217: Goodbye Black Pine Forest

Lin Feng's consciousness, accompanied by endless lightning, finally returned to a void of darkness.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

He slowly opened his eyes, and the dazzling sunlight, filtering through the gaps in the leaves, dappled his face.

His nose was met with the damp scent of soil mixed with decaying leaves.

Lin Feng propped himself up and sat, feeling a heaviness in his body, and a long-lost sense of powerlessness in his limbs.

He looked down at his hands, fair and slender, but he couldn't feel even a trace of spiritual energy fluctuation.

His Dantian was empty, his Divine Sense couldn't leave his body, and even the System that had accompanied him on his journey had lost contact.

He had become a Mortal.

"Help!"

A woman's panicked scream, laced with a cry, came from the forest not far away, her voice clear yet filled with extreme alarm.

This voice...

Lin Feng suddenly looked up, a hint of shock flashing in his eyes.

It was Mo Fengwu!

Without hesitation, he pushed aside the bushes in front of him and hurried towards the sound.

The sight before him made his pupils contract sharply.

Towering Black Pine trees, pervasive miasma.

Three burly men with scarred faces were cornering a young girl in a green dress.

The girl leaned against a thick tree trunk, her small face pale, tightly clutching a medicinal hoe in her trembling hands.

This scene was identical to when he first arrived in this world.

"Hehehe, little lady, stop yelling! No one will come to save you even if you scream yourself hoarse!"

"Big brother, stop wasting words with her, just tie her up!"

Crude laughter echoed through the forest, incredibly jarring.

An illusion.

This was the Heart Demon tribulation of an Extra-territorial Demon.

Lin Feng instantly understood; he closed his eyes, and the Mind-Cultivation Technique of the Great Evolution Art rapidly circulated in his mind.

"Clear the spiritual platform, unify the spirit..."

He silently recited the incantation, attempting to see through the illusion and return to his Sea of Consciousness.

However, no matter how much he concentrated, nothing around him changed.

The rustling of the wind through the treetops, the cries of unknown birds in the distance, and even the smell of sweat from the three burly men, all felt impeccably real.

Without spiritual energy, without Divine Sense, the so-called calming incantation was merely self-comfort for a Mortal.

"Ah! Don't come closer!"

Another scream from Mo Fengwu pulled Lin Feng's thoughts back to reality.

He opened his eyes and saw the triangular-eyed strongman had already extended his large, fan-like hand, grinning menacingly as he reached for the girl's shoulder.

Lin Feng's heart tightened suddenly.

He knew this was fake, an illusion created by the Demon, intended to shake his Dao Heart.

But that tear-streaked face, those eyes filled with fear and stubbornness, were so real.

He couldn't stand by and do nothing.

Even if it was an illusion, he couldn't!

Lin Feng took a deep breath, suppressing the distracting thoughts in his mind, and his gaze sharpened.

He bent down, grabbed a handful of dead leaves, and then fumbled at his feet for two sharp-edged stones, clutching them tightly in his hands.

Just as the triangular-eyed strongman's hand was about to touch Mo Fengwu, Lin Feng suddenly flung the dead leaves in his hand towards the bushes to the left of the three men!

"Whoosh!"

A soft rustle, exceptionally clear in the silent forest.

"Who's there?"

The triangular-eyed man paused, asking warily.

A bearded strongman immediately said, "Big brother, I'll go check!"

He held his knife and cautiously walked towards the patch of bushes.

An opportunity!

The moment the bearded man distanced himself from the other two, Lin Feng moved.

He darted out from behind the bushes, flicked his wrist, and the two stones, like bullets from a gun, whizzed towards the other remaining strongman!

That strongman was fully focused on his companion, completely unprepared for an attack from the other side.

"Thud! Thud!"

Two muffled thuds.

The stones accurately embedded themselves in his eyes.

"Ah—my eyes!"

The strongman let out a tragic howl, dropped the broadsword in his hand, covered his profusely bleeding eye sockets with both hands, and rolled on the ground in agony.

This sudden turn of events stunned everyone.

The triangular-eyed man reacted the fastest; he ignored his injured companion and instead whirled around, his fierce gaze sweeping towards the large tree where Lin Feng had been hiding.

"So it was you, you bastard, playing tricks!"

He roared, raised his broadsword, took large strides, and charged over menacingly.

Lin Feng's heart tightened; he knew that as a Mortal, a direct confrontation would be futile.

He turned and ran, using the cover of the trees to evade the big man.

Seeing this, the triangular-eyed man became enraged and laughed instead: "Run? Let's see how far you can run!"

He raised his broadsword high, aimed at the large tree where Lin Feng had just been hiding, and brought it down with all his might!

"Crack!"

The tree, as thick as a bowl, was actually severed by his single strike!

The trunk crashed down.

But behind the tree, there was no one.

The triangular-eyed man was stunned.

Just then, a fierce gust of wind attacked from above his head!

He instinctively looked up, only to see a figure leap down from the broken treetop, pouncing on his back like a leopard.

It was Lin Feng!

He had, at some point, acquired two even sharper stones in his hands.

"Die!"

A cold glint flashed in Lin Feng's eyes; he straddled the big man's back, gripped the stones tightly with both hands, and with all his strength, plunged them into the back of the big man's neck!

"Thud!"

The stones pierced flesh.

"Roar!"

The triangular-eyed man roared in pain, his body twisting wildly, trying to shake Lin Feng off.

Lin Feng clamped his legs tightly around his waist, giving him no chance, pulled out the blood-stained stones, and then aimed at his eyes, stabbing down fiercely again!

Blood and white fluid splattered.

The triangular-eyed man let out a final roar, his broadsword wildly flailing and chopping in the air.

Lin Feng had already flipped and jumped away the moment he succeeded, diving into the nearby bushes.

The sharp wind of the blade brushed past his scalp, cutting off a few strands of hair.

He lay in the bushes, holding his breath, his heart pounding.

Fighting as a Mortal was far more dangerous than a Cultivator's duel.

The triangular-eyed man, clutching his bloody neck and face, staggered a few steps, then finally fell to the ground unwillingly, his body twitching a few times before falling silent.

In the forest, only the blind strongman remained, wailing on the ground, and the bearded man who was scared out of his wits.

The bearded man looked at his big brother's corpse, then at his rolling companion, his face already ashen, his legs trembling like a sieve.

He let out a strange cry, abandoned his companion, and turned to run.

How could Lin Feng give him a chance?

He picked up the broadsword dropped by the triangular-eyed man from the bushes; though heavy, he could still manage to wield it.

He chased after him and, with one strike, finished off the fleeing bearded man.

Finally, he walked up to the blind strongman, looked at his suffering, and emotionlessly raised his blade.

The hand went up, the blade came down.

The wailing ceased abruptly.

"Huff... huff..."

Lin Feng leaned on the broadsword, panting heavily.

His entire body was covered in blood and mud, looking disheveled, but his eyes were terrifyingly calm.

He turned around and looked at Mo Fengwu, who was still standing there stunned.

The young girl's mouth was slightly open, her beautiful eyes wide, filled with disbelief.

She looked at the slender young man who had suddenly appeared and, with lightning-fast methods, killed the three villains, and for a moment, she even forgot to be afraid.

Lin Feng wiped a streak of blood from his face, revealing a somewhat forced smile, and comforted her: "It's alright, Phoenix Dance."

As the words left his mouth, his heart sank.

Oh no.

Sure enough, when Mo Fengwu heard that address, her body trembled slightly, and the shock in her eyes turned into deep confusion and wariness.

She looked at this unfamiliar man before her, gathered her courage, and asked: "Who are you? Why... do you know my name?"

Lin Feng was about to explain, but a dizzying sensation of spinning came over his brain.

The Black Pine Forest before him began to twist, and Mo Fengwu's figure became blurry.

Endless darkness enveloped him once again, completely swallowing his consciousness.

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Muah~