Chapter 701: Gathering of Wind and Clouds

"Zhu Fenghua has descended the mountain."

On the train, Shen Tu yue looked at the newspaper in her hands, feeling somewhat moved.

"Junior Sister, between Zhu Fenghua and Li Fei, who do you think is stronger?"

A young man asked.

He was a disciple of the Red Dust Pavilion; though not a personal student of the Pavilion Master, he was still quite outstanding, having reached the fifth tier of the Dao Foundation realm at thirty-four.

The Red Dust Pavilion was located in Gan Province, so it possessed the most entry quotas for the Tomb of Heavenly Water, totaling five.

This time, besides Shen Tu yue, four other Dao Foundation disciples were accompanying her.

Facing the question posed by her senior brother, Shen Tu yue shook her head:

"I cannot guess either."

"Then who are you more inclined toward in your heart, Junior Sister?"

Another Red Dust Pavilion disciple asked.

As soon as these words were spoken, the four people present all stared at Shen Tu yue.

Shen Tu yue was dazed for a moment, recalling the scene where Li Fei had slashed and wounded You Ming:

"I feel Li Fei's chances of winning are slightly higher."

The four Red Dust Pavilion disciples exchanged glances, their eyes filled with meaningful expressions.

At the same time, all four of them felt a bit of jealousy in their hearts.

It was the first time they had seen Shen Tu yue so thoroughly convinced by someone.

Just at this moment, Li Fei walked out from inside the carriage.

He had just finished another session of cultivation within the dreamscape constructed by the Dream-Like Decree, and his mental energy consumption was high, requiring a period of rest.

"Marquis of Jing'an."

Seeing Li Fei walk over, the four Red Dust Pavilion disciples stood up one after another.

Li Fei waved his hand: "No need for formalities."

Afterward, he found an unoccupied seat and sat down.

Their group had chartered an entire carriage, so they could sit wherever they pleased.

"Zhu Fenghua has descended the mountain; he will also be entering the Tomb of Heavenly Water this time."

Shen Tu yue took the initiative to tell Li Fei.

Li Fei was not surprised upon hearing this and nodded: "That is quite good."

Shen Tu yue: "Do you intend to spar with Zhu Fenghua before entering the Tomb of Heavenly Water, or after entering it?"

The Tomb of Heavenly Water itself contained certain dangers; beyond that, those who entered were also likely to generate competition among themselves.

If they were to spar, it would actually be more appropriate to do so outside, because with people watching, they would not go for the kill.

Once inside the Tomb of Heavenly Water, life and death would be left to fate, and anything could happen. It was not as if there hadn't been cases in the past where people with bright futures or deep backgrounds died inside.

Although Zhu Fenghua and Li Fei had no grudges, it was unlikely they would go for the kill, but the best choice was naturally to spar outside.

"It doesn't matter, let's see how he chooses."

Li Fei said.

Shen Tu yue nodded, having guessed that Li Fei would say this:

"Then you will surely be sparring inside the Tomb of Heavenly Water."

Because she had some understanding of Zhu Fenghua, if Li Fei did not take the initiative to challenge him, the other party would likely not initiate a challenge either.

"Mm."

Li Fei responded casually.

Seeing Li Fei act this way, the other four Red Dust Pavilion disciples all felt he was being a bit pretentious; after all, that was Zhu Fenghua.

At this moment, the same thought arose in the hearts of all four of them.

They very much hoped that Li Fei would lose this duel.

Smoke Wave Prefecture, Heavenly Water City.

This city was named after the Tomb of Heavenly Water, and every time a rift appeared in the dead zone of the Tomb of Heavenly Water, it was somewhere near Heavenly Water City.

After so many years, people had long since developed mature detection technology that could predict the time and location of the rifts.

Once the news that the Tomb of Heavenly Water was about to open spread, many martial artists rushed toward Heavenly Water City.

But this dead zone, or rather all known dead zones, had long been monopolized by the major powers.

The quotas for entry each time were long since divided up, leaving no room for outsiders to intervene.

Even so, there were still some unwilling wandering martial artists who came to try their luck every time.

Guo Zhuoran was one such wandering martial artist.

His nickname was "Guo the Blade," and he was a somewhat famous wandering martial artist in the martial world of Shangyu Province, a Qi-refining master at the peak of the Qi Transformation realm.

The Tomb of Heavenly Water only allowed martial artists at the Dao Foundation realm or Great Mages at the Possession realm to enter at the highest level, but there was no restriction on the lowest level, so theoretically, Guo Zhuoran could enter.

The location of the rift was not fixed each time, and while those powers that monopolized the Tomb of Heavenly Water possessed methods to estimate the rift, they could not achieve absolute precision.

Each time they could only estimate a general area, which gave wandering martial artists like Guo Zhuoran a chance:

If the place where they happened to be was exactly where the rift appeared, they would have the opportunity to enter the Tomb of Heavenly Water before the people from the major powers arrived.

Of course, this kind of thing was purely a matter of luck, and the probability of actually running into it was very, very low.

Even if one really got in, the probability of coming out alive was also very low.

But for wandering martial artists, wealth and status were always sought amidst danger.

Guo Zhuoran's luck had always been quite good; before setting out this time, he had specifically found an old Daoist priest who was very accurate at fortune-telling to cast a hex, and the other party said his opportunity lay in Heavenly Water City, so he came decisively.

"If I can enter the Tomb of Heavenly Water this time and bring out some treasures, I will sell them directly to the Red Dust Pavilion and exchange them for at least one 'Unity Method.' If I'm lucky, I'll exchange for a Dao Foundation cultivation method, and then I might have a chance to become a Dao Foundation powerhouse!"

Guo Zhuoran thought happily while walking along the road.

In the past, there had been wandering martial artists who successfully entered the Tomb of Heavenly Water and came out alive; these wandering martial artists very wisely chose to sell the treasures they obtained on the spot.

In this regard, the reputation of the Red Dust Pavilion was still quite good.

After walking for a while, Guo Zhuoran chose a direction at random and ducked into the mountain forest beside the road.

He did not know where the rift of the Tomb of Heavenly Water would appear, so he could only pick a random mountain forest near Heavenly Water City to stay in.

After the Red Dust Pavilion and the officials of Heavenly Water City determined the general area where the rift would appear, they would send people to clear the area in advance. Guo Zhuoran did not consider himself capable of breaking through the blockade, nor did he dare to try.

So he could only find a place to hide in advance, hoping his luck was good enough that he happened to be hiding within the blockade zone and could also evade the search.

After trekking through the mountain forest for over ten minutes, just as Guo Zhuoran intended to stop, his body suddenly went rigid.

He felt a cold killing intent lock onto him!

Guo Zhuoran immediately channeled his internal energy to protect his body, then gripped the hilt of his blade.

He looked around, but could not find the source of the killing intent.

"I wonder which friend from the martial world this is?"

Guo Zhuoran asked, biting the bullet.

The forest was silent, with no response.

If not for the fact that the killing intent was so real, Guo Zhuoran would have even felt he was talking to a ghost.

A few seconds later, Guo Zhuoran's vision blurred, and a black shadow appeared abruptly more than ten meters in front of him.

This was a person entirely shrouded in a black robe.

Seeing this scene, Guo Zhuoran's heart immediately turned cold.

To be able to appear so silently and unnoticed, the other party's strength was surely far above his own.

This might be a Dao Foundation powerhouse!

"I did not know a senior was here; it was I who disturbed you. May I leave?"

Guo Zhuoran forced a smile and asked somewhat stiffly.

The black-robed person in front did not speak, but that killing intent remained.

Just when Guo Zhuoran thought he was going to die here, that killing intent suddenly vanished.

"Get lost."

The black-robed person emitted a low voice.

Guo Zhuoran felt a sense of relief, like someone who was about to suffocate to death finally breaking the surface of the water.

"Many thanks, Senior!"

Guo Zhuoran hurriedly cupped his hands in a salute, then turned and ran.

After he left, another figure walked out from behind a large tree.

It was Zhu San.

"Why didn't you let me kill him?"

The black-robed person turned to look at Zhu San.

The light in the forest shone on his face; it was Ye Zhao, who had previously suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Li Fei.

"He was just an insignificant wandering martial artist, why bother with such an unnecessary action."

Zhu San said.

Ye Zhao: "But he trespassed here."

"Just lucky, that's all."

Zhu San was indifferent, "Of course, it's also possible he was unlucky."

Thus, Ye Zhao stopped speaking.

In truth, he did not care that much about the rogue cultivator Guo Zhuoran; he simply wanted to find an excuse to kill someone to vent the gloom in his heart.

Zhu San saw through the state of mind of Ye Zhao and comforted him:

"Even Lord Youming could not gain any advantage in Li Fei's hands, so there is nothing shameful about you losing to Li Fei; don't put too much pressure on yourself."

"You... say less."

Ye Zhao's mood became even worse.

Clearly, Zhu San did not know how to comfort people.

"Fine, let's get ready to work."

Zhu San said.

Soon, the two disappeared into the mountain forest.

On March 19th, the train carrying Li Fei and the others arrived at Tianshui City.

The Chief of Tianshui City brought a group of officials to the train station in person to welcome them.

Besides these officials, there were also two Dao Foundation realm martial artists from Wu'an University.

Both of these people were acquaintances of Li Fei; one was Wang Fengqing, and the other was Xiang Dongliang, who had gone to the Great Luo Sect with Li Fei back then. Li Fei had attended his class on "Advanced Application of Metal Attribute Force."

Because of their excellent performance in the Martial Dao Exchange Tournament previously, Wu'an University had obtained three spots to enter the Tomb of Tianshui this time. One spot was given to Li Fei, and the other two spots were given to Wang Fengqing and Xiang Dongliang respectively.

"Teacher Xiang, Senior Sister Wang, long time no see."

After seeing the two, Li Fei did not put on airs and greeted them kindly and proactively.

"Greetings, Marquis of Jing'an."

The two, however, could not ignore the current gap in status and both bowed to Li Fei.

"There is no need to be so polite."

Li Fei said with a smile.

Xiang Dongliang lowered his hands, his face full of emotion.

Half a year ago, Li Fei was still just one of his students.

Now, he had to bow to the other party.

"I heard you will be fighting Zhu Fenghua this time. When do you plan to fight? You must let me know so I can watch."

Wang Fengqing was calmer than Xiang Dongliang; she cared less about Li Fei's status and more about his duel with Zhu Fenghua.

"It will probably be inside the Tomb of Tianshui."

Li Fei recalled Shentu Yue's judgment and replied.

"You are going to fight him inside the Tomb of Tianshui?"

Xiang Dongliang was stunned upon hearing this and said with some worry, "Wouldn't that be too dangerous?"

Li Fei smiled and said very casually:

"Within the Dao Foundation realm, there is no one who can make me feel in danger."

PS: The prizes for the monthly ticket lucky draw (Enfeoffment of Marquis and Conferment of General's Seal) have all been delivered one after another. Book friends who won, please remember to sign for your packages. Those who have received their prizes are also welcome to show them off in the book review section~

(End of this chapter)