Chapter 324: Near Death

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

The power one can control truly belongs to oneself, and it’s only through control that one can unleash the full extent of that power. Otherwise, under loss of control, it’s inevitable that one will harm oneself before harming others, a cost too high to bear.

Ghost Lady, feeling the overwhelming momentum from Chen Fei, involuntarily hesitated in her attack. It wasn’t due to anything else but the fact that Chen Fei’s current aura was simply too terrifying.

Ghost Lady had always believed that she had Chen Fei completely figured out, and to some extent, she indeed had. She had been gradually gaining an advantage, and even when the rules of Despair City weakened her due to her complacency, she hadn’t thought she would lose.

However, at this moment, sensing the surging power emanating from Chen Fei, Ghost Lady suddenly had an ominous feeling.

“Hum!”

Chen Fei took a step forward, and the Qianyuan Sword swept down horizontally. As the sword passed, the air violently churned, as if it were about to explode, and a continuous buzzing sound filled the air.

Before the sword even touched the ground, the entire courtyard began to sway slightly.

Ghost Lady’s eye sockets, devoid of pupils, widened slightly. Then, she opened her mouth and let out a sharp, piercing scream. Her clothing suddenly transformed into a blood-red color, and her disheveled hair had unknowingly dragged across the ground.

Bit by bit, blood flowed from Ghost Lady’s body. In the blink of an eye, a blood pit appeared on the ground, and the viscous blood within sent shivers down anyone’s spine.

In the blink of an eye, everything happened in an instant, and the next moment, the Qianyuan Sword collided with Ghost Lady’s hand.

“Boom!”

The deafening explosion shattered the entire courtyard, causing it to tremble continuously. The ground cracked open, creating numerous fissures, and a wild wind swept through, instantly reducing the nearby flowers and grass to powder.

“Thud, thud, thud!”

Ghost Lady took three consecutive steps, each step creating a deep pit. With each landing, the blood flowing from her body began to evaporate, and by the time she completed the third step, the foul-smelling blood had been dispersed.

Ghost Lady’s ethereal form wavered incessantly, and the power within her body dissipated significantly due to this move. Though she appeared unharmed at the moment, for a ghost, it was no different from being seriously injured.

Gone was the malicious and icy expression on Ghost Lady’s face, replaced only by fear. Even the enigmatic feared death, especially one with such potent spiritual wisdom.

“Stop fight! I’ll give you five hundred copper coins!” Ghost Lady yelled loudly.

“No need to be polite. I’ll take them myself in a moment.”

Chen Fei’s body swiftly moved forward, almost teleporting in front of Ghost Lady. The Qianyuan Sword radiated intense sword intent, while his core soul energy operated at its peak, finely controlling every iota of power.

“All!”

Ghost Lady screamed wildly, instinctively raising her arms to block in front of her. The next moment, the Qianyuan Sword collided with her arms.

“Boom!”

The entire courtyard’s ground burst open, revealing a massive chasm. From beneath the chasm, a chilling force surged, continuously wearing away Chen Fei’s sword strikes. After slicing through dozens of meters, the sword light ultimately couldn’t withstand it and was devoured by the misty power.

Chen Fei gazed at the cold emanating from the chasm, realizing it was the enigmatic boundary of Despair City. With enough strength, one could directly break through this barrier and escape Despair City.

However, it was evident that Chen Fei lacked such power. While dozens of meters might seem like a considerable depth, it was insufficient for Despair City. The boundary of Despair City might be several hundred meters thick.

The power of an early-stage Aperture Tempering realm cultivator was insufficient to breach the Despair City’s boundary.

Chi Shuqing, with a vacant expression, stared at Chen Fei’s direction. At this moment, her mind was still struggling to catch up. However, with Ghost Lady’s disappearance, Chi Shuqing instinctively breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing the current situation, Chi Shuqing’s trapped spiritual wisdom within the mist seemed to be struggling to break free from its confines. But even at the peak of her power, Chi Shuqing couldn’t escape. After enduring the erosion of the past two days and losing a portion of her origin, she was even less capable of breaking free from the fog’s entanglement.

A rat-like creature, which had hidden in Chen Fei’s sleeve, leaped onto his shoulder. It stared at the surrounding cold energy that permeated the area. This was Ghost Lady’s origin, and the creature couldn’t help but desire to take a deep breath.

However, the enigmatic origin couldn’t be absorbed by normal creatures. Haphazardly devouring it would only lead to a mutation of one’s spiritual wisdom, rendering them a semi-enigmatic being, barely surviving.

Chen Fei waved the Qianyuan Sword in his hand, sweeping this origin into a nearby bamboo basket.

“Clang, clang, clang!”

After the copper coins collided with each other, a crisp sound rang out. These origins, which couldn’t be absorbed, were instantly transformed into the copper coins of Despair City.

This was a function that Chen Fei had discovered last night. The bamboo basket that had been following him since his arrival in Despair City surprisingly had the ability to transform items into copper coins.

Similar items existed on Ren Zhongyang’s body as well. He had a silver needle pouch used for acupuncture. The silver needles inside were Ren Zhongyang’s various origins.

The clinking sound continued for a moment before gradually coming to a halt. Chen Fei approached and glanced at the result—an influx of several hundred copper coins. It was significantly less than what the Martial Hall’s leader had generated. After all, there was a difference in their strength, and Ghost Lady was clearly not as powerful as the Martial Hall’s leader, resulting in a smaller conversion of copper coins.

Chen Fei turned to look at Chi Shuqing, but he didn’t approach her. Instead, he examined the courtyard. Since he had already defeated Ghost Lady, he wondered if this courtyard could also be transformed into an origin.

Chen Fei activated the Slaughter Spirit Technique and slashed at the wall with his sword. A crack appeared on the wall, but the technique didn’t absorb anything, and the crack gradually repaired itself under the influence of a certain force.

Chen Fei was quite familiar with this force—it was the power of the Despair City’s boundary that he had just encountered underground. This courtyard didn’t belong to Ghost Lady; it actually belonged to Despair City itself.

Ghost Lady, at most, had the right to use this courtyard.

Chen Fei flashed over to where Baka was, looking at the old tree that Baka had transformed into. Without Rat Demon’s help, finding such an old tree within Despair City would have been nearly impossible.

It was unclear what Baka had gone through to become what he was now. If it weren’t for a faint movement in the tree’s core, it wouldn’t have been much different from an ordinary old tree.

“Wait for me here; I’ll be back shortly.”

Chen Fei patted Baka’s tree trunk and then began to search room by room in the courtyard, hoping to find something of value.

A quarter of an hour later, Chen Fei returned with a slight furrow on his brow.

He had found nothing of value. The courtyard was quite spacious, and it had many rooms. However, every room was identical in its furnishings. When he entered each room, it seemed as if he had returned to the same one, which was rather eerie.

Furthermore, the items inside each room held no value. It was as if he had entered an ordinary person’s home, leaving Chen Fei somewhat disappointed.

“Baka!”

Standing in front of the old tree, Chen Fei sent a spiritual pulse into the tree’s interior. The entire tree trembled slightly but quickly fell silent, just as before.

Chen Fei wasn’t in a hurry. He continued to use his core soul energy to stimulate the tree.

With each call, the duration of the tree’s tremors increased slightly. After about ten calls, the dormant energy within the tree began to stir, but it was merely a sign of activation, not the manifestation of Baka’s wisdom.

Chen Fei’s brow furrowed slightly. Either Baka had sealed himself off completely to avoid the Despair City’s absorption, or Baka’s wisdom had truly dissipated.

The reactions he was witnessing were merely the tree’s instinctual response to its name, rather than a revival of Baka’s wisdom.

Chen Fei continued to call out another dozen times or so, but the energy within the tree didn’t grow stronger; it remained at a consistent level. In fact, with the passage of time, it seemed to be trending toward further dormancy.

“I can only think of how to help you later!”

Chen Fei sighed and, as if wielding a sharp blade, inserted his right hand directly into the tree trunk, extracting the core piece of the tree that belonged to this particular tree.

If Baka’s wisdom hadn’t dissipated, the most likely place it would be found was within this tree core.

Losing its heart, the entire old tree began to wither at a visible rate. In just a moment’s time, it became a desolate piece of wood, devoid of color and moisture.

Chen Fei placed the tree core into his sleeve and glanced around, spotting Chi Shuqing in a corner of the courtyard.

Chen Fei didn’t have strong feelings toward Chi Shuqing; she was merely an elder of the Aperture Tempering realm from the Sunken Water Pavilion. Whether or not to take Chi Shuqing with him was a question.

Chi Shuqing’s wisdom had dissipated to a degree even more extreme than Ren Zhongyang’s. Even if her wisdom were to recover, her remaining combat power was uncertain.

ii

Can you take me with you?”

Chi Shuqing looked at Chen Fei and cautiously approached him, speaking in a low and humble tone.

Instinctively, Chi Shuqing felt a sense of familiarity with Chen Fei. Although it wasn’t much, for someone who had endured two days of torment in this place, it provided a great sense of security.

“Follow me!”

After thinking for a moment, Chen Fei said, “Even if your combat power has diminished, you’re still in the Aperture Tempering realm. Tomorrow night, you might still be able to help in some way, like taking a hit.”

The two of them, one in front and one behind, left the courtyard, leaving it in quietude. A gentle breeze swept through, rustling the scattered leaves and twigs on the ground, as if narrating the events that had just transpired.

Suddenly, two figures appeared in the courtyard without a sound. One of them was Jin Weiming from the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect, and the other was the Aperture Tempering realm late-stage expert that Chen Fei had seen on the street before.

“Two sword strikes to kill her, excellent skills!” Yu Zhongxin, observing the traces in the courtyard, couldn’t help but praise.

Jin Weiming’s eyes shifted, feeling somewhat incredulous. A cultivator who had just broken through to the Aperture Tempering realm for two years possessed such strength? I low had Chen Fei achieved this?

If he were to face Chen Fei, would he be unable to even block a single strike?

“If the senior has any doubts, you can actually just capture him directly. He surely wouldn’t dare to resist!” Jin Weiming flattered.

“There’s no enmity between us; there’s no need for that.”

Yu Zhongxin gave Jin Weiming a meaningful look, then grabbed his shoulder and disappeared from the courtyard.

Chen Fei stood on the street, lost in thought. There was always a faint sensation of being watched in the courtyard just now, but he couldn’t pinpoint where the prying eyes came from. It was as if it were just an illusion.

Chen Fei shook his head and began to walk along the street, trying to gather more information about Despair City and the nightly patrol of the Yin Soldiers.

A day quickly passed, but unfortunately, Chen Fei didn’t uncover much more information.

As night fell, inside the clinic’s house, Chen Fei sat cross-legged and kept Chi Shuqing and Ren Zhongyang awake.

As time passed, as the midnight hour approached, Chen Fei once again heard the rhythmic sound of footsteps in his ears. However, this time, there were no Ghost Soldiers outside the house.

Chen Fei suddenly turned around, and to his relief, Ren Zhongyang was fine.

But at some point, Chi Shuqing had fallen into a near-death state..