We're practicing all martial arts, so why did you switch to easy mode?

Chapter 148 Battle with Hong Jinfeng, Great Yan City
On the official road in the suburbs.

Two figures stood facing each other across the distance, a hint of tension permeating the air.

Neither Su Chen nor Hong Jinfeng spoke, quietly observing each other.

This was the first time Hong Jinfeng had seen Su Chen. He looked somewhat different from the portrait. He was so young in front of him that it was hard to tell if it was his original appearance or a disguise. The only thing they had in common was that he was young.

Su Chen also frowned as he stared at the man in the black robe in front of him.

His temples were gray, but he was full of energy. His thin body seemed to conceal great strength, unlike the frail old man. He also carried a faint air of authority, clearly indicating that he held a high position and commanded respect without anger.

"You're Su Chen?" Hong Jinfeng spoke first, his voice calm. "Is this your original appearance?"

Su Chen vaguely guessed the identity of the man in front of him, but he didn't speak. Instead, he nodded as if he were lying through his teeth.

Although this is not his original appearance, there is no need to tell the Hong family. As for whether they believe it or not, that is none of his business.

"Hehe, you should have guessed my identity by now. You're the first young man who can remain calm in front of me even though you know I'm your enemy." Hong Jinfeng smiled faintly, as if chatting casually.

He neither stopped nor exposed Su Chen's method of poisoning, as such methods posed no threat to him.

Su Chen's performance, however, was exactly the Su Chen he remembered, which made Hong Jinfeng feel that he was quite naive.

"I'm quite curious why you've chosen to show your true face now. Aren't you afraid of the Hong family's retaliation?"

Hong Jinfeng asked with a puzzled look, "Su Chen walked out of Fengbei City without any concealment. It was too blatant, to the point that he suspected that the other party had some kind of backing."

Su Chen shook his head and chuckled: "That depends on whether you have the ability."

"Hahaha!" Hong Jinfeng laughed loudly after hearing this. "Arrogant and confident, I'll give you three moves. Make your move!"

"Okay, take it!"

Su Chen shouted loudly, his hands waving, his strength surging, and in the blink of an eye, it was attached to his arms. The powerful force made Hong Jinfeng's gaze freeze for a moment.

But then, he opened his eyes wide and stared blankly at Su Chen, who was running away in a flash.

Did you say you were going to take action?

How could someone run away in the blink of an eye?
After a slight lapse in concentration, Hong Jinfeng took a step, spanning several meters, and chased after Su Chen with an extremely graceful posture, like a gentle breeze.

After running for a short while, Su Chen stopped, sighing slightly in his heart. It seemed that the fourth-generation Bewitching Powder had not worked.

"Why did you stop?" Hong Jinfeng asked with a half-smile.

Su Chen didn't speak, but his gaze suddenly sharpened.

His aura suddenly changed, and then he took a step forward, his hands and feet transforming into the sharpest weapons as he attacked Hong Jinfeng.

Seeing this, Hong Jinfeng remained calm, took a half step back, and then lightly struck out with his palm, his five fingers together.

Without any protective force, relying solely on its qi and blood, it contained a violent power that collided head-on with Su Chen.

boom!
The moment their palms touched, it was like the booming of drums, the sound waves resounding outwards, and a strong wind rose from the center of the two people, the air within a radius of three meters was immediately struck and pushed away.

After a brief exchange, the two retreated, their eyes filled with a hint of surprise as they looked at each other.

"That old guy is really strong!"

"This little guy is amazing!"

The same thought arose in both of their minds: both Su Chen and Hong Jinfeng realized the formidable strength of the other.

"Come again!"

This time, it was Hung Kam-Fung who took the initiative.

Upon hearing this, Su Chen curled his lips. He knew the other party was untrustworthy. They had agreed to let him have three moves, but the other party had already attacked on the second move.

However, he didn't care. He quickly mobilized the energy in his body and concentrated it in his arm. Five different energies were running wildly at this moment. As if sensing that Su Chen was in danger, they were connected without any sluggishness.

Although Hong Jinfeng did not notice this change, he sensed that Su Chen's strength seemed to have improved again. While he was surprised, his aura surged, and he struck out with a palm. The force turned into a dazzling bolt of lightning, which shot out and exploded a foot away.

boom!
The sound was like thunder, the tone like waves, resounding and sweeping across all directions.

Both Su Chen and Hong Jinfeng were thrown back by the enormous impact before them, taking several steps back before they could regain their balance.

At this moment, Hong Jinfeng's expression was no longer as relaxed as before.

The results of their two encounters gave him a good understanding of Su Chen's strength, which shocked him greatly.

How long has it been since?

Su Chen will be able to compete with him!

How did he do that?
Similarly, these two encounters also relieved Su Chen. His current strength was somewhat beyond his own expectations.

The five realms of Blood Manipulation are distinguished by the distance from which the force is released.

The blood-moving realm is roughly one to three inches in size.

The second level of Blood Transport is roughly three inches to one foot.

The Blood Transmission Realm is approximately one to three feet in size.

Moving blood across the four borders, roughly three to ten feet.

The fifth level of Blood Refining involves a distance of over one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters), with the exact distance varying from person to person.

Hung Kam-fung's ability to unleash a move with a force of one foot indicates that he has entered the third realm of Blood Transport.

In other words, Su Chen has the ability to protect himself, both in terms of the intensity and the total amount of force, even when facing the Blood Transformation Realm.

In a life-or-death struggle, he might not be a match for Hung Kam-Fung, but he would still have a chance to escape.

This gave him a little more confidence.

"Now you should know why I dared to show my true colors." Su Chen smiled faintly, his expression ambiguous, whether it was relief or sarcasm.

Upon hearing this, Hong Jinfeng fell silent. His initial nonchalance vanished, replaced by a cold expression. "If you want to run, I can't stop you, but aren't you afraid I'll personally raze the Qiao residence to the ground if you leave?"

"You destroy the Qiao family, I'll destroy the Hong family, we'll each destroy our own!" Su Chen's smile vanished, and with each sentence he spoke, he took a step back.

Before he could finish speaking, Su Chen had already escaped by the time Hong Jinfeng was about to make a move.

Seeing this, Hong Jinfeng stepped forward and rushed forward, but at that moment, a whooshing sound rang out and a small stone flew out from the side.

hum!
The pebble didn't hit Hong Jinfeng, but it did hinder him, causing him to pause. By the time he came to his senses, Su Chen had already disappeared.

Hong Jinfeng's expression darkened slightly as he looked in the direction the pebble had been fired.

The person who launched the sneak attack also left quickly, so fast that he didn't even notice.

Crunch!

He clenched his fists, his face contorted with rage, and his eyes darkened: "You dare threaten me? Heh, I'll show you the consequences of threatening me!"

With a flick of his sleeve, Hong Jinfeng left in anger.

Su Chen pushed his speed to the limit, traveling an unknown distance, until he was certain that Hong Jinfeng was not chasing him before slowing down.

Hong Jinfeng put too much pressure on him.

Even though he was confident, he was still uneasy and used all his strength to escape.

"The Hong family is too unethical. They actually attacked at the third level of the Blood Transformation Realm right off the bat. Luckily, I improved my strength, otherwise I wouldn't have had a chance to escape today."

Su Chen said with lingering fear, "However, this has also made me more clearly aware of the gap between myself and the Hong family. Only by recognizing this gap can I improve. Just wait, the day I return will be the day I settle accounts with the Hong family!"

His eyes gleamed with a hint of malice, and his face wore an inscrutable expression.

Composing himself, Su Chen continued on his journey.

The journey from Qinzhou to Yunzhou crosses several cities and is over 300 li (approximately 150 kilometers), which is quite a long distance.

But with Su Chen's current speed, 300 li is not far, only a five or six-day journey.

If we travel day and night without stopping, we should arrive in three or four days.

After leaving Fengbei City, Su Chen opened the map, glanced at it, and continued on his way.

Since he wasn't riding a horse, Su Chen rarely traveled on the official road. It wasn't until around three or four in the afternoon that Su Chen finally set foot on the official road, as he needed to find a place to stay for the night.

On the official road, there weren't many people. Occasionally, a few caravans would pass by, but most of them were emaciated refugees. These refugees, whose destinations were unknown, just walked along numbly.

Several months later, Su Chen saw the refugees again and couldn't help but feel a little melancholy.

When he was in Dafeng City, he rarely went out, so he naturally didn't know what the outside world was like.

In retrospect, the so-called campaign to suppress bandits and exterminate religions has not actually brought a better life to these people.

"Hey, what is that?"

He hadn't gone far when Su Chen suddenly let out a soft exclamation, his gaze fixed on the distance. Unexpectedly, he saw an old acquaintance there. Ahead was a caravan, and within it stood a figure that looked extremely familiar.

After a few months apart, Tan Xu had matured and become much more composed, clearly having accumulated experience and gaining a voice within the caravan.

When Su Chen encountered Tan Xu, he did not go up to greet him.

Tan Xu vaguely sensed that someone was watching him, so he turned around to look, but found nothing unusual.

"what happened?"

Tan Run noticed Tan Xu's unusual behavior, so he glanced at Tan Xu and asked.

"It's nothing." Tan Xu shook his head and didn't say anything more.

After passing Tan Xu and the others, Su Chen quickened his pace and finally arrived at the post station in the evening.

He found a restaurant, ordered some food, and then sat alone in a corner, leisurely enjoying his meal.

The restaurant was crowded with people from all over the country. They gathered together, chatting and laughing, which added a lively atmosphere to Su Chen's meal, who was dining alone.

"Alas, the Red Ying Sect has become incredibly rampant lately and has gained considerable influence. The government and the Chu family are unwilling to take decisive action, which has allowed the Red Ying Sect to intensify its actions and secretly control several cities!"

"Yes, didn't the Red Heroes Sect launch an attack on Yanshan City a while ago? If Yanshan City hadn't been relatively important to the Chu family, I'm afraid it would have ended up like Anye City, with 30% of the population being slaughtered. It would have been a scene of every household hanging white silk and the whole city in mourning."

Even so, Rock Mountain City is in a difficult situation now, and it is unknown how long it can hold out.

"Haha, that's beyond our control. But I've heard that the government has reached an agreement with the Chu family to send troops to support Yanshan City. It won't be easy for the Red Hero Sect to take Yanshan City; it won't be a matter of a day or two!"

"That's good. I still have relatives in Yanshan City. Right now, you can only enter Yanshan City but not leave. I originally wanted to go and take them with me, but now it seems I'll have to wait."

"..."

As he listened to the discussion about the situation in Yunzhou, Su Chen frowned slightly.

If he remembered correctly, Yanshan City was near Qinghe City.

Now that Yanshan City has been attacked by the Red Ying Sect, we don't know what the situation is like in Qinghe City.

Thinking of this, he put down his chopsticks, opened the map, and looked at it for a while before feeling relieved.

No wonder the Chu family would send troops to support Yanshan City.

It turns out that Yanshan City is one of the military strongholds of Yunzhou, and Qinghe City is located behind Yanshan City, so there is no need to worry about the Red Ying Sect for the time being.

"When I return from Dayan City this time, I'll take a detour to visit Master Hong and Senior Brother Li Mo. I wonder how they are doing now."

After finishing his meal, Su Chen found an inn nearby, booked a superior room, paid the fee, and checked in.

inside the room.

Su Chen sat down in the chair, took out the sword manual he carried with him, and began to arrange and combine the swords.

He would occasionally pick up the steel knife and swing it around a few times. When he felt that the movements were not smooth, he would change his moves and start swinging again. Time passed slowly as Su Chen tried these techniques.

It was soon late at night. After washing up, Su Chen blew out the candles, lay down on the bed, and closed his eyes to rest.

Silent all night.

The next day, as the sun's rays illuminated the sky, Su Chen woke up, washed up, went downstairs for a simple breakfast, and then continued on his journey.

According to the map, we will pass through Sifang City next.

Sifang City, as its name suggests, connects to all directions, with roads leading in all directions. It not only connects to Yunzhou and Qinzhou, but also to the other two prefectures.

For this reason, Sifang City's commerce is extremely developed, making it one of the most prosperous cities in Donglin Prefecture.

Su Chen arrived at Sifang City in the afternoon. As soon as he entered the city, he could feel a liveliness that did not belong to Yunzhou.

Perhaps it was because they had seen so much desolation along the way that they had this illusion when they saw the prosperous scene of Sifang City.

After entering Sifang City, Su Chen did not leave immediately, but instead inquired about the Fire Blood Ginseng King within the city.

Su Chen lingered until the afternoon of the following day before leisurely departing.

Although Sifang City is a commercially developed city, it does not sell Fire Blood Ginseng King. Among the many pieces of information he has gathered, the only information he has about Fire Blood Ginseng King indicates that this thing is only available in Dayan City.

Left with no other choice, Su Chen had to continue his journey to Great Yan City.

Laifu Inn.

dong dong dong.

"you are?"

The knocking continued for a long time before the door creaked open. The waiter opened his sleepy eyes, looked at the young man in front of him, and couldn't help but ask.

But he quickly realized his mistake and changed his question to, "Are you looking for a place to stay?"

Su Chen nodded, showing no remorse for disturbing Qingmeng. He tossed out a silver ingot and said, "Get a top-class room, boil some water, prepare some food, and the rest is yours."

The waiter hurriedly took the money, his face lighting up with joy. All sleepiness vanished, and he quickly replied, "Alright, sir, please come upstairs!"

Following the waiter upstairs, we quickly found a superior room. The waiter said respectfully, "Sir, you are very lucky. This is the last superior room in the inn. Please wait a moment, and I will bring you water and food right away."

Su Chen waved his hand, and the waiter didn't pay any attention, closing the door and leaving.

This is the only inn within dozens of miles, and its location is relatively remote. If it weren't open in the middle of the night, Su Chen would have almost thought it was a shady inn.

Although he didn't care whether it was true or not, he didn't want to travel all the way and then have to outwit and outmaneuver the shady shop at night.

Fortunately, it doesn't seem that way now.

The inn wasn't big, but it seemed to have quite a few rooms, although the superior rooms were noticeably shabby.

Su Chen didn't care. While the waiter was fetching water, he rested and looked at the sword manual, slowly deducing the moves in his mind.

"Strange, why hasn't the waiter made a sound after so long?"

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Su Chen still hadn't received the water and food from the waiter, and he couldn't help but become suspicious.

He put away the sword manual, opened the door, walked down the corridor to the stairwell, and was about to go down when he suddenly stopped.

A faint smell of blood wafted in the air.

This made him realize that something was wrong, and he quickly hid his body.

He peeked down and saw a group of men dressed in black, with red ribbons around their waists and large knives at their sides, stealthily carrying the corpses of the innkeeper and waiters into the backyard.

Before long, the lobby was empty, eerily quiet.

After hesitating for a moment, Su Chen made sure no one was around before quietly following them.

“Vice Master, the innkeeper and waiter have all been dealt with, leaving no trace.”

Dozens of men in black stood in the courtyard, with four corpses lying piled together beside them.

Upon hearing this, the man in black, who was referred to as the vice leader, nodded: "Yes, the Chu family's team will set off in five days. This is the only way to the prefectural city, and they will definitely stay at the inn."

What you need to do now is kill everyone in the inn, then disguise yourselves as guests and waiters, and wait for the Chu family's group to arrive.

I will leave for a few days and then meet up with you when it's time to take action.

Remember, don't let any of the guests who come in the next few days slip by, lest we be exposed later.

You should know how much the sect leader values ​​this operation. She is determined to obtain the Chu family's treasure. If anything goes wrong, you will bear the consequences!

"Yes!" Upon hearing this, everyone trembled and dared not be negligent in the slightest.

Seeing this, the vice-leader waved his hand: "Then let's get started."

The group of men in black scattered and began their operation.

Su Chen didn't hear any useful information, only that the Chu family seemed to have some treasure, which attracted this group of people to fight over it.

Judging from their names, he guessed the identities of the group of men in black. They were dressed as members of the Red Hero Sect, with red cloth belts around their waists.

With his face covered and wrapped in red cloth, wasn't that clearly telling others who he was?

He really couldn't figure out what these people were thinking.

However, Su Chen had no time to care about these things at the moment, and sighed in his heart: "Alas, there will be no peace tonight."

During this time, Su Chen returned to his room, extinguished the candles, and then jumped out of the window to leave.

Although he had to camp in the wilderness, Su Chen clearly did not intend to get involved in the conflict between the Red Hero Sect and the Chu Clan.

Not long after Su Chen left, a fierce battle broke out in the inn, and the entire inn seemed to be shrouded in blood.

Because they traveled through the night, they finally arrived in Da Yan City on the evening of the second day.

(End of this chapter)