The Strongest Talent Tree

Upon hearing this, Three-second Fire urgently warned him from inside his mind, "End this quickly. Once these guys realize I’m here, they’ll never let it go."

"You’re that charming?" Feng Hao asked, stunned.

"Obviously," Three-second Fire retorted irritably. "You think everyone’s as clueless as you?"

Feng Hao pursed his lips resentfully but didn’t hesitate any longer. With the seamless coordination of Zhang Meng and the other two, he used Rapid Shadow Slash to cut into the Celestial Eagle Team’s ranks, followed immediately by a sweeping Poisonous Chain.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The battlefield was flooded with a dense storm of blades and Sword Qi. Even as Feng Hao did his utmost to evade, he was still struck several times.

Furthermore, these Celestial Eagle Team Mages had clearly "cut their roots." Their damage was far higher than that of other Mages of the same rank. After just a few attacks, Feng Hao had already lost half his Qi Blood.

And that was with the damage reduction from his Shadow Strike Etherealization. Without it, the situation would have been far worse.

’Damn, my level is still too low,’ Feng Hao cursed inwardly.

The next moment, the Poisonous Chain swirling around them instantly tightened, binding more than a dozen Mages into a single clump.

"Fuck, just like that, over eight hundred points of Magic Power are gone," Feng Hao exclaimed in shock, hurriedly shouting, "Don’t just stand there, move!"

"Got it!" Zhang Meng and the other two nodded and charged at the clump of bound Celestial Eagle Team thugs.

The poor Celestial Eagle Team thugs couldn’t possibly withstand such an onslaught. In the blink of an eye, only six scattered members remained.

"Kid, you’ll die a miserable death for daring to oppose our Celestial Eagle Team!" one of the Mages snarled through gritted teeth.

"You’re about to die and you’re still spouting so much nonsense." Feng Hao had no interest in wasting words. With a cold laugh, he used Shadow Strike to cut into the middle of the six and unleashed his masterful Moon Wheel Dance.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Two black crescents sliced through the air, and several of the Celestial Eagle Team thugs fell instantly.

To Feng Hao’s surprise, despite his high-burst damage, one person was still standing. A closer look revealed a Sixth Rank Defense Mage. A scan with his Crystal Eye showed that the guy’s health was a staggering 240,000, with his defense stat clocking in at over 8,000.

’Good heavens, people actually go through with cutting their meridian roots?’ Feng Hao sized up the man with curiosity, then taunted, "You can’t even use Secret Techniques like this. You’re nothing but a living meat shield. Is that any fun?"

Seeing his companions dead and now being subjected to such humiliation, the Sixth Rank Mage roared and charged at Feng Hao with reckless abandon.

Feng Hao chuckled to himself and didn’t even bother to dodge, simply standing his ground and letting the man hammer him with a few punches.

As it turned out, the man’s damage was pathetically low. A full flurry of punches only managed to chip away just over two thousand of Feng Hao’s Qi Blood.

"Such pitiful damage. I almost feel too bad to kill you," Feng Hao said, looking at him with an expression of pure pity.

To the Sixth Rank Mage, these words were the ultimate insult. He let out a strange cry and attacked Feng Hao like a madman, but his damage was so pathetically low it had no effect whatsoever.

Feng Hao casually popped a Blood Recovery Pill, which was more than enough to completely negate all the damage he’d taken.

Not far away, Zhang Meng and his two companions couldn’t help but burst out laughing. It couldn’t be helped; the scene unfolding before them was like a small child fighting a grown man. No matter how hard he tried, his efforts were completely useless.

"Fine, since you’re so pathetic, I won’t even use my weapon," Feng Hao sighed, shaking his head. He put away his Su Mu Dagger and began to fight bare-handed.

POW! POW! POW!

It was clear their damage outputs weren’t even in the same league. A single casual punch from Feng Hao dealt more damage than all the man’s previous attacks combined.

The Sixth Rank Mage was already low on health to begin with. Under Feng Hao’s humiliating barrage of punches and kicks, his Qi Blood was quickly depleted, leaving him clinging to life with just over four hundred points of vitality.

"I’m going to kill you!" the Sixth Rank Mage screamed, his eyes bloodshot. He had clearly been driven mad by Feng Hao’s taunts.

"Heh, you wish. You think you can kill me with that pathetic damage?" Feng Hao sneered and lashed out with a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree spinning kick.

BAM!

The poor Sixth Rank Mage was sent flying, spraying a mouthful of blood, but thanks to his remaining vitality, he didn’t die.

Feng Hao pressed his advantage, preparing to finish him off with a stylish kneeling strike.

However, just as he leaped into the air, a powerful presence descended from the horizon, forcing him back. It was followed by an overwhelming barrage of Secret Techniques, light projectiles, arrows, and Sword Qi that rained down from above.

"Shit, how did reinforcements get here so fast?" Feng Hao cursed under his breath, hastily using Shadow Strike to retreat.

In his mind, Three-second Fire said irritably, "I told you to end this quickly, but you didn’t listen. Great. Now you can’t even escape if you wanted to."

"Cut the crap," Feng Hao retorted, rolling his eyes. "Just get ready to fight alongside me."

"Relax," Three-second Fire huffed. "You’re my first master, after all. I can’t just let you die so soon."

"Don’t jinx it! You think I’ll go down that easily?" Feng Hao snapped.

As they spoke, dozens of Celestial Eagle Team thugs had already surrounded them. Leading them was a Seventh Rank middle-aged man whose clothes were clearly far more opulent than those of the other thugs. He looked to be a squad leader of some sort.

The Sixth Rank Mage, who had just been beaten half to death by Feng Hao, wept, "Steward, sir! These bastards killed more than a dozen of our brothers! You must avenge us!"

The middle-aged man’s cold gaze swept over Feng Hao and his three companions. "Weren’t there reports of a fire seed?" he asked in a low voice. "Where is it?"

"It’s him! The fire seed is on that kid!" the Sixth Rank Mage pointed at Feng Hao, his expression full of venom.

"Excellent." The middle-aged man nodded in satisfaction, his eyes gleaming as he stared at Feng Hao. "Boy, do you have any idea what the consequences are for offending our Celestial Eagle Team?"

’Damn, why do all villains love to ramble?’ Feng Hao thought to himself before smirking. "Sorry, my greatest strength is that I never think about the consequences. So let’s cut to the chase: is this a one-on-one, or are all of you coming at me?"

The middle-aged man’s face darkened. "Insolent whelp! I’ll give you two choices. Either you obediently hand over the fire seed and join our Celestial Eagle Team, or I kill you and take the fire seed for myself."

Feng Hao gave a mischievous grin and replied with a non-sequitur, "Actually, I’ve always been curious... after ’cutting your roots,’ are you guys still considered men? Don’t get me wrong, I’m just curious."

"You’re courting death!" The middle-aged man’s face instantly flushed crimson. Judging by his reaction, ’cutting the roots’ definitely had an impact in *that* department.

"Haha! So you’re just a bunch of eunuchs!" Feng Hao couldn’t help but roar with laughter. "Come on, then! I’ve always been one to respect my elders. For a disabled person such as yourself, I’ll be sure to go easy on you."

The middle-aged man let out a furious roar as a terrifying aura exploded from him. With a wave of his hand, a gigantic, blood-red palm print materialized in the air, blotting out the sky as it pressed down on Feng Hao and his companions.

"Fatty, you guys get to the side! Let me handle this old eunuch!" Feng Hao said, turning to his three companions.

Zhang Meng and the other two froze, their eyes filled with worry. "Boss, are you sure you can take on a Seventh Rank Mage?"

"Relax," Feng Hao said with a confident smirk. "I definitely couldn’t beat a normal Seventh Rank Mage. But his kind? I wouldn’t be afraid even if a few more of them showed up."