Wang Feng calmed down a bit and grinned, "I didn't think I'll find these here." He walked forward and reached in front of two different types of jades, each one of around 2-3 meters of length and width.
One expelled such fiery heat that even he, who has cultivated Fire Qi and has refined a Beast Flame, got drench in sweat. While the other one excluded such coldness that he felt shivers all over his body.
"Pure YangJade and Pure YinJade ... Both at Peak Heaven Grade!", he exclaimed as he placed his hands on the two materials. He was beyond excited at the find and nearly couldn't believe it.
He sighed lightly and regained his calm and willed to place the two in his inventory before turning around and swiftly placing every piece of material he came across as he rushed back towards the exit.
It has been nearly an hour since he has entered the cave and he knew that time was of essence so he had to hurry and retreat. He had already thoroughly cleaned the place, so there wasn't any reason to stay behind.
He ran and even used his movement technique to accelerate himself to rush out of the cave and now that he knew there was no trap here, he simply dashed his way out.
After a few seconds, he saw the light at the end of the tunnel. He narrowed his eyes and raised his senses to their limits. He needed to be careful lest an ambush awaited him on the other side. The previous incident had raised his caution and he wasn't about to let the same thing happen twice.
Just as he stepped foot at the edge of the tunnel, he pushed his movement technique, Shadow Phantom Steps, to his current limit. Instantly, a layer of darkness covered his being and he stepped out.
The very moment his body exited from the cave, he was bombarded by a sharp and fast Stone Spike. The spike hit him and pierced right through, before 'Wang Feng' desolved into streams of darkness.
The real Wang Feng stood behind a tree and was looking at the scene with narrowed eyes, 'I was right to be cautious... If my guess is right... That spike was not something a Qi Transformation Realm or Tier 2 Beasts can fire.'
He thought to himself as an escape plan started forming in his head. Right at the last moment, he had stepped out and pushed his movement technique to the limit, he had activated both 1st and 2nd stage of the technique.
The two combined as a shadow phantom formed at his place and at the same time, his real body blended into the darkness of the cave, lowering his presence to the minimum. So when the attack landed on the phantom, the real Wang Feng took advantage of the moment and escaped while being in the shadows around him, hiding behind this tree that was a few meters away from the cave enterance.
Wang Feng shook his head and leaned forward to rush into the woods. But suddenly, he felt a sense of danger and his body reacted instinctively as he jumped to the side. The moment he stepped aside, the tree he was standing behind, along with a few beyond it, were blown into smithereens.
Wang Feng sweat dropped, if he hadn't reacted earlier, he might not be alive. 'I'm glad I trained my senses with Xia Ning Chang.', he thought seriously as this instinctive dodging was something he had enhanced when training with... Or more like by getting beaten by her.
His thoughts were cut short as he ducked, dodging sharp earth spikes yet again. He jumped to the side as he saw something fall from the sky. He turned his eyes and looked seriously at what it was.
In front of him now stood a creature that had a powerful, muscular body of a wolf, covered in rugged, stone-like feathers, massive weathered wings extend majestically, resembling carved rock formations, four sturdy legs built for endurance and bird like claws that can carve through stone.
Wang Feng looked at it will vigilance because the aura around it was beyond Tier 2 and that too by a large margin. Wang jumped back as a shriek of a bird left the creature's wolf like mouth along with a strong flap of it's wings, which generated a great wind pressure along with a few earth spikes like the ones he had dodged previously.
The wind pressure boosted the speed of the spikes as they sped to Wang Feng, whose eyes widened before he used his movement technique to move aside, but was still grazed by a spike. Wang Feng looked at the cut mark on his right arm, his robes were torn from that part now and he saw a small line of blood leaked from the cut on his arm.
He didn't have the time to think much before he felt a shadow upon him and instinctively unsheathed his sword before pushing his water, earth and metal Qi into it and swinging it towards the shadow.
The creature shrieked and extended it's left wing, blocking the sword attack. Wang Feng's eyes widened as he quickly moved away. 'this beast.... It's atleast Mid Tier 3.', he thought to himself with an ugly look on his face.
He knew that the opening of the enterance to the Treasure Cave could have attracted anyone who saw and felt the aura around the cave after the arrays were out and as this was the Core area of the Mountain, he knew that there must be atleast Tier 3 beasts near, which was why he wanted to leave as fast as he could.
But his luck fell short as this creature had a nest near the area and felt the aura from the cave as soon as the arrays were discommissioned.
'I have to escape..', that was the only conclusion he had currently. He knew his limits well and knew that even if he used the Yin Qi in the skeleton, which he didn't know if he still could after such a short time, he would still lose and lose miserably.
He quickly made a Qi slash towards the beast and used his movement technique to rush away. He heard the beast shriek again while he moved towards the woods.
But the next second, he felt a sense of danger that made him stop his attempt to escape and dodge to the side, narrowly avoiding a few wind blades.
His face was ugly as he looked at the beast with clinched hands, 'it won't let me escape.' Wang Feng defended against another attack using his sword and retreated a few step.
He grunted as he willed the Beast Flame in his Dantian to emerge, while he retracted the three Qi's. His katana suddenly caught Golden Flames that burned magnificently under the light of the sun.
He looked at the beast and saw it looking at the flames with slightly narrowed eyes. But just as he thought that the beast was cautious of the flames and might just let him go, it screeched and attacked from the distance.
The beast remained restless as it continued to attack him continuously, not even letting him get close nor let him get away. Wang Feng was now having a hard time defending himself while none of his attacks reached the beast, much less do anything to it. While his Qi was gradually being consumed by the constant use of his movement technique and the Flame.
He clinched his teeth and was preparing to use the Yin Qi from the skeleton to form an opening before escaping. But, something happened that made him stop.
A sudden wave of Ice Cold Qi interrupted the attack of the beast, making it suddenly leap back and look vigilantly at a certain place among the trees.
Wang Feng, still wide-eyed at the sudden interruption, looked towards the point where the beast was looking. The moment he turned his head, he saw an amazing scene.
He saw a young woman descent from the sky and land in front of him. The young woman had jade white skin, long black hair that was held by two chinese hairpins. Her body was covered by a set of white and blue robes while she excluded an Ice Cold aura that made her look detached from the surrounding mundane world.
She looked like a ice fairy descending from the heavens, detached and pure. As Wang Feng saw her, his eyes froze as he fell into a trance. But, he quickly shook his head as this wasn't the time or place to appreciate that beautiful work of nature.
Another reason that broke him out of his trance was the identity of the fairy. Everyone in the three local factions knew who she was, as she was the leading figures among the new generation of disciples of the sects.
Yes, in front of Wang Feng now stood the first heroine of this reality, the one with the destiny of becoming a Phoenix. To be specific, the Ice Phoenix Empress, a Divine Beast, the woman in name being, Su Yan.
Wang Feng looked at her standing in front of him and suddenly got a sense of security. Making his face turn weird for a second, 'is this the famous 'hero saving the beauty'? It's the other way around!!!', he waved that weird thought away.
Su Yan, remaining oblivious to Wang Feng's weird train of thought, looked coldly at the beast that was making a strange sound of growling and screeching at her.
"An Earth Crane-Wolf? That's a surprise...", she spoke to herself, her voice melodic but cold. She was surprised that such a beast appeared here as these beasts usually stay in their nests and live on very high altitude.
She looked at the beast that seemed ready to pounce. "Stay in your place, We have to talk after I take care of it.", she spoke, addressing Wang Feng before Cold Ice Qi erupted from her and she lunged at the beast, which launched into action as well.
Wang Feng nodded and stayed quiet. From her tone, Wang Feng knew that she was confident in slaying the beast, plus she was already a True Element Realm Cultivator, so it was a given she could kill a High Tier 3 beast.
The beast that lunged forward suddenly flapped it's wings, making it's body stop and hover into the air, while the flap of his wings produced a dozen rapidly spinning blades of wind. Su Yan remained indifferent as she lightly tapped her feet on the ground and gracefully evading the attack by hovering over them.
The beast saw this and screeched. As it did, the ground trembled and suddenly a set of sharp and long projectiles erupted from the ground and from in front of the beast, both aiming for Su Yan from both sides.
Wang Feng watched with wide eyes as Su Yan snorted and an overwhelming pulse of Ice Qi erupted from her body, the Ice Qi extended with a burst and whatever came in contact with it froze on the spot.
The projectiles that were aiming for her stopped in their tracks before falling to the ground. While she herself continued her forward momentum. The beast was surprised, but reacted instantly by leaping forward with it's claws at Su Yan.
Su Yan snorted and made a palm, her fair hand covered in Ice Qi struck against the beast, making it growl and strick back, but Su Yan again evaded the attack.
The two didn't stop and continued to attack each other, Su Yan dodging nearly all the attacks. In just a minute, the battle came to an end as the beast fell from the sky on the ground with it's wings and claws frozen and a broken skull.
On the other hand, Su Yan descended from the sky and looked at the beast with focus and determining that it was truly dead, she turned to look at Wang Feng.
Wang Feng turn slightly stiff as he saw her turn to him. He felt her gaze as she looked at his clothes and squinted her eyes at his desciple token, hung to his robes. Just as he was about to thank her, he heard as she spoke in a repending tone, "what is your name and why are you in this area? Don't you know that there are Tier 3 monster beasts in this area!"
Wang Feng was surprised at her tone and expressions, as if she was an elder sister scolding her younger brother, making him slightly guilty and embarrassed, like a child caught doing something he shouldn't.
He shook his head, dispelling those thoughts, guilt and embarrassment before replying.
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{A-NOTE: Canon Events will start from the next chapter.}