Chapter 78: Nowhere to Run

Chu Tianfeng had no idea that someone intended to intercept him. To him, the would-be assailants were nothing more than ants—utterly beneath his concern.

Half an hour later, he finally emerged from the woods and reached the main road. He planned to flag down a passing car and hurry to Qian Niao Lake Town. Yet after waiting over ten minutes, not a single car stopped for him. He could only blame his own inexperience; dressed as a woman and stranded in such a remote place, it was no wonder drivers were suspicious, perhaps mistaking him for a wayward soul.

Left with no other choice, Chu Tianfeng continued along the road at a leisurely pace. Suddenly, a figure darted out from the woods ahead—a man of about sixty with a horse-like face and sallow complexion, dressed in a black Tai Chi uniform, giving off an air of casual indolence.

Chu Tianfeng paid him little mind; he had already encountered two groups of martial artists in the forest, all likely treasure seekers. Chu Tianfeng had neither the interest nor the time to get entangled with them. Unfortunately, while Chu Tianfeng wished to avoid the horse-faced elder, the feeling was not mutual.

"Was it you who struck my two junior disciples?" the elder suddenly demanded when they were about ten meters apart.

"Be careful, he’s at the mid-stage Innate level," came Sayako’s warning from the depths of his consciousness. Evidently, Sayako was well-versed in the hierarchy of martial cultivation.

Chu Tianfeng's expression grew grave. A mid-stage Innate—he was no match.

"Are you from the Celestial Master Sect?" Chu Tianfeng countered.

"Hmph!" The horse-faced elder immediately realized Chu Tianfeng was the one he sought. "Girl, which sect do you belong to?"

"And who are you?" Chu Tianfeng asked with a sigh. First it was the juniors, now the elders; it felt as though he’d stirred up a nest of monkeys, with no end in sight. Worse yet, this elder was not one to be trifled with.

"Not going to answer, are you?" The elder strode forward rapidly. "Very well, let’s see what you're made of!"

In the blink of an eye, the gap between them shrank to four or five meters. The elder lunged at Chu Tianfeng. Knowing he was outmatched, Chu Tianfeng had no intention of fighting head-on. His figure flickered as he darted into the woods, flitting more than ten meters away in an instant.

"Where do you think you’re going?" the elder bellowed, charging after him. He secretly admired Chu Tianfeng’s remarkable agility and lightness skill, though he wasn’t worried—no matter how exquisite the technique, it couldn’t compensate for a lack of cultivation.

A trace of smugness glinted in Chu Tianfeng’s eyes. If he ran at full speed, the elder would never catch him. He deliberately slowed, intending to lure the elder into a trap.

After a few minutes, he feigned exhaustion, gasping for breath and slowing his pace. The elder, delighted, quickened his pursuit. The distance between them shrank further—now less than five meters.

In a flash, Chu Tianfeng spun around, hurling his alchemy furnace with all his might at the elder. The horse-faced elder, wary, sidestepped and caught the furnace. He had been eyeing it for some time; its antique form suggested it was a rare and valuable object. Without hesitation, he seized it for himself.

But Chu Tianfeng’s toss was a feint—to free his hands for a better attack.

A hail of ice spikes suddenly tore through the air, whistling toward the elder. Startled by the onslaught, the elder’s expression shifted dramatically. Not daring to meet the attack head-on, he dodged backward at top speed.

Chu Tianfeng raised his hand, unleashing another storm of ice spikes that pressed the elder relentlessly. In terror, the elder found himself surrounded on all sides, unable to escape. Desperate, he rolled across the ground to evade the deadly barrage. The ice spikes hammered into the earth behind him like nails.

"Who are you?" the elder cried out in panic, having rolled more than ten meters away. He now realized he could not subdue this opponent—not with such formidable techniques. Still, he noted that Chu Tianfeng’s cultivation was lower; it was only his agility and deadly hidden weapons that had left the elder so at a loss.

Lightness skill? Hidden weapons? The realization dawned.

"Care to continue the fight?" Chu Tianfeng smiled faintly. In truth, he bore the man no great grudge and had no desire to fight, especially since he was outmatched. In broad daylight, with the elder on guard, his offensive spells would do little good.

"What is your connection to Chu Tianfeng?" the elder asked as he slowly stood.

"Hand over the furnace if we’re done fighting," said Chu Tianfeng, extending his right hand. He knew that the moment he combined his spells, the elder would begin to suspect his identity. But he didn’t care; it was unlikely anyone would guess that the beautiful woman before them was Chu Tianfeng himself.

"Hmph!" The elder snorted, dismissing any thought that this was Chu Tianfeng, assuming instead that it was one of his sect sisters. Noting the girl’s presence at Qian Niao Lake with the furnace, he concluded that it must have come from Chu Tianfeng—after all, every martial artist in China knew Chu Tianfeng had discovered the treasure at Qian Niao Lake. The value of the furnace was self-evident.

"You old fool! I’ll say it again—return my furnace!" Chu Tianfeng threatened, as if ready to fight to the death.

"Wretched girl, this furnace is mine now," the elder sneered to himself. He couldn’t defeat Chu Tianfeng, but Chu Tianfeng couldn’t defeat him either. There was no reason to yield the hard-won furnace.

As the two faced off, several more figures came running through the woods. Chu Tianfeng glanced at the furnace in the elder’s hand and was struck by inspiration.

"Help! He’s stolen my treasure!" Chu Tianfeng suddenly shouted at the newcomers, pointing an accusing finger.

At the same time, he cast a palm of vital energy in their direction.

"Nonsense! This is my family’s ancestral furnace!" the elder protested, swiftly retreating. He realized Chu Tianfeng was trying to shift the blame, making him the target for the others. Yet, though he saw through the ruse, he had no choice but to play along—unless he wanted to give up the furnace and risk a fight to the death.

Unwilling to risk either, he turned and fled at full speed, vanishing into the woods in a heartbeat.

"Curse you! You stole my family heirloom—may you die a miserable death, old man from the Celestial Master Sect!" Chu Tianfeng wailed theatrically as the newcomers arrived.

There were five in all—two elders and three middle-aged men. One elder was plump and round-faced, at the late Innate stage; the other was thin, with a hook nose and sharp eyes, at the mid-Innate stage. The three others were at various peak Energy Transformation levels.

The round-faced elder turned to his companion. "Brother Qian, wasn’t that Elder Yu from the Celestial Master Sect?"

"Indeed," replied the eagle-eyed elder with a sneer. "The Celestial Master Sect has fallen so far they’ll even rob a young girl."

"Let’s see what he’s up to," said the round-faced elder, and with a whistle, the five of them bounded off in pursuit.

"Elder Yu, may you die childless and alone!" Chu Tianfeng howled for show, then slipped away. As to whether Elder Yu would be caught or forced to fight, Chu Tianfeng didn’t care.

He was in a foul mood, having lost yet another alchemy furnace. It seemed he was cursed—every time he bought one, he lost it. This was the third: the first taken by the Huangshan Sect’s Guo Xiancheng, the second stolen by the tomb-raider Lu Cunyi, and now the third snatched away like a bone tossed to a dog.

He resolved then and there never to buy another alchemy furnace—and certainly not from the fat shopkeeper. There must be something wrong with that man’s feng shui; his wares were nothing but trouble!

Afterward, Chu Tianfeng made his way to the station, bought a ticket to Hang City, and from there caught a train back to Tianhai.

———

The night was pitch-black, and so was the Salt Merchants’ Tower.

This was Chu Tianfeng’s second visit to the headquarters of the Salt Merchants’ Guild. The first time, he’d come to assassinate Liu Zuo, but hadn’t even glimpsed his target. Instead, he crippled Elder Fei of Security, wounded Vice President Chen Yue, and slew or maimed countless security guards, dealing a heavy blow to the Salt Merchants.

This time, his purpose was just as clear, though his primary target had shifted to Sima Lin; Chen Yue and Liu Zuo were now secondary.

The hour was late, and the streetlamps in the alley seemed half-asleep, casting their dim glow on the equally listless passersby. Chu Tianfeng, still disguised as a woman with his face veiled, was closely followed by Sayako. Man and ghost slipped silently into the building.

Kill.

Once again, Chu Tianfeng chose the way of ambush. Using his invisibility spell, he turned into a wisp of human-shaped smoke and began his sweep from the first-floor lobby.

The two security guards at the entrance were the first to fall. Chu Tianfeng crept up behind them, unnoticed.

Crack! Crack!

Their necks snapped, and they collapsed to the ground. Sayako pounced, absorbing their fresh souls.

The moment the guards fell, the building’s alarm system blared to life, sirens echoing throughout. Chu Tianfeng and Sayako paid it no mind; to conserve his energy, Chu Tianfeng even dropped his invisibility, striding openly toward the stairwell where more than a dozen guards had appeared.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

A barrage of flaming arrows rained down like a storm upon the security team. None of them were highly skilled—most were at the Bright or Dark Strength stages. With Chu Tianfeng’s own cultivation now higher, his arrows were faster than ever, and few guards could dodge in time.

Screams echoed through the hall as guard after guard fell, most dying instantly. A cold gleam flashed in Chu Tianfeng’s eyes—he had no pity for such scum. He never claimed to be a hero, nor did he feel obliged to rid the world of evil. If the Salt Merchants hadn’t hounded him relentlessly, he’d never have bothered with them.

Tonight, he would make them understand: to cross Chu Tianfeng was to invite utter and devastating consequences.

As the guards dropped, Sayako drained their souls one by one. Chu Tianfeng charged into the stairwell and down to the basement.

As always, his first move was to plunge the building into darkness.

He killed his way through, rewarding every guard he met with a flaming arrow. Cries of agony rang out as they fell in quick succession. In moments, he reached the power room.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

As before, he lobbed a great fireball into every power room and generator chamber.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Blazes erupted in the basement, and the building’s lights went out. Chu Tianfeng then retracted his fire—this was to be his game with the Salt Merchants, and he had no intention of summoning the police with an uncontrolled blaze.

Now, it was time for his performance.

With a sharp whistle, Chu Tianfeng stormed back to the first floor. In the darkness, the guards were thrown into chaos, crowding the lobby, hallways, and stairwells, shouting and demanding explanations. Their weapons were a motley assortment—batons, machetes, and a few pistols among them.