The atmosphere in the valley suddenly grew tense as a group of students from the Tianlan School surrounded Luo Feng and Bing Ruolan.
Looking at the situation, a cold gleam flashed through Luo Feng’s obsidian-like pupils. He raised his eyelids and looked at Xiao Yu. "So, what do you plan to do?"
"Hand over Ji Wuchang’s head and the Secret Manual of the Black Dark Claw, and apologize to Junior Brother Yuan Jiankong. Only then will I spare you today," said Xiao Yu, his voice incredibly calm. Yet, his words betrayed a hint of arrogance. He looked at Luo Feng with confidence, as if certain Luo Feng would agree to his terms.
The nearby Tianlan School students also chimed in.
"That’s right! Hand over the head and the Secret Manual. Otherwise, don’t even dream of leaving this valley today!"
"Senior Brother Xiao is being merciful by letting you off. Hurry and hand over the head and the Secret Manual!"
Looking at the people surrounding him, Luo Feng suddenly burst into laughter. He looked at Xiao Yu and said, "If you want the head and the Secret Manual so badly, why not just say so directly? Why bother with so many excuses?"
Seeing Luo Feng’s ingratitude, Xiao Yu’s heart filled with annoyance. In a deep voice, he said, "And what if I do? I want the head and the Secret Manual in your hands. Do you think you can stop me?"
Unyielding, Luo Feng coldly replied, "You’re welcome to try! With just a few rotten sweet potatoes and stinky potatoes like yourselves, I doubt you can do anything to me."
Pfft! This guy is too arrogant!
The Tianlan School students beside him were infuriated. Ferocious anger burned deep within their eyes as they looked at Luo Feng.
As the top academy among the Four Great Academies, they were used to looking down on everyone else and had never been mocked before.
Xiao Yu’s gaze turned sharp as a falcon. Staring at Luo Feng, he scoffed, "Interesting! It’s been a long time since anyone dared to speak to me . I’d like to see if your bones are as hard as your mouth!"
Taking one step forward, Xiao Yu looked at Luo Feng and sneered, "I’ll give you three moves."
Luo Feng raised his eyebrows, about to step forward when Bing Ruolan tugged him back.
"Luo Feng, be careful! He is an elite student of Tianlan School! Ranked eleventh in last year’s New Talent Competition, his strength is not to be underestimated!" Bing Ruolan warned.
Luo Feng glanced at Xiao Yu, his eyes brimming with fighting spirit. He said to Bing Ruolan, "I know what I’m doing."
"Huh? He really wants to fight Senior Brother Xiao? This guy is too overconfident!"
The three Tianlan School students standing nearby were shocked as they saw Luo Feng approaching Xiao Yu.
"I think he’s just being stubborn. Wait and see, he’ll soon be kneeling and begging for mercy!"
"Of course. Senior Brother Xiao recently advanced to the mid-stage of the Essence Storage Realm Seventh Layer. He has a chance to enter the top ten in this year’s New Talent Competition. How could Luo Feng, who is merely at the peak of the God Bravery Realm Sixth Layer, be Senior Brother Xiao’s opponent?"
"Senior Brother Xiao will defeat this kid in one move!"
Ignoring the whispers around him, Luo Feng stood before Xiao Yu, gave a faint smile, and asked, "Are you really going to give me three moves?"
"What? If you think three moves aren’t enough, I don’t mind giving you a few more. The result will be the same regardless," Xiao Yu sneered.
Looking at the arrogant Xiao Yu, Luo Feng waved his hand dismissively. "I think you misunderstood. I was only worried that you wouldn’t be able to handle my three moves."
Even Xiao Yu, usually patient, couldn’t help but be infuriated by such disdain. "Whatever tricks you have, just use them! Remember, you only have three moves!"
"Hahaha... you said it yourself." Laughing loudly, Luo Feng’s Tiger Soul Saber appeared in his hand, and from a distance of about thirty feet, he slashed at Xiao Yu.
Evil Qi surged powerfully!
SWISH! The saber cleaved through the air, forming a half-moon. A pitch-black saber light, half a meter tall and radiating a terrifying, soul-chilling coldness, surged toward Xiao Yu.
All noise abruptly ceased. Those Tianlan School students who had just been scoffing at Luo Feng’s audacity were struck dumb, their eyes bulging wide as if they had witnessed something inconceivable.
"Sky Slayer Saber Technique, Fifth Layer!"
Xiao Yu was equally surprised; the pitch-black saber light made his scalp tingle.
However, having participated in the New Talent Competition and seen many exceptional prodigies, he quickly composed himself.
"Superior Yellow Level Martial Art, ’Explosive Cloud Palm’!"
With a cold shout, Xiao Yu chopped forward with his palm as a blade.
SWISH! A layer of milky-white, transparent Gang Qi burst forth from his palm, accompanied by the sound of thunder, its might like a mountain.
The saber light and palm energy collided with a deafening crash. Xiao Yu felt a terrifyingly immense force assault him, sending him skidding three or four meters back across the ground!
A wave of gasps came from the students nearby.
This sudden turn of events had already stunned the three Tianlan School students.
Xiao Yu, with his cultivation at the mid-stage of the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm, was actually suppressed by Luo Feng’s Saber Technique!
The sudden change was as shocking to them as seeing an ant defeat an elephant.
"Heh, Xiao Yu, you said you’d give me three moves, but you used your Martial Arts to counter my very first one. Why is that?" Luo Feng stood proudly, holding his saber, his eyes gleaming brightly as he looked at Xiao Yu.
"Breaking your word! Is this the conduct of a student from Tianlan School, the supposed leader of the Four Great Academies? Truly laughable!" Bing Ruolan also looked at Xiao Yu with a frosty expression, her eyes full of contempt.
The Tianlan School students nearby all flushed red to their ears, rendered speechless.
Xiao Yu’s face grew extremely unsightly. He gritted his teeth in fury as he glared at Luo Feng.
It was only because he saw Luo Feng’s cultivation was merely at the peak of the God Bravery Realm Sixth Layer that he had dared to make such a boast.
Who would have guessed that Luo Feng had actually cultivated the Sky Slayer Saber Technique to the Fifth Layer, capable of releasing externalized Saber Gang!
If he hadn’t reacted in time to that last strike, he might have suffered an unexpected and humiliating defeat!
His gaze flickered unsettlingly as he watched Luo Feng. Xiao Yu’s eyes twitched, his gaze suddenly hardening as he coldly commanded, "Block them!"
The three Tianlan School students flashed and moved to block Bing Ruolan’s escape route.
Luo Feng’s eyelids twitched, a glint like lightning flashing deep in his pupils as he looked at Xiao Yu and sneered, "Xiao Yu, you broke your own word. Now you want to kill us to silence us?"
His intentions exposed, Xiao Yu’s eyes twitched violently a few times, but he recovered in an instant. Patting his sleeves, he looked at Luo Feng and said calmly, "Luo Feng, I didn’t expect you to have cultivated the Purple Sun School’s Sky Slayer Saber Technique to the Fifth Layer, reaching the state of projecting Saber Gang! I admit I underestimated you. But not this time. You two will stay in this gorge forever."
"Shameless! Have you no shame? If the others at the school find out about this, aren’t you afraid of being expelled?" Bing Ruolan, her pretty face pale with anger, bit her lip and glared coldly at Xiao Yu.
"Hmph! As long as you two stay here forever, who will know?" Xiao Yu didn’t want to discuss it further. In a deep voice, he ordered, "Attack! Leave no survivors!"
"Hahahaha..." Luo Feng suddenly burst into laughter, causing the four who were about to charge forward to hesitate.
"Facing death, what are you laughing at?" Xiao Yu demanded with a scowl.
Luo Feng looked at Xiao Yu with a smile that was not quite a smile. "You think you can stop me?"
Xiao Yu scoffed disdainfully. "I know your Sky Slayer Saber Technique is powerful, but do you think you can defeat me with just that? That’s a total joke! I, Xiao Yu, was ranked eleventh at last year’s New Talent Competition. Do you think my rank was undeserved?"
As his words trailed off, a flash of brilliance flickered in Xiao Yu’s eyes.
A series of explosive sounds suddenly emanated from his entire body. His figure instantly grew three inches taller, and a layer of nearly transparent, frequently flickering film, like drifting clouds, shrouded him.
"That’s Tianlan School’s Azure Cloud Gangqi! Its qi is like flowing clouds... Your Azure Cloud Gangqi has actually reached the Small Success stage!"
Bing Ruolan’s elegant brows knitted together upon seeing the flowing cloud-like Gang Qi around Xiao Yu.
Azure Cloud Gangqi...
Luo Feng raised an eyebrow.
The Azure Cloud Gangqi was an extremely formidable Martial Art of Tianlan School, renowned throughout the Four Great Academies.
This Martial Art could only be cultivated after one’s cultivation reached the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm.
The Azure Cloud Gangqi had three layers. The first layer, ’Qi Like Flowing Clouds,’ could spread Gang Qi throughout the body. Its defensive power was extremely high! Ordinary blades could hardly penetrate it!
Xiao Yu’s Azure Cloud Gangqi was at this first layer!
"You two do have some sharp eyes, recognizing the Azure Cloud Gangqi."
Xiao Yu said smugly to Luo Feng, "Your Sky Slayer Saber Technique doesn’t project true Gang Qi; its power is limited. I have the Azure Cloud Gangqi protecting me, what can you do to me? Today, you two will obediently stay here!"
Luo Feng was not the least bit moved by Xiao Yu’s words and raised an eyebrow faintly. "Then we’ll just have to see, won’t we? Sky Slayer’s Three Strikes!"
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
The Tiger Soul Saber whistled through the air. Luo Feng, drawing upon every ounce of his power, executed Sky Slayer’s Three Strikes twice in a single breath. Six dark saber lights, resembling Asura’s demon blades, whistled towards Xiao Yu!
Facing the whistling saber lights, Xiao Yu’s eyes showed disdain. He drew his own sword and declared loudly, "Luo Feng, watch how I shatter your Sky Slayer Saber Technique."
Luo Feng paid him no mind and turned to Bing Ruolan. "Ruolan, give me your hand."
Seeing Luo Feng take Bing Ruolan’s hand, a bad premonition suddenly rose in Xiao Yu’s heart, and he roared, "Kill them!"
The three Tianlan School students charged murderously towards the two in an instant but were stunned to find that the pair had disappeared from the ground.
Xiao Yu shattered all the saber lights and emerged, disheveled, from the dust cloud. Not seeing Luo Feng and Bing Ruolan, he frowned and asked, "Where are they?"
The expressions on the faces of the three were complex. One of them licked his lips nervously and pointed to a nearby cliff. "Over there!"
Xiao Yu looked up and couldn’t help but gasp sharply.
The figures of the two were a hundred meters in the air, quickly darting towards the top of the cliff.
The cliff was nearly two to three hundred meters high, as if carved by axe and chisel, smooth as a mirror.
Even Xiao Yu, an expert at the Seventh Layer of the Essence Storage Realm who could take Steps in the Air, had little confidence in crossing such a high cliff.
Yet, Luo Feng, carrying Bing Ruolan, had almost reached the top of the cliff in mere moments!
"Xiao Yu, I, Luo Feng, will remember today’s events. Let’s part ways for now. Don’t worry, I won’t spread word of your shameful actions today. Hahahaha..."
The figures of Luo Feng and Bing Ruolan disappeared in the blink of an eye. Only his voice thundered down from above the cliff, making the entire gorge hum.