Chapter 35

After the incident at the hot spring villa, Jiang Feng was very cautious for several days. The death of so many young people from the Jiang family would certainly cause a huge shock. He couldn't predict what actions they would take next, so he had to be extra careful.

However, after observing for a few days, from Luming Town to Chaoxi Peak, everything was quiet. Apart from a few scattered cultivators occasionally entering the mountains to hunt Ming beasts, he didn't see a single person from the Jiang family.

This was a bit strange.

Apart from the few who died last time, the younger generation of the Jiang family still had more outstanding individuals like Jiang Huiming. They should also be facing the major exams and should be focusing on training. Why were they completely absent?

He felt uneasy and even sneaked back to the Jiang family to take a look.

South Jiang hadn't changed much, but North Jiang had a very solemn atmosphere. However, they didn't hang white mourning clothes at the gate as he had expected.

He vaguely remembered something.

At the mysterious villa, the old man had said to the girl named Yueling, "Remember to pay respects to the Jiang family."

Was this the result of paying respects?

The Jiang family had lost so many people, and then... they retreated? Who were the people in this mysterious villa? Not only did they decisively kill, but they also suppressed the Jiang family so much that they couldn't hold their heads up...

Jiang Feng looked up at the sky and took a deep breath, feeling a strange taste in his heart.

He felt lucky when those people chased him and were then killed. But seeing the Jiang family's reaction, he felt a bit ashamed.

Is this the family I belong to?

Hey!

He didn't show these thoughts to Chongfan.

Except for the time he went to the Jiang family to gather information, he still arranged his remaining time with incredible regularity.

Cultivation, practicing martial arts, hunting, and reading.

Every day, these activities filled his schedule, leaving him no spare time, and even less time to pay attention to Chongfan.

Chongfan didn't care about these things at all.

He seemed to be on vacation, following Jiang Feng's schedule to exercise every day, and spending the rest of the time reading books and walking around the valley.

He even started learning how to cook.

He found a method for cooking Ming beasts in some book and began to try it out.

Perhaps because he was smart, or perhaps because of his innate talent, the food he made was much more delicious than what Jiang Feng made.

Moreover, after special processing of the meat, eating it no longer felt like a punishment. Each bite of meat made Jiang Feng feel a warm current sliding down his esophagus, surging into his stomach, and then spreading throughout his body, making him feel warm and very comfortable.

This warm current was, of course, Ming power. Jiang Feng also discovered that this Ming power had a very strong directionality. That is, for a period after eating, it could be converted into long-term Ming power for storage, or it could temporarily enhance a certain attribute of his body.

If he ate it before a battle, it could definitely boost his temporary combat power!

After giving this feedback to Chongfan, Chongfan became very excited and continued to make adjustments. Jiang Feng became his test subject, and in just a few days, he ate a lot of strange and exotic meats.

To be honest, about half of the time, the meat tasted strange, but Jiang Feng was a pragmatist. As long as it was useful, he could always eat it without a word.

In comparison, Ye Xiao, the night snack, was even more enthusiastic. During this period, it spent less time with Jiang Feng and mostly stayed by Chongfan's pot waiting to eat.

Now, Jiang Feng could roughly distinguish between the rabbit and the white shadow Ye Xiao.

Was the white shadow hibernating again?

This morning, Jiang Feng went hunting as usual.

It had been ten days since he last went to Chaoxi Peak. In these few days, Jiang Feng hadn't missed a single day of cultivation and had opened his sixth acupoint. For an ordinary person, opening another acupoint would allow them to advance to the Dawn Realm. But Jiang Feng had nine acupoints on one branch, so he still had a distance to go before advancing.

His current hunting target was a seventh-level Ming beast.

After all, his main purpose in hunting Ming beasts was cultivation. A dangerous environment could better stimulate his combat power and help him improve faster.

On the way, he still observed the surroundings but found no traces of the Jiang family.

He frowned and didn't head towards Chaoxi Peak. Instead, he turned west halfway and soon approached a small mountain called Xiangbi Peak.

The upper part of this mountain resembled an elephant's trunk, making it very recognizable. Below it was a grassland with many rocks scattered among the tall grass. Various Ming beasts often appeared among the rocks, mostly seventh-level fierce beasts.

Jiang Feng approached, and after walking for a while, he sniffed the air, stopped, and hid behind a large rock.

A strong smell of alcohol wafted from ahead, and faint snoring sounds carried on the wind, as if someone had fallen asleep drunk!

In a place where beasts gathered? Asleep?

Jiang Feng squinted and looked ahead. In the tall grass, there was a large rock taller than a person, and a man was lying on it with his feet up, sound asleep.

Above the grassland, some grass eagles were circling. They were fifth-level Ming beasts, living in groups, and mostly preyed on weak ground beasts, but occasionally they would face off against Ming beasts two levels higher than themselves, relying on their flight advantage to usually win.

Now, those grass eagles were circling above the man, ready to swoop down at any moment!

Jiang Feng frowned and moved closer.

The man had a beard, wearing armor made from Ming beast skin, and holding a wine gourd tightly even in his sleep.

Jiang Feng carefully observed him, and suddenly his heart stirred.

He saw a shallow mark on the man's forehead, which looked like a leaf but, upon closer inspection, resembled a vortex.

This was the mark of opening the first Yuan branch and advancing to the Dawn Realm!

As he was observing, the man suddenly opened his eyes, a sharp light flashing in them, and looked in Jiang Feng's direction.

Then, he rubbed his face, sat up, and squinted at the sky.

At that moment, a grass eagle spotted its target and shot down from the sky like an arrow, its sharp beak aimed directly at the man's forehead!

The man laughed loudly, lightly tapped his foot on the rock, and leaped up to meet the grass eagle!

He jumped extremely high and fast, brushing past the grass eagle. His foot lightly touched the grass eagle, and a crisp sound was heard. The eagle didn't slow down but instead rushed to the ground even faster. In a few breaths, the eagle crashed into a rock and fell, already dead.

The man used this momentum to jump even higher, facing the circling grass eagles in the sky.

In an instant, Jiang Feng was dazzled.

The man's figure flashed like lightning in the sky, and every landing point was a grass eagle's body. Each collision allowed him to fly further, and the grass eagle would inevitably break its bones and fall like a stone.

In a moment, the sky in this area was cleared, and all the grass eagles were killed by the man. He let out a clear whistle and lightly landed in front of Jiang Feng, looking at him curiously.

"Hey, kid, you've only opened six acupoints. Isn't it a bit too early for you to be here?"

Jiang Feng smiled and asked, "You've already advanced to the Dawn Realm. Isn't it a bit too late for you to be here?"

The man was taken aback and laughed heartily. He patted Jiang Feng's shoulder and said, "Good kid, you've got spirit! I'm called Pingluan Shan. What's your name?"

After exchanging names, Pingluan Shan turned to collect the grass eagles, directly extracting the Yuan cores and discarding the rest.

Jiang Feng shook his head and sighed. Pingluan Shan noticed and asked, "What's wrong?"

Jiang Feng said, "The chest meat of a fifth-level red-eyed grass eagle is tender and tasty. Throwing it away is a waste."

Pingluan Shan looked at him strangely, "Kid, you don't seem like someone from a poor background."

Jiang Feng was puzzled, "What do you mean?"

Pingluan Shan pointed to the dead grass eagles, "The meat of Ming beasts is mixed with Ming power and can't be eaten without special processing. To handle this Ming power, you need at least the Body Enlightenment Realm control..."

He looked Jiang Feng up and down, marveling, "Kid, you really don't seem like someone from a poor background!"

Jiang Feng didn't speak.

Body Enlightenment Realm control... Chongfan clearly hadn't reached the age to fuse the Ming heart seed and was just an ordinary person...

Just as Pingluan Shan was about to speak, a beast roar came from the other side. Pingluan Shan's face turned serious, and he stretched out his hand, "You'd better hide quickly!"

Jiang Feng looked up and immediately understood why Pingluan Shan was here!

From the opposite valley, a Ming beast with an eagle's head and a lion's body slowly emerged. A diamond-shaped crystal was embedded in its forehead, and two small dots of the same color were next to it, like splashed water.

Jiang Feng knew that when martial cultivators advanced to the Dawn Realm and Ming beasts advanced to the next level, they would develop obvious characteristics. The vortex on Pingluan Shan's forehead indicated he was at the second acupoint of the Dawn Realm, and this eagle-lion was also at the second level of the first stage, matching its strength.

Pingluan Shan was here for it!

Jiang Feng hid behind a large rock as Pingluan Shan had said, and soon he saw an exciting battle.

This eagle-lion was a wood-type Ming beast. When it was angry, the tall grass in the area responded, grabbing at Pingluan Shan like countless tentacles.

Pingluan Shan moved like the wind, extremely fast. The grass barely touched his body before he had already flashed several meters away, unable to bind him.

He circled around, and every time he approached the eagle-lion, a splash of blood would fly out.

Wood-type Ming beasts had average defense and attack but very strong endurance. Pingluan Shan inflicted countless wounds on it, but it always healed quickly.

Finally, Pingluan Shan let out a long whistle, circled around to its back, and punched straight through its body!

This punch made Jiang Feng's body tense. The eagle-lion roared wildly, its voice gradually fading. It fell to the ground with a thud, dead.

Pingluan Shan walked over, panting heavily. Jiang Feng instinctively took a step back.

The man looked at his right hand and smiled bitterly, "This guy's weak point was actually there... really annoying."

Before he finished speaking, Jiang Feng and Pingluan Shan's faces changed simultaneously.

Under their feet, the ground shook violently. A moment later, the grass split apart, and a black shadow emerged from underground, biting the eagle-lion and swallowing it whole!

"Deep Rock Earth Dragon!" Jiang Feng exclaimed!