Legend Of The Dragon Phoenix Warrior - 31 Zhang You
Chapter 31
Chen Zhen was sweating profusely. He understood from Shanggu Feng’s description that the Specter Monkey was going to be fast, but these monkeys were impossible to catch! No matter how much Chen Zhen circulated his energy through his legs his speed still wasn’t fast enough to get close to any of these Specter Monkeys. The monkeys themselves were having a good laugh at Chen Zhen’s expense. They began to slow down giving him a glimmer of hope that he would be able to catch one before either sprinting away with ease, or phasing thru a tree to get away from him. The Specter Monkeys preferred the latter method because it usually ended with Chen Zhen slamming into said tree. Whenever this happened the Specter Monkeys would roll around on the ground holding their stomachs and laughing uproariously. Chen Zhen would get so mad that he would scream at the top of his lungs, causing the monkeys to laugh even harder at his frustration.
While Chen Zhen was enduring this sick form of torture just to train his speed, a dark presence was making his way into the forest. Zhang You was at level 2 of the liquid core stage. He had heard from some hunters that there was a rank 6 Blood Lion in this forest and planned to use its spirit core and meat to refine his body in the hopes he would acquire the Blood Lion’s bloodline. Zhang You had already tried three other times and they all ended without him acquiring the bloodline. Zhang You was a vicious bandit needed to increase his strength in order to be able to start attacking small clans to gain the resource materials he need to continue increasing his cultivation.
As Zhang You entered the forest he heard an enormous racket being made by some Specter Monkeys. Since this was outside of their normal character Zhang You thought maybe the Blood Lion had entered their territory. He rushed over in hopes of catching up to the Blood Lion. As Zhang You hid behind a tree he saw a man with blood red hair running off into the distance. He could tell that this man was only in the body refinement stage, but from what he could see this man had partaken of the Blood Lion and acquired its bloodline. This should have been impossible for someone at his level. Zhang You realized he must have had help from a powerful senior. Zhang You decided to follow after Chen Zhen to see just how powerful this senior was. If he was lucky he maybe he could kidnap Chen Zhen and ransom him back to his clan and become very wealthy.
Chen Zhen kept his spiritual sense on high alert, but Zhang You was much more powerful then he was. Zhang You was able to easily hide himself away from Chen Zhen. A couple hours later when Chen Zhen suddenly disappeared from his sense Zhang You was confused at first. He went to where he last sensed Chen Zhen and found a barrier set up in the middle of the woods. As much as Zhang You tried he couldn’t penetrate the barrier with his senses. For someone to be able to set up a barrier like this they had to come from a first-rate clan. He didn’t know what was going on but he k new that this was beyond him. After thinking for awhile he decide to go see an old friend of his. He was a very powerful bandit leader who might be able to help him gain something from this. This was too juicy a prize to let slip thru his fingers. He didn’t understand exactly what was going on, but that didn’t stop him from scheming to profit from whatever it was. Zhang You hid himself and decided to observe that was happening.
Zhang You started chanting in a low voice while his hands flashed making hundreds of hand seals. On the ground under his feet ancient runes began forming overlapping pentagrams surrounded by circles, triangles, and squares. As these runes and shapes overlapped Zhang You slowly faded from sight. As long as Zhang You didn’t move from this spot only a Divine Immortal would be able to tell he was there. This technique was found in an ancient grave that Zhang You found running from a peak Liquid Core stage cultivator. At the time this was a god send. Ever since then Zhang You has used this to ambush cultivators more powerful then himself. Many peak Liquid and Solid Core stage cultivator have died to his machinations over the years. Even though Zhang You could kill these people and rob them of their wealth, he was known to go partying afterward and would always waste his wealth on gambling, drinking, and prostitutes. But now he needed cultivation resources the most. He had his sights set on bigger clans. Zhang You wanted to make a name for himself, like his bandit leader friend, he wanted to start his own bandit crew. And to do that he needed to be stronger. Zhang You sat cross-legged and waited for Chen Zhen to come out of the barrier again.
Chen Zhen woke up the next day and procrastinated getting out of bed because he dreaded have to chase those stupid Specter Monkeys again. Chen Zhen dragged his feet heading over to Mei Ling’s for breakfast. As Mei Ling saw his forlorn countenance she felt pity for him. She wanted to say some words of encouragement, but nothing appropriate came to mind. All she could do is pat him on his shoulder in a consoling manner. After dinner Chen Zhen walked to the training platform to increase the weight of his clothes like he always did.
“Chen Zhen before you head out today would you be willing to listen to some suggestions to help improve your movement?”, Shanggu Feng asked.
“PLEASE…. I’m going crazy trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong. I’ve sent large amounts of energy to my legs to help speed me up, but nothing is helping me to get faster. I can feel my legs getting stronger from the weight of my clothes but that is all. Why does this seem like this isn’t working?”, Chen Zhen was at his wits end at this point.
“It’s not so much that you’re doing anything wrong, it’s just that you haven’t learned to a movement technique yet. You have learned to send energy to your legs but there is much more to it then that. The way a movement technique works it that the energy flows thru your meridians following a specific pathway. This not only feeds your legs with energy, but it allows you to make the best use of the energy your legs receive. You get two to three times the explosive force for a fraction of the effort.”, Shanggu Feng explained.
“Really that’s possible? I wish I had known this days ago. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, CAN YOU TEACH ME?!”, Chen Zhen begged in exasperation.