Chapter 27: Sound East, Strike West

## Chapter 27: Feinting East, Striking West

As night descended, over a dozen disciples from Diyang Peak were carried back to the peak.

"Who did this?" Seeing the state of his disciples, Ge Hong's face turned ashen. This was a blatant slap in the face of Diyang Peak!

"We... we don't know."

"When we arrived, all the senior brothers had already been attacked."

Below, a group of prostrate disciples dared not utter a sound, the atmosphere thick with fear.

"Master, to dare to openly ambush our Diyang Peak disciples in such a manner, perhaps it was that Ye Chen."

"Has your brain been kicked by a donkey?" Ge Hong glared at the speaking disciple, unable to restrain his anger. "After enduring over a hundred fire whips, he's fortunate to be alive. How could he possibly stand, let alone ambush someone?"

"Master is correct. We indeed did not see Ye Chen today."

"Then... then could it be someone from Tianyang Peak or Diyang Peak?"

Hearing this, Ge Hong inhaled deeply, his face as dark as iron and terrifying to behold. In his sinister eyes, a sharp glint flickered.

"Investigate this matter thoroughly. No matter who it is, I will make them pay a heavy price."

Meanwhile, Ye Chen, the primary culprit of the back mountain incident, had already slipped back to the small spirit garden and happily shed his black robe.

His actions were meticulous, one could say flawless.

Firstly, he wore a black robe up the mountain, so no one knew it was Ye Chen. This meant no one saw him, which in turn meant he didn't go up the mountain, providing him with an alibi.

Secondly, he had a backup plan when using the stick in the back mountain. He smeared his face with mud, changing his appearance. Even if he were discovered, it would be difficult to identify him.

Thirdly, and most importantly, he had endured over a hundred fire whips yesterday. Any rational person would assume that after such a ordeal, even if he didn't die, he would be incapacitated, certainly not capable of carrying out an ambush in the back mountain.

All his actions, both before and after, were meticulously calculated.

The facts proved that his method was effective. At least, until now, no one suspected him.

Exhilarating!

Unable to contain his laughter, Ye Chen placed the dozen or so storage bags on his bed. These were the spoils of his endeavors today.

One had to admit, the disciples of Diyang Peak were indeed wealthy. Their storage bags contained spirit stones, spirit liquid, spirit grass, and cultivation manuals. One of the storage bags even held a staggering two thousand spirit stones.

"Enough to help me break through to the fourth level," he chuckled gleefully. Ye Chen then consumed all nearly sixty bottles of Jade Spirit Liquid.

As the vast amount of Jade Spirit Liquid entered his body, it felt like countless clear springs flowing through all his meridians, large and small. The True Fire in his Dantian Sea also surged forth, rapidly refining the abundant spiritual power contained within the Jade Spirit Liquid.

As the refined Jade Spirit Liquid poured into his Dantian Sea, Ye Chen's aura rapidly intensified.

At this moment, all his pores were wide open, greedily devouring the spiritual energy of heaven and earth like a whale.

He welcomed it without hesitation. With the dominant True Fire refining the Jade Spirit Liquid and the external spiritual energy for him, his cultivation realm was forcefully pushed towards the barrier between the third and fourth levels of the Condensing Qi realm.

*Pop!*

At some point, a sound echoed from within Ye Chen's body.

Advancement!

In that instant, Ye Chen's cultivation broke through to the fourth level of the Condensing Qi realm.

He did not immediately absorb the spiritual power contained within the spirit stones, as his realm had just broken through and required time to consolidate. Advancing too quickly was not necessarily a good thing.

At this moment, the sky outside was still somewhat dim.

Ye Chen flipped off the bed, put on his black robe again, and slipped out of the small spirit garden.

However, this time he wasn't heading towards the spirit mountains of the Hengyue Sect. Instead, he descended the mountain, running frantically for a full quarter of an hour before stopping.

This was a mountain valley, not very long, only a few hundred zhang, but it was a necessary path to the demon beast forest.

Thus, Ye Chen's purpose in coming here was clear. He wasn't going to the back mountain of the Hengyue Sect today to wield his stick. Instead, he had shifted his battlefield, intending to quietly wait in this mountain valley for the Diyang Peak disciples who were heading to the demon beast forest to hunt.

In military strategy, there was a tactic that perfectly described his current actions: Feinting East, Striking West.

After the back mountain incident yesterday, he was certain that Ge Hong would secretly send disciples with decent cultivation to hide in the back mountain to catch the perpetrator who had ambushed his disciples.

Ye Chen was meticulous. Since he knew there was an ambush in the back mountain, he naturally wouldn't foolishly walk into a trap.

Therefore, he chose to shift his battlefield.

Normally, many Hengyue Sect disciples would go to the demon beast forest to hunt, and among them, there were certainly Diyang Peak disciples. Ambushes in this mountain valley were definitely a good choice.

"Just here," Ye Chen selected a hidden spot. However, he did not smear mud on his face this time but instead donned a ghost mask.

Not long after, the sky brightened considerably.

Ye Chen sat up, his attention focused on the movements in the mountain valley.

Soon, some Hengyue disciples appeared, but they were not from Zhengyang Peak. Ye Chen did not make a move and let them pass.

Time slowly passed. Disciples passed through the mountain valley in waves, either in groups of three or flocks of five, all heading to the demon beast forest to hunt as a team.

Eventually, Ye Chen spotted his targets.

Looking into the distance, it was a group of three, all disciples of Diyang Peak.

"Xu Ming," from afar, Ye Chen recognized a familiar figure among the three. Wasn't it precisely Xu Ming, who had schemed against him that day?

Ye Chen knew that although the true schemer was Ge Hong of Diyang Peak, and this Xu Ming was merely a subordinate following orders, beating Hu Wa was an undeniable fact.

For this alone, Ye Chen absolutely would not let Xu Ming off.

"Kid, when you're out and about, you always have to pay your dues," he sneered, then restrained his aura and quietly waited for the three to approach.

Among the three, the one with the highest cultivation was a Diyang Peak disciple wearing purple clothes, whose cultivation was at the peak of the sixth level of the Condensing Qi realm. Next to him was a thin, bony disciple in green clothes. The weakest of the three was Xu Ming, whose cultivation was only at the fifth level of the Condensing Qi realm.

"Senior Brother Yang, who do you think was responsible for the back mountain incident yesterday?" Xu Ming bowed and scraped to the purple-clad disciple in the lead.

"Most likely people from the other two peaks."

"I think so too," the green-clad disciple mused. "The three main peaks have always been engaged in open and secret battles. It's not surprising for people from the other two peaks to make a move."

As they spoke, the three had already entered the mountain valley.

At this moment, a sharp glint flashed in Ye Chen's eyes. Just as he was about to make his move, he sensed someone else rapidly approaching from one end of the mountain valley.

"There are more. Let's take them all out in one go," Ye Chen lay low again.

Soon, the second wave of Diyang Peak disciples entered the mountain valley, a group of five. The strongest of them had only reached the seventh level of the Condensing Qi realm, and the weakest was merely at the fourth level.

Huh?

Xu Ming's eyes were sharp, and he saw the people coming from behind. They were his own senior brothers.

"Are various senior brothers also heading to the demon beast forest?" The eight people merged together, exchanging some idle chatter.

"We're going to hunt Blood Spiders."

"Blood Spiders? Those are extremely ferocious demon beasts!"

"Let's travel together then!"

Saying this, the eight people joined forces and were about to head towards the valley entrance.

However, just at this moment, a dark, slippery object flew from the side. Upon closer inspection, it was an iron ball the size of an egg.

"Be careful!" the purple-clad disciple suddenly exclaimed. With a flourish, he drew the spirit sword from his sleeve and unleashed a crescent-shaped sword energy, which struck the dark, slippery iron ball squarely.

*Bang!*

With a loud explosion, the iron ball instantly detonated. Black, thick smoke rapidly spread, covering an area of nearly twenty zhang around.

"Damn, it's a smoke bomb!" Cursing sounds immediately echoed from within the black fog.

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