Chu Feng resisted the overwhelming temptation and returned the spirit stones to Sister Saintess.
Turning his head away, he didn’t spare them another glance, because if he looked any longer, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to let them go.
Those were gleaming, precious spirit stones!
Haah. Thinking about it carefully, he was quite different from the protagonists in other novels. Other protagonists would rise to prominence before long, with spirit stones, magical treasures, and cultivation techniques practically falling into their laps.
As for him, he had just enough spirit stones to get by. Magical treasures and pills were slightly better, but cultivation techniques… well, being able to understand the words at all was already something to be grateful for. As for grasping their deeper meaning, forget it. Reading them was painfully difficult, like trying to study classical Chinese on his own.
And then the Human Emperor Sword would stir things up, and just like that, all the spirit stones, pills, and treasures would be gone.
Every time he thought about it, Chu Feng became furious enough to burst into flames. He wanted nothing more than to snap the Human Emperor Sword in half to vent his anger.
…
Liu Shijing and Venerable Huahai made preparations to leave the Liu family and return to the Jade Pool Holy Land with Chu Feng.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Chu Feng pulled Sister Saintess out with him to lie in wait. He was determined to catch the person impersonating him!
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Liu Shijing. Rather, he felt that if Aunt Jing got involved, she would make too much of a fuss. Once the other party caught wind of it, they would never show up again. After all, every move made by an Eighth Rank cultivator attracted attention from all sides.
If a mighty Eighth Rank cultivator personally mobilized, only an idiot would continue appearing afterward.
Chu Feng went to the place where, according to Liu Ling, the Liu family members had been robbed and settled in to wait. Beside him, Liu Xueyao had deliberately changed into a set of green robes, blending seamlessly into the surrounding environment.
Interestingly enough, after changing into green robes, Sister Saintess looked like Aunt Jing’s mature older-sister version at first glance. By the same logic, Aunt Jing was basically the younger version of Sister Saintess.
“Husband, should I kill them?”
The moment Liu Xueyao heard that someone dared to impersonate her husband, a chilling aura spread from her body, cold enough to send someone straight to meet their ancestors.
“Sister Saintess, calm down, calm down. If you kill them, we won’t be able to follow the trail and uncover the mastermind. I want to see exactly who’s been impersonating me.”
As Sherlock Holmes once said: the traces left behind by a crime are like stars guiding travelers through the night, and I simply follow behind them.
Chu Feng was highly suspicious that the person behind all of this was that individual.
Liu Xueyao gave a slight nod, but she had already made up her mind.
Once this person revealed everything they knew, she would end them with a single sword strike.
Anyone who dared impersonate her husband deserved to die.
Hidden within the bushes, Chu Feng held his breath and concentrated fully on the road ahead.
Meanwhile, Liu Xueyao stared unblinkingly at Chu Feng.
***
Another Liu family convoy transporting magical treasures moved slowly along the road.
This was a team specially arranged by Liu Ling, intended to lure out the “Chu Feng” who had been robbing caravans.
Four men guided the carts forward with talismans while chatting among themselves.
“I heard that the last time Ergouzi and his group took this route, they got robbed by a Third Rank cultivator.”
“Tch! That’s because they were cowards! Four people couldn’t beat a single opponent. If reinforcements hadn’t arrived in time, they probably would’ve been cleaned out completely. That’s damn embarrassing!”
“Hey, don’t get carried away. We all know Ergouzi’s strength. If even he couldn’t win, then this person clearly isn’t an ordinary Third Rank cultivator. We should still be careful.”
“Oh, come on. You’re just too cautious about everything. What if some girl also thinks you’re too small, and it’s over before she even feels anything? That’d be even more embarrassing than Ergouzi getting robbed!”
The group burst into laughter.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of them.
It was a young man with delicate features and a youthful, energetic appearance. His face still carried a trace of boyish innocence, giving him a faint puppy-like charm.
“Young Master?!”
“Something’s not right. Why isn’t the ancestor or Her Highness the Saintess with him?”
The next moment, “Chu Feng” raised his hand and slashed out with a burst of sword qi.
***
Chu Feng waited and waited until his eyes felt dry from staring, yet the target still hadn’t appeared.
Listening to the conversation among the four men, especially that last remark, and then thinking about himself…
Well, judging by how Aunt Jing lost herself in it every single time, utterly unable to pull away, he was definitely in the category of “exceptionally well-endowed”. A golden cudgel capable of battering every female demon along the pilgrimage route into complete defeat.
Suddenly, a young figure entered Chu Feng’s field of vision.
He focused his eyes and nearly cursed out loud.
Damn it, the guy really did look exactly like him!
But upon closer inspection, there was still a difference.
The other person lacked the aura of a living being altogether, more like a puppet that had somehow come to life.
At once, Chu Feng shuddered as a chill ran through his body. Turning his head, he saw icy killing intent swirling in Sister Saintess’s eyes.
Good heavens.
It was the first time he had ever seen such a terrifying look from her.
Meanwhile, the four men who had been mocking Ergouzi for being a coward were beaten into a miserable retreat by “Chu Feng” within moments. They abandoned the magical treasures and fled for their lives.
After all, they only earned so many spirit stones in a month.
Who was going to risk their life over that?
Besides, those magical treasures didn’t belong to them in the first place. They were meant to be turned over to the family. Since they weren’t their own possessions, losing them didn’t hurt at all.
Seeing that all four men had fled, Chu Feng decided it was finally time for him to make his entrance.
He wanted to see exactly who was impersonating him!
“Sister Saintess, don’t interfere for now. Leave this person to me.”
Chu Feng spoke with complete confidence. After all, he had defeated even a candidate Holy Son of the Myriad Saints Palace who possessed Fifth Rank cultivation. A mere Third Rank cultivator shouldn’t be a problem.
With a swoosh, Chu Feng shot out from the bushes.
“Take a sword from me first!”
Without a single word of unnecessary chatter or any extra movement, he opened with a killing move.
Clang!
The sound of a sword rang out repeatedly as sword qi erupted. The air itself seemed to be torn apart. A brilliant sword light descended from the sky, sweeping away everything in its path.
“Chu Feng” remained expressionless.
Faced with such terrifying sword qi, he showed no intention of dodging and simply swung his own sword.
Compared to Chu Feng’s sword qi, the impostor’s was utterly insignificant. The moment the two met, the fake’s attack was instantly shattered.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Chu Feng’s sword qi sealed off every avenue of escape, slashing down upon the impostor like a torrential rainstorm.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
To his complete surprise, the sword qi he had been so confident in shattered one after another upon striking the impostor’s body!
“What!?”
Chu Feng’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Th-This was impossible!?!
His sword qi contained the fusion of two sword intents. Even a Fourth Rank cultivator shouldn’t have been able to emerge completely unscathed.
Yet the reality was right before his eyes, forcing him to believe it.
Aside from having its clothes torn apart, the impostor hadn’t suffered the slightest scratch.
The fake dropped the sword in its hand and charged straight at Chu Feng like a battering ram. Its speed was so great that sonic booms erupted in its wake.
Boom!
Chu Feng raised his sword to block. Even with the physical body he had tempered among the demon race, taking the blow head-on was difficult. He was pushed backward, sliding nearly ten meters across the ground before finally coming to a stop.
“What terrifying strength! Just what is this thing?!”
Suppressing the surging blood and qi within his body, Chu Feng felt a wave of numbness run through his arm.
Before he could think further, the impostor charged at him again.
This time, Chu Feng refused to meet it head-on. Relying on his movement technique, he sidestepped the attack.
However, the impostor’s body twisted into an angle impossible for a human being. Its neck spun a full one hundred and eighty degrees, while its arm bent in a grotesque arc and swung toward him.
Gritting his teeth, Chu Feng unleashed a storm of sword qi around himself and slashed out with a single strike.
Boom!
This time, he forcibly severed one of the impostor’s arms.
Looking closely, he found the cut astonishingly smooth.
More importantly, not a single drop of blood flowed out.
Or rather, the severed arm contained no flesh or tissue at all. Even the cross-section was the same color as skin.
Seeing this, Chu Feng suddenly understood.
No wonder this thing possessed such terrifying physical strength.
Because it wasn’t a human at all.
It was a puppet.
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