Chapter 17: I'll Take Responsibility for You!
"Bastard! How dare you humiliate me — I'll kill you!" Yun Qingying flew into a rage and launched herself at Chu Feng.
"Oh? Her strength has grown!"
Chu Feng sensed that Yun Qingying's power had suddenly surged considerably, as though she had activated some kind of secret technique to boost herself.
Even so, her attack speed still could not keep pace with Chu Feng's Phantom Shadow Step, and she was unable to land a single blow on him.
It was only after she had exhausted herself with her relentless assault that Yun Qingying finally stopped, panting heavily.
"What's wrong? Already spent?"
As Chu Feng watched Yun Qingying's rapid breathing cause her chest to heave in a most captivating manner, his mouth went dry.
He wasn't sure whether it was because of what had happened with Mu Qingyao last time, but right now he found himself deeply drawn to Yun Qingying.
Yun Qingying was strikingly beautiful with a flawless figure — she fit his taste perfectly.
"You pervert! Where do you think you're looking?!"
Yun Qingying suddenly noticed that Chu Feng had been staring fixedly at her chest. She hastily covered herself and berated him furiously.
"I already got a good look last time anyway — what does it matter if I look again?"
Seeing Yun Qingying's adorably flustered expression, Chu Feng felt even more inclined to tease her.
His memories of the incident where he had supposedly peeked at Yun Qingying bathing were hazy at best.
All he could recall was that he had been drinking with a Senior Brother, and when he woke up, he found his eyes had been stabbed blind — then his cultivation was crippled and he was expelled from the sect.
He had never been sure whether he had drunkenly wandered off and peeked at her bathing, or whether he had been framed.
Thinking about it now, it seemed far more likely that he had been set up.
Yun Qingying's cultivation was an entire major realm above his, and the place where she bathed could only be approached by female disciples.
Even if he had been stone-cold sober, let alone drunk, he would never have been able to get near her bathing spot.
But even if he hadn't actually seen anything back then, that didn't stop him from using it to tease her now.
"Ah! You bastard — so you really did see me that time!"
"If I had known, I should never have gone soft-hearted — I should have killed you on the spot!"
Yun Qingying drew her sword in fury and attacked Chu Feng once more.
"Qingying, don't be angry — I'll take responsibility for you!" Chu Feng continued to tease with a grin.
"Bastard! Who needs your responsibility?! Just die!"
Yun Qingying's sword struck relentlessly at Chu Feng's vital points, as though she truly intended to end his life.
"My dear wife, save your energy — you can't hurt me."
Chu Feng had casually upgraded his term of address for Yun Qingying to "dear wife."
"Bastard! I swear I will kill you one day!"
Yun Qingying abruptly halted her attack, shot Chu Feng a furious glare, and then sped away.
She could not harm him at all right now — staying here would only mean suffering more of his taunts.
She had no choice but to leave for now and come back to kill him once she had grown stronger.
"Ha! That woman!"
Chu Feng watched Yun Qingying's retreating figure with a cheerful heart.
He suddenly realized that occasionally teasing a woman he liked felt rather pleasant.
In his previous life, because of the Netherworld Demon Body, Chu Feng had never felt any interest in women.
Even when his strikingly beautiful twin disciples had shown their affection for him, he had remained completely unmoved.
In this life, free from that physical limitation, Chu Feng silently vowed to himself that he would never let them down again.
A short while later, after Yun Qingying's silhouette had completely vanished, Chu Feng continued walking deeper into Dusk Forest.
Before long, he found a spot dense with demonic energy and began circulating the Chaos Art to absorb it for cultivation.
Two hours later, Chu Feng's cultivation had risen by a significant margin.
He had not yet broken through to the next level, but he estimated one more session would be enough.
Chu Feng rose slowly and pressed further into Dusk Forest.
After traveling some distance, he suddenly encountered two cultivators at the True Spirit Stage.
Both had come to investigate after witnessing the earlier spectacle of demonic energy shooting into the sky.
Upon seeing Chu Feng — who was only at the third level of the Spirit Entry Stage — daring to venture this deep, they immediately tried to dissuade him and urged him to leave at once.
Chu Feng responded with nothing more than a casual remark and continued deeper, drawing a stream of angry curses from the two about his reckless disregard for his own life.
Shortly after, Chu Feng ran into several more True Spirit Stage cultivators, and he simply gave them a wide berth from a distance.
It seemed that many human cultivators had already arrived at Dusk Forest, drawn by the earlier spectacle of demonic energy erupting into the sky.
The sight of the Chaos Art absorbing demonic energy was far too conspicuous.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, Chu Feng stopped absorbing demonic energy for cultivation and instead pressed ever deeper into Dusk Forest, searching for the source of the demonic energy.
Two hours later, Chu Feng reached the edge of Dusk Forest.
At the edge was a cliff.
The cliff was shrouded in thick mist, with no end visible in any direction.
Below the cliff was a murky grey expanse — the bottom could not be seen.
At that moment, demonic energy was surging upward continuously from beneath the cliff.
"So this must be the place where the earlier eruption of demonic energy originated!"
Chu Feng fixed his gaze on the depths below the cliff, wondering what could possibly be down there to produce such a vast outpouring of demonic energy.
After a short while, Chu Feng gripped the cliff face and carefully began to climb down.
The cliff was sheer and offered no natural footholds, so Chu Feng simply channeled his strength to carve out his own.
In this manner, he slowly climbed for one hour before finally reaching the bottom of the cliff.
Chu Feng looked up — the top was already obscured by mist and could no longer be made out clearly.
Still, he could roughly estimate that he had descended nearly two thousand meters.
Chu Feng surveyed his surroundings. The base of the cliff was dim and lightless, with extremely poor visibility — he could only make out objects within a few dozen meters of himself.
Within that range, everything was barren and desolate, completely devoid of any vegetation.
The silence around him was eerie, yet Chu Feng noticed that the ground bore numerous tracks left by demonic beasts.
Clearly, a considerable number of demonic beasts lived down here at the base of the cliff.
Rather than exploring immediately, Chu Feng sat cross-legged on the ground and activated the Chaos Art.
The demonic energy at the base of the cliff was several times denser than it had been in Dusk Forest above, and no one had discovered this place yet — it was the perfect cultivation spot for Chu Feng.
Third level of the Spirit Entry Stage!
Fourth level of the Spirit Entry Stage!
In just six hours, Chu Feng's cultivation had risen by two minor levels, reaching the fifth level of the Spirit Entry Stage!
His current cultivation base was still relatively low, so his rate of advancement was fast.
Moreover, with the cultivation experience from his previous life, he encountered virtually no bottlenecks during his breakthroughs.
As long as he had sufficient Fortuitous Encounters, he could advance rapidly.
"Excellent!"
With his cultivation elevated, Chu Feng felt refreshed and invigorated, his spirits high.
The demonic energy around him had grown thin. Chu Feng rose slowly and began to explore further ahead.
Roar!
He had barely gone a short distance when a massive demonized crocodile-turtle suddenly burst out of the earth and lunged at him with snapping jaws.
The demonized crocodile-turtle was enormous — roughly the size of a large elephant — and its cultivation was at the sixth level of the True Spirit Stage.
Bang!
Chu Feng shifted his footing lightly, dodged the demonized crocodile-turtle's attack, and sent it flying with a single punch.
The demonized crocodile-turtle was hurled more than ten meters away and tumbled several times before coming to a stop.
However, the creature's shell had formidable defensive power — Chu Feng's punch had barely damaged it, and the impact had actually left his own fist numb.
In no time at all, the demonized crocodile-turtle leaped up again and charged straight at Chu Feng.
This time, Chu Feng did not rush to attack. Instead, he kept evading the demonized crocodile-turtle's strikes, waiting for the right moment to deliver a single, decisive killing blow.