Feeling the rampaging power within his body, not only was Chen Feng not anxious, he instead shouted in excitement.

"Excellent! This is it! I have finally broken through the fog covering my sea of wisdom. I didn't think I would be able to break through so quickly."

With the addition of the power from the sea of wisdom, Chen Feng's blood energy and the medicinal powers grew even more vigorous. Like a ten thousand-year-old volcano, it erupted non-stop. Mighty forces continuously charged out from Chen Feng's body, making him more emboldened. Thus, he gathered his blood energy and the medicinal powers of the Imperial Blood Gra.s.s before directing them at the needle-sized hole on the layer of fog.

Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!

Numerous cracks began appearing across the surface of the cave wall, causing it to shatter and fall without respite. The cave gradually grew in size as strands of divine sense began seeping outwards to merge with Chen Feng's blood energy. The two mutually aided each other in growing.

As Chen Feng was about to fully dispel the fog covering his sea of wisdom, a thick, black smoke charged into the cave before flowing into Chen Feng's pores.

Originally, the flow of blood within Chen Feng's body was as mighty as a tidal wave and the flow of primary energy as fast as a shooting snake. However, after the black smoke entered his body, the flow of blood and primary energy within his body subsided. In but a breath's worth of time, his blood was no longer roiling and his primary energy stopped moving. No matter how hard Chen Feng attempted to circulate his cultivation technique, nothing happened.

"What happened?" Chen Feng, who was about to break the layer of fog and enter the Concealed stage, was suddenly greeted with this situation. Thus, he became confused.

"Could my cultivation technique be wrong? Or did some other problem occur? However, the medicinal powers of the Imperial Blood Gra.s.s have yet to dissipate. Additionally, I was clearly on the verge of success earlier." Chen Feng contemplated the matter as he was quickly checking the state of his body.

"There shouldn't be anything wrong with the cultivation technique. There must be another reason." After saying that, Chen Feng opened his eyes. By then, however, the black smoke had all entered Chen Feng's body. Thus, he failed to notice it.

In just a short moment, Chen Feng's state grew worse. The primary energy and blood within his body became completely still. It was as though a raging river had suddenly transformed into a stagnant pool of water, an erupting volcano transformed into one that had been inactive for tens of thousands of years.

Next, Chen Feng felt his internal organs, muscles and bones growing stiff. It felt as though his life force was quickly flowing away from him.

"This is very bad! It seems a huge problem has cropped up." Chen Feng struggled to stand up only to feel stiffness within his whole body. The blood within both his legs could not flow properly and he found himself incapable of standing. Thus, he sat back down.

As Chen Feng's body grew increasingly stiff, a wondrous strand of power suddenly flowed out from his sea of wisdom once more. The strand of power flowed out from the hole in the fog to enter Chen Feng's blood. Immediately, Chen Feng could feel his blood flowing once more. At the same time, some blood energy was mobilized once more. Although the blood energy was minute in amount, it injected the necessary life force into Chen Feng's dead body.

Feeling the life force within him, Chen Feng quickly mobilized his primary energy. At the same time, he desperately attempted to establish a connection with the sea of wisdom beneath the layer of fog.

Huah!

Soon, Chen Feng's primary energy began to circulate, albeit slowly. Under Chen Feng's direction, the rate of circulation grew increasingly fast. Then, another strand of power flowed out from his sea of wisdom, allowing the life force within Chen Feng's body to slowly recover. After that, power ceaselessly flowed out from his sea of wisdom to meld with the various corners of Chen Feng's body. The hole protecting the sea of wisdom grew bigger. Finally, the size of the hole grew from that of a needle tip to that of a bean. With that, the amount of power surging out from his sea of wisdom grew as well. Likewise, the life force within Chen Feng's body grew stronger.

"Eh? What is this?" Chen Feng finally noticed the black smoke that had entered his body. After chasing it down, he was finally able to force out a wisp of black smoke out from his finger tip.

"Was it due to this?" Chen Feng carefully perceived it and found that the wisp of black smoke contained a mighty power of death. Thus, he came to realize what happened. Next, Chen Feng continued circulating his cultivation technique and quickly forced out wisp after wisp of black smoke out of his body. After a good one joss stick's worth of time, Chen Feng finally felt his whole body at a relaxed state. The life force within his body had been completely restored.

"This black smoke is different from the poisonous air from the pool. Did someone poison me? If that is the case, it means someone has found me."

Having realized that, Chen Feng continued to a.s.sess the situation, factoring in all that had transpired.

"The other party has found me but did not immediately take action to capture me. This means that they are either weaker than me or they do not know how strong I am. Or perhaps, they are somewhat fearful of me.

"To seek me out and poison me, it can only be the cultivators from the pool. However, the cultivators there are all stronger than me. If so, this party must be fearful of the sword in my possession. In other words, someone must have seen me kill off that Fifth Senior Brother."

After surmising that, Chen Feng's thoughts grew further.

"The other party is fearful of this sword, but feels greedy as well. Thus, they secretly gave chase and are now utilizing this method to kill me without my knowing. Humph! Since I have seen through your plot, I can trick you instead. I wonder, though, who are they and will they come in?"

After reaching that conclusion, Chen Feng began hatching a scheme of his own. Soon, he made up his mind. With a scheme in place, Chen Feng continued to a.s.sail the Concealed stage, seemingly not paying this present danger any heed. This action from him showed that Chen Feng's mind had improved considerably compared to before.

Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!

Under the bombardment efforts by Chen Feng, the thin layer of fog continued to crack and shatter. The hole gradually grew bigger and the power flowing out from his sea of wisdom grew in response. Time ticked and Chen Feng was slowly but surely stepping towards the Concealed stage.

At that moment, the charming woman who was outside the cave had finally grown impatient. Making up her mind, she decided to enter and check it out.

"It's been so long. If there is really someone inside, that person would have been affected by my Silent Destroyer Pill's medicinal power. By now, that person should no longer be able to move; a living dead body." The charming woman speculated. Next, she checked her surroundings before fluttering before the cave. With a wave of her hand, a large rock, a thousand jin in weight, was easily pushed aside. Next, her figure flew inside (1 jin = 0.5 kg).

"They are here."

Chen Feng noticed the sound made from removing the large rock. Immediately, he suppressed the life force within his body, forcing his heart to stop beating and his blood to stop flowing. His entire person became like a dead man.

"As expected, it is this kid." After entering the cave, the charming woman immediately took note of Chen Feng. She swept her gaze around the cave and her eyes instantly revealed excitement.

"This is, the G.o.dly weapon with extraordinary powers! To be able to so easily kill off Fifth Senior Brother, it is surely no ordinary magic treasure. Perhaps, it might even be a Prized artefact."

"There is no longer any fluctuation of life from this kid's body. It seems he has fallen for my Silent Destroyer Pill. Humph! An inconsequential cultivator who is not even at the Concealed stage dreams of stealing food from the tiger's mouth? You really don't know how to live properly." A look of ridicule appeared upon the charming woman's face.

"Well, then. This sword is mine!" said the charming woman who reached her hand out and made a grasping motion. The Overwhelming Astral Sword beside Chen Feng transformed into a stream of light as it flew towards the charming woman.

As the Overwhelming Astral Sword was about to reach the charming woman's hand, Chen Feng, who had appeared no different from a dead man, suddenly moved. Like a pouncing leopard, or perhaps an erupting volcano, he dashed forward with lightning-like speed to appear before the charming woman.

"Not good!"

The charming woman's face rapidly sank and a faint layer of power emerged around her, shining with various colours. That was a skill that she had practiced on her own, Bodyguard Power.

Bang!

Both of Chen Feng's palms shattered the layer of protective power before rushing through to heavily strike the charming woman's body. The power contained within his palms swiftly surged outwards and the charming woman screamed out in misery. Her figure was blown backwards, smashing through the stone wall behind her to create a one-metre deep hole there.

Chen Feng had taken her by complete surprise. Despite having a higher cultivation base than Chen Feng, in her state of confusion, she had been incapable of displaying her full power to defend herself. On Chen Feng's side, he had used all his strength in his attack. Thus, the charming woman was sent flying, not even managing to get her hands on the Overwhelming Astral Sword.

"Pu!"

The charming woman sprayed out a mouthful of blood, her face as pale as paper. That attack by Chen Feng had almost broken every one of her chest bones. Additionally, a power akin to raging waves had penetrated its way into every corner of her internal organs and meridians. The power was incessantly destroying her life force.

"Hmm, it really is you. If that is the case, you should die too," said Chen Feng while grasping the Overwhelming Astral Sword in his hand. He was about to pull out the sword and attack with it.

"Please do not attack me!" It was then that the charming woman cried out with a voice filled with sweetness. As delicate as jade and filled with an intoxicating allure, her beguiling voice a.s.sailed Chen Feng's senses. At the same time, her eyes gleamed, taking on a misty and illusionary quality. It was an exceptionally enthralling sight. Seeing that made Chen Feng pause for a brief moment. He could feel his blood rising and his rate of breathing became ragged. He found this lovely woman to be incomparably attractive and felt the desire to step forward to kiss her.

Shua!

The moment the blank look appeared on Chen Feng's face, the charming woman's body moved, transforming into a gust of fragrant wind to quickly run out from the cave. Her movement was exceptionally quick. In but the blink of an eye, she had disappeared.

"Not good!"

Seeing the other party escaping, Chen Feng quickly recollected himself. His figure flashed and he dashed outside. Unfortunately, by the time he was outside the cave, there was no longer any trace of the charming woman left. Only a faint fragrance was left in the air.

I was careless! I ended up letting an enemy go. Not to mention, she is from Purplecloud Sky Grotto. She also knows I killed their Fifth Senior Brother. This is going to be very troublesome. Although I do not know much about Purplecloud Sky Grotto, such a lofty immortal sect is not something a little human like me could fight against. If I had not utilized a sneak attack earlier, that woman could have easily killed me off. Chen Feng thought to himself. He felt an ache forming in his head.

"Huh! Thinking too much about it is pointless. Counter soldiers with arms and water with dams, I should quickly increase my strength [1]. However, it seems this place is no longer safe. Just a little bit more and I can truly enter the Concealed stage. I should change to a different place to continue my break through and cultivation." After saying that, Chen Feng entered the cave quickly. After gathering his items, he stepped out and ventured deep into the forest, quickly disappearing from sight.

1 Counter soldiers with arms and water with dams. An idiom meaning: Take the appropriate measures against the situation that you are facing at the moment.↩