In Chen Feng’s opinion, no matter how powerful a cultivator hiding in the dark may be, that type of power was only temporary. It was impossible for him to obtain ultimate victory.

Openly defeating every opponent was the right way.

Thus, when he heard Qi Sha mention the matter about competing for the position of Sect Master, Chen Feng nearly laughed out.

He was thinking too highly of himself.

“What did you say? You puny Concealed stage cultivator. In my eyes, you are nothing more than a puny insect.” There was a slight agitation in Qi Sha’s voice. However, he did not reveal himself.

“He he! And yet, you want to snatch the item of an ant?” Chen Feng could not stop himself from laughing.

“Fine! I have no interest in talking with you anymore. Since you snatched it, you will have to pay the price,” Chen Feng quickly continued.

“With your abilities? You want me to pay the price? How laughable!” Qi Sha sneered.

Suddenly, an overpowering aura erupted from the space before Chen Feng. Next, a black-clad man appeared out of thin air to stand before both Chen Feng and Bai Ziyan. The black-clad man was Qi Sha, the Club Leader of Seven Kills Club. At that very moment, tears were spreading across Qi Sha’s hand, the hand holding the Demon Sealing Sword. Blood sprayed out from his wounds like no tomorrow.

A look of dread appeared on Qi Sha’s face. He wanted to toss the sword in his hand away, but found it impossible to do so. Next, the Demon Sealing Sword released a soft pulse and the tears spreading across Qi Sha’s hand swiftly spread up to his arms. First, his flesh was torn. Next, blood sprayed out all over the place to reveal his white bones. After that, even his white bones began cracking. In just half a breath’s worth of time, Qi Sha’s arm was a goner. Even so, the tears continued spreading across Qi Sha’s body.

“Argh! Quick, take the sword away!” Qi Sha cried out in dread. Should the Demon Sealing Sword pulse out again, his whole body would be torn apart.

Chen Feng beckoned with his hand and the Demon Sealing Sword transformed into a stream of light, flying into his hand. Thus, Qi Sha was saved from certain death. However, he had lost an arm.

“Fortunately, you only used one hand to hold the Demon Sealing Sword,” Chen Feng said with a smile.

“You!” Qi Sha pointed at Chen Feng, his body trembling. Both his eyes were blood-red and killing intent glinted across his eyes.

“You already know that this is a Sacred artefact, and yet, you dared to recklessly snatch it? Do you not know the power of a Sacred artefact? It is the weapon of Human Immortals. How can a minor Sky Human stage cultivator like you, with only a couple Lightning Tribulations under your belt, snatch it?” Chen Feng said with a sneer.

Qi Sha was so infuriated, he nearly puked out blood. Looking at his limp arm, Qi Sha wanted nothing more than to charge forward and fight with everything he had. However, he could not. Just looking at the sword in Chen Feng’s hand gave Qi Sha a feeling of fear. If it were not for Chen Feng’s action of keeping the sword earlier, he would most certainly have died.

Ding!

Bringing up the Demon Sealing Sword, Chen Feng gently tapped it. A lengthy metallic sound rang out, accompanied by waves of power, the power of a Sacred artefact. Qi Sha kept backing away, his heart filled with utter dread. Only then did he realize that the sword contained such power.

Deng! Deng! Deng!

After retreating for tens of steps, Qi Sha hurriedly turned and flew away from the mountain. In the blink of an eye, he turned invisible. He did not even say anything.

“This sword’s power is truly formidable. A pity, I still cannot control it.” After saying that, Chen Feng tossed the Demon Sealing Sword to Bai Ziyan. Naturally, the earlier show of might from the Demon Sealing Sword was not Chen Feng’s doing. It was Tower.

After accepting the Demon Sealing Sword, Bai Ziyan did not inspect the sword with her eyes. Instead, she closed her eyes and quietly experienced the might of the sword.

After some time, Bai Ziyan opened her eyes. With a sigh, she handed the Demon Sealing Sword back to Chen Feng. The power of the sword was simply too high. Her soul power had failed to break through even the outer layer of the sword. Additionally, Bai Ziyan had this feeling. Any attempts on her part to use force would result in grievous injuries to her soul.

“As expected of a Sacred artefact. Perhaps only those who have cultivated up to the Human Immortal stage can control it. However, for you to possess a magic treasure of this tier, I fear it might bring you more troubles in the future,” Bai Ziyan said.

“He he! What can be done? Surely, I cannot simply toss this sword away,” Chen Feng said smilingly.

“Right. You have a powerful backer in the sect. It seems my concerns are unfounded.” Bai Ziyan smiled back.

“Backer.” Chen Feng chuckled and said nothing about it. Naturally, for Bai Ziyan, seeing this reaction from Chen Feng meant he was admitting to it.

“All right, you should focus on your cultivation in the future. At any rate, only your own strength is true strength. Hopefully, you can cultivate up to the Sky Human stage soon. When you are undergoing Lightning Tribulation, I can help guard you.” Having said that, Bai Ziyan’s figure drifted up into the sky.

“He he, it will happen.” Chen Feng grinned and he watched Bai Ziyan as she flew away. He kept watching until she disappeared from sight.

“Undergo Lightning Tribulation. I wonder, when can I undergo Lightning Tribulation?” Chen Feng whispered.

“Kid, truth be told, there is no need for you to be anxious. In the Concealed stage, every time you advance by one level, your life span will increase by 100 years. Additionally, you are cultivating the Longevity Scripture. Your life span is much longer than other cultivators. For some, breaking through one level usually involves over 10 years of bitter cultivation. You have only been cultivating for such a short time, yet you have already reached level 6 of the Concealed stage. In this world, you can already be considered a genius.” Tower suddenly comforted Chen Feng.

Chen Feng felt surprised. Tower had always tried to put him down. What was going on today?

“Tower, have you gone senile? You have never praised me before,” Chen Feng said with a wry smile.

“He he! In hindsight, my demands from you may have been a bit harsh. Truth be told, I have always used the cultivation standard of the Immortal Plane when assessing you. In the Immortal Plane, this cultivation speed of yours is indeed not worth mentioning,” Tower said.

“What? The cultivation standard of the Immortal Plane?” Chen Feng could not stop himself from shouting aloud.

“How can that be used as a comparison? Cultivating in the Immortal Plane involves absorbing immortal energy whereas I am only absorbing spiritual energy of the mundane world!” Chen Feng became somewhat dissatisfied.

“Kid, don’t get ahead of yourself! I heard your conversation earlier. There are Concealed stage cultivators amongst the sect’s core disciples as well. Not to mention, there is more than one of them. In other words, they are like you, capable of going against Sky Human stage cultivators despite being in the Concealed stage,” Tower said.

“How is it possible? Could they be like me? Do they also possess Heaven-defying magic treasures?” Chen Feng asked.

“Maybe yes, maybe not. Some people are born with a natural talent for cultivation and some possess superb comprehension abilities. Their one day’s worth of cultivation is the equivalent of 10 days’ worth of cultivation for others. Unlike you, these people are true geniuses. You, on the other hand, are a bogus genius,” Tower said.

“A bogus genius? He he! As long as I have power, that is fine.” Chen Feng snickered.

“There are also people born with mighty fleshly bodies and highly condensed souls. Some are born with spiritual roots. These people are even more outstanding. Even in the Immortal Plane, these people are geniuses amongst geniuses,” Tower elaborated.

“Spiritual roots? What are spiritual roots?” Chen Feng asked curiously.

“A spiritual root is not a specific object. Rather, it is the super powerful bloodline or cultivation constitution that a person is born with. For example, a cultivator born with the Vajra Constitution is born with extraordinary might and a body impervious to weapons. There is also the Crimson Sun Constitution. This person’s cultivation of fire-type magic techniques will be 10 times or even over 100 times that of the average cultivator. Magic Eyes Constitution. This person is born with some wondrous eye techniques. Five Elemental Constitution. This person can absorb and refine the power of the five elements even when still within his or her mother’s womb. Netherfrost Constitution. This person can easily absorb energy of the cold, sinister and murderous attribute. Think about it. Can ordinary cultivators compare against them?” Tower said slowly, giving Chen Feng the time to digest the information.

“What monstrosities! Won’t the existence of such people bring a huge blow to other cultivators’ morale?” Chen Feng blurted.

“Heh heh! It is said that Heaven is fair. In fact, Heaven is most unfair. Kid, I’ll say this. If you want something, you will have to seize it yourself. Good things and opportunities will not appear before you for no reason,” Tower said with a chuckle.

“Say, do you think there are cultivators with spiritual roots within Extreme Celestial Sect?” Chen Feng then asked.

“Definitely. Perhaps, those few core disciples at the Concealed stage possess spiritual roots. Generally speaking, cultivators with spiritual roots can cultivate at a spectacular speed. Their future is immeasurable. He he! Don’t ask so much about it. You will surely encounter them in the future.” Tower laughed.

“Even if I do encounter them, I would be incapable of identifying them, no?” Chen Feng nodded his head.

“When you have cultivated the Divine Sky-piercing Eyes from the Longevity Scripture, you will be able to see if they possess spiritual roots or not,” Tower said leisurely.

“I still can’t cultivate that, can I?!”

“Naturally. No matter what, you will need to at least undergo Lightning Tribulation before you can cultivate the technique!”

“Forget it. Let’s not talk about this first. I have some matters to attend to.” Chen Feng shook his head and put the matter aside. After entrusting Lu Ta with some matters, Chen Feng then left his mountain residence.

Before Sun Xuan left, he had informed Chen Feng that the ones who betrayed him were most likely Ma Yuan, Liu Kai and Ze Fei. It had been a while since the earlier matter was resolved. Thus, it was time Chen Feng handled this issue. Since they dared betray him, they would have to face punishment, regardless of who they may be. Not to mention, Chen Feng had even saved them in the Demon Trial Grounds before.

His first stop was Ma Yuan’s residence. Chen Feng was fast. It did not take long before he landed on the mountain. Although there were some restrictive magic arrays, how could they stop Chen Feng? They were easily torn apart by Chen Feng to reveal a passageway into the mountain.

Chen Feng’s soul power spread out to swiftly scan the whole mountain.

No one.

Chen Feng was slightly surprised. After pondering the matter for a moment, he then left and flew towards Liu Kai’s mountain residence.

Liu Kai’s mountain residence was not far away from Ma Yuan’s mountain residence. There were only tens of li in between the two. Not only did the two of them had a good relationship, they were also living close to each other. Thus, they would often visit each other.

At that moment, Ma Yuan was within Liu Kai’s courtyard. The two of them wore frowns on their faces as they discussed something.

“This is bad! I didn’t think Chen Feng could be so powerful! This is bad! This is bad! If only we had known, we wouldn’t have done it. Sigh! We only have ourselves to blame for having jealous thoughts,” Ma Yuan said, a tinge of shame and regret in his voice. 

“Why are you afraid? Now that it’s come to this, there is no point talking about it anymore. Since Chen Feng is fine, he will soon figure out that we were the ones who leaked the news. He will be coming for us soon. It is possible that he is already coming after us,” Liu Kai said.

1 li = 0.5 km