Chapter 67: Enraged

As Chu Feng and his four companions pressed steadily onward, the afternoon passed swiftly. Once the last rays of the setting sun slipped behind the mountains, night fell instantly over the Wind and Thunder Cavern.

This cavern was a place shrouded in mystery.

During the day, endless yellow sands stretched as far as the eye could see. Relentless gales and thunder never ceased for a moment. The ground beneath their feet blazed with heat, while waves of suffocating warmth surged through the warped space, making Chu Feng and the others feel as though they were trudging across an infinite bed of burning coals.

But once night descended, the temperature plummeted rapidly, transforming the cavern into a vast icy cellar. The gales that had scorched their faces now cut like blades, their coldness biting and sharp.

The wind was knife-like.

Under such a wind, one’s face might endure, but no one dared look directly into its cutting force.

As for the gravel beneath their feet—scorching as embers by day, sticking to their soles with heat—by night it turned hard and frigid as blocks of ice. Even martial artists of the Iron Bone stage risked injury with each step.

All around was pitch-black. The cold wind still howled, and with the terrain so treacherous, further travel was impossible.

That night, Captain Lei Jianqin decided they would halt their journey. The five of them found several massive boulders to use as shelter, and rested to restore their strength, planning to resume their march at dawn, pressing on with renewed vigor once the sun rose.

Through the long night, Chu Feng kept a close eye on Liu Run, uncertain whether the injury to Liu’s foot had made him more subdued, or whether he had realized Chu Feng was not as easily bullied as he’d thought. In any case, Liu Run spent the night quietly meditating, showing no sign of trouble.

Chu Feng understood that the key to overcoming this Wind and Thunder ordeal did not lie with the Thunder Union Beasts, but with Liu Run himself. Whether Liu’s meekness was genuine or feigned, Chu Feng could not afford to relax his vigilance until the ordeal was over.

At first light the next day, the group set out once more, continuing to slay Thunder Union Beasts along their predetermined path.

With a sharp flourish, the tassel of Chu Feng’s Overlord Pursuit Spear flared red, casting a bloody light over the spearhead as it cracked through the air. Two twin-tailed Thunder Monkeys met their end, skewered with a single thrust each upon the sandy gravel path.

Standing atop the shell of her Swiftstep Golden Crab, Tang Jiao drew her dragonbone bow and loosed an arrow. It struck a Thunderforce Giant Ape, forcing it back several paces. Chu Feng dispatched the other two apes, then finished the wounded one with a final thrust.

Chu Feng and Tang Jiao—one attacking from range, the other up close—grew ever more coordinated in their teamwork.

Although Chu Feng’s aura, bolstered by the Golden Battle Python, suppressed the bestial nature of the Thunder Union Beasts, he could not face too many at once.

Whenever five of the beasts beset him together, Tang Jiao’s arrows would drive two away—not truly injuring them, but keeping them at bay. That allowed Chu Feng to eliminate the remaining three, then finish off the last two. With such tactics, their situation remained highly favorable.

Sometimes standing atop the giant crab’s shell, spear in hand, sometimes leaping down to dispatch the beasts with his arms, fists, or palms, Chu Feng wove in the basic “Gale Step” footwork from the “Dragon Dance of the Invincible Army Manual” as well.

Throughout their journey, Chu Feng slew countless monsters.

The scorching gravel path was strewn with severed limbs and bloody remains of Thunder Union Beasts, their blood splattered far and wide. In the thick of battle, Chu Feng’s spearwork, palm techniques, fist strikes, footwork, fighting spirit, and martial heart all advanced steadily.

...

Unnoticed, five days slipped by.

Today marked the sixth day since they had entered the Wind and Thunder Cavern. According to their plan, this was the penultimate day of their mission.

But at their current pace, they might reach their destination by this afternoon, a day earlier than expected.

“Haha! Chu Feng, you are truly remarkable! You’ve slain beasts as easily as harvesting cabbages and turnips, while I, Old Fan, could only put on a show at your side. I’m both ashamed and envious!”

Fan Qianjun was clearly a man who relished combat. Though he brandished two sparkling silver axes, he could only provide minor assistance and rarely played a decisive role. His words were honest and heartfelt.

“Senior Brother Fan speaks the truth!”

Lei Jianqin nodded. “Young Master Chu, though I am the captain, I haven’t contributed as much as a single finger of yours. I am deeply ashamed!”

“Senior Brother Fan, Senior Sister Lei, you flatter me!” Chu Feng replied with a smile. “Actually, Junior Sister Tang has been shooting arrows despite her injured foot, keeping the beasts at bay and helping me greatly. Her contribution is not small at all!”

“Oh, Young Master Chu, are you teasing me? I hardly did anything—if I managed not to hinder you, that’s good enough. These few arrows of mine aren’t worth mentioning!” Tang Jiao shook her head, feigning modesty, but her sweet smile betrayed her pleasure at being recognized.

Clearly, Chu Feng’s praise delighted her.

“Hmph!”

Liu Run, standing to the side, snorted, his lips pursed in a deep pout, looking for all the world like a child denied his candy.

“Liu Run, what are you snorting about? Not convinced?” Chu Feng fixed him with a cold glare. “If you’re not convinced, why don’t you go and kill a Thunder Union Beast yourself? Show us! If you have the ability, kill one, then snort all you want! If not, you’ll have to swallow your resentment, whether you like it or not!”

At these words, Liu Run’s face flushed as red as if scorched, and he shouted, “Chu Feng, don’t push me too far! Who do you think you are? Just because you have the Golden Battle Python’s aura and can suppress the beasts, do you think you’re something special? And don’t think you can intimidate me just because the Mu family of Heavenly Secrets backs you! Even Mu Kaishan, the eldest son of the Mu family, wouldn’t dare speak to me like this!”

“Oh? Is that so? Well, I, Chu Feng, am speaking to you like this now—what are you going to do about it?” Chu Feng sneered, staring Liu Run down. “Of the four great powers’ younger generation, I’ve already met three. The Mu brothers, Mu Kaishan and Mu Kaihe, are dignified and courteous, true scions of a noble house—I think highly of them both. The Xiong twins of the Terror Sect, though raised by wolves, are brutish and overbearing, and still the top of their villainous pack. But you, Liu Run—son of the Wind Sect’s leader at the Wind and Thunder Martial Hall—are petty-minded, your skills suited only for dodging, not fighting, and your words are always dripping with sarcasm. In my eyes, you’re not worth a damn!”

“Chu Feng, you—!”

Liu Run roared in fury, but for all his bluster, he could not muster a response, merely brandishing his sword in Chu Feng’s direction, seething with impotent rage.

Lei Jianqin quietly approached Chu Feng and whispered, “Young Master Chu, Liu Run was in the wrong for provoking you before. But I see he’s been much quieter lately. Why not let it go for now? Let’s focus on the mission and not stoop to his level.”

“Very well,” Chu Feng nodded slightly, saying no more.

After entering the cavern, Liu Run had spent the first day constantly provoking Chu Feng, prodding and goading him, even trying to anger him into making a mistake.

But after Chu Feng turned the tables, Liu Run had been uncharacteristically quiet these past five days, as if transformed into a different person.

Chu Feng noticed, however, that though Liu Run’s behavior was subdued, his gaze often flickered, as if plotting something in his mind.

That was precisely why Chu Feng had provoked him again—to anger him into revealing any malicious plans sooner rather than at a crucial moment, when such treachery would be far harder to guard against.

Clearly, apart from Chu Feng, the others—Lei Jianqin, Fan Qianjun, and Tang Jiao—hadn’t considered this, nor understood Chu Feng’s thinking.

For now, Liu Run swallowed his anger, sheathing his sword without further protest.

But the sly smile that crept across his face made Chu Feng’s heart sink. He knew Liu Run would not let things rest, and that his next move was surely coming.