Chapter 243: Chapter 240: The Despised Li Ping

「Near an uninhabited glacier outside Flying Snow City.」

Li Ping stared coldly at Long Jie, who stood a short distance away with a grim expression. The puppets Jia Yi and Jia Er materialized at his side.

"Fellow Daoist Bai, I invited you to leave the city with me out of the goodness of my heart. What is the meaning of this?" Long Jie said, attempting to stall for time while he circulated his Magical Power to neutralize the poison in his system.

’He never expected that Bai Yi, such a beautiful and innocent snow maiden, would secretly poison him on their way out of Flying Snow City!’

The poison had been administered so discreetly that he only realized something was wrong when his body began to go numb and the flow of his Magical Power became sluggish.

In his alarm, he first cast a magical Shield to protect himself, then spoke the words from before.

’Of course, he still thought he was facing Bai Yi. Perhaps she poisoned me because she doesn’t trust me.’

Long Jie silently assessed the Magical Power within him. He found that while mobilizing it was considerably more difficult and sluggish than before, it was still more than enough to deal with a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Only then did he relax.

"You bitch, you dare poison me? Just watch how I’ll deal with you!" Long Jie was about to strike, but when he looked up, he froze.

Two black puppets stood on either side of "Bai Yi," each with an arrow nocked and bow drawn, aimed right at him. "Bai Yi" herself was holding an earthy-yellow Spirit Talisman and muttering an incantation.

Seeing this, Long Jie was instantly filled with shock and rage. ’This bitch wants to kill me.’

He hastily slapped the Storage Bag at his waist, and two Tier Two Upper Grade Dharma Artifacts—one for offense, one for defense—flew out. A palm-sized Ice Crystal Shield expanded in the wind, transforming in the blink of an eye into a towering barrier that positioned itself in front of Long Jie, humming with spiritual energy.

Meanwhile, the other Dharma Artifact, a palm-sized black hammer, swelled to the size of a water vat and hovered beside Long Jie, providing an extra layer of defense.

With the poison still in his system and no knowledge of his opponent’s true capabilities, Long Jie remained extremely vigilant, even though he was only facing a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator. He focused entirely on defense!

But then he saw Jia Yi and Jia Er suddenly draw their bowstrings. A brilliant spiritual light erupted from the bows, which were as tall as a man.

Sensing the astonishing Spiritual Qi within that light, his expression changed drastically. ’Tier Two Upper Grade puppets! And two of them! How is this possible? How can that bitch, a mere Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, possess such Treasures?’

A wave of regret washed over Long Jie. ’Why did I have to provoke Bai Yi?’

’If I had just gone straight back to Cloud City, none of this would be happening.’

Of course, he had no idea that the beautiful snow maiden before him was there specifically for him. He never had a chance to escape.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Amidst a terrifying roar, two streaks of black light shot toward Long Jie, one after the other.

Almost simultaneously, the Void Seal Talisman Treasure in Li Ping’s hand finished absorbing his Magical Power. An ancient, earthy-yellow Seal flew from his palm, expanding as it soared through the air until, in the blink of an eye, it was as large as a palace.

Li Ping pointed, and the palace-sized Seal went hurtling toward Long Jie with a great RUMBLE, threatening to smash him into a bloody pulp!

"A Talisman Treasure!" The terrifying power of the Void Seal scared Long Jie half to death.

But he had to deal with first things first. The immediate threat was the two spiritual arrows flying toward him. Long Jie hastily maneuvered the Ice Crystal Shield to block them.

Feeling that the shield alone might not be enough, he formed a hand seal, and the water-vat-sized black hammer spun out to intercept the incoming arrows.

However, because of the poison, his Magical Power was sluggish and unresponsive, making it extremely difficult for Long Jie to command his Dharma Artifacts. As a result, neither the black hammer nor the shield could display its full power.

And so, upon impact—

BANG!

The Upper Grade Dharma Artifact, the black hammer, was instantly shattered by the force of the arrow. Then, from amidst the fragments that showered down like scattered petals, a streak of black light shot out like a venomous snake and slammed heavily into the massive Ice Crystal Shield.

BOOM!

Facing a full-powered strike from a Tier Two Upper Grade puppet, the Ice Crystal Shield fared no better than the black hammer.

After a heart-stopping CRACK, the Ice Crystal Shield was torn to shreds. The violent force of the impact carried the shards of the Dharma Artifact hurtling toward Long Jie.

Fortunately, he had already sensed that things were going south. At the critical moment, he hastily tore a Spirit Talisman, conjuring an earthen wall that blocked the attack’s aftershock.

’Two strikes, and two of my Upper Grade Dharma Artifacts are destroyed!’ Long Jie’s heart bled at the loss, but his hands didn’t slow. He slapped his Storage Bag again, and two more streaks of light flew out to circle around him.

Of these two new Dharma Artifacts, however, only the Flying Sword was Tier Two Upper Grade; the shield was merely Tier Two Middle Grade.

In truth, Long Jie had acquired these two Dharma Artifacts by lining his own pockets during the chaos in the city. They weren’t his to begin with.

The palace-sized, earthy-yellow Seal came smashing down, but its attack speed wasn’t as terrifying as the puppets’ arrows. Long Jie managed to evade the blow by rapidly moving his body while simultaneously commanding his Flying Sword to engage the Void Seal.

CRASH!

After Long Jie dodged, the Void Seal smashed directly into the ground.

The strike was so powerful that the ground shook violently for miles. The nearby glacier rumbled, and vast amounts of snow tumbled down the mountain, creating a massive avalanche.

Seeing his Flying Sword in the sky, its spiritual light greatly diminished, Long Jie felt another pang of heartache, but he was also relieved to have dodged that terrifying blow.

But he had no more time to think. Under Li Ping’s control, the Void Seal stirred the wind and snow once more, radiating astonishing Spiritual Qi as it came smashing down on him again.

Long Jie hastily formed a hand seal, commanding the Flying Sword to intercept it.

But the Flying Sword had already sustained heavy damage from the previous clash. After a series of sharp clangs, it lost all its spiritual luster and fell from the sky, completely unresponsive.

Long Jie pulled an emerald flying dagger from his Storage Bag while moving his shield to block the Void Seal.

’My Dharma Artifacts are being destroyed so quickly! It’s a good thing I managed to loot so much during the chaos in the city. Otherwise, I’d be a dead man waiting!’

’This is definitely no Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator! Even Old Ghost Che isn’t this strong!’ Long Jie roared inwardly, beginning to doubt the true identity of the beautiful snow maiden before him.

But he would never get the chance to learn the truth.

Because after their first volley, the two puppets beside Li Ping had each taken another spiritual arrow from the Quivers on their backs. They slowly drew their bowstrings and took aim at Long Jie.

After the continuous battle, on top of being poisoned, Long Jie no longer had enough Magical Power to defend against the puppets’ next attack.

Facing the two incoming arrows, he could only block one—at the cost of another destroyed Dharma Artifact.

The other arrow effortlessly tore through his defensive Shield and pierced his skull.

The arrow passed straight through his skull and vanished into the snow. In its wake, Long Jie’s head exploded like a watermelon.

Bits of red and white splattered across the ground, like red roses blooming upon the snow.

Li Ping had deliberately kept the Void Seal hovering in the air instead of smashing down, so as not to destroy the nameless Cultivator’s Storage Bag and the Treasures within it.

"Go!"

Li Ping slapped his Storage Bag, and Jia San flew out. It shot like a streak of light toward the headless corpse to retrieve the Storage Bag from its waist.

Jia San was tough and durable; even if the cultivator had left behind some posthumous trap to ambush his killer, it wouldn’t be a problem.

While Jia San went to loot the corpse, Li Ping made a slight beckoning gesture. The palace-sized Seal in mid-air rapidly shrank as it flew toward him, finally reverting to an earthy-yellow Spirit Talisman that drifted down into his palm.

But just as Li Ping reached out to catch it, the earthy-yellow Spirit Talisman spontaneously combusted. It burned away in an instant, leaving only a pile of ash that scattered on the wind.

Evidently, the power within the Void Seal Talisman Treasure had been completely depleted in the previous battle.

Li Ping shook his head, unconcerned.

The Talisman Treasure was gone, and that was that. With his current abilities, he no longer relied heavily on them anyway.

Besides, he had still gained his opponent’s Storage Bag from this battle.

According to his Treasure Hunting Beast’s senses, there was likely a Spiritual Object inside that Storage Bag on par with a Magical Treasure.

A Spiritual Object like that would more than make up for his losses.

All in all, he had come out far ahead!

He took the Storage Bag from Jia San, recalled all his puppets into his own Storage Bag, then flicked out a Fireball that incinerated the corpse on the ground.

Li Ping then flew leisurely back toward Flying Snow City. Once he reached a deserted area, his body and face returned to normal, and he changed back into his original clothes.

The gates of Flying Snow City were still open, allowing free entry and exit.

Worried about a future reckoning from the Flying Snow Sect, most of the Loose Cultivators were taking the opportunity to flee. Li Ping, however, went against the tide of people and entered the city.

After a brief scan of the city, Li Ping flew toward the Flying Snow Sect.

The Flying Snow Sect’s Sect Protection Array had yet to be repaired, so Li Ping flew right in.

But as soon as he entered the Flying Snow Sect’s grounds, he was stopped.

A young Foundation Establishment Cultivator blocked his path, glaring at him coldly. "Who are you? How dare you trespass in the Flying Snow Sect!"

Li Ping frowned slightly, but simply explained, "I am a friend of your Sect Leader. You’ll know I’m telling the truth if you just ask around."

"Hmph! If you’re a friend of the Sect Leader, then why didn’t we see you during the great battle?" the young Cultivator sneered, looking at Li Ping with contempt.

In truth, he had recognized Li Ping the moment he saw him. He was blocking his path on purpose.

In his eyes, Li Ping, despite being a friend of the Sect Leader, had chosen to flee the moment the Sect was in crisis.

He had nothing to say about him running away.

But now that the Flying Snow Sect had suffered devastating losses and just barely managed to stabilize the situation, here he was, back again.

Such conduct naturally earned his contempt.

...

Li Ping then understood that the Cultivator before him was looking at him with scorn.

He couldn’t help but shake his head inwardly.

’If I hadn’t refined the Profound Heart Pill for Qianxue Master, the Flying Snow Sect might have already been annihilated.’

In reality, he was the Flying Snow Sect’s greatest benefactor.

This young Cultivator was simply clueless.

"You’re young and ignorant of the truth. I don’t blame you."

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