Chapter 171: A Great Loot
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The Nascent Soul of the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster ferociously morphed into a green seed, which began to expand. Cracks then split all over it, and blinding rays of green light shot out from within, emanating indescribably horrible vibrations.
This was the most powerful energy vibration Lin Feng had seen since he began cultivating.
An old weirdo in his Nascent Soul stage deliberately drawing upon the energy generated from blowing up his Nascent Soul.
"Dumbo, I've met with many Nascent Soul stage cultivators, and the thing that I am the least afraid of is you splitting your own Nascent Soul."
This was the truth. Despite being only in his Aurous Core stage, Lin Feng, like the Nascent Soul stage weirdo, had already understood the secrets of space and hence, that was why he could single-handedly defeat many Aurous Core stage cultivators.
While facing this Nascent Soul stage weirdo, Lin Feng's advantage had been greatly eroded. He was at a disadvantage in terms of mana and mastery, and hence he feared that the Nascent Soul stage old weirdo would use spells to fight him.
However, once a Nascent Soul stage cultivator split his own soul, he would completely destroy the laws of space and lose control over space itself while his destructive prowess would surge to its extreme.
Here, Lin Feng's Dual Dimension Vacuum Charm could fully demonstrate its potential.
Even if the Nascent Soul stage old weirdo split his soul while facing similarly skilled opponents, he could only allow himself to burrow through time and hide as far as he could.
Lin Feng, however, could swap the positions of the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster and send him far far away.
And Lin Feng hence decided to send the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster to the location of the Demon Child of the Gengjin Tiger King.
Looking at how the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster and Lin Feng had sunk into an internal disagreement, the Gengjin Tiger King reduced the intensity of his attacks to observe the situation.
However, with a slight wiggle of his fingers, the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster, together with his almost-split soul, suddenly appeared before him.
Ever since Lin Feng showed himself, he had only used the Dual Dimension Vacuum Charm once. That was when he used it to send his Avatar of Ares near to the Gengjin Tiger King to pull off the Heavenly Hammer of the Eight Trigrams.
As it initially appeared to be no different than the usual space-manipulating techniques, it reduced the sense of the wariness both the Gengjin Tiger King and the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster had against Lin Feng. Now, once he demonstrated his full powers, they could not even react to it.
Their two Nascent Souls were close to one another that they could almost touch.
"No!"
The Gengjin Tiger King roared in anger, but he could not stop the many destructive rays of green light that were exploding near him.
"Despicable coward!" The Hundred Herbs Grandmaster roared in displeasure. He could only watch Lin Feng smiling in the distance, waving to him as if he was saying goodbye.
This scene before him enraged the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster beyond words, but he could not stop the splitting of his Nascent Soul. No matter how much he hated Lin Feng, he could do nothing.
"Who exactly is this person?"
The last thought in the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster's mind was that as he died confused and enraged.
The Gengjin Tiger King, too, was infuriated beyond words. The tiger cub-like Demon Soul, despite being powerful, was still easily hurt due to the inherent fragility of the corporeal form of the soul. This was also why the Nascent Soul stage old weirdo did not dare to easily summon his soul.
Watching a similarly-skilled cultivator split his own soul in front of him, the Gengjin Tiger King's Demon Soul too was full of injuries.
Such a serious injury was fatal, even if no one came up to deal the finishing blow.
The Gengjin Tiger King's mind was full of dancing golden stars. Before he could even catch his breath, he found himself surrounded by Lin Feng, the Avatar of Ares and the Black Dragon Jieyu.
Without even giving him the chance to split his Demon Soul, Lin Feng dealt the final blow against the Gengjin Tiger King with his own hands, completely destroying him.
"Owner had destroyed a Demonic Lord, increasing his popularity potential amongst Man in the southern regions of the Hengduan Mountains to 70!"
The system sounded near Lin Feng's ears. In shock, he paused and activated the system for more details.
He discovered a giant world map that encompassed the Divine Lands that belonged to Man.
The map was divided into zones. Amongst them, the region south to the Great Qin Empire showed that Lin Feng's popularity was 40.
Lin Feng recalled carefully, and he remembered that he initially killed Tao Er and the Elder Qiu with his Demonic Avatar of Ares in front of the Grandmaster of the Xuandao Sect, Piao Beizi. This may have increased his popularity in that region.
However, as his popularity was below 60, the system did not notify him.
However, in the region south of the Hengduan Mountains, Lin Feng's previous popularity was zero. Once his popularity potential hit 70, the system activated its announcement.
He, however, needed someone to spread the news that he had killed the Gengjin Tiger King. Only then could his popularity potential turn into his actual, current popularity level.
Other than that, in all other regions, Lin Feng's popularity was basically zero.
The most useful function of having a high popularity was the ease of recruiting disciples. Many people wished to become disciples of a popular master.
With a popularity of 60, should Lin Feng ever mention that he was accepting disciples, the people of the region would agree without hesitation.
With a popularity of 70, ordinary people with the skill potential of 20 and above would willingly seek Lin Feng out as their master.
With a popularity of 80, exceptional people with the skill potential of 24 and above would willingly implore Lin Feng to become their master.
With a popularity of 90, genii with skill potential of 28 and above would also willingly implore Lin Feng to become their master.
With a popularity of 100, prodigies with skill potential of 30 and above would come and implore Lin Feng to become their master.
"Popularity of 80..." Lin Feng smacked his lips. As long as his popularity hit 80, he did not need to go and search for disciples. They would seek him out themselves. There was hope yet for the main quest of the system.
However, he then realized that despite killing the great Demonic Lord the Gengjin Tiger King, his popularity was only 70. Evidently, popularity was not something that could easily be obtained.
Here, Lin Feng was slightly disheartened, especially since he realized that his popularity was highest in his base zone, the northern foot of Mount Kunlun.
Here, Lin Feng's current popularity was only 20. It could be possible that Yang Qing and Li Chenxi had helped spread it.
"Now that I think of it, I wonder how is that dolt Yang Qing doing?" Lin Feng shook his head and thought in his heart. "While I do have enough time, from a long-term perspective, this is still a no-go. I'll go to the Hengduan Mountains to erode away the influence of the Great Barren Sword Sect.
After settling the issues posed by the system, Lin Feng smiled and as he flipped his palm, a ball of white light appeared to be floating on it.
Within the ball of light, a platinum-colored tiger cub lay silently without any sign of despair nor aggression. Its two eyes were blank and vacant, and it appeared to be a shell without a soul.
This was the Demon Soul essence of the Gengjin Tiger King. After his Demon Soul evaporated, it produced this crystal of his demonic powers. It was left without its memory and only the pure manifestation of its powers.
Before the Gengjin Tiger King died, Lin Feng used a spell to preserve his Demon Soul's essence. This could be said to be his greatest loot of battle.
Other than that, the Avatar of Ares held a Desolate Nine Thunder Divine Web next to him. In it contained the corporeal body of the Gengjin Tiger King. As its demon soul was outside of its body when it was severely injured by the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster, it was unable to flee back into its body before being killed by Lin Feng.
Hence, his corporeal body, which was just a shell, belonged to Lin Feng too. Despite having accumulated many battle wounds, it still possessed enormous value.
The Black Dragon Jieyu stood next to Lin Feng, staring at him.
If he was given the demon soul essence of the Gengjin Tiger King along with his corporeal body, he would become a Demonic Lord in no time.
Lin Feng noticed Jieyu's gaze, and turned his head and said to him, smiling yet not smiling at the same time, "I remembered something someone said to me some time ago, what was it again?"
Jieyu's heart missed a beat, as he felt an ominous feeling.
Truly, Lin Feng continued to say slowly, "Oh, I remember. He said that if he did not die in this battle, he would demand justice from me. I'm curious, what kind of justice does he want from me?"
Jieyu's body trembled for a while, before saying with great gravity and severity, "That idiot's brain was not working, and hence he spouted nonsense. What Your Divine Holiness say is justice!"
Upon hearing that, Lin Feng was stunned as he stared speechlessly at Jieyu.
Bro! You were born a member of the Dragon Tribe! Where's your sense of dignity? Pride? Self-respect?
Initially, when they met on Mount Yujing, Jieyu was a suave and cool hunk who created trouble nonstop for quite a while before settling down. Now, it appeared that he was just a cowardly dragon.
"Regardless, a cowardly dragon has its uses too," Lin Feng said while rolling his eyes slightly. A radiant smile appeared on his face, and he asked, "Tell me if I want you to..."
Jieyu thumped his chest, and said, "I will follow your commands without a second thought. I'll dive into the waters, run into fires, ascent into the heavens and burrow into the earth. A single look from you will make me do so!"
Lin Feng nodded his head contentedly.
Jieyu noticed that Lin Feng was no longer harping over his previous misdeeds, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he asked carefully, "Your Divine Holiness, could you spare the corpse and the demon soul essence of the tiger..."
"Eh?" Lin Feng turned his head and looked at Jieyu, expressionless.
Jieyu quickly swallowed his words, as he lowered his giant dragon head in uncertainty.
Lin Feng's mouth curled into a smile and said, "This will depend on your performance then. If you do good, I will not short-change you."
Jieyu rejoiced upon hearing this, and his tail wagged behind him like a dog.
With the death of the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster, the colorful clouds began to dissipate.
As the clouds dissipated, the outline of Lin Feng riding upon Jieyu became visible. After a long battle through the night, dawn had arrived. With the sun rising behind him Lin Feng was basked golden.
On Changchun Peak, the others raised their heads to look and were blinded by the rays of sunlight. However, everyone could see clearly that next to Lin Feng, the Avatar of Ares held a giant net. Within the net was the corpse of the previously-terrifying Gengjin Tiger King, who had torn Changchun Peak apart in his better days!
Earlier on, the Gengjin Tiger King previously pummeled the Hundred Herbs Grandmaster. The other Gengjin Tiger Demons were also in a position of strength in their battle against the human cultivators, as they massacred the disciples of the Hundred Herbs Sect.
However, in that moment, both sides stopped their battle to look dazedly at Lin Feng in the sky. Their minds were blank.
After a long while, the entire group of Gengjin Tiger Demons wailed in grief.
Meanwhile, the human cultivators stared with their mouths open in shock, speechless.