Chapter 21: Heaven-defying Opportunity, Three-Phase Sword Finger

The mountain cave is spacious.

A martial artist with Qin Feng's level of cultivation could, borrowing a bit of moonlight, take in everything here at a glance.

On the left side there is a stone bed, a stone table, and stone stools.

There is also a bookshelf, with rows of books neatly arranged, though covered in a thick layer of dust and emitting a strange odor. Qin Feng immediately recognized it as insect repellent powder, inexplicably not dissipating.

On the right side is a small pool, in which grows a small tree no taller than three feet, lush and verdant, bearing nine red fruits, red as fire, whose fragrance flows from there.

"Scarlet Flame Fruit!" Qin Feng's eyes lit up.

He was familiar with this fruit, having seen it in the Spiritual Medicine Compendium; he had specifically asked Apothecary Liu for it to study during his cultivation breaks.

He did this fearing that one day, while traveling outside, he might encounter a treasure and not recognize it.

【Scarlet Flame Fruit】: when the fruit ripens and leaves fall, it grows leaves for three years, blooms for three years, and bears fruit for another three years, taking nine years to mature. The fruit has the power to wash the tendons and purify the marrow, burns impurities in true qi, and greatly enhances the substance of true qi.

It is a rare spiritual fruit.

Its growing environment is also extremely harsh; although it is a yang-type fruit, it cannot be exposed to sunlight while growing, yet it requires scorching heat to develop.

It usually grows on fire jade in yin-cold places, at the edges of underground lava, and so on.

"Not good!" Qin Feng thought, and saw Bai Yunrui already at the Scarlet Flame Fruit tree, plucking a fruit and swallowing it in one gulp.

"How dare you steal my stuff, you're asking for death!" He couldn't help but flare up, leaping to his feet; his right hand twitched, but he restrained himself, then threw a left fist forward, the fist wind howling, driving Bai Yunrui back and nearly destroying the fruit tree.

"You actually know about this too!" Bai Yunrui exclaimed in surprise.

After all, this thing is extremely rare; aside from those who wander the wilderness year‑long or apothecaries and the like, basically no one recognizes it.

And this guy in front of him is only fifteen years old.

"Wait!" Seeing Qin Feng about to strike again, he hurriedly interjected, "If you dare to strike again, I will destroy the Scarlet Flame Fruit tree!"

Qin Feng's steps halted, his face grim.

He showed a hesitant expression.

"You could kill me now, but before you do, I can destroy the fruit tree." Bai Yunrui straightened his body, his tone ringing with resolve.

He added, "You don't want to know why your father was killed? And why the Lu family wanted to exterminate the Qin family?"

"You're just trying to buy time to refine the Scarlet Flame Fruit, aren't you?" Qin Feng saw through his plan at a glance, snorted coldly, "I'll give you this chance, but only before my patience runs out!"

He stepped back one step.

"Stand still!" Bai Yunrui shouted, "If you retreat another step, I will attack—better that I die, the fruit is destroyed, and you may never know why your father died!"

"Speak!" Qin Feng narrowed his eyes.

"Above the ninth rank of martial arts lies the Grandmaster realm; do you also know that within Grandmaster there are Quasi‑Grandmaster, Grandmaster, and Grand Grandmaster distinctions? Even among Grandmasters, strength can differ vastly." Bai Yunrui said slowly.

"Get to the point!" Qin Feng raised his left fist, true qi surging, a faint light glimmering.

He was already restless.

"There is no Grandmaster in Wan'an City, nor in Baiyun City; you should know how hard it is to break through to the Grandmaster realm, and your father just happened to have such a key—no ordinary key, but one that would make any Grandmaster unable to resist being moved." Bai Yunrui secretly circulated his true qi, quickly refining the fruit, and got straight to the point.

"You mean my father possesses a Grandmaster‑level technique that contains a great many methods for opening up the apertures!" Qin Feng realized.

The ninth rank upper is Grandmaster.

But breaking through is just too difficult.

First comes comprehending the Dao, entering the Dao, grasping the true essence of the Heaven‑Earth Dao's rhythm.

In short, it is comprehending the true meaning, or what is called artistic conception.

Reaching this stage makes one a Quasi‑Grandmaster.

Then, using the power of artistic conception to measure the apertures within the body and subsequently open them, does one truly step into the Grandmaster realm. Qin Feng had also learned of these rough concepts, for the Qin family possesses them, and they are the path the martial arts world will follow in the future.

According to what Qin Feng knows, the Qin family fundamentally lacks any technique for the Grandmaster realm.

Wan'an City has none either.

Perhaps the city lord's manor has one, but it has never been confirmed.

Now, hearing Bai Yunrui's words, if my father indeed possessed such a technique, then it would make sense.

"No, if such a technique truly existed, then eight or nine out of ten of those who attacked him would already have obtained it; otherwise they would surely keep attacking. So what point would there be for the Lu family and your Bai family to continue attacking? Do you think the Qin family still has hidden treasures?" Qin Feng frowned.

"Whether they have it or not isn't important; what matters is that the Qin family has become very weak—wiping them out would be easy, finding it would be a pleasant surprise, not finding it would be fine too!" Bai Yunrui said matter‑of‑factly.

Qin Feng fell silent.

He also came to understand the cruelty of this world more deeply.

But he still had many doubts.

He was certain the other party was hiding something.

Suddenly.

Bai Yunrui opened his mouth and spat out a strand of sword qi—this is his secret esoteric art, nurturing a single breath of sword qi, which often yields surprising results when used unexpectedly.

At this moment, seeing Qin Feng somewhat dazed, he knew the opportunity had arrived.

He forcibly drove his true qi, erupting without regard for consequences.

"I was on guard against you!" Qin Feng snorted coldly, punched and shattered the sword qi; his fist was also torn open, but blocked by bone, the sword qi burst apart.

Swish…

His right hand drew the sword, the Flowing Cloud Sword tracing an arc of light, then slashing toward the opponent's neck.

In an instant, Bai Yunrui's hairs stood on end, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints; he desperately dodged somewhat, but his right arm was severed.

Blood poured forth.

"You, you actually recovered long ago, yet kept pretending to be gravely injured, only able to lift your sword, unable to move." He showed a look of despair, "Even outside the cave you revealed nothing—what deep scheming, what steady composure; are you really only fifteen?"

"No, that sword clearly pierced your shoulder; even with extraordinary talent it's impossible to heal this fast—how did you do it?" Bai Yunrui considered another angle, his pupils shrinking again, "Could it be that you bear the bloodline of a legendary great demon?"

"You know too much!" Qin Feng struck again.

This time there was no accident; he directly slew Bai Yunrui.

"The ninth grade is really hard to kill!" Qin Feng exhaled a mouthful of turbid qi; upon relaxing, he felt fatigue.

Fatigue of body and spirit.

He attended a banquet, but ended up slaughtering the entire Lü family.

And he has remained entangled with Bai Yunrui to this day.

Even something forged of iron couldn't withstand it.

He glanced at the Scarlet Flame Fruit, hesitated slightly, didn't pick it, but went to the cave entrance, made a slight concealment, then leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

He needed rest.

Upon waking, outside was already bright daylight.

Qin Feng was invigorated, glanced outside, saw no movement, then went to the bookshelf, took a quick look, and discovered a lost secret art mentioned by Fu Ye Ye: the Three-Phase Sword Finger.

"What a streak of good luck!"

He couldn't help but feel great joy, suppressing his tumultuous emotions, he didn't take out the book, but went to the Scarlet Flame Fruit tree; this time without hesitation, he plucked a fruit and swallowed it.

(End of chapter)