Chapter 319: Root Out the Weeds

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

As Chen Fei’s foot touched the ground, a piercing scream filled his ears, followed by the martial hall’s leader cursing him with bitterness.

Chen Fei’s expression remained unchanged as he waited patiently for a moment, but he didn’t receive any punishment. Apparently, the rule didn’t currently cover this particular patch of grass within the city.

Was it because the martial hall’s leader had violated the rules first?

Chen Fei lowered his head to look at the sole of his shoe, a faint smile playing on his lips. Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword. Chen Fei had previously promised that he would leave immediately after obtaining the answer, but before departing, he casually stepped on some flowers and grass. Perhaps it was an unintentional action?

The Slaughter Spirit Technique!

The entry-level Slaughter Spirit Technique began to activate at an extremely slow pace. In combat, such a level of technique would certainly not be effective, as it could be easily exploited before it even had a chance to work. However, now, suppressing a patch of grass posed no problems at all.

The grass beneath Chen Fei’s shoe, which had been trembling, seemed to sense the presence of the Slaughter Spirit Technique and began to struggle frantically. The curses and malevolent thoughts grew louder in Chen Fei’s ears. Even some spiritual curses floated into Chen Fei’s consciousness. However, all of these curses were redirected to the Godslayer Sword by Chen Fei, having no impact on his true spiritual state.

“All!”

With a sharp, agonizing scream, the green grass suddenly disappeared, leaving behind a pure essence that entered Chen Fei’s body. Sensing the purity of this essence, Chen Fei pondered for a moment before channeling it directly into the Qianyuan Sword.

Absorbing this foreign essence would require Chen Fei to spend a considerable amount of time purifying it, and that time was definitely not short. Given this, he decided not to absorb it recklessly, at least not until he found a fast purification method.

On the other hand, giving these essences to a spiritual weapon turned out to be a good option. While spiritual weapons also demanded pure essence, they weren’t as delicate as martial practitioners. Some of the fragmented mental shards mixed within these essences couldn’t be retained for long within a spiritual weapon and would gradually dissipate.

Chen Fei swiftly arrived at the martial hall’s entrance, where Ren Zhongyang looked at him with surprise. Chen Fei had actually come out of the martial hall in a short amount of time.

Ren Zhongyang glanced back at the martial hall and suddenly froze. He hadn’t noticed before, but now he saw that the martial hall, which had been shiny and presentable just moments ago, was in complete disarray.

What had happened?

“Come this way,” Chen Fei said as he turned the Qianyuan Sword back into a pole and carried the basket. He walked in the direction the martial hall’s leader had indicated earlier.

Along the way, many people who saw Chen Fei avoided him from a distance, seemingly unwilling to cross paths with him. Chen Fei couldn’t help but feel that news of the martial hall’s upheaval had already reached these people’s ears.

Singlehandedly destroying the martial hall had sent a strong warning to the people on the streets, even though they didn’t know how Chen Fei had accomplished it. Unless necessary, it was better for them to keep their distance from this person.

Chen Fei caressed one coin in his hand. Previously, his spiritual wisdom had been obscured, so he hadn’t thought about studying these coins; he had simply wanted to earn more money on instinct.

However, now that his spiritual wisdom had returned, Chen Fei couldn’t help but become curious about these coins.

In this city, it seemed like everything could be represented by money. The majority of the martial hall leader’s essence had transformed into money and fallen into Chen Fei’s basket.

Moreover, those people who paid money for eating fruit and medical treatment had visibly weakened after handing over their money.

Chen Fei pressed his finger slightly, and the coin abruptly broke into two pieces. Then, from the broken edge, it immediately dissipated and entered Chen Fei’s body.

A strand of ethereal aura, fragments of the undisturbed mind, pure to the extreme—this was the purest essence!

Chen Fei’s eyes brightened slightly. Compared to the essences absorbed through the Slaughter Spirit Technique, the essence formed by these coins could be absorbed directly without any adverse effects.

Chen Fei looked up at the city. It was clear that the rules here had completely purified these essences.

Staring at the hundreds of coins in the basket, if he absorbed all of them, Chen Fei’s core soul energy would skyrocket. He would easily break free from the shackles of early-stage Aperture Tempering realm’s core soul energy and wouldn’t have to worry about its insufficiency until he reached the middle stage. The rapid increase in core soul energy would naturally accelerate the cultivation speed of his acupoints.

Most importantly, the transition from early-stage to mid-stage Aperture Tempering realm, which was often a difficult hurdle for other early-stage cultivators, would be significantly easier for Chen Fei. Other early-stage cultivators like Liao Hanqin would need to consolidate their foundations for some time and find the right opportunity to break through; otherwise, they might fail during the breakthrough.

However, compared to them, Chen Fei undoubtedly had a much easier time, thanks to his significantly stronger core soul energy.

Chen Fei, accompanied by Ren Zhongyang, continued forward until they reached a city gate.

Chen Fei looked up at the city gate, feeling a heavy aura rushing toward him. The mist in Chen Fei’s mental realm became much more active, tightly enveloping the Godslayer Sword. There were even several wisps of mist approaching Chen Fei’s spiritual core, causing him to take a few steps back to alleviate the situation.

In fact, Chen Fei had been here before, even before the martial hall leader had pointed in this direction. However, at that time, there was nothing here; it was just a solid wall.

But now, that wall had transformed into a city gate.

“What do you see?” Chen Fei turned to Ren Zhongyang.

“A wall!” Ren Zhongyang replied, looking somewhat puzzled. He had followed Chen Fei to this location, and Chen Fei had been standing there for quite some time, leaving Ren Zhongyang filled with curiosity.

A wall? Why would Chen Fei keep staring at it?

Chen Fei’s eyebrows twitched slightly. It seemed that only he could see this city gate, while Ren Zhongyang, like the earlier Chen Fei, could only see a wall. Was it due to the martial hall leader’s guidance, Chen Fei’s regained clarity, or a combination of both?

“Don’t resist!”

Chen Fei crushed a few coins and pointed a finger at Ren Zhongyang’s forehead. Ren Zhongyang’s heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively tried to evade, but he forcefully stopped himself.

In his heart, Ren Zhongyang trusted Chen Fei; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been following him all this time.

The essence formed from the coins was like a sharp blade, slicing through the mist in Ren Zhongyang’s spiritual realm. Ren Zhongyang’s spiritual acumen instantly awakened, allowing him to grasp the situation around him.

“Look here again, do you see anything different?”

Chen Fei waved his hand when he saw Ren Zhongyang trying to speak. Ren Zhongyang held back his words and looked ahead, squinting slightly.

Ren Zhongyang’s core soul energy continued to fluctuate, but in his eyes, this was still a wall. However, his inner consciousness told him that there was an issue with this wall, but Ren Zhongyang couldn’t quite figure out what the problem was.

Chen Fei frowned as he watched Ren Zhongyang’s expression. Was it still just a wall? In other words, without guidance from someone inside the city, outsiders trapped here wouldn’t be able to find the exit. However, guiding someone to the exit seemed to violate the city’s rules, as seen with the martial hall leader who had almost been wiped out, leaving only a glimmer of hope.

Therefore, it was highly unlikely that the people inside the city would help those trapped here find a way out, especially since doing so would go against the rules.

“Chen Fei, 1 don’t think I can hold on much longer,” Ren Zhongyang suddenly said, his clear eyes beginning to cloud over again. While Chen Fei had opened a crack in the mist within Ren Zhongyang’s spiritual realm, he had not completely dispersed it.

Chen Fei couldn’t even dispel the mist within his own spiritual realm; he could only resist it using his spiritual techniques.

Under normal circumstances, outsiders trapped here would need to continuously cleanse the mist with the essence of money or have incredibly strong spiritual power to directly break through the mist’s obstruction.

To reach such a level, one would likely need core soul energy at the peak of the Aperture Tempering realm. The remaining option was for individuals like Chen Fei, who possessed special spiritual techniques.

As for spirit weapons that could support the core soul energy of those in the Aperture Tempering realm, they were extremely rare.

“Don’t worry, just wait for me here,” Chen Fei instructed and walked toward the city gate.

The mist in his spiritual realm began to churn, and Chen Fei’s gaze became somewhat hazy. The money in the basket started to disappear, and the power of the essence protected Chen Fei’s spiritual acumen.

“Who goes there?”

A loud shout suddenly echoed in Chen Fei’s ears, causing him to turn his head.

Beside the city gate, where it had been empty just a moment ago, a figure dressed as a city guard had appeared, holding a sharp blade and staring at Chen Fei with cold eyes.

“Can I leave the city from here?” Chen Fei asked the guard in a deep voice.

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By the city lord’s decree, the city gate opens only once a month. At other times, you can only enter, not exit!” the guard replied with a glance at Chen Fei, his voice resolute.

“When is the next time the city gate will open?” Chen Fei’s eyes lit up slightly. The fact that it opened once a month indicated that there was still a chance to leave this city. Without some special means, surviving here for even a day seemed unlikely, as people were likely drained dry, just like the rat demon that Chen Fei had encountered, which was on the brink of death when he saw it.

The guard didn’t respond to Chen Fei’s question but instead closed his eyes.

Chen Fei furrowed his brow. Without a specific time frame, waiting passively like this was not ideal. Moreover, as nightfall approached within the city, Chen Fei had an instinctive feeling that continuing to stay on the streets might expose them to other dangers.

Chen Fei glanced at his basket, raised his right hand, and flicked ten copper coins into the air, sending them floating toward the guard.

The guard’s eyes immediately opened, and he glanced at Chen Fei before quickly collecting the ten copper coins into his sleeve.

“In two days, at the hour of the Rat, the city gate will open!” After saying this, the guard closed his eyes again.

Chen Fei nodded in acknowledgment, then stepped out of the city gate’s area.

At this moment, Ren Zhongyang’s gaze alternated between clarity and haziness. While Ren Zhongyang’s spiritual cultivation was not bad, he lacked special techniques to contend with the continuous suppression of the mist. It was simply too overwhelming.

Upon seeing Chen Fei’s return, Ren Zhongyang hurried over. He had been watching as Chen Fei walked forward, only to see him disappear after a few steps.

“The sky is getting late; let’s find a place to stay for now,” Chen Fei said as he looked up at the overcast sky, knowing that nightfall was approaching..