Starforce Warriors-Chapter 946: Counter Kill (1)

Li Xiaofei was just about to bow, but something suddenly felt off.

Wait a minute. Why is Sword Immortal Lin Beichen smiling so foolishly?

He had been grinning at them the whole time, without the slightest change in expression. A strange feeling stirred in Li Xiaofei’s heart. He focused on his perception and examined the figure carefully.

In that moment, he realized that this wasn’t a living person at all. It was merely an image. It was a lifelike portrait carved into the white cliff face. However, since it was so vividly detailed and fully three-dimensional, they had all mistaken it for the real Lin Beichen at first glance.

Li Xiaofei quickly alerted Zhu Zhixun and the others. Only then did the five begin to come to their senses.

“A portrait?”

“It’s not the real person?”

“It looks so real.”

“Then where is the Sword Immortal Senior?”

Xiong Gang and the others felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads. Their excitement turned to bitter disappointment.

“Let’s keep looking,” Zhu Zhixun said. “Since Senior Lin left his likeness behind, there’s a good chance he himself is somewhere nearby.”

Li Xiaofei remained silent. He didn’t agree with that assumption. The formations they had just passed, while indeed resilient, weren’t enough to trap an Emperor-level cultivator. Lin Beichen might not actually be here.

His gaze stayed fixed on the enormous portrait carved into the cliff. Suddenly, the image moved.

The Lin Beichen in the carving lifted his sword and began to move. A sword technique unfolded before their eyes. It was fluid and precise, and in moments, the entire form was complete.

Li Xiaofei needed only one glance to memorize it fully.

“There’s more down there...” Zhu Zhixun called out, pointing to a lower part of the cliff.

He was right. Four more portraits of Lin Beichen could be seen on that vast, boundless wall of white stone. Each one depicted an awe-inspiring and heroic sword technique. Zhu Zhixun and the others gazed at the images with expressions full of admiration.

One of them even fell to his knees in worship. Sword Immortal Lin Beichen held the highest symbolic significance to the rebel forces of the Ancestor Court star system. It had been Lin Beichen who emerged like a flash of lightning in the dark, slaying Reapers along his path, striking down the Ancestor Court, and bringing a ray of light to humanity during the darkest age of slavery.

He had shown all the aspiring warriors that humans were not born as slaves, nor were they inherently inferior to the Reapers. His brief but brilliant appearance had laid the foundation for the human resistance.

“These five images each contain rare and supreme techniques of the sword Dao. Record them. You can study them in depth later and pass them on to other fighters in the resistance,” Li Xiaofei said, noticing that Zhu Zhixun and the others were only watching the images in awe without thinking to preserve or train in them.

“Five sword moves?”

“But aren’t all five portraits exactly the same?” one of them asked in surprise.

The group turned to look at Li Xiaofei in disbelief.

Li Xiaofei’s heart trembled. He clearly saw five completely different portraits. In every image, Lin Beichen was executing a sword technique, his Silver Sword dancing through the air with elegant precision.

“Are the figures above not moving?” Li Xiaofei asked. “Take another careful look.”

Zhu Zhixun and the others focused intently on the images. Then they all shook their heads in unison.

Huh?

Li Xiaofei was surprised.

Could it be that I’m the only one who can see the animations?

He stepped back to observe from a greater distance. Then he saw it clearly, five devastatingly handsome versions of Lin Beichen were simultaneously winking and gesturing at him.

After that, they all began to move. Five portraits. Five sword techniques. Each one played on repeat, over and over. Initially, Li Xiaofei had thought that with his current mastery of swordsmanship, he had long since surpassed the need for superficial moves or basic variations.

But after watching Lin Beichen’s demonstration, he was completely awestruck. These five techniques were astonishing. Each one surpassed the power of any move he had personally developed.

He focused intently, imprinting every detail of the five techniques into his mind: the transitions between movements, the flow of sword energy, and the pathways of Immortal Force. Had it been any ordinary manual, he might have needed time to comprehend and refine it.

But these five techniques had been personally demonstrated by Lin Beichen. They were complete and perfect in form. Li Xiaofei, bearing the Dual Sacred Body of Blade and Sword, possessed a unique and unmatched talent for the sword path. So he only needed a glance to memorize them down to every variation.

He quickly comprehended and memorized all five sword techniques. Then, he continued descending. Another three thousand meters down, a circular cave entrance, ten meters in diameter, appeared on the white cliff wall.

It was clearly man-made. The area in front of the entrance had been carved into a small flat space. Surprisingly, there was even a makeshift fire rack, with an iron pot suspended above it. Someone had clearly lived here and judging from the scene, it was undeniably a human habitation.

“Sword Immortal Senior must be inside,” Zhu Zhixun exclaimed with delight. “There’s no doubt about it.”

The group quickly entered the cave. Inside, the space had been hollowed out into three rooms and two halls. There were stone tables, chairs, and even a bed.

On the bed lay a half-meter-long broken sword. It was a fragment of a sword blade. There was no tip, and no hilt. A jagged notch marred its center. The moment Li Xiaofei laid eyes on the broken sword, he immediately sensed a familiar aura.

An Emperor’s weapon fragment. It was part of the same Emperor-level longsword to which the silver blade fragment he carried belonged. A thought stirred in his heart, but the silver fragment shot forward on its own.

Ding.

The silver fragment fit perfectly into the broken blade, filling the jagged notch. Now, it became a more complete segment of a shattered sword.

Li Xiaofei beckoned it with a single gesture. The reassembled sword fragment instantly transformed into a streak of silver light and flew to his side. A faint sense of intimacy flowed from it.

Although still incomplete, the Emperor’s weapon clearly had its spirit and power significantly enhanced after the reunion.

Li Xiaofei handed the sword to Zhu Zhixun and said, “Try it.”

Though it remained broken, the increased surface area and revitalized spiritual resonance after the fusion meant its power had risen substantially.

Zhu Zhixun’s hands trembled as he reached for it. “I... I can’t take this. You were the one who found it, Senior. I—”

“Stop talking nonsense. Don’t get sentimental,” Li Xiaofei cut him off bluntly.

Gritting his teeth, Zhu Zhixun accepted the sword. He channeled his Immortal Force into it.

Buzz—buzz—buzz.

The sword began to hum and vibrate. A vast and overwhelming energy surged from its body. Zhu Zhixun felt as if his entire being had been filled to the brim with strength. With a thought, he moved.

Sssht.

The sword sliced into the cave wall, leaving a deep, clean mark behind.

“So sharp,” Xiong Gang and the others gasped in astonishment.

Earlier, when Li Xiaofei wielded the silver fragment alone, even though it was a piece of an Emperor’s weapon, it couldn’t leave a single mark on the cliff wall.

Yet now, under Zhu Zhixun’s control, whose strength was far inferior, this reassembled sword had managed to cut into the cliff with ease. It was a clear testament to the enhanced power of the weapon.

If the remaining pieces of the broken sword could be found and reunited... then—

At that thought, Xiong Gang and the others felt a faint tremble in their hearts.

“I can feel it... it’s very obedient. No, that’s not the right word. It’s very responsive,” Zhu Zhixun corrected himself mid-sentence, realizing that calling a fragment of an Emperor’s weapon obedient felt disrespectful.

His heart surged with emotion. It was not because he had gained a greater portion of the weapon. But because with a divine blade like this, the Human Resistance might finally stand a better chance in their struggle.

Li Xiaofei continued searching through the cave. He found nothing else of value. This place clearly seemed to have once been Lin Beichen’s dwelling. Judging by the stone tables, chairs, and furnishings, it looked like he had stayed here for several years, though Li Xiaofei had no idea why.

Li Xiaofei stepped back to the entrance of the cave. He examined the fire rack carefully. The remnants of ash still radiated faint traces of heat. Clearly, whatever had been burned was no ordinary material.

Then, he looked toward the nearby wall. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed. There were words engraved on it.

Do not descend further.

The meaning of those four words was unmistakable. It was a warning to those who came after, not to continue descending deeper into the abyssal cliff.

The words were written in the script of Great Xia. They were characters from Earth. If a Reaper or an ordinary human happened to see them, they would likely mistake them for meaningless scribbles.

Li Xiaofei thought for a moment and concluded that these must have been left by Sword Immortal Lin Beichen himself, as a warning to future generations. If a strong cultivator of the human race ever came here, they would recognize the script and understand that danger awaited below.

In that case, the broken sword was most likely left behind intentionally by Lin Beichen. It was a legacy. A chance gifted to those who came after. Even with a fragment of an Emperor’s weapon in hand, one should not proceed downward.

Clearly, whatever lay deeper within the abyss was no ordinary threat. Standing at the cave’s mouth, Li Xiaofei gazed down the cliff. Darkness spread like an endless tide below the final stretch of illuminated space. It was so thick it seemed to devour the very light.

That darkness was dense with the auras of evil and death. Even Li Xiaofei dared not stare into it for long. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrifying lurked within, waiting to burst forth and consume him whole.

When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you, Li Xiaofei thought it over and decided to heed the warning. He would not go any deeper.

“Senior Lin Beichen is most likely no longer at the Burial Ice Cliff,” Li Xiaofei said as he turned around. “He must have lived here for some time, but eventually left... Let’s head back. We’ve gained a great deal on this journey. It’s time to digest what we’ve learned.”

“Alright,” Zhu Zhixun and the others replied, their voices tinged with a hint of disappointment.

But even so, their hearts remained filled with excitement. Though Sword Immortal Lin Beichen wasn’t here, they had still uncovered traces of his presence and received unexpected fortunes. It had not been a fruitless journey.

“Senior, do you want to take these things with you?” Xiong Gang asked, pointing to the nearby barbecue rack and the large black iron pot.

Li Xiaofei glanced over and suddenly paused. He had overlooked those items. Since they were left behind by someone like Sword Immortal Lin Beichen, a cultivator at the Emperor level, they were unlikely to be ordinary objects. Perhaps they possessed unique power or hidden properties.

“You all can take them,” Li Xiaofei said.

“Hehe, then we won’t hold back,” Xiong Gang replied gleefully, rubbing his hands together in excitement. He immediately stepped forward and grabbed the large black pot.

“This thing’s solid. I could use it as a shield,” Xiong Gang laughed heartily.

Having lost an arm in a previous battle, only to regrow it through secret arts, he had come to deeply value defense. What kind of attack could possibly get through with a pot like this strapped to his back?

The team’s only female member moved swiftly, snatching up the barbecue rack. Meanwhile, the square-faced middle-aged man, known for his skills in perception and detection, quickly grabbed the skewers that had been used to roast food.

“You all...” Master Jin had been just a bit too slow, so he didn’t manage to grab anything. He looked like he was on the verge of tears.

In a moment of desperation, he scooped up all the ashes on the ground and stuffed them into a storage pouch, muttering, “A thief never leaves empty-handed. Even if I use this stuff as quicklime, I can toss it during a fight for effect... Huh? What’s this, there’s still a piece of firewood left?”

Digging through the ashes, Master Jin pulled out a half-meter-long stick.

At first glance, it looked completely ordinary. The bark was pale gray and severely cracked. One end was blackened and charred, while the other had been cleanly sliced off by some kind of sharp weapon. The cross-section was smooth and revealed countless delicate, pale-red rings that were at least a thousand in number.

Tree rings?

Could this piece of firewood be over a thousand years old?

Li Xiaofei was slightly surprised as well, but Master Jin held the stick with obvious excitement.

“I have a feeling this old fire stick is the best treasure of the bunch...” he said, holding it like a priceless artifact.

Then, just for show, he blew across the charred end of the stick. It was meant as a casual display but an incredible transformation occurred.

Whoosh.

A tongue of flame burst from the stick as the charred end turned a glowing crimson. As Master Jin blew, the flame extended outward like a roaring dragon, claws bared, and surged toward Xiong Gang nearby.

“What the hell!” Xiong Gang cried out in alarm. Caught completely off guard, he reflexively raised the large black pot and used it as a shield in front of him.

Boom.

The flame slammed into the iron pot. Xiong Gang staggered backward four or five meters, his boots scraping against the stone floor. The sudden strike startled everyone.

“I-It didn’t go out,” Master Jin stammered. “Sorry, Bear. I didn’t know it could actually blow fire!”

But Xiong Gang quickly took the chance to inspect his big black pot. It was completely undamaged. Only then did he let out a breath of relief.

“Hmph, your flame’s nothing special,” he said with a smug, challenging grin.

Master Jin looked at the firewood stick in his hand, an idea suddenly forming in his mind. He pulled out a piece of white bone. It was a treasure he had shamelessly obtained from his girlfriend. It was a leg bone from a level eight Void Beast.

Its most remarkable trait was that it was unbelievably hard. He had been using it as his go-to weapon for a long time as a personal trump card. Now, holding the ancient firewood stick, he aimed at the bone and blew.

Poof.

A crimson blaze burst out in a violent surge. The white leg bone disintegrated into ash without a single sound or spark.