Chapter 46: Watcher!
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
Nie Yun sneered coldly. ‘Who cares what secrets you are withholding from me? I’ll have you spit them all out for me in due time.’
As compared to stirring the grass and scaring away the snake, it was better to be the oriole stalking the mantis!
‘I can’t delay any longer! I must get that mansion as soon as possible!’
Wei Hui’s face fell as soon as the two men left.
Building a business empire from scratch was absolutely not an easy task. The fact that he was able to rise to the top in an environment where everybody was trying to cheat and outwit their competition spoke volumes of his abilities. In fact, it would not be excessive to call him a wily old fox.
Right now, the most important thing for Wei Hui to do was to acquire the mansion as soon as possible. Otherwise, the chances of the Nie family discovering the secret within the mansion would increase with every passing moment.
Wei Hui knew that the two men just now had caught onto him and were starting to become suspicious of his intentions. What he was betting on was that the Nie family did not know about the secret within the mansion.
As long as they did not know about the existence of that huge secret, they would not place too much importance on the matter. And their not prioritizing it was exactly the thing Wei Hui needed the most to buy himself some very crucial time!
He could move the thing he wanted out of the mansion if he was fast enough. The earth was vast and the skies endless. Wei Hui did not believe that the Nie family would be able to find him if he really intended to hide from them!
***
Bei Feng he was on the bus back to Qing Ling Village and was completely oblivious to the fact that an entire horde of people was starting to develop an interest in his old mansion.
Bai Xiang was already waiting near the village entrance, beside the cicada delivery truck. The driver was chatting with Bai Xiang who was wearing his usual honest expression on his face.
Once again, Bei Feng and Bai Xiang divided the load amongst themselves and carried it back to the mansion.
"F*ck! What kind of abnormal strength do those two freaks have?"
The driver was hardly able to keep his cool. Were those two guys beasts of burden in their past lives? Why did they have such ridiculous strength?!
It was as though the 20,000 golden cicadas were weightless. Despite the road which should have taken over twenty minutes to travel for normal people, it only took Bei Feng and Bai Xiang around ten minutes to reach the old mansion.
And this was without them expending any additional effort to move faster. By the time they reached the old mansion, not even a drop of perspiration appeared on their brows.
The Vampiric Vine also seemed to have discovered the presence of the golden cicadas as it waved its branches like a group of dancing snakes.
It was time for the Vampiric Vine’s feast! Countless golden cicadas were spread out before it to be freely absorbed!
As 20, 000 golden cicada carcasses hit the ground, the Vampiric Vine glimmered in an unstable manner as faint red light surrounded it.
After around ten minutes, the red glow suddenly jolted and expanded many centimeters outwards!
Strand after strand of red-colored light materialized into silken lines which sank downwards and rose up again as more red light continued materializing before turning into even more silken lines in a perfect cycle.
The main body of the Vampiric Vine did not grow larger. All the fertilizing energy was instead transferred directly to the Blood Origin Fruit atop it to help it grow faster.
The green, unripe Blood Origin Fruit began to grow larger with visible speed. In no time, it was as big as the clenched fist of a full-grown man!
A red hue the size of a thumb had also appeared near the top of the Blood Origin Fruit. The red hue started spreading outwards very slowly and by the time the process was over, it covered a fifth of the Blood Origin Fruit!
"By the looks of it, the Blood Origin Fruit should become fully ripe after just two or three more rounds of feeding! But why is the color of this Blood Orign Fruit different from the one I ate the last time?" Bei Feng murmured in puzzlement. This Blood Origin Fruit was obviously much darker in color as compared to the one he ate. It was so dark that it was almost black!
As for whether this was a good or a bad thing, Bei Feng had no way to tell.
With nothing else to do for the moment, he started practicing the movement sets of the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique.
In place of the clunky movements from before, Bei Feng’s movements were now extremely slow and steady. He looked just like an old grandpa practicing Taiji in the park. [1]
Of course, the amount of power contained within these movements was not apparent in the eyes of outsiders. Only Bei Feng knew that these slow movements actually contained his full strength!
Time passed and night fell. Bei Feng was only awoken from his trance by his growling stomach, causing him to stop his practice.
‘A day spent cultivating in the mountains is like a thousand years on earth. It obviously didn’t feel like I had spent a lot of time practicing, but an entire afternoon had actually passed just like that.’
Bei Feng sighed with emotion.
Bai Xiang had already finished cooking dinner long ago, but did not disrupt Bei Feng since the latter was practicing so focusedly.
After dinner, Bei Feng went back to his room and lay down on the bed.
‘The energy from the Blood Origin Fruit is almost exhausted. Looks like the more I improve, the more energy my body will require. The rate at which my body expends energy and drain resources is increasing by huge percentages.’
Bei Feng assessed the current condition of his body. Although he was not completely sure about the numbers, he was at least seventy to eighty percent sure that he was right.
He could feel that the Frost Qi from Extreme Arctic Frost was beginning to gain the upper hand over the Blood Origin Fruit’s energy.
According to Bei Feng’s estimate, the medicinal essence within the Blood Origin Fruit would be completely exhausted by the time his body improved by another forty percent.
As for controlling Extreme Arctic Frost, his average stats had to at last exceed 100 points.
Bei Feng gradually fell asleep as he lay thinking. Of course, he did not dare to fall into a deep sleep. At his level, his senses were so enhanced that he could wake up at the slightest disturbance.
He could not be blamed for being so cautious. Bei Feng had no choice but to keep his guard up! If he slept like a dead pig, he wouldn’t even know if someone sneaked into his room and slit his throat with a knife in the middle of the night!
Zhang Liang on the other hand had to spend the night outside, accompanied by the local mosquito battalions. He had received strict orders from Wei Hui that he must not enter the old mansion to carry out his mission.
Just like that, Zhang Liang was woken up by the cold, early in the morning. Regardless of the season, the time in the morning when the dew gathered was the coldest part of the day.
Face blue and teeth chattering, Zhang Liang stretched his cramped arms and rubbed his eyes as he looked towards the old mansion.
‘Brr… gotta endure… once this matter is settled, I can live without worries for at least a year and a half with that money,’ Zhang Liang thought gloomily. Wei Hui was cruel to his enemies, but he knew to give credit where it’s due. Wei Hui never ill-treated those who were loyal and proved useful to him.
Bei Feng had also woken up at the same time. He washed his face, put on a pair of white sportswear and went out.
‘Eh? He’s out? Where’s he going this early in the morning?’
Zhang Liang was caught off guard. He hadn’t thought that his target would appear so soon.
Hurriedly packing his things, Zhang Liang got up to follow and find out where Bei Feng was going.
Although Zhang Liang’s physique was above average, it was nowhere near Bei Feng’s. In addition, he was not as familiar with the terrain as the latter was. Thus, in just a few short moments, he had completely lost sight of Bei Feng.
"The f*ck? This kid must be born in the year of the rabbit! How the hell is he so fast!" Zhang Liang stood panting as he exclaimed aloud. "You think you can shake me off that easily?"
Zhang Liang harrumphed coldly. He quickly backtracked to the last place he saw Bei Feng to look for clues.
Bei Feng did not even suspect that he was being followed. He had moved to his usual cultivation spot, and was currently practicing the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique.
The first rays of the day represented the purest vitality of the sun. It signified the start of a brand new day.
Bei Feng took a deep breath and a pencil-thick ray of light detached itself from the sun as it flew towards him in response.
‘What the hell? Is this kid a demon or something?!’
Heaven takes pity on the poor. After much hard work, Zhang Liang finally managed to find a trace of Bei Feng’s trail which he used to follow him all the way to his place of cultivation. But what greeted him was an extraordinary sight of Bei Feng sucking a divine ray of light into his mouth!
Zhang Liang was shocked silly. He thought that his eyes had been dazzled by the sun and he had made a mistake. But the moment that thought crossed his mind, he slapped himself across the mouth in his mind. He didn’t have glaucoma or cataract issues. How could he have seen wrongly?!
‘Who cares whether you’re a human or a demon? I don’t believe you can block my bullet!’
He stared in silence for some time before he suddenly remembered the reason he was following Bei Feng. Zhang Liang’s courage soared as he felt the cold metal of the handgun in his jacket.
His distance from Bei Feng was very small, being less than fifty meters. At such a range, it would be simplicity itself to shoot his target full of holes, like a piece of Swiss cheese!
A cruel smile appeared on his face as Zhang Liang aligned the gun with the stationary Bei Feng. He could already imagine the beautiful sight of blood spreading across Bei Feng’s white jersey like the blooming of fresh flowers.
[1] ED/N: Taiji is sometimes also romanized as Taichi. I think it’s obvious what it is, but here’s a link to a wiki article just in case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_chi