Fishing in Troubled Waters: Between Life and Death

The Yan Yang Three Thorns are three daggers that Body Integration of a dagger and a spearhead (similar to a triangular bayonet). They are dark in color with a faint milky white tinge flowing through them. Each of the three Yan Yang Thorn its own unique characteristics.

The first Yan Yang Thorn was of moderate thickness and length, and was for Leopard Boss Yan. The second one was thinner, with three sharp blades that gave it a more menacing look; this one was for Yan Leopard Second. The last one shouldn't be considered a dagger; it's more like a short spear. It was a size larger than the previous two Yan Yang Thorn, but this short spear had a terrifying three blades.

The Flame Leopard is fast, and these three Yan Yang Thorn are perfectly suited for them. The Yan Yang Thorn can be used for close combat, and can also be controlled with Beast Origin Power for surprise attacks; they are absolutely terrifying weapons. This was a flash of inspiration that Zhang Xingfeng had seen countless weapons in the Mortal World, leading him to devise such a weapon! In the immortal and demon realms, how many immortals possess weapons that are truly unique? Most immortal weapons are quite common—swords, knives, or armor.

Yan Yang and the others stared wide-eyed at the three dark Yan Yang Thorn in Zhang Xingfeng's hand, which shimmered with milky white light.

At this moment, Zhang Xingfeng smiled faintly, without any surprise, because he knew that his wish had not been fulfilled. At first, Zhang Xingfeng even wanted to rely on the Jianyu Essence, the deep purple heavenly fire, the Qi Cauldron, and the High Antiquity stone Primordial Milk to form a divine artifact, but he failed!

These three Yan Yang Thorn are comparable in power to lower-grade divine artifacts. However, Yan Yang Thorn great power stems from the inherent Jianyu Essence and the Yan Yang Thorn's unique shape, not from their true nature. Their true nature, however, makes them only top-tier among Top-grade Immortal Artifact!

In other words... the Yan Yang Thorn is not a divine weapon!

"Young Zhang, don't be discouraged. How could forging a divine artifact be so simple? Back in the day, even Pangu, when he achieved the Immortal Undying Body, only managed to forge a divine artifact using the Earthly Elemental Fire of the Purple Gold Yuan Venerable, which reached the level of the Blazing Heavenly Fire. Your Deep Purple Skyfire is still a level below! It's like comparing apples and oranges, but young Zhang, your fire is a level below, so you can't possibly forge divine artifacts! Of course, forging a divine artifact isn't simple either; the Blazing Heavenly Fire alone isn't enough! Pangu forged it using the Earthly Elemental Fire that reached the level of the Blazing Heavenly Fire and a Black Realm Earthly Qi Cauldron! If the Qi Cauldron hasn't reached the Black Realm, even possessing the Blazing Heavenly Fire is useless!"

Tianyu's words shocked Zhang Xingfeng; he truly didn't know anything about refining artifacts. Tianyu had followed Pangu, watching Pangu grow, Pangu, and forge Pangu weapons... If anyone had the most authority to speak on refining divine weapons, it would undoubtedly be Tianyu.

Zhang Xingfeng's mood improved, and he thought to Tianyu, "So that's how it is. Then I just need to refine more weapons with the Qi Cauldron and cultivate diligently, right? It seems the day I can refine a divine weapon isn't far off!"

Tianyu didn't answer because he didn't want to discourage Zhang Xingfeng. Tianyu knew very well how difficult it was to reach the level of the Blazing Heavenly Fire. Divine flames were simply beyond the control of the people of this realm; the highest level of fire they could control was the Blazing Heavenly Fire. Furthermore, Tianyu thought that if Zhang Xingfeng continued cultivating like this, it would be impossible for him to reach that level in less than ten thousand years!

While Zhang Xingfeng and the three brothers Yan Bao were together, Little Dragon was staring at the Yan Yang Thorn in Zhang Xingfeng's hand.

The three Yanbao brothers excitedly received the three Yan Yang Thorn from Zhang Xingfeng. Just as Zhang Xingfeng had planned, the Yan Yang Thorn chosen by the three brothers were all the correct ones!

The Yan Leopard Third held the Yan Yang Thorn horizontally with one hand, wielding it as if he were wielding a cleaver. However, the power of the Yan Yang Thorn was even more terrifying than that of a cleaver. The three cold blades pierced into his body, and with a sweep of Beast Origin Power, even Zhang Xingfeng's body could not withstand it.

The Yan Leopard Second gripped the Yan Yang Thorn in his backhand. His figure flashed, and a light began to flicker again. It was a very small light, not a figure, but— the Yan Yang Thorn! The Yan Yang Thorn in the Yan Leopard Second was like a venomous snake in the dark. With each flash, it meant the death of the enemy!

The Leopard Boss Yan Yang Thorn sometimes shone brightly, shattering distant rocks into dust in a flash. At other times, the light dimmed, disappearing without a trace. In terms of power, the Leopard Boss Yan combined the strengths of the second and third brothers! He was absolutely a terrifying figure. Zhang Xingfeng looked at the Leopard Boss Yan and sighed inwardly, "If Little Dragon doesn't use his divine weapon, he probably won't be a match for this Leopard Boss Yan. Currently, that's assuming Little Dragon doesn't use any of the secret techniques from the Dragon Clan's inherited memories!"

The three brothers suddenly stopped at the same time, stood still, looked at Zhang Xingfeng, and then knelt down in unison.

"I, Yan Feng, have no way to repay the True Person Xingfeng. From now on, I will follow True Person Xingfeng. Whoever True Person ask me to kill, I will kill, including myself!" Leopard Boss Yan's words startled Zhang Xingfeng. Including himself, what did that mean? It meant that the other party had completely entrusted his life to you!

"I, Yan Yu, have no way to repay the True Person Xingfeng. From now on, I will follow True Person Xingfeng. Whoever he commands me to kill, I will kill, including myself!" Yan Leopard Second said the same thing.

"I, Yanhuo, have no way to repay the True Person Xingfeng. From now on, I will follow True Person Xingfeng. True Person Master Xingfeng commands me to kill, I will kill, including myself!" Yan Leopard Third, was naturally listening to his elder brothers and said the same thing.

A storm raged within Zhang Xingfeng's heart. At first, he only wanted these three brothers and his Cultivation World to help him. He never thought of a master being loyal to him and entrusting his life to him! This was unimaginable even in the realms of immortals and demons!

Zhang Xingfeng had never imagined that a master in the Form Transformation Stage would pledge his complete loyalty to him!

However, Zhang Xingfeng did not know that this so-called loyalty was extremely common among the beastmen. The beastmen were somewhat lacking in intelligence compared to humans, and they revered the strong. Moreover, these beastmen were all extremely selfish, hoarding all the good things for themselves!

Zhang Xingfeng is now a powerful figure. Most importantly... Zhang Xingfeng gave the three brothers a top-tier weapon, a weapon that is in no way inferior to the Jianyu Essence Cudgel, and even more importantly, these three weapons are more suitable for them than the Jianyu Essence Cudgel!

After all, the Jianyu Essence Cudgel is so thick that only Dark Sting Bear could probably grip it in one hand. And such a heavy weapon is simply not suitable for a beast race like the Yanbao, which relies on speed to win.

Now that Zhang Xingfeng has given them such weapons and is a powerful figure, who else would the three brothers pledge allegiance to if not him? Surely they should pledge allegiance to those savage, bloodthirsty beastmen demons!

Zhang Xingfeng closed his eyes, as if he hadn't seen the three brothers kneeling at all. Zhang Xingfeng kept his eyes closed and his face was expressionless. No one could imagine what Zhang Xingfeng was thinking at that moment!

The three brothers felt a slight unease. They had no idea what Zhang Xingfeng was thinking! There were many peerless experts in Beast Valley who seemed to dislike having subordinates. These experts preferred to act alone. Loneliness was the destiny of masters; if Zhang Xingfeng was also this kind of person, what could the three Yanbao brothers do?

The three brothers were filled with anxiety and their minds were in complete chaos.

Little Dragon, however, kept his mouth shut and didn't say a word. He knew that Zhang Xingfeng was thinking seriously at that moment.

Zhang Xingfeng suddenly opened his eyes, stared at the three brothers, grinned, and said, "From today onwards, you three brothers are my people, Zhang Xingfeng's people, and you will follow me!"

Who knows what Zhang Xingfeng was thinking just now? But from that moment on, the trajectories of the Cultivation World and the immortal realm began to spin...

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and so does absolute strength and absolute ambition! With the addition of three Form Transformation Stage experts, Zhang Xingfeng's strength surpassed that of the seven major sects, Zhang Xingfeng goals shifted once again!

A super-large sect?

Hmph, that's extremely simple, there's no challenge left. If Little Dragon takes another step forward and reaches the early stage of Nascent Soul, he can use the ancient stone Primordial Milk and the dragon clan's secret method to reach the late stage of Body Refinement! At that time, unless Immortal Emperor descends to the mortal realm, Zhang Xingfeng's Tianxin Sect will be absolutely invincible!

Moreover, he still possesses the ancient stone; if forced into a corner, he can use the secret techniques within the Six Revolutions Profound Body Art ...

"Little Dragon, once you enter the Nascent Soul stage, those ancient stone Primordial Milk will appear before you!" Zhang Xingfeng said with a smile.

"Hoo hoo... Thank you, Second Brother!" Little Dragon shouted immediately.

Zhang Xingfeng suddenly asked Little Dragon, "Little Dragon, what about those spirit stones you just took?"

Little Dragon sheepishly took out several hundred spirit stones from his Azure Bracelet and said somewhat timidly, "Second Brother, they're all here!"

Zhang Xingfeng laughed, a laugh that sent shivers down Little Dragon's spine. Little Dragon's right hand flashed, and another hundred spirit stones appeared. This time, Little Dragon seemed fearless. "Second brother, this is all I have. I have none left now, really none left. Second brother, please don't laugh like that. It's really gone, I really have none left, second brother..." Little Dragon looked at Zhang Xingfeng's terrifying smile and seemed about to cry.

With a single gesture, Zhang Xingfeng sent nearly five hundred spirit stones flying into the sky. Zhang Xingfeng then turned and said, "Everyone can go now. Also, Little Dragon, the thirty spirit stones you've been hoarding will last you for three thousand years. Don't ask me for spirit stones for the next three thousand years! Yan Feng, you three brothers come with me. Don't worry about that dazed Little Dragon!"

The three brothers, Yan Feng, Yan Yu, and Yanhuo, walked up to Little Dragon and patted Little Dragon on the shoulder to comfort him. Little Dragon, however, wore a bitter expression and was secretly annoyed. "How did my second brother know I had thirty more spirit stones? He didn't even see how many I found! And as soon as I entered the cave, I used my Divine Sense to surround the place where I kept the spirit stones. There's no way my second brother could have discovered it with his Divine Sense!" Little Dragon probably would never understand, but little did he know that Zhang Xingfeng had already observed the cave with his Divine Sense before even entering it.

"Hey, Second Brother, wait for me..." Little Dragon shouted as soon as he saw that Zhang Xingfeng and the others had all left, and flew after them.

Seven months later!

Zhang Xingfeng, Little Dragon, and the three Yanbao brothers! The power of these five was far beyond what ordinary beastmen could resist. Zhang Xingfeng alone could easily eliminate a Nascent Soul stage expert, and with Little Dragon and the three Yanbao brothers whose strength had greatly increased, eliminating a Nascent Soul stage beastman seemed effortless as well. In this way, the five of them swept through countless beastmen's lairs with overwhelming force.

In the first month, he killed thirty beastmen in the Form Transformation Stage, but none in the Nascent Soul stage. He harvested over four hundred spirit stones, Zhang Xingfeng was pleasantly surprised to obtain a precious material comparable to the Jianyu Essence — Purple Heart Iron.

In the second month, they killed twenty-one beastmen in the Form Transformation Stage and one in the Nascent Soul stage, and obtained over six hundred spirit stones. However, they did not obtain a single valuable material.

In the third month, he killed eleven beastmen in the Form Transformation Stage and two in the Nascent Soul stage, and obtained an astonishing amount of over a thousand spirit stones! Most importantly, he obtained the legendary Purple Extreme Vermilion Fruit. Unfortunately, there was only one, but with it, Zhang Xingfeng could also refine the Crimson Essence Pill, one of the three great immortal pills!

The fourth, fifth, and sixth months were extremely unlucky. Killing a Nascent Soul cultivator yielded far more benefits than killing a Form Transformation Stage beastman, so Zhang Xingfeng and his group specifically sought out Nascent Soul stage beastmen. Although they killed six or seven Nascent Soul stage beastmen each month, they only obtained a little over 1,500 spirit stones. It seemed these six or seven Nascent Soul stage beastmen were all penniless! However, none of this was enough to frustrate Zhang Xingfeng. What frustrated him most was that he hadn't seen a single good material in all this time. The only things worth looking at were the immortal artifacts left behind by the immortals who died when the seven major sects came before. These immortal artifacts were completely worthless to Zhang Xingfeng, since he could forge as many Zhang Xingfeng artifacts as he wanted at will.

In the seventh month, Zhang Xingfeng was finally overjoyed. In this single month, he had found five Nascent Soul stage beastmen and obtained over 1,300 pieces of valuables from their kills! Most importantly, Zhang Xingfeng had also acquired a precious material— Azure Sky Stone! Absolutely the best material for forging battle armor. The harvest in this seventh month alone surpassed the combined harvest of the previous three months! As Little Dragon put it, "We're about to have some good luck!"

In seven months, over a hundred beastmen in the Form Transformation Stage were killed. (In the last four months, although the main focus was on killing beastmen in the Nascent Soul stage, it was normal to kill some Form Transformation Stage beastmen as well.) Fifteen Nascent Soul stage beastmen were killed! A total of nearly five thousand spirit stones were collected.

It's now August, and the five-person hunting team is full of confidence. The great harvest in July indicates that August won't be much worse!

The five strolled freely through the Beast Valley, feeling completely at ease. At this depth, there were no beastmen who could threaten them.

Suddenly, a flash of purplish-black light appeared in the sky, and a flying eagle appeared in the air. Little Dragon immediately recognized it based on his inherited memories. He immediately used a secret technique to scan it with his Divine Sense and couldn't help but exclaim, "Chi Winged Flying Eagle! Chi Winged Flying Eagle with unparalleled speed! Its power is actually... actually... actually reached the Body Refinement stage!"

Zhang Xingfeng was also stunned. Although the Body Refinement stage was only one level higher than the Nascent Soul stage, the difference of one level was too great. Ten Nascent Soul stage cultivators couldn't defeat one Body Refinement stage cultivator, not to mention that the Chi Winged Flying Eagle was faster than Zhang Xingfeng! What to do?

"Run!" Zhang Xingfeng immediately transmitted his voice. The gap in skill was too great; there was simply no hope!

A sharp cry rang out from the sky as the Chi Winged Flying Eagle charged towards Zhang Xingfeng his companions, determined to kill them!

Life and death are separated by a fine line!