CHAPTER 184: CHAPTER 184: THE SPEECHLESS GIRL

"She... she’s gone..."

Luo Feng inspected the marks on the ground several times before he finally understood—the beautiful woman had left, stirring an indescribable feeling deep within him.

Looking up at the clear blue sky, a bitter smile spread on Luo Feng’s face. "She’s off to the sacred land of Martial Arts, bound to improve drastically... I also need to cultivate diligently, striving to enter the Golden Palace as soon as possible!"

Shaking his head, Luo Feng’s gaze landed on the elegant traces left on the ground, murmuring, "What she wrote about ’what happened to my body’... what was she referring to?"

Stunned for a moment, Luo Feng shut his eyes slightly, his consciousness sinking into his body.

"Huh, why has the Yuan Qi inside me become so much denser!"

The moment his consciousness entered his body, Luo Feng’s brow furrowed, his eyes opened wide in surprise.

The Yuan Qi in his Meridian Wheel surged several times stronger than ever before, approaching the peak of the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm!

While considered a genius, Luo Feng never had the audacity to believe he could leap from the latter stage of the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm to its peak in just a few days.

"What on earth is happening?"

Luo Feng pondered for a moment, his consciousness once again sinking into his body. When he noticed a tiny whirlpool of Yuan Qi, as bright as a star in his Dantian, he was completely awestruck.

"A Yuan Qi Seed!" Luo Feng’s eyes snapped open, and he cried out in utter astonishment.

The Yuan Qi Seed—only formidable warriors of the Spiritual Rotation Realm could forcibly generate such an entity within the bodies of Martial Artists of the Meridian Wheel Realm by consuming their cultivation root.

The potency of a Spiritual Rotation Realm expert’s Yuan Qi was boundless; a shred of their original Yuan Qi could entirely transform a Martial Artist.

If a Martial Artist possessed a Yuan Qi Seed inside them, not only would the speed of their cultivation increase significantly, but it could also help them overcome cultivation bottlenecks.

With this Yuan Qi Seed in his Dantian, Luo Feng’s chance of becoming a Spiritual Rotation Realm Martial Artist would increase by fifty percent!

Luo Feng was genuinely astounded.

A Yuan Qi Seed indeed immensely aided Martial Artists, to an extent that countless Martial Artists would fight to the death for it.

However, for a Spiritual Rotation Realm expert to plant a Yuan Qi Seed for another, it would significantly exhaust their own cultivation, sometimes taking three to five years to recover.

Consequently, even among those with the closest relationships, very few would plant Yuan Qi Seeds for others.

Everyone’s time is limited; lagging behind for three to five years could cause a peak expert to fade into obscurity.

"She... she actually planted a Yuan Qi Seed for me..."

Luo Feng took a deep breath. An image of that elegant and alluring figure flashed before his eyes, and a myriad of emotions welled up within him.

"This favor... it’s truly immense..."

A moment later, Luo Feng gave a bitter smile and pressed his lips together, tasting a faint hint of fragrance.

Touching his lips with his fingers, Luo Feng took a sniff and furrowed his brows. "This scent... could it be..."

Luo Feng’s heartbeat gradually accelerated.

Violently shaking his head, Luo Feng cast aside the alluring fantasies in his mind, chiding himself with a wry smile.

"Impossible. She’s the principal of the Changxin Academy of Red Maple Lead, and now a powerful figure in the sacred land of Martial Arts. What am I even thinking? The most important thing now is to focus on my cultivation and prepare for the upcoming champion meet..."

Though he said those words aloud, that lingering yearning inside Luo Feng remained ingrained, just like the Yuan Qi Seed in his Dantian, refusing to fade away.

"My cultivation is on the verge of a breakthrough. Now that I have a Yuan Qi Seed inside me and no cultivation bottlenecks, I might as well spend some time cultivating in the Ghost Howl Forest and return once my cultivation has broken through."

Murmuring to himself, Luo Feng turned and headed into the cave.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

With a few successive swings from the Tiger Soul Saber, a giant rock was cut down, sealing off the cave entrance entirely.

For some reason, Luo Feng did not want anyone else to use this cave where he and Cang Nanyue had spent the night together.

After sealing the cave, the sun was high in the sky. Luo Feng looked at the cave for a while, let out a somewhat lonely sigh, and slowly disappeared into the Ghost Howl Forest.

Unbeknownst to Luo Feng, as he left the valley, a woman in plain clothes was watching over him from atop a sword high in the clouds.

Only when she saw Luo Feng safely out of the valley did the woman breathe a sigh of relief, her eyes showing a touch of complexity. She gently shook her head, transformed into a red streak of light, and disappeared into the horizon.

「...」

The boundless edge of the central zone of the Ghost Howl Forest was filled with danger—poisonous fogs, swamps, vicious plants that could take lives at any time, and various formidable Demon Beasts.

In recent days, the figure of a young man carrying a saber could often be seen weaving in and out of the treacherous forest, slaying Demon Beast after Demon Beast.

"Finally reached the pinnacle of the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm! One more step, and I’ll be in the Eighth Layer of the Hell Realm. Then, the Yuan Qi will sink to my Dantian, and I’ll be able to wield the Hundred Steps Divine Gang!"

Having slain a Level Three mid-tier Demon Beast, Luo Feng drew out the Tiger Soul Saber. Suddenly, as if by inspiration, a strange wave of energy radiated from within him, and the surrounding leaves rustled wildly.

Since discovering that Cang Nanyue had planted a Yuan Qi Seed in him, Luo Feng felt on the verge of a breakthrough. These past few days, he had been hunting Demon Beasts and cultivating within the Ghost Howl Forest.

After half a month of hard work, he finally achieved his goal and stepped into the peak of the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm, his strength increasing another notch.

The pungent smell of blood caused unrest in the forest, drawing many Demon Beasts.

Luo Feng’s Soul Power radiated outwards, and he sensed a strong Demon Qi behind a giant tree several dozen meters away—it had to be a Demon Beast in the early stage of the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm.

ROAR!

He flicked his blade, and a tiger’s roar echoed through the forest. A meter-high black saber light shot out.

CHH!

Several dozen meters away, a large tree was pierced by the saber light. The ground trembled, and from behind the tree, a huge Demon Beast fell.

The Demon Beast resembled an ape, its arms pillar-like and its strength unbelievable. Its body was covered with half-foot-long black hair, glossy and ebony.

In the middle of the Demon Beast’s head, there was a noticeable saber wound, almost slicing its head in two. It was dead beyond any doubt.

"A Level Three mid-tier Demon Beast, an Iron Arm Ape."

Luo Feng glanced at the Demon Beast’s corpse on the ground, a glimmer of delight in his eyes.

Half a month ago, it would have taken him some effort to kill a Level Three mid-tier Demon Beast.

Now, he could slay one with a single slash; the speed of his progress surprised even himself.

Currently, the ones who could pose a threat to me are ’Heavenly Fragrant Woman’ He Qin, who has entered the Eighth Layer of the Hell Realm; ’Traceless Young Master’ Ji Wufa, who has comprehended Sword Intent; and the top student of Wanluo School, ’Thunderbolt Spear’ Wan Feng.

I should have no problem placing in the top three at the upcoming champion meet. However, the four major academies are teeming with talent; it’s not impossible for other experts to emerge...

After considering for a while, Luo Feng couldn’t reach a conclusion, so he gave up.

"It’s time to head for Wind Howl City."

Luo Feng remembered the agreement he had made with Zi Yuan and the others half a month ago and prepared to leave the Ghost Howl Forest.

He flew towards the forest’s exit. Along the way, Luo Feng didn’t encounter any particularly high-level Demon Beasts. Occasionally, one or two oblivious early-stage Level Three Demon Beasts would appear, only to be slain by his saber before they could even get close.

ROAR!

After running for a distance, a thunderous roar suddenly came from the forest to his left.

Luo Feng stopped, listening intently.

"There are sounds of fighting!"

His Soul Power instantly scanned in the direction of the sound. He found four people engaged in a fierce battle with a Demon Beast exuding immense Demon Qi.

The Demon Beast’s Demon Qi was extremely potent; it was a Level Three mid-tier Demon Beast, its strength equivalent to a cultivator at the peak of the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm.

After a moment’s thought, Luo Feng quietly headed towards the source of the sound.

Ahead lay a dense forest, where vague human figures flickered amidst large shadows, accompanied by terrifying beast roars.

Approaching to within a dozen meters, Luo Feng executed Teng Dragon’s Step, concealing himself within the dense canopy of a large tree and peering down.

In the forest, four youths holding swords were being chased by a huge Demon Beast.

The Demon Beast was more than ten feet long and resembled a panther. It was covered in lustrous black Scale Armor, its massive mouth revealed two blade-like fangs, and its claws were three feet long, sharp as blades.

Luo Feng recognized the Demon Beast. A Black Scale Leopard.

The Black Scale Leopard was considered a top-tier existence among Level Three mid-tier Demon Beasts. Its Scale Armor was tougher than steel, its claws were extremely venomous, and it was incredibly fast in the forest, making it very difficult to deal with.

Luo Feng turned his gaze to the individuals in the forest and, noticing their snow-white uniforms, raised an eyebrow.

People from the Floating Snow School...

These students of the Floating Snow School only possessed cultivation from the early to mid-stages of the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm. They were fleeing in panic from the Black Scale Leopard.

"Everyone, be careful! This Black Scale Leopard’s strength is equivalent to a Martial Artist at the peak of the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm! We mustn’t scatter, lest we be picked off one by one!"

The leader, a black-clad youth of sixteen or seventeen, had the highest cultivation, at the mid-stage of the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm. He wielded a refined iron saber, and each strike produced a Saber Gang over a meter long. Its power was considerable, and he managed to withstand most of the Black Scale Leopard’s charges.

SWISH! SWISH!

The saber light blocked the Black Scale Leopard’s charge. Immediately, several streaks of sword light shot out, striking the Black Scale Leopard’s forelimbs with a series of CLANGS.

The attacker was a somewhat immature-looking girl in colorful clothes, wielding a slender sword. Her cultivation was the weakest, only at the early stage of the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm. Though her techniques were flashy, they failed to even penetrate the Black Scale Leopard’s defenses.

ROAR!

The girl in colorful clothes’ attack seemed to infuriate the Black Scale Leopard. With a furious howl, it stirred up a vicious gust of wind and leaped towards her.

The girl in colorful clothes was clearly inexperienced. Seeing the Black Scale Leopard pounce, she froze on the spot, too terrified to dodge.

"Junior Sister Caiyun, watch out!"

Just then, two sturdy figures darted out from the side. The other two youths attacked simultaneously, positioning their meter-long, broad-bladed sabers in front of the girl named Caiyun.

THUD! THUD!

With two dull thuds, the two youths were sent flying backward, crashing through several large trees before finally stopping.

CRASH! RUMBLE!

Wherever the Black Scale Leopard passed, trees snapped and the ground cracked open. Its ferocious aura seemed intent on destroying everything.

Watching the murderously rampaging Black Scale Leopard, the black-clad youth with the highest cultivation had a flicker in his eyes but did not intervene. Instead, he shouted loudly, "Junior Sister Caiyun, it’s coming for you! Retreat quickly!"

"Aah! Save me!"

The girl named Caiyun, her face pale, screamed and, terrified, covered her eyes with both hands.

Seeing this, Luo Feng was dumbfounded.

This was the first time he had ever seen someone cover their eyes when a Demon Beast was approaching.