Chapter 141: Senior Brother, You’re messing with my head
Emerging from the mansion hall, Ye Anping broke into a light jog, rushing with his junior sister and two others through the inner court’s paths. Before long, they had passed through the main hall and arrived in the inner court’s garden.
Feng Yu Die scanned her surroundings, but there was no sign of Li Feng, not even a human aura.
“Is this the place?”
“Yeah, it’s here.”
Ye Anping replied, then took out a lantern from his Storage Bag for illumination. He walked into a pavilion in the garden and raised the lantern he held.
On the stone table in the pavilion sat a Go chessboard with black and white pieces occupying the left and right sides, presenting an unfinished endgame.
Pei Lianxue, standing beside him, studied the board for a moment before asking, “Husband, these are already connected seven moves.”
Ye Anping felt a mix of amusement and exasperation, about to explain, when Feng Yu Die leaned in, hands on her hips, and said, “Junior Sister Pei, this is Go! Not Five in a Row, and it’s an endgame… Let me see… Here! Am I good? Hehe—”
*Tap!*
Feng Yu Die grabbed a black piece and forcefully placed it in a corner of the board. In the next instant, a spiritual light erupted from the chessboard, enveloping her entire body.
Feng Yu Die immediately started flailing: “Ah? What is this thing?!”
Ye Anping was speechless but also surprised that she had managed to place the piece in the correct spot without Xiao Tian’s help. He said, “Wait for us inside.”
“Ah?”
Before Ye Anping could say another word, Feng Yu Die and Xiao Tian’s figures were suddenly enveloped in a flickering light and zipped into the piece she had placed, disappearing without a trace.
Ye Anping took a white piece from one of the adjacent chess baskets and handed it to his junior sister: “Junior Sister, you play here.”
“Mhmm…”
Pei Lianxue nodded, picked up the piece, and placed it on the board. Then, just like Feng Yu Die, she was absorbed into the piece.
After waiting for a while, Ye Anping took another black piece and handed it to Brother Liang, pointing to a spot on the board: “Brother Liang… you here.”
Brother Liang took the piece, glanced at the board, and said, “This is an illusion array. How did you know the entrance?”
“What don’t I know?”
“…”
Brother Liang pouted but said nothing more, placing his piece and being absorbed by the spiritual light.
After he too vanished, Ye Anping grabbed a white piece belonging to him and looked up at the sky, as if searching for something, but saw nothing.
“Never mind. They should have arrived by now.”
Ye Anping muttered, then placed his white piece on the board. His figure, like Brother Liang’s, was absorbed into the piece.
With the light from Ye Anping’s lantern gone, the garden plunged back into silence. However, two breaths later, a clicking sound broke the quiet once more.
A Golden Crown Parrot, wearing a miniature bamboo hat on its head, descended from the sky. It gave a slight shake of its feathers and cast a sharp gaze at the chessboard.
“A brilliant move! A brilliant move!!”
After exclaiming, it picked up a black piece from the nearby basket with its beak, placed it on the board, and was also absorbed into the piece by a beam of spiritual light.
—
The sky was filled with dense nebulae, resembling a chessboard brimming with pieces, each emitting a dazzling glow.
The open-air plaza was paved with white jade bricks, its boundaries seemingly endless. Yet, only one figure stood there.
This person, clad in a white Daoist robe, sat cross-legged, suspended in the center of the plaza, exuding an immortal aura.
However, the four spheres of blood energy coalescing around him starkly contrasted with his ethereal presence.
Li Feng’s eyelids twitched slightly. Sensing someone’s arrival, he directly asked, “Old woman, is that you?”
“Unfortunately, she’s most likely still in her room, cracking sunflower seeds.”
A young voice sounded from behind him. Li Feng slightly stiffened, slowly opened his eyes, and his floating body rotated halfway to look behind him.
A youth wearing a bamboo hat and a bandage over his face stood before him, his gaze cold and profound, holding a rather unremarkable short-handled spirit sword.
Looking into the youth’s eyes, Li Feng raised an eyebrow and then burst into laughter: “Hahaha… That’s exactly something she would do. The Chi Long Mansion’s spirit-suppressing formation is about to break, and countless lives are on the verge of extinction, and yet she’s in her room cracking sunflower seeds.”
“As people age, they tend to become strange.” Ye Anping shrugged slightly and countered, “Immortal Master Li, aren’t you the same? Why bother?”
Li Feng shook his head slightly and replied, “You are still young and cannot understand the difficulties of an old man like me. Only when your lifespan is nearing its end will you understand how difficult it is to survive.”
“I won’t argue with that.”
“So…” The smile in Li Feng’s eyes vanished abruptly, and he asked, “A cultivator like you, only in the Early Foundation Establishment Stage, killed those three demonic cultivator scumbags in the Chi Long Mansion?”
“Yes.”
“That’s truly impressive. Not only did you kill demonic cultivators while being a whole major realm lower, but you also managed to find this place. Facing a Nascent Soul cultivator, you show not a trace of fear. Are you the old woman’s personal disciple?”
“You can think of it that way.”
“What are you planning to do now? Do you think I’m as easy to deal with as those demonic cultivator scumbags? Underestimating your opponent is a bad habit. With that sword in your hand, you can’t even scratch me.”
“I’m not that overconfident. I just came to persuade you.” Ye Anping stuck his spirit sword into the ground and sat down cross-legged, saying, “Before your life ends, why not do one last good deed and accumulate some merit?”
“Being lectured by a junior, I feel quite uncomfortable.”
“Oh?”
“Mhmm.”
“Really?”
“Mhmm…”
“Are you sure?”
“What…?”
*Boom!*
Before Li Feng could finish speaking, a purple spirit sword, crackling with lightning, suddenly struck one of the four spheres of blood energy surrounding him.
Simultaneously, three figures appeared out of thin air behind Li Feng to his left and right.
*Bang!*
The sphere of blood energy collided with the purple spirit sword for no more than two breaths before exploding. The sword then passed through, changed direction, and lunged towards the second sphere of blood energy.
Li Feng’s attention had been entirely on Ye Anping during the first strike. However, he now reacted, reaching out with his hand. Instantly, the purple spirit sword flying in mid-air shattered into pieces of scrap metal, scattering on the ground and dissipating into spiritual light.
“Hiss—” Li Feng took a deep breath and said, “Where is your martial virtue? Attacking me, a dying man, where is your courtesy as a junior?”
“Apologies, I only show courtesy to those I respect, Senior Sister Feng!!”
“Coming!!”
Feng Yu Die, standing behind Li Feng, frowned and gritted her teeth, channeling her spiritual energy. Golden spiritual energy surged from her body, instantly condensing into a golden dragon that lunged at Li Feng.
*Roar!*
“Saint Emperor Dragon Body?”
Seeing the golden dragon lunging at him, Li Feng’s expression remained calm. He raised a hand and waved.
*Boom!*
A golden iron fist appeared out of nowhere and struck the dragon’s maw, smashing it from the air to the ground, dragging a long trench in its wake.
Feng Yu Die coughed up a mouthful of blood as a result.
“Cough—”
Li Feng looked at her expressionlessly: “Saint Emperor’s girl, your dragon is sufficient for dealing with Core Formation cultivators, but against me…”
Before he could finish speaking, six icy blue sword qi followed, striking one of the spheres of blood energy.
“This aura…”
Li Feng scoffed at the sight. However, the next moment, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
“…Cough—”
At the same time, thunder roared in the sky, and silver-white lightning suddenly struck another sphere of blood-colored energy.
Li Feng’s eye twitched. He immediately flicked his right hand, and Brother Liang, who was standing to his left, was sent flying by a surge of spiritual energy. But Li Feng himself also spat out another mouthful of blood.
“Cough— Enough!! You bunch of juniors!!”
Ye Anping smiled, immediately interrupting, “Immortal Master Li, how much longer can your lifespan sustain you? This play should come to an end.”
At that moment, a golden light flashed from the spirit sword in Ye Anping’s hand.
Sword winds whirled, like swimming dragons.
At the same time, he looked down with a sigh and said, “Immortal Master Li, I have some bad news for you. Eldest Miss Li Longling previously died under the claws of those blood spirits created by your formation.”
“Wh… Cough— Cough cough— Cough cough—”
“Alas—” Ye Anping sighed slightly. “We discovered that she was already… Alas— Such a pity for her young life. In the end, she met a fate of her bones being scattered due to her own father.”
Li Feng’s eyes widened in disbelief. While using spiritual energy to defend against the four attackers, he glared at Ye Anping: “Cough— What did you say? This… Impossible!!!”
“Is it because you placed a restriction on her? Heh, that restriction was broken with her own blood essence. Li Longling ran out, wanting to find you, but due to her failing eyesight, she mistook a blood spirit for you and ran towards it. What awaited her was a bloody maw… Immortal Master Li, you, you personally killed your daughter. Li Longling died because of you.”
“Cough cough— Cough cough—”
Ye Anping wielded his spirit sword, narrowing his eyes and asking, “Was all of this truly worth it?”
