Chapter 49: Why... Always Liyu?
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Chapter 49
Meanwhile, while Liyu and his clone were having a nice chat... as Liyu would have put it... Li Jie had another mission, and that was to reap and take all the beast cores that Liyu had supposedly obtained from the beasts he killed.
He still found it hard to believe that Liyu was the only one who had slain all those beasts; it made no sense to him, really, absolutely no sense at all. But well, he certainly wouldn’t mind taking all their cores.
As for thinking about how Liyu had managed to achieve something like that, he would leave that for later; right now, his top priority was getting those beast cores.
Just thinking about how much he would earn if he got his hands on all those beast cores made him excited. One had to know that most Level One beast cores cost around ten to one hundred bronze coins, sometimes even a silver coin, while Level Two beast cores could cost several silver coins each.
If he managed to sell all those beast cores, he would surely end up with a tremendous amount of money. The more he thought about what he would buy for himself and how he would spend his completely unearned wealth, the more Li Jie found himself salivating in pure anticipation.
Soon, he arrived at the battlefield where all the dead beasts lay. Their numbers were absolutely staggering. Even now, he still couldn’t believe that Liyu, who was supposedly only at the Peak Stage of Body Refinement... wait.
How did he even reach the Peak Stage of Body Refinement in just a month or so? That was totally unheard of. Nothing was making sense to him right now, so he simply shut his brain off; getting those cores was the only thing that mattered right now, and the rest could be thought about after he turned his brain back on.
Li Jie headed toward the first beast, ready to carve out its core. However, what he found was a large empty hole where the core was supposed to be; it was as if someone had already carved it out.
But he was certain that neither Brother Yu, Brother Feng, nor his own brother Xie had passed through this place earlier. So who carved it? Still, he didn’t linger on the matter.
There were several hundred beasts here; losing one core hurt, but it wasn’t anything too serious... at least, that was what he told himself. He walked toward the second beast, and behold, that beast’s core had also been carved out.
Li Jie’s expression immediately became alarmed as a very bad premonition appeared in his heart. Wait... could they all have been.. he didn’t dare finish the thought. No; no, no, no.
That would completely crush his dreams. So he rushed forward and began checking: beast after beast, corpse after corpse. He checked them all, yet he couldn’t find a single beast that still had its core.
Every single beast core had already been removed, and they had been harvested so smoothly and precisely that one would think the person responsible had spent a very long time carefully extracting them.
Several minutes later, after checking over and over again and confirming that every single beast core had been removed, Li Jie finally came to a stop. His brain, which had been forcibly shut off earlier, instantly turned back on.
His thoughts raced rapidly as he tried to figure out who the culprit could be. He was more than certain that neither Li Feng nor his brother Li Xie had passed through here; after all, he had left first, leaving Liyu and Yuexin together.
There was no way anyone from their group could have arrived before him, meaning only one thing: a thief. A thief had stolen what rightfully belonged to him.
With grim determination and absolute fury at the jackpot he had lost, Li Jie screamed at the top of his lungs, "THIEF! Whosoever you are, I swear I am going to find you! And you will pay for what you have done! I swear on my brother’s life!" Li Jie shouted.
The very air seemed to tremble from the force of his roar. A single tear rolled down his cheek; he was in deep pain right now, an indescribable pain... the pain of losing wealth that had never actually belonged to him in the first place.
"I promise I will get you!" Li Jie declared through gritted teeth.
----
Meanwhile, Li Xie found himself feeling uncomfortable as he sat atop a large boulder. For some reason, he felt as if someone was tugging at his very being, as though somebody was placing him on the line for something.
It was strange, almost as if he was being used as a gambling stake. Shaking the weird thought from his head, Li Xie turned his gaze back toward the scene before him.
A slash filled with empowered qi slammed into the side of a massive mountain wall. BOOM! A large sword mark appeared upon the mountain’s surface, yet that was only one among the countless slash marks that already covered the mountainside.
Each slash was unbelievably powerful and sharp; they would have effortlessly sliced any ordinary human being into two pieces. Even if that mundane human was wearing armor forged from steel, they would still be cleaved in half by those terrifying sword slashes.
Li Xie turned his gaze toward the person unleashing that endless barrage of attacks.
The man stood near a spring while facing the mountain wall... of course, this was the exact spring where Liyu had taken his revenge against the Saber Panther, the same spring where the Saber Panther had ultimately been killed, and the same place where Liyu had leveled up, obtained his first Reflection, and grown stronger by leaps and bounds.
Ironically enough, it was because of that same Liyu that the man currently swinging his sword wildly was standing here. Li Feng’s gaze was frenzied; he looked like someone on the verge of losing his mind.
His grip on his sword tightened, then he swung again in another brilliant arc. A sword slash streaked forward and slammed into the mountain; another deep scar appeared upon the mountainside. "Why..." Li Feng couldn’t help but mutter under his breath. "Why is it always Liyu..."
At first, it had been his own father who made him feel this way. His own father... the Clan Lord... had always shown more affection toward Liyu, the son of his deceased sister, than toward his own biological son.
That had been part of the reason Li Feng developed resentment toward Liyu. Then came his father’s decision to almost ruin the clan treasury and exhaust enormous amounts of wealth for Liyu’s sake; that was something he wouldn’t even do for his own son.
As if taking his father’s attention away from him wasn’t painful enough, Liyu had also taken Li Yuexin’s attention away. It felt as though he was being targeted, and the most painful thing of all was that everyone Li Feng cared about seemed more inclined to choose Liyu over him.
That feeling was both saddening and painful... a pain he had buried deep inside himself, a pain he refused to show anyone. Giving someone your heart, only to watch them treat you as though you weren’t even worth mentioning...
The scene from a few hours ago flashed through his mind: Li Yuexin rebuking him, then immediately checking whether he had caused Liyu any discomfort. He had gotten his hand crushed by that bastard Liyu, yet she hadn’t seemed to care about him even a little.
Why? Why? Why was it always Liyu? Li Feng swung his sword once more; another brilliant arc cut through the air. A slash empowered by raging qi shot forward, and when it struck the mountain wall, the mark it created this time was several inches deeper than before.
His eyes burned with frustration, with jealousy, with bitterness, and most of all... with a pain that he had carried for far longer than anyone knew. He is losing his mind.
Li Xie frowned as he rubbed his head; he should do something, but how exactly was he supposed to comfort a heartbroken guy?
He thought about it for a while before ultimately shrugging.. nothing useful was popping into his head. Li Feng’s frown deepened as he imagined the mountain wall before him to be Liyu’s face.
He had come this far out into the Beast Forest for that bastard, and what did he get in return? His hand had been crushed by the bastard. Another overwhelming wave of rage surged through his chest; without hesitation, he struck forward once more.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Several sharp sounds echoed in rapid succession, followed by the violent trembling of the mountain wall as dust exploded from the impact points.
Li Feng was about to swing again when a calm yet concerned voice reached his ears. "You have to relax, Brother Feng." Li Feng turned his bloodshot eyes toward Li Xie, who had walked closer to him.
Li Xie could no longer bear seeing his friend like this; he had to console him, otherwise, things might get even worse. "Relax?" Li Feng repeated in a hateful voice. "If all of this happened to you, would you relax?" His gaze was red with rage as he stared directly at Li Xie.
Li Xie knew that trying to convince him with ordinary reasoning wouldn’t work, so he didn’t even bother attempting to force comfort upon him. Instead, he simply shook his head. "Yeah... I definitely wouldn’t take it lying down either."
Hearing that, Li Feng paused. For the first time since their conversation began, he truly looked at Li Xie. Pain was clearly visible within his eyes as he spoke quietly: "Am I in the wrong for caring about her? Was I in the wrong for having Liyu as a cousin when everyone seems to want him more than me? What exactly did I do wrong?"
His gaze lowered; every single word was filled with pain. Li Xie could tell that Li Feng was deeply hurt, very deeply hurt. He rarely showed this side of himself.. a vulnerable side, a weakened side.
And Li Xie was more than certain that the reason Li Feng was even speaking about these things right now was because they were best friends.
Li Xie remained silent as he pondered Li Feng’s question. Was he wrong for caring about people? Was he wrong for loving someone? Actually... Li Xie believed there was absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Nothing at all. As for Liyu, the reason Li Yuexin had grown so attached to him was something most people in the clan already understood.
Their relationship had become incredibly deep over the years; she had spent far more time around Liyu than around Li Feng.
Li Feng had always been more focused on cultivation and proving himself worthy in his father’s eyes, meanwhile, Liyu had always been there for Yuexin. So naturally, she had probably developed deep feelings toward him long ago. Those feelings would be difficult to change, but difficult didn’t mean impossible.
"No, you aren’t wrong, Brother Feng. And all of this can still be remedied," Li Xie spoke with a small smile. "How?" Li Feng couldn’t stop himself from asking.
Li Xie smiled before replying, "Very soon, you and Sister Yuexin will be leaving for the Gold Valley Sect. You’ll be able to solve the two problems that have been bothering you. Your father will finally see how proud he should be of you, and I believe Junior Sister Yuexin will eventually grow fond of you as well."
He shrugged. "It will only be a matter of time before the two of you grow closer, and eventually... she might even forget about Liyu."
Hearing those words and realizing that there was some truth in them, Li Feng froze slightly. That was right. Very soon, he and Yuexin would be heading toward the Gold Valley Sect.
Once they arrived there, everything could change. After thinking about it for a while, Li Feng visibly relaxed; a small smile slowly appeared on his face once more. He raised his sword one final time.
BOOM! The strike carved a massive scar several inches deep into the mountainside. Li Feng smiled as he slowly sheathed his blade.
"No matter what you try, Liyu... I will break whatever veil you have cast over Father’s eyes and Yuexin’s heart. I will show them that I am better than you, and I will triumph over you." Li Feng spoke with a determined expression. At this moment, his conviction had never been stronger.
After all... the only thing that truly mattered now was winning the upcoming tournament. As long as he won that tournament, everything would proceed according to plan.
ULTRA NOTE:
Special shout-out to the holy trinity of this book’s supporters: Lykana, DaiostAlexkg, and Devil Prince Azura!
You three have been carrying this book harder than some protagonists carry their entire worlds. Your support genuinely motivates me and puts a huge grin on my face every time I see it. Thank you so much!
Now, onto today’s author rambling session...
I’ll be adding the Massive Release Goals, Bonus Chapter Goals, and Extra Chapter Goals to the auxiliary Chapter very soon. Once the requirements on the list are met, the corresponding rewards will be unlocked.
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Anyway, enough of my endless rambling.
This Chapter has been unlocked because Lykana just dropped five shiny Golden Tickets! That’s right, five beautiful tickets that marched into my account and demanded the release of another Chapter.
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— Ultra
