Du Chengfeng had arrived a quarter of an hour ago.

After sharpening the hoe, he realized that the thing buried in the mountain might be very dangerous, and he needed to dig it out—before, when he didn’t have the ability, he surely would have avoided unnecessary trouble. But now that he holds such formidable power, how could he sit back and let this evil thing bring chaos to the land?

Of course, the main reason was that with his newfound power, he had successfully moved past the stage of struggling to survive and finally had the energy to do something else.

However, there was still a small incident in between. For instance, Li Family Village’s Li Dalan blocked the way to the landslide area, refusing to let him and Yu Lao’er go there—according to Li Dalan, "The mountain belongs to the village," which meant it was private property, and everything in it, every grass and tree, belonged to the Li family. Whatever they wanted to do, they had to get the Li family’s consent.

If it were the previous Du Chengfeng, this might have led to a fight. After all, it was obvious to anyone that Li Dalan had come to reap where he had not sown. After working hard for days to open up the mountain, Li Dalan wouldn’t allow entry, evidently eyeing the hidden treasures in the mountain. Who could tolerate that?

But to the current Du Chengfeng, he just felt that this young man was being a bit naughty.

It wasn’t that Du Chengfeng looked down on him or anything, but Li Family Village really didn’t have much clout—Yang Family Fortress, at least, had some claim to being descendants of generals, whereas Li Family Village was just that, nothing but a village. It had no remarkable background and no eminent figures, with Li Dalan being the only somewhat noteworthy person.

"You fancy the stuff inside?"

Du Chengfeng didn’t waste words and directly pointed out Li Dalan’s thoughts.

Li Dalan was taken aback.

"You... want to rob it directly?"

Li Dalan raised his halberd, already in a combat-ready stance.

"Even if you could split the mountain, you might not be able to take it from me... I am an imperial decree-appointed Halberd-Wielding Man, don’t take your hobby to challenge my profession."

"Uh this..."

Du Chengfeng scratched his head.

Halberd-Wielding Man, is that really so impressive?

Looking at the fierce Li Dalan, a hint of pity rose in Du Chengfeng’s heart—perhaps to others, this murderous demeanor seemed terrifying, but to Du Chengfeng, this was a young man trying to bolster himself by flaunting his achievements, attaching too much to his postured ferocity, seemingly... a bit childish.

Maybe this is how young people are. Sensing subconsciously they haven’t mastered the strength to secure their existence, they try to project a fierce demeanor to protect themselves.

"Ah."

With a sigh, Du Chengfeng shook his head and easily brushed the halberd’s edge aside.

To Li Dalan’s astonishment, his formidable Wave-Turning Halberd Technique couldn’t be executed even in the slightest.

"How about this."

Just as Li Dalan was in utter despair, thinking he’d be slain by this expert, Du Chengfeng spoke up.

"My aim was to convert this mountain into farmland as part of my training. As for who claims the land, you must see that I don’t need such little things... Just like the stuff buried in the ground, do I look like I lack that?"

"Uh."

Li Dalan was taken aback, thinking he misheard.

But Du Chengfeng remained nonchalant.

"So, how about this, I can’t occupy your place for nothing, I’ll help you dig up the stuff, if it’s safe, feel free to take it; if it’s dangerous, we can discuss how to handle it, what do you say?"

"...?"

Li Dalan was dumbfounded.

What does he think? What else can he think? This top-notch expert who can split mountains wasn’t someone he could deal with, and now the other side adopted a friendly stance, even willing to let him take the Divine Artifacts buried in the ground; what else can he do?

"Is this... what it means to be an expert?"

Walking towards the mountains, Li Dalan felt his mind turning blank.

This expert was different from those in his impression, he wasn’t supposed to be like this. Experts, as he remembered from the military, had an undeniable might, their presence alone commanded respect and fear, they exuded a powerful aura without even trying.

But with this expert before him... he couldn’t see any manifestation of power.

Just a strong physique, which wasn’t uncommon. Those who let Evil Qi into their bodies generally became robust too; what truly verified a person’s strength was actually the aura, or what we call chi.

But Li Dalan couldn’t sense any kind of aura, only a sense of indifference.

Yes, indifference, this was starkly noticeable. The expert before him didn’t care about the treasures in the mountain, nor his futile obstruction, not even his halberd or his attacks. The man called Du Chengfeng paid no heed at all.

It was as if everything was trivial to this expert.

"Is this strength?"

Although he still had some doubts, something within Li Dalan silently agreed, a certain outlook.

Or rather, a certain stance.

Nothing could harm him, so there was no sense of urgency, nothing was important enough to warrant his full effort, thus there was no need to exhibit a show of strength.

It was because he truly was powerful enough that he regarded everything around him with indifference.

Like a large beast roaming the forests, with no natural enemies, strength itself defined them, what need was there to display anything?

"So that’s it..."

Even as he watched the powerful Du Chengfeng swing his saber, cleaving a vertical pit on the thick mountain debris, Li Dalan pondered this.

Something shattered and rearranged in his mind. His understanding, his perceptions, began subtly shifting.

Even when that ash-gray phoenix appeared again, this feeling persisted. Seeing the big bird that he couldn’t comprehend, he no longer felt puzzled or lost.

Before, he might have considered this bird strong, but now... maybe this bird isn’t all that strong either.

"Come up quickly, Brother Du said he doesn’t want the stuff inside!"

Li Dalan called out, forgetting what the big bird had instructed him to do.

Yet at this moment, something else soared up before the gray-black bird could react.

"...Huh?"

Seeing the Bronze Halberd embedded in his chest, Li Dalan was suddenly at a loss.

He couldn’t even feel any pain.

Instead, he felt something pouring into his body.

A sense of the true power he just began to understand.