Chapter 689: Exponential Growth in Power
The price a human would pay for his greed was with his life, just as a bird pays for its sustenance with its life!
Lutong was a bandit, and as a bandit, he cared little for the sanctity of life. Only wealth mattered!
That was why it would be strange if he was not at least momentarily shocked when he saw Jiang Feng throw out so many gold coins.
That was why he had an opening after pausing shortly.
And Jiang Feng, who was waiting with his charged attack, instantly sprung into action with the Feihe Sword in his hand, slicing his throat clean.
His anger had yet to be appeased despite killing Lutong so quickly.
Unfortunately, that was the only chance for him to kill Lutong and he had to do it without reservations. Lutong’s power surpassed his after all. As such, it was not possible for Jiang Feng to torture him.
After killing Lutong, he then began to slaughter the remaining bandits.
In dozens of minutes, all the bandits in the mountain were killed by the Lunar Wolf King and him.
There was blood covering the Lunar Wolf King and him, and they had also gained plenty of wounds themselves.
After killing the final bandit, he crumbled and sat down on the ground with wounds all over him.
Ding. Tianji System Prompt. Congratulations on destroying the Heiqiu Mountain Fort and completing the hidden quest. Evaluation: S Rank. Stars increased by 4. Combat Rating +1,000. You also gain one Secret Manual, 500 Reputation Points, and 3 Player Slots.
Ding. Tianji System Prompt. The Tianji System will announce this across the world. Do you want to hide your username?
“Hide it!”
Ding. Tianji System World Announcement. Congratulations to player XX for completing the Heiqiu Mountain hidden quest single-handedly. Evaluation: S Rank. Stars increased by 4. Combat Rating +1,000. He also gained one Secret Manual, 500 Reputation Points, and 3 Player Slots.
Ding. Tianji System Prompt: Congratulations, you have advanced to Black Realm One Star Commoner.
Ding. Tianji System Prompt: As you have cleared the Heiqiu Mountain Fort, Mount Heiqiu is now open. Rewarding you with 500 reputation points.
The few system prompts had given Jiang Feng plenty of rewards.
However, his ranking was not as high as the time he had killed the Tyrannosaurus since he instantly killed the Tyrannosaurus. This time, he almost died.
As per his understanding of the Tianji System, when killing monsters or doing quests, the harder they were and the quicker he completed them, the higher the evaluation would be. If he were wounded or if he spent too much time, the evaluation would worsen.
When he increased by 4 stars, it had increased his combat rating and Inner Chi by 400.
As for that 1,000 combat rating reward, it was the basic reward for entering Black Realm. He would gain that reward even by not going through this quest.
Just like the reward that he gained by killing the Tyrannosaurus.
Once he had reached Black Realm One Star, his powers once again greatly increased.
Adding the 400 combat rating and Inner Chi that he gained in increasing by 4 stars, the 500 combat rating and Inner Chi by eating the Low-Earth Rank Beast Pill, and the bonus of 1,000 points to combat rating by reaching the Black Realm, his current combat rating had reached 3,928 and his Inner Chi was at 2,130.
It could be said that his current combat rating had already surpassed many of the players on the Tianji Leaderboard. The only weakness he had was that his Inner Chi amount could not keep up with him.
He could not fight battles above his level, but he needed to finish them quickly. Otherwise, his Inner Chi would not be able to keep up with his expenditure in a battle of attrition.
As the Low-Earth Rank Beast Pill still had some residual effects, his wounds were slowly healing.
When he had almost fully recovered, he did not go and check the Secret Manuals that were rewarded by the Tianji System, instead he picked up the gold coins on the ground. Then, he used the Feihe Sword in his hand, cutting down Lutong’s head. He then slowly descended the mountain with the head in his hand.
The Lunar Wolf King gave Jiang Feng a glance and followed Jiang Feng as he endured the pain.
Squawk!
There was a screech of an eagle coming from the sky. Xiran and Li’er rode on the eagle and looked down below with shock.
As the black mist within the area had completely dissipated, they could see everything clearly in front of them.
Both of them were bewildered because they could see Jiang Feng dragging the Feihe Sword in one hand and holding a severed head in another. They found him quite terrifying as he was also smeared in blood and his eyes were filled with murderous intent.
“How many did he kill?” Li’er asked in fear.
“I don’t know.” Xiran shook her head as she narrowed her eyes, looking at the bloody footprints that Jiang Feng left behind him. “But I do know that he must have gained significant power from this. To think that he could destroy the Heiqiu Mountain Fort on his own… Their boss was at Earth Realm One Star! I wonder how he was able to kill him! That is too absurd!”
“I don’t care how he killed the boss, all I want to know is when would his eyes and hair return to their normal color! He looks so scary like this…” Li’er exclaimed.
Xiran looked at Jiang Feng down below and then said, “Red eyes and silver hair, huh… I do think he looks quite handsome like this.”
After that, she gave the giant eagle she was riding a pat, and let it fly toward where Jiang Feng was.
Very quickly, they arrived in front of Jiang Feng.
“Come up!” Xiran waved at Jiang Feng.
Jiang Feng gave Xiran a glance and jumped onto the giant eagle. He then took out a Mid-Yellow Rank Beast Pill and gave it to the Lunar Wolf King, and then said to Xiran coldly, “Back to Harmony Village!”
Xiran was quite unhappy with Jiang Feng’s tone, but when she remembered that if it was not because she left Harmony Village, the village would not have been destroyed, and he would not become like this. Only then did she decide not to make a fuss about it.
Jiang Feng held onto Lutong’s head as he stood on the giant eagle, his expression slightly cold.
After the Lunar Wolf King had eaten a beast pill, his injuries had somewhat recovered as he ran below them.
***
They made their way back to Harmony Village.
Once Jiang Feng had returned to Harmony Village, he suddenly leaped off and slammed his fist on the ground at the center of Harmony Village.
Boom!
The earth shook and a huge crater formed in the middle of Harmony Village.
He then carried the bodies of each of the villagers in Harmony Village into the crater. As for those women and children that were unclothed, he had Xiran and Li’er clothe them first.
After he had placed the bodies of the villagers in the crater, he then buried them underground.
Jiang Feng felt pain looking at the villagers’ mangled corpses. If this was in Divine Dominion, he could find a way to revive them. Unfortunately, this was the Great World of Tianji. Locals of the Great World of Tianji could not be revived after their death.
Once he had buried them, he then left the village.
When he came back, there was a rectangular, giant rock behind his back.
He then placed the giant rock in front of the mass grave. He then unsheathed the Feihe Sword. As he waved his arms, words were engraved onto the giant rock. They were neat and graceful. On the rock, it was written: “In Loving Memory of the Villagers of Harmony Village. By Jiang Feng.”
He then placed Lutong’s head on the tombstone.
After he had finished all of this, he then left Harmony Village together with the Lunar Wolf King.
He did not go to Xiayi City but instead returned to Tianxing Town.
At the end of the day, the areas covered by the black mist were still too dangerous. He also felt quite uncomfortable staying in a place where his vision was limited. That was why he chose to return to Tianxing Town in the end.
The reason that he left Tianxing Town was that he was worried he might get killed. He chose to return now because other than the Top 20 in the Tianxing Leaderboard, others could not kill him.
Clang! Clang!
But it was not long after when he heard the sounds of battle, and there was the fragrance of wine.
He did not want to fight now, but because he had to pass by the area where the battle was taking place, and the Lunar Wolf King did not actually stop in his tracks, the scene of a battle appeared right in front of him.
“Hm?” Jiang Feng was quite surprised as he looked at those that were fighting as he narrowed his eyes.