Chapter 14: Ye Huai Pursues

  *Outside the Wanmulin Camp, Ye Huai arrived with two colteral disciples of the Ye family, both at the seventh transformation of the Body Tempering Realm.*

  The trio immediately split up to search the camp.

  "Brother Huai, we've looked everywhere and asked around. No one knows anything."

  "Brother Huai, even though there are some disciples from our Dao Academy here for training, finding Feng won’t be easy."

  Ye Huai's face turned grim, his narrow eyes glinting with a cold light.

  "Easy or not, we must find him. Feng must die."

  "Are you looking for a young swordsman, aroueen hteen?" A sudden voice broke in, causing the three to turn around sharply.

  A burly man in his thirties, bck, stood before them, staring ily.

  "You’ve seen Feng?" Ye Huai's bde-like gaze nded on Shi Feng's face, making him shiver as if cut by a sharp knife, his hairs standing on end.

  "Yes," Shi Feng quickly twisted the truth. "Just now, a young warrior named Feng joined my team. Once we entered Wanmulin, he suddenly drew his sword and killed my teammates. I was lucky to escape when I sensed something was wrong."

  "Lead the way," Ye Huai demanded, ign his words.

  "Wait, the kid isn't just qui his feet but also skilled with the sword. Even those at the seventh transformation are no match for him. I doubt even someo the eighth transformation could take him down," Shi Feng added. He was willing to lead them, but only if they could handle Feng.

  "We’re not just any disciples of the Dao Academy; we’re from the Ye family. My brother Ye Huai is at the ninth transformation and rahird among the academy’s top ten. What Body Tempering warrior could possibly match us?"

  Shi Feng was visibly shocked.

  He kly what it meant to be ranked among the academy's top ten.

  It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that any one of them could easily sweep through the Wanmulin camp, defeating all rogue warriors at the Body Tempering Realm.

  "So you're one of the Ye family’s prodigies. My apologies for nnizing you sooner. I’ll lead the way now." Shi Feng immediately put on a fttering smile, taking the lead while inwardly seething with killing i: Feng, you killed my three teammates. This time, you're dead for sure.

  ---

  *A fsh of the sword cut through the air, severing a Level 1, Sixth Tier spotted python into several pieces. Blood spattered everywhere, filling the air with a pu stench.*

  Feng kicked the snake’s head aside, carefully pig a green fruit about the size of a longan. It was the Serpent Saliva Fruit, a valuable herb only found in Wanmulin, as Shi Feng and his team had mentioned. One fruit was worth as much as a Body Tempering Pill.

  While the beast’s body was also valuable, it was inve for Feng to carry it alone. He could only take the most valuable parts, like the gall bdder.

  "Snake gall detoxify and improve eyesight. Let’s give it a try."

  Feng swallowed the gall bdder, allowing his Divine Seal of Creation to refi. A cooliion flowed toward his eyes, making them feel refreshed.

  Moments ter, the sensation faded, leaving his eyes sharper and clearer.

  "Not bad," Feng nodded. "One Serpent Saliva Fruit is worth ten taels of silver. Adding the forty taels I took from the Windfire Squad’s loot, that’s half the value of a Qi Refining Pill."

  Motivated, Feng tinued searg for treasures.

  Treasured herbs were often highly valuable, and some even directly aided in cultivation or increasing one’s strength. However, such herbs were rare and often came with exorbitant prices.

  ---

  *"These are my teammates, all killed by Feng."*

  Seeing the corpses of Zhu Li and the others, Shi Feng’s face twisted with rage and grief.

  "Enough nonsense. Keep moving," one of the Ye family disciples said impatiently.

  The deaths meant nothing to them, so they remained indifferent.

  "Don’t worry. I’ll definitely avenge you," Shi Feng muttered under his breath. He quickly moved the corpses to one side and began surveying the surroundings. "He went this way," he said, pointing to a trail.

  "You better not be wrong. If you are, you’ll pay dearly," another Ye family disciple threatened.

  "I guara’s correct," Shi Feng replied with a fawning smile.

  Under Shi Feng’s guidance, Ye Huai and the others advanced quickly, dispatg as they entered with ease.

  "There he is. That’s Feng!" Following the trail, Shi Feng finally spotted a figure and whispered excitedly.

  "Chase him!" Ye Huai’s eyes narrowed, log onto the silhouette dozens of meters away. He charged forward with a burst of speed.

  Shi Feng and the other two Ye family disciples also accelerated, hot on his heels.

  ---

  *"Darkblood Grass—another herb worth as much as a Body Tempering Pill."*

  Feng carefully uprooted a small, dark red pnt, brushed off the dirt, and stored it away.

  His luck had been remarkable. Siering Wanmulin, he’d already found three valuable herbs, worth a total of thirty taels of silver.

  Just as he fihe sound of hurried footsteps and an icy killing i reached him from behind.

  Turning around, Feng’s eyes narrowed sharply.

  "Ye Huai!"

  " Feng, this is where you die," Ye Huai decred as he charged forward, his bde half-drawn. The sharp glint of steel pierced through Wanmulin’s dimness, radiatihal i.

  Seeing Ye Huai and the others, including the familiar face of Shi Feng, Feng immediately uood what had happened.

  Without hesitatiourned and sprinted deeper into Wanmulin.

  ---

  "Struggling is futile," Ye Huai sneered, watg Fereat deeper into the forest. A sinister smile spread across his face.

  Ye Huai’s Body Tempering Ninth Transformation far outstripped Feng’s. He surged forward with astonishing speed, closing the distance rapidly. His eyes narrowed as his legs flexed, propelling him forward with a sudden burst of speed. With each step, his pacreased expoially, c over two meters in a siride.

  In mere moments, Ye Huai closed the gap. His bde uhed in a fsh, sshing horizontally with a sharp, chilling gleam. The bde seemed to cut through the dimness of Wanmuliing a menag whistle.

  The oppressive force of the bde bore down on Feng, making his scalp tingle.

  Activating his perfected Nine Phantom Movement, Feng’s form split into multiple illusory shadows, weaving through the forest to fuse his pursuer.

  Ye Huai hesitated momentarily but quickly adjusted. His bde quivered, splitting into multiple projes.

  Wave-Splitting Ssh!

  The bde projes tore through the phantoms, dissipating six of them instantly. However, three remaining illusions circled to Ye Huai’s fnk, apanied by a swift sword strike.

  Ye Huai froze momentarily before sneering in disdain. His bde emitted a cold gleam as it unleashed another devastating strike, tearing through the illusions.

  When the sword and bde cshed, Feng’s on snapped in two. The bde’s superior quality overwhelmed the sword, sending its tip flying into a nearby tree, embedding itself deeply into the trunk.

  "The quality of my sword ’t pare to his bde," Feng thought grimly.

  Realizing he couldn’t win, Feng didn’t linger. His earlier attack had merely been a probing strike to test Ye Huai’s strength. Knowing his oppo was far superior, Feng summoned another set of phantoms to obscure Ye Huai’s vision and darted deeper into the forest.

  Ign the earlier warnings from the Windfire Squad about the dangers of Wanmulin’s depths, Feng pressed on. The inner areas were said to harbor Level 1 Ninth Tier beasts and even the occasional Level 2 beast, parable to human warriors at the Qi Refining Realm.

  " Feng, you ’t escape!" Ye Huai’s chilling voice echoed behind him.

  Feng’s expression darkened as he activated the Nine Phantom Movement repeatedly, using the t trees as cover to evade pursuit.

  "How much strength do you have left, Feng?" Ye Huai’s voice taunted him, ced with malice.

  Feng’s heart sank. The repeated use of his movement teique had drained more than half of his strength. If this tinued, he would eventually exhaust himself pletely and be left defenseless.

  How I turables? Feng thought desperately.

  "If only I could break through to the Body Temperih Transformation, refining my internal ans to harness an power. With that, I’d have greater stamina and endurance."

  But such breakthroughs could not be forced, and Feng was still far from reag the Seventh Transformation.

  Just as Feng dodged another ssh from Ye Huai, a chilliion gripped him. His instincts screamed danger as a faint whistling sound cut through the air. Out of the er of his eye, he caught a shadow desding from above with lightning speed.

  In a life-or-death moment, Feng pushed his strength to the limit, exeg the Nine Phantom Movement to its fullest. Yet even his perfected teique couldn’t avoid the attatirely. His afterimage was shredded, and his clothing was torn, leaving faint scratches on his skin that burned with an icy sharpness.

  "Shadow Panther!"

  Ye Huai’s voice, filled with surprise and caution, firmed Feng’s worst fear.

  The Shadow Panther was one of the top predators in Wanmulin, a Level 1 Ninth Tier beast. Its pitch-bck body erfectly suited for stealth, and it moved like a ghost, striking with cws sharper than tempered bdes. Even Body Tempering Ninth Transformation warriors struggled to escape o marked them.

  If not for Feng’s heightened senses, aided by the Divine Seal of Creation, and his mastery of the Nine Phantom Movement, he would have already perished.

  The panther, sensing Ye Huai’s greater strength, shifted its focus to him. Its sleek body moved with deadly grace as it lu Ye Huai from the fnk.

  "C death!" Ye Huai roared, unleashing his Wave-Splitting Bde Teique to ter the beast’s attack.

  Seeing the opportunity, Feng cautiously retreated, making sure not to draw the panther’s attention.

  [----------------°-------------]

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