79: Chapter 79: Retrieving the Blood Bodhi, continues.

"Three-day deadline, no mistakes allowed!"

The messenger's voice echoed through the Ninth Squad's spacious courtyard, carrying an air of condescending arrogance.

He casually thrust forward a document stamped with the bright red seal of the Management Hall, chin slightly raised, staring with a mocking gaze at the newly appointed captain of the Ninth Squad, who was currently the talk of the town.

"Captain Qin, this is a task personally assigned by Steward Wang."

The messenger pulled the corners of his mouth into a fake smile and said, "The blood bodhi is a rare Heaven And Earth Treasure; you must do your utmost to complete this. Don't end up like the previous Captain Luo, dying out there..."

As soon as these words were spoken, the faces of the Ninth Squad guards, who had been quiet in the courtyard, instantly turned livid.

This wasn't issuing a mission; it was clearly pointing at his nose and wishing him dead!

However, facing such naked provocation from the Management Hall guard Chen Ming, Qin Feng didn't even lift an eyelid.

His expression remained as calm as a stagnant pool as he slowly extended two slender fingers to pinch the document.

"I accept the mission."

Qin Feng's voice was not loud, but it carried a chilling coldness that made one's heart palpitate. He swept a faint glance at the messenger Chen Ming with his deep black eyes and said, "Go back and tell Steward Wang Taian that I, Qin, will definitely bring back the blood bodhi."

With just that one glance, Chen Ming felt as if he had been targeted by a bloodthirsty Vicious Beast that had walked out of the ancient wilderness. A bone-chilling cold shot straight from his tailbone to his crown, his legs went weak uncontrollably, and he nearly collapsed onto the ground.

"You... you had better watch yourself!" Chen Ming swallowed a mouthful of saliva, forcing out a line to save face, then turned and quickly left the Ninth Squad's courtyard.

Not until the figure completely disappeared did Chen Pingan suddenly step forward, his face full of anxiety and indignation that seemed ready to overflow.

"Captain, we're in trouble now."

Chen Pingan pointed at the document in Qin Feng's hand, hopping with anxiety, "This might be a scheme by the Fifth Squad captain."

"Oh? Why do you say that?"

Qin Feng carelessly shook the document in his hand, a faint, cold smile playing on the corner of his lips.

"Captain, since you are new here, you might not know what it means to go thirty miles deep into the Luanzang Mountain Range!"

Chen Pingan took a deep breath, lowered his voice, and spoke with deep dread, "The outer ten miles are all low-level Yao Beast that aren't worth mentioning; but once you go thirty miles deep, that is the territory of Advanced First-Order or even Second-Order Yao Beast. It is filled with toxic miasma year-round and is fraught with danger. Even when the Management Hall organizes hunting operations, they never dare to easily set foot in that area!"

"Furthermore, the document also mentions 'blood bodhi'."

Speaking of this, a flash of fear crossed Chen Pingan's eyes: "The blood bodhi is a rare fruit capable of tempering blood and Qi, allowing a Martial Artist to be reborn! Around a Heaven And Earth Treasure of this level, there must be an incomparably powerful companion Yao Beast guarding it day and night."

Listening to Chen Pingan's well-founded analysis, the brothers of the Ninth Squad also stepped forward, filled with righteous indignation.

"Captain, Brother Chen is right. This is most likely a trap!"

"Steward Wang Taian must be colluding with Captain Zhang Yan to target us on purpose!"

As everyone discussed, Chen Pingan gritted his teeth, slapped his chest, and said loudly: "Captain, since the mission has been accepted, we can't back out! I will go gather all the brothers in the squad who can fight..."

Watching Chen Pingan's look of martyrdom, Qin Feng suddenly laughed.

He turned his head and quietly looked at the other with an expression as if looking at an idiot.

"The ones in our squad who can fight?!"

Qin Feng slightly raised his sword-like eyebrows and asked with a smile that wasn't quite a smile: "Is there anyone in our squad who can fight better than me?"

"Uh..."

Chen Pingan was instantly speechless, his burning passion seemingly doused by a bucket of cold water. He awkwardly scratched his head and said: "This... the Captain's Divine Might is peerless. Yesterday, you killed Zhang Zhongjiu, who was at the Peak of Stage 9, with a single flying knife; our brothers naturally cannot compare to even one ten-thousandth of you. But... but as the saying goes, two fists cannot fight four hands, and a good tiger cannot hold off a pack of wolves!"

"That applies to the weak."

Qin Feng casually crumpled the red-headed document into a ball and threw it at his feet like trash. In his arrogant eyes flickered a domineering aura that looked down upon the world, and he said: "In the face of absolute power, having many people is meaningless, other than serving as cannon fodder and holding one back."

"All of you, stay in the base and behave yourselves! Guard the place. If the people from the Fifth Squad dare to come and stir up trouble while I'm away..."

Qin Feng paused, his tone bone-chillingly cold, "Just hack them to death! If something happens, I'll take the blame!"

Chen Pingan trembled all over. Looking at Qin Feng's unquestionable back, he could only cup his fists heavily: "Understood!"

... The next day. The morning mist had not yet dispersed, and the sky above the Luanzang Mountain Range was shrouded in a layer of gloomy leaden clouds that never dissipated year-round.

The further one went into the depths, the denser the towering giant trees became, completely blocking out the sunlight.

The air was filled with a pungent smell of rotting corpses and faint toxic miasma. Stepping on the dead branches and withered leaves underfoot emitted a hair-raising "creak" sound.

Qin Feng wore a capable black martial outfit and moved rapidly through the complex jungle like an agile black panther.

Thirty miles deep, the feeling of oppression here was enough to cause any Martial Artist at Mortal Stage 8 to have a mental breakdown.

Along the way, he encountered a few blind First-Order Stage 7 or 8 Yao Beast attempting to ambush him, but without exception, they were all instantly killed in one strike, not even having time to let out a scream.

"It should be around here."

Qin Feng stopped on the trunk of an ancient tree that required three people to embrace, closed his eyes slightly, and the powerful perception brought by the Chaos Art spread out like invisible tentacles in all directions.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes sharply, his gaze locked onto the foot of a steep cliff that looked as if it had been carved by a knife and axe to his front right.

There, a pure, scorching fluctuation of blood Qi was faintly radiating!

"Swish!" His figure turned into an afterimage, and Qin Feng silently landed at the bottom of the cliff.

Pushing aside a patch of dense poisonous vines, a dark and deep natural stone cave appeared before his eyes.

At the entrance of the stone cave, a low shrub, which looked as if it had been carved entirely from red agate and emitted an eerie red glow, was quietly rooted in the hard rock.

On the branches of the shrub hung nine thumb-sized, luscious fruits!

Inside each fruit, it seemed as if liquid was slowly flowing, emitting a rich, exotic fragrance that made one's blood and Qi surge upon smelling it.

"It really is the blood bodhi."

Qin Feng's eyes flashed with a gleam. Handing over one or two of these as a token gesture would suffice; if he took the others back to consume, it would be enough to elevate his strength to the next level.

However, just as Qin Feng was about to step forward to pick them.

"Rumble—!" A violent tremor, like an earthquake, suddenly came from deep inside the stone cave!

Immediately after, a force violent to the extreme, mixed with a nauseatingly strong fishy stench, gushed out from the cave entrance like a hurricane!

"Roar—!!!" A terrifying roar, capable of piercing eardrums, exploded beneath the cliff!

A colossal creature stepped, shattering the rocks on the ground, and forced its way out from the darkness.

It was a giant bear, standing over three zhang tall, with a physique like a small mountain of flesh.

Its whole body was covered in a layer of dark gold fur as hard as steel needles, each strand flashing with a cold metallic luster.

Two thick fangs protruded from its lips like scimitars, and its scarlet eyes were filled with bloodthirsty cruelty and the rage of having its territory invaded.

A First-Order Stage 9 Peak Yao Beast, the Dark Gold Terror Bear!

This type of Yao Beast is known for its thick skin, sturdy flesh, and immense strength. In a berserk state, even human experts at the half-step transcendent level are unwilling to easily make an enemy of it.

"A mere First-Order Yao Beast, why are you roaring so loudly?"

Facing this terrifying giant beast that seemed capable of leveling everything, Qin Feng not only didn't retreat in the slightest, but instead, a disdainful cold smile curled at the corners of his lips.