Chapter 1117: Chapter 1117

Ye Qing dashed to the window, drew the Seven-Star Ancient Sword, and after a desolate sword chant, came the crisp sound of metal slicing. He had cleaved the window guard with one stroke, creating a huge gap just large enough for him to dash through.

"What's happening? What's happening?"

Hearing the commotion, some members of the Li Family rushed out from the adjacent courtyard, yet they were still unaware of what had happened.

"Someone's attacking, quickly protect Bing'en!" Ye Qing shouted, but his eyes had already caught a glimpse of a shadow darting quickly away in the northwest corner.

Without a second thought, Ye Qing turned and pursued the shadow. Undoubtedly, that Double-headed Snake earlier was definitely placed on Li Bing'en's bed by this shadow.

Such a ruckus had roused all the members of the Li Family. Hearing Ye Qing's shout, they rushed to attend to Li Bing'en. As for Li Bing'en's situation, Ye Qing no longer needed to worry and could fully focus on his chase, determined to see who dared lay a hand against Li Bing'en.

The shadow's speed was not slow, but in the snowy terrain, running was no easy task. Moreover, the shadow was notably weaker than Ye Qing. Once past the Li Family's borders and reaching a small grove, Ye Qing caught up.

"Nowhere to run!" Ye Qing yelled, brandishing his sword toward the shadow's back.

The shadow, realizing escape was impossible, rolled on the ground to dodge Ye Qing's strike, spun around, and scattered a handful of white smoke, enveloping Ye Qing.

Ye Qing recognized the familiar scent of the white smoke; it was none other than the Bone-Piercing Tendon-Softening Powder encountered several times before. This was Ning Qianshu's unique poisonous mist, exceptionally potent. Once on the skin, it would render a person limp, devoid of strength.

However, the Bone-Piercing Tendon-Softening Powder had no effect on Ye Qing, thanks to the accumulated effects of the Ziyu Chenxiang Pill in his system. He burst through the smoke, just in time to see the shadow attempting to flee, and Ye Qing swiftly caught up, grabbed his shoulder, and yanked him back.

At this moment, the shadow couldn't escape. He turned, launching two punches at Ye Qing.

Upon seeing the man's face, Ye Qing paused, speaking in a deep voice: "Chen Yongchang!"

This man was none other than Chen Yongchang, who had nearly killed Ye Qing before. Last time, he inflicted Ye Qing with the Twin Life Gu; without Ye Qing's journey to the Miao Borderlands and the revelation of the Miaojiang Witch, Ye Qing would've likely perished from it. Chen Yongchang had impeded Ye Qing while on his way to the Miao Borderlands, where Ye Qing narrowly survived multiple deadly encounters.

Yet, after the Capital affair, Chen Yongchang was pinned down in the Capital by Liu Mubai and couldn't keep up with Ye Qing. Ye Qing returned to Shenchuan City, having reunited with Liu Mubai in the Capital, and had never encountered Chen Yongchang again. Ye Qing assumed he had given up. Unexpectedly, here he was again, intending lethal harm upon Li Bing'en!

Chen Yongchang gritted his teeth, remaining silent, retrieved a dagger, and ferociously attacked Ye Qing. He knew well that with Ye Qing blocking his way, escape was nearly impossible, so he resorted to a desperate fight.

Yet, Chen Yongchang's skills were vastly inferior to Ye Qing's. Moreover, the dagger in his hand was not a famed instrument, so how could he contend with Ye Qing?

Ye Qing evaded a few times, lifting his Seven-Star Ancient Sword, swiftly cleaved the dagger in two, and then swung the sword at Chen Yongchang.

Chen Yongchang dared not face the Seven-Star Ancient Sword head-on, scrambling with a roll in the snow to barely dodge it. Though he avoided the sword, he couldn't evade Ye Qing's fists and feet, taking a heavy kick to the chest, groaning painfully, nearly coughing blood.

Ye Qing refrained from continuing the assault, instead raising his Seven-Star Ancient Sword, pointing it at Chen Yongchang, sternly questioning: "Speak, why did you harm Bing'en!"

Chen Yongchang clenched his teeth, refusing to answer, and abruptly turned to flee.

"Still trying to run!" Ye Qing shouted, swiftly pursued, and raised his sword, thrusting it toward Chen Yongchang's back.

Just as Ye Qing's sword was about to strike, suddenly an unusual noise sounded from the tree above.

Ye Qing quickly looked up to see a masked man in black leaping down from the tree, lunging directly at him.

Ye Qing hadn't anticipated another presence here. Seeing the force in the masked man's attack, he could tell this was a skilled opponent. Without a moment's carelessness, Ye Qing ignored Chen Yongchang ahead, retracted the Seven-Star Ancient Sword, and swung it at the masked man.

The Seven-Star Ancient Sword's power was extraordinary, but the black-clad figure showed no trace of panic, suddenly twisting his body in mid-air at an incredible angle to evade Ye Qing's longsword. At the same time, he reached out, delivering a palm strike to the sword's blade, sending the longsword flying far away.

Ye Qing tried to retrieve the Seven-Star Ancient Sword to counterattack, but it was impossible now. He quickly raised a fist to strike. However, this time the black-clad figure didn't dodge and punched down as well. As the fists collided, Ye Qing's feet sank into the ground, his qi and blood surging, showing the intensity of the black-clad figure's inner strength.

Ye Qing took a deep breath, suppressing the surging qi and blood, and frowned as he watched the black-clad figure. It was clear that this figure was likely in league with Chen Yongchang, but his strength far surpassed Chen Yongchang's, almost matching the Joyous Monk Ye Qing had encountered in the Capital before. Who exactly was this person?

Seeing reinforcements arrive, Chen Yongchang was overjoyed, quickly turning back and urged, "Kill him! Kill him!"

The black-clad figure's eyes sparkled, staring intently at Ye Qing, while Chen Yongchang maliciously moved behind Ye Qing, assuming a position of encirclement with the black-clad figure and trapping Ye Qing in the middle.

Ye Qing frowned deeply; he didn't take Chen Yongchang seriously. But with the addition of the black-clad figure, he realized he had no chance of winning this battle and was not inclined to fight.

The black-clad figure seemed to see through Ye Qing's thoughts, suddenly dashed toward Ye Qing like an arrow. Seeing the menacing approach, Ye Qing dared not underestimate the threat, and raised the Seven-Star Ancient Sword, using a move named Sweeping Thousands Army, to slash horizontally at the black-clad figure.

The black-clad figure's movements were extremely agile; seeing the Seven-Star Ancient Sword coming, he directly leaped over it. Simultaneously, he tapped Ye Qing's arm with his toes, using the force to jump again towards Ye Qing's shoulder.

"Ha!" Ye Qing shouted loudly, suddenly throwing down the Seven-Star Ancient Sword and reached out to grab the black-clad figure's ankle, forcefully swinging him away. Though the black-clad figure was strong, he did not expect Ye Qing to have such a move, and was thrown out by Ye Qing, almost falling to the ground.

Nearby, Chen Yongchang saw Ye Qing throw away the Seven-Star Ancient Sword and thought he had an opportunity, quickly rushing over to seize the sword. Just at that moment, Ye Qing suddenly took something out of his clothing and threw it at Chen Yongchang, shouting, "Watch my Heart-devouring Bug!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yongchang shrank back in fear, rolling on the ground to dodge. Being Wang Tian'an's junior disciple, he was well aware of the bug's power; if touched by it, life would be worse than death.

However, once he steadied himself, he realized that Ye Qing hadn't actually thrown anything; the move was simply a bluff. Nonetheless, he missed the best opportunity, as Ye Qing had already dashed over to pick up the Seven-Star Ancient Sword.

At this moment, the black-clad figure also rushed from behind. But before reaching Ye Qing, Ye Qing had already raised the Seven-Star Ancient Sword, not to strike at the figure but to chop down on a nearby pine tree with force.

The tree was as thick as a bowl, split by the sword, and its massive trunk crashed down, right onto the path of the black-clad figure.

The black-clad figure was startled and had no time to dodge, quickly steadying his stance and shouting, pushing both hands towards the tree trunk.

Ye Qing did not linger in battle; he used the tree to block the black-clad figure and hurriedly ran towards the Li Family with the Seven-Star Ancient Sword.

"Where do you think you're going!" Chen Yongchang shouted, trying to block him, but Ye Qing mercilessly swung his sword.

Chen Yongchang tried to dodge, but was still suffering from internal injuries and couldn't completely evade, having his entire left arm severed by Ye Qing's sword.

"Ah!" Chen Yongchang howled in pain, clutching the severed arm as he fled, not daring to approach Ye Qing anymore. Ye Qing, however, did not pursue him, instead swiftly heading toward the Li Family Courtyard with the Seven-Star Ancient Sword.

Meanwhile, the black-clad figure pushed the pine tree aside, witnessing Chen Yongchang's arm be severed by Ye Qing. Watching Ye Qing run toward the Li Family Courtyard, he furrowed his brow and didn't pursue, instead signaling Chen Yongchang to leave quickly.

Chen Yongchang was in severe pain, not daring to linger, and ran clutching his severed arm. The black-clad figure also did not stay, leaving the small forest in another direction.

Ye Qing knew he wasn't a match for the black-clad figure, so he used the pine tree to buy time and hurriedly returned to the Li Family. Although Li Changshan's power wasn't immense, the black-clad figure wouldn't dare chase him there with the numerous members of the Li Family present.

Sure enough, reaching the gate of the Li Family, Ye Qing saw that the black-clad figure had vanished. He exhaled deeply but dared not relax and hurriedly entered the Li Family Courtyard.

The Li Family Courtyard was in chaos, with everyone aware of the intrusion and on high alert. Seeing Ye Qing return, Li Bingyu led a few people to greet him anxiously, asking, "Ye, how did it go? Did you catch that person?"