Fishing in Troubled Waters: The Three Yan Leopard Brothers

As Zhang Xingfeng flew along with the Little Dragon, the immense gravity of the Demon Realm had little effect on Zhang Xingfeng, and he flew with ease.

"That's strange. Why is this Little Dragon flying so fast? Could it be that its speed is actually increasing under such strong gravity?" Zhang Xingfeng was a little confused as he looked at the rapidly flying Little Dragon in front of him.

Suddenly, Little Dragon plummeted downwards, heading straight for the overgrown ground. Zhang Xingfeng immediately followed suit, but to his surprise, by the time he landed, he could no longer see Little Dragon.

Zhang Xingfeng's Divine Sense instantly spread, covering the area, and he quickly found the missing Little Dragon. Seeing the Little Dragon's current appearance, a smile welled up in Zhang Xingfeng's heart, "Oh? Even a noble divine beast has started digging burrows? Does the Little Dragon have the habits of a groundhog?"

"Hahahaha... Found it, found it, it's a Yuan Stone, hahahaha..." Little Dragon roared triumphantly as he burst up from underground.

Upon seeing the dozen or so crystals in Little Dragon's hand, Zhang Xingfeng was overjoyed and blurted out, "Substitute Stone!" Those were indeed Substitute Stone, the most important Substitute Stone. These Substitute Stone were exactly the same as the image Tian Nan had shown Zhang Xingfeng back then.

Little Dragon was taken aback, then turned to look at Zhang Xingfeng, blinked, and asked in confusion, "Substitute Stone? Is this Substitute Stone? Isn't this the most precious elemental stone of the beast race?"

Zhang Xingfeng asked incredulously, "Little Dragon, what were you doing when that old guy from Tian Nan showed us the image of the Substitute Stone?"

Little Dragon hesitated and stammered, "I... I... I... I was looking at the painted faces!" When Little Dragon first encountered the Beast Valley, what he carefully observed was the large painted faces caused by the immortals running at high speed.

Zhang Xingfeng for a moment, then laughed, "Those immortals weren't in very good physical condition. Under the pressure of nearly 100,000 jin, they all used their immortal energy to resist, and they still ran so desperately. They didn't want to use their immortal energy to evaporate the sweat on their faces, preferring to leave their faces covered in grime to save that little bit of immortal energy. But when I watched them leave in the Beast Valley, why didn't I see that?" Zhang Xingfeng was puzzled. He had watched the immortals leave one by one, and at that time, they were all clean and tidy.

How could Zhang Xingfeng know? These immortals were on their journey. How could they have imagined that someone was distracted and observing them? After all, all the immortals were desperately accelerating and vigilant about their surroundings. Who would have the leisure to do so? Therefore, these immortals didn't waste their precious immortal energy.

Upon arriving at Beast Valley, the immortals naturally began to tidy up their painted faces, but Little Dragon observed them thoroughly.

"By the way, Little Dragon, why did you say the Substitute Stone is a Yuan stone? What exactly is a Yuan stone?" Zhang Xingfeng suddenly remembered the Yuan stone and immediately asked.

Little Dragon immediately regained his usual confidence (arrogance) and said smugly, "As for this Yuan Stone, according to the memories of my inherited heritage, the Yuan Stone is the most precious energy stone among all beast races, much more precious and energy-rich than your Immortal Crystals and Demon Crystal. However, only those at the Form Transformation Stage and above are capable of absorbing it, so... I have never seen this Yuan Stone before!"

Zhang Xingfeng certainly wouldn't ask the idiotic question of how someone could be certain the Substitute Stone was a Yuan Stone without ever having seen it. Inherited memories are far more mysterious than images. While ordinary immortals can create an image, complete with shape and sound, inherited memories are extremely powerful. Not only do they possess all these qualities, but they even make the possessor seem to have experienced those events and gained those experiences.

It's like Zhang Xingfeng's previous reincarnation, who fully possessed the memories of his past life; that's how powerful inherited memories are.

It's perfectly normal for Little Dragon, who possesses inherited memories, to know about Yuan Stones.

"Little Dragon, since this is a Yuan Stone, why do the seven major sects all say it's Substitute Stone?" Zhang Xingfeng asked.

Little Dragon seemed quite proud of his erudition, almost showing off, and said happily, "These Yuan Stones are treasures of the beast race. Having Yuan Stones allows for faster cultivation. The energy in Yuan Stones is different from that of Immortal Crystals and Demon Crystal. It contains a kind of Beast Origin Power, which is of an extremely high level, on par with Dragon Origin Power. Therefore, we beasts can absorb it. I forgot to mention, although the energy possessed by each beast after the Form Transformation Stage is not exactly the same, it all belongs to Beast Origin Power. Dragon Origin Power is also a type of Beast Origin Power. However, although the levels are similar, our divine beasts' Beast Origin Power is slightly stronger, after all, we are divine beasts, right?"

Zhang Xingfeng asked anxiously, "I just asked you why the seven major sects said this is Substitute Stone? Can this spirit stone temporarily replace a person and possess a human aura?"

Little Dragon was taken aback, seemingly a little confused, and shook his head, indicating that he didn't understand.

Zhang Xingfeng was also taken aback, thinking to himself, "Could the image Tian Nan gave me be fake? Was he lying to me? No, that can't be right. People from the seven major sects were all around at the time. How could he dare to do such a thing? But why did he call this Yuan Stone a Substitute Stone?"

"Little Dragon, was the cave you just went to the Hui Hammer Pig's? Besides the Yuan Stone, are there any other similar stones there?" Zhang Xingfeng knew that the seven major sects were all after the Devil Beast and wanted to seize the Substitute Stone they possessed.

Little Dragon shook his head and said, "No, I definitely didn't see any other stones. Second Brother, didn't you say that the Devil Beast in each territory have Substitute Stone? Why don't we go and look in other places and see?"

Zhang Xingfeng's heart skipped a beat. "Wait a minute, every Devil Beast with territory has Substitute Stone. Why do they all like Substitute Stone? What good is it if it can only temporarily replace a person's function? What do these Devil Beast need to do? So... the Substitute Stone must have other effects, most likely providing energy to these Devil Beasts! Yes, that's probably it!" Zhang Xingfeng was somewhat certain. Suddenly, Zhang Xingfeng smiled to himself, thinking, "I was really too foolish. Why don't I just try it and see?"

Zhang Xingfeng then said to Little Dragon, "Little Dragon, bring me a spirit stone and let me try it!"

Little Dragon said "Oh," and reluctantly took out a Yuan Stone and handed it to Zhang Xingfeng. His eyes were pleading as he looked at the Yuan Stone, as if it were his wife.

Zhang Xingfeng took the Yuan Stone, looked at Little Dragon's appearance, and said nothing. The most important thing now was to confirm whether this Substitute Stone was indeed a Yuan Stone.

Zhang Xingfeng channeled his Limitless Power into the Yuan Stone, which suddenly lit up, growing brighter and brighter. In an instant, the surrounding Demonic Sha Energy became chaotic, but in the blink of an eye, a person appeared—it was none other than Zhang Xingfeng.

Zhang Xingfeng stared wide-eyed at the person before him. The person was exactly like him, without a single difference, except for their expression, which appeared somewhat serious, or even dull. However, when Zhang Xingfeng used his Divine Sense to observe, he found that the person's aura was identical to his own—the aura of Limitless Power, even the fluctuations were at the upper level. In other words, even with the most rigorous Divine Sense, Zhang Xingfeng couldn't detect anything about the person before him!

Little Dragon's eyes widened as he stared at Zhang Xingfeng, who had suddenly appeared before him, and he asked dumbly, "Roar... roar... you, you are actually my second brother, hurry up and show me your moves!"

Zhang Xingfeng instantly realized that this was the Substitute Stone. He couldn't distinguish it with his Divine Sense alone, let alone the Divine Sense of an immortal.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, Zhang Xingfeng, who had formed the Substitute Stone, exploded...

Zhang Xingfeng smiled and said, "The time really wasn't very long, but it was enough. The immortals set the mark immediately after the cultivator successfully Tribulation Transcendence. The cultivator only needs to take out the Substitute Stone as soon as the Tribulation Transcendence is over. But this is too wasteful. A Substitute Stone is gone so quickly. This is a Yuan Stone. Don't Yuan Stones have so much Beast Origin Power?"

Seeing this, Little Dragon finally understood everything: the Substitute Stone was the Yuan Stone, and Zhang Xingfeng who had just appeared was the Yuan Stone transformed into its ninth form. The fact that Zhang Xingfeng exploded meant that the Yuan Stone was gone!

Upon realizing this, Little Dragon's eyes widened suddenly, and he wailed, "Second Brother... a Yuan Stone! A precious Yuan Stone, and you just took it away so easily! A Yuan Stone could have given me a hundred years of cultivation! My reliance for a hundred years is gone just like that... Ahhh... a hundred years of reliance, gone just like that... Ahhhh..." His wailing was Heavenly Movement.

Zhang Xingfeng smiled, glanced at Little Dragon, and said calmly, "Isn't there a Dark Sting Bear over there? It seems that Dark Sting Bear has the strength of your Beast Clan's Nascent Soul stage, which is a level higher than you, Little Dragon. Hmm... this Hui Hammer Pig already has more than a dozen Yuan Stones, so that Dark Sting Bear probably has at least several hundred! Several hundred Yuan Stones!" Zhang Xingfeng suddenly exclaimed.

Little Dragon suddenly jolted awake. "Several hundred! Ah... several hundred yuan, several hundred yuan stones! I want it, I want it, I want to kill it, I want to kill the Dark Sting Bear!" Suddenly, Little Dragon seemed to have thought of something, and looked at Zhang Xingfeng with some worry, asking, "Second Brother, just how high a level is that Dark Sting Bear?"

"Infancy stage!"

Little Dragon was stunned. A Nascent Soul cultivator—a whole level higher than him! His strength was utterly insufficient to withstand it, let alone kill the Dark Sting Bear. However, Little Dragon's eyes suddenly lit up. "Second Brother's powerful body, his natural heavenly fire, and his incomparably powerful divine artifact—he could absolutely fight a Nascent Soul stage Dark Sting Bear!"

"Second Brother, Little Dragon's spirit stone is yours. Why should we brothers distinguish between you and me? Yes, so if that spirit stone is gone, it's gone. This elder is a divine beast after all, roar... So, Second Brother, Little Dragon can use the spirit stones you get in the future, yes!" Little Dragon blinked his eyes, pretending to be very honest, but his strong and burly figure made his words unbelievable.

Zhang Xingfeng smiled helplessly. After all, he was the second brother, so how could he possibly hold a grudge against Little Dragon? Moreover, in Zhang Xingfeng's eyes, Little Dragon was just a mythical beast who had grown up but was mature on the outside and a child on the inside.

"Alright, the Dark Sting Bear, a magical Devil Beast, is waiting for us ten miles to the north. Let's go!" Zhang Xingfeng laughed and rode the wind, with Little Dragon following happily behind.

"Dark Sting Bear, if you're so tough, don't use that Jianyu Essence Cudgel and have a proper fight with us three brothers!" A very fierce-looking young man said to the man opposite him, who was three meters tall, all dark-skinned, and holding a huge golden club that was twenty centimeters in diameter and about four meters long.

Twenty centimeters in diameter! That's about the thickness of a pillar. How could an average person possibly grab it with one hand? But that dark-skinned giant could. His enormous hand was definitely three times the size of a normal person's, and he easily grasped the twenty-centimeter-diameter stick. However, considering the giant's three-meter-tall stature, the stick wasn't too excessive.

The burly man's deep voice rang out. "What a joke! When has I, Dark Sting Bear, ever left my treasure? Hmph, that Zhou Mo Jiao fought me to the death because of this treasure. He was also a Nascent Soul stage expert, but he was still killed by this treasure with a single blow. Hmph, with this treasure, which Nascent Soul stage expert in this area can deal with me? Now you three Form Transformation Stage brats are also eyeing my treasure. You simply don't know the immensity of heaven and earth!"

"Big brother, stop wasting time talking to him. We need to use our ultimate move. We can't let Mom's death go unpunished!" The stronger of the three men on the other side whispered to the leader who had spoken earlier.

The second of the three brothers, the one who looked the weaker, also transmitted his voice. "Eldest brother, don't worry. That old guy doesn't know our origins yet. He still thinks we're after that Jianyu Essence Cudgel. Since he guessed that, it's good. Look at how he was fooled by our hidden strength. He thought we were only that strong. Now he's arrogant and proud. It's time for him to use his ultimate move!"

The eldest brother, hearing the message from the two brothers, smiled broadly and took a step forward. The Dark Sting Bear showed no reaction; in its eyes, a Form Transformation Stage Flame Leopard posed no challenge whatsoever. Its greatest strength was its thick Dark Sting Bear; attacks from Form Transformation Stage cultivators couldn't penetrate its defenses. Coupled with its powerful and resilient Jianyu Essence Cudgel, what was there to fear? It was a perfect combination of offense and defense!

"Dark Sting Bear, we brothers know you are powerful, so we're not here for the Jianyu Essence Cudgel, but for a few spirit stones. The three of us are running out of them, and we hope to borrow a few from you, Brother Dark Sting Bear. Brother Dark Sting Bear, your reputation is widespread, so spirit stones are of course readily available to you. A few wouldn't be a problem for you. Giving a few to us three juniors would also bring us good name recognition!" The Leopard Boss Yan, spoke with utmost sincerity.

Dark Sting Bear felt as light as a feather. He was a big bear, and his brains weren't very sharp to begin with, while leopards were known for their cunning. He was easily fooled by the Flaming Leopard.

"Good, good, good!" Dark Sting Bear said three times, his smile extremely bright.

At this moment, the Leopard Boss Yan had already sent a telepathic message to his two brothers. "Make your move!"

Zhang Xingfeng and Little Dragon, however, were enjoying the spectacle. They weren't in a hurry to make a move. As Little Dragon put it, "Let's be the ones who reap the benefits!"