacking him hastily from behind.

"Not good!" Chen Li’s hair stood on end. He rolled away in a clumsy escape.

Then, backpedaling, he, amidst the chaos, activated another amulet, his entire body breaking out into a cold sweat.

No, hiding was not a sustainable option.

"Stop struggling, fool. Time to die!"

The silver stream of light, controlled like a nimble fish, once again surged forward with a terrifyingly sharp edge as quick as lightning.

Chen Li was fully focused, eyes intently following the silver light, desperately trying to catch its movement.

As the silver light rapidly approached right before him,

in the nick of time.

He abruptly stepped back, leaving a shallow pit underfoot; the next moment, he drew his sword and concentrated all his strength into one burst.

Clang! A deafening sound.

The noise pierced the eardrum, resonating with a buzzing explosion.

The dark iron sword broke.

The silver light was sent flying.

The protective shield was once again shattered by the sword’s glimmer.

"Pugh!"

Chen Li spat out blood, his body exploding with beads of blood, but his face was expressionless, seemingly unfazed.

He discarded the broken sword, his hands trembling as he activated another amulet, his last one.

Qiao Guanyuan frantically tried to control his flying sword, but it wobbled unstably like a drunken man from the heavy blow it took earlier, turning his face pale with shock.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The golden shield dimmed rapidly under the continued assault of spiritual power strikes.

"Somebody come quick, attack him, kill him!" Qiao Guanyuan shouted loudly, while starting to retreat in panic.

But the incident had unfolded so rapidly and it was deep into the night. Besides, those who could flee had fled, those who could fight were fighting; not many remained here, and the only loose cultivator who dared to make a move was killed by a few strikes of Chen Li’s spiritual power, after which no one else stepped forward.

"Wait, wait, Fellow Daoist Chen! It’s all just a misunderstanding, the doing of subordinates acting on their own."

"Fellow Daoist Chen, we can talk about anything... Spirit Stones, magic artifacts, what do you want..."

At that moment, the golden shield finally shattered.

The next moment.

A spiritual power strike pierced through his chest.

"I’ll give you everything..." Qiao Guanyuan opened his mouth as if he had more to say.

"Bang!"

His head burst open.