Starting with helping Zhao Kai ascend the throne in the snow

After being caught off guard and subdued by several people, Lucci immediately realized that something was wrong. Without hesitation, he activated his Armament Haki to the fullest extent to defend himself. Sure enough, the next moment, the old sword god descended from the sky with his sword, the blade carrying a terrifying sharpness as it stabbed towards his chest.

Sensing the chilling killing intent emanating from the sword's edge, Lucci's pupils contracted to their maximum. The next moment, the sword pierced the Armament Haki without hesitation. A dazzling spark appeared where the sword met skin in the violent collision. As the sword energy rapidly dissipated, the Armament Haki covering Lucci's entire body also vanished quickly, from covering his entire body to only covering the sword's edge. But this didn't change anything; the sharp sword energy quickly dispersed the Armament Haki on Lucci's chest, and the sharp blade even began to cut through Lucci's skin.

"Life returned, paper-drawn martial body!" Just as the sword began to pierce Lucci's skin, his eyes widened, and he shouted again.

The next second, Lucci's body began to shrink rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, he changed from a human-beast form several meters tall back to the size of a normal human. At the same time, he tried his best to use his consciousness to control his internal organs and avoid the location where the sword was going to pierce.

This sudden change caught the old swordsman off guard, but he ignored the change and continued to stab. However, as Lucci's body shrank, the sword that was originally aimed at his heart moved to his abdomen. The sharp sword energy immediately pierced Lucci's flesh, and the sword went straight through his body from his abdomen, with half of the sword protruding from his back.

With the force of the old swordsman's sword and the sudden shrinking of his body, Lucci managed to break free from the grasp of the people around him. However, he suffered a severe injury to his abdomen and coughed up blood as soon as he landed.

"Cough cough," Lu Qi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, glancing at the sword embedded in his abdomen, his face filled with relief at surviving a close call. Although he had suffered severe injuries, he had managed to escape from certain death at the last moment.

Lucci's gaze turned icy as he looked at the group before him. If he could escape this time, he would surely slaughter them all in the future. He then pulled his sword from his abdomen, crimson blood splattering across the ground. Lucci gasped in pain, even losing control of his Devil Fruit's Beast form and reverting to his human appearance.

"How did the monster turn into a human?"

"Could it have actually been a human?"

"..."

The soldiers around him were all speechless with astonishment when they saw Lu Qi transform from a leopard demon into a normal human form in the blink of an eye, and they began to discuss among themselves.

Seeing this, Huang Qing, Wu Liuding and the others' eyes flashed with a sharp light. Then they looked at Shen Qing thoughtfully and made a bold guess in their hearts. Perhaps the leopard demon in front of them was originally just a person, but for some reason they did not understand, it turned into a monster.

After the sword was pulled out, Lucci covered the wound on his abdomen with his hand. In just one minute, the bleeding from the wound began to decrease, turning from a trickle to an oozing, demonstrating his powerful recovery ability. Although the excessive blood loss made his face somewhat pale, he had avoided vital organs when the sword pierced his body; only one or two intestines had been cut. With a day of rest, he would recover completely.

"Don't just stand there like idiots! Hurry up and kill the leopard demon, or you'll never have another chance once he recovers." After the old sword god used the "Sword Opens the Heavenly Gate" move, all his strength was exhausted. He sat cross-legged on the ground and, seeing Han Shengxuan and the others shocked by Lu Qi's change in appearance, he immediately shouted from the side, "You're hopeless!"

The group quickly came to their senses. They knew that this was not the time to consider the monster's origins, but rather to deal with him as soon as possible. If they didn't eliminate the monster while he was still seriously injured, once he recovered his strength, no one present would be his match.

Having received the old swordsman's reminder, Wen Hua, Wu Liuding, and the others immediately drew their swords and walked towards Lu Qi, not giving him time to recover.

"Damn it." Lu Qi looked at the group of people rapidly approaching, his eyes filled with resentment, but he also knew that he was seriously injured and no match for them.

He immediately looked around and quickly spotted Shen Qing standing not far away with Zhao Kai. Upon seeing Shen Qing, Lu Qi's eyes lit up. Everything he had suffered today was caused by the other party, and his only chance to escape was to capture Shen Qing, the instigator. He believed that Shen Qing would definitely be able to send him back to the pirate world.

Without further hesitation, Lu Qi transformed into his beast form. He then braced himself against his abdominal injury and used Shave to quickly stomp his right foot on the ground, escaping Wu Liuding and the others' pursuit. He sped towards Shen Qing's location, and as he moved, the wound that had shown signs of healing immediately burst open again, with blood flowing all over the ground.

"The leopard demon is coming! Stop him! Guards, protect the emperor..." Zhao Kai and Shen Qing, who had been standing together, immediately changed their expressions upon seeing Lu Qi charging towards them. They hurriedly ordered the surrounding guards to protect him. At the same time, Zhao Kai also urged the golden-armored general to step forward and block Lu Qi's path. Xuan Yuan Qingfeng, who had been standing beside Shen Qing, also stood in front of him and Zhao Kai without hesitation.

"Storm Kick!" Lu Qi looked at the hundreds of soldiers blocking his way, and once again, despite his injuries, unleashed a slashing wave, then continued his frantic run after the attack.

Faced with Lucci's attack, all the soldiers in the path of the slash wave were cut down like wheat, until the slash hit the sword of the golden-armored general and was dispersed.

"An expert? No, that's not right. There's no significant life force; it's just a puppet or a zombie-like undead." Upon seeing the golden-armored general appear, Lu Qi was initially startled, but in the blink of an eye, he used his cheetah-like senses to keenly detect the general's abnormality. The next moment, he tentatively chose not to engage the golden-armored general, instead using his incredible speed to leap past it from its left.

Just as Lucci had predicted, the puppet, the Golden Armor Man, was not as fast as a living person. It was a little slower than a normal person when it turned around, but that little bit of speed was enough for Lucci to leave it behind.

After leaping over the golden-armored general, only Xuan Yuan Qingfeng remained in front of Lucci. Moreover, her left shoulder had been injured by Lucci's finger gun during the previous battle, so she couldn't exert any strength at the moment.

"If you want to deal with Shen Lang, you'll have to get past me first." Xuan Yuan Qingfeng's eyes hardened as he watched Lucci rushing towards him. He immediately stopped caring about revealing his abilities and fully activated the power of the Flame-Flame Fruit.

A raging inferno erupted from her body, and in the blink of an eye, Xuan Yuan Qingfeng transformed into a goddess capable of controlling flames. Her entire body reached a semi-elemental state, with her limbs completely transformed into flames, except for the vital parts of her upper body.

As Xuanyuan Qingfeng demonstrated her ability to control fire, the surrounding soldiers erupted in an uproar, their astonishment even surpassing their surprise upon seeing Lu Qi, the leopard demon. Since ancient times, people have held a profound reverence and worship for fire; witnessing someone truly wield such power was far more shocking than encountering a monster. Soon, soldiers hailed Xuanyuan Qingfeng as the Goddess of Fire and knelt in worship. This practice spread rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, almost all the soldiers were kneeling, sincerely worshipping and praying to Xuanyuan Qingfeng.

Originally following closely behind Lu Qi, Huang Qing, Wu Liuding, Han Shengxuan, and Wen Hua were also greatly shocked by what they saw. However, after regaining their senses, their eyes all became thoughtful, and they all looked at Shen Qing behind Xuan Yuan Qingfeng. From the appearance of the leopard demon to Xuan Yuan Qingfeng's display of the power to manipulate flames, all of these secrets seemed to be closely related to Shen Qing.