Chapter 281 - 197: Gazing at Plums to Quench Thirst

Chapter 281: Chapter 197: Gazing at Plums to Quench Thirst

Clenching his jaw, Yu Fei purchased 100,000 merit points’ worth of resources to aid his Inner Qi cultivation. He had to rush his cultivation to the Fu Liu Ruo Lake level in a short amount of time; otherwise, his meager Inner Qi wouldn’t be enough to sustain him in a one-man war.

This left him with only about 10,000 merit points. If he didn’t gain anything from this battle, his future cultivation would surely be affected.

Time flew by when he was busy. On November 7th, the military exercise codenamed "Desperate Fortress" was set to begin. By the morning of November 6th, by spending resources recklessly, Yu Fei had just barely managed to cultivate his Inner Qi to the Fu Liu Ruo Lake level.

His Profound Primordial Qi was more condensed, taking on a greenish-blue hue. The liquid at the bottom of his Qi Sea had swelled past the halfway mark; as it rippled, it began to resemble a lake.

The All Things Return to Origin Scripture was renowned for the sheer volume of Inner Qi it could hold. Without a vast Qi Sea to support it, one couldn’t get far in its cultivation, making it inferior to other Cultivation Techniques.

The Qi Sea Yu Fei had forged was unprecedented in scale, but this meant his cultivation speed was correspondingly slow.

The assembly time for departure was 5:00 AM on November 7th.

Yu Fei had commissioned a custom-made chain harness to carry Name-Slasher on his back. After his Inner Qi breakthrough, his strength had surged once more, and he could finally wield the greatsword as a conventional weapon.

Beneath his cyan martial arts uniform, he wore the Profound Scale Armor for the first time. It had been a parting gift from his senior uncle, Chen Yu, back at the Tianchen Military Hospital.

The Profound Scale Armor was a type of inner armor with decent defense against the Qi Jin attacks of Inner Qi Martial Artists, but it couldn’t compare to his own Melt Gold Jade Body Skill. After over a month of practice, he had consumed all the mundane minerals required, and the Cultivation Technique had reached the minor success stage, granting him a preliminary level of defense.

However, without having tested it in actual combat, Yu Fei wasn’t sure how strong its defense truly was. In his own trials, it could withstand forty percent of the force of his Immeasurable Sword Qi.

Before leaving, he put on the green jade Bodhi pendant Su Yue had given him. The pendant had a mind-calming effect, but it had become completely useless after his promotion to the Inner Qi realm. Still, Yu Fei had worn it for over a year and was used to the feel of it.

He tied a specially made black headband in place, covering the Immeasurable Sword Mark on his forehead. ’After all,’ he thought, ’I’m already handsome enough. Turning on the special effects would just be overkill.’

Yu Fei slung Name-Slasher onto his back and headed for the airport in front of the Profound Armor Celestial Gate.

This time, they would take a chartered flight to a pre-designated battlefield 1,500 kilometers away. They would enter the target military base eight hours early to prepare for a head-on assault against the senior students—or to get utterly thrashed by them.

Yu Fei advanced using the Shrinking Earth Stepping Technique. A light tap of his foot sent him flying thirty or forty feet forward. Since he hadn’t devoted much effort to them, he only had two movement techniques at the minor success stage. They were usable, but riddled with openings.

The Shrinking Earth Stepping Technique drew upon the stars above and the terrestrial qi below. A Martial Artist would borrow the world’s natural energies to propel themselves forward, moving with incredible speed while conserving energy.

In his explanation, Ye Shuping had stated that the key to cultivating this technique lay in utilizing the ambient magnetic field—to merge one’s body with the heavens and earth, tread upon the ley lines, and borrow the power of the stars. When running in a straight line, the user would get progressively faster.

Yu Fei had set out from the Geometric Pyramid Realm at 4:00 AM, sprinting with his sword on his back. The sky was still dark, and his Silent Hunter passive ability activated.

Silent Hunter

Quality: Purple

Description: The king of hunters in the dark of night.

Effect 1, Silent Stealth: When moving in dark environments, you produce no sound and your aura does not fluctuate.

Effect 2, Instant Shadow Slaughter: When attacking from the shadows, your initial strike speed is increased by 50%.

The Silent Stealth talent allowed Yu Fei to sprint without making a single sound. He flitted past like a phantom, melting into the darkness of the night.

Some Martial Artists who were out wandering in the night were scared into a cold sweat when he silently closed in and then sped past them. Of course, any Martial Artist who couldn’t detect him without activating their Illusory Sword Intent wasn’t very skilled to begin with.

Jiang Nianwei was already at the military transport plane. She was always the one coordinating information and activities because Yu Fei was completely unreachable when he was cultivating—a fact that was perfectly in character for the Commander of the Yulin Army.

Shenhan Airport was brightly lit, with a steady stream of students arriving in chartered Flying Devices, calling out greetings to Jiang Nianwei.

"Morning, Miss Jiang!"

"Morning, everyone! Put your weapons on the stowage rack—you can’t carry them on board. Your seats have your names on them, so please find your assigned spot!"

Jiang Nianwei patiently repeated the instructions to every member of their class. Over the past few months, the members of the Yulin Army had gotten into the habit of going to her for any help or advice they needed. Jiang Nianwei always did her best to help them, while Yu Fei was more like the class’s figurehead and mascot.

She also had a great relationship with their advisor, Shui Yiqiu, mainly because Yu Fei was impossible to find and rarely replied to his messages.

With only ten minutes to spare, Jiang Nianwei looked anxiously toward the Heaven-Reaching Bridge. Yu Fei still hadn’t arrived. The school wouldn’t hold the flight for anyone late to the military exercise; missing it would be treated as a serious disciplinary violation.

The consequences were extremely severe; it could even result in a direct downgrade of his student rating.

"Morning!"

"Morning... hey, over here!"

Suddenly, Jiang Nianwei saw a spectral black figure fly off the Heaven-Reaching Bridge and burst into the brightly lit airport. The figure looked strikingly out of place.

No longer cloaked by darkness, Yu Fei attracted quite a few stares as he sprinted forward with the sword on his back.

After forty minutes of continuous use, the Shrinking Earth Stepping Technique had built up considerable speed. It was a technique that allowed the user to move faster the longer they ran. Now, a single step sent his flickering form over a hundred feet through the air as he closed in like a black bolt of lightning.

Thanks to the enhanced, long-range vision from his Illusory Cicada Star Pupil, he had spotted the de facto commander of his Yulin Army from a great distance.

"Am I late?"

Yu Fei took a final step, but his landing was off by about half a meter. He had intended to land directly in front of Jiang Nianwei, but he ended up slightly to her left. The Shrinking Earth Stepping Technique at the minor success stage was usable, but it wasn’t perfectly accurate.