Chapter 45: Repulse (1/2)

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 Grass 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 Grass 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 assess 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 assail 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!