Chapter 198: Chapter 157: Bathed in Fire, Gang Qi Realm (Part 2)

The moment his strike landed, Zou Feng didn’t even bother with a finishing blow. He immediately began to frantically absorb the toxins from the pair of palms.

After absorbing for only a moment, a look of ecstasy spread across Zou Feng’s face.

’What a massive boost!’

The benefits from the poison in these hands were even greater than those from the few drops of Scorpion Poison he’d absorbed earlier.

Evidently, Duan Wuya had long used Scorpion Poison to temper his Five Poison Skill. This had essentially purified the poison, so absorbing it naturally yielded far greater benefits.

“Hee hee hee…”

Covered in blood, Zou Feng held the two withered arms aloft, his laughter chillingly sinister.

Coupled with the hysterical screams of the now-armless Duan Wuya, the scene made Zou Feng look all the more like a fiend.

Though Tian Yun didn’t mind Zou Feng’s ruthless methods in the slightest, his strange, ceaseless laughter still made her worry that he was on the verge of being driven to madness by the poison’s influence…

The next moment, a pillar of fire erupted around Zou Feng.

The surrounding air became scorchingly hot, and faint golden lotuses began to materialize everywhere.

To Zou Feng’s surprise, activating “State Two” actually further accelerated the rate at which his Inner Qi was converted.

Duan Wuya’s “gift,” the strange Scorpion Poison, the deeper insights into the Poison Dao gained from their recent duel, and his “One-Minute True Man” state…

With all these factors combined, it would have been difficult for Zou Feng *not* to achieve a breakthrough.

The phenomenon he triggered was immense. The pillar of fire swelled larger and larger, almost forming a gigantic fiery tornado.

The scorching gale raged, cutting like a knife. Even Tian Yun couldn’t bear it and had to retreat, putting some distance between herself and Zou Feng.

Fortunately, the pillar of fire never actually formed a tornado. It came on suddenly and vanished just as fast.

By now, all of Zou Feng’s Inner Qi had been converted.

The newly formed Gang Qi took the shape of an unopened lotus, enveloping him within.

Meanwhile, the Gang Qi around his left middle finger coalesced into the shape of a Poison Scorpion’s stinger.

“Whooosh—”

He let out a long, turbid breath, which seemed to contain flickering embers.

Now that Zou Feng had advanced to the Sixth Grade, even though Tian Yun knew he would never harm her, she still felt an inexplicable flutter of apprehension.

Zou Feng’s aura was now completely different from before. As long as he was cultivating his skill, his entire body exuded a sinister energy.

’He’s the perfect image of a budding titan from an Evil Sect. I’m afraid he’s going to become a man who is wicked to the bone.’

And yet, despite knowing this, Tian Yun felt she was losing control. His allure had increased just as much, and she couldn’t help but press her thighs together.

As for Duan Wuya, he was scrambling to escape in utter terror.

For a Gang Qi Realm master, losing one’s arms was no impediment to escape.

Seeing this, Zou Feng naturally had no intention of letting Duan Wuya get away.

He had originally planned to chase after Duan Wuya and grant him a swift death, but then he glanced down at the Gang Qi-formed Poison Hook on his middle finger and changed his mind.

The next moment, he slowly raised his hand, aiming his middle finger at the back of Duan Wuya’s head.

Then, Zou Feng focused his mind and circulated his Gang Qi. His middle finger gave a sharp twitch.

A ray of deep red light flashed, appearing and disappearing in an instant at the back of Duan Wuya’s head.

Duan Wuya, who had been in the middle of his escape, immediately froze on the spot.

A full three breaths passed before his head abruptly blossomed like a flower, spewing forth a fountain of red and white.

Only after Duan Wuya had collapsed completely did Tian Yun tentatively take a few steps forward. “Zou Lang?”

She was terrified that during his breakthrough, Zou Feng had triggered the hidden dangers of his Evil Skill and Fallen into Demon.

Her voice snapped Zou Feng out of the trance-like state he was in, where he had been comprehending the Gang Qi Realm.

He immediately turned to Tian Yun and flashed a grin. “Sister Yun, I’m fine!”

Tian Yun finally let out a sigh of relief and stepped forward to embrace him.

It looked as though they had turned the tables on Duan Wuya and killed him at no cost, but in truth, the danger had been immense. Had they made the slightest mistake, they would have been the ones lying dead.

Fortunately, the danger had passed without incident. What’s more, Zou Feng had successfully advanced to the Sixth Grade. He would no longer have to choose flight as his first option whenever he encountered a disciple from Biyou Palace.

At the same time, Zou Feng couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. ’It really is true,’ he thought, ’the greater the risk, the greater the reward.’

’If I’d just stayed holed up in Yuan Guang County, even if I’d fattened up the Iron Blood Gu Poison Group, it’s still uncertain whether I could have broken through to the Sixth Grade.’

This was no place to linger. The phenomenon from his breakthrough had been too conspicuous; the other Biyou Palace disciples would likely be drawn by the disturbance and arrive soon.

It would be manageable if it were just the other two, but he feared Biyou Palace had sent more disciples to this place.

And so, after a quick word to Tian Yun, the two of them beat a hasty retreat.

Of course, they didn’t forget to help themselves to the elixirs Duan Wuya was carrying.

To Zou Feng’s exasperation, Duan Wuya had split the Scorpion Poison into three portions for his sect brothers to take away, but he hadn’t brought the leftovers that were clearly still in the porcelain basin.

His plan to score some more Scorpion Poison had come to naught.

Moreover, the extreme physical exhaustion that came with using “State Two” was mitigated by the highly nourishing toxins he had absorbed from Duan Wuya’s hands.

While a degree of weakness was unavoidable, at least it wouldn’t be like last time, when he had been so starved he became dizzy and found it difficult to even walk.

Additionally, now that he had reached the Sixth Grade, State Two would naturally last longer than just one minute.

Zou Feng estimated that he could now be a “True Man” for two minutes.

Although they didn’t sense anyone in pursuit this time, neither Zou Feng nor Tian Yun dared to linger.

His weakened state was still in effect, making this a terrible time to get into another fight.

Besides, their haul from this trip to Qifeng Mountain was already substantial. Getting too greedy would surely lead to trouble.

Thus, they no longer traveled as they had before—a leisurely sightseeing trip punctuated by occasional life-or-death battles.

Instead, they temporarily suppressed their desires, maintained their discipline, and focused solely on travel.

The only problem was that they were still lost within Qifeng Mountain, unable to get their bearings.

After traveling hard for another three full days and resting only briefly at night, the pair finally escaped the depths of Qifeng Mountain.

The proof was that they could see the distant smoke from the chimney of a farmer or hunter.

Under normal circumstances, the outer edges of Qifeng Mountain were just barely habitable.

In Yuan Guang County, there had always been quite a few hunters and medicine gatherers who made their living on the fringes of Qifeng Mountain.

However, the surrounding landscape was completely unfamiliar, and even from a high vantage point, they couldn’t see the Jiayue River…

Clearly, they had not returned to the part of Qifeng Mountain’s periphery that was near Yuan Guang County.

’So, where in the world are we?’

Since wild speculation was pointless, Zou Feng immediately darted in the direction of the rising smoke to find someone and ask.

Before he even got close, he could see a hunter’s cottage in the distance, with people moving around in front of it.

But just one look at the way these people were dressed made Zou Feng slap his forehead, a sense of deep trouble washing over him.

“Uh, does this mean… we’re in the Southern Border!?” Tian Yun, beside him, had realized it too.

It turned out they had passed through the depths of Qifeng Mountain, crossed the Nanling Mountain Range, and arrived in the Southern Border.

This was quite an awkward development. Turning back the way they came was unrealistic; they would most likely just get lost in the depths of Qifeng Mountain again and never make it back to Yuan Guang County.

But on second thought, Zou Feng figured that hiding out in the Southern Border for a while might not be such a bad thing.

Yuwen Shuo’s death was bound to cause trouble down the line.

His and Tian Yun’s disappearance could, on the contrary, serve as proof that the Hunting Team had encountered an incredibly powerful Demon Beast and suffered heavy losses.

With several of the leaders having met with disaster, the other members of the Hunting Team would most likely avoid being convicted of any crime, at least until the truth came out.

After all, Xie Ding and Magistrate Huang had been dragged into the mess and would be there to pull strings.

Therefore, it made sense for him and Tian Yun to “disappear” for a while.

It would also give the Iron Blood Gu Poison Group some time to grow.

Otherwise, if he was watching over the Gu Poison Group day after day, Zou Feng would inevitably get greedy, and there was no guarantee he wouldn’t be tempted to harvest the fruit prematurely.

Besides, it was about time he saw for himself what the Southern Border, a land teeming with Poison Cultivators, was really like.

And so, Zou Feng immediately told Tian Yun what he was thinking.

As for Tian Yun, she felt a bit like she was eloping with Zou Feng.

She had always lived a conventional, rule-abiding life, and for her, this trip to Qifeng Mountain had been exciting beyond measure.

While she wasn’t about to abandon everything back in Yuan Guang County, the thought of “eloping” for a while was still quite exciting.

And who knew? A change of scenery might even bring significant benefits to her Martial Dao cultivation.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep