Black Origin City’s encampment was packed with tents made from the skin of wild animals. Teams of patrolling soldiers walked back and forth continuously. Occasionally some cultivators will rush to and fro with wounded companions in tow.

Chen Feng and the others were assigned to a two-zhang square tent (1 zhang = 3.333 m). This was already a special treatment for cultivators as the tents for soldiers were smaller in comparison.

“Phew!”

Chen Feng sat down cross-legged and exhaled a turbid breath out. The turbid breath contained blood. After doing that, he felt himself becoming refreshed.

The moment the order for retreat was given, Chen Feng had begun circulating his primary energy to expel the old and usher in the new, repairing the damage to his body. However, despite only having exchanged two blows with Chi Shaoyang, Chen Feng had suffered from some internal injuries. For any other primary energy takes form (7th) layer cultivators suffering from this level of internal injury, they would have to rest up for quite some time. Additionally, they would not be able to participate in battles for a while.

However, the primary energy that Chen Feng cultivated was of the wood type, which contained a powerful life force. Additionally, he had also absorbed the tree spirit’s essence. Thus, it was only natural for his injuries to heal faster.

By the time Chen Feng’s injuries were utterly healed up, Ye Tian and the others were still busy bandaging their wounds.

“Brother Chen, how are your injuries?” One of the Iron Sword Sect disciples asked respectfully. If it were not for Chen Feng, not many of them could have survived this time. Moreover, after witnessing Chen Feng’s level of cultivation, their attitude changed completely.

The disciple was at the hundred opened meridians (5th) layer. He was close to condensing out astral energy. In the past, he would never view Chen Feng as anything. However, realizing that Chen Feng was an expert at the primary energy takes form (7th) layer, he recognized the difference between them.

“I still need to recuperate for a while. That Chi Shaoyang is just too powerful. If the Grand Commander had not arrived when he did, I would have been killed by him,” replied Chen Feng with a smile.

“Chi Shaoyang is indeed very powerful. I hear that he is about to reach the external discharge of primary energy (8th) layer. Additionally, the blade in his hand had been blessed by a Concealed stage expert before. He is an extremely savage character and had killed more than one primary energy takes form (7th) layer cultivator.” This Iron Sword Sect disciple knew more about him.

To think that Chi Shaoyang is so famous. It seems my cultivation base in the past had been too lacking. Thus, I never found out about this. Chen Feng thought to himself.

After that, in order to find out more about the matters within the cultivation world, Chen Feng began conversing with his fellow disciples. Since joining the sect, this was the first time Chen Feng had a chat with his fellow disciples. If this was the past Chen Feng, they would probably not even give him a glance. However, having seen Chen Feng’s power, they all addressed him as senior brother.

“Tsk tsk! It turns out we cannot really be regarded as cultivators,” Chen Feng was unable to stop himself from uttering after hearing from some of them.

“That is right. Only those who can cultivate up to the Concealed stage can truly be considered a cultivator. As long as we cannot reach the Concealed stage, we will remain similar to these ordinary soldiers. Only, we are slightly stronger compared to them.”

“No one knows how big this world is. I hear that even if a Concealed stage expert flies with his flying sword for a hundred years, he will still be incapable of reaching the end. For commoners below the Concealed stage like us, even if we walk for 1,000 years or even 10,000 years, it will be futile.”

Of late, Chen Feng’s cultivation base had advanced by leaps and bounds. However, he had never been to places that were far away. In the past, when the old cultivator was still alive, he had also never talked to him about these matters. Thus, listening to his fellow disciples about the matter gave Chen Feng feelings of shock and novelty.

“Is the world so big? Even Concealed stage cultivators, with their ability to fly into the sky and slip under the ground, are incapable of reaching the end? If so, what about the legendary Immortal Humans? What is the stage above the Concealed stage?”

“He he! Right now, I am not even at the Concealed stage. Thinking so much about it is quite absurd.” Having reach that line of thought, Chen Feng suddenly felt amused.

“Senior Brother Chen, do you think Elder Wang had deliberately sent us to our deaths?” Suddenly, one of the disciples whispered. The moment those words left his mouth, the tent fell into a state of silence. Some of the savvier disciples strained their ears to listen to any movements outside their tent.

“He he! We should not speak carelessly. We can only say we just so happened to be assigned together,” replied Chen Feng with a laugh.

“Humph! That old thing was clearly doing that on purpose.” Ye Tian could not stop himself from speaking up. His shoulder had been shot by an arrow. The wound had been bandaged up and Ye Tian could quickly heal it up with his cultivation base. However, his face remained pale.

“All right. Don’t talk too much. You fellows rest up properly. I will go out for a walk. Now that all of us are injured, I think they will not be sending us out for battle.” After saying that, Chen Feng strode out of the tent.

The army did not return to the city. Instead, they made camp within the mountain plains. After exiting the tent, Chen Feng did not stop. Instead, he quickly made his way to the hillside. That place had no other human footprints.

“Phew! The air here is still the freshest.” Chen Feng exhaled deeply. His breath condensed together, not dissipating away. Like an arrow, it flew forward and only slowly dissipated after travelling a distance of over 10 metres.

It is said that by reaching the external discharge of primary energy (8th) layer, one can kill with a breath. The present me is still far from that. This military expedition is a good opportunity. It seems I must think of a way to kill off that Elder Wang. Chen Feng pondered as he stretched out his hand. A bluish-green clump of primary energy seeped out and assumed everchanging forms. In the end, Chen Feng stuck out both his index finger and middle finger, joining them together, letting the bluish-green energy flow through the fingers. Like flowing water, the primary energy jutting out from his fingertips quickly formed a fine, short sword, two chi in length (1 chi = 0.3m). After that, it compressed down until it reached the length of one metre. However, the edges of the sword had become as narrow as a finger.

Shua!

With a wave of his hand, a tree as thick as a thigh was easily cut down. Next, Chen Feng’s fingers moved constantly and the trees before him were all quickly turned into fragments, littering the ground. Chen Feng’s palm abruptly exerted a suction force and some of the wood chips flew up to form a ball. In Chen Feng’s palm, the ball of wood chips quickly transformed into a sword.

Sou!

The sword shot out from his hand to pierce a big tree that was 20 metres away. After that, however, the wooden sword shattered and wood chips fell all around.

Next up, Chen Feng stretched out both palms. Two sets of primary energy seeped out from his palms to quickly form two short swords. The short swords then quickly transformed into two short daggers, the bluish-green astral energy undulating ceaselessly with extreme sharpness. After that, Chen Feng slapped both palms together. When he separated his palms, a short blade had appeared in his palm.

His primary energy changed continuously, becoming a small and exquisite spear. Although small, it was strikingly vivid and it gleamed sharply. It appeared even sharper compared to a real spear. In the end, it transformed into a shield. Only then did the primary energy slowly seep back into Chen Feng’s body.

Phew! I can only condense out some small weapons. If only I can condense out wings, I will be able to glide through the sky. Chen Feng felt his heart stirring somewhat.

“Who is it? Come on out! You have been following me for long enough, haven’t you?” Chen Feng suddenly said with a sneer while turning around.

“You have actually cultivated up to the primary energy takes form (7th) layer. I made a mistake back then.” Iron Sword Sect’s Eldest Brother, Tie Yun, slowly emerged from a stretch of trees within the forest. As he regarded Chen Feng, his eyes glinted, seemingly considering something.

“It is Eldest Brother! I wonder, why did Eldest Brother follow me here?” asked Chen Feng coolly.

“It is nothing. I had heard that Junior Brother was injured in the battlefield. Thus, I came to inquire your situation,” answered Tie Yun, his face suddenly revealing a smile.

“Oh, I have caused Eldest Brother to worry,” replied Chen Feng with a smile of his own.

“For six years, you only cultivated up to the second layer of Training Body and Energy stage. Now, in merely a few months, you rose from the second layer to the seventh layer. Even the elders in our sect are of this layer,” Tie Yun said slowly.

“I wonder, what is Eldest Brother trying to say?” Chen Feng responded with a heavy tone.

“Given this rate of cultivation speed, forget our Black Origin City, even disciples from the immortal dao sects cannot cultivate at such a Heaven-defying speed. You want to claim that you did it step by step? I don’t buy it,” Tie Yun continued.

Chen Feng narrowed his eyes, not replying. However, he secretly readied himself for an attack.

“For something like this to happen, there are many possibilities. Firstly, you are a peerless genius, capable of cultivating at a very fast speed. However, you are obviously not that type.

“Other than that, there are many other possibilities. Practicing a Heaven-defying cultivation technique, having received the legacy of an elder, eating a Heavenly spiritual fruit… he he, which type are you?” Tie Yun said slowly.

“When you put it that way, Eldest Brother is here to interrogate me,” answered Chen Feng coldly.

“Ha ha! Junior Brother, I told you just now, I am here to check up on your injuries.”

Right after saying that, Tie Yun fiercely unsheathed the sword he was carrying. A one-metre long sword luminescence extended outwards. With one step, he covered a distance of 10 metres and the light from his sword enveloped Chen Feng.

Tie Yun had made his move.

Just earlier, he had been talking slowly. Yet, in but a moment, he had unleashed a thunderous attack, one without any warning or precursive moves. Furthermore, he had unleashed his full power right from the start, intending on taking down Chen Feng immediately.

Despite having prepared himself for it, the ferocity of the attack had also shocked Chen Feng. Lifting his foot, he stamped down, causing the ground to shudder and his figure shot tens of metres backwards. Both his palms exerted suction forces to quickly form two swords from the scattered wood chips on the ground. Next, the two swords shot towards Tie Yun.

Bang! Bang!

Two banging sounds rang out and the two swords formed from wood chips were immediately shattered apart. However, Tie Yun’s sword continued shooting towards Chen Feng. Instead of weakening, it became stronger.

Seeing the sword luminescence on the verge of piercing his chest, Chen Feng finally unleashed a blow with his palm, striking the blade of the sword heavily.

Bang!

An explosive sound erupted and the sword in Tie Yun’s hand was shattered into pieces. Iron fragments were scattered all over. Seeing that did not faze Tie Yun, who had seemingly expected that.

“Humph!”

Tie Yun gave a harrumph and the clothes on his person swelled up, seemingly pumped full of air. A thick layer of astral energy enveloped his whole body and his feet moved rapidly as both his palms pushed forward. Immediately, a gale rose around him. Following that, ripples appeared in the air, looking like flowing water. Next, a series of booming sounds echoed out from the air.

That was all due to the power unleashed by Tie Yun.

“Are you trying to kill me?!” Facing this attack from Tie Yun, Chen Feng grew furious as well. Since the beginning, Tie Yun’s attacks had all meant to take Chen Feng’s life.

If so, let me see just how powerful you are. Chen Feng sneered inwardly as he pumped all the primary energy within him. The condensed astral energy quickly enveloped his whole body. Then, both his hands shot forward.