The Celestial Essence Sword Sect could have stolen from any other faction, but they specifically targeted the Black Flood Dragon Gang. This was no accident.
Clearly, they were deliberately targeting the Black Flood Dragon Gang—or rather, Bian Yixia herself.
Those disciples might not have been particularly close with Su Changqing, but they wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to help a sect brother teach this shameless woman a lesson. It was no big deal to them.
"Those bastards! They’re blatantly trying to humiliate me!" The more Bian Yixia spoke, the angrier she became, her teeth grinding with a CLICK.
After all, many of her men had been injured while trying to corner that Demon Beast.
But in the end, their efforts were for naught. The disciples of the Celestial Essence Sword Sect had brazenly stolen it from right under their noses.
Worse, every one of those bastards had been gloating, their faces practically screaming, ’I love that pathetic look on your face when you hate me but can’t do a thing about it.’
Zou Feng, however, didn’t feel much of anything. He had already gotten revenge on the Black Flood Dragon Gang’s behalf.
"Calm your anger, Miss. I believe that those who live by injustice will die by it. The wicked will always get their comeuppance," Zou Feng said, trying to console her.
Bian Yixia immediately shook her head and frowned at him. "You’ve been with the Black Flood Dragon Gang for a while now. How can you still have such naive thoughts?"
"If the wicked truly got their comeuppance, at least half of the Celestial Essence Sword Sect would have to..."
Before she could finish, one of Bian Yixia’s personal scouts rushed over and hurriedly whispered a few words in her ear.
A look of utter shock appeared on Bian Yixia’s face. "What did you say? Su Changqing was killed last night!?"
In Yuan Guang County Town, this was absolutely bombshell news.
Su Changqing, an Elite Disciple and Seventh Grade Expert of the Celestial Essence Sword Sect, had been assassinated.
"Are you sure he’s dead? Who did it? A remnant of the Ten Directions Sect?" Bian Yixia was both shocked and delighted.
Although she had clearly rejected Su Changqing before, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t continue to pester her and pull some dirty tricks behind her back.
Last night’s incident with the Demon Beast had made Bian Yixia even more worried.
But then, the bastard suddenly croaked!
The great weight on Bian Yixia’s heart finally vanished.
"This subordinate doesn’t know, but based on the information we’ve gathered so far, it was most likely an expert from the Ten Directions Sect!"
Making the Ten Directions Sect the scapegoat had been part of Zou Feng’s plan all along.
Although he had modified the Great Compassion Hand, the foundation of the Cultivation Skill remained. It would be easy for someone to tell that Su Changqing had been beaten to death by the Great Compassion Hand.
The remnants of the Ten Directions Sect had been hunted for so long; now they’d finally scored a point back. They wouldn’t just accept this unexpected blame; they’d gladly wear it with pride.
"Miss, you see? His comeuppance arrived after all," Zou Feng said, first feigning surprise.
Bian Yixia was stunned for a moment, then she smiled faintly. "Good riddance!"
With that, the news of Su Changqing’s death quickly spread throughout Yuan Guang City, naturally causing quite a stir.
Zou Feng had originally thought the Celestial Essence Sword Sect would be enraged and dispatch more disciples to Yuan Guang City, perhaps even sending a Gang Qi Realm expert.
But that’s not how things unfolded.
The four remaining Seventh Grade Sword Sect disciples stationed there launched a massive search, but their operations still relied heavily on cooperation with local factions. No new Sword Sect disciples joined them.
This puzzled Zou Feng.
’Could it be that the Celestial Essence Sword Sect is tied up with other matters and can’t send reinforcements?’
Of course, it was also possible they simply couldn’t be bothered to make a mountain out of a molehill. After all, a mere Seventh Grade Disciple wasn’t that rare for the Celestial Essence Sword Sect.
With the imminent threat of Su Changqing gone, Zou Feng could once again focus on his Cultivation, preparing for the upcoming contest for the Immortal Treasure.
However, he had wanted to see if Xiaolv’s poison had changed after devouring Su Changqing’s flesh and blood.
But when the little guy woke up, it disappeared into the river without so much as a greeting.
Even when Zou Feng hummed a little tune at night, Xiaolv remained nowhere to be seen.
But Zou Feng wasn’t worried. He had always let Xiaolv roam free; if it had wanted to run away, it would have done so long ago.
It had probably eaten too well recently and was about to evolve. It likely needed to find a hidden place to molt or shed its skin.
All he had to do was wait for the surprise this Gu Insect would bring him.
「Five days later, at the Guangfa Gambling House.」
As the date of the competition for the Immortal Treasure drew closer, Chen Jingsheng frequently summoned Wang Xingjian and Zou Feng to make detailed preparations.
In reality, the competition had already begun—starting with the battle for intelligence.
Chen Jingsheng had gone to great lengths to investigate the Cultivation Skills practiced by Zhu Qiming and his two companions. After studying them, he shared his findings with Wang Xingjian and Zou Feng.
Of course, Zhu Qiming’s side was undoubtedly conducting similar intelligence gathering.
So, in the end, it would all come down to who had a hidden trump card the other side didn’t know about.
And Zou Feng’s trump card was clearly far beyond anything Zhu Qiming’s side could possibly anticipate...
"My fight against Zhu Qiming is in the bag. The key is that one of you two must win a match!" Chen Jingsheng was clearly very confident in his own strength.
But Zou Feng really wanted to say the same thing back to Chen Jingsheng.
Chen Jingsheng versus Zhu Qiming, a Seventh Grade against a Seventh Grade, was already set.
But Wang Xingjian’s and Zou Feng’s opponents would be decided on the spot.
Although Zou Feng could use his on-the-spot cultivation method to transfer the side effects during the fights, giving Chen Jingsheng and Wang Xingjian a massive advantage...
...there was no guarantee their opponents didn’t have some incredibly powerful trump card hidden away.
So they couldn’t let their guard down and assume the Immortal Treasure was already theirs for the taking.
Besides, the real trouble would probably begin *after* they won the competition...
"Zou Feng, spar with me!" Chen Jingsheng said, looking at Zou Feng as soon as he finished speaking. "I’ll do my best to only use Eighth Grade Inner Qi and imitate the Cultivation Skills of Wei Lingyun and He Qingzhi."
"Even though I can only mimic the form of their skills, it should at least give you a rough idea of what to expect."
’If you really only use Eighth Grade Inner Qi, you probably wouldn’t last twenty rounds against me...’ Zou Feng thought to himself.
’But why pick me? Why not spar with Wang Xingjian?’
With this question in mind, Zou Feng turned to glance at Wang Xingjian.
Wang Xingjian immediately understood what Zou Feng was thinking and said with a smile, "My friend, the Cultivation Skill I practice can’t be used for sparring. It’s only for killing..."
’Huh, isn’t that just like my Five Poison Skill, which also can’t be used for sparring?’
There was no way out of it. Since he couldn’t refuse, he would just have to put on an act.
After sparring with Bian Yixia for so long, Zou Feng had become quite adept at hiding his truly powerful trump cards.
Once Zou Feng and Chen Jingsheng officially began to spar, Zou Feng realized he had underestimated Chen Jingsheng.
The Body Refining Skill he practiced was no weaker than his own Tribulation-Indestructible Body.
It had definitely reached the Realm of Integration and Mastery, and he was likely not far from breaking through to Refined Skill.
Unexpectedly, they hadn’t been sparring for long when a commotion erupted from downstairs, accompanied by the pained cries of many people.