"Chu Fengmian! It’s you!"
Hearing Chu Fengmian’s words, Feng Huolie was taken aback for a moment before a gleam of greed flashed in his eyes.
"I would have never imagined you’d dare to show your face after having offended the Crown Prince."
"Your life is worth far more than that traitor’s. To kill you, the Crown Prince has placed a bounty of 100,000 Contribution Points on the Black Market! Today, I happen to stumble upon you!"
"Oh? The Black Market? Is Chu’s life really that valuable?"
A flicker of surprise passed through Chu Fengmian’s eyes.
He had also heard of this Black Market, within the borders of the Martial Victory Kingdom, beyond the Martial Victory Academy and the Four Great Sects. They were another influential force, the Black Market.
The Black Market not only trained martial artists and traded pills but also specialized in nurturing assassins for bounty hunting. As long as one had the money, everything was attainable within its bounds.
"100,000 Contribution Points, Chu almost wants to capture himself and sell to the Black Market. Zhi Lingtian is indeed generous with his spending."
Chu Fengmian said with a cold smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
The statement was true to an extent; 100,000 Contribution Points represented 300,000 Qi Gathering Pills—a fortune that Chu Fengmian might not accumulate over a long period.
However, this was only something to jest about, albeit the price was indeed not low.
100,000 Contribution Points would probably tempt some high-level martial artists of the Divine Sea realm.
While not enough to incentivize the powers of the Gale Command realm, the high-level martial artists of the Divine Sea realm seeking out Chu Fengmian could prove to be troublesome for him to face.
It seemed Chu Fengmian still needed to be cautious.
Feng Huolie said with a sneer.
"Chu Fengmian, your grudge with the Crown Prince is of no concern to me, but I’m going to take your life today and collect my money at the Black Market."
"Is that so? Do you think you can kill Chu?"
Chu Fengmian said with a hint of mockery in his smile.
Those disciples from the Candle Flame Sect had all been brimming with confidence, yet now they lay dead by Chu Fengmian’s sword.
He could tell that Feng Huolie’s realm was around the third level of the Divine Sea realm, not even matching Mu Yuanhuo. Chu Fengmian was curious to see where Feng Huolie’s confidence stemmed from.
"Boy, don’t be overly confident. Your swordsmanship may be strong enough to fight beyond your level, but your own realm is still only at the seventh level of the Body Tempering realm. In the face of truly overwhelming power, such tricks are meaningless!"
Feng Huolie sneered, and from his hands suddenly produced a red pill, which he swallowed in one gulp.
The moment the red pill entered his mouth, Feng Huolie’s realm began to skyrocket, reaching the seventh level of the Divine Sea realm in an instant.
"This Blood Explosion Pill cost me 5,000 Contribution Points to buy from the Black Market. I had originally planned to use it against that traitor, but you are worth much more than him today!"
After swallowing the Blood Explosion Pill, the Spiritual Power in Feng Huolie’s body became wildly turbulent, rendering his speech somewhat ferocious.
"An entire nine levels of realm difference, today I’ll see how you can possibly contend!"
Feng Huolie laughed loud, his figure suddenly moved, and a blazing red flame condensed around him.
These flames were much stronger than those formed by the Candle Flame Sect disciples just now.
The intense heat forced Chu Fengmian to retreat immediately.
The cultivation technique of Candle Flame Sect was to control various types of flames, the stronger one’s power, the more formidable the flames became.
Chu Fengmian possessed the ancient battle dragon bloodline. Though his body could not compare to an actual ancient battle dragon, it was still far stronger than that of ordinary martial artists. The flames conjured by the disciples of the Candle Flame Sect previously were insignificant to Chu Fengmian and could not harm him in the slightest.
However, now Feng Huolie’s realm had been forcibly elevated to the seventh level of the Divine Sea Realm, and his flames had become intensely hot.
Chu Fengmian understood that if the flames touched him, even with his ancient battle dragon bloodline, his body would still be incinerated.
"Blood Explosion Pill, is your trump card just this pill that overdraws the body’s strength?"
Chu Fengmian watched Feng Huolie, his expression still unchanged.
The Blood Explosion Pill, though potent enough to forcibly raise a martial artist’s strength by four whole realms,
was not truly one’s own power. In fact, Feng Huolie’s genuine power only equated to at most the sixth level of the Divine Sea Realm.
"With your current realm, you can only maintain the pill’s effect for five minutes at most,"
Chu Fengmian said to Feng Huolie with a sneer.
As a grandmaster of alchemy, Chu Fengmian had crafted his fair share of such body-sacrificing pills in his previous life. The Blood Explosion Pill was considered one of the lower-quality ones with severe side effects.
Once consumed, it could momentarily increase one’s realm by four levels, but as soon as the effect wore off, there would be a year-long period of weakness.
This kind of pill should only be taken as a last resort, as it was akin to overdrawing a martial artist’s talent for an entire year.
For a martial artist, every year of youth was incredibly precious. At least for Chu Fengmian, he would never do something so foolish.
"So what if that is the case? Five minutes is more than enough to kill you!"
Feng Huolie burst out laughing upon hearing Chu Fengmian’s words.
"As long as I kill you and that traitor and bring your bodies back for the reward, this price counts for nothing."
"Kid, you might as well give up. Against the Nine Realms, even if the Emperor of Fertility were alive, he couldn’t save you!"
"The Emperor of Fertility couldn’t do it while alive, but does that mean Chu cannot?"
Chu Fengmian looked at Feng Huolie, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.
Who said that if the Emperor of Fertility couldn’t do something, Chu Fengmian couldn’t either? The Emperor was merely a powerful being from this remote country, whereas in his previous life, Chu Fengmian stood unrivaled across the Nine Domains.
"Still talking tough? Very well, I’ll beat you to a pulp first and see if you can still talk tough then!"
Feng Huolie snorted coldly.
"Angry Flame Burning Land!"
Feng Huolie roared, and a fierce blaze suddenly spread from his body.
In an instant, everything around turned into a sea of flames, the spot where Chu Fengmian stood was already engulfed in fire.
Within it, one could barely make out a figure standing there.
"Hmph, talking big all this time, can’t you even withstand this level of fire? Then the Blood Explosion Pill was truly wasted."
Feng Huolie curled his lip, no longer sensing Chu Fengmian’s presence. In his view, Chu Fengmian was probably already buried in the sea of flames.
Such searing flames could extinguish some Divine Sea Realm martial artists in the blink of an eye, so it would be normal for Chu Fengmian to die amidst the inferno.
After all, Chu Fengmian, no matter how strong, was merely a martial artist of the Physical Refinement Realm.