Chương 322: Fame

Early the next morning, Long Feng woke up and got dressed. Walking out of his pavilion, he stared at the sky and smiled.

"I feel so refreshed. By the end of this month, I think I should be able to attempt a breakthrough to the Imperial realm. I'll be one step closer to becoming an Inner peak disciple soon." The mainland was truly a great place to cultivate. Not mentioning the natural energy which made cultivation at least five times faster than in the continent zone, there was also the near infinite resources. Things like the Dao comprehension grounds would never exist in the continent zone.

"I wonder how Li Yue'er and Hua Liuli are doing." Thinking about those two, how mood dropped slightly. Whenever he thought about them, he couldn't help but worry whether they were safe.

"I need to find out more about the Hua clan and the Frozen Empress Valley."

"There's also Huang Fang Hao. He's in the Heavenly Spear Pavilion. I wonder how strong he is now. Could he have reached the peak Imperial realm? Or maybe the deity realm?" Whichever it was, Long Feng didn't much care. His own strength was advancing at a speed he wouldn't have imagined in the continent zone. Although reaching the deity realm would take a while, actually fighting deities wouldn't take as much time. He had ever really relied on just his cultivation.

Judging his strength using his cultivation was foolish.

"What to do today? I've comprehended too much recently. Any more seclusion would be a waste of time. I'd be dulling my brain." A smile lit up his face.

"It's so good that I have three people willing to help me digest everything." He went out for a casual stroll. Along the way, he noticed that wherever he passed by some disciples, they would stare at him and begin to discuss about the upcoming battles excitedly. It took a while for him to understand that he was now rather famous in the outer peak.

"Though it's not exactly the fame I'd accept. Does no one think I can win?" He sighed and continued his stroll. For someone who was apparently supposed to suffer, many people thought he was far too leisure and calm. Time slowly passed. Even before noon, the arena was already filled up by over a thousand disciples. Even many of the top thousand ranked disciples appeared to join in the excitement. The arena was extremely large and had a single huge battle ring occupying ninety percent of the space.

The ring was made of extreme touch materials that was nigh impossible to damage for even a deity. This battle ring was infamous in the sect. Fights weren't prohibited outside the ring, but severe injuries wasn't allowed. The story was different inside the ring. Once you stepped into it, then your life and death was up to the discretion of the winner. If you lost, then you could end up losing everything, including your life and no one would question the winner.

In this ring, the winner eas king and the loser was the villain no matter what. As the sun drew closer to the middle of the sky, Xu Kui was the first to approach the ring. The disciples around opened a path for him and he stood right before the ring with his hands clasped behind his back, an unreadable expression on his face. As he stood in silence, someone approached him.

"Xu Kui! After not seeing you for a while, you've fallen beyond my imaginations. To think a casual trash can actually warrant such effort to deal with? Such a shame." Xu Kui glanced at the person coldly but didn't say anything. For someone to speak to him like that and draw no reaction from him, then it must be someone with at least similar strength to him. The disciples around saw the person's faces even to chatter again.

"Is that Qiu Yi?"

"Who else can it be?" Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"I heard that he recently reached the top six hundred on the Mortal ranking. His strength is absolutely top tier among rank eight Imperials. He should be reaching rank nine very soon."

"Xu Kui isn't much weaker than him. The difference between the rank eight Imperials isn't that great. At their levels, they only wish to reach the peak of the Imperial realm and become deities in a short time." Qui Yi snickered when Xu Kui didn't reply.

"I'll be reaching rank nine Imperial realm in like a month. By then, I'll directly charge into the top five hundred ranking. As for you, keep finding weaklings to show off your strength with." Xu Kui glared at Qui Yi.

"My affairs have nothing to do with you. And don't get cocky because you lucked out. You're not the only one making progress." Qui Yi laughed and wanted to make a reply, but just then, the crowd parted, creating a path for two more youths; Bai Lixi and Gong Yangyu. Both of them had arrived at the exact same time. Bai Lixi glanced at Gong Yangyu beside him and smirked.

"That kid is crazy. To think he not only challenged me, he joined you and Xu Kui as well. I can't wait to see just how he plans to face us."

"I am not here to fight him. He's not worth it. Unless you think he'll be able to survive you and face me. I'm only here to watch him die." Gong Yangyu replied calmly.

"Indeed. One thing though… how exactly did he survive? I am pretty sure that no one beneath the deity realm can survive. That was an absolute death situation." Gong Yangyu's eyes flashed.

"That is something I also wish to know. Luck alone can't explain that. His body should've exploded long ago. For him to survive, there must be some secret we don't know."

"I don't really much care. Whatever it is, he should've hid himself after he escaped with his life. There really is no grudge between us but I can't let someone I want dead to survive. I'll properly kill him this time." Bai Lixi muttered coldly. They soon joined up with Xu Kui and Qui Yi.

"Fancy meeting you two here." Bai Lixi laughed.

"Since all three of us are here, who's going to kill him? I hope you'll all let me do it." Xu Kui glanced at him then looked away.

"I don't care." Gong Yangyu also said nothing, making Bai Lixi smile. Time slowly passed. People began to become impatient as Long Feng still hadn't appeared.

"Is that kid not going to come? It's almost noon!"

"Heh. My guess is he's chickened out. Sadly, it's too late for him."

"I mean, what was he thinking? Was he drunk or what?"

"I don't care about all that shit. I came here to watch some entertainment. If that brat doesn't show up, then I'm going to be pissed off." An incense stick worth of time passed and the sun finally reached the highest point in the sky. Many people were considering whether to leave when a commotion began at a part of the arena. The disciples exclaimed loudly and opened a path that led straight to the battle ring. At the end of the path was a casual youth walking through as though he was in his garden.

Long Feng looked around at the crowd that was slowly increasing and he whistled.

"Hm? So many people came to watch. I'd be honored if like hundred percent of them didn't think I was going to lose." The outer peak was usually dull and boring. There was barely any excitement as many disciples were cultivating while the top hundred disciples were barely ever in the sect. They were always out trying to make a name for themselves and stumble across some fortuitous encounters. So it was normal that all the disciples who were free were excited to be entertained today.

As he approached, many people blatantly assessed him with their perceptions and the results left them all in disbelief.

"The hell! He really is a mere peak spirit realm warrior!"

"Is this a joke? I thought it was a rumor. To think it's true? What entertainment? This would end before I can blink."

"Where exactly did that boy get his confidence from? Even for his age, peak spirit realm is still quite low. All those he challenged have lived for longer than him. Is he insane?"

"Insane or not, we're about to find out aren't we?" Long Feng remained indifferent as he reached the large ring and jumped into it. His eyes swept across the crowd, noticing several hidden auras that wouldn't lose out to Xu Kui's and the others. His gaze eventually paused on Bai Lixi, Gong Yangyu and Xu Kui.

"Long Feng, I'm really surprised that you actually showed up. That'll save both of us some trouble." Bai Lixi laughed as he jumped into the ring as well. Long Feng's lips rose in a light smile.

"Is it just you? I will advice you against that. You're free to team up with the other two. The last time I checked, Xu Kui always moved with some dogs behind him anyways." He replied. Bai Lixi's words stuck in his throat. He stared at Long Feng with an extremely dark expression. To them who valued their faces as much as they did their treasures, they wouldn't allow anyone to insult them. Long Feng's words was basically him mocking all three of them. For three geniuses to team up against one person?

That was the greatest insult to all three of them, even if it was impossible. Just by saying it, Long Feng had already shown extreme disdain for each of them. Xu Kui's expression turned extremely dark as he stared at Long Feng for a minute then withdrew his gaze. Beside him, Qui Yi laughed loudly.

"Xu Kui, you've really lost your edge. The kid just mocked you and you're still not slapping him to death?"

"He won't be able to speak for much longer." Xu Kui closed his eyes and replied. On the ring, Bai Lixi's expression lightened up and he smiled.

"Whatever you say doesn't matter. You've successfully stirred my killing intent. Only one of us is leaving this ring alive today." His aura burst out of his body, sending extremely powerful waves outwards. A shocking pressure radiated from him as he stood there, causing many disciples outside the ring to stagger backwards.

"As expected of a genius ranked in the top thousand. His aura makes my entire cultivation to feel suppressed." A rank six Imperial staggered backwards and muttered in shock.

"Long Feng, go ahead and say whatever you want to. I will make this as long as possible." Bai Lixi grinned as he directed all his pressure at Long Feng. In his perception, a mere peak spirit realm warrior should instantly crack under his pressure. Even rank six Imperials would feel suffocated under the sheer might of his aura. Unfortunately, this didn't faze Long Feng one bit. Long Feng glanced at him indifferently.

"Sorry. I don't have the time to waste. I honestly expected more from you." He reached out to his waist and grabbed his sword sheath. Bai Lixi's pressure seemed to instantly be cut in two by an invisible blade and Bai Lixi himself was forced back a step. The arena fell silent. Nothing had happened actually. Long Feng hadn't even unsheathed his sword. He simply held the sheath and Bai Lixi instantly took a step back. Bai Lixi's face alternated between blue and black.

How could he actually be forced a step back by such an insignificant move? His pupils began to shimmer with killing intent which he didn't suppress at all. His energy circulated and he vanished, appearing behind Long Feng in the blink of an eye. A fist whistled through the air, causing the air to compress and explode upon itself as it aimed for Long Feng's spine Long Feng's expression didn't change. He casually turned around and raised the sword sheath in his grip, blocking the powerful fist with the sheath.

An extremely wild energy blew outwards, forcing hundreds of disciples to retreat. When the dust cleared, everyone was dazed by the scene in the ring. Bai Lixi's powerful fist which could defeat rank seven Imperials was fully blocked by the ordinary sword sheath. And Long Feng didn't move a single step back from the impact. It would seem like this was a draw, but all the rank eight Imperials present had solemn expressions on their faces.

"How is this possible? Is he really a rank nine spirit realm warrior?" Xu Kui narrowed his eyes and thought. They could all see just from this that Long Feng wasn't a weakling as they imagined. His strength was at least on par with or even slightly above that of Bai Lixi. Bai Lixi himself could already tell this the moment his fist was blocked. His heart shivered slightly as he stepped back.

For the first time, he assessed Long Feng with an extremely focused gaze, something he reserved only for opponents as strong as himself.