22: Chapter 22 Beneath the Abyss, Surviving with a New Face

Bone-chillingly cold.

This wasn't water; it was as if millennial black ice had melted into liquid.

The immense impact felt like a heavy hammer slamming hard against his chest.

Ye Feng felt a sweetness in his throat, and another mouthful of blood was choked out, staining the pool water around him red.

Three of his ribs were broken, with one piercing into his lung; every breath brought piercing, agonizing pain.

"Can't die."

As long as there is still a breath left, he wouldn't die.

He gritted his teeth and, using the buoyancy of the pool water, forced himself onto the rocky shore.

His fingers dug into the wet, slippery rock crevices; due to the excessive force, his fingernails tore off, dripping with blood.

Yet, he didn't even frown.

The first thing he did after getting ashore was not to rest.

Ye Feng took a deep breath and pressed his right hand against the protruding broken bone on his chest.

"Crack."

A tooth-achingly crisp sound.

The misaligned bone was forcibly pressed back into place by him, expressionless.

The intense pain caused his vision to black out for a moment, and cold sweat instantly soaked his tattered clothes.

But this pain also instantly cleared his chaotic mind.

This place was not suitable for a long stay.

By the side of the pool, there was only a narrow crevice, faintly revealing a trace of dry wind.

Ye Feng dragged his heavy body, like a dying lone wolf, and silently squeezed inside.

Just as he entered, a strong smell of alcohol rushed towards him.

"Someone?"

Deep in the stone crevice, a disheveled old Taoist was holding a red gourd and drinking heartily; when he suddenly saw a bloody person crawling in, he was so startled that his hand shook, and the gourd almost shattered.

"Where did this vengeful ghost come from!"

The old Taoist screamed, and without thinking, he raised his left hand and sprinkled a handful of white powder over him.

Muscle-Softening Powder.

If a Mortal inhaled a breath of it, their bones and muscles would go limp, and they wouldn't be able to get up for three days and three nights; if a Cultivator was hit by it, their Qi circulation would also experience a momentary stagnation.

This old thing was quite ruthless.

Ye Feng didn't dodge or evade; instead, a bloodthirsty arc curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Perfect."

He activated his Chaos Devouring Sword Body and inhaled sharply.

Before the toxic powder could even touch the ground, he inhaled it all into his stomach.

The toxins that should have corroded his Meridians were shredded by the overbearing devouring power as soon as they entered his body, turning into wisps of pure energy that nourished his dried-up Dantian.

This wasn't poison at all; it was clearly a supplement.

"You... how are you fine?!"

The old Taoist's eyes were about to pop out; this was Master Ling Xu's life-saving specialty.

In the next second, a hand like an iron pincer had tightly clamped onto his throat.

Ye Feng lifted him off the ground with one hand, his eyes cold as a knife: "Move again, and you won't need your neck anymore."

Just at this moment.

The identity token at Ye Feng's waist, which had already been shattered in half, suddenly vibrated extremely slightly.

This vibration meant that within a hundred meters, there was a fellow sect member's sensing jade pendant.

The pursuers had arrived.

"I'm rich! It really is this brat!"

Outside the stone crevice, a voice filled with ecstasy rang out.

A man wearing the attire of a Qingyun Sect outer sect deacon poked his head in, his face full of greed.

His name was Li San, a notorious opportunist; if he could bring back Ye Feng's head, the resources rewarded by Elder Mo would be enough for him to squander for half a lifetime.

Li San's hand was already reaching for the communication talisman at his waist.

Only dead people wouldn't leak secrets.

Ye Feng didn't even look at him; his left hand, holding Master Ling Xu's throat, remained motionless, while his right index finger flicked lightly.

That was the last trace of sharp golden Sword Qi left on his fingertip after he had devoured the Dragon-Binding Lock before falling off the cliff.

It was too fast.

Before the ecstasy on Li San's face could fade, a red dot appeared between his eyebrows.

"Thump."

The corpse fell at the entrance of the stone crevice, the communication talisman in his hand rolled aside, and he died without being able to send it out.

Ye Feng casually threw the terrified Master Ling Xu onto the ground and walked over to search Li San's corpse.

A few broken Spirit Stones, two bottles of low-grade Medicinal Pills, and a crystal that was translucent and seemed to shift like flowing water.

Thousand-Face Phantom Crystal.

This was a disguise treasure commonly used by unorthodox paths, capable of changing a person's appearance at the skeletal level, but the process was extremely painful, and once used, it was irreversible without special means.

Since Li San carried this thing with him, it seemed he often engaged in killing and looting.

It just so happened to be useful.

Qingyun Sect must have set up a dragnet by now; Ye Feng's face could not be used for the time being.

Without any hesitation, he took the angular crystal and pressed it hard against his own face.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle."

The crystal touched his flesh and instantly melted, seeping under his skin.

Immediately after, there was the intense pain of his facial bones being forcibly crushed and reorganized.

"Click, click, click."

In the silent stone crevice, the sound of bones shifting was hair-raising.

Master Ling Xu, who was watching from the side, trembled all over, his drunkenness already half-sobered.

What kind of monster was this youth?

He could inflict such ruthlessness on himself without even a groan?

After a while.

Ye Feng raised his head.

That originally handsome and resolute face was gone; in its place was a sallow-faced, deep-eyed, sickly-looking, and gloomy youth.

Let alone Mo Yuanshan, even the Servant manager who had spent three years with him day and night wouldn't recognize this as that Trash Ye Feng.

He was now called Ye Wu.

Lawless and unrestrained.

After finishing all this, Ye Feng took out the cloth bag he had caught by the cliff earlier from his bosom.

In the cloth bag, there were only a few Top-Grade Spirit Stones and a yellow talisman paper drawn with strange runes.

As soon as the talisman paper was taken out, it seemed to have a life of its own, trembling violently, with the sword-tip-like head of the talisman pointing firmly towards the southeast.

There, it was the capital of the Great Xia Empire.

As the talisman paper trembled, Ye Feng felt the blood in his body also begin to heat up inexplicably, as if there was something there, summoning his Bloodline.

A clue to his origins?

Ye Feng put away the sword talisman and turned to look at the old Taoist cowering in the corner.

"Do you know the way to the capital?"

His voice was hoarse, carrying the metallic texture unique to his new vocal cords.

Master Ling Xu looked at those eyes devoid of any emotional fluctuation, so terrified that he nodded his head like a chick pecking at rice: "I... I know! This old Taoist has been hanging around the Imperial Capital for decades..."

"Lead the way."

Ye Feng was concise and to the point; he casually threw a few pieces of broken Spirit Stones from Li San's corpse into his mouth, crunching them like candy, "If we reach the destination, I will spare your life."

Three days later.

Great Xia Imperial Capital, North Gate.

The towering city walls were a hundred feet high, lying across the plain like a giant beast; before even getting close, a sense of the bustling Mortal World rushed towards him.

Ye Feng, draped in a cloak stripped from a dead person, mingled in the line of refugees waiting to enter the city.

Master Ling Xu followed cautiously by his side, not daring to even breathe loudly.

Suddenly, a commotion came from ahead.

"Get out of the way! Everyone get the f*ck out of the way!"

Dust flew, and the ground trembled.

A burst of rapid hoofbeats, accompanied by the terrified screams of the refugees, whistled out from within the city gate.

Ye Feng narrowed his eyes, and through the gap in his cloak, he saw a tall horse charging towards the dense crowd without any regard.