Sha! Sha! Sha!

Chen Feng made his way through the forest. After stepping into the seventh layer of the Training Body and Energy stage, his level of strength had undergone a world-shaking change. His primary energy surged vigorously and each step he took covered a distance of tens of metres. Due to the extreme rate at which he was moving through the forest, the wind whistled upon his ears, a result from the friction between the rapidly advancing him and the surrounding space.

Pa!

Chen Feng swiftly came to a halt and a deep pair of footprints appeared upon the ground.

As expected, I still cannot perfectly control my power. Chen Feng thought to himself. He looked forward. Earlier, as he was moving quickly through the forest, he had faintly sensed the aura of a wild beast. That was why he had stopped.

“I wonder what kind of wild beast is it? Hopefully, I can deal with it,” Chen Feng whispered to himself. His hand flashed out as he quickly picked up a fist-sized stone from the ground with his hand. Next, he tossed it forcefully forward. The stone created an air-piercing sound as it shot through the air like a meteor. In an instant, it had streaked through a distance of over 100 metres and shot into a clump of grasses in the distance.

Pa!

The moment the stone flew into the grasses, it was smashed apart by a mighty swing from a paw. After that, a large, striped tiger emerged from the clump of grasses before casting its pair of predatory eyes at Chen Feng.

The large, striped tiger’s body was colourful. It had thick fur, bulging and muscular limbs and sharp claws. Its thick tail waved about and it seemed as though it would launch an attack at any moment.

With a body size that was one zhang above Chen Feng and a terrifying air of dominance, it glared ferociously at Chen Feng. It was even bigger compared to the black tiger from back then (1 zhang = 3.333 m).

Not good. This tiger is so big. It is even bigger than that black tiger. Could it be stronger than the black tiger? This is going to be a problem. No wonder even experts in the Concealed stage dare not enter here recklessly. The forest in here is truly brutal. Chen Feng thought to himself while his whole body entered a vigilant state.

“Roar!”

After staring at its prey for a little longer, the large, striped tiger was finally unable to hold back. It opened its jaws and roared out while quickly pouncing towards Chen Feng. Like a dragon soaring through the clouds, a simple leap from the tiger gave rise to strong winds, causing its surrounding trees to shake and the grasses to kneel, a testament to its might.

And yet, despite this display of power from the large, striped tiger, Chen Feng smiled. There was a relieved expression on his face as his figure easily dodged to the side. Next, he extended his hands to grab and press down. The large, striped tiger was caught, pressed down on the ground and incapable of moving away. The large tiger, with its air of dominance, found itself incapable of extricating itself and began raking the ground furiously as it growled.

“He he, looking at your size, I thought you to be some unmatched wild beast. Turns out you are just an ordinary wild beast, the equivalent of a human cultivator on the third layer of the Training Body and Energy stage. You can forget about comparing yourself with that black tiger. Still, this tiger is not bad. To think that it has reached the forging bones and training the marrow (3^rd) layer. The old me would have been swallowed down in one gulp.”

“Wu wu wu!”

Failing to extricate itself, the large tiger realized that it had kicked an iron plate. It began wailing ^[1].

“He he.”

Chen Feng smiled and released his hold. He did not kill the large tiger.

Seeing that Chen Feng had no intentions of killing it, the large tiger nodded towards Chen Feng and wagged its tail. Then, it leapt away, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Truth be told, if Chen Feng had killed the large tiger, he could use it to exchange for some items after returning to the city. After all, for a wild beast of that level, every part of its body was a treasure; its fur, bones, claws, fangs, all of them could be sold for a good price. However, Chen Feng had just greatly increased his strength and was feeling happy. He did not feel like killing.

After emerging from the valley, Chen Feng did not want others to notice his level of strength. Thus, he slowed down and returned to the city using the speed of a cultivator in the fourth layer.

After entering Black Origin City, Chen Feng did not immediately return to his sect. Instead, he wandered around the city centre. In the past, Chen Feng had also moved in and out of the city centre before. However, he had never actually taken a good look around.

Although Black Origin City was just an inconspicuous little city within the Northern Plains, the size of the city was not small at all. The size of the city adhered to a certain standard. The city centre alone had millions of people. Not to mention, there were also the turfs belonging to the other forces within Black Origin City. From a certain perspective, Black Origin City could be considered as a small kingdom, with the City Lord as the ruler and the four great families and the four great sects as the various kingdom nobles. Surface wise, it would appear that the City Lord was the leader of all. In secret, however, the other forces were secretly and continuously gathering their own strength to overthrow the other party to establish their own kingdom.

First, Chen Feng entered a clothing shop to buy a few sets of clothing. After that, he entered a weapon shop.

The weapon shop he entered was considered the best in Black Origin City. The people from the four great families and four great sects would always come here to order their weapons.

Truth be told, the present Chen Feng had no need for weapons of this level. The weapons sold in the shop were all for cultivators in the Training Body and Energy stage only, after all. In other words, they were the lowest-grade weapons in the worlds, common weapons. In terms of power, they were far from being comparable to the swords that Chen Feng could form using his primary energy. Most cultivators who had reached the primary energy takes form (7^th) layer would not choose to use those common weapons.

Chen Feng had three reasons for going to the shop. Firstly, he had never visited the shop and was curious about it. Secondly, he wanted to look around. Thirdly, he actually needed to buy a weapon as he did not want to expose the fact that he was now at the primary energy takes form (7^th) layer. 

The interior of the shop was very quiet. Despite the many customers inside, it was not as noisy as the other shops. There were row after row of various weapons displayed in weapon racks. There were also weapons put on display on the walls.

The moment he entered, Chen Feng could feel a cold and sharp atmosphere.

Casually looking around, Chen Feng saw that the weapons there were mostly swords and blades. Some of the unsheathed swords gleamed with chilling sharpness. The old Chen Feng would have been attracted by those swords. Now, however, those swords had become common items in Chen Feng’s eyes.

Next, he picked out a sword. As he pulled the sword out from the sheath, a chilling gleam flashed out. The blade of the sword was like the waters in autumn while its edges exuded iciness. It was quite a carefully forged item.

Ding!

Extending a finger, Chen Feng flicked out at the blade of the sword, causing it to vibrate with a light, ringing sound.

“It is quite suitable for cultivators below the primary energy takes form layer. Owner, how much is this sword?” Chen Feng re-sheathed the sword.

“One thousand silver liang,” replied the shop owner with a smile.

Chen Feng nodded and pulled out some silver bills. The money had been left behind by the old man for him. If it were not for these, Chen Feng would have been incapable of surviving within the sect.

I will keep this sword and use it for a while. Chen Feng thought to himself.

“Tsk tsk! Isn’t this the waste from Iron Sword Sect? Why did you suddenly come here to buy a sword? Aren’t the iron swords from your Iron Sword Sect infamous throughout the world?” A ridiculing voice suddenly echoed within the shop.

A group of youngsters strode inside, every single one of them carrying edged weapons on them. One of them, an 18-year-old, cast a provoking look at Chen Feng. Those beside him were also casting mockful smiles at Chen Feng. There was even contempt within the eyes of some.

They are from the Tiger Form Sect. Chen Feng thought. After looking at those people, Chen Feng was visited by a feeling of amusement. In the past, meeting these people meant being subjected to insults. At present, however, these people no longer meant anything to him.

The Tiger Form Sect was one of the four great sects within Black Origin City. It did not have a good relationship with Iron Sword Sect and their disciples would often get into fights with disciples from Iron Sword Sect. There was no rule of law in Black Origin City, only might. As the disciples from Tiger Form Sect had encountered someone from Iron Sword Sect, it was only natural for them to provoke him. Not to mention, Chen Feng was an ‘infamous’ figure within Black Origin City.

Chen Feng ignored them. Picking up the sword, he turned around and made to leave. It was not that Chen Feng was fearful of them. Rather, he had no desire to get into a fight as he did not want to expose his strength.

“Hold it!”

Seeing Chen Feng trying to leave, the disciples from Tiger Form Sect became displeased. One of them called out and quickly moved to stop Chen Feng.

His name was Ma Yong. At 18 years old, he possessed a cultivation base of the fourth layer of the Training Body and Energy, the reinforcement of internal organs. He was someone without the courage to provoke strong fellows and would only bully weaker cultivators. Now that he had seen Chen Feng, it was only natural for him to make sport of him.

“What is it?” said Chen Feng coolly.

“I was talking to you earlier; didn’t you hear me?” Ma Yong shouted, nearly pointing his finger at Chen Feng’s face.

A glint flashed across Chen Feng’s eyes before he replied nonchalantly, “Oh, is that so? I know now. What do you want?”

Seeing the look of indifference on Chen Feng’s face caused Ma Yong to instantly grow furious. He recalled how Chen Feng would grow timid whenever meeting him. Now, however, Chen Feng appeared to have become a completely different person. That was especially true of his indifferent expression and tone. All of that gave Ma Yong an uncomfortable feeling.

Noticing the conflict unfold, the onlookers within the store began observing. This kind of scene was something that would occur every day. It was not rare to have them suddenly lose their cool and attack each other to the death all of a sudden.

“What do I want? Naturally, I want to give you a good lesson!” As Ma Yong did not know what else to say, he quickly made his move. He thought to himself. Just beat up this Chen Feng first. It was not as though he had never done that before.

Ma Yong displayed the Tiger Form Fist of his Tiger Form Sect and his fist quickly punched out. Like a feral tiger that had revealed its sharp claws, his fist shot towards Chen Feng, creating whistling winds in its wake.

Ma Yong believed that this punch from him would cause Chen Feng to bleed from both his mouth and nose. After that, his gang would go forward to unleash a couple punches upon Chen Feng to vent their emotions on him. And thus, the matter will end. Ma Yong had no desire to kill, after all. Besides, this was the infamous ‘trash’. If he were to kill Chen Feng, he would have no one to bully. 

Pa!

A soft impacting sound could be heard as Chen Feng caught Ma Yong’s fist.

“What?” Ma Yong’s eyes abruptly widened as he looked on in shock at his fist, caught by his opponent. Despite exerting his strength again and again, he felt as though his fist was being clamped by a pair of iron pliers and was incapable of moving at all.

“Bestial Tiger Force!”

Ma Yong bellowed. He furiously stamped his feet, causing the ground to shake as rumbling sounds came from his bones and power gathered within his body. Next, power surged towards his fist.

This was an infamous martial technique from Tiger Form Sect, the Bestial Tiger Force. All the strength within the body will be gathered into one point before erupting outwards like an exploding volcano. Ma Yong was confident that even a cultivator who was one layer above him would be split apart by the explosive force of this attack.

Unfortunately, Ma Yong was quickly disappointed. The powerful force surged into his fist and abruptly exploded outwards. Yet, Chen Feng’s hand remained as strong as iron pliers, unchanging. The force he unleashed was like an ox figurine tossed into the vast ocean, disappearing without making a single splash.

 1 Kick the iron plate. Bullying or attacking someone you assume to be a weakling only to find out that the person is, in fact, very powerful. ↩