After Xia Li's prosthetic skin was knocked off...

  Qiao Yuan tried to locate Xia Li's "real body," actually looking around nervously.

  But Xia Li wouldn't be polite. He directly continued his assault.

  This time, Xia Li summoned the Spectral Dharma Body to attack together. The fierce assault, like a violent storm, pressed Qiao Yuan so hard he could only defend with all his might.

  During this process, Qiao Yuan realized he might have guessed wrong. Xia Li wasn't a puppet—rather, parts of his body had been puppetized.

  As time passed, the number of effective attacks Xia Li could land began to sharply decrease. Qiao Yuan also discovered that the Spectral Dharma Body's attacks could be blocked by his lightning armor. He only needed to focus on dealing with Xia Li's spirit-breaking weapon.

  Spirit-breaking weapons were rare in the cultivation world but not unheard of. They were mostly favored by pure martial cultivators.

  "Useless. Losing strength already?"

  "Foundation Establishment is still Foundation Establishment. I'm at Core Formation Perfection—and a genius of the Qiao Family! My spiritual energy rivals Nascent Soul!"

  "Once you've exhausted your spiritual energy... I'll kill you. I'll shatter every bone in your body!"

  Qiao Yuan, thinking he'd seen through Xia Li's approach, now had the composure to talk. Xia Li didn't respond—he just swung his blade, and swung again.

  After several hundred more fierce exchanges, Xia Li's spiritual energy was depleted. Only then did he finally leap back and retreat.

  "You're really afraid of death, huh? Protective spirit artifact, protective divine technique, and your martial path only focuses on strengthening the body rather than cultivating force."

  Xia Li had now also seen through Qiao Yuan's approach. He was practically a turtle king—absurdly tough.

  Unfortunately, there were others watching nearby. Xia Li didn't want to reveal his trump cards.

  Otherwise, under mental force suppression, Qiao Yuan could have ten thousand methods and still only stare helplessly while waiting to die.

  "Effectiveness is what matters. So now—how do you want to die?"

  Qiao Yuan felt victory was assured. His fighting style leaned toward sustained attrition. After all, the Qiao Family bloodline ability was Spiritual Surge—recovering spiritual energy several times faster than others.

  Not to mention his bloodline divine technique.

  "Divine Technique: Spirit Restoration!"

  As if wanting to see Xia Li's despairing expression, Qiao Yuan decisively activated his technique, making the spiritual energy in his dantian seem to materialize from nothing, instantly recovering to peak condition.

  It even seemed to be pushing toward a breakthrough.

  "You're exactly as I expected... You like to wear down enemies. Your verbal provocations are also meant to make enemies expend more spiritual energy."

  Xia Li's earlier fierce assault wasn't pointless—only by getting close enough could the Heaven Chip analyze Qiao Yuan's information.

  His Intelligent Sheathed Blade had reached evolution standards due to his powerful processing power. And the evolved Intelligent Sheathed Blade possessed a killing characteristic.

  What was killing?

  That is...

  One strike, certain death!

  And the Heaven Chip had already analyzed enough information. The resolution of Qiao Yuan had reached the killing threshold.

  The next blade stroke would be Death's harvesting scythe.

  "I've recovered to peak condition while you... are drained and powerless. Die!"

  Qiao Yuan swung his great halberd, carrying momentum like thunderbolts and lightning, transforming into a bolt of lightning charging forward. The halberd radiated destructive force like heavenly tribulation lightning.

  If this blow landed solidly, even slaying a Nascent Soul cultivator would be possible. This was Qiao Yuan's finishing move.

  "Mediocre."

  Xia Li gave his evaluation of Qiao Yuan's killing blow.

  True killing techniques were never about raw power alone—more importantly, could they hit their target?

  Then...

  Xia Li sheathed his blade, overclocking the Heaven Chip to surge his processing power.

  His prosthetic eye directly displayed Qiao Yuan's subsequent movement trajectory, and also showed his own movement trajectory. A constantly shifting line appeared between him and Qiao Yuan.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  That was the death line. Qiao Yuan's death line.

  And that flickering, blurry death line was gradually becoming clear.

  Under the Heaven Chip's control.

  Xia Li took three steps forward, body tilting slightly right, drawing the blade three inches from its sheath.

  Qiao Yuan charged in with a fierce grin...

  Halberd raised high, veins bulging in his arms, then smashing down heavily. And in that instant...

  Xia Li saw it!

  The line between him and Qiao Yuan solidified completely. As long as he severed that line, Qiao Yuan would die without question!

  In the moment before the halberd could crush his skull, the blade drawn three inches fully emerged from its sheath. The accumulated power struck precisely at the halberd shaft's force point, completely breaking and returning Qiao Yuan's built-up momentum.

  The massive force rebounded. Qiao Yuan's footing slipped and he fell backward, but he instinctively continued attacking, sweeping with his halberd.

  Yet Xia Li seemed to have seen through this. Using his blade to prop up the halberd shaft and lift the weapon high, the halberd nearly grazed the top of his head.

  Then, the blade followed the shaft directly toward Qiao Yuan's hands. Sparks and arcs flew along the way. Just as the blade was about to reach Qiao Yuan's hands...

  Qiao Yuan desperately kicked out, trying to kick Xia Li away. But this very action caused his lower body to become unstable!

  Xia Li suddenly withdrew his blade, releasing the force.

  Affected by the inertia of swinging his halberd, Qiao Yuan—now standing on one foot—lost control and slid to the right.

  Qiao Yuan immediately activated his protective artifact and his protective technique Lightning Armor while tensing every muscle in defense.

  But any spirit artifact and protective technique required time to activate.

  Even if Qiao Yuan only needed one breath...

  Unfortunately, Xia Li only needed half a breath to swing his blade.

  The pitch-black blade swept across. Just as the three protective measures began taking effect, Qiao Yuan's fine head separated from his body, caught and lifted by Xia Li. His body was still radiating golden light, forcing Xia Li back.

  When the golden light faded.

  Qiao Yuan's headless corpse collapsed lifelessly. His head was in Xia Li's hand, watching helplessly as his head and body separated, watching his own body fall.

  "I hope you can learn politeness in your next life."

  Xia Li lifted Qiao Yuan's head, smiling at it. As long as someone hadn't reached Nascent Soul and couldn't achieve spirit-leaving-body, head-body separation was absolutely fatal.

  "The Qiao Family... won't let you... go!"

  "Classic."

  Xia Li rated Qiao Yuan's last words as "classic." Then with a flick of his wrist, he tossed Qiao Yuan's head skyward and pulled out the Sirius Revolver, firing one shot at the sky.

  Bang—

  Qiao Yuan's head exploded.

  "Now it's your turn. What do you say? I'll give you two choices: death, or let me plant a soul seed."

  Xia Li raised his gun and aimed at Lü Li. Right now Lü Li just felt inexplicably wronged—Qiao Yuan was such an idiot.

  If not for Qiao Yuan stirring up trouble, they might not have exchanged a single word. How would the self-introduction phase have even happened?

  "Plant a soul seed on me... When you were fighting Qiao Yuan earlier, I could have sent a transmission, but I didn't."

  "Though I'm a Xuan Dan Sect disciple, I have no loyalty to Xuan Dan Sect. I was forced to join."

  Lü Li walked forward on her own, approaching Xia Li despite the gun pointed at her.

  Xia Li placed his hand on Lü Li's head and implanted a soul seed into her mind. This was the most common method of controlling others in the cultivation world—though there were many ways to remove it.

  But no matter how it was resolved, the caster would know when the soul seed disappeared.

  "Remove it yourself after three months. Within those three months, if you dare remove it... you'd better pray you never run into me again in this lifetime."

  "I will... I never intended to make an enemy of you."