Chapter 48: Trading Life for Life

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Trading Life for Life

Ultimately, Li Ye and Xiangli crossed paths in a place called Yingzhou.

Yingzhou, located over three hundred miles from the Capital City, was a major commercial hub with a population of over a hundred thousand. Important commodities of Chu Country, such as salt, iron, cotton, and livestock, were all traded here.

When Li Ye and the others arrived, Yingzhou was littered with corpses. Panic-stricken commoners fled in all directions.

A mass of red clouds hovered above Yingzhou City. Tentacles lashed out from the clouds like long whips, striking at the fleeing people.

Those struck by the long whips were either killed on the spot or suffered broken bones and torn sinews. The survivors lay on the ground, wailing in agony as they awaited a second round of slaughter.

A thick stench of blood permeated the air.

Although Shi Xiang and the others were Martial Artists who lived on the edge of a blade and had seen their fair share of death, they had never witnessed such a hellish, gruesome scene.

Many immediately doubled over and vomited profusely.

The color drained from Li Ye’s face, his stomach churning violently.

Since arriving in this world, he had barely eaten anything. Despite his nausea, he couldn’t throw anything up, ironically making him look like the most normal person among them.

When two sources of Demon Qi encountered each other, their hostility was instantly ignited.

The moment Li Ye appeared, the red clouds ceased their slaughter. All the tentacles retracted as the cloud collapsed inward, revealing a humanoid figure.

It was none other than Xiangli. He was dressed in brocade robes and wore a pair of pristine white silk gloves. His face, which bore some resemblance to Xiang Ying’s, was now brimming with a wicked aura, and even his eyeballs had turned crimson.

"Xiangli!" Xiang Ying stared at the figure hovering in the air. Even though he knew this entity was no longer his imperial younger brother, he still yelled out in vain hope, "Did you truly kill Lu’Er and the others?"

Xiangli ignored him. Staring fixatedly at Li Ye, he sneered, "I haven’t even come looking for you yet, and you dare to come looking for me?"

"He is on par with me. Li Ye, be careful. I’m counting entirely on you," the Team Emblem’s voice echoed in Li Ye’s mind. "Keep it up. I will fully support you with everything I have."

On par?

Li Ye clearly heard the cowardly bravado in the Team Emblem’s tone. Grumbling inwardly, he could only bite the bullet and step forward. "Soul Devourer, our strengths are nearly identical now. Fighting here will inevitably result in both of us getting severely injured. Why don’t we join forces to kill that Divine Dragon over there, and then decide the victor between us?"

"Soul Devourer?" Xiangli paused for a moment, too lazy to investigate the meaning behind this name. He licked his lips. "After I swallow you, I’ll naturally go look for that loach. Only my stream of Demon Qi can exist in this world."

Before his voice could fade, a dense barrage of red tentacles abruptly shot out from his body, arriving right in front of Li Ye in an instant.

Li Ye tapped the soccer ball at his feet, dodging the tentacles. "Iron Bucket formation! Make sure not to lose the ball. Xiang Ying, take your men and act as the cheerleading squad. Organize the commoners outside the field to act as the audience and cheer for us! If anyone on the field loses their combat ability, send someone to substitute immediately. Remember, no matter what, there can never be more than eleven people on the field!"

RUSTLE!

The crowd quickly scattered, each taking up their respective positions.

This was the tactic they had discussed on their way here.

Although it sounded a bit like child’s play, Li Ye was the main force here, and they were dealing with his weapon. Therefore, no one dared to disobey him.

Even Xiang Ying, despite the grief in his heart, led the numerous Profound Guards into neat ranks. They began to chant, somewhat raggedly, slogans like ’Go Fun Seeker!’ and ’Victory for the Fun Seeker!’

Usually standing high and mighty, Xiang Ying found himself suddenly forced to shout such humiliating slogans in public. His old face flushed completely red, burning hot.

Yet, as soon as they shouted the slogans, the Spiritual Power within their bodies suddenly became active, which in turn accelerated the circulation of their Inner Strength.

Sensing this extraordinary physical change, Xiang Ying and the others froze for a moment before rapidly getting into character. Waving their fists, they frantically began to scream, ’Go Fun Seeker!’ ’Victory for the Fun Seeker!’ ’Rise up, Fun Seeker!’ ’Go Lord Li!’...

Xiangli had fallen to demonic corruption and slaughtered hundreds of thousands all on his own.

What was so shameful about chanting slogans to cultivate?

What right did a level-one civilization have to mock the cultivation methods of an advanced civilization? This was how cultivation was always meant to be; they themselves had just strayed down the wrong path.

The Profound Guards were sharply dressed and looked extremely imposing, presenting a much more impressive front than Li Ye’s group. When the commoners first saw them, they thought their saviors had arrived.

But in the blink of an eye, these ’saviors’ were standing by the roadside, whistling and jeering like spectators watching a geisha dance in a brothel.

For a moment, all the commoners were utterly dumbfounded, feeling as if the entire world had turned absurdly surreal.

"What are you all standing around for? Get over here and cheer for Lord Li!" Seeing the dazed commoners, and then looking at Li Ye and his team who were already engaged in battle with Xiangli, Xiang Ying scolded the civilians in annoyance.

Before he even finished speaking, some Profound Guards had already gone over to herd the commoners, forcing them to come over and act as the audience.

Paying no mind to Xiang Ying and his men’s manic behavior, Li Ye, Yu Hai, and the others fiercely launched a siege against Xiangli.

At Li Ye’s feet, every ball he kicked launched like a fired cannonball. The resulting shockwaves blew aside the corpses and ruined walls along its path.

Xiangli’s red tentacles snapped one after another upon coming into contact with the soccer balls. Despite this, when the balls crashed toward Xiangli, they hit nothing but empty air.

Xiangli seemed capable of teleportation. In the blink of an eye, he vanished from in front of the soccer ball and reappeared behind it, not even obstructing its flight trajectory.

"Is this it?" Xiangli gave a contemptuous smile. With another flash, he was already right in front of Li Ye. He thrust out a single hand, stabbing straight toward Li Ye’s heart.

Li Ye’s body blurred as he barely dodged a fatal blow, but Xiangli’s hand still pierced through his left chest. When he pulled it out, he tore out a piece of lung tissue along with it.

In just a single exchange, Li Ye was severely injured.

In the past, his wounds would have healed instantly. But this time, another powerful trace of Demon Qi had latched onto his injury, blocking the Team Emblem from repairing the damage.

Blood spurted frantically from Li Ye’s wound as if it cost nothing.

However, Li Ye’s body had been modified by Demon Qi to its absolute limit, so his reaction speed was by no means slow. Pushing himself, he launched a fierce kick straight at Xiangli’s crotch. At the exact moment his lung tissue was ripped out, he shattered Xiangli’s Descendants’ Bag. ℴℴ𝘮

Wincing in pain, Xiangli leapt high into the air, dodging Li Ye’s incoming second strike. But very quickly, his expression returned to normal. He flashed back several dozen meters and looked at the gaping hole he had gouged out of Li Ye’s chest. "You’re dead. My injuries can be repaired, but you’ve been inflicted with an Unhealing Wound. Even if your strength is roughly on par with mine, you’ll simply bleed to death..."

As he spoke, two tentacles whipped out, flicking away two soccer balls hurtling toward his vitals.

The balls had been kicked by Huaiyi and Yu Hai, but they were far inferior to Li Ye in both power and speed. Xiangli didn’t even bother dodging; he simply swatted the balls away with his tentacles.

By not catching the balls with his hands, he didn’t even trigger the stun effect.

From Xiangli, Li Ye felt an unprecedented sense of crisis. Unlike the previous encounter with Murong Kaixin, this was a genuine life-or-death crisis.

If he couldn’t defeat this guy, he would truly be finished.

He didn’t want to die here.

At this moment, all the potential within his body seemed to be stimulated. Ignoring the excruciating pain in his chest and the blood bubbling out, Li Ye glared at Xiangli like a tiger eyeing its prey and shouted, "Pass the ball to me!"

The soccer ball provided him with a Speed Bonus.

This time, he didn’t plan to use the soccer ball as a weapon. He was going to use it purely as a buffing accessory while moving in for close-quarters hand-to-hand combat against Xiangli.

It was true that with Demon Qi attached to him, his injuries could heal rapidly. But as long as his vitals were struck—if his heart or head was pulverized—he could still be beaten to death.

Even if he couldn’t land a one-hit kill on a vital spot, striking other areas consecutively would eventually exhaust his opponent’s Demon Qi. Once the enemy could no longer repair himself, he could similarly be put to death.

WHOOSH!

A soccer ball was passed to Li Ye’s feet.

On the way here, everyone had brought a ball, so they were in no shortage of soccer balls.

Even if all the soccer balls were kicked away, with so many corpses littering the streets, they could casually pluck a head to kick around as a ball.

Li Ye charged forward while dribbling the ball. Under the effects of the Speed Bonus, he executed a teleport-like flash, instantly arriving right in front of Xiangli. Once again, he launched a Groin Kick straight at Xiangli’s crotch.

The weaknesses Li Ye knew of, Xiangli was equally aware of, so he naturally kept special guard over his heart and head.

Therefore, Li Ye never intended to attack those two areas from the start. The demonic entity he wielded was the soccer Team Emblem, meaning any dirty soccer play received a buff.

Attacking the groin, elbowing the face, and sliding into the shins were all standard dirty plays...

Furthermore, dribbling the ball also provided an evasion bonus. Li Ye was going to gamble against Xiangli on whose Demon Qi reserves would last longer.

Sure enough, when Li Ye’s Groin Kick struck Xiangli, his extra evasion bonus from dribbling allowed him to easily dodge the hand Xiangli thrust toward his heart.

Xiangli glanced at the ball Li Ye was dribbling and immediately understood the reason. He decisively changed his strategy. Instead of striking at Li Ye, he extended his leg to tackle the ball, attempting to kick it away...