Chapter 1727: The Ruined Ancient City
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get moving."
A gleam flashed across Ling Feng's eyes. He was already growing impatient.
"I... I might need some time to recover first..."
A trace of embarrassment appeared on Yue Huaqing's face. During the fierce battle with the Desert Sand Rat, she had sustained a few injuries and expended a great deal of elemental force. She had not noticed it while fighting, but the moment she relaxed, a wave of weakness and exhaustion swept through her body.
"I wasn't thinking things through."
Ling Feng shook his head with a smile. He immediately took out a bottle of medicinal pills that restored vitality and elemental force and distributed them among the group. Then he inserted a few needles into Yue Huaqing's acupoints.
Almost instantly, color returned to her cheeks.
Yue Huaqing had long since witnessed Ling Feng's medical skills. Back in the demon race's sacred land, she had been on the verge of death, and it was Ling Feng who had saved her.
It was also during that treatment...
...that this man, who was younger than her, had seen her entire body.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, her cheeks flushed slightly. She secretly raised her eyes to glance at Ling Feng, and her heartbeat suddenly quickened.
"Hm?"
Ling Feng blinked in confusion. Seeing Yue Huaqing's blushing face, he could not help feeling puzzled. He reached out and touched her forehead.
"Could the medicinal effects be too strong and caused your vitality to circulate improperly? That shouldn't be possible."
When his hand touched her forehead, Yue Huaqing hurriedly retreated. Her face reddened even more as she glared at him with a hint of resentment.
"No... I'm fine now."
"As long as you're alright."
Ling Feng smiled at her faintly.
He still felt somewhat guilty for deceiving Yue Huaqing about the Five Emperors Seal, so he had been giving her a bit more attention than usual.
Yue Huaqing, however, knew nothing of the reason behind it.
Seeing how considerate he was toward her, her heart began pounding wildly.
After all, once the Sunset Heaven Selection ended, Ling Feng had become the most outstanding and dazzling genius in the entire Dongling Region. Such an exceptional man had also shared a few ambiguous moments with her in the past.
As a young woman who had rarely interacted with men her own age, it was difficult for Yue Huaqing to resist such charm.
...
About three days later, Ling Feng and the others finally emerged from the endless desert and entered a ruined ancient city.
Compared to the endless wasteland, this place truly looked like the Sunset Ancient City.
Following the directions in Shi Haoxuan's message, the group eventually found his gathering place on the western side of the city.
To call it a gathering place was not entirely accurate.
A hiding place would have been more fitting.
Aside from the people of the Dongling Region, experts from the other regions were naturally present in the ancient city as well. Powerful as Shi Haoxuan was, he could only contend against some of those experts.
There was only one Shi Haoxuan.
The other regions, however, had no shortage of experts on his level.
Compared to them, the overall strength of the Dongling Region was simply too weak.
Without joining forces, they would not even qualify to compete with the other regions' geniuses for opportunities.
"Junior Brother Ling, you've finally arrived! It's great that you're here!"
The excitement on Shi Haoxuan's face was impossible to conceal when he saw Ling Feng.
Compared to before, there was less of that domineering, unrivaled aura around him.
Perhaps he had already clashed with the geniuses from the other regions and suffered a setback.
Now that Ling Feng had arrived, the Dongling Region finally had a bit more confidence with both him and Shi Haoxuan present.
"Senior Brother Ling!"
"Brother Ling!"
Quite a few other geniuses from the Dongling Region had gathered here as well.
Whether they were disciples of the Dongling Immortal Pool, Yunluo Sacred Land, or Wulei Sacred Land, all of them displayed an unprecedented sense of unity.
Ling Feng returned their greetings one by one.
There were indeed many familiar faces in the group. Murong Bai, Chu Tiange, Bai Qi, and the others from the Dongling Immortal Pool were all present.
However, after looking around, he did not see Tuoba Yan anywhere.
Even Fairy Qingping was absent.
It seemed they had found opportunities of their own elsewhere.
After all, opportunities differed from person to person.
With the Sunset Ancient City being so vast, the number of opportunities hidden within it was simply countless.
Because Ling Feng and the others had been traveling continuously for days, they were all somewhat exhausted. Shi Haoxuan merely explained some information about the ruins he had discovered and briefly described the current situation involving the geniuses from the other regions before arranging for them to rest.
According to Shi Haoxuan, the ruins had not yet fully opened.
Ling Feng therefore decided to use the remaining days to enter seclusion and improve his strength as much as possible.
...
Inside a worn and ancient room, Ling Feng sat cross-legged on a cushion and cast aside all distracting thoughts.
Whether it was the ruins or the geniuses of the Xijian Region, none of it mattered right now.
The most important thing was to increase his strength.
"The Sword Soul Crystals inside the Forging Heaven Ring should be enough to push my sword will to the Great Perfection level. And that Myriad Beast Spirit Flame should be refined as soon as possible too."
Time was short.
Although the Heaven-Seizing Sword Condensation Art could be called the natural enemy of the geniuses from the Xijian Region, that advantage only existed in one-on-one combat.
If he were surrounded by several experts on Wang Bodang's level at the same time, even he would have difficulty resisting them.
Therefore, he had to use this period to increase his strength as much as possible.
He took out a handful of Sword Soul Crystals from the Forging Heaven Ring and quietly circulated the Heaven-Seizing Sword Condensation Art.
Time passed bit by bit.
Ling Feng simply continued operating the Heaven-Seizing Sword Condensation Art and frantically absorbed the Sword Soul Crystals, feeling his sword will rise and break through again and again.
From the middle stage of Minor Perfection, it advanced to the late stage, then to the peak.
Breakthrough!
Another breakthrough!
Yet another breakthrough!
The consumption rate of the Sword Soul Crystals was astonishing.
Almost every second, Ling Feng's sword will continued to grow and rise.
For anyone else, increasing one's sword will at such a speed would have been impossible.
Yet with a mountain of Sword Soul Crystals and the secret art known as the Heaven-Seizing Sword Condensation Art, Ling Feng had actually accomplished it!