The sky roared with a deafening sound, and within the room, Zuo was slammed like a fragile wild rabbit struck by a train. His energy shield shattered instantly, billowing out in waves of air that created a gale across the heavens. Anyone whose cultivation was below the (Ming Sheng) level was thrown into disarray, tumbling from the air!

"How is that possible!" Zuo’s eyes snapped wide open in disbelief as he crashed heavily onto the ground, his finger pointing accusingly at Chen Feng.

"CRACK!" He slammed a huge crater into the earth, sending up a cloud of dust.

Hoo…

He staggered up from the pit and soared back into the air.

However, his previous swagger was gone. His hair was a tangled mess, his clothes were torn in several places, and his face was noticeably pale. It was clear that Chen Feng's Cosmic Mirage had inflicted some internal injury.

"How did you do that?" Zuo managed to calm his breathing before shouting the question. He was a martial fanatic; if he couldn't understand a situation like this, he feared he wouldn't sleep a wink that night!

Seeing Zuo fly up again as if nothing had happened, a feeling of helplessness washed over Chen Feng. His entire arm was already numb; the force of the previous strike had severely damaged his meridians, causing his limb to tremble slightly.

Forget Zuo attacking him; currently, he wouldn't even stand a chance against a mere common soldier! This disparity alone demonstrated Zuo’s strength. Chen Feng had struck him with everything he had, yet Zuo remained largely unharmed, while Chen Feng himself was beaten up.

The tables had turned since the two soldiers injured Chen Feng in the restaurant earlier.

"Three moves have passed for you…" Chen Feng dared not answer him directly. His priority now was to verbally corner Zuo into conceding so he could escape safely; there was no need for lengthy explanations. But before he could finish speaking, Zuo interrupted him with a voice like a broken gong!

"Three moves are done, I’m injured, so I concede. But I’m just curious—why was the attack power of that last punch so immense? Wait, that’s impossible. You’re just a kid; even if you started cultivating from the womb, you couldn't unleash such a devastating punch!" Zuo felt no shame over his defeat, instead focusing all his concern on Chen Feng's third strike.

Naturally, Chen Feng could not reveal the secret of his Fist Emperor techniques. He shook his head and said, "The terms of our bet didn't include 'the winner must explain everything,' did it?"

"This…" Zuo scratched his head, looking slightly embarrassed. "I… I was just curious, yes, purely curious, that's why I asked!"

"I don't wish to explain. Since I won, can I leave now?" Chen Feng tried to keep his voice steady.

"Leave, hmm…" Zuo continued scratching his head. "Of course, you can go, but you must not harm my little niece. If you hurt her, I would rather bear the shame of bullying the weak just to kill you!"

It seemed Zuo had truly become simple-minded from relentless martial arts training; to trust the words of a "hijacker" was unheard of.

"Uncle Zuo, let him go…" the Young Clan Leader flew up, shouting anxiously.

"Where adults are concerned, children shouldn't interject," Zuo said casually. "We made a wager; if he wins, he leaves. That’s that!"

"Child…" Chen Feng let out a wry smile upon hearing this, shaking his head. He himself was younger than the Young Clan Leader, yet Zuo had dismissed him with a single word that aged him into an 'adult.'

"Uncle Zuo, he’s the leader of the Heaven Sweeping Legion; he’s fundamentally our enemy! How can you trust him… he will kill Yu Jiao!" the Young Clan Leader quickly insisted.

Zuo roared back, "I don't care about enemies or not! I lost the bet, so I let him go!"

Seeing the two arguing, Chen Feng intervened, "Circumstances forced my hand today; I had no choice but to take this young lady to escape. As long as you don't send anyone to pursue or track me, I guarantee I will absolutely not harm her!" By saying this, he stated his position and offered Zuo a justifiable reason to let him go.

Hearing Chen Feng's promise, Zuo nodded. "Alright, be on your way!"

"Uncle Zuo…" the Young Clan Leader urgently called out.

"Enough useless chatter. What kind of man is so wishy-washy? Why don't you go over there and take the girl back yourself!" Zuo bellowed at the Young Clan Leader, then turned and flew backward, ignoring him.

When Zuo departed, Chen Feng glanced at the Young Clan Leader and said coolly, "Young Clan Leader, do you also wish to spar with me? Perhaps allow me three moves?"

"…" The Young Clan Leader flinched. Sparring with him and giving him three free moves? Wasn't that just offering himself up for death?

"If we aren't fighting, then I'm leaving!" Chen Feng declared, then turned and flew outward.

Though filled with resentment, the Young Clan Leader was helpless. If Zuo, the eight Black Guard enforcers, and Uncle Zuo were all powerless, if he stepped forward now, the enemy might genuinely fly into a rage and kill his sister, which would be disastrous…

Gritting his teeth, he waved his hand, signaling the surrounding soldiers to let Chen Feng fly away, while he stood shaking with fury.

No one noticed that after flying clear of the crowd, a thin streak of crimson suddenly leaked from the corner of Zuo’s mouth. He managed a bitter smile. "I didn't expect that kid's attack power to be so fierce…"

In reality, his composure and imposing aura had all been an act. The injury he sustained was far more severe than anyone suspected!

This made sense. With 27% Dark Power combined with Chen Feng's self-damaging ultimate strike, the Cosmic Mirage, it would have been miraculous if he hadn't been hurt!

………………………………………………………………………………

Chen Feng let out a long breath and fled wildly. Sweat beaded on his forehead and streamed down, one after the other. That final punch had drained every ounce of his strength. If his willpower hadn't been ironclad, he might have plummeted from the sky right after unleashing the Cosmic Mirage!

It was no wonder; his soul force was already injured, making him incapable of exerting power. If he hadn't temporarily used Soul Plunder to feed the Flesh-Eating Bun by devouring the opponent's soul, he would likely be dead by now!

Fortunately, Zuo was a man of his word and hadn't pressed him, and the Young Clan Leader was starting to show genuine fear toward him. Otherwise, escaping successfully would have been far more difficult.

"There’s a mountain ahead; I’ll flee in there and hide for now!" Chen Feng’s head was spinning; he couldn't hold on any longer. He muttered to himself, unfurled his Sky Dancing Art, and flew downward toward the terrain below.

In his flight, Chen Feng relied solely on the Sky Dancing Art and Mind Teleportation, deliberately avoiding the use of his Domain power. This way, even a strong Ming Sheng expert tracking energy fluctuations would have trouble following him.

Entering the dense forest, he found a spot near a stream. Using the Great Serpent Pheasant technique, he carved a circular hollow into the mountainside, then gathered several large stones to disguise the entrance before retreating inside with Yu Jiao.

Once inside the cave, a crushing fatigue hit him; his vision tunneled to blackness.

He untied Yu Jiao from his back and let her drop to the ground, then immediately closed his eyes, starting the slow process of recovering his physical strength and soul power.

The soul energy absorbed via Soul Plunder and the Flesh-Eating Bun had not been fully converted into his own; the side effects were extremely obvious. If it had all been his own soul energy, this level of battle would only leave him feeling weakened and tired, but now he suffered splitting headaches and an overwhelming urge to sleep.

"I can't sleep. If I do, more than half of the recently devoured soul energy will be lost. Now is the time to digest and absorb it all in one go!" Chen Feng sat cross-legged on the ground, gritting his teeth, fighting the powerful urge to drift off.

However, the absorbed soul energy was chaotic. Although it showed signs of merging, complete conversion into his own power remained difficult. If he wasn't careful, he risked being counter-attacked by the residual souls!

Hoo…

Just then, something suddenly occurred to Chen Feng. With a flip of his wrist, he drew out the Houteng Bow (): and held it in his palm. A wave of warmth immediately began to circulate from his palm and flow into his body.

"It seems my guess was right. If I purify the soul energy I just consumed using the Houteng Bow, I won't suffer a backlash!" Chen Feng thought to himself, slowly using his mental power to guide the warm current to purify the chaotic soul energy.

The soul energy, filtered by the gentle warmth, began to solidify and merge naturally, strengthening his own soul.

After about an hour, Chen Feng had completely converted the absorbed energy into his own, making it fully usable.

The initial damage to his soul had been immense; he had only recovered less than one-fifth of his total strength. However, this fraction was enough to give him control over more than 50% of his body's potential power.

He stood up and practiced a few punches inside the cave, carefully sensing the strength within him.

"I luckily broke through while transforming into the Great Serpent, meaning my base cultivation reached the Saint Domain. With only two-tenths of my soul force recovered, the power I can exert is still limited—I can only manifest about 27% of my Dark Power! If I recover fully, I estimate I could deploy over 50% of the Dark Power!"

Dark Power, much like Domain power, becomes exponentially harder to master at higher levels, and soul power doesn't correlate perfectly with cultivation control. Therefore, achieving 27% output with 20% soul power was already a generous estimate, with a projected maximum of over 50% upon full recovery!

"But why did my cultivation increase so much this time?" Chen Feng felt puzzled. His Absolute Domain smoothly achieving the Dark Power level meant his limit was deploying 1% of the Dark Power, yet he could suddenly manifest around 50% after a single breakthrough. He found this hard to believe.

When he advanced to Dou Zun and comprehended the Absolute Domain, he could only utilize about 0% of the Domain Power initially. He had fallen into a coma and was unaware that the blood of the Golden Profound Tiger and the Flame Dragon Fire Phoenix had fused within him; thus, he didn't know his physical body had undergone a fundamental change.

"Forget it, I won't dwell on it!"

After pondering for a long time without finding an answer, Chen Feng shifted his focus back to the Houteng Bow (); in his hand. The bow’s ability to integrate turbulent souls was simply too formidable…

ps: Ugh, only two more monthly tickets, I’m miserable and want to cry. There’s one more chapter scheduled, probably around ten o'clock… If the monthly tickets reach 53, there will be two chapters! Don't you all look forward to it?? (To be continued. To find out what happens next, please log on to www**com for more chapters, to support the author, and for genuine reading!)