Chapter 865: Chapter 865
Chu Xiang understood the unspoken meaning behind the words of the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable. It meant that she knew too much. She also sensed the killing intent within his gaze. Yet she smiled, because at her side stood a man and a sword.
"That’s exactly what I wanted to say to you." The shackles on Li Xiaofei’s wrists and ankles shattered soundlessly.
The pressure and sword qi emanating from the sword instantly caused both the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable and Yue Zhuoran to freeze in place. They couldn’t move a single finger.
An Emperor’s Weapon? The Blazing Flame Grand Venerable’s eyes were filled with terror.
An unmistakable fear overtook the once high-and-mighty, supremely confident expression on his face. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that Li Xiaofei’s trump card wasn’t some kind of stealth technique, poison, or escape ability, but an Emperor’s Weapon.
It was a weapon very likely retrieved from the lost Heaven. Had he known earlier... No matter how greedy he was, he would never have scrambled to carry out the Alliance Leader’s command. Nor would he have accepted orders from the organization to come to Chu Planet and wade into this mess.
“How should I address you?” Li Xiaofei spoke calmly, “As the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable of the Xiao Kuang Star Region Merchant Alliance? Or as the third-ranked leader of Eden’s Xiao Kuang Star Region, codenamed Weaver of Flames?”
The expression on the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable's face grew increasingly horrified. “You... how do you know that?”
Then, a flash of realization struck him. The enforcer Zhou Haimo, who had been killed, had known his true identity, since he was also a member of Eden and one of his subordinates.
Cold sweat streamed down his face. In that instant, the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable suddenly understood many things. He had been played.
“You’ve joined hands with the Chu Family?” He stared intently at Li Xiaofei. “You... you set this all up in advance and just waited for us to step into the trap?”
Li Xiaofei and Chu Xiang exchanged glances, and both began to laugh.
“You’re quick-witted. On a normal day, a scheme would never have deceived you. At the very least, you’d have been cautious. But this time, your greed clouded your intelligence. Your mind was filled only with the treasures of Heaven,” Li Xiaofei said.
The Blazing Flame Grand Venerable was both shocked and furious. Then his face shifted to one of complete despair. He knew it. This time, his guard had been down. He had been led by the nose, from beginning to end.
“I know that Eden has many forms of torture that are so cruel that even a Great Luo Golden Immortal might not be able to endure them,” Li Xiaofei said. “But I come from Earth. Across five thousand years of history, I’ve seen and heard of countless twisted and sadistic punishments. They’re not necessarily any less brutal than yours in Eden. So I hope we can talk properly. You give me the answers I want, and I’ll give you a swift end. How about that?”
The Blazing Flame Grand Venerable shook his head. “Now that I’ve fallen into your hands, do as you wish. But if you think I’ll betray the Holy Garden Chief, that’s impossible. Don’t even think about it.”
He was resolute. Li Xiaofei could tell that he wasn’t acting. It was a genuine conviction from deep within. Someone wouldn’t be broken by ordinary torture.
“I won’t ask you about Eden,” Li Xiaofei said. “Instead, I want to ask you about a person.” ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ novel※fire.net
The Blazing Flame Grand Venerable paused and asked, “Who?”
Li Xiaofei replied, “A woman named Si Kongxue. Not long ago, she was handed over to Eden by Chongque City and then hidden away. She’s not one of your members, and she had a little girl with her.”
The Blazing Flame Grand Venerable fell into silent thought.
Li Xiaofei said, “Tell me the whereabouts of this woman, and I’ll give you a quick death.”
Off to the side, Chu Xiang quietly shook her head. She felt that Li Xiaofei was acting far too eager. If this woman truly mattered to him, then displaying such urgency would only allow the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable to grasp his weakness, and potentially turn the tables to regain control of the situation.
“I believe I may have heard something about that,” the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable said vaguely. “The branch in Chongque City did transfer some individuals to headquarters at the time. Perhaps the one you’re looking for was among them.”
“Where were they transferred to?” Li Xiaofei pressed.
“That, I’m not sure of,” replied the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable. “Generally speaking, high-value targets from Chongque City would pass through the Xiao Kuang Star Region, and then be transported by the organization to their final destination. Minor details like that are beneath my attention.”
“Alright. Thank you,” Li Xiaofei nodded.
A flash of sword light streaked through the air. The Blazing Flame Grand Venerable perished instantly. The vitality and energy within his body was instantly absorbed. His body turned into a plume of ash and vanished into the air.
Chu Xiang was startled.
He killed him just like that? What about the rest of the leads?
Keeping the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable alive might have been helpful for coordinating future rescue efforts from inside Eden’s organization.
She looked at Li Xiaofei in confusion. But Li Xiaofei turned toward Yue Zhuoran. He grinned, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth. Yue Zhuoran felt a chill run down the back of his neck.
“Don’t kill me.” Yue Zhuoran immediately began to beg for mercy. He said, “I’m willing to cooperate. I can help you investigate. I actually haven’t been with Eden for long, I...”
The moment the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable was killed, Yue Zhuoran’s mental defenses completely collapsed. He didn’t believe he held more value than the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable. Neither did Chu Xiang. Li Xiaofei looked at Yue Zhuoran and smiled faintly. The Blood-Drinking Sword gleamed with a flash of light.
Disaster struck as the flagship airship of the Merchant Alliance’s Revered Protectors Corps exploded. Flames shot skyward, nearly burning the entire airport outside the city to ashes.
Several nearby vessels didn’t have time to activate their energy shields and were completely destroyed. The chain reaction from the explosion affected several kilometers around the site.
The losses were devastating. Everyone was alarmed. The Chu Family mobilized all their forces for rescue operations. In the end, only a handful of people survived, like Yue Zhuoran and a few other enforcers who happened to be away from the base at the time. Everyone else perished, including the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable, the peerless expert.
“It was Li Xiaofei,” came the report. “He attacked the flagship. He used poisonous gas to paralyze everyone, then detonated the energy core of the ship, causing the explosion...”
“He died along with the Grand Venerable.”
“Chu Xiang, too—she’s dead.”
Yue Zhuoran, one of the few survivors, seemed completely unhinged from terror. He said everything, whether it should have been said or not. He even spilled the secret of how the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable had orchestrated Chu Xiang’s abduction.
Yue Zhuoran had sustained critical injuries, and his entire body had nearly been destroyed. Fortunately, his cultivation at the Four Extremes Realm granted him immense regenerative powers. When the Chu Family devoted their full efforts in treatment, his life was barely saved.
The Chu Family dispatched elite investigators. After a thorough investigation and based on Yue Zhuoran’s testimony, they reached a final conclusion. Of all involved in the incident, aside from Yue Zhuoran, no key individuals survived.
Li Xiaofei had died from a fatal strike by the Blazing Flame Grand Venerable. The Blazing Flame Grand Venerable had died from a combination of the explosion and poison. Chu Xiang, caught in the blast, perished as well.
All three, along with the other members aboard the flagship, were completely annihilated, their bodies and souls alike.
At that point, no matter how furious or powerful the Chu Family was, there was no way to cover it up. News of the incident spread until both the military and the Merchant Alliance of the Xiao Kuang Star Region learned of the outcome.