Chapter 128: God of Pestilence
Translator: Alsey Editor: Chrissy
Naturally, before leaving, Chu Feng wanted to dig the Pilgrimage Grounds as much as he could. For other people, the place was shrouded in mystery and rare chances of fateful encounters, but for Chu Feng, he was content with just mutant soil!
He found more than just a few miraculous ancient trees with abundant mutant soil beneath them. For Chu Feng, this was treasure in and of itself.
Chu Feng was prepared to bury his seed once again, allowing it to grow.
"Eh?"
When he went back to the previous tree where he had buried the seed, he found that the tree had taken a dusky hue, no longer lush and green.
Previously, he had chosen this place because the ancient tree was full of vigor and vitality. The mutant soil beneath it was also of high quality and quantity.
Just what had happened? The young shoots of the tree no longer had that translucent glow to them and although their vitality had not been lost, it was much weaker than before.
Chu Feng dug up the earth near the roots and found that although the mutant soil was still there, they had lost their glow. It appears that the soil in this state was sufficient to keep the tree alive, but it would be impossible to let it flourish like before.
He felt somewhat guilty since he had brought about such a calamity to this tree just by burying a seed.
However, all the ancient trees here were originally shrivelled and dried up. Only after the great change and the subsequent growth of the mountain did they slowly regain their vitality and started sprouting.
"Hopefully, after a year or so later, along with the strengthening of this land, you will have recovered from this weakened state." Feeling somewhat responsible, he whispered thus to the ancient tree.
He travelled through the bewildering mist, looking for the next suitable place to grow his seed. If any normal person force his way here, it would be extremely dangerous, even to the point of being forever trapped within.
When Chu Feng walked into this place, he was determined to breakthrough no matter the cause. Now that he had succeeded, this mist could no longer hinder him.
The sun had risen high, showering the world with golden mist. Yet, the fog here would not disperse, perpetually enshrouding the landscape within.
Chu Feng had just found another ancient tree, and similarly, it was growing new sprouts. The new sprouts were red in color and full of vitality, akin to bright coral.
He buried his seed here along with the box and sat there waiting.
Unfortunately, even until noon, the seed did not sprout.
At that time, Chu Feng was overcome by hunger; he felt as if he could eat two whole cows. He would almost lose control at the mere thought of food, his stomach rumbling constantly.
Chu Feng reaching the king level could be said to be a major breakthrough. His body had undergone great changes and required nutritional replenishment.
He felt painfully hungry at the mere thought of delicious food, like roasted duck, roasted mutton, etc.
"I’m too hungry, I can’t take it anymore."
Chu Feng felt embarrassed at his own loss of composure; simply thinking of food brought him close to drooling.
"So hungry!"
Soon, he felt as if he could finish a whole elephant.
Sou!
Chu Feng left the place swiftly because he had clearly heard the shrill cries of a bird, seemingly in combat with humans.
Unfortunately, he didn’t find them in the end. With his king level divine instinct, he could scan deep into the bewildering mist of the Pilgrimage Grounds, but it appears the combatants have all left the area.
Chu Feng wandered around the place, until finally, he was convinced that there were no life forms in the immediate vicinity.
Finally, Chu Feng reached a point where he could no longer bear the great hunger. His stomach was akin to rolling thunder, strongly urging him to ingest nutritious foods to replenish his energy reserves, which he had largely depleted during the breakthrough.
Chu Feng was worried it would affect his health, or even his future cultivation.
Finally, he retraced his steps, exiting the mist and heading towards the safety of the human camp.
"Where is that quasi beast king level peacock?" Chu Feng asked a mutant he had just met.
"Over there. You should avoid that place at all costs, that peacock is extremely ferocious, even our own quasi beast king level expert was not his match and could only be defeated," the youth told him honestly.
"Oh, okay. Thanks a lot!" Chu Feng nodded.
If only they knew what kind of plans Chu Feng had in mind, they would probably be scared silly, or even feel as if he had gone mad.
That was because Chu Feng wanted to hunt this quasi beast king peacock and satiate his hunger. He was truly and unbearably starved.
In any case, he had already formed a deep hatred with the peacock race, with Kong Sheng and his group repeatedly targeting him. Naturally, he need not be modest with them; he would hunt one for now and alleviate his immediate hunger.
The air in front of him was suffused with the stench of blood and many mutant corpses lay strewn on the ground.
A peacock stood proudly upon the ruins as its prismatic plumage shone with a brilliance comparable to that of refined metals. There was a penetrating coldness in its eyes; it appears to have forced a large number of mutants to help him dig up these ancient remains while it simply watched from the side.
Its true form was over ten meters long, an average size for their race.
But, the size of a beast’s true form wasn’t related to their power in any way.
This one was already at the quasi beast king realm, a favorite of the peacock king due to his potential to become a beast king in the near future.
"You… come over here!" The peacock commanded in the human tongue, staring at Chu Feng with a cold glint in his eyes.
"You have business with me?" Chu Feng replied with a smile; he was the picture of harmlessness.
"You sure have guts. You're still smiling in my presence!" the peacock commented coldly. After defeating the human race quasi king level expert, no one had dared to disobey him.
Nearby, there were quite a large number of human race mutants excavating the ruins. After hearing the commotion, everyone turned to look.
"Do you all want to die?! Keep digging!" the peacock roared, with light shooting out of its proud eyes.
Both human and beast race members were cowed by the display of threat and power. They hurriedly returned to digging for valuable items.
"Who killed the men on the ground?" Chu Feng inquired after seeing the corpses of six humans and two beasts.
The peacock scoffed disdainfully, saying, "Truly laughable, do you think you are in a position to question me? Get over there and start digging in the ruins, or else I’ll kill you on the spot!"
"I’ve decided. It’ll be you," Chu Feng calmly replied. He already had a vendetta against the peacock race and now coincidentally before him was a peacock who killed the innocent and forced them to work for him. It had to be fate, then there was no need to hold back.
"Imbecile! You’re courting death!" the peacock cried in a sinister voice. It raised a dazzling large claw and swiped towards Chu Feng.
Any normal mutant would’ve succumbed to an attack of this calber—death was inevitable.
However, Chu Feng leapt forth with a swoosh, with a speed that had exceeded sound. In a single move, the peacock was thrown into the air and a fist landed squarely on its skull.
Chu Feng had restrained his power, so as not to crush its head into meat paste.
Even so, the peacock was suffering unbearable pain, as if its skull was about to split open. Its eyes went white and collapsed on the ground.
Following that, dragging the peacock along, Chu Feng went back into the bewildering mist.
What had just happened? In the vicinity, all the mutants raised their heads in puzzlement and watched the fading silhouette of Chu Feng’s back as he walked into the mist, dragging an almost lifeless peacock with him.
"Expert sire, where do you plan to take him?"
Some mutants mustered their courage and asked with a shout. It was simply too overwhelming! This man had tyrannically disabled the quasi beast king peacock with a single move, moreover, he even dragged it away!
"I have some business with him. You guys go on with your business, I’ll be leaving now," said Chu Feng as he faded into the depths of the bewildering mist.
He was ravenous, and he couldn’t hold back anymore.
After escaping the notice of the masses, he ran full speed with the peacock in tow. Finally, he found a stream where he proceeded to skin the peacock and clean its meat. After which, he brought his potential meal to the place where the seed was buried and started to roast the meat.
During that time, he stole a glance at the seed, but there was no change at all.
Very soon, the aroma of roasted meat permeated the air. Chu Feng wolfed down the food with ravenous ardor, resolving his painful starvation.
After a lengthy meal, Chu Feng was finally satisfied. He wiped his oily mouth and let out a sigh. "Being able to eat one’s fill is truly a blessing."
Chu Feng waited until the late evening before he dug up the seed box and carefully looked for progress. However, he was disappointed and puzzled to find that the seed had not changed in the least.
There was sufficient mutant soil here, and the quality was also decent, so why did the seed not sprout?
Seeing no solution to the current dilemma, he decided to try looking for another tree and bury it again to confirm his speculations.
That night, he continued to eat peacock meat for dinner. This was a ferocious avian of the quasi beast king level. Its meat contained such a high level of energy that it was able to satisfy Chu Feng’s post breakthrough hunger.
After a night of rest, Chu Feng went to unearth the seed as soon as his eyes opened and found that it had yet to sprout.
He had a vague speculation: the mutant soil here was mainly composed of azure, red and purple soil—the colors were the same under every ancient tree.
"Could it be that the seed had reached saturation, no longer requiring mutant soil, or perhaps it no longer desired this type of soil?"
After searching thoroughly, he confirmed that only 3 colored mutant soil existed on this mountain.
"According to rumors, there was supposed to be a multicolored sacrificial altar on Mount Tai. Why haven’t I discovered it?" Chu Feng suspected that there would be five-colored mutant soil somewhere on the mountain, but he was unable to find it.
Finally, he decided to let go of this matter and return.
Chu Feng had left, but Mount Tai was in an uproar—a quasi beast king of the peacock race had disappeared!
Finally, another quasi beast king who had ventured into the bewildering mist found the remains.
"Oh god, that peacock had become someone's meal!"
"What kind of situation was this? This was a quasi beast king, an existence unrivalled under the king realm! Who could possess the ferocity to kill and eat such a beast?"
"Yesterday, a long-haired youth appeared claiming he had business with this peacock. He then disabled it with a single fist and proceeded to drag him into the mist. This… this is too shocking, it turns out that he had the intention to turn the quasi beast king into food, truly fierce!"
…
After the news circulated, the humans were stunned. The beast race members were apprehensive as they departed from Mount Tai with due haste.
After Chu Feng returned to his residence, he cleaned himself, revealing a slender yet muscular body that flowed with a crystalline glow.
He was pleasantly surprised. Only one night had passed, but his hair had grown noticeably long and his height had also increased.
After measuring his height, he found that he had grown from 179cm to 185cm.
"It appears that after becoming a king level entity, my body had undergone intense transformations!" Chu Feng now understood why he felt so hungry.
Xu Ming arrived and upon seeing Chu Feng’s long hair, his eyes went wide with shock, exclaiming, "Oh god, don’t tell me it was your doing?"
"What was my doing?" Chu Feng asked, puzzled.
"Dear ancestor, did you… on Mount Tai… happen to eat a peacock?" Xu Ming asked, trembling.
"Oh, how did you know?" Chu Feng asked in surprise.
"God! So it is you!" exclaimed Xu Ming as he sat down in a daze.
The whole area was boiling over due to this incident.
"Did I do something wrong?" Chu Feng asked.
"OF COURSE YOU DID! That peacock is a direct subordinate of the Peacock King. How could you… eat him?!" Xu Ming felt a huge headache as he speculated that a war might be brewing.
Chu Feng consoled him in a nonchalant manner, "Don’t worry, he isn’t even a beast king, not someone important. I’m sure the peacock race won't mind."
"How could they not mind?" said Xu Ming anxiously, "although that peacock is not a king level expert, he is somewhat of a steward to the Peacock King’s household. And you… you actually ate him!"
Xu Ming was speechless. Just what kind of monster had been delivered to him? Wasn’t Chu Feng here to hide from persecution?
Why would such a ferocious person need to hide? It should be the other way round.
"I suggest you leave quickly, don’t linger in this area!" Xu Ming told him.
"Very well, you help me arrange a flight. I shall return to Shuntian!" Chu Feng agreed decisively.
Xu Ming was very efficient with his work. He notified the superiors, and before long, he had finished making arrangements for Chu Feng to board a commercial flight back to Shuntian. As if he was sending off the god of pestilence himself, Xu Ming escorted Chu Feng to the airport with great urgency.
The plane whistled through the sky, flying towards the north.
Chu Feng sat there quietly, looking through the messages on his communicator and familiarizing himself with the current news.
"Chu Feng, if you don’t show yourself, be prepared to collect your parents’ corpses!"
This was a message from Huang Xiaoxian. He had used the same threat once before, only this time it was even more overbearing.
A cold light flashed through Chu Feng’s eyes—this weasel was too insolent! He dared to use this kind of tone to threaten him time and again.
He also found that Kong Sheng had come back to Shuntian after a grand tour of the surrounding cities.
Lu Tong left a message for Chu Feng explaining that the beast race had stationed a lot of people in Shuntian. Although, these people didn’t have the courage to act overtly, they might go berserk if Chu Feng went back.
After all, he had killed Kong Lin and disabled Huang Yun during their last exchange. This shook the two races—the victims were quasi beast king level experts.
Lu tong speculated that there would, no doubt, be more experts arriving to seal his fate.
Chu Feng gave it some thought before contacting Lu Tong, telling him to leak the information of his arrival, allowing the mole to relay this information to the enemy.
Chu Feng was worried that he would alarm the other party if he directly walked back and confronted the other party.
If they suspected his breakthrough or suddenly lost their courage, it would be difficult for him to chase them down if they turned to run.
Lu Tong strongly protested against this plan in the beginning, afraid that Chu Feng would rush to his doom. The enemy would surely field more than just one quasi beast king level experts, so Lu Tong didn’t want to risk it.
"Don’t worry, I have full confidence," Chu Feng only replied thus.
Almost at the same time, Lu Tong received a secret message from Xu Ming saying that Chu Feng had caused a huge ruckus at Mount Tai by roasting a quasi beast king level peacock for his meal.
Lu Tong was flabbergasted!
Following that, he immediately agreed to Chu Feng’s suggestion. Thinking about potential candidates, Zhao Yu was the first to come to mind—a light flashed past his eyes.
"I’ll give you a chance!" Lu Tong muttered to himself.
Before long, he had called Zhao Yu over and telling him of Chu Feng’s imminent arrival, instructing him to go and escort him the following day.
That night, Huang Xiaoxian was incredibly excited as he told Kong Sheng, "Brother Kong, that brat is about to return! He’s expected to arrive tomorrow!"
"Very well, tomorrow I will go hunting!" Kong Sheng said as he rose. While walking over to the French window, gazed out at the starry sky. A faint smile forming on his charming countenance.
"Ha ha, there’s no way for him to escape this time. With all these elders taking action, we will certainly able to skin him alive!" Huang Xiaoxian laughed wholeheartedly with great satisfaction as he said to himself, "If he came back any later, his parents will certainly have died. I wasn’t lying about that!"