Chapter 290: Chapter 128: A Greater Storm Is Coming, Chu Fan Trains Desperately, "Nine Nether Yellow Springs Finger" Breaks the Limit

’How could a kid at the Bone Tempering Realm, one who almost died at Lin Luoxue’s hands just a few days ago, not only break through to the Entering the Realm of Strength but also complete the leap of Mortal Transformation in such a short time?’

’Even if he’s exceptionally talented and achieved Mortal Transformation by some fluke, he’s only just entered the Spirit Awakening Realm... How could he possibly kill a Divine Power Realm expert?’

’Did he do it alone? Or is there some power backing him that even I failed to notice?’

’But I’ve already investigated every power in Cyan Yang Ancient City and the surrounding regions, both overt and covert, down to the last detail... So where in the world did this person come from?’

Question after question swirled in Zhang Yunpeng’s mind, but he couldn’t find any reasonable answers.

He rubbed his throbbing temples, feeling nothing but frustration and turmoil.

He had been plotting for the "key" for many years.

If he succeeded, he would surely soar to great heights.

If he failed...

’No, how could I fail?’

He was County Magistrate Zhang Yunpeng, a man of the Qing Province’s Zhang Family.

Even if the plan failed, he would not fail!

Ghost Moon would fail. The Divine Sacrifice Envoy would fail.

He, Zhang Yunpeng, would never fail!

He was accustomed to thinking three steps ahead.

Even if the plan truly failed, he had other moves to make.

It was just...

He truly couldn’t accept it.

How could he resign himself to letting some Ghost-faced Man who came out of nowhere ruin his entire plan?

"Forget it..."

Zhang Yunpeng muttered to himself, forcibly pulling his thoughts away from the "Ghost-faced Man."

In the current situation, hunting down the Ghost-faced Man was a pure waste of time.

Even if he killed the Ghost-faced Man, what good would it do?

From beginning to end, his goal had only ever been one thing—to find the "key"!

That damn fool Ghost Moon was arrogant and stubborn, refusing to listen to advice. He annihilated the Blood Saber Sect first, needlessly alerting their enemies. Then he launched a full-on assault against the Seven Stars Gang, suffering heavy losses and pointlessly sacrificing two experts from the Divine Power Realm!

Although those two weren’t his direct subordinates, they were crucial experts sent from Qing Province to help him and Ghost Moon execute their mission. Their combat strength was indispensable to the plan.

Originally, with him, Ghost Moon, those two Divine Power Realm experts, and their elite forces, they could have launched the second phase of the plan immediately. They could have swept through all of Cyan Yang Ancient City with lightning speed, set up the Blood Sacrifice Array in the Outer City, and begun the search for the "key"...

Now, however, thanks to Ghost Moon’s stupidity and that mysterious Ghost-faced Man, their strength was greatly diminished. They could only delay for a few days and wait for reinforcements from Qing Province to arrive before making a move.

The plan had been disrupted time and again; the anticipated lightning offensive had turned into this passive waiting...

Zhang Yunpeng’s eyes were sinister, and the killing intent in his heart gnawed at him like a venomous snake.

He wished he could immediately take that Ghost-faced Man who ruined his plans, and that good-for-nothing, trouble-making Ghost Moon, and personally rip them limb from limb and grind their bones to dust!

...

「Seven Stars Gang. Chu Fan’s Room.」

No lamps were lit in the room. Only the cold, blood-colored moonlight filtered through the window lattice, cutting several vague, blood-red patches into the darkness.

Chu Fan sat cross-legged on his bed, his eyes shut tight, his breathing long and steady.

The clamor from the outside world about the Ghost-faced Man and the Seven Stars Gang seemed to be shut out.

His mind had sunk completely into his body, and even deeper, into a replay of the recent battle.

Perhaps it was because after his Literacy underwent a Breaking Limit, not only had he gained a new Trait, but his Unforgettable ability had also been enhanced to an unimaginable degree...

Every scene he had witnessed in that brutal battle, every move and stance of every person, all the details, even the subtle fluctuations of Primordial Qi in the air, were all branded clearly in his mind.

Now, recalling it with a calm mind, every single detail appeared with perfect clarity!

Even the fight between Shen Shikang and Senior Brother Cao Yan, which he hadn’t paid much attention to at the time, was now vivid in his mind as he recalled it.

He could even remember that during the fierce fight, when Shen Shikang had turned inadvertently, his fingers had secretly flicked, seeming to scatter some kind of colorless, odorless substance.

And Senior Brother Cao Yan had noticed this. With several consecutive palm strikes, he used the wind from his palms to blow away the poison his opponent had scattered.

He also clearly remembered Jiang Lianyue’s eyes as he was targeted by the Moon Eclipse Arrow and then killed with a single shot—how they shifted from ferocious to shocked, and finally to absolute, deathly stillness.

Chu Fan silently reviewed every move and stance of these people.

He recalled the fluctuations of Primordial Qi they emitted and the strength of their auras that he had sensed.

Combining this with the bits of information he got from Master Cao after returning to the Seven Stars Gang...

The cultivation levels of those on the battlefield, as well as his own current level of strength, gradually became clear in his mind.

Master Cao, Jiang Lianyue, and Pan Heng were all at the Fifth Heaven of the Spirit Awakening Realm.

Shen Shikang and Lin Luoxue were at the Fourth Heaven of the Spirit Awakening Realm.

Senior Brother Cao Yan was also at the Fourth Heaven of the Spirit Awakening Realm.

Senior Sister Qingxue, meanwhile, was at the Third Heaven of the Spirit Awakening Realm.

As for the two black-robed men who had put immense pressure on him, he had no way of knowing which heaven of the Divine Power Realm they were at.

He could only rely on Cyan Snake Xiaobai’s speculation to vaguely judge that the two black-robed men were perhaps around the Second Heaven of the Divine Power Realm.

Based on this information, Chu Fan now had a rough idea of what level his true strength was at.

The Nine Martial Arts Realms are the Ninefold Celestial Palace, the Circulation Secret Treasure.

Each realm was further divided into five heavens.

It now seemed that the gap between the five heavens of the initial Spirit Awakening Realm was not the insurmountable chasm he had previously imagined.

For instance, Lin Luoxue, at the Fourth Heaven of the Spirit Awakening Realm, was a practitioner of the Fast Sword. By leveraging the advantage of her swordsmanship, teaming up with another, and exploiting the fact that Master Cao’s old injuries hadn’t healed, she had actually managed to put him on the defensive.

Then there was Li Qingxue. Though only at the Third Heaven of the Spirit Awakening Realm, she had first used clever words to provoke Lin Luoxue and disrupt her focus. Then, relying on her fierce and swift blade, she had quickly forced her opponent into a steady retreat.

It was clear that the level of one’s Martial Arts, combined with various other factors like favorable timing and location, was enough to compensate for a one or two-heaven gap in cultivation.