Chapter 16 – The North Sea

“Cough, cough. Can anyone help me?” A weak, muffled voice could be heard, as if the person was being pressed underneath something.

Feng Ye was stupefied. Then he remembered that Fang Yang was still underneath the carcass of the dead bear.

The brain had been directly pierced. Regardless of how strong the monster was, it had perished on the spot.

Its claws had lost strength halfway through their swing, and the huge bear carcass had crashed to the ground squarely on top of Fang Yang.

Condensing sword qi had consumed a great deal of Fang Yang’s spiritual power. His limbs were weak, and he no longer had the strength to push away the heavy bear carcass on top of him.

He had intended to wait quietly for rescue, but didn’t expect that Useless Shixiong and Hao-dage were so unreliable that neither of them thought of coming to his aid.

In the end, Fang Yang could only speak out.

Feng Ye hurried over and dragged Fang Yang out from underneath the carcass.

Hao Chen started to pretend to help, but when he saw Fang Yang covered in a mixture of dirt and blood that could have come from either human or bear, he truly couldn’t bear to dirty his white daoist robes, so he just watched from the sidelines.

The first thing Fang Yang did after once again seeing the light of day was suck in a deep breath. He calmed his internal energy, which was disordered due to overconsumption. Then, eyes shining, he said to Feng Ye as if presenting a treasure: “Shixiong, did I just condense sword qi?”

Was he asking for praise? Feng Ye understood what Fang Yang meant. The youth’s mentality was uncertain, and he was eager to gain praise for the slightest achievement. 

But Fang Yang’s performance had been acceptable, so Feng Ye met his request. He smiled and patted Fang Yang’s head, just like patting a puppy.

Fang Yang felt that it wasn’t enough, so he turned his head to look at Hao Chen and repeated: “Hao-dage, did I condense sword qi?”

Hao Chen hadn’t expected to be asked for praise, and went momentarily blank. Head pats had already been used, so he could only flatter: “Heroes emerge from among the youth. You are worthy of being a disciple of Lingxiao Sword Sect.”

Fang Yang was elated. With a silly smile on his face, he asked questions left and right. He asked again inwardly, but the Mysterious Big Brother had already mysteriously disappeared again.

Just like the night before, once the other party cut off communication with him, Fang Yang had no way to contact him.

Fang Yang was a little regretful. After all, compared to being praised by Useless Shixiong and Hao-dage, he would rather be praised by this mysterious person who seemed to be super powerful.

Seeing that Fang Yang had rested enough, Feng Ye suggested: “Come on, let’s pack up and go down the mountain. You still have to participate in the competition tomorrow.”

But just as he finished speaking, they heard the sound of two objects slicing through the air overhead.

Two Lingxiao Sword Sect disciples wearing black and white daoist robes came flying in on their swords. When they were three meters above the ground, they leaped off with swift movements.

When the two people landed, the first thing they saw was the huge bear carcass. Then they turned to look at the three people next to it.

One of them asked doubtfully: “Was it you guys who killed this White-Nosed Demon Bear?”

Feng Ye took stock of these two people’s identities. They were at Foundation Establishment and were likely inner disciples responsible for clearing out monsters in the back mountain. Because of the stir the White-Nosed Demon Bear made, they had been drawn over to check on the situation. 

With their identities clear, Feng Ye answered: “Strictly speaking, it was him who did it.” He pushed Fang Yang forward.

Fang Yang staggered a step before quickly stabilizing himself, then scratched his head sheepishly.

The two inner disciples saw that Fang Yang was covered in blood, and thought he had been seriously injured. They immediately stepped forward, one on each side, and lifted Fang Yang up onto their swords, saying: “Hold on, we’ll bring you in for healing!”

“Wait, I’m not…..” Fang Yang was hauled away with a dumbfounded look on his face. Before he could finish speaking, the cold wind blowing into his face made the words lodge in his throat.

Feng Ye stood there, unable to stop himself from laughing.

“Fellow Daoist Feng Ye, let’s go down the mountain too.”

Hao Chen’s voice sounded in his ear, and Feng Ye remembered that there was a sticky piece of candy stuck to his side.

Feng Ye’s joyful mood suddenly became a bit downcast. Today’s trip should have been relaxing, but there were so many twists and turns along the way, and all of them had something to do with Hao Chen. Although Feng Ye had also jabbed back, he still felt that Hao Chen should shoulder most of the blame.

Although Feng Ye disdained him, he still went along with Hao Chen’s words and descended the mountain with him.

But on the way, Feng Ye found that the sticky candy always plastered to his side was now unexpectedly distant.

This could be considered distance only compared to the usual. Hao Chen would normally stand less than a meter away from him, but now, once he touched the one-meter boundary, Hao Chen would veer away.

Feng Ye skewed his eyes as the reason suddenly came to mind. It was because when he had pulled Fang Yang out from under the bear carcass, he also got blood on him. Thinking back to how Hao Chen had started to help but ultimately didn’t, Feng Ye came to a conclusion:

In addition to being vain, this fellow also had a fear of getting dirty.

The day was neither too hot nor too cold, yet he was fanning himself the whole time. Feng Ye, in his very straightforward way, thought Hao Chen was just being conceited. There were very few female disciples in their sect, otherwise Hao Chen, with his deceptive appearance of a dandy, would have been surrounded by many young women.

However…..this was not a disadvantage, but rather something Feng Ye could make use of.

Feng Ye abruptly stepped to the right toward Hao Chen, who immediately took a step away.

Suppressing a smirk, Feng Ye reached out to place a hand on Hao Chen’s shoulder. His blood-stained right hand.

Hao Chen unfolded his fan and used it as a barrier to firmly separate himself and Feng Ye.

Pretending to be hurt, Feng Ye looked at his hand: “Is Fellow Daoist Hao Chen avoiding me?”

Hao Chen gave him an insincere smile and said duplicitously: “Not at all.” Having said this, he put down his fan with great determination.

Feng Ye moved his hand a little closer when he heard this.

Hao Chen watched the bloody, fishy-smelling hand come closer and closer, about to leave a messy handprint on his spotless white robes. His eyebrows twitched. Ultimately, when Feng Ye’s hand was about to come down on his shoulder, he couldn’t endure it any longer.

He took an abrupt step back and said quickly: “It’s like this, Fellow Daoist Feng Ye. I suddenly remembered that I have something to do, so I won’t go down the mountain with you.”

Without waiting for Feng Ye to agree, he quickened his pace down the mountain ahead of Feng Ye, as if fleeing.

Feng Ye stood there, smiling triumphantly as he watched Hao Chen leave. At last, he had found a method to deal with this sticky person.

About a quarter of an hour after Hao Chen left, the smile on Feng Ye’s face was completely gone.

He closed his eyes and sensed his surroundings. Once he confirmed that Hao Chen had really gone far away, he suddenly turned back.

Returning to the bear’s carcass, he picked up the broken tip of the iron sword. This sword was full of fissures, and using it to pierce the bear’s thick, hard skin was undoubtedly a fantasy.

But when the iron sword came into Feng Ye’s hands, with no sign of force being exerted, it stabbed into the bear’s dantian almost like cutting tofu.

Once a monster died, the spiritual energy in its body would dissipate over time. And when the dantian was pierced, the spiritual power gathered there sought the gap and rushed out in a flood.

The leaking spiritual power created a breeze, blowing the bangs over Feng Ye’s forehead.

Feng Ye suddenly reached out, his movements so rapid that they were difficult to see clearly. Like lightning, he caught a trace of escaping spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy of low-level monsters was multi-faceted, but among this mixed energy he managed to grasp a strand of extremely pure spiritual energy.

This energy was inconspicuous, but once Feng Ye grasped it, he immediately sensed that it was abnormal.

He felt a chill in his clenched palm, as if he was holding something covered in ice that hadn’t melted for a thousand years.

Feng Ye narrowed his eyes in thought. This was the reason the White-Nosed Demon Bear had suddenly advanced in cultivation, and the source of this energy could only be Hao Chen.

Such a cold aura…..Feng Ye considered it for a while before suddenly thinking of a place.

A place where there was no sunlight all year long…..the vast North Sea.

Feng Ye shivered internally. If Hao Chen actually came from the North Sea, he didn’t know what his identity was.

Feng Ye didn’t know much about the North Sea, only that the personnel situation there was rather complicated. The Lord of the North Sea loved to recruit subordinates, and he himself probably didn’t know how many of them he had.

Feng Ye, an outsider with nothing to do with the North Sea, knew even less. The North Sea was at the northernmost tip of the heavens, and he lived so far away that he had rarely actually dealt with anyone from there.

The North Sea covered a vast area. For convenience of management, it was roughly divided into five sections of sea, which were managed by five extremely powerful sea lords.

And under the five sea lords were various minor stewards with complex class structures, who usually did some minor trade in the mortal world.

As for the one above the five sea lords, he was the true Lord of the North Sea, who had lived for who knew how many years and could be regarded as a living fossil even in the heavens – the legendary Kunpeng^[1] that could soar up to 90,000 li.

Feng Ye pondered Hao Chen’s name and thought that he couldn’t be so unlucky. This was the Kunpeng whose true form was big enough to blot out the sun and sky? He truly deserved the name Hao Chen – very heavy.

No, no, no. Feng Ye internally shook his head. This shouldn’t be the case.

After all, the most well-known fact about the Lord of the North Sea was that he loved to sleep. It was said that because he had lived for so long, he felt that life was boring and could only sleep.

It was nothing for him to sleep for hundreds or thousands of years. Sometimes when he was sleeping on the sea, there was so much snow accumulated on his belly that people thought it was a new iceberg.

How could I have bumped into such a sleeping god by chance? Feng Ye comforted himself.

The only clue he had at present was the cold spiritual energy in his hand. It didn’t mean anything. Apart from the North Sea, such energy may exist in other places. Hao Chen’s true identity still required further investigation.

With this in mind, Feng Ye loosened his clenched fists. He had been holding that cold aura for so long that much of the chill had dissipated, and it soon returned to the world like ordinary spiritual energy.

Feng Ye looked at the bear carcass at his feet with its dantian pierced open. In order to leave no evidence, he used his sword to create numerous wounds, making it look as if it had been eaten by wild beasts.

Only after he had taken care of everything did he actually leave and go down the mountain.

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[1] Kunpeng (鲲鹏): A divine creature that can change between a giant bird and a giant fish. ⮐

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Chapter 15 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 17