High in the bushes, a cluster of leaves stirred slightly.
They concealed Gu Chenfeng's gaze in the gloom.
Yet a sharp glint flickered in Gu Chenfeng's eyes.
Although he was still some distance from the battlefield, Gu Chenfeng's eyes and ears were exceptionally keen.
These people had made no effort to conceal their conversation, and he heard every word clearly.
"These bastards actually picked some Ice-Congealing Herb."
Gu Chenfeng had already been considering his options, and now one thought took firmer root.
"I want the spirit herbs, and they have to die!"
After all, these people had been the first to attack Gu Chenfeng.
Their methods and the conversation he had just overheard made one thing clear.
They had committed plenty of crimes against heaven and humanity. Not one of them was a good egg.
As the saying went, rooting out evil was doing good. Gu Chenfeng felt no qualms whatsoever.
Still, they had strength in numbers, all manner of vicious tricks, and a Source Qi Realm warrior backing them up.
He needed to find the right moment to strike.
Gu Chenfeng watched quietly from the tree.
By now, the Third Boss and five Meridian-Opening Realm warriors had joined the fight.
Taking advantage of the Crimson Flame Savage Bear's weakened state, the six experts attacked from every direction with weapons in hand.
The Crimson Flame Savage Bear was indeed formidable. Even when the Meridian-Opening Realm warriors landed full-strength attacks on its body,
they left, at most, shallow bloody scratches, hardly enough to inflict any real damage.
The Third Boss's attacks, however, were another matter entirely.
Gu Chenfeng noticed that whenever the Third Boss swung his spiked club,
a faint yellow glow appeared around his hands.
A trace of heavy source qi, together with his mighty blood-and-qi power, reinforced the club.
It struck the Crimson Flame Savage Bear with dull, drumlike booms.
The spiked club hit with tremendous weight, and its spikes could pierce flesh.
The savage bear roared in pain, blood flowing steadily from its wounds.
"So this is the strength of a one-star Source Qi Realm warrior. Rather... ordinary."
After watching for a while, Gu Chenfeng reached his conclusion and finally decided to act.
Everyone was attacking the Crimson Flame Savage Bear, and the battlefield was in chaos.
Occasionally, individual Four Directions Gate warriors arrived from the surrounding area, drawn by the whistles, and joined the fight.
"Perfect opportunity!"
Gu Chenfeng's eyes lit up. Light and nimble as a cat, he landed without a sound.
Spear in hand, he rapidly closed in.
Gu Chenfeng's plain clothes resembled those of the Four Directions Gate warriors, and his speed carried him to the battlefield in a flash.
Even those who noticed him assumed he was another member coming to help.
Once Gu Chenfeng slipped behind the crowd, he did not hesitate.
His spear thrust out like lightning.
Squelch...!
A burly man stood at the rear with a broadsword in hand, keeping well away from the savage bear while shouting battle cries with great enthusiasm, all bark and no effort.
The spear pierced the back of his neck and punched through his throat.
"Hrk...!"
The man's eyes bulged. He tried to cry out, but no sound would come, and his body quickly crumpled.
The entire process took a single breath.
Before the man's body hit the ground, Gu Chenfeng had already withdrawn his spear and moved.
He was now behind someone else.
Squelch...!
Gu Chenfeng was like a ghost haunting the battlefield, or an efficient killing machine.
While the Four Directions Gate warriors hacked furiously at the Crimson Flame Savage Bear,
he darted around the edge of the crowd, thrusting his spear and killing at incredible speed.
The principle was simple: you kill yours, and I'll kill mine.
There were more than forty Four Directions Gate warriors present.
Numerous as they were, how could they withstand slaughter like this by Gu Chenfeng?
Finally, as Gu Chenfeng drove his spear through the seventeenth man's throat,
someone noticed him.
A burly Meridian-Opening Realm Four Stars warrior had been fighting in the inner circle alongside the Third Boss.
The Crimson Flame Savage Bear knocked him staggering backward, and as he steadied himself and regulated his breathing,
he happened to glimpse a spear piercing his companion's throat at the edge of the crowd.
"Huh... who are you?!"
The bushy-bearded man fixed his gaze on Gu Chenfeng and bellowed in shock and fury.
Having just recovered his breath, he leaped more than ten feet into the air.
Battle saber in hand, he swooped down on Gu Chenfeng like a great roc spreading its wings.
Gu Chenfeng knew that however fast he moved, he could not kill every enemy without being noticed.
He had been prepared for this.
The instant the man leaped, Gu Chenfeng did not withdraw his spear from the throat of the man before him.
Instead, he channeled strength through his arms, tightened his grip, twisted the spear sharply, and thrust it farther forward.
Rip!
The spear's terrifying force lifted the impaled man's entire body.
Its tip shot like lightning toward the burly man in midair.
"What?!"
The bushy-bearded man had never expected such ferocity.
The spear could actually "charge with a body on it."
Caught off guard, he hastily changed his saber's trajectory, trying to block the spear with its blade.
But the moment he swung the back of his saber around and struck the spearhead,
Bzz...!
his arm went numb, and the saber was knocked straight out of his hand.
At that instant, only one thought remained in his mind.
"I'm finished!"
Squelch!
The spear pierced his heart and drove clean through him while he was still in midair.
He and his companion were skewered together like candied hawthorn on a stick.
"Trying to knock my spear aside with a saber? Idiot!"
Having speared two men at once, Gu Chenfeng swiftly pulled his weapon free and retreated.
He dodged several poisoned arrows flying toward him, along with a handful of poisonous powder.
By now, everyone from the Four Directions Gate had noticed him.
Seeing the unremarkable-looking young man in fitted clothes with a spear in hand,
someone cried out.
"It's that lone traveler!"
Several days earlier, the Four Directions Gate members had set their sights on Gu Chenfeng as he traveled alone through the Great Wilderness Ridge.
Today, the Third Boss had even sent a squad to follow and murder him.
As far as they were concerned, Gu Chenfeng should have been a corpse by now.
They had never imagined he would appear here and kill so many of their fellow members.
Just now, he had even pierced two men with a single thrust.
One of them had been a Meridian-Opening Realm Four Stars expert.
The Third Boss also spotted the bodies of his fellow members strewn across the outer perimeter.
His expression turned exceedingly ugly.
"You fucking dare dig up the ground over the God of Misfortune's head? I'll kill you!"
With an enraged roar, the Third Boss abandoned the increasingly feeble Crimson Flame Savage Bear and hurtled toward him with his spiked club.
Gu Chenfeng felt a vicious gust strike his face as the club came crashing down at his head.
Gu Chenfeng swept his spear across to deflect it, and spear met club.
Clang!
Metal rang against metal.
Even though Gu Chenfeng used a spear move designed to redirect force, the blow still drove him back a step.
The sight greatly startled the Third Boss.
This man had taken his fully charged strike head-on and retreated only one step.
His strength was on the same level as the third chief's.
"A Source Qi Realm warrior!"
The Third Boss stared at Gu Chenfeng with a cold, sinister gaze.
"So you're an expert. I actually misjudged you. Looks like you've already killed Baldy Liu and the others."
Gu Chenfeng did not answer. The instant he steadied himself,
he pushed off the ground and lunged like a hunting leopard, driving his spear straight at the Third Boss's face.
"Hmph!"
The Third Boss hurriedly swung his spiked club to meet him.
Clang, clang, clang...
Their weapons collided, scattering sparks and stirring fierce gusts of wind.
Though the Third Boss looked crude and reckless, his club work blended brute force with finesse, his advances and retreats following a clear rhythm.
With the trace of source qi a Source Qi Realm warrior could draw upon to reinforce his attacks, his offensive carried immense pressure.
This was Gu Chenfeng's first fight against a warrior of this level, and excitement stirred within him.
"Now this feels like a fight."
His blood and qi surged through his body like a dragon as his spear danced.
Snapping, deflecting, pressing, covering, lifting, thrusting...
He fluidly employed the various basic moves of the Tiger-Subduing Spear Technique.
Although Gu Chenfeng had only mastered the first level's signature move of the Tiger-Subduing Spear Technique,
the Enlightenment Platform's enhancement had also given him an exceptionally solid foundation in spear work.
After a brief, fierce exchange, Gu Chenfeng fought while retreating, seemingly falling into a disadvantage.
Yet despite the ferocity of the Third Boss's attacks, he could not secure a victory.
"Die!"
The Third Boss began to grow impatient.
He leaped up and brought his club crashing down again.
Gu Chenfeng deflected it with his spear, then borrowed the force to shift sideways and suddenly charge in another direction.
While the Third Boss had been fighting Gu Chenfeng,
the other Four Directions Gate warriors had split into two groups.
One group continued surrounding and attacking the Crimson Flame Savage Bear.
The other held poisoned arrows, poisonous powder, and various hidden weapons, waiting for openings.
From time to time, they launched sneak attacks at Gu Chenfeng.
Gu Chenfeng had no taste for being shot at from the shadows.
Now, he had found his chance!
He suddenly charged toward several Four Directions Gate warriors carrying bows.
Terrified, they scattered in panic.
Two failed to flee in time, however, and his spear pierced their throats, ending their lives.
Gu Chenfeng neither pursued the others nor concerned himself with the Third Boss chasing behind him.
Instead, he charged straight toward the battlefield where the Crimson Flame Savage Bear was surrounded.
Bang, bang!
His spear swept across, blasting two Body Tempering Realm warriors away.
The spearhead thrust straight toward the battered Crimson Flame Savage Bear, which was surrounded by enemies and trapped beneath layers of vine nets.
The spear did not injure the Crimson Flame Savage Bear. Instead, it whipped rapidly around its body.
Rip, rip, rip...!
The sharp spearhead quickly shredded the layers of vines wrapped around the Crimson Flame Savage Bear.
"Big fellow, you're free. Go settle your grudges!"
Before you continue