Chapter 1658: Chapter 1658

This move might not be entirely honorable, but only Li Yifei knows that achieving this was already difficult enough for him. They have been fighting for so long, and though it may sound easy, Li Yifei was very careful and focused with each move. He and Xu Shanshan had been trapped in that temple for over ten days, replenishing their physical energy after coming out, but their stamina hadn’t really been restored.

Simply put, Li Yifei was tired. He worried that if things dragged on, he would deplete his stamina too much, and a momentary lapse could let the opponent take him down easily. At that point, Xu Shanshan would certainly lose to the opponent.

That’s why he twice signaled Xu Shanshan to prepare to make a move, using this somewhat dishonorable tactic.

Yet, from another angle, it was only fair that Ruan Xiaotian was unlucky. He was still too arrogant, neglecting the presence of another Innate Expert after gaining the advantage. This update ıs available on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥

A lifetime of hunting Hawks, but at the end, a Yanzi blinds him with a peck. The sword pierced his body, causing Ruan Xiaotian to lose a mouthful of True Qi, his knees weakened, and he knelt on the ground as a mouthful of blood spurted out. The sword remained lodged in his chest. Li Yifei stepped back two paces; he had already disarmed Ruan Xiaotian, sealing the acupoints in his legs. At this point, Ruan Xiaotian posed almost no threat.

"You all... so despicable!" Ruan Xiaotian spat several mouthfuls of blood, struggling to stand but instead falling flat on the ground, swallowing a face full of mud.

Li Yifei shook his head and said, "Despicable or not, when you were plotting against us from the shadows, you didn’t think about despicable or not."

Ruan Xiaotian gritted his teeth and said, "But I didn’t launch a sneak attack to harm you, yet you..."

"But your goal is to kill us, and our goal... is also to kill you!" Li Yifei interrupted Ruan Xiaotian, then said, "We have no personal grudges with you, but when you decided to kill us, you should have known the risk of being killed."

Ruan Xiaotian spat out a mouthful of bloody water. He felt now both cold and hot. Cold from the hand that had mastered the Icy Palm, with disordered True Qi leading him to lose control over that hand, coldness spreading from his hand, almost freezing half of his arm. This live freezing sensation made him suffer more than the piercing wound in his chest.

The heat came from his chest cavity. Pierced by the sword, the organs inside his chest were bleeding heavily. When the blood flowed into the abdominal cavity, it felt very hot.

Thus, Ruan Xiaotian now felt both cold and hot, enduring the agony of ice and fire.

The pain? It was painful. The anger? It was angry. Ruan Xiaotian longed to bite Li Yifei’s head off. He had trapped himself in this predicament using such a despicable means. Was he still an expert? Ruan Xiaotian forgot that he had previously struck fiercely, intending to also launch a sneak attack, thinking that shooting two ice needles would hurt Li Yifei and Xu Shanshan, perhaps even render them unable to fight.

So, he was the one who initially attacked. In battles of life and death, killing the opponent sufficed. Li Yifei felt he wasn’t a chivalrous hero. Why bother with all the code of conduct of the Jianghu?

"I concede." Seeing Li Yifei silent, Ruan Xiaotian reluctantly conceded, needing urgently to find a safe place to heal his wounds. Such injuries, under these conditions, were essentially fatal to ordinary people, but Ruan Xiaotian had ways to survive, provided Li Yifei spared him.

"Conceding just like that?" Li Yifei walked over, squatted down, looking at Ruan Xiaotian. Though his situation was somewhat pitiful, Li Yifei didn’t pity him as he deserved it.

Ruan Xiaotian stiffened his neck, spat another mouthful of bloody foam, and said hoarsely, "What else can I do but concede, having been beaten by you? I, Ruan Xiaotian, have dominated my whole life, today I admit defeat."

Li Yifei nodded, saying, "Dominated your whole life, nice words. I can spare you, but..."

"I’ve conceded, what else do you want?" Ruan Xiaotian’s tone weakened.

Li Yifei chuckled, saying, "If I couldn’t beat you and the one lying here was me, what would you do?"

Ruan Xiaotian fell silent. If it were him, he would definitely taunt Li Yifei, torment him, perhaps even... humiliate Xu Shanshan. He even considered doing something in front of Li Yifei to the woman who appeared very beautiful. If she were obedient, he might consider making her a slave, sparing her a path for life. As for Li Yifei, his fate would be sealed.

Therefore, he couldn’t speak.

Li Yifei didn’t push him, continuing, "You know what I want to know, so speak up. I might consider letting you go or even helping you treat some of your injuries. You see, this wound is quite big, the injuries quite severe. Without help, you might not survive even as an Innate Expert, especially considering the few meters-long giant wolves here. So many people died here, the smell of blood has already spread. Those hungry creatures are waiting for you."

Ruan Xiaotian of course knew what Li Yifei wanted to know. He was not a person who kept secrets, especially when his own personal safety was at risk. Any secret was worth spilling.

However, he didn’t believe Li Yifei would turn around and help him, so he said, "I can tell you about those things, but I need to be safe first."

Li Yifei sneered coldly and pointed a finger, landing it precisely on Ruan Xiaotian’s shoulder, which was already frozen. A cracking sound could be heard from there; the flesh had already turned into ice. If Li Yifei pulled forcefully, he could probably rip off an entire arm.

Ruan Xiaotian clenched his teeth so hard they were about to break. He was arduously gathering True Qi, silently impacting the acupoints, and healing that arm, but all this required time. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so lowly to beg Li Yifei.

Xu Shanshan remained silent, observing from the side. Li Yifei clicked his tongue and said, "You’d better speak quickly. If you talk too late, it’ll be harder to treat your injury!"

Seeing that Li Yifei continued to refuse to relent, Ruan Xiaotian had no choice but to speak out.

A few minutes later, Li Yifei kicked Ruan Xiaotian away, his True Qi uncontrollably surging out, even to the point of fury. Xu Shanshan by the side trembled with rage.

Li Yifei, brimming with ferocity, picked up Ruan Xiaotian, whose chest and ribs collapsed from the kick, and demanded, "What makes you say it was them?"

"What makes me? Cough, cough, the fact that I’m here, that’s what." Ruan Xiaotian weakly laughed, and blood of a dark red color dripped from the corner of his mouth. Having taken Li Yifei’s violent kick, Ruan Xiaotian’s Dantian was nearly kicked to pieces. He finally understood that he might not escape death this time, so he no longer pleaded with Li Yifei. Grabbed by the opponent, Ruan Xiaotian grinned grimly and said, "Too late, even if you know now, so what? Your child is likely already taken by them, haha, Bai Shan, I spit on him."

It turned out that the information on Bai Shan, which Li Yifei and Xu Shanshan came here to seek, had indeed been leaked. It wasn’t by someone else but by Master Void himself, who told Ruan Xiaotian to intercept Li Yifei and Xu Shanshan in Vietnam. Of course, it wasn’t necessary to kill Li Yifei, just delay his progress to prevent him from finding Bai Shan too quickly.

Ruan Xiaotian had once been in a life-and-death struggle with Huaxia’s experts, a matter from decades ago. In fact, he had been in contact with Master Void. This time, Master Void suggested that he intercept Li Yifei and Xu Shanshan, and then Master Void would help him solve the Icy Palm problem to return him to normal.

This was of greater appeal to Ruan Xiaotian, who had been troubled for many years. Now that Master Void said he had a way to solve it, Ruan Xiaotian came out of seclusion, prepared to intercept Li Yifei, leading to the events that just occurred.

However, they were too reckless. Master Void also didn’t quite understand Li Yifei’s specific strength, so he just briefly discussed it with Ruan Xiaotian. Ruan Xiaotian assumed they were weak, thinking their seniority couldn’t be that high; surely their experience was lacking...

What he said was quite logical, so even if Li Yifei couldn’t believe it, he believed most of it. He and Xu Shanshan were trapped for more than ten days; their phones and communication devices had no signal here. Now the situation outside was unknown, making it difficult to say whether Ruan Xiaotian was speaking out of desperation, fabricating things to confuse Li Yifei.

Or perhaps someone else was doing these things, passing information to Ruan Xiaotian to frame Li Yifei...

Li Yifei’s agitation lasted only a moment. No matter how anxious he was, Li Yifei couldn’t fly home immediately to verify any truth. He left the increasingly weak Ruan Xiaotian and said to Xu Shanshan, "I’ll go find our backpacks. You watch him. If he dares to make any move, kill him!"

Xu Shanshan’s face was tense, and she nodded, saying, "Hurry, I’ll watch here. Don’t be too worried, although we’re not there, Jiang Ningxiang, Elder Yao, and Elder Murong are still at home. Even if that Master Void wants to cause trouble, he might not succeed. Besides, this is only this guy’s side of the story."

"Mm, I know." Li Yifei slipped into the forest. Ten minutes later, he came back with two large backpacks, which had been rummaged through. Most of the contents were still there, including a satellite phone.

Li Yifei opened the phone only to find that there was still no signal here, not even a bit, as if there was a blocking device here that could block signals.

Li Yifei let out a long breath, trying to calm himself as much as possible.

He had already lost one son; this one couldn’t be lost as well. Li Yifei would collapse and go mad if that happened. Although Xu Shanshan made a reasonable point, with people at home, things should be fine, but what if...

The opponent stealing the child only had one purpose, which was to use the child to achieve longevity or to absorb the child’s Innate Vital Energy to strengthen themselves.

Such a thing would endanger the child’s life. If something happened to this child, Li Yifei felt that the Li family would face a huge problem.