Chapter 144: Finally Reaching the Qi Martial Realm! (1/2)

At this moment, Leng Yunfeng had just harvested five Crimson Flame Fruits. Seeing the arrival of the powerful outer sect disciples, he quickly halted his actions and flew toward Ling Feng.

Ling Feng was the first to fly in. Seeing that the Crimson Flame Trees were now devoid of Crimson Flame Fruits—obviously because Leng Yunfeng had already plucked more than a dozen of them—he nodded with satisfaction.

Chen Chao, Tao Yun, and other top-ten martial cultivators among the outer disciples of the Sacred Moon Sect wore unsightly expressions as they gazed at the remaining ten Crimson Flame Fruits.

"Senior Brother Ling, aren't you being a bit too greedy?"

Ranked second among the outer disciples, Chen Chao possessed formidable cultivation at the mid-stage of the Origin Martial Realm. His expression turned gloomy as he spoke in an icy tone.

Tao Yun also wore a gloomy look, his gaze filled with dissatisfaction as he looked at Ling Feng.

"Heh!"

"Junior Brother Yunfeng, hand over the Crimson Flame Fruits."

Ling Feng wore an arrogant expression, letting out a light, indifferent laugh.

He thought very highly of himself. Being just a step away from breaking through to the late stage of the Origin Martial Realm, he was undoubtedly the undisputed number one among the outer disciples.

Standing behind Ling Feng were three figures, who were likewise among the top ten outer disciples: Hou Qianli, Tao Yunzhou, and Chen Haozhou.

Hou Qianli, Tao Yunzhou, and Chen Haozhou wore faint smiles; following Ling Feng this time had yielded them massive gains.

"Senior Brother Ling, this junior is incompetent and has failed your trust."

With a look of shame on his face, Leng Yunfeng spoke in a low voice as he retrieved a brocade box from his bosom, inside which lay only five Crimson Flame Fruits.

"What is the meaning of this?"

The faint smile on Ling Feng's face vanished abruptly. His expression turned gloomy and unsightly, and a powerful coercive aura emanated from his body. Staring intently at Leng Yunfeng, he asked in a cold voice.

He had long since regarded the Crimson Flame Fruits as his for the taking, as they could help him swiftly break through to the late stage of the Origin Martial Realm.

Yet now, his sweet dream had been shattered, filling his heart with raging fury.

"Senior Brother Ling, thanks to your assistance, I was able to enter the volcano first."

"However, when I got inside, an Imperial-grade martial cultivator was already plundering the Crimson Flame Fruits."

"I attacked him directly, but I couldn't do anything to him and, to make matters worse, he managed to escape!"

Leng Yunfeng spoke hastily, a look of humiliation on his face.

As a dignified early-stage Origin Martial Realm expert, two major tiers higher than an Imperial-grade martial cultivator, he had actually failed to deal with his opponent.

"When I arrived earlier, it seemed I ran into an Imperial-grade martial cultivator."

Hearing the conversation between Ling Feng and Leng Yunfeng, Chen Chao frowned and muttered to himself.

At that time, he had merely glanced at an Imperial-grade martial cultivator out of curiosity before paying him no further heed.

Upon hearing Chen Chao's words, Tao Yun and Zhou Yuanwang recalled carefully and realized that as they flew over, they indeed seemed to have crossed paths with a Yellow-grade martial cultivator.

"An Imperial-grade martial cultivator? Could it be him?"

Zhang Deyun's eyes flickered with contemplation.

When he had slain Lang Huang, he had once encountered an Imperial-grade martial cultivator. Back then, he had unleashed an attack, assuming it would finish the fellow off.

Yet upon returning, he had found no corpse of that Imperial-grade martial cultivator—evidently, the man had escaped.

He had searched continuously ever since, but had failed to catch sight of a single shadow.

"An Imperial-grade martial cultivator?"

"Search the entire Black Moon Forest and dig him out for me."

Holding deep trust in Leng Yunfeng and believing his words, Ling Feng spoke with furious rage.

"Whoosh!"

The moment he finished speaking, Ling Feng shot up into the sky, flying out of the volcano to hunt for Qin Feng's figure.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

Hou Qianli, Tao Yunzhou, and Chen Haozhou wore grim expressions as they rapidly flew toward the remaining Crimson Flame Fruits, beginning to contend for them.

Since others had already beaten them to the punch regarding their expected gains, they had no choice but to seize whatever Crimson Flame Fruits remained before hunting down the escaped Imperial-grade martial cultivator.

"Hurry!"

"Make your move!"

Recovering swiftly, Chen Chao, Tao Yun, and Zhou Yuanwang burst forth with utmost speed, charging straight toward the Crimson Flame Fruits.

Glancing briefly at the cultivators scrambling for the fruit, Zhang Deyun turned and flew outward without delay.

Rather than fighting over the remaining Crimson Flame Fruits, it was far more prudent to track down the Imperial-grade martial cultivator.

The remaining Qi-gathering and Origin Martial Realm cultivators, realizing they had no hope of contending for the last ten Crimson Flame Fruits, hurriedly flew outside as well.

They prepared to trace Qin Feng's whereabouts and seize the Crimson Flame Fruits from his hands.

"Time to cultivate!"

"This time, my cultivation will surely break through to the Qi-gathering Realm!"

Shuttling rapidly through the Black Moon Forest for two days, Qin Feng distanced himself from the central region of the forest.

Finding a remote location, he excavated a simple cave dwelling. After camouflaging and concealing it thoroughly, he swiftly stepped inside.

"Mystic Jade Sacred Scripture!"

"Five-thousand-year medicinal herb."

"Crimson Flame Fruit."

Sitting cross-legged, Qin Feng promptly retrieved his cultivation manual and medicinal herbs from his storage space. He carefully read through the Mystic Jade Sacred Scripture once more, making sure he missed nothing.

Swallowing a five-thousand-year medicinal herb whole, Qin Feng began refining its medicinal power at high speed, preparing to assault the bottleneck of the Qi-gathering Realm.

Once a martial cultivator broke through to the Qi-gathering Realm, they could absorb the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, transforming the blood Qi within their body into the power of soaring serpents. Ordinarily, an early-stage practitioner possessed the strength of thirty soaring serpents, a mid-stage practitioner fifty, and a late-stage practitioner seventy.

......

Over a hundred Origin Martial Realm cultivators—including Ling Feng, Chen Chao, Tao Yun, Zhou Yuanwang, Hou Qianli, and Tao Yunzhou—alongside thousands of Qi-gathering Realm cultivators, rapidly scoured the Black Moon Forest in search of Qin Feng's traces.

Before long, Zhang Deyun caught a faint trace left behind by Qin Feng. A ferocious grin spread across his face as he closed in swiftly on the location where Qin Feng was in seclusion.

"Roar!"

"Roar!"

"Roar!"

Having spent ten days in seclusion, Qin Feng shattered the barrier of the Imperial-grade martial cultivator, elevating his cultivation to the early stage of the Qi-gathering Realm.

From within his body erupted a roar that sounded vaguely like a dragon's, and the soaring serpent power within his Dantian surged rapidly.

"Could this be?"

Hearing the roaring of soaring serpents echoing from ahead, Zhang Deyun pushed his speed to the absolute limit and gave chase.

He felt certain that the Imperial-grade martial cultivator was right up ahead.

Perhaps this sudden roaring of soaring serpents was precisely the power condensed by that Imperial-grade martial cultivator upon breaking through to the Qi-gathering Realm.

Zhang Deyun felt not a shred of pressure. As a mid-stage Origin Martial Realm cultivator with formidable strength, obliterating the other party would be effortlessly easy, even if the fellow had broken through to the Qi-gathering Realm.

"Only twenty soaring serpents of power?"

As Zhang Deyun pursued fiercely, upon noticing that the roars of the soaring serpents had ceased, a look of disdain and contempt curled the corners of his mouth.

For someone who had just broken through to the Qi-gathering Realm to condense fewer than thirty soaring serpents' worth of blood Qi power meant he was nothing more than a complete good-for-nothing.

Slaughtering such a person would be no different from squashing an ant.

......

"An increase of twenty soaring serpents of power."

"Not bad!"

Sensing that the soaring serpent power in his Dantian had settled, Qin Feng muttered softly to himself.

He felt no surprise whatsoever that his strength had only increased by twenty soaring serpents. Given that the power within his body already far exceeded the limits of the Qi-gathering Realm, condensing twenty soaring serpents of power upon breakthrough was already an unexpected pleasant surprise.

"My physical body has fully adapted to the power within."

Stretching his limbs, Qin Feng felt no lingering sense of tension in his flesh; movement no longer produced any pain.