Chapter 5

Standing at the entrance of the training hall, Ye Feng's face darkened. He was in the middle of practicing his boxing techniques when he was interrupted, causing all his previous insights to vanish. If he had continued, he might have even caught a glimpse of mastery.

Pushing open the courtyard gate, he saw more than a dozen young men standing outside, one of whom had his arm wrapped in a white bandage and hanging around his neck. It was Yun Shishan, whose arm Ye Feng had shattered a few days ago.

"Who are you, and why are you making a commotion outside my courtyard!"

Ye Feng's voice was filled with anger, and he was clearly displeased.

"Are you Ye Feng?"

The young man at the front, who looked to be around seventeen or eighteen, asked with a cold tone, though his voice carried a hint of indifference.

"Indeed, I am!"

Ye Feng did not deny it. He didn't recognize this young man, as the Tianling Academy had thousands of disciples, and it was impossible to know everyone.

"So, it was you who injured Yun Shishan."

The young man pointed at Yun Shishan standing behind him, his body radiating a strong killing intent, clearly not there for a friendly visit.

"Yes, it was me who injured him!"

Ye Feng did not try to defend himself, his tone remaining calm. The young man in front of him was dressed in the attire of an inner disciple and was at the Fifth Level of the Later Heaven stage, giving off an air of arrogance and superiority.

"You injured a disciple of the Yun family. How do you expect us to settle this!"

The young man's tone turned cold when he saw Ye Feng admit it. He was also a disciple of the Yun family, named Yun Hao, and had some reputation among the inner disciples.

"It's simple. If your Yun family stays away from me, there won't be any more injuries to your disciples."

Ye Feng's tone left the surrounding onlookers in disbelief. How had Ye Feng changed? As an outer disciple, he was speaking to an inner disciple in such a manner.

"Fine, fine, fine. You're sharp-tongued. Since that's the case, take this punch!"

Yun Hao was furious. Initially, some of the onlookers wanted to speak up for Ye Feng, suggesting that an apology would suffice. After all, as an outer disciple with no progress in cultivation for three years, why provoke an inner disciple?

However, Ye Feng's words left no room for negotiation, so Yun Hao attacked. In the Tianling Academy, duels were a daily occurrence and not uncommon.

"Hmph!"

Seeing Yun Hao's fist approaching, Ye Feng merely snorted. Yun Hao was only at the early Fifth Level of the Later Heaven stage, yet he was so arrogant and overbearing.

Without using any martial techniques, Ye Feng relied on his physical strength, delivering a punch in the air. With thirty units of force, his fist produced a thunderous sound. After absorbing the energy from the Zhu Yan fruit, his physical strength had greatly increased, and he wanted to test it out.

The two were only a few steps apart, and in the blink of an eye, their fists collided, sending a wave of air crashing around them, followed by a scream of pain.

"Ah!"

The sound of the punch landing, Yun Hao, dressed in a long robe, was sent flying with a scream, completely unable to defend himself. Without relying on true qi, Ye Feng defeated a Fifth Level Later Heaven disciple with his physical strength alone.

"Crack!"

A clear sound of bones breaking echoed, as Yun Hao's arm was completely crushed by Ye Feng, hanging limply like a mass of flesh, as if the bones had been shattered by the overwhelming force.

The onlookers' eyes widened in shock at the sudden turn of events. How could Yun Hao, a Fifth Level Later Heaven disciple, not be a match for Ye Feng's single punch?

"This..."

Many of the onlookers gaped in disbelief, unable to close their mouths, seemingly unable to accept that Yun Hao, a Fifth Level Later Heaven disciple, had been sent flying by a single punch.

"Too terrifying, his strength must be at least thirty units of force!"

One of the disciples clutched his chest, still in disbelief, but he had indeed felt a powerful gust of wind, strong enough to destroy any creature below the Fifth Level of the Later Heaven stage.

"Overestimating yourself, to dare come here with such weak strength!"

Ye Feng sneered, not bothering to look at Yun Hao, who lay on the ground like a dead dog. He closed the courtyard gate and returned to his room, ignoring the commotion outside, and continued his cultivation.

As for the discussions outside, Ye Feng was unaware, as he had already entered a state of cultivation. The Purple Jade Technique was rapidly advancing, and after breaking through to the Fifth Level of the Later Heaven stage, he had reached the fifth layer of the technique.

Yun Hao was carried away, and Ye Feng's name slowly began to spread within a small circle.

"Do you think Ye Feng took some kind of miraculous elixir to be able to defeat a Fifth Level Later Heaven disciple with a single punch?"

Ye Feng's victory over Yun Hao became a topic of conversation among the outer disciples, as obtaining an elixir to boost one's cultivation was not uncommon.

"It's just relying on external forces. I heard that the Yun family is furious after learning that their disciples have been repeatedly injured by Ye Feng. The Yun family has several elite disciples, so Ye Feng might have a tough time ahead."

Most of the outside speculation was that Ye Feng had obtained some kind of spirit fruit, as he had a faint aroma about him, leading to this conclusion.

After consuming the Zhu Yan fruit, the aroma had not dissipated and continued to emanate from his pores, making the speculation somewhat reasonable.

After three days of cultivation in the courtyard, Ye Feng's body was clean, but his cultivation speed had slowed down. With no other choice, he headed to the Merit Hall.

Absorbing essence blood could enhance his strength, but Ye Feng had discovered a problem: he couldn't absorb too much at once, as exceeding his body's limits could lead to a backlash of demonic qi. He planned to take on some tasks from the Merit Hall to earn spirit stones for cultivation.

Spirit stones were the most common cultivation resource for martial artists. The Tianling Academy distributed some each month, but they were scarce and insufficient for cultivation.

Therefore, the only way to obtain a large number of spirit stones was to complete tasks for the Tianling Academy, which would allow him to exchange them for spirit stones.

After a short walk, Ye Feng arrived at the Merit Hall, where the walls were covered with various task tags, including tasks issued by the sect, elite disciples, and even some instructors.

Tasks were divided into three levels, corresponding to outer disciples, inner disciples, and elite disciples.

There were ordinary tasks, intermediate tasks, and advanced tasks. The higher the level, the greater the difficulty. Ordinary tasks were for outer disciples, intermediate tasks were mostly done by inner disciples, and advanced tasks were extremely rare, only completed by elite disciples, though some exceptionally talented inner disciples might also be capable.

Ye Feng was not in a hurry. He first went to the ordinary tasks section, looking at the various tasks posted, such as escorting missions, hunting demon beasts, and helping to find materials.

These tasks did not interest him much, as the rewards were low. The best reward was only fifty spirit stones, and with nine dantians, Ye Feng needed nine times the amount of spirit stones compared to a normal person. He needed to find tasks with higher rewards.

Moving to the intermediate tasks section, the number of tags was significantly fewer, only about a hundred. He scanned through them and finally focused on one task.

"One sixth-level demon beast's core, specifically an adult black snake's core, reward: three hundred spirit stones!"

This was the highest reward among the intermediate tasks. It seemed that an elite disciple needed this core and didn't have the time to hunt it, so they issued a task to exchange for spirit stones.

Without hesitation, he tore off the tag. Ye Feng had considered looking at the advanced tasks but decided against it, as they required at least the Seventh Level of the Later Heaven stage, and he was only capable of facing Sixth Level opponents.

Leaving the Merit Hall, Ye Feng headed directly to the Hengduan Mountains. He had seen this black snake in the Beast Chronicle, a creature similar to a dragon, rumored to be a descendant of a divine dragon, though it no longer possessed the divine dragon's bloodline.

This demon beast preferred to live in dark and damp places. After entering the Hengduan Mountains, Ye Feng searched in such areas, as these were the places where black snakes were likely to be found.

"Hmm, there are human footprints here, and they are quite clear. It seems someone passed by not long ago!"

Seeing the footprints on the ground, Ye Feng became alert. In the Hengduan Mountains, killings and thefts were common, even among academy members.

The footprints soon disappeared, indicating a change in direction. Ye Feng continued his search for the black snake and soon found a trench, about a few inches deep, left by the black snake's movement.

Not taking any chances, Ye Feng gathered his true qi. Judging by the trench, this black snake was at least an adult and quite powerful.

"Rustle..."

A rustling sound came from about a hundred meters ahead, as if something was moving. Ye Feng's spirit was lifted, and he shot up to a tree, looking down to see the black snake's back.

"It's you!"

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