Chapter 304 - Mu Fengyang
When the soft laughing voice rang out in the region that was in a state of mutual hostility, the taut atmosphere instantly turned stiff. Exultation instantly erupted from the eyes of Xu Bin and the rest of the group, before sending provocative looks towards the Wang brothers, whose expressions had some change.
Mu Chen slowly raised his head. His sight leaped across the crowd of people toward a place not far from here. At the high ground, there stood a stone pavilion; within which stood a slender and tall youth dressed in black. With calm eyes, he stared towards Mu Chen.
Even though he was still some distance away, everyone could feel the strong Spiritual Energy radiating from his body. Pressure formed from the condensation of his Spiritual Energy as it started to spread out.
That degree, he had already truly reached Heavenly Transformation Stage Late Phase!
“It’s Mu Fengyang!” shouted someone with eyes brimming with dread. The Mu Fengyang of the past might not be very famous. However, after he had defeated the 9th place on the Heavenly Rankings, Jiang Tai, his reputation had been rising rapidly in a straight line. Everyone knew that this dark horse would rise towards the heavens in this hunt.
Mu Chen continued raising his head, his black pupils locked onto the high-spirited youth in black within the stone pavilion. The latter’s imposing aura was, indeed, not weak. No wonder he could defeat Jiang Tai.
The expressions on the Wang brothers’ faces turned grave. The three brothers had the strength of Heavenly Transformation Stage Middle Phase. However, if they were to truly take action, it would still be hard to contend against that Mu Fengyang. In addition, there was still Xu Qin and that group, who were glaring at them covetously, like watching prey.
“Ha ha. I’ve long heard about your name, Mu Chen. You’re the most outstanding person within the freshmen. I’ve even heard about the grudge and grievances between Li Xuantong and He Yao. Our Dark Society really approves of you. If you would join us, I think that they would not dare to do anything to you in the future.” unexpectedly, Mu Fengyang did not immediately take action. Instead, he stared at Mu Chen and offered him an invitation.
His voice was filled with an extremely thick intent of recruiting Mu Chen.
“Your association is too big and noble. I’m afraid that I won’t get accustomed to it.” replied Mu Chen with a smile. He did not have much of a favorable impression of the association of dark horses. Although they had believed in concealing their strengths to bide time before shocking people in one go, Mu Chen had always felt that this was a little distorted. Due to some humiliation, they had firmly suppressed their emotions. Even though being able to bear it patiently was good, there were times that one cannot be to excessive.
From the temper that these few people had displayed, it might be difficult for them to maintain that painstaking training state of mind after shocking people in one day. These kinds of people were destined to be unable to become genuine experts.
Therefore, they were also destined to never truly exceed Shen Cangsheng and Li Xuantong.
“You really don’t know how to appreciate kindness!” seeing that Mu Chen had unexpectedly rejected Mu Fengyang’s invitation, Xu Bin and the group instantly flared up in a fury. From what they could see, although Mu Chen had some fame within the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, it was clear that he still could not be considered as an influential figure. The current Mu Fengyang had his name rocking the entire hunting grounds.
Towards them, Mu Chen was too lazy to bother. Staring at Mu Fengyang, the latter was indeed not a weak fighter. If they were to start fighting, he had to put in quite a bit of work.
Heavenly Transformation Stage Late Phase. That Bai Xuan was also at this stage. However at that time, Mu Chen had to draw support from the demonic strength left in him by the “Big Scared Demonic Pillar” before being able to kill Bai Xuan. However the current him, whose strength had increased by a huge factor, obviously, did not need to rely on that method.
“Haha. That seems somewhat regretful.”
Mu Fengyang treated Mu Chen’s rejection with a calm and ordinary expression, with only his eyes gradually turning sharp and incisive. Staring at Mu Chen, he slowly said, “However, that ‘Divine Forging Stone’ has quite a bit of use for me, is there any possibility of forsaking it?”
“Senior Mu is currently an influential figure amongst the top 10 in the Heavenly Rankings. How could such a low-graded item enter your eyes?” replied Mu Chen cynically.
“What if I say that I truly want it?” said Mu Fengyang slowly.
A surge of Spiritual Energy erupted from his body akin to a tidal wave. It seemed to stir the skies and the weather, bring about an astonishing feeling of oppression.
The vast and expansive campgrounds seemed to have quietened down by quite a bit at this instant. Innumerable gazes turned and faced the origin of this commotion. The might and threat brought by a Heavenly Transformation Stage Late Phase expert had made the atmosphere of this campgrounds much more stifling.
Contrary to everyone, Mu Chen seemed to not discover that sort of pressure. Only frowning slightly, he shot a look towards Mu Fengyang before turning around. “If you fancy it, I have to trouble to find a second one.”
His voice was clear and indifferent; however, there wasn’t much attempt to cover the impolite tone within those words. With regards of the people of the Dark Society, he could be considered as having completely lost all interest in them.
Seeing that Mu Chen had turned around to leave, Luo Li immediately followed. Wang Tong, An Ran and the rest looked at each other in the eyes before hurriedly following him.
Seeing the figure of Mu Chen turning around and leaving, a cold and fierce smile suddenly appeared on the corner of Mu Fengyang’s mouth. In the depths of his eyes, a cold glint followed his boundless Spiritual Energy as it suddenly erupted.
Bang!
With his Spiritual Energy surging, Mu Fengyang’s figure dashed forward explosively, akin to lightning. Standing high in the sky, without any hesitation, he sent out a palm slap. Spiritual Energy surged below the palm, akin to a raging tide, before transforming into a gigantic Spiritual Energy palm print. Without any mercy, it furiously patted down at the back figures of Mu Chen and the group.
Just as Mu Fengyang launched his attack, Mu Chen’s footsteps suddenly stopped. Clenching his hand tightly, he formed a fist. Black-flaming Spiritual Energy started burning around it that was akin to smoke as it rolled and rushed towards the clouds.
Roar!
A stretch of starry sky seemingly appeared behind Mu Chen. A white tiger stood on the stars, facing the heavens and gave a loud roar. As its hind legs stepped out of the stars, it carried a murderous aura that blotted the skies. Transforming into a white streak of light, it smashed head-on against the gigantic Spiritual Energy palm print in an extremely stiff and hard stance.
Bang!
Wild and violent Spiritual Energy fluctuations rippled throughout the skies, creating hurricanes as it travelled through this stretch of space. Even the clouds were ripped and torn apart.
The Spiritual Energy impact lasted for quite a while before slowly subsiding. The skies started to clear before the two fierce and violent attacks slowly disappeared.
Seeing this play out before their eyes, quite a few people felt slightly shocked in their hearts as their gazes turned somewhat strange as they stared at Mu Chen. Mu Fengyang possessed the strength of a Heavenly Transformation Stage Late Phase. That palm he sent out was able to instantly defeat a Heavenly Transformation Stage Middle Phase expert. However, Mu Chen was able to counter this without a slightest trace of being in a disadvantage. His move had obviously become much stronger since the Pact of Three Moves he had with Li Xuantong.
Up in the air, when Mu Fengyang saw that his attack was blocked head-on by Mu Chen, his eyes faintly narrowed. The latter’s Spiritual Energy fluctuation was only at the level of a Quasi-Heavenly Transformation Stage. He hadn't even completely stepped into the Heavenly Transformation Stage. However, Mu Chen was still able to receive his attack.
“You are undoubtedly the number one person among the freshmen.” said Mu Fengyang with a faint smile.
“Mu Fengyang, if you want to shock the world with a single feat, go find those that are placed in the front on the Heavenly Rankings. There’s no need to find a freshman like me. If, by any chance, you suffer a defeat here, it would not be easy to re-accumulate that fame and reputation, and the only thing you would do is to become my stepping stone.” said Mu Chen with a frown as he looked towards Mu Fengyang.
“Dissolence!” Xu Qin and his group instantly shouted furiously. This freshman was too arrogant.
Contrary to them, Mu Fengyang only gave a gentle smile. A cold glint flowed within his eyes; however, he did not let it show. Gently smiling, he replied, “Looks like you truly have confidence in yourself.”
“You better stop wanting this Divine Forging Stone. If you truly can’t resist the urge, feel free to find and attack me. Regardless of what move you use, I’ll just receive it.” said Mu Chen with a laugh as his black pupils shot a deep look at Mu Fengyang. Without any pause, he waved his hand and Luo Li and the rest gradually disappeared into the distance.
This time, Mu Fengyang did not launch an attack. However, some darkness faintly appeared on his face. In the next moment, he descended from mid-air.
“Brother Mu, are you going to let that brat off just like that?” Xu Qin and his group had already crowded over before asking this question, somewhat unwillingly. Never had they imagined that even the personal appearance of Mu Fengyang was unable to restrain and prevent Mu Chen from leaving.
Mu Fengyang shot a glance at them and replied, “That Mu Chen isn’t easy to deal with. Although his strength is at the Quasi-Heavenly Transformation Stage. Even I would have to spent quite a bit of effort to deal with him. We can reach that region tomorrow, so there’s no need to consume our energy now.”
“That brat is too rampant. He didn’t even give any face to you, Brother Mu.” said Xu Qing hatefully. Being treated like that by a freshman, their hearts were filled with unjust. They thought about their freshmen time, when they were always cowering. Where would there be such impoliteness towards their seniors? However, this fellow was that rampant and yet he was still able to mix that well with others.
“Relax. The things that I, Mu Fengyang, had taken fancy of would not be given to people in vain.”
Mu Fengyang gave a faint smile, before looking at the direction that Mu Chen and his group had left in with a slightly cold gaze. “The direction that they are headed to is, more or less, toward that region. Therefore, we should be able to see them again. At that time, we’ll wait and meet up with Qingshan. After converging with him, would that brat still have any chance to hop and jump?”
“Brother Zhao is also coming.” said Xu Qin and the rest hurriedly with great joy.
Mu Fengyang nodded his head and replied, “ Although that Spirit King is newly born, it’s still not something that we can deal with. With him, we should have some level of assurance.”
“Ha ha, if our Dark Society is able to kill that Spirit King, we’ll become the only power that is able to hunt and kill a Spirit King in these last few years. In the future, our fame in the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy would be sufficient to press the Judgment Brotherhood, as well as the Xuan Clan!”
The faces of Xu Qin and the rest were brimming with excitement. Looking at the direction where Mu Chen and his group had left in, he said, “At that time, that brat will definitely feel regret for refusing to enter our Dark Society!”
Mu Fengyang laughed as he also looked towards the same direction with slightly narrowed eyes.
Mu Chen, I hope that you possess strength that is compatible with your arrogance. If not, I’ll completely step on and destroy that arrogance of yours!
Mu Chen and his group did not stop at the campgrounds. Heading out of the campgrounds, they continued on their way, once again.
During the journey, Mu Chen threw the crystal ball, which had five less Spirit Knight’s Spiritual Lights back to Wang Tong. Smiling at him, Mu Chen said, “I’ve borrowed your Spiritual Lights. Afterwards, when I’ve killed enough, I’ll return them to you three.”
“There’s no hurry. With you, we’re not scared of you reneging.” replied Wang Tong with a smile. The gaze that he sent towards Mu Chen was filled with some astonishment, as well as a sliver of respect. The unfrightened and fearless attitude that Mu Chen had used to face Mu Fengyang had made them feel slight respect for him. After all, the trio rather dreaded that Mu Fengyang, and did not dare to casually offend him.
“You three have to lead us to more reliable gathering points on the way.” said Mu Chen in a jokingly scolding manner.
The trio gave off an awkward laugh, before nodding their heads. Looks like they have to hoard less of the food in the future.
Mu Chen looked at Luo Li behind him once again. The girl was playing with the black stone, while her exquisite little face faintly revealed some joy.
“Is that Divine Forging Stone that formidable?” asked Mu Chen with some doubt. He had heard of a Divine Forging Stone before. Even though it could be considered an uncommon object, it was not of that level of rarity.
“An ordinary Divine Forging Stone, naturally, does not have much use.” replied Luo Li with a brilliant smile. Raising the black stone, she continued, “However this isn’t an ordinary one.”
“Oh?”
Mu Chen felt some amazement. Could this Divine Forging Stone be extraordinary?
Luo Li grasped the black-coloured Luo Shen Sword in her jade-like hand. Tossing the Divine Forging Stone in the air, a sword glow whistled before chopping down on the surface of the black stone without the slightest hesitation.
Chi!
After the sword glow had passed through, the incomparably hard black stone was, unexpectedly, slightly split open. Following the crack on the black stone, Mu Chen could instantly see a bit of sparkle and luster gently radiating out from within.
This Divine Forging Stone was indeed extraordinary!