With his entire head ripped out by Li Hai, his brain shattered into pulp by Li Hai, his soul agitated and pulverized into nothingness by Li Hai, and no trace of cold Qi within a hundred miles to allow him to revive, Xue Cangqiong finally—completely died.
And the Martial Forest Holy Land he founded—the Ice Palace—was annihilated today, becoming a remnant of Martial World history.
At the same time, the total number of Li Hai's strong fragments increased to forty-six.
Thus, with a single thought, he dispersed the Overlord Qi domain, allowing the world to naturally return to its original state.
Whoosh—
The boundless sea of fire disappeared, and the summit of Snow God Mountain reappeared in the human world.
Only now, this vast mountaintop had lost its ancient ice layer, which was hundreds or even thousands of feet thick, revealing its original rocky peak.
And even this rocky mountaintop had now been scorched into a molten crystal state, a landscape of dark red glaze.
Li Hai was currently suspended not far above this molten sea of glaze, looking around coldly in all directions, as if searching for something.
Just then, a familiar voice echoed around Li Hai:
“Brother Li, what are you looking for? Are you—looking for me?”
As the voice appeared, Feifei's figure slowly emerged not far in front of Li Hai.
This figure was ethereal and substantial, permeated with Yin Qi, clearly not a living person but a ghost.
Facing Li Hai, Feifei, who had now transformed into a ghost and somehow escaped the subsequent series of calamities, now wept softly with a sad and bewildered expression:
“Brother Li, I don't understand. You, why did you kill me? Feifei—Feifei truly doesn't understand!”
Li Hai looked at Feifei calmly and said coldly:
“Tell me, should I call you Feifei now, or—Anping Xi?”
Feifei, who was crying, immediately paused, then her expression quickly returned to normal, and a faint smile even slowly bloomed on her face:
“Heh heh, when did you—discover it?”
Li Hai said in a deep voice:
“To speak of formal discovery, it hasn't been long, but as for suspicion, I actually started to suspect from the moment I first met you.
Of course, it was a very subtle suspicion, so subtle that even I—might not have noticed it at the time.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Feifei tilted her head and smiled, “But, I pride myself on my acting skills, so why were you still able to find a flaw? Speaking of which—what exactly was the flaw?”
Facing her curious inquiry, Li Hai calmly said:
“Do you remember, you once said something, you said—you couldn't tell if others were pretty or not. Because of this one point, I then—developed a suspicion towards you.” (See Chapter 155 of this book for details)
“Just because of that one point?”
Feifei shook her head and smiled, “Heh heh, I don't quite understand.”
“I am by no means a ridiculous or pathetic narcissist.”
Li Hai said in a deep voice, “But my appearance, temperament, and even my posture were all shaped by a Grandmaster-level Charm Art.
Yet at that time, you were merely a Third Realm Martial Artist, so what ability and what qualification did you have to ignore the effect of my Grandmaster-level Charm Art?”
In fact, while saying these words, he still had some more detailed clues that he hadn't spoken aloud.
The reason he didn't speak them was because these clues all came from the System's investigation.
Li Hai still remembered that when he first saw Feifei, among all her trait entries, only one, the 【Resurrection】 entry, had reached Level 4. (See Chapter 155 of this book for details)
As for other traits related to mental resistance, such as 【Wildness】 and 【Spiritual Focus】, they only had the lowest Level 1.
But Li Hai's 【Charm】 entry was a full Level 4.
One must know, this was a level that only 【Stone Heart Level 4】, 【Wildness Level 4】, or 【Spiritual Focus Level 4】 could effectively resist.
The corresponding existences were either Martial Dao Grandmasters or Fourth Realm Artificers; neither was something a mere Third Realm Martial Artist could compare themselves to.
And, one had to want to resist.
Otherwise, like Xue Feihong, who clearly possessed Level 4 mental resistance traits, but because she did not resist Li Hai's charm and even actively accepted it, she would also, like those weaker individuals, become uncontrollably and madly obsessed upon seeing Li Hai.
So, how could Feifei ignore the influence of Li Hai's Level 4 【Charm】?
None of the skills she possessed had this type of resistance.
However, Li Hai at that time indeed didn't think that much.
After all, he wasn't a detective; he was just a rough butcher.
“And Zan Popo, I also suspect her.”
Li Hai stared intently at the smiling Feifei, “You and Zan Popo have no Bloodline relationship, nor are you twins with telepathy, so—why could you sense her safety from a distance?
Also, after Zan Popo died, why was there no trace of her soul at her place of death and in the surrounding area? Not even a single trace.
I remember that when we returned from the Red Soil Forest all the way to Li Wang Temple in Jin Fu Town, it didn't even take a few minutes.
Such a short time shouldn't be enough for Zan Popo's soul to fall into the Yellow Springs, so how should this be explained?”
In fact, this was also why Li Hai didn't take Popo's remaining soul and fly out of the Martial World back to Great Jing to revive her at that time.
One must know, for Li Hai, a journey of that distance was not far at all, not even half a day's time.
In fact, if he were to transform into a Living Spaceship to fly, his speed could be even faster.
But at that time, there was no trace of Zan Popo's soul inside or outside Li Wang Temple, so how could Li Hai do anything?
Even a clever cook cannot make a meal without rice.
Furthermore, in the knowledge of ghosts that Li Hai learned from the Demon Slayer Division, this situation was also extremely rare; unless someone searched for the ghost afterward, it was impossible for the scene to be so clean and have nothing.
So Li Hai became suspicious of Zan Popo's death, suspecting foul play.
With layers upon layers of suspicion, plus the Mystic Principle Memory Nest Book in Feifei's Bloodline, plus the information obtained from the Eighth Master of Mystic Gu Workshop, plus the vague stirring of mysterious precognition, and finally, after Li Hai killed Feifei, who had already achieved Grandmaster status, he actually didn't gain any fragments?
Yes, he didn't gain any fragments.
All of this made Li Hai suspect that he had fallen into a foggy trap.
Since there was a trap, there must be someone who set it up.
And as for the identity of this schemer, Li Hai believed that currently, the most suspicious person with the most sufficient motive, and whose style was also so convoluted—could only be Anping Xi alone.
“Giggle, giggle~”
Feifei covered her mouth and chuckled, “Not bad, very good, you really are something.”
“So,”
Li Hai said sternly, “You, Feifei, Zan Popo, what exactly is the relationship between you all?”
“There was never a 'we'.
Feifei smiled, “There is only—me.”