Chapter 91: Hubris

The idiot Chu Tianfeng was still happily sprinkling cumin over a roasting deer leg when, before the fragrance had even drifted far, a thunderous roar rang out from the distance.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Chu Tianfeng looked up and saw six figures racing toward him from dozens of meters away.

He knew all six. They were the disciples of Mount Huang Sect and Mount Heng Sect, led by Duan Rui and Ge Huawen.

Cursing his bad luck, Chu Tianfeng hurriedly stowed the deer leg and took off at once.

Among those six, Ge Huawen was already at the late Innate stage. Just that one alone was more than enough to give Chu Tianfeng a hard time, let alone the five others backing him up, including Duan Rui.

If he could not win, he would run. Chu Tianfeng had no intention of fighting them head-on.

“Stop!”

Duan Rui and the others shouted as they pursued, even splitting into three groups in an attempt to encircle him.

Chu Tianfeng had no choice but to flee toward a nearby mountain peak.

This peak was fairly ordinary, rising almost at a right angle from the ground, its cliff face as sharp and clean as if hacked by axe and blade, straight and sheer.

But that did not trouble Chu Tianfeng in the slightest.

With a spring of his body, he leapt four or five meters upward with ease. After catching hold of a rocky ledge, he borrowed its force to vault higher, scaling the cliff with the agility of an ape.

Ge Huawen and Duan Rui were greatly astonished. They exchanged a glance, each seeing surprise in the other’s eyes, and beneath it a fixed, unshakable resolve.

“You two wait below. Brother Duan, come up with me and force him back down!” Ge Huawen bellowed, then leapt high and gave chase.

Duan Rui looked at the peak and saw that it stood alone. He could not help but sneer inwardly at Chu Tianfeng’s stupidity for climbing such a solitary mountain.

With a few dry laughs, he waved Dong Qingfei, Ouyang Zhen, and the others to wait at the foot of the peak, then also sprang upward and climbed with all his strength.

The mountain was not tall, but neither was it short. It took Chu Tianfeng more than ten minutes to reach only the middle of the slope.

He had intended to continue upward, but when he saw Ge Huawen and Duan Rui panting not far below, he suddenly changed his mind.

He took out two spirit stones and quickly restored part of his true essence.

Then he shot up again, this time plunging downward instead.

By then, Ge Huawen had just reached the spot beneath Chu Tianfeng. Seeing him swoop in, he hurriedly dodged to the side.

Chu Tianfeng smiled faintly, and with a sweep of both hands, a dense hail of ice spikes shot out like lightning.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Ge Huawen had never imagined that the other man carried so many hidden weapons.

At such close range, and already exhausted, he had no time even to evade.

With a series of sizzling sounds, several ice spikes struck him at once.

Ge Huawen grunted and hurriedly threw himself downward, trying to close the distance to Duan Rui as much as possible.

Having exhausted his force, Chu Tianfeng landed on a rocky outcrop.

“Brother Duan, hurry up! Let’s join forces and deal with him!” Ge Huawen shouted anxiously.

But he had plainly overestimated Duan Rui.

Duan Rui’s cultivation was a full level below his. He was still more than ten meters away.

Of course, he had seen the fight between Chu Tianfeng and Ge Huawen, and what he saw had chilled him to the bone.

He had not expected Chu Tianfeng to be this formidable. Not only was his movement technique superb, even his hidden weapons were so ferocious and overwhelming.

“All right!” Duan Rui answered beautifully with his mouth, but his body did not move an inch.

“Brother Duan...” Ge Huawen was so furious his eyes nearly burst from their sockets.

“Brother Ge, hold on a bit longer. I’ll come up after I catch my breath,” Duan Rui said, half-truth and half-lie, gasping for air in great mouthfuls.

Chu Tianfeng laughed heartily and once again darted to Ge Huawen’s side. With a flick of both hands, another storm of ice spikes descended.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Ge Huawen had no choice but to let go and leap toward Duan Rui with all his might.

The ice spikes struck the stone wall with a sound like silver bells, crisp and pleasant to the ear.

Ge Huawen, however, was in no mood to appreciate them. The only thought in his head was escape.

Chu Tianfeng’s momentum was spent, and he landed on a rock face.

“Brother Duan, come up quickly, and the two of us will take him together!” Ge Huawen shouted in desperation.

But Duan Rui was clearly too weak to answer that plea.

He was already as tired as a dog, with barely any strength left.

Seeing Chu Tianfeng glide toward him, he did not even think. He immediately released his grip and slid downward.

Even Ge Huawen, late Innate stage though he was, had been beaten. A mere mid-Innate cultivator like him had no desire to go die for nothing.

But Chu Tianfeng was much faster. The moment Duan Rui landed on a pine tree, he saw Chu Tianfeng already standing on the treetop, looking at him with complete composure.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Before his feet had even steadied, a row of ice spikes appeared before his eyes.

Duan Rui only managed a slight dodge to the side before his whole body was struck.

After the sizzling sounds faded, another earth-shaking scream rang out.

Chu Tianfeng’s expression did not change. As Duan Rui continued to fall, the ice spikes pursued him like a shadow.

The pitiful Duan Rui became like a target in midair, struck again and again by ice spikes, screaming continuously.

This battle could be said to have been profoundly unfair.

Chu Tianfeng made full use of his own strengths, forcibly scattered the enemy group, exhausted them one by one, and then brought them down in turn.

Throughout the entire process, the other side never got a chance to counterattack. They could only be beaten passively.

But Chu Tianfeng felt no pity for them. Mercy to one’s enemies was cruelty to oneself.

A moment later, he dropped back into the valley.

What was almost comical was that Dong Qingfei, Ouyang Zhen, and the others still did not know what had happened. Instead of fleeing, they stood there blankly, staring at Ge Huawen and Duan Rui, who had been smashed to the ground in a pair of limp, ugly heaps.

Clearly, Dong Qingfei and the others did not believe Ge and Duan had been knocked down by Chu Tianfeng. They thought the two had simply lost their footing and fallen.

Chu Tianfeng did not care what they thought. The moment he landed, his hands flashed again and again, and the ice spikes reappeared.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Only then did Dong Qingfei, Ouyang Zhen, and the others react, hurrying to dodge.

But their strength and speed were far inferior to Chu Tianfeng’s. How could they possibly escape?

After the sizzling sounds came a chorus of agonized screams.

Soon after, four more corpses lay on the ground.

Chu Tianfeng released a burst of true fire and reduced them all to drifting ash.

There was still plenty of spirit grass and cash in Ge and Duan’s bags, but both were stained red with blood. Chu Tianfeng did not want them, so he simply threw everything into the fire.

Then he walked back to where he had been, took out the deer leg again, and resumed his roast.

But just as he placed it over the flames and sprinkled on a little chili powder, he saw a large group of figures appearing in the distance once more.

And again, six of them. Not more, not less.

Chu Tianfeng frowned slightly, calculating in silence how to deal with this group.

The six approached one after another. It was actually Huang Zonghan and Fang Sixian—no, Qian Sifang—leading the teams of the Mount Hua and Qingcheng sects.

Chu Tianfeng sat upright and unmoving, his face calm, yet his divine sense firmly locked onto all six.

“Haha!” Qian Sifang was the first to laugh. “You brat really have some nerve. After running for two days, you’re still here!”

Chu Tianfeng acted as though he had heard nothing, continuing to roast the wild deer while whistling softly.

The tune was “Do You Know That I Am Waiting for You,” chosen specially for Qian Sifang.

Qian Sifang clearly did not understand it. He only thought Chu Tianfeng had been scared senseless.

Huang Zonghan, meanwhile, glanced around in puzzlement, trying to discover the reason for Chu Tianfeng’s unruffled composure.

“Run. Go on, then! Keep running!” Qian Sifang and the others drew nearer and nearer.

“Why should I run?” Chu Tianfeng not only failed to flee, he even reached beside him, picked up a dry branch, and tossed it into the fire.

“Exactly. You don’t need to run, because even if you do, it’ll be useless, haha!” Qian Sifang, together with two disciples of the Qingcheng Sect, stopped four or five meters from Chu Tianfeng.

Huang Zonghan led two Mount Hua disciples and stood a little farther away, about seven or eight meters off.

The cultivation of these people was similar to that of the earlier Mount Huang and Mount Heng fighters. Huang Zonghan was at the late Innate stage, Qian Sifang at the mid-Innate stage, and the remaining disciples were all at either the peak or later stages of the Transforming Force realm.

With that level of strength, Chu Tianfeng had no reason to fear them.

There was still a large fire beside him, and before escaping he intended to use it to kill some of their arrogance.

“Is that leg a pig’s leg or a sheep’s leg? Is it being roasted for us?” Qian Sifang, still completely clueless, continued his taunts. “Haha! Your service is really excellent. I might even consider letting you die a little more comfortably.”

Chu Tianfeng could endure no longer. His hands flew wildly.

Whoosh!

Several sticks of firewood beneath his feet shot up at once and streaked toward Qian Sifang.

Qian Sifang was startled and hurriedly leaped backward.

Since Chu Tianfeng had already made his move, how could he let him escape so easily?

With a powerful spring, he rapidly caught up to Qian Sifang and once again waved both hands furiously.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

A broad volley of blazing fire arrows burst forth!

Qian Sifang had barely managed to dodge the first wave when, before he could even steady himself, the second wave came hurtling toward him.

With no other choice, he rolled on the ground to evade Chu Tianfeng’s lethal strike.

Ah! Ah!

The two Qingcheng Sect disciples standing behind Qian Sifang were the first to be hit, screaming as they slowly collapsed.

Then Qian Sifang himself let out a muffled groan.

“Who are you? What is your relationship to Chu Tianfeng?” Huang Zonghan asked as he drew the sword at his side.

Anyone who saw Chu Tianfeng’s signature movement technique and hidden weapons would be able to guess the connection.

“You do not need to know. For the dead, whether they know more or less makes no difference.” Chu Tianfeng gave a cold smile and returned to where he had been to collect the deer leg.

Fortunately, those two Qingcheng disciples had died at a distance, so no blood had splashed onto the meat.

“Hmph, arrogant!” Huang Zonghan flicked his wrist, drawing a flower of sword light as he lunged at Chu Tianfeng.

Chu Tianfeng showed no fear at all. With a shake of his hand, a string of fire arrows flew out.

Huang Zonghan knew how powerful the fire arrows were and did not dare block them head-on. He quickly leaped aside to evade.

By then, Qian Sifang had also gotten up and drawn his own sword.

Seeing Huang Zonghan retreat, he immediately let out a sharp whistle and thrust his sword toward Chu Tianfeng’s lower body with a series of swift strikes.

One Huang Zonghan alone was enough to keep Chu Tianfeng busy. Add Qian Sifang to the mix, and the pressure doubled.

Chu Tianfeng sent out a burst of true essence, sweeping up nearly all the fire on the ground and hurling it at the two of them.