Chapter 399 - 255: Long-term Worries (2)

Chapter 399: Chapter 255: Long-term Worries (2)

Seeing that he was at the right altitude, Yu Fei emerged from his hiding spot. He activated his Celestial Star Travel Body and leaped toward the stream of light. Below, Fu’s team had scattered the other Martial Artists, and everyone was too busy fending for themselves to notice him.

Moreover, Yu Fei’s stealth was a product of his Illusory Sword Intent. It shielded him from spiritual perception, a high-level effect that ensured no one discovered him.

He snatched the Crimsonlight Streamer, and it felt surprisingly substantial in his grasp, like holding a stream of flowing sand imbued with a scorching, pure essence. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

In an instant, the Crimsonlight Streamer entered his sea of consciousness and began to circle the core of his soul, filling him with a profound sense of comfort.

In that same moment, Yu Fei’s presence was revealed. He couldn’t help it. The act of absorbing the Crimsonlight Streamer had caused a momentary lapse in his spiritual control, exposing him.

’This is bad!’

Still in mid-air, Yu Fei immediately drew Zhanming, preparing for the inevitable assault.

Fu looked back and saw Yu Fei, who had snatched the Crimsonlight Streamer from mid-air. His face flushed red with fury. With a great roar, he swung his axe, splitting the very earth and sending a fissure racing toward Yu Fei’s position.

Staring at Yu Fei, a mere Inner Qi Realm cultivator, Fu’s chest heaved, and veins pulsed on his forehead.

"AHH!..."

It was a roar of impotent rage.

Yu Fei tightened his grip on Zhanming. ’It looks like a tough fight is unavoidable,’ he thought. He wasn’t afraid, though. While his opponents were of a higher realm, his own abilities were on a completely different level now. If they dared to attack, he wouldn’t hold back.

But to his surprise, though Fu was seething, he didn’t attack. Instead, a man with a cold, stern expression stepped forward.

"Quite a move, young man. But this area is frequented by Gang Qi Martial Artists. You’d best leave now. Otherwise... blades have no eyes!"

Fu followed up, snarling, "You little thief! Don’t let me see you again!"

As he spoke, he brandished his giant axe in a threatening gesture.

Yu Fei remained poised to strike, but he hadn’t expected them to simply leave after issuing their warnings. He stood there, sword in hand, baffled.

’Are... are the locals here this friendly?’

After encountering so many thieves and robbers on his journey, he found himself a little unused to this kind of treatment.

It wasn’t just them. The other Martial Artists also began to disperse. Curious, Yu Fei called out to the first man whose stealth he had broken. "Hey, man, what’s going on?"

The Martial Artist was in the middle of swallowing some healing pills. Seeing Yu Fei approach, he snapped, "Who are you calling ’man’? It’s ’Senior’ to you! How can a piddling Inner Qi like you address a Gang Qi Martial Artist as an equal?"

’What the hell...’

Yu Fei’s Sword Qi flared. ’This guy has a death wish, doesn’t he?’

Before Yu Fei could make a move, the man continued, speaking to himself as much as to Yu Fei. "Looks like you just learned some Stealth Secret Skill and came out here to show off. And you actually managed to snag something. Hmph..."

"You just got lucky, that’s all. I’m telling you, take what you got and get out of here!"

In the end, Yu Fei held back. The man ran his mouth, but there was no real malice behind his words—it was more like jealousy. So, he asked:

"Why didn’t they attack me after I took the Crimsonlight Streamer?"

The man replied irritably, "And what good would that do? Would you have just handed over the Crimsonlight Streamer? Besides, while it’s valuable, this place produces a decent amount of it. The smart move is to wait for the next one to appear."

"Once the grab is over, everyone scatters. Your skill is what matters. Whoever gets it, it’s theirs."

"And besides... right now, there’s a real powerhouse from one of the Seven here in the Thousand Mountain Volcano. He set the rules, so we have to follow them. It didn’t use to be like this!"

He looked quite resentful as he said this.

Yu Fei was intrigued. "A powerhouse from the Seven? Who is it?"

"I don’t know. All I know is that they’re a Grandmaster. No one dares to disobey."

Yu Fei was a little surprised by this news. He hadn’t expected to run into a senior from the Seven out here. ’I wonder which university they’re from,’ he mused.

No wonder it felt like there were some boundaries here. People would fight over treasures, but they didn’t go too far.

With that, he planned to leave and wait for the next round of contention. But just as he was about to go, the man called out to him.

"Hey, you’re just going to leave like that, kid?"

Yu Fei was confused. "What else is there? Do you have any other pointers for me, Senior?"

"I gave you all that information. If you don’t leave something behind for my trouble, wouldn’t that mean I wasted my breath?"

"Haha..."

Yu Fei laughed. "And what kind of trouble would you like to be compensated for?"

The man’s eyes narrowed as he stared intently at Yu Fei. "No one’s going to take your Crimsonlight Streamer. But you must’ve picked up other things on your way here, right? Take them out and let me have a look. You’re inexperienced; I’ll appraise them for you!"

As he spoke, his gaze fell upon the backpack on Yu Fei’s back.

Yu Fei had casually tossed some materials into his pack. His haul, however, was far greater than that of an average Martial Artist. Unbeknownst to him, the ores he considered unremarkable were a rich bounty in the eyes of others.

The backpack had some minor shielding properties, but the stealthy Martial Artist, despite not having trained in any perception Secret Techniques, was sharp enough to sense that the bag’s contents were valuable.

His willingness to answer Yu Fei’s questions had been a pretext. If things got out of hand and the Grandmaster took notice, he would have an excuse.

Yu Fei asked, surprised, "Aren’t you afraid of incurring that Grandmaster’s wrath?"

The man gave a sinister grin and was about to say something threatening when his Inner Qi faltered. He coughed twice, and blood seeped from his wounds.

He pressed a hand to his injury. "Let me tell you something. The Grandmaster said no killing, but he never said anything about not roughing people up. I answered all your questions, so shouldn’t I get a little compensation?"

"Believe me, I’ll beat the hell out of you!"

"But Senior, you’re injured! Forcing your Inner Qi like that could make it much worse,"

Yu Fei reminded him helpfully.

The man shot Yu Fei a disdainful look. "I’m a Gang Qi Martial Artist! Do you even know what Gang Qi is? It’d take no effort at all to beat a little piece of trash like you!"

His tone grew hostile, and he looked ready to attack.

"Alright, then. Let me open your eyes for you, Senior!"

A smile suddenly bloomed on Yu Fei’s face.

’Perfect,’ he thought. ’I’ve been wanting to teach this guy a lesson for a while now! A heavily injured Gang Qi Martial Artist, putting on airs in front of me.’

"Hey... you little... Fuck yo—AH!"

"Ah... I was wrong! Bro... AHHH~"

"Bro, you’re the boss! I was wrong! I was really, really wrong!"

Yu Fei planted Zhanming in the ground beside him and, with a few quick punches and kicks, beat the man to the ground.

If the man hadn’t been injured, Yu Fei might have had to trade a few more blows with him. But with his battered body full of openings, it was child’s play for Yu Fei to beat him down with pure brute force.

Even as the man begged for mercy, Yu Fei landed three more kicks before calmly walking away.

He left the stealthy Martial Artist bruised and swollen on the ground.

’Sigh, I can’t stay in this god-forsaken place anymore!’

He wasn’t a fool. The moment the kid attacked, he knew he’d made a terrible mistake. To be suppressed barehanded by an Inner Qi Realm cultivator, even while injured... As he thought about it, there were only a few monstrous institutions that could produce someone like that.

’Damn it, what an unlucky year. I’m getting out of here!’

Remembering the three wisps of Crimsonlight Streamer he had stored in his soul, he recovered from his injuries slightly, activated his stealth, and turned to flee.

Experienced Martial Artists all knew the score. You could curse those damned prodigies behind their backs all you wanted, but if you actually came face to face with one, the best thing to do was bow your head and run as far and as fast as you could.

When dealing with those ivory-tower prodigies, if you dared to challenge them, they would really draw their swords and cut you down. The key was, you could never fucking beat them. And even if you did manage to win, you couldn’t kill them. Then, a year or two later, they’d just come back and cut you down anyway!

Disgusting! So fucking disgusting!

The envy, however, was also real.

Such is the tapestry of life. Yu Fei felt this trip to the Red Sun Realm had greatly broadened his horizons. This, he intuited, was what the world of martial arts was truly like.

The order and camaraderie on the Abyss battlefield were merely an illusion, a peace enforced by the high-level Martial Artists of the Seven. Once you stepped away from that order, the law of the jungle—the strong preying on the weak—was the only rule of survival.

He imagined this was what the martial world was like during the Age of Sects, before the Old Calendar.

The Great Ancestor had established the Martial Arts Universities, gathering all the world’s outstanding talents to be taught at the Seven. Because of this, high-level Martial Artists all came from the same tradition, shared similar ideals, selected new talent fairly, and passed down their heritage in an orderly manner from one generation to the next.

This was what had laid the foundation for eight hundred years of peace and order.

As long as the Seven remained stable, no matter how much chaos other Martial Artists caused, it was but a minor issue.

And yet... Yu Fei recalled Ye Shuping’s words.

’The Seven... it seems the chaos has already begun.’

’There are more and more Martial Saints, and all sorts of new organizations are popping up. I wonder when this powder keg will finally ignite.’