Could it be that I am the cruel villain?
Chapter 253 - 172: Time to Hunt

Chapter 253: Chapter 172: Time to Hunt

The flame extinguished.

Although the three of them had rested, nobody felt sleepy.

Jiang Feng and Lin Jiangxian sat back to back, a habit they had developed over more than twenty days, which allowed them to cultivate at ease and remain alert to any disturbances from the outside world.

In the dark night, the beautiful woman was still trying to condense Spiritual Energy, but unfortunately, a severe kick had almost ruined her cultivation; yet, she did not give up and kept circulating it, just that...

"It’s not right, Miss Lin, the pathways of your meridians are incorrect."

"Although I’m not very familiar with your Cultivation Technique, the aura is clearly disordered, and the purity of the refined Spiritual Energy is not enough, so you have to go through the cycle again."

"Try channeling through the Fengchi and Tianyin points. For this part, follow the paths of the Purple Cloud Divine Technique. It might feel a bit discordant, but at least the circulation will be complete. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on you to ensure nothing goes wrong."

The girl just nodded her head. Although the route for the circulation of the meridians was a bit strange and not the most efficient, it was at least complete, unlike the incomplete scrolls she had studied before, which made normal circulation very difficult.

Yes, Jiang Feng had directly taught the Purple Cloud Divine Technique to the young girl.

Because today Lin Jiangxian had agreed to follow him from now on, he did not hesitate; he had planned to prepare some gifts, but having nothing, he simply taught the Cultivation Technique directly and then waited for the assessment to end to take the young girl up the mountain.

Slowly getting used to the rhythm, seeing that the girl showed no signs of deviating into madness, the anxiety in his heart was also relieved by a large margin.

"Miss Lin, have you noticed? You frequently battle with experts now, and your Spiritual Energy has become incredibly condensed. If you can advance one minor realm, you should be able to match up against those Foundation Establishment experts."

"I always thought that improving through battles was a joke; it clearly only increased the chances of getting injured. But now it seems I was too superficial. Every time you battle, the Spiritual Energy instinctively circulates, especially under greater external pressure. The speed of the Cultivation Technique increases, becoming more proficient, and eventually forms muscle memory."

"During battle, you might feel a shortage of Spiritual Energy, but after practicing post-battle, you only find immense benefits..."

He turned over.

In the dark night, the beautiful woman opened her eyes and looked towards the two sitting opposite her. Jiang Feng’s guidance was patient, not just regarding the technique but also in sharing his insights, which made her somewhat doubt the nature of their relationship.

At first, she thought Jiang Feng had taken a liking to the young girl, but now their relationship seemed more like that of mentor and disciple. How should she deal with the upcoming adversaries, and is there truly hope for her to enter the sect?

With such doubts, the injured Qiao Yuan’s consciousness gradually blurred, and her eyes slowly closed. She had fought fiercely all day, and now with injuries from an ambush, she was utterly exhausted. Despite still being vigilant, her eyelids grew heavier, and eventually, she fell into a deep sleep...

Feeling the flow of Spiritual Energy in the young girl’s body speeding up, Jiang showed a gratified smile.

Looking towards the cave entrance, a sense of being watched gradually faded as the sound of even breathing emerged from inside.

Actually, the words he had spoken to Qiao Yuan earlier were not just for her, but also for Chen Shan.

Perhaps, influenced by Liu Tangxi, Jiang Feng had never considered this assessment as a true test but rather saw himself more as a member of the sect, viewing the many seedlings within this mountain.

Supposing he was a Peak Master, supposing he was Liu Tangxi, supposing he was one of those sect Peak Masters, what kind of disciple would he wish to have?

"Resolute and unyielding, brilliant and exceptional, intelligent and clever, virtuous and moral..."

This was his first thought, and it was also what the vast majority thought.

Talent and ability are indeed important, but they must take a back seat to character. If one’s will is not firm, having talent but no virtue, the end result would be cultivating Evil Cultivators with ill intentions, whether it was the former Chief Disciple of the Purple Cloud Palace.

Or Cen Zhongxiao from Cen Family Village, these are gruesomely clear examples laid out in plain view. Plus, considering his Elder Sister’s and Yu Ying’s somewhat ambiguous attitudes, he made such a conjecture; and the appearance of Chen Shan made him utterly certain.

Because Chen Shan, being the Chief Brother of Qingxia Peak, his attitude could represent a lot of things.

In fact, both tokens of the Yan Long and Yan Hu brothers from Qiao Yuan’s team had fallen into his hands, but he never thought of handing Yan Long and Yan Hu’s tokens to Qiao Yuan.

Moreover, when he took away the tokens, Elder Brother Chen Shan did not make any attempt to stop him; however, the only thing missing was anything on the fleeing Golden Fox. Where did the token go?

Naturally, it was taken by Chen Shan.

It was simple, since Yan Long and Yan Hu brothers were both defeated by him, the tokens belonged to him; and as for the Golden Fox, it was killed by Elder Brother Chen Shan, so he chose to retrieve it.

This was the fairness and justice Chen Shan pursued during the examination, and coincidentally, Jiang Feng thought the same; he was also pursuing fairness.

He was willing to share the spoils of war with Miss Lin because during the battle, this girl had always contributed her effort and did her utmost, and even though their cultivation realms were unequal, he still believed Miss Lin deserved to share the spoils.

However, Qiao Yuan bears a great responsibility for the betrayal she encountered.

Although Jiang Feng did not agree with the notion that victims are to be blamed, this was premised on the situation that the victim was not at fault, but Qiao Yuan had clearly made a mistake; there had even been warnings before entering the mountain, yet she still harbored a fluke mentality.

Both Yan Long and Yan Hu brothers had bad reputations from the start, she didn’t pay much heed initially, thinking that with her cultivation realm, they wouldn’t dare do anything outrageous, including the subsequently joined Golden Fox.

Additionally, the fundamental cause of the disaster was Qiao Yuan’s intention to exploit loopholes in the rules, or rather, to use the rules to her maximum advantage as expressed by the ancestor of Qingxia Peak at the time of entering the mountain.

Choosing too many people would only become a liability, if Qiao Yuan had chosen to go alone, she had magic treasures and family inheritance cultivation techniques; with her capabilities, entering Purple Cloud Palace would not be too difficult, at least having over a sixty percent chance.

Yet she wanted to push this so-called sixty percent to ninety percent, and in the end, taking the lion’s share of tokens, inevitably leading to uneven internal distribution and consequently dissatisfaction which brewed trouble.

Didn’t you notice what Chen Shan said when he apologized?

He only said that he was apologizing because Qiao Yuan was nearly defiled and lost her life, but he did not mention anything about the betrayal.

With open eyes, looking out at the silent forest, Jiang Feng already had a plan in his mind.

"This time I’ve investigated clearly; currently in the mountain, there remain six people at the Core Formation Stage, twenty-three at the Foundation Establishment Peak. I just don’t know among these twenty-nine people... how many can I defeat?"

The more mundane it seemed, the crazier the thoughts inside his mind.

Even Chen Shan only thought Jiang Feng wanted to fight for a top position to bring honor to Master Liu; but he could never imagine, this mad young man was thinking of defeating them all!

"After settling these two women down well during these next five days and sending them to the Mountain Gate, as for the remaining three days..."

"The hunting time is upon us."