186 Spacetime turbulence! Awakening of the will of destiny!
"Holy Maiden, a technique that can refine pills so fast needs a resounding name; when word spreads it'll be the ultimate bragging right," Elder Zhu Ri said at once.
"Let me think—how about Divine Refinement Grand Art!" Qian Renxue declared with dominating flair.
All the disciples cheered in unison: "The Holy Maiden is brilliant!"
Being the boss is comfy, Chu Feng mused; he had no real power and had only risen thanks to the Holy Maiden, Qian Renxue. One day he'd marry her and become the boss of bosses.
Laughing and joking, they soon reached the gates of Cloud City. A colossal wooden bridge spanned the moat, held by two ropes each several meters thick.
"With two hundred thousand corpses battling up ahead, the city's eerily quiet, its gate wide open—talk about nerves of steel," Elder Kaitian marveled.
No common folk passed in or out; only two leather-armored soldiers stood like posts, shouting, "Show your entry permit."
Give me a break—this tiny town, barely a soul in sight, and they're still so formal.
"Don't have one—what are you going to do about it?" Chu Feng said, chin high.
"Leave or die," the soldier replied.
"Quite the attitude, kid." Chu Feng lost his cool and punched.
Unfortunately his aim was off; a hole appeared in the gate while the two soldiers remained unscathed.
"Lord City Lord, save us!" the soldiers bolted inside, their earlier bravado gone.
Everyone was speechless.
Chu Feng hurried after them. On a nearby rooftop he spotted what looked like a panda and sped up, intent on knocking everything down.
Qian Renxue followed, studying her surroundings. Doors were tightly shut; the sound of autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves grated on the ears.
Since when do cultivators fear such eeriness?
The panda stood stock-still. Chu Feng worried it might already be dead—then he'd have lost such a perfectly matched opponent.
It was still breathing—good!
And everything below was still standing firm!
Could it be dead yet unyielding? No, that didn't fit a panda's nature at all!
Just as curiosity peaked, a gloomy wind swept in and a sinister voice declared, "You little whelps, wait till I finish this city-wide feast; then I'll stew you together with the Longevity Gate."
Big tone, big appetite. Chu Feng, seeing something with a physique similar to his, danced for joy.
"Big bro, I've already eaten those twenty thousand corpses and the Longevity Gate. How about we compete to see who's the bigger glutton?" He thumped his chest.
"Aaargh! Those twenty thousand were my five-year stockpile, and the Longevity Gate was a wicked sect I finally caught—how am I supposed to punish evil and promote good now?"
What nonsense was this monster spouting? It only eats the dead and the wicked? Yet that slick tone hardly sounded righteous.
"Then show yourself and let's have a proper bout," Chu Feng shouted.
"But I'm already out—I am this gloomy wind." The monster hadn't even materialized; was it evaporating into air as it ate?
The panda sprang up like a reanimated corpse, muttering, "A talking yin-wind is a century-old fiend; it's locked the townsfolk in dungeons for its banquet."
Hostility flared in Chu Feng—he'd almost been fooled by a gust of wind. Reciting the spell again, no shield appeared, but his mouth tingled.
A living monster—he didn't want to swallow it whole; too creepy.
He clamped his mouth shut, and the monster roared, "I'll tear you to shreds!"
The yin-wind spiraled overhead with a thunderous howl like a whirlwind of cleavers, diving roofward; every rooftop it touched turned to splinters.
Having survived countless dangers, Chu Feng simply straightened, flipped his middle finger at the sky, and sneered, "Come if you dare!"
In an instant the spiritual energy in his body answered that finger, converging into a tiny beam that doubled in size every second or two.
Laughing, Chu Feng waved his raised middle finger at the yin-wind. The wind-fiend shrieked miserably, splitting into hundreds, then thousands of breezes.
Finally deprived of power, all wind stilled; Chu Feng reabsorbed the light, and the World seemed frozen.
The panda's eyes nearly popped—had it not played dead, the yin-wind would've devoured it. Yet Chu Feng, unscathed, only grew stronger.
"That easy? He should've been a tough opponent," the Third Elder murmured, finding the man beside the Holy Maiden ever more extraordinary.
The group no longer gaped; they were getting used to having a big shot carry them.
Qian Renxue's limelight was stolen again—she was the Holy Maiden, after all.
Thanks to the laser beam's shock, the city dungeons lay unguarded; townsfolk poured into the streets, their hard-won light delivered by this flippant Chu Feng.
"Great hero!"
"Be our new city lord!"
Praise kept ringing in Chu Feng's ears—ah, this feeling of standing above multitudes; don't stop, keep it coming.
Qian Renxue's temper flared; had Little Sword not treated her well, she'd have punched this smug fellow.
Where, she wondered, had that Tribulation Stage city lord gone?
"Quiet, everyone. I don't want to be city lord; this place is too small. I aim to be the greatest, most domineering under Heaven." Chu Feng's chūnibyō was severe.
"Planning to ascend to the heavens too?" someone called.
"Oh? So people really can ascend to immortality?" His desire was piqued.
"Our previous city lord was escorted skyward by some Taiyi Immortal three days ago to enjoy celestial life," an old woman said.
"Then you should be living happily; how did you end up like this?"
The townsfolk were speechless, silence falling.
The panda, fan somehow in paw, struck a scholarly pose: "The city lord colluded with the yin-wind fiend: provide twenty thousand dead troops and the townspeople, and the monster would burn half its cultivation to help him transcend tribulation."
"Great—then the lord mysteriously ascended ahead of schedule, the payment ready but the deal unsettled, leaving us in this mess," the panda rattled on.
"Damn, ascension's supposed to be as hard as reaching the sky—how could it be that easy? And the bribe wasn't even finalized." Chu Feng sighed at the World's unfairness.
"Whatever, forget it—don't tell me you want to ascend too?" Qian Renxue strode over, irritable.
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