"Woman, you've angered me successfully."
On the land, the leopard's speed was the fastest. As a tenth grade Beast King, the Black Wind Leopard's speed was naturally its forte. Amongst the same level beasts, the beasts that could surpass it in speed could be counted on one's fingers.
It stamped its feet on the ground and roared before its figure turned into a series of afterimages, charging toward Murong Qingcheng as he wished to capture her.
Woosh!
Black-colored bat wings unfolded from Murong Qingcheng's back, and she instantly left the ground, soaring in the sky.
"Eh? Humans can have wings?" the Black Wing Tiger raised its head, astoundedly looking at Murong Qingcheng. It could tell that her wings were not illusory, but real.
"Void Shattering Finger!"
Ye Chen had only used seventy percent power in the previous strike. Moreover, it was also weakened by the other beast as well. But this time, he used his full power. The stone pillar sized cyan-colored finger appeared and immediately started drawing in the spatial energy, causing the finger to emit a dim cyan-colored glow.
"Not good!"
Black Wind Leopard's hair stood erect. It was a tyrant in tens of thousands of li within the Barbaric Mountains. Apart from the Barbarians, it had no predators. Although there were some demonic beasts more powerful than itself, its speed was faster. Therefore, it was fearless. However, this finger made it feel an immense danger. It knew that it couldn't just outrun this finger. This finger could shrink space itself.
Its two arms crisscrossed beside its chest, condensing a black whirlpool of demonic energy. The whirlpool transformed into an octagonal shield, defending its body.
Bang!
The moment his shield formed, the cyan-colored finger resolutely smashed into it, and a sky-covering shockwave spread out. With its feet heavily skidding against the ground, the Black Wind Panther was pushed back for several kilometers. Ultimately, it smashed into a summit and was sent flying back, its figure spinning chaotically.
Roar!
Blood spewed profusely out of its mouth. The Black Wind Panther was a tenth grade Beast King. However, it excelled in speed, and its defense was weaker than the other tenth grade Beast Kings. Of course, compared to other normal tenth grade beasts, it was much more powerful. But, against Ye Chen's one of the best moves, the Void Shattering Finger, it couldn't come out unscathed.
"You actually injured me! You're courting death! I'll eat you to the bones!"
The Black Wind Panther thought that it was caught off-guard and was unable to exhibit its speed. Therefore, its first reaction was not fear, but wrath. Now, it would go full out and kill the despicable human before it and snatch his woman.
It rolled on the ground, its half-human torso turning into a huge black leopard body. On its black fur, mysterious rune lines appeared. Its four limbs exploding with energy as it pounced toward Ye Chen, turning into a black ray.
"What speed! It's even faster than the Azure Eyed White Wolf Clan's experts." The Black Wind Panther's speed was fast, but Ye Chen's speed was not slow either. Sword light blossomed as Ye Chen blocked the leopard's first attack, sparks flying out of the collision.
While Black Wind Panther was attacking Ye Chen, Murong Qingcheng was not idling. The black bat wings at her back flapped once, letting out a spatial ripple. With a swoosh, she disappeared before arriving above Black Wind Panther in the next moment.
Puchi!
In pure speed, Black Wind Panther was superior to Murong Qingcheng. However, while he was clashing head-on with Ye Chen, his body had turned somewhat rigid. Therefore, he was hit squarely by Murong Qingcheng's attack on his back. His fur fluttered madly, revealing bloody scars.
"Damn it!"
The Black WInd Leopard didn't expect Murong Qingcheng to be able to injure it, even if it were just a flesh wound.
Its three meters long black tail, which seemed like a black rod, turned erect before its body turned around and whipped the tail toward Murong Qingcheng.
Woosh!
Murong Qingcheng's body flickered and appeared dozens of meters behind, dodging the Black Wind Leopard's attack.
Ye Chen didn't worry about her; she was not a burden at all. Apart from her offensive power being somewhat lacking, even if she were to run into an expert like Lin Tian, she could easily escape if she couldn't prevail. It was the same as Yan Fengfeng not being afraid of the five young tyrants.
"Gold Ripple!"
Ye Chen's footwork turned erratic as he slashed out obliquely. Several chaotic gold-colored sword Qi streams shot out like ripples spreading out in water. The Black Wind Leopard was like a fish in the water, receiving the full impact of these ripples. As a result, bone-deep scars appeared on its entire body.
"Such bad luck, kicking an iron rock this time!"
How could the Black Wind Leopard not realize that it had kicked an iron rock this time? Not to mention Murong Qingcheng, whose speed was not inferior to his and was actually much more flexible than him, Ye Chen's previous strike was powerful enough to make a tenth-grade beast king suffer. Furthermore, he was also able to draw his sword and fight with it head on.
"Escape!" The Black Wind Leopard's body turned into a black light and escaped.
"Where will you run?!" Murong Qingcheng was always looking for an opportunity. At this moment, she let out another Soul Extinguishing Wave, which battered the leopard's Sea of Soul and lowered its speed significantly.
A sword light flickered, and Ye Chen appeared before Black Wind Leopard as he said indifferently, "Tell me about the Phoenix Plume Fruit. If you don't know, you can go die."
"I don't have it! I was just deceiving you!" The Black Wind Leopard shouted miserably.
Murong Qingcheng arrived beside Ye Chen and said, "You've been living for so many years, so you should have heard about the Phoenix Plume Fruit."
"I indeed know where you can find the Phoenix Plume Fruit, but I wonder if you will be daring enough to go there."
"Just speak!"
The Black Wind Leopard said, "To the northwest of Black Wind Valley, about few hundred thousand li away, you'll find the Moxiong Mountain. It stretches across a hundred thousand li, and it's occupied by a demonic bear known as Tyrant Bear. Tyrant Bear also has two brothers—a snake beast and an eagle beast. Tyrant Bear is a lot stronger than me, and although his brothers aren't as strong as me, they are quite troublesome. My underlings faced off against his once, and his underlings accidentally let out that they divided a long flat fruit amongst themselves during some celebration. Of course, they could only get a nail's worth each, but it should be the Phoenix Plume Fruit you're looking for."
"Are you serious?" Murong Qingcheng raised her brows.
The Black Wind Tiger nodded repeatedly, "It's the absolute truth!"
"I believe you're speaking the truth. But, your offense is not a small one. I'll collect a little interest." Ye Chen hinted Murong Qingcheng, then headed inside the valley.
Murong Qingcheng headed behind Ye Chen. She knew that Ye Chen was going to the herb garden inside the valley.
The valley was quite big, with various herbs growing inside a depression. The majority of them were not worth much, but some were clearly upper-grade herbs. Furthermore, at the center of the garden was a black colored grass growing. On the tips of grass was a black colored spherical fruit which looked like an ant, emitting a thick spiritual Qi.
"Black Ant Grass!" Ye Chen's face changed.
Murong Qingcheng asked, "Can this replace the King Ant Grass?"
Ye Chen said, " Its potency is not as strong, but its effect is more or less the same. Perhaps it can replace King Ant Grass." They still lacked three ingredients to refine the antidote—the Phoenix Plume Fruit, King Ant Grass, and Skull Flower. They were looking for the Phoenix Plume Fruit at the moment. If the Black Wind Leopard were right, they would soon obtain it. And if the Black Ant Grass could substitute the King Ant Grass, they would only be lacking the Skull Flower. They would be able to save a lot of time with that.
Collecting the Black Ant Grass and some other upper-grade herbs, Ye Chen gave up. He was constantly keeping an eye on the Black Wind Leopard, whose face was twitching from heartache.
"Alright, let's leave!"
Ye Chen didn't have the intention of killing the Black Wind Panther. Demonic beasts were different from humans. They were innately cruel and savage, and thus, friendly intentions were kind of wasted on them. Therefore, Ye Chen could understand its previous conduct. Of course, if it had been a human in its place, Ye Chen would have unhesitatingly killed him to save himself from future troubles.
Shua!
Shua!
The two turned into light beams and took off.
"They finally left!" The Black Wind Panther sprawled on the ground with lingering fears.
…
In the sky, Murong Qingcheng creased her brows, "You believe him?"
Ye Chen said, "Although there is no lack of treacherous characters among demonic beasts, their wisdom is lower than humans' in the end. It's not hard to find big gaps in their tales. Moreover, I can guess that he has probably suffered at the hands of Tyrant Bear in the past, and doesn't feel good about it. This is probably the reason it revealed that ghastly expression."
"Moreover, I've already left a spirit mark on its body. If it told the truth, fine. But if it had tried to cheat us, it won't have good days in the future."
Ye Chen's soul power was five times more powerful than others. To silently leave behind a spirit mark was nothing difficult for him. As his cultivation base improved, he could feel how strong his talent in soul was.
"Hm, that's good!"
The area was not a small distance away, so it took them several hours before arriving near Moxiong Mountain.
Moxiong Mountain was a several kilometers high summit stretching across several hundred li. A fiendish Qi pervaded in the depths of the mountain, and the grey sky was suppressing the surroundings.
Roar!
Roars could be heard every now and then from deep inside the mountains.
"This is the place. Let me check with soul power first." Ye Chen's pupil's turned silver and a boundless soul power spread out. He swept the surroundings clean; but as his soul power reached the principal peak, three soul powers immediately blocked his soul power.
Retracting his soul power, Ye Chen said, "Discovered! Let's head in!" Other regions didn't have the Phoenix Plume Fruit, so only the principal peak was left.
At the interior section of principal leak…
Three half-beast figures and a black-robed figure, as well as a figure in a multi-colored robe, were standing face to face. The black-robed man and the old man had a crafty expression on his face.
"They really came here for Phoenix Plume Fruit!"
Murong Qingcheng's mother being infected by the Shadowless Poison wasn't some secret. They spent some effort and knew that the Phoenix Plume Fruit could only be obtained at the Moxiong Mountain. By monitoring the activities of the demonic beasts, Yin Demon Ancestor and Master Sky Bird arrived at the Moxiong Mountain.
"Master Sky Bird, we've come to an agreement. The treasures on his body will be returned to you, while that woman will belong to us." The tall half-bear figure said.