Free Web NovelChapter 23: Chapter 22: Qingfeng Refining God at Great Success
"Strike!"
Qin Feng let out a low roar. The massive Ancient Bronze Tripod tore through the air and slammed into a Martial Artist at the late-stage Martial Arts Second Realm, knocking him unconscious as if he’d been smashed against a wall.
Qin Feng swung his arm and let out a soft sigh.
This was the fifteenth squad he’d encountered tonight. The closer he got to Shanghe Town, the denser the search parties became. So far, he had already injured nearly thirty experts of the Martial Arts Second Layer Heaven.
Even with Qin Feng’s formidable strength, injuring so many Martial Artists in such a short time had left him with a few wounds. He had taken a slash to the arm and had a gash on his waist from someone’s weapon.
He grabbed a Martial Artist on the ground who hadn’t yet lost consciousness, seizing his arm. The Bone Marrow Extraction Technique activated instinctively. A continuous stream of Essence, like water from an opened dam, flooded into his body. As a look of pure terror shattered the man’s face, Qin Feng silently drained the late-stage Martial Arts Second Realm expert completely dry.
Pure vital energy entered his body, making him feel as if he were soaking in a hot spring. The gash on his back began to knit together, the flesh regenerating at a visible rate.
The Essence of a late-stage Martial Arts Second Realm Martial Artist was far beyond what an ordinary person could compare to. After absorbing this Essence, Qin Feng’s minor injuries healed instantly. The excess Essence merged into his body and was refined by his circulating Qi and Blood, making his Essence Blood even more abundant. He could faintly feel signs of a breakthrough to the Mid-stage Martial Arts Third Realm.
Glancing at the search party lying scattered on the ground, Qin Feng expertly looted them clean.
CLATTER. A large pile of items lay before him. Qin Feng no longer had any use for the silver taels and Gold; he had looted so much in one night that they had become a burden. He discarded everything except for the easily carried silver banknotes.
What remained was a bottle of Elixirs and a Secret Manual. These had been taken from the squad leader, a Martial Artist at the peak of the Martial Arts Second Layer Heaven.
The Elixirs were Quenching Essence Pills. Bone Tempering Pills are the most commonly used elixirs for the early-stage Martial Arts Three Heavens. By the Martial Arts Fourth Layer, the effects of such elixirs are greatly diminished and of limited use.
However, there is an elixir that can replace the Bone Tempering Pill: the Quenching Essence Pill. The Quenching Essence Pill could be considered an upgraded and improved Pill Formula based on the Bone Tempering Pill, specifically for Martial Artists at the Martial Arts Fourth Layer and above.
To Qin Feng’s delight, it was a bottle of Mid Grade Quenching Essence Pills. Mid Grade Quenching Essence Pills contained very few impurities and could be consumed with only a little refinement. A single Quenching Essence Pill could save him half a month of cultivation, and its price was four to five times that of a Bone Tempering Pill. One Quenching Essence Pill was worth four to five hundred taels of Gold.
In the Qin Family, only Elders and Stewards were qualified to receive them, and they could only get two pills each month. They were extremely precious.
This late-stage Martial Arts Second Realm Martial Artist was likely the descendant of an Elder or a Steward.
He gave the Secret Manual a cursory glance. It was a High-level Human Martial Swordsmanship, worth several hundred taels of Gold. But he had plenty of things like this, so he didn’t pay it much mind.
Seeing that he hadn’t missed anything, Qin Feng quickly stuffed the silver banknotes, Secret Manual, and Elixirs into his robes, scanned the surrounding forest, and prepared to withdraw.
This time, he had only taken a hundred or so steps before he stopped. A small team of five or six men had just emerged from a thicket right in front of him.
They had run right into him!
This squad only had six men, but each one radiated a powerful aura completely different from the other teams. Qin Feng’s heart sank as he looked them over. Every single one of them had a cultivation at least at the Martial Arts Second Layer Heaven, and the aura of the leader, a middle-aged man in blue robes with a square face, was even stronger than his own.
Martial Arts Three Heavens!
Seeing Qin Feng’s sudden appearance, the square-faced, middle-aged leader was clearly stunned. His eyes then fell upon the squad lying scattered behind Qin Feng, and a murderous glint appeared in his eyes. He stared at Qin Feng and spoke slowly.
"Ninth Young Master, you have already committed a monstrous crime. You have nowhere left to run. Come back with us to face your punishment. The Patriarch might spare your life on account of Qin Zhan!"
"The Patriarch? What’s that old bastard worth? In this world, I answer to no one but myself! What right does that old fool have to judge me? If you want to capture me, you’ll all have to die today!"
Qin Feng laughed, a cold glint in his eyes. ’When two foes meet on a narrow path, the bolder one wins. He who strikes first gains the advantage; he who strikes last suffers disaster.’
As soon as the words left his mouth, his figure shot forward like a cheetah. He brandished the Ancient Bronze Tripod, wielding it like a hammer, and brought it smashing down. The immense force tore through the air, arriving above the men in an instant.
’Always pick the weakest one first!’ He focused his power on a man in black robes with the weakest aura. This man carried a single saber on his back and had a cultivation at the early-stage Martial Arts Second Layer Heaven. He never expected Qin Feng to suddenly target him. freēwēbnovel.com
Although he had been on guard from the start, he couldn’t dodge in time. In his haste, all he could do was cross his arms in front of him, hoping to save his own life!
The Ancient Bronze Tripod weighed over a thousand catties, and when combined with Qin Feng’s Xuanwu’s Power that could suppress oceans, how could mere flesh and blood possibly block it? With a series of sharp CRACKS, Qin Feng’s Ancient Bronze Tripod smashed into him, sending him flying several zhang. Countless bones in his body were shattered. He fell to the ground and soon stopped breathing.
A Martial Artist of the Martial Arts Second Layer Heaven had been eliminated in a single exchange, right in front of the other five.
"You little bastard, how dare you!" The square-faced, middle-aged leader’s eyes were practically splitting with rage. Seeing that Qin Feng had dared to kill one of his men right in front of him, he let out a furious roar and charged forward with his four remaining subordinates.
As they lunged, all five men simultaneously drew their weapons. They all wielded single-edged sabers—weapons with thick spines and sharp blades, perfect instruments of slaughter.
A cold sneer touched the corner of Qin Feng’s mouth. He dodged backward, choosing not to meet the five head-on. He was experienced in battle and knew he couldn’t afford a direct confrontation. This was just one group; there were more search parties behind them. He had to conserve his strength as much as possible.
Avoiding the strong and targeting the weak, his figure flickered, reappearing like a phantom behind a scar-faced man, the other early-stage Martial Arts Second Layer Heaven cultivator among the five. He swung the Ancient Bronze Tripod down.
The scar-faced man never imagined Qin Feng would choose him as a target. In his terror, he could only try to retreat.
Despite the Ancient Bronze Tripod’s immense weight, in Qin Feng’s hands it moved faster than lightning, instantly smashing into the scar-faced man who failed to dodge in time.
SPLAT! The scar-faced man’s body was thrown high into the air as he spat out a mouthful of blood. He crashed to the ground and instantly went still. It was impossible to tell if he was dead or alive!
In a flash, only four of the six men remained!
"You audacious little bastard!" The square-faced man’s expression was incredibly grim, the killing intent in his eyes almost palpable. With a roar, the remaining four all swung their sabers, hacking toward Qin Feng’s back.
At that moment, Qin Feng had no time to dodge. He hastily slung the Ancient Bronze Tripod onto his back to protect himself.
CLANG! A series of metallic clashes rang out as several powerful forces simultaneously pressed down on his back.
Qin Feng’s back sank under the weight. He grunted and exhaled, spreading his feet apart and naturally assuming the Clear Wind Spirit Refining Stake stance. His lower body seemed to merge with the earth, allowing him to steadily bear the Ancient Bronze Tripod on his back.
He had actually managed to firmly withstand the combined attack of three Martial Artists from the middle and late stages of the Martial Arts Second Layer Heaven, plus one from a peer at the Mid-stage Martial Arts Third Realm.
This Clear Wind Spirit Refining Stake was as steady as Taishan Mountain!
A young man in tight-fitting clothes stared intently at Qin Feng’s stance, then slowly looked up and said, "You’ve actually cultivated the Clear Wind Spirit Refining Stake to the Great Success realm! ’Still as a mountain, yet moves like a clear wind!’"
The Clear Wind Spirit Refining Stake was the most basic Pile Technique in the Qin Family, recorded in the Qin Family’s Basic Martial Arts Skills, and any disciple could practice it. He himself had cultivated it, yet this simple Pile Technique, when used by Qin Feng, was like a clear wind blocking a great river—majestic and imposing. No matter how much force the four of them applied, they couldn’t budge him in the slightest.
This left the four of them utterly astonished.
However, after his surprise, he gave a cold smile. "Even though you’ve cultivated the Clear Wind Spirit Refining Stake to a Great Achievement Realm that we can only dream of reaching, it is, after all, just a basic Dharma Gate. Even if you’ve cultivated it to a profound and mystical level, its power is limited. Ultimately, it can’t compare to a Spirit Martial Level Martial Skill. Let’s see how you block our killing move!"
The four exchanged a look, their eyes filled with chilling killing intent. They all drew back their sabers and simultaneously unleashed the Qin Family’s only Spirit Martial Level, Low Tier Saber Technique: the Gale Blade Technique.
The long sabers rose and vanished in a flash. In the dim light of the dense forest, the glint of the blades was impossible to follow with the naked eye. One could only feel sharp, cold flashes of light sweeping toward their vital points like a gale scattering fallen leaves.
The hairs on Qin Feng’s entire body stood on end. An immense sense of threat made all his muscles tighten, and the wild Saber Qi raised countless tiny goosebumps on his skin.
Seeing them execute the Gale Blade Technique, he wasn’t alarmed but rather pleased. He simply tossed aside the Ancient Bronze Tripod, which slammed into the ground with a BOOM, making it tremble. With a ferocious glint in his eyes, he actually charged forward empty-handed, unleashing a grand and powerful Fist Technique at the four men. A gale-like momentum erupted from him, and in the eyes of his opponents, this terrifying aura expanded, and expanded again, until it was like a tornado.
Amidst the four’s terror, a cold laugh echoed through the gale. "A bunch of frogs in a well. You think a Spirit Martial Level Martial Skill is so impressive? You should know that the power of a Martial Skill depends not on its level, but on the Martial Artist who wields it! I have already cultivated the Qin Family’s Clear Wind Spirit Refining Stake and Gale Bone-Forging Fist to Great Success and have even comprehended a trace of the Wind Realm. If you lot had managed to master the Gale Blade Technique to Great Success, I might have given you some leeway. But you’ve only learned the basics, yet you dare to boast here? You clearly don’t even know how the word ’death’ is written!"
