Lin Feng swiftly cleaned the battlefield before returning to the midst of the spirit beasts. His gaze swept over each of them, filled with emotion. He reached out and patted Lei He's wing, saying gratefully, "Old Crane, thank you all so much this time."
"Scree..." Lei He gave a soft cry, lowering its head to gently touch Lin Feng's hand with the tip of its beak. Its eyes held an incredibly human-like expression of warmth.
"Brother Lin Feng..."
A timid voice came from beside him. Lin Feng turned to see Xia Xin, smiling as he said, "And you, Xin'er. Thank you for alerting Lei He and the others to come help me."
Xia Xin looked up at Lin Feng, seeming a little frightened. She had watched the battle from afar, and the bloody scenes of killing had unsettled her. She spoke weakly, "Brother Lin Feng... what exactly happened? Why did you come here? Shouldn't we go back to the sect?"
Earlier in Lingyue Sect, she had heard that Lin Feng had been taken away by 'bad people' and had become frantic with worry. In her desperation, she thought of the spirit beasts who were close to Lin Feng. She sneaked into the back mountain and, shortly after entering, happened to run into the Violet-Crowned Thunder Crane, which was heading out to see what the commotion was about. After hearing what happened, Lei He became furious and gathered all the spirit beasts to 'sneak' out of the back mountain.
Ye Lingxuan and the others had hesitated to help Lin Feng due to concerns about the sect's safety. These spirit beasts, however, didn't care about any of that. To them, Lin Feng was, besides their 'master', the most important person. If something happened to Lin Feng, who would give them Heaven-grade pills to eat in the future?
They knew, though, that if they charged out openly, Ye Lingxuan and the others would surely stop them. So, they emerged through the forests of the back mountain, following the very route Lin Feng used when sneaking down the mountain. With Lei He providing an aerial view from high above, they spotted Lin Feng approaching from a distance just in time, allowing them to arrive at that crucial moment.
...
Looking at Xia Xin, who clearly had no idea about the specifics of what had transpired, Lin Feng sighed helplessly. "It's complicated, Xin'er. I've left Lingyue Sect now... I can't go back. And... I have to leave here quickly. You all should head back too..."
Lin Feng's words elicited the strongest reaction not from Xia Xin, but from the group of spirit beasts. A chorus of anxious growls and cries arose as the beasts stirred restlessly, their gazes fixed on Lin Feng filled with urgency.
"What?! Brother Lin Feng, you're leaving?!" Xia Xin also panicked, grabbing the hem of Lin Feng's robe. "Why?!"
Lin Feng patted Xia Xin's head affectionately. "Like I just said, it's complicated. You don't need to know the details. Just stay safely in Lingyue Sect and focus on your cultivation... Don't worry. If I get the chance in the future, I will definitely come back to see you. You must cultivate diligently, understand?"
Tears welled up in Xia Xin's eyes as she said reluctantly, "Oh... then you absolutely must remember to come back and see me..."
"Heh, I definitely will," Lin Feng nodded. He then looked up at Lei He and the others, speaking sincerely. "Everyone, I truly must go now. I'm afraid you'll have to get used to eating waste pills again... I have some pills left here, consider them parting gifts..."
As he spoke, he took out bottle after bottle of pills from his storage ring. Heaven-grade pills, wrapped in true essence, floated towards each spirit beast like they were free candy beans...
...
Above the forests of Lingyue Sect's back mountain, several streaks of sword light cut through the air. Riding on these swords were Ye Lingxuan and several other Golden Core cultivators.
Suddenly, Ye Lingxuan and the others seemed to sense something simultaneously and stopped in unison, looking ahead in surprise. A streak of purple light was shooting towards them from the horizon. On the ground below, several figures could also be vaguely seen running towards them at incredible speed through the mountain forests.
"Scree!!" A clear cry rang out. The purple light was the fastest, arriving before Ye Lingxuan in the blink of an eye. It was the Violet-Crowned Thunder Crane.
"Lei He, how did you... Huh?!" Ye Lingxuan started to question the crane but suddenly raised an eyebrow, spotting Xia Xin on Lei He's back. He froze.
"Xia Xin?!" Zhou Xiantai beside him was also startled, exclaiming incredulously, "What are you doing here?!"
"Master..." Seeing so many people, Xia Xin immediately looked timid. The young girl couldn't lie and answered truthfully, "I... I heard Brother Lin Feng was taken away by bad people, so... so I asked Lei He and the others to go help..."
"What?!" Hearing this, the expressions of Ye Lingxuan and the others became even more peculiar. Her words were simple, but the implication was staggering—it seemed these spirit beasts had actually mobilized to 'help'?!
Ye Lingxuan's eyes flashed as he asked, "You saw Lin Feng?"
Xia Xin replied weakly, "Yes..."
"Where is he?!"
"Brother Lin Feng... he's already gone..."
"Where did he go?"
"I don't know..."
"..."
After just a few simple questions, Ye Lingxuan and the others were completely stunned. According to Xia Xin, Lin Feng had left 'safely'. But how was that possible? What about the people from Absolute Sword Sect?!
...
Meanwhile, elsewhere, after parting ways with Xia Xin and the spirit beasts, Lin Feng also entered the mountain forests, speeding along its edge.
He traveled without stopping for most of the day. Only after completely confirming there were no pursuers did he slightly slow his pace. He changed direction several more times before finally stopping at the base of an ordinary mountain peak as night fell.
Skilled at this routine, Lin Feng dug a cave into the rock face at the mountain's foot before finally settling down to rest.
Although his true essence had mostly recovered during his journey, Lin Feng still sat in meditation for an hour to fully calm his mind. He glanced at Xiao Qiu, who had eaten a mid-grade spirit stone and was now sleeping soundly on his lap. Smiling slightly, he didn't disturb it and began to ponder quietly.
Today had truly been another brush with death. Yet, the final outcome was far better than he had initially expected. Not only was he completely unharmed, but he had also gained considerable benefits.
Carefully reviewing the battle with Long Tengyu and the others, and consolidating the insights gained from the fight, Lin Feng then flipped his right hand and summoned the Bloodsoul Blade.
As soon as the blade touched his hand, Lin Feng could feel that its current power was greatly diminished, essentially back to the level it was when he first obtained it. The attack power gained from devouring blood afterwards was gone.
This meant that the Bloodsoul Blade could not only devour blood to increase its power but could also actively release all this accumulated energy in a single burst, unleashing an extremely powerful attack. This was something Lin Feng hadn't known before. It seemed that because he hadn't fully refined the magic treasure, he hadn't grasped this ability. However, he had unintentionally triggered it during this battle.
But Lin Feng hadn't forgotten the surge of uncontrollable killing intent that had arisen within him at that moment. It filled him with lingering dread. The Bloodsoul Blade was probably even more mysterious than he had imagined. Though incredibly potent, he decided it would be best to use it as sparingly as possible in the future.
After storing the Bloodsoul Blade, Lin Feng waved his hand and threw out four corpses. He incinerated them with several fireballs, destroying the evidence completely. Gathering the items left in the ashes, he began to slowly sort through them.
The Absolute Sword Sect Leader and his three Elders naturally possessed valuable items. Just mid-grade spirit stones alone numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Additionally, there were many Third-Grade magic talismans and pills, even several Fourth-Grade magic talismans. This made Lin Feng secretly relieved; if the enemy had used those Fourth-Grade talismans earlier, the situation could have turned dangerous.
However, he found no cultivation manuals or spell techniques. It seemed sect cultivators didn't carry such things on their person. There weren't many magic treasures either. Absolute Sword cultivators focused solely on flying swords, so they possessed fewer auxiliary treasures than ordinary cultivators. Still, a few spirit light defensive treasures were quite good, especially Long Tengyu's, which was actually a Top-Grade Spiritual Artifact. This further increased Lin Feng's strength.
There were also four flying swords of excellent quality. Long Tengyu's flying sword, in particular, was a Top-Grade Spiritual Artifact, enough to make any Golden Core cultivator covetous. However, Lin Feng already had the Crimson Soul Flying Sword, so he wasn't particularly moved. He stored these flying swords together with others he had acquired previously, planning to find an opportunity to sell them for spirit stones later.
"Huh? What's this...?"
Just as he was nearing the end of inspecting the contents of Long Tengyu's storage ring, Lin Feng suddenly raised an eyebrow. He pulled out another object, a look of surprise on his face.
It was a stone disk, about the size of a dinner plate and less than an inch thick. Its entire body was a dull grey-brown, appearing ancient and worn. It even had numerous fine cracks running across it. One side was smooth, while the other was densely covered with intricate, intersecting patterns of profound and seemingly meaningless runes.
The shape of this object was extremely familiar... as if he had seen it somewhere before...
Lin Feng was inwardly shocked. Subconsciously, a thought formed in his mind.
"Equipment Damage Level: 90%"
"Materials Required for Repair: Fourth-Grade Profound Hardsteel Essence - 60 cubic centimeters (can be substituted with Fourth-Grade Bright Sinking Crystal); Fourth-Grade Alum Bright Crystal - 30 cubic centimeters (can be substituted with Fourth-Grade Dark Brown Stone); Fourth-Grade Greenflame Sand - 120 grams."
"It really is the same!!" A strange light flashed in Lin Feng's eyes as he became completely certain. This object was identical to the unknown array disk he had helped Lu Su repair back at Lingyue City's Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion!
Could this be that very same disk? But how did it end up in Long Tengyu's hands?
Lin Feng was puzzled. He examined it more closely and realized that while this disk looked identical to the one he had seen at Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, there were actually some differences. The runes on it weren't exactly the same.
It wasn't the same one, but they were definitely related. So... were they a pair?