Chapter 187: Puyang Temple

“Puyang Ancient Town, Puyang Mountain!”

After returning outside the city, Mu Feng climbed onto the carriage that had been waiting for a while and gave a faint command.

Giddy-up…

With a sharp crack of the coachman’s long whip, the carriage sped away through the night, leaving Jianshui City far behind.

When Mu Feng learned that the government officers cleaning the ruins had not found the bodies of the Flying Sky Bat and the many orphans he adopted, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly made a decision to leave immediately that night.

Old ginger is spicier. Although he was elderly and badly injured, the Flying Sky Bat was experienced and powerful. Having lived in Jianshui City for many years, he had wide connections and good information. Seeing that things were going badly, he surely had his own ways to escape quickly.

Mu Feng was unfamiliar with the place and without the help of the local Jianshui Gang, finding the whereabouts of the Flying Sky Bat among the vast sea of people was like a fool’s dream. Instead of wasting time in Jianshui City, he decided to go straight to Puyang Temple on Puyang Mountain to find that old monk Kongwu, and pay a visit to Fourth Lady Mei and Feng Qianjin who were recuperating there. Perhaps the Flying Sky Bat had also gone there to lay low for a while.

After sitting cross-legged inside the carriage, Mu Feng took a few deep breaths, cleared his mind of distracting thoughts, and concentrated on his cultivation.

First, he formed a Sorcerer Seal with his hands and practiced his innate divine ability, the Blood Refining Art, to temper his bloodline and bones. After his scorching blood energy and pure spiritual power circulated several cycles, he then changed his hand seal to study another obscure technique.

“Feed it with vital blood, nurture it with his spiritual soul, gradually eroding and refining its soul, and entrusting his primordial spirit to it…”

Mu Feng continuously changed his hand seals, and a faint blood mist seeped out from his body, permeating the crystal vial that sealed the Twelve-Winged Golden Cicada.

Slowly, a faint and vague response came from the frozen Twelve-Winged Golden Cicada. It was an aura, or rather a faint fluctuation, a desire for blood.

The Beast Refining Chapter of the Manual of Extreme Poison!

The Manual of Extreme Poison was Sect Leader Murong’s unique and profound divine ability. It not only recorded the unparalleled poison techniques of the Poison Sect, but also included secret arts like alchemy, refining puppet puppets, and training fierce beasts. Once fully understood, one could refine enemies into puppet puppets or powerful beasts into a Second Primordial Spirit, controlling them with ease.

“Strike unexpectedly, use poison to fight poison!”

Sensing the faint soul fluctuation from the Twelve-Winged Golden Cicada, Mu Feng nodded and quickly thought of the sinister and evil Ghost Mother.

That old witch was vicious and malicious, which he had known for a long time. When she left this newly born Twelve-Winged Golden Cicada inside his body, she had ulterior motives from the start. She said nice things on the surface, claiming to help him unblock his meridians for Jing Wushuang’s sake, but secretly she was using him as a cauldron. She attempted to use his spiritual soul and vital blood to nurture this fearsome poisonous creature; even to erode his soul and seize the Blood Refining Art and the remnant souls of numerous Ancient Great Witches.

Mu Feng was cautious by nature and had long been fully aware of Ghost Mother’s hidden schemes. But what surprised him was that this old witch not only targeted him but also did not spare even Jing Wushuang. She tricked and deceived the latter into swallowing a Demon Transformation Pill, making her a pawn in the fight against Sect Leader Murong!

To be so vicious even to her own savior, how deeply malicious was that heartless old witch, Ghost Mother Li Feifei?

Mu Feng’s face turned cold as he pondered how to free himself from that old witch Ghost Mother, or even teach her a severe lesson. The gap in their strength was huge, and the evil old witch’s power was unfathomable, but as long as he worked hard, it wasn’t completely hopeless.

After thinking for a moment, a cold, ice-mountain-like woman in white quickly appeared in Mu Feng’s mind. He recalled the scene where she and Ghost Mother were evenly matched at the peak of the Stone Mountain.

Mu Wuyan!

Mu Feng murmured softly, remembering the name of that woman in white.

According to what Ghost Mother had said before, the woman in white, Mu Wuyan, basically entered the mountains every three months to battle her, hoping to drive her out of the Southern Borderlands.

What if, when the woman in white, Mu Wuyan, fought fiercely with the old witch again, he suddenly attacked?

Mu Feng pondered silently, weighing his chances of success. As the carriage jolted, the ancient book “Past and Present Lives” in his bosom almost fell out. Feeling the old musical score through his clothes, he couldn’t help but recall Jing Wushuang, who used to cling to him tenderly like a little bird.

The poison personally concocted by that old witch Ghost Mother was absolutely no trivial matter. Just hearing the name “Demon Transformation Pill” was enough to make one’s heart tremble with fear.

“Several days have passed. I wonder how Shuang’er is now. Has the severe poison in her body erupted?”

Mu Feng’s face was full of worry as he looked out the window toward the direction of the Hengling Mountain Range. After a long while, he silently lowered the curtain and continued to focus on his cultivation.

Having swallowed the Demon Transformation Pill, probably across the entire world, apart from that old witch Ghost Mother, only Sect Leader Murong could neutralize it. Now, thinking calmly and carefully, it might be best for the severely poisoned Jing Wushuang to remain within the Poison Sect. The only thing he could do was train even harder, striving to break through to the True Human Realm as soon as possible, return to the Hengling Mountain Range to reunite with her, and after defeating Sect Leader Murong, bring her out from the cold Poison Sect.

After galloping for several hours, the coachman stopped at a small valley by the roadside to let the tired horses rest for the night.

Early the next morning, as soon as the sky began to brighten at dawn, they set off again, traveling day and night to reach Puyang Temple. Along the way, to avoid trouble, Mu Feng did not stay at roadside inns. When hungry, he drank some spring water and ate dry provisions; when tired or sleepy, he simply camped out in the wild.

On the way here, there were constant dangers and he had to be cautious everywhere. On the return journey, he encountered no further dangers. He didn’t know if it was because his movements were secretive, or because the Immortal Sword Sect and the Blind Master had completely given up their pursuit. This made Mu Feng relieved, but also somewhat disappointed.

Since leaving the Poison Sect, determined to reach the cultivation peak, his thirst for killing and blood grew stronger. An urge to kill all around and sweep across thousands of miles often stirred restlessly within him. He didn’t know if this was his true nature, or due to the resentment in his heart, or perhaps because his Blood Refining Art had advanced another level and he had truly condensed the Blood Wheel.

Traveling day and night, within a few days the sturdy carriage arrived back at Puyang Ancient Town. In the distance, the mountains rose and fell, with the tallest, Puyang Mountain, standing out like a crane among chickens, towering into the clouds. After leaving the carriage at the He Family Manor at the foot of the mountain and exchanging a few polite words with the old woman, Mu Feng eagerly set off up the mountain that very night.

“That old monk Kongwu, this time he probably won’t beat around the bush and will try to convert me to join the Buddhist Sect!”

Thinking of his previous battle of wits with Master Kongwu, Mu Feng smiled.

As a learned scholar, he was open-minded and had studied a wide variety of books, including quite a bit on Buddhist scriptures. But as for joining the Buddhist Sect and becoming a monk ringing bells and burning incense all day, he had no interest in that.

Thinking of Fourth Lady Mei and Feng Qianjin, who had been kind to him and whom he hadn’t seen for many days, Mu Feng surged his internal spiritual power and blood energy, walking faster and faster, moving swiftly. However, before he even reached the mountaintop, stopping only halfway up, he looked up and suddenly his heart shook. His footsteps came to an abrupt halt.