C9 One Feather Imperial Decree

The breeze whispered through the wild grasses as Chu Haoyun and Qin Bing discovered a cave deep within the rocky wolf forest. Along the way, Qin Bing had shared the story of Chen Yisheng with Haoyun.

At the Order of the Celestial Veil, the hierarchy began with the Outer Sect disciples, ascended to the Inner Sect disciples, and culminated with the core disciples. It was nearly impossible for an Outer Sect disciple to reach the core within a decade.

Chen Yisheng was a prodigy who emerged two years prior. Within a mere three days at the Order of the Celestial Veil, he soared from an Outer Sect disciple to an Inner Sect disciple, becoming the direct protégé of an elder. Despite his late start, he broke into the top twenty of the Inner Sect disciples in just two years and was on track to become a core disciple within three.

Once he had regained his strength, Chu Haoyun delved into the Thunderbolt Swordsmanship he had recovered from Chen Yiming. The technique's wide range and formidable explosive power were the perfect complement to his Flash Martial Skill's singularity.

"You truly are a martial arts prodigy," Qin Bing remarked, almost at a loss for words. In just an hour, Chu Haoyun had already begun to master the Thunderbolt Swordsmanship. Supported by the strength of the Mountain Moving Ant, its explosive force rivaled that of Chen Yiming.

"I simply wish to grow stronger," Chu Haoyun exhaled deeply, his gaze piercing into the forest's depths. Suddenly, a persistent rustling filled his ears, as if countless legs were scurrying across the ground, an unsettling sensation.

"Do you hear that?" Qin Bing managed to say, his voice strained as he swallowed hard. Chu Haoyun gave a slight nod, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead as the mysterious sounds grew increasingly intense.

The first shadow burst forth from the underbrush, its green limbs scuttling rapidly across the earth, its furry body sending shivers down one's spine. The spider, nearly half a meter in length, glared with six black eyes that exuded malice.

What followed was a sea of spiders, an army without end. Among them were many with missing limbs, and some bore remnants of flesh and tattered clothing on their legs. A few even had human arms swinging in time with their eight-legged gait.

"Green Demon Spiders! My God, there's a whole swarm of them?" Qin Bing's scalp tingled at the sight of the endless stream of spiders.

The Green Demon Spider was considered the most inferior creature in the Forbidden Woods, not even ranking as a Fellbeast. However, the venom it carried caused paralysis, and such a massive swarm could even force a Returning to Origin Fellbeast to retreat.

"Run!" was the immediate thought for both of them. Lacking the power to confront such an insect tide meant certain death.

The spiders shrieked, emitting a piercing noise as webs shot out, swiftly enveloping the area in a blanket of white. In the ensuing chaos, Chu Haoyun and Qin Bing were separated. The relentless spider tide surged forward, and all creatures in its path scattered in fear.

In the jungle, a figure leaped from treetop to treetop, with countless Green Demon Spiders surging below him. Chu Haoyun inwardly cursed, taking care not to let his guard down. Webs flew towards him, but he unleashed his Thunderbolt Swordsmanship in a flash, slicing through the onslaught. He had no idea how far he'd fled but had finally managed to lose the spiders.

As night fell, the calls of insects and birds grew sparse. The forest, dense with vegetation, cycled through warmth and chill, as wisps of mist rose. Chu Haoyun, realizing he was lost, stared into the thick woods to his left and said coldly, "Come out. I know you're there!"

"Heh, kid, I didn't think you'd be so perceptive," a burly man in a night suit stepped out, his complexion deathly pale from obvious wounds.

Chu Haoyun eyed him warily, his tone mocking, "Who might you be? Your luck certainly doesn't seem to match mine."

"Hmph, you're pretty clever, kid!" the man snorted, his ghastly face growing darker. "Soon, you'll be worse off than me!"

Just as the man seemed ready to strike, Chu Haoyun raised his hand and called out, "Hold on! Who exactly are you? By your age, you can't be an Outer Sect disciple of the Order of the Celestial Veil, can you?"

"Idiot, the Order of the Celestial Veil? Hmph, what a fool." The burly man didn't allow any room for argument, unleashing a palm strike infused with a pale blue elementary force that obliterated dozens of towering trees before him.

Chu Haoyun narrowly avoided the blow by leaping onto the branch of another large tree, but the residual force of the palm strike still scorched his skin. The man before him was a warrior at the Returning to Origin Stage, and luckily for Haoyun, he was already severely injured; otherwise, Haoyun wouldn't have stood a chance at evading the attack.

Using the momentum from his leap, Haoyun gripped the Azurewind Blade in his right hand and pulled out a finger-sized jade bead from his waist with his left. Lan Shiqi had given him these life-saving beads—eight in total.

Due to the vast difference in their cultivation levels, the man was significantly faster. Haoyun had barely completed his actions when the man closed in on him. Haoyun looked up, a grin spreading across his face as he positioned the Azurewind Blade defensively. He then channeled all his strength into his left hand and hurled it at Lei Tian's face.

"Hehe, taste my hand grenade!" Haoyun laughed as he braced himself with the Azurewind Blade against the man's powerful strike. But the disparity in their power quickly silenced Haoyun's laughter. Confronting the formidable palm force head-on, Haoyun felt as though he'd been struck by a train, his body hurtling through the air like a shooting star.

He crashed through several trees before finally regaining control of his body. Landing hard on the ground, Haoyun spat out a mouthful of blood and cursed, "Damn it, this guy's strength is incredible!"

Meanwhile, the man, unaware of what he had just shattered, punched the white jade bead into oblivion. Instantly, a piercing cold enveloped the area, turning every tree within a hundred-meter radius into ice sculptures with him at the epicenter.

"So powerful?" Haoyun was taken aback by the bead's potency. He hadn't expected the jade beads Lan Shiqi had given him to pack such a punch. Once detonated, they could freeze everything within a hundred meters instantly—excellent for ambushing an opponent. The only downside was that they were single-use items.

Though the large man, Lei Tian, managed to react swiftly and evade the epicenter of the icy blast, his fist was still encased in a layer of frost. In a mere moment, his left hand became numb, devoid of sensation. Affected by the chilling air, his internal injuries flared up instantly.

"Ugh!" Lei Tian coughed up a mouthful of dark blood, feeling as though his muscles were no longer under his control. Had it not been for his profound strength, he might have been paralyzed on the spot. His face contorted with rage, he let out a roar as he pushed his power to its peak. In a flash, he quelled the spiritual toxin within him. His blue elementary force shattered the icy bonds, and with a tight grip of his left hand, he condensed the force into a half-foot-long blue feather.

"One Feather Imperial Decree!" In his anger, Lei Tian finally unleashed the most skilled martial art of the Order of the Skyfeather for the first time.

The Order of the Skyfeather's martial arts, with assassination techniques making up half of their repertoire, were as swift as thunderbolts—seemingly simple yet immensely destructive. To maximize power, the Order's lethal moves were designed to pierce with precision.

The feather, radiating with blue energy, appeared gentle but struck with the ferocity of a thunderclap. Chu Haoyun instinctively deployed Flash to defend himself, but the feather's seemingly slow drift was deceiving, and he struggled to match its pace with his defense.

"Visual deviation?" The term flickered through Chu Haoyun's mind. Before he could mount an effective defense with his Azurewind Blade, the blue feather pierced his left shoulder, the force of the impact pinning him to a tree.

Chu Haoyun was filled with frustration over his momentary lapse. But he quickly noticed something amiss.

As the blue feather entered his shoulder, its energy state was wildly turbulent, as though it could obliterate half his body in an instant. Yet as the violent energy began to expand, it seemed as if countless particles within him were disintegrating and reassembling. This bizarre power accelerated, and the explosive force of the blue feather vanished within a breath's time.