Ye Feng, Xiao Xiao, and Qiao Ying then began their hiking and sightseeing journey, rarely driving and stopping to admire beautiful scenery.
During this time, Xiao Xiao and Qiao Ying grew much closer.
And under Ye Feng's repeated persuasion, Xiao Xiao began sleeping with Qiao Ying at night.
After all, as time passed and with ample nutrition, Xiao Xiao's body had developed significantly, no longer the scrawny sprout she once was, but a graceful and elegant young lady... It wouldn't be appropriate for her to continue sleeping with a hot-blooded young man like Ye Feng...
Xiao Xiao slept soundly, but Ye Feng often found himself in a difficult situation...
Moreover, and more importantly, certain matters concerning a young girl would be more suitable for Qiao Ying, as a fellow girl, to discuss with Xiao Xiao...
Of course, during their days of traveling and enjoying the scenery, Ye Feng spent most of his time training, especially with that mysterious set of movements...
...
One evening,
"Hoo!"
Sweating profusely and quite exhausted, Ye Feng concluded a full day of training.
"That mysterious set of movements is truly strange; it always leaves me utterly drained..."
"But every time I train, I can feel a very profound and mysterious aura entering my body, tempering my internal organs, bones, and meridians..."
Lying on the grass, Ye Feng mused, "My strength has already reached the peak of Gold Rank Nine, but I can't seem to break through to Diamond. It feels like I'm missing something very important..."
...
After dinner,
Holding his Tang saber, Ye Feng stood beneath the night sky. He slowly closed his eyes, meticulously sensing the peculiar feeling he had experienced when he killed the Blood Ancestor at the Brad base...
"Whoosh! Hoo!"
Gradually, Ye Feng's true energy surged, and the Tang saber in his hand began to dance.
"Whoosh~! Hoo hoo~ Whoosh~!"
After a flash of light from the Tang saber, Ye Feng, covered in sweat, stopped. His brow furrowed, as he could never find that strange sensation...
He then let out a soft breath and recalled the scene in the countryside during autumn – the elderly man in plain clothes under the large ginkgo tree, drawing a diagonal line across the sky with a branch...
He remembered that it was from this scene that he had grasped that faint, ethereal feeling, which then drew the power of the stars upon him, enabling him to kill the Blood Ancestor...
"This..."
After a long while, Ye Feng opened his eyes with a hint of frustration. He realized he didn't know how to execute that strike...
He had remembered the essence of that strike... but when he tried to perform it, something always felt wrong, no matter how he moved, it felt incorrect...
"Big Brother?"
At that moment, Xiao Xiao's somewhat puzzled voice rang out, as she noticed Ye Feng had been standing there in a daze for quite some time.
"Ye Feng, some things cannot be pursued rigidly through form... you must perceive their intent..."
Qiao Ying, standing beside Xiao Xiao, continued, "Ye Feng, the move you used to kill the Blood Ancestor was an artistic conception that could move heaven and earth... you even absorbed the power of the stars from the sky..."
"Honestly, I'm still very curious how your body could withstand that kind of power..."
Qiao Ying looked at Ye Feng with a touch of emotion.
"Perceive its intent?"
Ye Feng scratched his head and looked up at the stars, lost in thought.
"Let's watch the stars together~"
With that, Ye Feng lay down directly on the grass. Xiao Xiao and Qiao Ying also took out their drinks and sat beside Ye Feng, together admiring the tranquil night sky...
...
The next afternoon,
The sun blazed intensely.
After finishing lunch, Ye Feng, Xiao Xiao, and Qiao Ying were resting under the shade of trees by the river.
"Hmm?"
Ye Feng, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them and looked in a certain direction.
Almost at the same time, Qiao Ying stood up and looked in the same direction as Ye Feng. Xiao Xiao also stopped painting, as figures began to appear on the distant hillside to their left.
The figures grew in number, seemingly over a hundred, rapidly approaching the direction of the three of them...
"Damn this weather, it's been hailing ice for days, and now..."
As he spoke, a hint of smugness flashed in his eyes, and he glanced at Qiao Ying, who was standing very close to Ye Feng, a slight smirk playing on his lips.
Many of the cigar-smoking stout man's subordinates glared menacingly at Ye Feng, some even whistling at him...
Ye Feng ignored the stout man with the cigar and turned to look at Xiao Xiao with a puzzled expression, "Xiao Xiao, what are you doing?"
At that moment, Xiao Xiao had climbed onto the roof of the Humvee and was taking out binoculars to observe.
"Big Brother, I think I see someone familiar..."
Xiao Xiao said as she adjusted the focus wheel of the binoculars.
"Big Brother, it's Sister Lin! It really is her!"
Xiao Xiao's voice was filled with surprise, and also a trace of joy. She put down the binoculars, looked at Ye Feng, and pointed in the direction of the distant hillside.
"Sister Lin? You mean Wu Ye Lin?"
"No way, is that true?"
Hearing this news, Ye Feng was equally surprised.
After all, it had been a long time since Wu Ye Lin, Liu Lao Tou, and the others had seen each other since they parted ways in Frost City...
"Mmm-hmm!"
Xiao Xiao nodded earnestly, "I thought I was mistaken just now!"
"Hey, kid, I'm talking to you, are you deaf?"
At this moment, the stout man with the cigar next to him roared at Ye Feng.
Simultaneously, the large fist in his hand swung directly towards the back of Ye Feng's head...