Chapter 127: Don't Kill Me

Over the course of about half an hour, Chu Tianfeng scavenged several dozen more wolf carcasses. In truth, the number of wolves killed by the martial artists far exceeded a few dozen, but unfortunately, most had been devoured by their own pack, leaving him with only a small fraction.

There were many more carcasses at the bottom of the cliff, but he dared not go down to retrieve them. After two major battles, the pack’s size had been drastically reduced—less than half of what it once was—but there were still five or six hundred of them huddled under the cliff, a dense, dark mass.

As the gunfire gradually tapered off, Chu Tianfeng ran to a nearby cliff, climbed onto a ledge, and began happily hacking off wolf legs and digging for demonic cores, busying himself with great enthusiasm.

On the morning of the third day, as expected, a third group of martial artists entered the fray, engaging the pack in another chaotic battle. This group seemed to have brought more ammunition; instead of retreating after their initial encounter, they chose to engage the wolves head-on. For a time, bullets flew and blood splattered everywhere. Chu Tianfeng mingled among the martial artists, focusing solely on scavenging the wolf carcasses.

After over ten minutes of intense fighting, the wolf pack miraculously broke and fled. The martial artists gathered together, laughing and joking as they cut off wolf legs and pulled out fangs. They seemed unaware that there were demonic cores inside the wolves' stomachs, so they discarded the carcasses after taking the legs and fangs. This worked out perfectly for Chu Tianfeng, who easily dug out more than a dozen demonic cores.

After a brief rest, Chu Tianfeng continued deeper into the valley. He checked the two previous cliffs, but found that both groups of martial artists had already left. He searched the bottom of those cliffs as well, but didn't find a single wolf carcass, let alone any demonic cores.

Chu Tianfeng pressed on, following the method Du Jingjing had taught him: pick a direction and walk in a straight line. The thick fog in the valley grew thinner, and visibility increased. The cliffs gradually gave way to mountain peaks, and the concentration of spiritual energy in the air grew significantly denser.

There were still plenty of wild animals in the mist. Besides wolves, Chu Tianfeng encountered packs of snakes, swarms of rats, and even flocks of bats. Naturally, these creatures were all a size larger than their counterparts in the outside world, making them quite terrifying.

To his surprise, Chu Tianfeng also discovered that the valley contained spiritual stones! These stones were hidden in rock crevices or caves at the base of the mountains, sometimes clustered in groups of dozens or even hundreds. Most of the martial artists were concentrated at the foot of the mountains, working in small groups, sweating profusely as they hammered and smashed at the rock.

Chu Tianfeng’s interest in spiritual stones was far greater than theirs. Back then, he had been willing to offend every major sect—even risking armed conflict—for just a few dozen stones. Now, seeing so many of them, and for free, he was certainly not going to miss out.

Without a second thought, he started digging. Unlike the other martial artists, who had to search slowly and painstakingly, Chu Tianfeng had his divine sense as a "cheat code," making his job much easier. By the end of the day, he had dug up over three hundred spiritual stones on his own—more than several of the other groups combined.

The next day, he rose early and continued his search deeper into the valley. The fog had thinned further, and visibility was quite good; he could see dozens of meters ahead and even make out the vibrant greenery on the hillsides. Spiritual stones became even more plentiful. In just one morning, he found two large clusters, each containing two or three hundred stones.

Approaching noon, Chu Tianfeng stopped to eat and rest.

"Wow, there's a huge nest of spiritual stones ahead," Xiyazi’s voice suddenly rang out in his mind, filled with surprise.

"Oh? Where?" Chu Tianfeng was overjoyed. Lunch could wait, but these stones couldn't. After all, he wasn't the only one in this valley; he had to secure the stones quickly to avoid any complications.

"In a rock crevice to the front-left," Xiyazi said excitedly.

Chu Tianfeng sprinted over and swept the area with his divine sense. Indeed, it was a massive cache of spiritual stones. It consisted of several large boulders protruding less than two meters from the ground, with wide gaps between them. The stones were located in those gaps, roughly four or five meters beneath the surface.

Without hesitation, Chu Tianfeng rotated his hands rapidly and swung them down, unleashing a powerful burst of true energy!

Boom! The true energy struck one of the large boulders, causing it to crack instantly.

Again! Chu Tianfeng’s hands danced, and another surge of mighty true energy erupted!

Boom! The boulder split further, breaking into countless pieces of various sizes. Chu Tianfeng kept his hands moving, firing off bolts of true energy repeatedly. Boom! Boom! Boom! After several hits, the boulder finally shattered. He then moved on to the next one.

The roaring sounds continued, vibrating through the ground. A few minutes later, the surface rocks were all cleared away, revealing a large pit with a radius of two or three meters. The pit wasn't deep—only three or four meters—and the spiritual stones were already faintly visible in the crevices.

Chu Tianfeng jumped into the pit, used his true fire to cut away the surrounding rock, and then wrapped the stones in his true energy to lift them out. Before long, the debris was cleared, and the spiritual stones were fully exposed.

Just then, Xiyazi’s laughter echoed in his mind again: "You have visitors, hee hee!"

Chu Tianfeng swept his divine sense out and saw eight young men approaching from about a hundred meters away. When he recognized the faces of two of them, he couldn't help but smile—a very genuine smile.

Chen Shuo! Ma Zhiguang!

What a small world, Chu Tianfeng thought to himself.

A moment later, the group arrived at the edge of the pit.

"Brother, quite a haul you’ve got there!" Ma Zhiguang said with a sinister grin.

"Not bad, indeed," Chu Tianfeng replied, continuing to dig. Of the eight men, only Chen Shuo was at the late stage of the Hua Jin realm; the other seven were merely at the mid-stage. Chu Tianfeng felt nothing but disdain for their strength.

"Stop babbling! Go, collect all those energy stones for me," Chen Shuo, appearing even more arrogant, commanded his men impatiently.

"Brother Chen, what should we do about him?" Ma Zhiguang asked.

"We're out in the wilderness, and there's a ready-made pit right here," Chen Shuo said with a dismissive wave. "Hurry up. The noise just now was so loud, I'm sure plenty of people heard it."

"Right!" Ma Zhiguang signaled, and two men began to reach for their guns.

Chu Tianfeng’s patience snapped. With a flick of his hands, he sent ice needles piercing through the throats of the two men before they could react. They collapsed to the ground with a thud. He hadn't wanted to bother with Chen Shuo and his cronies, but since they were courting death by targeting him, he wouldn't hold back.

"Brother Chen, long time no see!" Chu Tianfeng stood up leisurely and smiled at Chen Shuo.

"It's... it's you!" Chen Shuo pointed at him, trembling. "Senior... Senior Chu!"

Chu Tianfeng’s identity was no longer a secret, and Chen Shuo had known about it for some time. Ma Zhiguang realized who it was and began to shake violently, stammering, "Se-Senior Chu, this... this is a misunderstanding."

Hmph! Chu Tianfeng didn't care to waste words. He waved his hands, and rows of fiery arrows suddenly appeared, shooting toward Chen Shuo and his men!

Swish! Swish! Swish!

"No, don't! I'll tell you a secret, please don't—" Chen Shuo screamed in panic.

Oh? Chu Tianfeng shifted his hands, diverting the arrows aimed at Chen Shuo. Ma Zhiguang and the others weren't so lucky; their cultivation was too low, and they had no chance to dodge.

Ah—ah—ah—

The screams were earth-shattering, just as loud as the sound of Chu Tianfeng’s true energy striking the rocks earlier. With a series of thuds, several more corpses were added to the ground.

"Speak," Chu Tianfeng said, staring coldly at Chen Shuo.

Chen Shuo trembled from head to toe. "I... I’ll tell you. Mu Yaxing, the grandson of Sect Leader Mu of the Huangshan Sect, has taken a fancy to your fiancée. He... he wants to take her as his concubine."

"What?" Chu Tianfeng was caught between laughter and anger. The marriage arrangement with Hua Wu had been a joke from the start; he hadn't taken it seriously, and he believed Hua Wu hadn't either. He never expected the Huangshan Sect to actually believe it. And he certainly didn't expect them to be so low as to use such tactics against him. Hua Wu had helped him several times; even if she weren't his fiancée, he wouldn't stand by and let her be bullied, especially not by the Huangshan Sect.

"It’s true! Mu Yaxing is here this time too. If you don't believe me, you can ask him," Chen Shuo added, fearing he wouldn't be believed.

"How do you know all this?" Chu Tianfeng asked casually.

"I... I was originally..." Chen Shuo hesitated, glancing at Chu Tianfeng nervously before continuing, "I am a disciple of the Huangshan Sect. Sect Leader Mu arranged for me to compete in Group B."

"Anything else?" Chu Tianfeng began to move his hands again.

"No, don't kill me!" Chen Shuo shrieked.

Swish! More than a dozen fiery arrows manifested and shot toward him.

Ah—! Chen Shuo let out a final cry and fell, full of regret.

Chu Tianfeng curled his lip and went back to digging for spiritual stones. Ten minutes later, he climbed out of the pit, satisfied, and searched the bodies of Chen Shuo and the others. Their luck had been truly abysmal; the eight of them combined had only about five hundred spiritual stones. Chu Tianfeng didn't even know what to say.

After quickly disposing of the bodies, he found a secluded spot to eat, put on a new mask, and continued his journey. His luck remained good that afternoon, and he found two more large clusters of stones.

Additionally, he caught glimpses of Du Renzhi, Du Ming, and Wang Lianyao. Du Ming seemed badly injured, and Wang Lianyao had two men with him, though the large wolfhound was nowhere to be found—likely fed to the wolves in the mist. Du Renzhi and Du Ming’s haul was poor, totaling only about a hundred stones. Wang Lianyao’s group, however, had done much better; their packs were filled with over a thousand stones, presumably having found a large cluster just like Chu Tianfeng.

Since he had found Wang Lianyao, Chu Tianfeng wasn't about to let him go easily. That night, he set up camp far away from Wang Lianyao, intending to sneak over in the middle of the night to finish him off.

"Hey, I found the disciples of the Huangshan and Hengshan Sects," Xiyazi’s soft voice echoed in his mind just as he laid out his sleeping mat.

"Where are they?" Chu Tianfeng asked.

"On a hillside about a kilometer ahead," Xiyazi laughed. "Hee hee, the guy who’s trying to cuckold you is there too."

Chu Tianfeng rolled his eyes. "You heard it all?"

"Of course," Xiyazi said, sounding quite pleased. "They’re discussing what your wife looks like and saying they’re going to take her away once they get out of here."