Chapter 146: Let Me Take a Look for You

Chu Tianfeng was not clueless; he was merely feigning ignorance.

He recalled a famous historical figure from Huaxia named Zheng Banqiao, who was remarkably clear-minded yet deliberately saddled himself with the persona of "rare is the state of confusion." To pull off pretense with such profound elegance and towering mastery was something Chu Tianfeng deeply admired.

The sunlight was warm, and the breeze was gentle.

If not for the occasional alligator surfacing from the muddy pools, Chu Tianfeng might have easily mistaken his surroundings for a wetland park in the suburbs of Tianhai City.

The spiritual levels of these alligators were relatively low, with the majority lingering at the first tier.

He had cleared out most of the second-tier alligators yesterday. However, due to the limited space within his spatial ring, he had only harvested their beast cores and a small batch of alligator legs, leaving the rest behind in the marsh to be scavenged by the surviving creatures.

Perhaps the alligators were too full, or perhaps Chu Tianfeng was too slender to suit their tastes; in any case, today’s alligators were unusually sluggish. Upon seeing Chu Tianfeng, most of them completely ignored him, and only a minuscule handful with decent upbringing rushed out to greet him.

Chu Tianfeng soared wantonly above the marshlands, arriving shortly at the large pond he had visited before.

The alligators seemed entirely unfazed by the theft of the Spirit-Cleansing Mist Lotus; they remained clustered within the massive pond, including the early third-tier alligator.

Chu Tianfeng flew slowly above the pond, his spiritual sense sweeping over the alligators one by one.

Huh?

When his spiritual sense brushed past the leading early third-tier alligator, he froze in surprise.

Beneath that alligator's body, he actually discovered a concealed array! What was more, its grade was remarkably high, virtually imperceptible unless one looked extremely closely.

Back then, both he and Xiyazi had been completely preoccupied with stealing the Spirit-Cleansing Mist Lotus and making their escape, failing to notice it entirely!

Of course, it was also possible that Xiyazi’s proficiency in array formations was limited, rendering her completely incapable of detecting it.

Without wasting a moment for further thought, Chu Tianfeng pointed his index and middle fingers, and his flying sword shot forward with a sharp whistle.

Swish!

The flying sword pierced through the pack of alligators, kicking up a massive spray of blood. Several second-tier alligators instantly overturned in the water, motionless.

Catching the scent of blood, the alligators grew violently agitated!

They surged out of the water one after another, some lunging at the fallen alligators, while others charged toward Chu Tianfeng, who was now descending toward the water's surface.

Forming incantations with both hands, Chu Tianfeng stepped lightly onto the water as if treading on solid ground.

Swish!

The flying sword whirled and swept across the area!

Roar! Roar! Roar!

The alligators let out waves of miserable cries, flipping over one by one.

That early third-tier alligator seemed to recognize Chu Tianfeng; it emitted wave after wave of furious roars, relentlessly pursuing him without letup.

Chu Tianfeng circled the pond while directing his flying sword to pierce through the bodies of the alligators one by one!

Roar! Roar! Roar!

The agonizing cries shook the heavens and earth as the alligators turned belly-up in rapid succession.

In less than a quarter of an hour, all the second-tier alligators had been wiped out, leaving only the early third-tier alligator.

In truth, this early third-tier alligator had also taken a hit from the sword, which had entered through its maw and exited from the back of its neck. Although heavily injured, it stubbornly pressed on.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

A flash of ruthlessness crossed Chu Tianfeng’s eyes as he directed the flying sword to pierce the alligator's body repeatedly, each time entering through its wide-open maw and shooting out from the top of its head.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

The alligator's roars grew progressively weaker and fainter. Half a minute later, it finally sank beneath the water without a sound.

Chu Tianfeng swiftly harvested the beast cores from the alligators and sliced off pairs of their rear legs.

Only after clearing the battlefield did he approach the airspace above the array.

Executing the Water-Avarice Technique, the pool water gradually parted to the sides, slowly revealing a small, spherical barrier of light.

Chu Tianfeng flew around the spherical light barrier a few times, roughly determining it to be a superior-grade concealment array.

In his past life, he had been a superior-grade array master, so identifying an array of this caliber was not difficult for him. However, his current cultivation level was far too low to break it.

Refusing to give up, Chu Tianfeng flew back and forth around the barrier, observing it with meticulous care. Two hours later, he gave up.

He discovered that the techniques used to set up this array were exceptionally profound. With the formidable mastery of arrays he possessed from his past life, he was utterly unable to locate its array foundation.

Without a foundation to target, breaking the array was out of the question.

He even attempted to attack the barrier with his flying sword, but the light barrier remained as motionless as a mountain, without the slightest reaction.

Left with no other choice, he could only summon his sword and fly back.

Du Jingjing was still lingering near the edge of the marsh, her opponent replaced by a late first-tier alligator.

Human and beast were locked in a fierce, heaven-shaking battle.

With a wave of his hand, Chu Tianfeng unleashed a surge of true essence that scooped up the alligator.

With a splash, the alligator, completely clueless as to what had happened, was hurled back into the murky pool, sending a shower of water droplets into the air.

"How annoying!" Du Jingjing retracted her long sword and pouted petulantly. "I hadn't had enough fun yet."

Chu Tianfeng shook his head. "One must act within one's capabilities. An alligator's defense is formidable, but its speed is not slow; there's no need to fight it head-on." He then pointed to the bracelet on her wrist. "Let me upgrade this for you."

He had noticed long ago that the true essence within Du Jingjing's bracelet was less than halfway depleted, likely worn down by the alligators' attacks.

Du Jingjing stuck out her tongue, gently removed the bracelet, and handed it to Chu Tianfeng. "I've found this bracelet quite useful; the alligators couldn't bite me at all."

Chu Tianfeng rolled his eyes dramatically. "This trinket is just like the iron plate; it can only briefly block attacks from Xiantian realm experts."

"No way!" Du Jingjing raised her chin slightly. "This bracelet is different. Its defensive duration is much longer than that iron plate."

Chu Tianfeng was rendered speechless.

The bracelet he had given Du Jingjing was crafted recently. Given that his current cultivation vastly surpassed his previous level, even the trinkets he made back then were far superior to iron plates, let alone those he forged now.

The two delivered the alligator legs back to the camp, where Long Fei and the others were still shooting the breeze. Chu Tianfeng chatted idly with them for a while, helped them roast another batch of alligator legs, and then led Du Jingjing back to the swamp.

——————

While Chu Tianfeng and his companions were enjoying themselves leisurely in the marsh, Wang Lianyao and Wang Liankai—that affectionate couple, ahem—were still lingering hesitantly somewhere within the Medicine Valley.

Not long ago, the two of them had managed to locate a Heart-Core Lotus, only to find that two injured eagles were resting on a large tree right beside it!

Needless to say, those two eagles were the very ones injured by Chu Tianfeng and his group!

Wang Lianyao was torn with conflict. On one hand, for someone on the verge of entering the Xiantian realm, the importance of the Heart-Core Lotus was self-evident; he was determined to secure it. On the other hand, those damned eagles filled him with terror, making him too afraid to take a single step further.

By this time, his ammunition had long since run out, and he was completely at a loss as to how to deal with the two birds.

"Haha! Greetings, Brothers Wang!" Suddenly, a rough, booming laugh echoed from behind them.

Wang Lianyao and Wang Liankai turned around to discover four disciples from the Mount Hua Sect. The leader was named Liu Shaocheng, possessing a late Harming Realm cultivation. The other three were, like Wang Liankai, at the mid-Harming Realm cultivation level.

To be honest, the moment Wang Lianyao laid eyes on these fellows, he felt an intense urge to draw his sword and fight them on the spot.

However, remembering the Heart-Core Lotus and the eagles in the valley, he reined in his temper.

He knew that the ones meant to deal with these four fellows were someone else—no, some *other eagles*—and it was not his place to usurp their role.

"Brother Liu, how are the harvests going?" Wang Lianyao greeted them with lukewarm politeness.

"Haha, fair to middling. Oh, why is one of you missing again?" Liu Shaocheng asked, feigning surprise.

In truth, the news of Wang Lianyao's group running into danger had already spread throughout the secret realm, and Liu Shaocheng had naturally heard of it. Still, he relished hearing Wang Lianyao recount it personally.

How could Wang Lianyao fail to see through Liu Shaocheng's petty little intentions? With a faint smile, he glossed over it. "Ran into a swarm of ants half a month ago and hit a slight snag." Then, he turned and pointed toward the narrow gorge before them. "From my observations, no one seems to have set foot in here yet. I wonder if Brother Liu is interested?"

Liu Shaocheng walked up to the entrance of the narrow gorge, glanced inside twice, and said, "Of course I'm interested, but it depends on Brother Wang's intentions!"

Although unaware of the dangers lurking within the valley, he did not believe Wang Lianyao was kind enough to share benefits without monopolizing them, eagerly waiting to split the rewards with him.

"I'd like to go in and take a look," Wang Lianyao said unhurriedly. "However, I don't believe in egalitarianism; whatever anyone finds belongs to them. How about that?"

"Agreed!" Liu Shaocheng raised his hand in approval without a moment's hesitation.

As long as the other party went in with them, he had no fear of any schemes or plots they might hatch.

As for foraging for medicinal herbs, Wang Lianyao's proposal to abandon egalitarianism played right into Liu Shaocheng's hands. The opposing side only had two people, meaning four eyes; while his side had four people, meaning eight eyes. He refused to believe their eight eyes couldn't outperform the other's four.

"Then let's head in!" With those words, Wang Lianyao took the lead and stepped into the narrow gorge.

Liu Shaocheng and the others exchanged glances, then followed closely behind Wang Lianyao, entering with cautious steps.

After marching forward for about a hundred meters, Wang Lianyao suddenly pointed toward a large tree in the distance. "Hey, I think I see a King-Gall Herb over there. Liankai, let's go check it out!"

"Alright!" Wang Liankai acknowledged, and the two dashed forward at top speed.

Hearing mention of the King-Gall Herb, Liu Shaocheng's eyes lit up instantly.

Yet he knew he couldn't snatch it from Wang Lianyao, especially since they might not even win a contest of speed against the two brothers.

However, watching helplessly as the King-Gall Herb slipped away right before his eyes left him somewhat unwilling to let it go.

After a brief internal struggle, he decided to follow them and assess the situation first.

Unexpectedly, as Wang Lianyao ran, he suddenly clutched his stomach and cried out in agony.

"Brother Wang, what's wrong?" Liu Shaocheng hurried to his side and asked.

"I'm not sure. It might be from those ant bites last time; the injury hasn't fully healed." Wang Lianyao looked extremely painful, sweat rolling down his forehead. "Liankai, help me sit down for a moment."

Wang Liankai hurriedly supported Wang Lianyao, leading him to the base of a large tree, where he produced medicinal ointment and put on a show of treating the wounds.

Liu Shaocheng was ecstatic inwardly. He waved a hand at Wang Lianyao and said, "Brother Wang, I'll go check it out for you. If there really is a King-Gall Herb, this brother of yours will definitely dig it up for you!"

What he was actually thinking was: *If there really is a King-Gall Herb, I'm terribly sorry, but it's about to change its surname to Feng.*

Liu Shaocheng gestured to the others, and the four of them charged furiously deeper into the valley.

Thus, the scenario meticulously crafted by Wang Lianyao unfolded precisely as planned!

Liu Shaocheng and his companions indeed laid eyes on the Heart-Core Lotus, but the eagles stationed near the lotus spotted them as well.

Those two eagles had suffered no end of avian grief—ahem, avian aggravation—at the hands of Chu Tianfeng. Seeing Liu Shaocheng and his group charge in, the eagles mistook them for Chu Tianfeng's accomplices, and without a second word, they raised their talons and swooped down to welcome them.