12: Chapter 12 The Elder's Show of Force: A Challenge Means Death

This roar brought not just sound, but a suffocating, terrifying pressure, like a ten-thousand-pound boulder smashing down from above.

The air in front of the Scripture Pavilion seemed to freeze instantly.

Ye Feng didn't even have a chance to look up before a cyan palm print arrived with a whistle.

Before the palm wind arrived, the sharp force had already sliced through his clothes, striking directly at his Dantian Qi Sea.

What a ruthless move.

No interrogation needed, no evidence required.

This palm strike was called a punishment, but it was actually meant to cripple him.

Once it landed, his Dantian would surely shatter, and he would henceforth become a cripple worse than a Mortal.

This was the rule of the cultivation world; the weak didn't even have the right to argue.

"Get down!"

Liu Qingfeng's grey robes snapped in the wind, his old face filled with arrogant indifference.

A mere Servant, killing one was just killing one. Even if it turned out to be a wrongful death, who would trouble an Outer Sect Elder for a dead man?

Want to cripple me?

Blood-colored light surged in the depths of Ye Feng's eyes. Instead of retreating, he planted his feet firmly, his legs rooted onto the bluestone slab as if they had grown there.

If I can't dodge, I'll take it head-on.

It just so happened that the medicinal power of that blood fiend pill in his body was still rampaging, unable to find an outlet.

The cyan palm print slammed fiercely into Ye Feng's lower abdomen.

Crack—

The bluestone steps beneath his feet instantly crumbled into powder. Ye Feng's legs sank more than half a foot into the ground, and his knees emitted an unbearable sound of cracking bones.

Intense pain surged like a tide, his internal organs feeling as if they had been displaced by the force of that palm.

But Ye Feng didn't make a sound.

He gritted his teeth, his mouth filled with a metallic, fishy sweetness.

The violent, peerless blood fiend Qi inside him, under the frantic compression of this external force, was actually forcibly squeezed into his limbs and bones. The crisis that was about to rupture his Meridians was instead alleviated by this near-self-mutilating method.

This old dog actually helped a lot.

The dust settled.

Liu Qingfeng's originally indifferent expression froze on his face.

The scene of bloody flesh and kneeling pleas he had expected did not appear.

That seemingly thin and weak youth still stood straight, like an unbreakable iron nail, firmly nailed into the ruins.

Except for a trace of black blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth, he was completely unharmed?

"Body Refining ninth level... No, what kind of Physical Body is this?" Liu Qingfeng's eye twitched, and a trace of chill inexplicably rose in his heart.

That palm just now used thirty percent of his power; even a Qi Gathering Realm Disciple would have broken a few bones.

"Elder Liu, what a great display of might."

Just as Liu Qingfeng was about to strike again, a cold, mocking voice came from the air.

Swoosh—

A long sword gleaming with flowing light tore through the night, hovering above everyone's heads.

Shen Lang stood with his hands behind his back on the sword, his sleeves fluttering, like an immortal descending to the world.

He looked down from above at Ye Feng, who was trapped in the pit, his gaze like he was looking at an ant still struggling.

That high-and-mighty sense of superiority was even more nauseating than Liu Qingfeng's murderous intent.

"Killing him so quickly would be too easy."

Shen Lang landed lightly, his toes not disturbing the dust, forming a tragic contrast with the mud-and-blood-covered Ye Feng. "Trash like this needs to be trampled to death like a dog in front of everyone, so that everyone knows the price of provoking me."

He walked to within three steps of Ye Feng and stood still, extending a finger to tap Ye Feng's forehead.

"I heard you received the duel challenge? That is your honor."

"Three days later, on the Life and Death Platform. I will cut off your head and hang it on the gate of the Servant Peak to dry, just in time to refine the 'Wind Slashing Sword Qi' I just mastered."

The surroundings were dead silent.

All the onlookers who had rushed over held their breath.

Shen Lang was trying to destroy him completely; not only did he want his life, he wanted to trample on his dignity.

Ye Feng slowly raised his head.

He reached out to wipe away the blood from the corner of his mouth, not roaring in anger as everyone expected, but instead revealing an extremely strange smile.

He took the tattered "Heart Clearing Mantra" from his bosom and pulled out the blood-red duel challenge tucked inside.

Right in front of everyone.

Rip.

The duel challenge was torn in half.

Tearing it again, it was pulverized.

Paper scraps flew all over the sky, like a snowfall for this farce.

"You refuse?" Shen Lang frowned slightly, a trace of contempt flashing in his eyes. "Well, all ants are greedy for life."

"No."

Ye Feng spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm mixed with blood, which landed just right next to Shen Lang's pristine white boots.

"I just feel that fighting alone is boring; we need to add some stakes."

Amidst the astonished gazes of everyone, he struggled to pull his legs out of the rubble pit. With every step he took, his bones made a teeth-grinding friction sound.

But his back was straight as an arrow, like an unsheathed broken sword—though tattered, it was sharply intimidating.

Ye Feng raised his hand, his fingertip passing Shen Lang to point directly at Liu Qingfeng's waist.

There hung a crimson crystal; even from a long distance, one could feel the terrifying fire-attribute spiritual power contained within it.

earth fire sword core.

That was a supreme treasure Liu Qingfeng had obtained in an ancient ruin; it could both temper Sword Intent and was a top-tier Material for refining high-level Magic Treasure, worth a fortune.

"Three days later, if I win, I want your life." Ye Feng stared at Shen Lang, then turned his gaze to Liu Qingfeng, his voice hoarse but resonant. "And that stone on this old dog's waist."

The whole place was in an uproar.

He was crazy.

This kid must have had his brain broken by that palm strike earlier.

A mere Servant whose Spiritual Root was ruined wanted to kill the number one Genius of the Outer Sect on the Life and Death Platform?

And he coveted the Elder's supreme treasure?

"Hahahaha!"

Liu Qingfeng laughed as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world, laughing until he bent over. "Good, very good! Since you want to die with more ceremony, this seat will grant your wish!"

In his eyes, this was not a gamble at all, but a free gift.

Shen Lang sneered repeatedly: "Ignorant thing. Since you are seeking your own death, I will let you see what a difference between clouds and mud is."

"Words are not proof."

Ye Feng's expression was calm, as if he hadn't heard the surrounding ridicule at all.

Liu Qingfeng snorted coldly and immediately bit his fingertip, drawing a blood talisman in the Void Realm.

"The Divine Soul contract is established, witnessed by Heaven and Earth! Three days later, if you do not come, your Divine Soul will be destroyed; if you win, the sword core is yours!"

The blood talisman split into two and sank into the space between their eyebrows.

The contract was made.

This was a massacre destined to have no suspense.

Except for Ye Feng himself, no one thought he could live past the sunrise three days later.

"Wait to collect your corpse."

Shen Lang took one last look at Ye Feng and flew off on his sword, and Liu Qingfeng also flicked his sleeves and left with a gloomy face.

The crowd gradually dispersed, leaving behind only whispers of mockery.

Only the old man Mo, who had been sweeping the floor at the entrance of the Scripture Pavilion, stopped what he was doing.

His cloudy old eyes stared at Ye Feng's limping but unyielding back, his fingers gripping the broom tightened slightly, a flash of unprecedented surprise in his eyes.

"To not kneel under the pressure of the Qi Gathering Realm, and to even borrow the force to refine the chaotic medicinal power in his body..."

"This kid is interesting."

When he returned to the abandoned cellar behind the Servant Peak, Ye Feng's clothes were already soaked with cold sweat.

The breath he had been holding escaped, and the intense pain instantly counterattacked.

Although Liu Qingfeng's palm strike had been mostly absorbed by the Sword Body, the remaining force had still injured his internal organs.

If the Devouring Sword Body hadn't been so tyrannical, an ordinary person would have long since shattered into a pool of meat paste.

"earth fire sword core..."

Ye Feng leaned against the cold door panel, clutching the tattered sword manual in his hand, a beast-like light flickering in his eyes.

That thing was crucial to him.

Only by devouring a fire-attribute supreme treasure of that level could his Chaos Devouring Sword Body truly awaken the first stage of the "Smelting" power, recast the broken sword, and reshape his Spiritual Root.

This was a high-stakes gamble.

The stake was his life; if he won, it would be a path to the heavens.

He took a deep breath, calmed the surging Qi and blood in his body, and reached out to push open the crumbling wooden door.

Creak—

The door opened, and a strange aura that didn't belong here, mixed with a faint, faint fragrance, rushed towards him.