Book 1 Chapter 38: Initial success with the Wave Treading Steps
In the evening of the fifth day after Li Chengfeng left for Luoshi City,
in a groove behind the village, under the illumination of the setting sun, a ghost-like silhouette was moving back and forth amidst the trees, sometimes rushing forwards, sometimes moving sideways, sometimes backing off. And sometimes it even dashed straight up a large tree then ‘ran’ down as if the tree was the flat ground or turned to one side and moved forwards nearly horizontally.
This silhouette was moving extremely fast, almost creating a long blur, but strangely enough, there were no sounds of footsteps. Only the sounds of the clothes flapping could be vaguely heard. If an ordinary person came across this scene, he would most probably shout “Ghost!” then run away like crazy.
This silhouette was of course not a ghost. It was none other than Bai Yunfei.
Since Li Chengfeng had left for Luoshi City, he had been feeling a trace of uneasiness in his heart. For five days in a row, instead of using the Upgrade Technique again to improve his soulforce, he had spent nearly all his time studying and practicing the acupoint control method.
A greatly increase effort naturally led to highly effective training and great results. One day ago, he had finished practicing the various major basic acupoints in his legs, finally meeting the demands he had placed on himself earlier, and had begun to practicing the soul technique called Wave Treading Steps.
This long-awaited soul technique indeed did not disappoint him. Even at the most elementary level of mastery, it already made him so unimaginably fast and nimble.
Only when Bai Yunfei saw smoke begin to curl upwards from the kitchen chimneys in the village did he stop training. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he felt extremely comfortable.
“It’s really like seeing an oasis in the desert… Now that I have this Wave Treading Steps, I’m even more confident of dealing with the upcoming crisis!” While pondering to himself, Bai Yunfei walked towards the village, from which the smell of food was wafting out gradually, “Very soon, I’ll have to say goodbye to this tranquil lifestyle! It’s highly probable that I won’t be able to avoid the Zhang family’s manhunt. But in my current state, I’m not afraid of them either! I’m going to counter soldiers with arms, water with an earth weir! When I leave this Qingyun Province, I’ll be like a free fish in an endless sea, a flying cloud in the limitless sky!”
At night, Bai Yunfei was lying on the bed with the back of his head resting on his hands, looking at the several beams of moonlight shining into the house and pondering over the current situation.
“It’s kind of strange… It’s already been seventeen days since I killed Zhang Yang. Why haven’t the Zhang family’s men found this place yet? Even if those gangsters tried their hardest to run away, not all of them would have been able to escape. It would have taken the Zhang family several days at most to chase them down. Then, using their confessions and the Zhang family’s power, it would have been easy to find out who I am. At that time, the Zhang family would have carried out a large-scale search. According to what I thought at first, it would have taken them around ten days at most to find this place…
“This means… it’s possible that when I killed Zhang Yang, Zhang Zhenshan wasn’t at home at all! Plus, he was quite far away from Luoshi City! There was no decision maker in the Zhang family so they had to wait for Zhang Zhenshan to return, wasting several days…
“If that is the case, didn’t I miss an opportunity to escape? If I hadn’t stayed at this place and had run away immediately…
“That’s not true either. I know absolutely nothing about the extent of the Zhang family’s influence. Plus, I know very little about the world outside. If I had only recklessly wanted to run away, I surely would have had no time to practice, giving up the chance to become several times more powerful in such a short period. If I had chosen to face a danger that could show up anytime in a relatively weak state, it would have been a mistake… Now I’m hiding in this remote place, training hard and making the best use of my time to become more powerful, only this is the correct choice!
“It doesn’t matter what has happened, the fact that the Zhang family has been slow to act is a good thing to me! At least now I’ve already mastered the method for controlling over twenty basic acupoints and even become proficient in the Ninefold Fist Force, learned the Wave Treading Steps and almost reached the middle Soul Warrior stage… My power has increased at least by several times!
“I can already leave anytime now. At least I’ll have to leave before the Zhang family finds this place. I can’t cause the village any trouble…
“After Chengfeng returns, I’ll be able to know the Zhang family’s movements. I’ll stay for three more days at most then leave this place.”
… … … …
The next day, soon after he ate breakfast, he saw a travel-worn and weary Li Chengfeng hurriedly return with an obviously exhausted expression on his face. Given his current level of power, this meant he had been spending soulforce nonstop without hesitation on the way to rush back at a faster speed than he should have.
In addition to exhaustion, there was even more anxiety on his face. As soon as he returned to the village, without even greeting Ling’er, he gave Bai Yunfei a hint with his eyes then turned around and walked out of the village.
Seeing him like this, Bai Yunfei was already able to guess a bit. He waved to Ling’er, hinting at her that she did not have to worry bout Chengfeng, then followed him.
“Yunfei, I already guessed that you went back to Luoshi City to take revenge, but I didn’t expect your enemy to be the Zhang family’s young master… You’re really terrific!” Seeming to be really very tired, Li Chengfeng flopped down onto the grass and said to an incoming Bai Yunfei while shaking his head in a frustrated manner.
“Oh, you even know this already? That’s right, I killed the Zhang family’s young master Zhang Yang because… he deserved to die! Let’s not talk about this. Just tell me the current situation in Luoshi City first. What are the Zhang family’s movements?” Seeming to have guessed earlier that Li Chengfeng would say so, Bai Yunfei asked the most important question instead of wasting time explaining.
“Yeah, so what if you killed him. I can also tell that Zhang Yang was definitely a scoundrel. Even though those commoners in Luoshi City don’t dare to talk about him openly, there are traces of happiness hidden in their eyes. I was able to see that.” Li Chengfeng did not mind either and nodded without continuing to ask about Zhang Yang.
“Now your portraits have been posted everywhere in Luoshi City. Even the men of the mayor’s mansion have been mobilized to look for your tracks. Besides, the Zhang family has sent out a lot of men. They have already begun to spread out in all directions to go into every town and village to look for you…
“I think it will take them just a few days to find this place. What do you plan to do, Yunfei?”
Li Chengfeng asked in a slightly concerned manner after telling Bai Yunfei the general situation he had discovered.
“Oh, this is not far from my expectation. If so, I’ll leave here within two days…” Bai Yunfei pondered for a while and said.
“You really have to run away?”
“Yeah, I must run away so that I won’t cause the village any trouble.” Bai Yunfei nodded then put this topic aside, asking: “Right, how many daggers did you buy? What is their quality?”
Seeing that Bai Yunfei had already made a decision, Li Chengfeng did not mention this topic again. He turned his wrist over, taking out a dagger which sparkled with a cold light, gave it to Bai Yunfei and said: “I did what you said and bought all the top-grade daggers in that Treasure Weapon Shop, about a hundred in total. Some of them are even better than this one.”
Bai Yunfei received the dagger and gave it a thought. The basic information about it appeared in his mind.
“Item grade: High.
“Damage: 43.
“Upgrade requirement: 3 soul points.”
He nodded slightly, saying: “Yeah, not bad, it’s indeed a high-quality dagger.
“Just give me your interspatial ring directly. Within the next two days, I’m going to make two upgraded daggers for you. Then I’m going to leave…”