29: Chapter 29 Snatching food from a pile of rubble, you're really blind.

The entrance to Duobao Pavilion was right before his eyes, its gold-lacquered sign dazzling in the night.

Inside, the hubbub of voices was deafening, and a wave of heat mixed with the stench of sweat and greed rushed at him.

As soon as Ye Feng stepped over the threshold, the cacophony of noise flooded his ears.

A crowd had gathered in the center of the hall, packed in layers as if watching a monkey show.

"Place your bets! This is 'raw stone' just shipped back from the Northern Desolate Ancient Mine. Even if you only get an ounce of 'star sand' out of it, it'll be enough for you paupers to turn your lives around!"

In the center of the crowd, a young man in brocade robes tossed a dusty grey stone in his hand, his face full of mockery.

At his feet knelt a skeletal Loose Cultivator, tremblingly emptying the last few Spirit Stone fragments from his Storage Pouch.

The Young Pavilion Master of Duobao Pavilion, Zhou Yuan.

Notorious for being a ruthless predator who ate people whole.

Ye Feng had no interest in watching such forced buying and selling tricks.

He was currently penniless and needed resources that could be liquidated immediately or satisfy his hunger directly.

Suddenly, the dormant black vortex deep within his Dantian shuddered violently.

An incredibly intense hunger surged through his Meridians and straight to his head.

Like a wolf that hadn't eaten for three days and nights catching the scent of blood.

Ye Feng paused, his gaze instantly locking onto a pile of scrap metal in the corner of the hall.

That was where Duobao Pavilion piled up "appraisal rejects"—broken swords, ruined armor, and rusty copper chunks formed a small mountain.

And at the very bottom of that pile of trash lay an inconspicuous black iron ball.

It was the size of a fist, covered in rust and pits; it looked like something no one would pick up even if it were lying on the side of the road.

But at that moment, the Chaos Devouring Sword Intent within Ye Feng's body let out a roar of near-greed.

Good stuff.

Ye Feng calmly pushed through the crowd, walked straight to the pile of waste, bent down, and reached out.

"Hold on."

A foot wearing cloud-patterned boots stepped in, stomping directly onto the iron ball.

Zhou Yuan had approached at some point, still clutching that unsold grey stone. He looked down at Ye Feng with a sneer on his lips.

"Where did this beggar come from? Duobao Pavilion may be open for business, but it's not a junkyard where anyone can just rummage around."

A burst of laughter erupted from the surroundings.

Ye Feng, having just come from a fierce battle in the palace, was in tattered clothes and covered in dirt and wood chips from the Imperial Garden; he truly looked like a refugee.

Ye Feng didn't even raise his eyelids, his gaze fixed on the iron ball beneath Zhou Yuan's foot.

"How much for this?"

Zhou Yuan was taken aback, then laughed even more exaggeratedly.

He turned to an old man with a goatee behind him.

"Great Master Ge, take a look. This beggar has taken a fancy to our 'treasure'."

The old man known as Great Master Ge didn't even bother to look up. Fiddling with two jade walnuts in his hand, he cast a casual glance at the iron ball.

"Just ordinary iron. It's waste brought from the Crimson Flame Mine ten years ago, full of Impurities. It's not even worth the fuel to melt it down. It's only here to prop up a table leg."

The authoritative words of the Great Xia's number one treasure appraiser.

The onlookers' gazes toward Ye Feng became even more contemptuous.

Scavenging in a waste pile, you are truly blind.

Zhou Yuan ground his toe into the iron ball as if crushing an ant. "Did you hear that? Great Master Ge says it's scrap iron, so it's scrap iron. But since you want it so badly..."

His eyes darted around, flashing with a malicious light.

"One hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones. If you can produce them, this trash is yours. If not, leave your filthy hands behind."

A hundred Spirit Stones for a scrap iron ball? This was blatant robbery.

Ye Feng finally looked up, his pitch-black eyes devoid of any anger, showing only the calmness of looking at a dead man.

"And if I find something inside?"

The entire hall fell silent for a moment, then erupted into even louder laughter.

Zhou Yuan laughed as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world, doubling over. "Find something? From this hunk of junk? Fine! If you can get even half an ounce of spiritual material out of this, I'll swallow this stone in my hand, skin and all! And I'll do it while standing on my head!"

"Remember your words."

Ye Feng wasted no more words. He reached into his robes, pulled out those high-grade Spirit Stones he'd swiped from Xia Yunting, and casually tossed them onto the floor.

The crisp clatter made Zhou Yuan's laughter stop abruptly.

High-grade Spirit Stones? Where did this pauper get stones of such quality?

Before Zhou Yuan could react, Ye Feng had already bent down and picked up the footprint-covered iron ball.

It was ice-cold to the touch and dead heavy.

But to the senses of the Chaos Devouring Sword Body, this was no scrap iron; it was clearly a mass of violent Sword Qi that had been Sealed by time.

"Crack."

Ye Feng's fingers hooked like claws, their tips instantly gleaming with a metallic cold light as he dug them deep into the thick layer of rust.

Myriad Things Resonance, activate!

At that moment, it felt as if something inside the iron ball had been awakened.

"Buzz—!"

An extremely faint yet sharp sword hum, like a needle piercing the eardrums, suddenly rang out in the hall.

The faces of several nearby Cultivators turned pale; they felt their own swords trembling slightly at that moment.

Before the mockery could fade from Zhou Yuan's face, he saw the iron ball in Ye Feng's hand begin to vibrate violently, the rust on its surface peeling off in flakes like eggshells.

A heart-palpitating aura of sharpness was frantically leaking through the cracks.

Was that... geng metal qi?

No, it was purer and more overbearing than Geng-gold!

Great Master Ge, who had been posing as an expert, suddenly snapped his eyes open. An ancient bronze mirror appeared in his hand from nowhere, and he prepared to shine it on the iron ball.

"This aura... Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

However, the moment the light from the ancient mirror touched the iron ball...

"Snap!"

That priceless treasure-appraising spirit mirror actually exploded into powder.

It was too sharp.

A sharpness that even light could not look upon directly.

"Stop!"

Zhou Yuan's expression changed drastically. His merchant instincts told him immediately that he had misjudged; this was definitely a world-shaking treasure.

"This is a non-sale item I accidentally misplaced! It's not for sale anymore! Men, take it back!"

Several Duobao Pavilion guards rushed forward at his command.

Ye Feng's lips curled into a grin, revealing a row of forest-white teeth.

Want to go back on your word? Too late.

He suddenly clenched his fingers and applied force.

"Boom!"

The last piece of stubborn rusty iron exploded.

There was no soaring treasure light as expected; instead, a glob of liquid, thick as mercury but with a dark golden luster, floated quietly in Ye Feng's palm.

It was flowing, yet terrifyingly sharp.

The surrounding air was sliced to pieces by the fluctuations it naturally emitted, making a faint sizzling sound.

sword heart marrow.

A supreme treasure dreamed of by Sword Cultivators of the primordial era; it was both metal and Sword Qi, and a single drop could forge a divine weapon.

Holding this glob of liquid metal capable of cutting through gold and jade, Ye Feng ignored the pairs of greedily reddened eyes and turned to the pale-faced Zhou Yuan.

He weighed the treasure in his hand, his gaze falling on the dusty grey stone in Zhou Yuan's hand. His tone was as indifferent as if he were greeting an old friend.

"Tell me, how do you want to eat that stone?"

The sword heart marrow in his palm seemed to sense its master's killing intent, wriggling slightly and emitting a terrifying fluctuation that seemed to want to devour everything.

Ye Feng's Adam's apple bobbed as he stared at the golden liquid, the hunger in his eyes no longer suppressible.

Rather than using it to forge a sword, why not...

Eat it.