As a father, I just want to quietly watch you live a long life

"I apologize, Young City Lord, but I must decline the wood carving task. I haven't even started carving—my daughter has encountered great evil and nearly got kidnapped. My heart... I can't calm down to do the carving, and the carving wouldn't be perfect. Imperfect work—I can't accept it, so..."

"Would you please convey a message to Lord of the City for me? That I genuinely feel unworthy of the City Lord's trust."

Cao Qingyuan's expression immediately turned frosty.

"Master Li, aren't you taking this a bit too far?"

"After all this time, you took the order, and with your grandmaster craftsmanship, you should have completed the wood carving by now. My father said, he doesn't require a Divine Wood Carving, just one crafted by a grandmaster's hand should suffice. Surely a non-Divine Wood Carving is not too difficult for you..."

"It would be but a trivial task for you, Master Li. Could it be that you are looking down on the City Lord's Mansion, unwilling to grant us even the slightest bit of face?"

"Or is it that, over this period, Master Li has been preoccupied with other matters... with no time to carve the wood carving?"

The air instantly filled with tension, and the rain and snow floating down from the sky seemed to take on the sharpness of the Divine Foundation Divinity radiating from Cao Qingyuan.

"Or perhaps..."

"Master Li, are you that..."

"Bull Demon!"

Cao Qingyuan's voice exploded like thunder beside the ear.

Yet Li Che was far from intimidated, his face filled with feigned horror, "Young City Lord, slander... that's slander!"

"Hunter Zhang!"

But Cao Qingyuan remained impassive.

The rainfall seemed to suddenly freeze.

Behind him, the lone figure of Divine Catcher Zhang Xiangyang stiffened, steeling himself to take a step forward.

"Terrifying Trace of Light seeks out the fear; I do want to see if Master Li has been truly afraid of the Bull Demon these days, worried about his daughter's safety!"

Zhang Xiangyang, wearing his bamboo hat, suddenly looked up. His rough face and whiskers were flying, and his eyes seemed to shine with a faint blue glow.

He stared at Li Che, and a river-like Divinity surged out from Zhang Xiangyang!

Terrifying Trace of Light!

He was going to backtrack through certain fragments of Li Che's past!

Li Che frowned deeply.

This was too much...

Cao Qingyuan's aggressive stance made him want to...

Put on a mask!

However, just as he was about to take action, a raindrop suddenly shot out from the courtyard with a whistling sound.

With a 'snap', it shattered Zhang Xiangyang's dissipating Divinity.

Zhang Xiangyang's body shook violently, his bamboo hat cleaved in half down the middle by the shooting raindrop, the force of which caused Zhang Xiangyang to fall backward onto the puddle-filled cobblestone ground in the alley.

A powerful surge of vital energy slowly dissipated within the raindrop.

Zhang Xiangyang turned pale, feeling as if he had just taken a stroll at the doorstep of the King of Hell.

If that raindrop had wished to kill him, it certainly could have instantly pierced through his head and Divinity, ending him utterly.

"Who?!"

Cao Qingyuan's eyes narrowed.

He suddenly looked towards the courtyard behind Li Che.

Then he finally noticed the old man sitting under the eaves, a wooden chessboard before him, pinching a black chess piece, deep in thought.

"The people from the City Lord's Mansion are indeed domineering, using Divinity to pry into others' privacy at will. Do you not know that the use of Terrifying Trace of Light can have a negative impact on a person's mind?"

The old man glanced at Cao Qingyuan, making all the hairs on Cao Qingyuan's body stand on end involuntarily.

It was just a look, but it made him feel the presence of imminent death.

As if facing some great, terrifying entity.

"And you are...?"

Cao Qingyuan released his grip on the handle of his knife and bowed with folded hands, his attitude becoming somewhat gentler.

The sound of ripping air suddenly filled the surroundings.

A tall figure landed beside Cao Qingyuan, the man dressed in black and red official robes, his face gentle and scholarly with a well-groomed beard, smiling as he looked at the old man sitting across the chessboard in the courtyard.

"Father..." Cao Qingyuan respectfully bowed.

"So it's a senior from the Divine Sect... my son has been disrespectful, I hope the senior won't take offense."

City Lord Cao Guang, however, did not pay attention to Cao Qingyuan but instead continued to gaze deeply at the old man under the eaves.

Li Qingshan held onto the chess piece, his eyes fixed on the game laid out on the chessboard.

Your journey starts at m_v le mpyr

Being ignored, Cao Guang didn't seem to mind much, as if it was something quite normal.

He continued to smile, turning his gaze towards Li Che.

"Master Li... truly unwelcoming to fulfill my request for a wood carving?"

"Even a non-Divine Wood Carving is unacceptable?"

Li Che looked at City Lord Cao Guang and for the first time felt an extremely intense sense of danger, especially...

Inside the Chess Saint Dao Fruit, those black chess pieces that had absorbed Divinity from the Temple Gods seemed to tremble on the board as if agitated with restlessness.

"In recent days, I've been preoccupied with my daughter's safety and have been troubled, truly lacking the energy to carve. Please forgive me, Lord of the City."

Li Che bowed, neither servile nor haughty.

"Very well, Master Li indeed is a good father..."

"Since Master Li is unwilling, then let it be... as for my son's speculations, Master Li should not take them to heart. A gentle and accommodating man like Master Li, how could he possibly be the vicious and bloodthirsty Bull Demon..."

City Lord Cao Guang said, shaking his head and smiling.

Then, he turned his attention again to the old man under the eaves.

"The senior came from the Divine Sect, perhaps to assess the Spirit Child? May I know which esteemed person of the Divine Sect you are? Might I be privy to the senior's name?"

Cao Guang inquired.

The elder with the black piece gently placed the chess piece on the board.

"City Lord Cao has quite the appetite, deserving to know this old man's name..."

"I am from Qianyuan's subdivision...

"Li Qingshan."

At the sound of that, Cao Guang was momentarily stunned. Then, his pupils suddenly constricted.

Li Qingshan?!

It was indeed him!

Unbeknownst to him, the martial artist who had reached the Grandmaster Realm, the one wearing the cat-faced mask he had clashed with several times, was actually Li Qingshan!