None of the ancient warrior’s comrades stepped in to diffuse the situation. Was Qin Feng’s slap to that person’s face, not also a slap to the dignity of the entire team? Revenge would normally be sought afterwards but there was a reason why this was not the case.
Aptitude users could be perfectly described using the ever-changing weather as an analogy. You may be riding high today, strong as ever but come tomorrow, you could just be eating dirt to get by!
It never crossed any of these people’s minds that Bai Li would possess such great power.
“She, she’s an aptitude user!”
“Sh*t, comrade number three’s dead!”
“Just what kind of a sh*tshow did he get into last time?”
It did not take long for these ability-users to quiet down. Now, the hotel was dead silent.
Present on the scene was a total of six aptitude users, half of them being close friends of the now-deceased warrior.
“Say, should we just run for it?” One of the gunners asked as he shifted around uncomfortably.
The lady looked as fragile as a porcelain flower vase but was strong enough to wipe out a battle-hardened man with a single blow. If she alone were this strong, it was hard to imagine just how much stronger this Qin Feng person was. Now that they have pissed off his girl, it was a pretty wise decision to leave the scene.
“No, you’ve all witnessed just how strong she is. With Armageddon happening outside, she’s surprisingly calm for a lady to be travelling alone. There must be some trick up her sleeve, some kind of a trump card. It’s gotta be safer if we could just call for a ceasefire with them. Going outside isn’t an option!”
“Yeah, we’ll stay!”
The other half of the team were not particularly close with the late-ancient warrior and co. They merely banded together to wait out the storm, a pact of convenience. As they had not offended Qin Feng, there was no reason to go. In fact, they were relieved upon learning of his existence!
“Hmm, let’s check him out later on. We’ll introduce ourselves and by extension, secure the safety of our group!”
“Well said!”
The others seemed to have reached a consensus.
Meanwhile, Bai Li had finally arrived at the smelting facility where she handed the spear over to Qin Feng.
He then passed the weapon carefully over to Liu Zhenshan.
“This is the one I was talking about!”
Upon receiving that spear, the old man’s face glowed with excitement.
“Star steel!”
“That’s correct.”
Qin Feng nodded.
As the Emperor Knight had died, so did its contract with its spear. The spirit residing within the spear dissipated over time hence it was not as effective in Qin Feng’s hands. In its current state, it would be far better to harness the power of its material, then to forge a new weapon out of it with the Verdant Emperor Saber.
In the next moment, it seemed as if the spear had turned into hot steel as Liu Zhenshan struggled to keep it within his grips.
“You want to use this to upgrade your own weapon? Wouldn’t that be a tad bit too wasteful?” Liu Zhenshan asked with a confused look.
To his question, Qin Feng shook his head as he replied, “I’m using it on my own weapon so how would it be wasteful?”
The old man had held in his arms the Verdant Emperor Saber in previous occasions and so he understood that it was forged from a G-tier ultra beast. However, a piece of star steel was of an S-tier rarity and could easily produce an A-tier runic equipment.
Though, that piece of equipment would be so powerful that even Qin Feng would find it hard to make good use of. On second thought, perhaps upgrading his personal weapon would be the best choice for Qin Feng after all.
“Alright, let’s get down to business then!”
The entire spearhead was forged out of pure star steel, so there was no need to refine it, nor was a separation process necessary. The only thing they needed to do was to melt it and reform its shape.
“Bai Li, you head back first! We’ll be back in no time!” Qin Feng said.
“I don’t want to go back. That place is stinky!” Bai Li rebutted grumpily.
It seemed that after Qin Feng had left the shelter, the people there could finally let out a sigh of relief. Many of them, after finally surviving the arduous journey were drenched in sweat. There were even some that had emptied their bladders out of fear when they got attacked halfway through the journey. All those bodily fluids, trapped within a small, unventilated space would soon turn the entire place nauseating to say the least.
However foul the place smelled, no one dared to grumble about it. What right did they have to do so?
Suddenly, the sound of gunfire broke the silence and soon, more guns started joining in as if a war had begun outside.
“What’s happening?”
Qin Feng’s brows furrowed.
Bai Li remembered the group of people she bumped into on her way here and replied, “Hmm, I saw around seven humans over at the hotel while making my way here, and oh, right, one of them has been fed to the bugs!”
Qin Feng had no idea what Bai Li was referring to when she said “fed to the bugs”. Was she the one who fed the person to the bugs? Anyway, with so much noise from the battle outside, it was bound to attract a great deal of insectoids over.
If that were the case, Liu Zhenshan could be in big trouble!
“You stay here and protect Uncle Liu at all costs. Should the situation call for it, do not hesitate to release your strength. Use whatever tricks you have up your sleeve but you must stop those bugs from harming the old man. Understood?”
“Oh ho, aye aye!”
Bai Li nodded her head and sat back down in the room.
Qin Feng exited the smelting facility. Opening up the reinforced steel front door, he discovered that there already were bugs littering the corridor leading to where the old man and Bai Li were.
Five blade mantises and more than ten black steel bugs.
Qin Feng had only appeared for a mere second and yet these black steel bugs had started swarming over in an attempt to overwhelm him.
Slam!
Qin Feng yanked the door shut in a hurry. He could only face these critters after ensuring their passageway to Liu Zhenshan was thoroughly blocked.
The bugs crawled with alarming speed toward Qin Feng and came so close that he could count the razor-sharp fangs inside the many jaws that were gaping open, ready to tear out a piece of his own flesh.
“Hellfire!”
The air around Qin Feng started burning with raging intensity, turning him into a moving ball of flame.
The bugs hurled themselves at Qin Feng regardless of the fire, like how moths would fly fearlessly into a campfire.
“Screech!”
A sharp screech echoed down the corridor, accompanied by the pungent smell of burning bug flesh.
Qin Feng held his breath as the flames burned ever stronger, repelling these bugs away from the building.
The insects were sent flying from Qin Feng’s ingenious attack. It did not matter if it were a blade mantis or a black steel bug, they would all collapse onto the ground and curl up into a roasted stinking mess.
As the hotel and the equipment store had connecting back alleys, Qin Feng walked over to the hotel but to no avail as the door had been locked from within.
However, Qin Feng was able to peer through a transparent part of the door to see that there was a large build-up of bugs within the building.
“Damn it, we can’t hold this floor any longer! Go up! All of you! Regroup upstairs!”
The sea of bugs was growing denser by the second!
Bang! Bang!
Sensing a presence beyond the door, some of the bugs near the locked door started attacking it instead, trying to get to Qin Feng who was standing outside.
Clink!
An emerald green arm sliced open the door from the inside like a hot knife through butter, cutting through the main points in which it was secured.
With a grunt, Qin Feng kicked down the large door.
Thud!
As Qin Feng’s attack power was now soaring through the roof, he managed to bring down the door with just one hefty kick. On the other side of the door, the force exerted by the kick was enough to crush the hungry blade mantises to death!
Squelch!
A loud crunch could be heard as the large door collapsed onto the floor. Qin Feng was then met with the gag-inducing stench which insectoids naturally produced as well the smell of their fresh blood.
It seemed that Qin Feng had stirred up a hornet’s nest!
Black steel bugs washed over him, like a dark wave trying to drown out Qin Feng.
“Hellfire!”
Qin Feng activated his consciousness, allowing his ability to burst out as fire runes danced about in the air.
A wall of fire had materialised in front of Qin Feng.
While none of the bugs physically made it through the blazing wall, their painful wails as they writhed about in the inferno filled the room.
Hellfire was no ordinary fire attack, for it burned not flesh, but the enemy’s soul. Still, it was more than enough to turn these low-level bug beasts into crispy carbon.
However, to Qin Feng’s surprise, the emerald-green streak appeared once again. This time, it was hurdling toward Qin Feng himself, which made it all the more terrifying.
Qin Feng spun his body, barely escaping the cutting blade.
Crack!
The wall behind Qin Feng was split open in an instant, allowing a thin ray of sunlight into the room.
“Beast general!”
Qin Feng turned over to be greeted by a pair of razor-sharp forelimbs of a massive mantis.
The beast general of the blade mantises stood at a height of almost two meters tall. Its massive forelimbs were able to strike at anything up to a distance of two meters at the speed of lightning.
Once a blade mantis was locked onto you, there was no escaping the fate of being dismembered into multiple chunks of flesh and bones. Their forelimbs were their best weapon after all.
Swish!
The blade mantis general attacked once more.
In such a small space, Qin Feng had little to no room for dodging attacks!
“Shadow!”
Qin Feng vanished into thin air as he took to the shadows for temporary refuge.
Losing its target so suddenly, the blade mantis general was visibly in a daze.
Qin Feng jumped back roughly ten meters before reappearing!
“Dark ray!”
A beam of darkness hurdled toward the blade mantis general’s body.