17: Chapter 17 Ancient Sword God?

Splash.

The moment he entered the water, there was no warmth as imagined, only a sizzling sound similar to strong acid corrosion.

This was no Cleansing Marrow Pool; it was clearly corpse-dissolving liquid.

The excruciating pain felt like countless blunt knives scraping against his nerves simultaneously.

Ye Feng opened his eyes abruptly and looked down, only to see his originally sturdy chest skin turning black and festering at a speed visible to the naked eye; at this moment, he could even see the squirming bright red muscle fibers underneath.

What a fine "Cleansing of the Marrow and Refining of the Essence."

That old dog Mo Yuanshan couldn't even be bothered to pretend anymore; he intended to melt him directly into a puddle of blood just to see what secrets were hidden in his bones.

"Want my life?"

Ye Feng sneered in the murky, highly toxic green pool water. Because his facial muscles were being corroded, the smile appeared exceptionally hideous. "Then you'd better have a good set of teeth."

If he were an ordinary Cultivator, even one at the Foundation Establishment Stage would have long since turned into a pile of white bones by now.

But inside Ye Feng's body at this moment, it felt as if a furnace had been ignited.

That "earth fire sword core" he had just swallowed and hadn't had time to refine was raging wildly in his abdomen, fretting over having nowhere to vent this violent energy.

The stimulation from the extreme cold poisonous water outside, on the contrary, formed a bizarre balance at this very moment.

More importantly, the Chaos Devouring Sword Body was hungry.

Since you want to melt me, then I will eat you.

Ye Feng's figure sank, diving straight to the bottom of the pool.

His fingers touched a Profound Gold heavy chain, as thick as a child's arm, used at the bottom of the pool to stabilize the eye of the Spirit Gathering Formation.

This thing was incomparably hard; ordinary blades could not damage it in the slightest.

"Devour for me!"

Ye Feng gripped the iron chain tightly with both hands, a beast-like low growl emitting from his throat.

The vortex within his body reversed frantically.

The bone-melting poison that had originally invaded his body was forcibly dragged into his Dantian by an overbearing suction force before it could even corrode his internal organs.

Immediately after, the Profound Gold heavy chain emitted a teeth-grinding, twisting sound, and the black metallic essence transformed into thousands of streams of flowing light, pouring frantically into Ye Feng's arm Meridians.

It was a hundred times more painful than death by a thousand cuts.

This process of forcibly devouring metal to strengthen his Physical Body was no different from shattering his entire skeleton and rebuilding it.

Crack, crack, crack.

As the metallic essence merged, Ye Feng's previously slightly hunched back suddenly straightened, and his spine emitted a series of explosive sounds.

That feeling wasn't like growing; it was more like evolving.

His clothes had long since turned to ash in the poisonous water. One could see at his spine, where the flesh had curled back, three inch-long, ghastly white bone spurs with a dark golden metallic luster slowly piercing through his skin, hooked onto his back hideously like barbs.

Just then, an extremely obscure fluctuation swept past.

The cold Divine Sense overhead that had been locking onto him suddenly seemed to hit an invisible wall and was instantly repelled.

It was Mo Yuanshan's surveillance being interrupted.

By the side of the pool, an old man wearing a tattered gray robe appeared silently.

Old Mo held a wine gourd in his hand, looked at the boiling pool water with murky eyes, and casually threw something into the water.

It was a broken sword tip, covered in rust, looking like scrap iron that had been buried in a garbage heap for thousands of years.

"There is a big guy pressed underneath; that is a little 'thought' left behind by the Ancient Sword God back then."

The old man's voice, compressed by spiritual energy, transformed into a thin line and precisely drilled into Ye Feng's ears at the bottom of the pool. "How much you can eat depends on whether your life is tough enough, kid."

Ancient Sword God?

Ye Feng's heart jolted.

This old man was truly unfathomable; not only did he know his Physique, but he also dared to pass him a knife right under Mo Yuanshan's nose.

Whether it was a pie or a trap, he would eat it first.

Leveraging the weight of the Profound Gold heavy chain, Ye Feng kicked the pool wall hard, and his whole body, like a black fish, plunged fiercely into the silt at the deepest part of the pool bottom.

Under the silt, there was no brilliance of any Sharp Weapon.

Only that rusty sword tip that had just been thrown down was inserted quietly into the mud and sand.

But the moment Ye Feng's fingertips touched that fragment.

It was as if an ancient thunderclap exploded in his mind.

A terrifying Sword Intent, desolate, lonely, and seemingly capable of severing the firmament, instantly surged along his fingertips and breached the defenses of his Sea of Consciousness.

It wasn't him devouring the Sword Intent.

It was this Sword Intent forcibly pouring into his body!

"Ah!!!"

Ye Feng let out a silent roar at the bottom of the pool; his eyes instantly became bloodshot, and two trails of bloody tears drifted away, mixing with the pool water.

At the same time.

Within a hundred miles, inside the Heavenly Sword Sect's inner sect.

Countless Disciples who were Cultivating, sparring, or walking with long swords on their backs suddenly discovered in horror that the swords at their waists were uncontrollably trembling violently.

Clang—!

Ten thousand swords sang in unison.

All the sword tips pointed in unison towards the direction of the Cleansing Marrow Pool, as if paying homage to a monarch who had just awakened.

The pavilion outside the Cleansing Marrow Pool.

Mo Yuanshan, who was resting with his eyes closed and waiting for Ye Feng to melt into a pool of blood, opened his eyes abruptly.

The jade tablet used to monitor the spiritual energy concentration of the Cleansing Marrow Pool was now covered in cracks, and its originally emerald green color instantly turned deathly pale.

"Spiritual energy... dried up?"

Mo Yuanshan's pupils constricted sharply.

This Cleansing Marrow Pool had accumulated sixty years of Earth Vein spiritual liquid; even a Golden Core Stage powerhouse couldn't absorb one-tenth of it if they went in, so how could it have completely dried up in the time it takes to burn an incense stick?

That brat not only didn't die, but he was also up to mischief inside!

"Bastard!"

Mo Yuanshan shattered the tea table in front of him with a palm strike, his figure transformed into an afterimage, crashing through the pavilion window, and rushed straight toward the Cleansing Marrow Pool.

The moment he landed, the heavy refined iron door was kicked flying from the inside.

The heavy iron door smashed toward Mo Yuanshan like a cannonball, only to be split in two by a casual wave of his hand.

The dust dissipated.

The pool, originally filled with green toxic liquid, was now clean, and even the silt at the bottom looked as if it had been scorched by a raging fire, cracking into dry, hard clods of earth.

A bare-chested figure was walking up step by step from the dried-up pool bottom.

With every step he took, he left a deep footprint on the bluestone slab beneath his feet.

At this moment, Ye Feng's skin was no longer a pale human color but shimmered with a faint dark golden luster. The three hideous bone spurs on his spine had already receded beneath the skin, leaving only three totem-like dark patterns.

He slowly raised his head.

In those eyes, there were no pupils, only two tiny yet extremely sharp sword shadows slowly rotating.

Mo Yuanshan looked at this Servant who, just a few minutes ago, was still at his mercy, and now felt an instinctive palpitation, even subconsciously taking half a step back.

Is this brat... still human?

"Elder Mo, thank you for the hospitality."

Ye Feng twisted his neck, emitting a crisp sound like the clashing of metal, and the corner of his mouth hooked into a bloodthirsty arc. "This bath was truly refreshing."

Mo Yuanshan's expression was so gloomy that it seemed ready to drip water, and his hands inside his sleeves were tightly clenched.

But he could not make a move.

The anomaly of ten thousand swords singing in unison outside had already alarmed too many people; if he were to openly kill a Disciple who had just come out of seclusion now, even as the Grand Elder, he wouldn't be able to suppress it.

"Good, very good."

Mo Yuanshan took a deep breath, the killing intent in his eyes almost solidifying. "Since you didn't die, then get lost to the martial arts arena."

He stepped aside, yielding a path leading to a dead end.

"There, something more interesting is waiting for you."

Ye Feng didn't waste any words; he wrapped himself in a spare black robe from the shelf nearby and strode out of the martial arts arena gate.

The wind carried the sound of hubbub from afar.

In the center of that huge circular martial arts arena, an Iron Tower-like sturdy figure was standing on the ring.

That person was holding two Heaven-Shaking Hammers, each as large as a millstone, and every casual swing would smash out a dull sonic boom in the air.

That was the inner sect's Power King, Wang Meng.

He was also the fiercest dog in Mo Yuanshan's hand.