Chapter 13: Battle in the Life or Death Arena (Part 1)

Lin Feng didn’t continue his training in the Stormy Gorge. Instead he decided to leave the gorge and was once again standing at the top of the cliff looking down upon the gorge.

Looking down into the gorge he could see it was a boundless canyon as far as the eye could see. There were thousands of people inside training. It was a place filled with endless battles and cultivation. That was the Yun Hai sect’s culture which bred the strongest cultivators. Here you would be beaten to within an inch of life and forced to climb back to the sect with your broken body. Only the strong will thrive here and the weak will be the fertilizer for the strong to grow.

Lin Feng walked around the canyon outside the Stormy Gorge and to his surprise came across some of his friends. He was happy to see Han Man and Jing Yun again so quickly.

“Lin Feng” shouted Jing Yun. She couldn’t hold in her excitement meeting Lin Feng again.

“Jing Yun, how is it possible that you are even more beautiful than the last time I saw you” said Lin Feng complimenting her while smiling sheepishly.

In comparison with a few days before, Jing Yun really had become even more beautiful and pure. Lin Feng knew it was because of the beauty pills, but he never would have thought it would have such a great effect.

Jing Yun blushed when she heard Lin Feng and couldn’t help but look away. She said in a soft voice: “Why are you bringing that up?”

“Haha, Lin Feng you have to be less bold, Jing Yun is still very shy.” said Han Man straightforward as always. “Lin Feng, we were initially getting prepared to come and look for you and never thought we would bump into you so soon”.

“Come look for me? why? what’s going on?” asked Lin Feng.

“Lin Feng, did you reach the eighth Qi layer when you ate your share of Profound Pills?” Han Man was looking forward to seeing Lin Feng as he had killed a Hell Wolf when he was still at the seventh Qi layer, he was surely going to be even more shockingly powerful after having reached the eighth Qi Layer. “Yes, I had a breakthrough recently. How about you guys?” said Lin Feng while smiling.

“If an ignorant fool like me could reach the eighth Qi Layer so quickly, obviously a monstrous talent like you would have.” said Han Man while grinning: “Jing Yun hasn’t reached it yet as she needs some more time before she can advance to the next level. Qing Yi hasn’t come out yet either but he should be at the bottleneck for advancement.”

Lin Feng nodded. Even though Han Man had a carefree behavior, he cultivated a little bit more efficiently than Jing Yun and Qing Yi so it was normal for him to be the first one to reach the eighth Qi layer.

“Han Man, you still haven’t told me why you were looking for me.”

Han Man scratched his head and felt slightly embarrassed which left Lin Feng speechless. “Lin Feng, I have also reached the eighth Qi layer. I want to go to the Stormy Gorge and test my strength but I may get massacred by cruel Cultivators. I wanted to ask you to accompany me and only if we encounter a strong and merciless disciple will you need to get involved. I am a guy who can endure a beating or two.”

Han Man was grinning while asking Lin Feng for his help. Lin Feng directly understood what Han Man meant and would only need to get involved if a life was on the line. He of course wouldn’t refuse the request of such a good friend.

“When do you want to go?

“Tomorrow we can head out. I want to prepare some masks first.” Han Man saw that Lin Feng didn’t hesitate at all when he gave his answer. He felt even more admiration for Lin Feng as he was a true friend. Not only was this guy abnormally strong but he also had no arrogance at all. He didn’t argue about anything and always kept things fair between them. He was the one who had killed almost all the ferocious beasts back in the Black Wind Mountain, yet he had insisted to share the items equally with everyone involved.

“No problem. Just give me a shout when you’re ready to go” said Lin Feng straightforwardly.

People who enter the gorge all chose to wear a mask which Lin Feng originally did not know. The reason many chose to enter was in order to fight other disciples. Losing was a disgrace and winning could cause a blood feud. Wearing a mask was a way to overcome all of these issues.

“I also want to come, Lin Feng can stay by my side at all times and protect me. I know I will be safe with him by my side” said Jing Yun in a charming yet innocent voice. Lin Feng was stupefied. Both Han Man and Lin Feng were staring at Jing Yun wide eyed. Was this really the shy girl from before?

“Why are you two looking at me like that?” said Jing Yun glancing at them and stamping softly on the ground.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry” said Lin Feng smiling and continuing as if nothing had happened.

Lin Feng and Han Man thought it was strange to see her so bold while still acting like a cute and innocent child. Han Man was looking at Jing Yun confused at the change he had seen. He had been really dumbfounded to hear Jing Yun say she wanted Lin Feng to protect her. How fearless was she to be so direct.

“Alright you can come with us too. We should be discreet and not go looking for trouble.” said Lin Feng quickly analyzing the situation before agreeing. There were many extremely talented Cultivators down in the gorge and to some extent it was frequented by Elite disciples. Elite disciples were all relatively proud and aloof. They would refrain from attacking ordinary disciples without being provoked. So with Lin Feng’s help, they were convinced that they could go down in the gorge without getting into too much trouble. Elite disciples could kill other disciples without repercussions from the sect. They had the power to do as they pleased.

Lin Feng had the bad luck of accidentally coming across both a ranked disciple who wanted to hunt him down and a pompous Elite disciple. His luck really was terrible.

After having all the details confirmed they all departed in different directions. Lin Feng went back to his room and continued to cultivate without stopping to sleep. Seeing how weak he was compared to others, had strengthened his willpower and he felt a flame ignite in his body as if it was screaming for him to be the strongest.

The morning after Han Man had come to pick up Lin Feng and they both immediately left to go and meet Jing Yun.

The Yun Hai sect was extremely large. The ordinary disciples’ rooms covered several districts and this area was the size of a small town.

Lin Feng and Han Man arrived to the place where they had agreed to meet with Jing Yun. They saw that Jing Yun’s face was pale and worried. There was a young boy standing in front of her talking with an evil look on his face.

“Jing Yun, what’s the matter?” Lin Feng asked while approaching at an increased speed.

“Get lost, you piece of trash! Can’t you see that I’m talking to Jing Yun? What makes you think you have the right to interrupt me?” said the young boy to Lin Feng while narrowing his eyes. He knew Lin Feng in the past and would often join in bullying him.

“Lin Feng, you are finally here!” said Jing Yun to Lin Feng smiling at him and ignoring the young disciple’s remark.

“Shall we go?” said Lin Feng mockingly while not even looking at the young boy. Han Man, Lin Feng and Jing Yun all turned to leave without even glancing back at the young disciple.

“Wait, wait, Han Man, Jing Yun” said the young boy while grabbing Jing Yun’s sleeve to stop her from leaving.

“Get lost. Can’t you see we have something to do? What makes you think you have the right to interrupt me?” Lin Feng said, throwing the young disciples words back at him while knocking his hand away from Jing Yun.

Powerful waves shot from Lin Feng’s palm directly towards the young disciple. The power contained in this small action had caused the young boy who was at the seventh Qi layer to crash into the floor several meters away and spit out a mouthful of fresh blood. He looked at Lin Feng gasping with astonishment.

“Get lost, you piece of trash!” said Lin Feng which shocked as it was a slap in the face. Lin Feng didn’t stop in the slightest and continued to walk away. When had the piece of trash, Lin Feng, become so fierce?

“That disciple sure acts rashly, Jing Yun, who is he?” asked Han Man to Jing Yun.

Jing Yun’s face got tense when she heard the question. She looked at Lin Feng and Han Man and said: “He was saying that he saw the beheaded body of Jing Feng in the Black Wind Mountain and it was clear that it had been done by a sword technique. Jing Feng’s big brother, Jing Hao is now searching for those who were with Jing Feng. He had come to threaten me with this information.”

Han Man was stupefied. No wonder Jing Yun had lost all color from her face.

“If he comes, then he comes. Let fate take its course and do not worry about the small problems.” said Lin Feng who was remarkably calm.

“Considering that he is not an Elite disciple within the sect, he would not dare attack us while within the sect’s territory. We have to be a little bit more careful in the Stormy Gorge to avoid unnecessary conflicts.” said Han Man while nodding in agreement with Lin Feng.

It did not take long for the group of three to arrive at the Stormy Gorge. Lin Feng had arrived in much less time than when he was hiding his power, he was actually shocked at his own speed.

Inside the Gorge they had spotted a Fortress made of solid compact earth. That earth fortress was covering a huge area. It looked like dozens of ordinary people could live in there with ample room. Even though it was made of earth there was no doubt that it was completely sturdy. It looked like even a strong raging storm would cause no damage to this fortress. In the Stormy Gorge it was common for a disciple to create a dwelling, but this one was unique.

Han Man touched the fortress. There was no dust from deterioration and no sticky feeling from the earth absorbing the rain. They really had no idea how such a fortress had been built.

At that moment a silhouette emerged from the earth fortress. It was a person who was also wearing a mask and was cautiously exiting his dwelling. The person glanced at Lin Feng and the two others momentarily then in a panic left at full speed which stupefied everyone present.

Lin Feng and the others understood what had happened. They all looked at each other and smiled. People in the Stormy Gorge were not weak and had all reached the seventh or eighth Qi layer as a minimum, some had reached levels even higher. There were many different skills practiced by thousands of disciples in this gorge and it would be common to find previously un-encountered skills. Under those circumstances, who would not retreat when encountering a group of three people who suddenly approached?

Did those three people come together with cruel intentions towards the disciple who was alone? This kind of thing was not rare in the Stormy Gorge.

“It looks like we have to separate or we will scare many people away.” said Lin Feng while smiling and moving away. The most important thing was for Han Man to gain experience in combat. Lin Feng just had to stay back and make sure there were no unexpected dangers.