31: Chapter 31 Soul Search and Severed Finger: You Have No Right to Negotiate

"Crack."

The crisp sound of finger bones shattering was particularly piercing in the deathly silent hall.

It wasn't just a break, but a complete crushing.

Yes. A complete crushing.

Like a millstone crushing a withered walnut, powdery bone fragments pierced through flesh and skin, mixing with blood to smear the floor.

"Ah—!"

Zhou Yuan let out a shrill, pig-slaughtering scream, his body curling up like a shrimp as cold sweat instantly soaked his brocade robe.

The fingers are connected to the heart; such pain was enough to make any pampered Young Master break down.

Ye Feng's toes didn't move an inch; instead, he ground down even harder.

"I haven't heard what I want to hear."

His voice was flat and devoid of emotion, yet it caused the resentment in Zhou Yuan's eyes to instantly turn into extreme terror.

A madman. This was absolutely a madman with no bottom line.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" Zhou Yuan's face was smeared with snot and tears, his voice cracking from screaming. "In the south of the city! Red Flame Valley! It's a royal Forbidden Ground... Recently, there's been abnormal movement in the ley lines. An 'Earth Core Fire Lotus' is about to emerge, and the Third Prince is leading people to set up a blockade there..."

Earth Core Fire Lotus?

Ye Feng's pupils constricted slightly.

That was a natural spiritual treasure born from the essence of subterranean fire. If combined with the demonic flames of the ley line fire pool, it could not only repair the broken sword but even allow his Chaos Devouring Sword Body to take a step further, advancing from the initial stages to Minor Achievement.

This information was more than enough to pay for that scrap iron ball.

Just then, deep within the inner chamber of the Duobao Pavilion, a suffocating pressure suddenly erupted.

"You brat, how dare you!"

Accompanied by an aged, thunderous shout, a powerful palm wind struck from a distance.

The air was forcibly compressed into a visible ripple, heading straight for the back of Ye Feng's heart.

Late Stage Foundation Establishment.

This palm strike was delivered with hatred, leaving no survivors; it even enveloped Zhou Yuan on the ground within its range.

The hidden presiding Elder of the Duobao Pavilion finally couldn't hold back anymore.

A sneer curled on Ye Feng's lips. He didn't dodge or evade, instead exerting force with his foot and grabbing Zhou Yuan off the ground, swinging him like a sack of flour to block in front of himself.

"Want to kill your Young Lord? Be my guest."

"You!"

The palm wind came to a dead stop three inches from Zhou Yuan's nose.

Reversing spiritual power, he forcibly retracted the move.

From the shadows of the inner chamber, a grey-robed old man stumbled out, his face flushed red as he spat out a mouthful of blood with a "wah."

His aura instantly withered.

At the same time, on the street outside the Duobao Pavilion, the sound of rhythmic hoofbeats approached like thunder.

The clashing of armor, the sound of long sabers unsheathing—it was the Great Xia Dynasty's most elite patrol unit, the Black Rider Guards.

He couldn't delay any longer.

Ye Feng pressed his fingertips together and made a light stroke across the carotid artery on the side of Zhou Yuan's neck.

A thread-like grey Sword Qi entered through the wound, instantly lying in wait within Zhou Yuan's vital Meridians.

"This is interest."

Ye Feng leaned close to Zhou Yuan's ear, his voice like a demon's whisper: "Dare to pursue, and this Sword Intent will explode in your Dantian. If you don't want to die, tell your people to stay put."

Having spoken, he didn't even spare a glance at the blood-spitting grey-robed Elder. He gathered his breath with one hand and soared into the sky like a large bird.

"Crash!"

A large hole was smashed through the sturdy nanmu roof of the pavilion, with roof tiles and debris flying like rain.

Ye Feng's figure blended into the night, disappearing among the vast rooftops in a few leaps.

The grey-robed Elder was about to gather his breath to pursue when a jade cup suddenly flew out from a private booth on the second floor, shattering at his feet with a "snap."

Xiao Yue stood up unhurriedly, seemingly casually blocking the best pursuit route from the window. She calmly instructed the maidservant behind her, "Go investigate that person's background. Don't let the people from Duobao Pavilion spoil my fun."

The maidservant understood and flickered forward, happening to block the grey-robed Elder.

"Miss Xiao, you..." The Elder was choked with anger but didn't dare vent it on this noble guest, only able to watch helplessly as the dark figure vanished into the distance.

Xiao Yue ignored the Elder's anger. She walked gracefully to the pile of scrap iron and picked up a fragment of the iron ball that Ye Feng had casually discarded.

Her slender fingers brushed over the cross-section.

What should have been a cross-section of Gengjin Essence was now as grey and dull as lime, turning into fine powder with a gentle squeeze.

The essence inside had been sucked dry.

This was Gengjin Essence that even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator would need several days to refine with pill fire, yet it took less than ten breaths.

"Not just a madman, but a monster."

Xiao Yue discarded the powder in her hand and looked at the large hole in the roof, a hint of amusement flashing in her beautiful eyes.

Outside the city, a dense forest thirty miles away.

When Ye Feng landed, the fallen leaves beneath his feet made only a very slight rustling sound.

He leaned against a towering ancient tree, panting heavily.

Having just forcibly broken through to the Divine Sea Realm and then used his Origin Sword Qi to intimidate a Foundation Establishment expert, his Meridians were currently throbbing with pain.

But that sense of hunger had grown even stronger.

He looked up toward the southeast.

Even in the dead of night, the sky over there faintly glowed with an abnormal dark red, and the air was filled with a faint smell of sulfur.

The broken sword fragments inside him were trembling slightly, pointing in that direction.

That was the Red Flame Valley.

Ye Feng wiped his face and peeled off a "Phantom Crystal" mask as thin as a cicada's wing, revealing a handsome but sharp-featured teenage face.

Casually tearing the blood-stained beggar clothes and throwing them into the bushes, he took out a set of pre-prepared black armor from his storage ring.

This was the standard equipment of the Black Rider Guards he had pilfered while in the palace.

Dressed and with his visor snapped shut, Ye Feng was instantly enveloped in a murderous aura, indistinguishable from those royal hounds who knew only slaughter.

Since the royal family had blockaded the area, he would walk in openly.

He adjusted his armor, his figure fading into the darkness as he crept toward the valley soaked in red light.

The closer he got to Red Flame Valley, the hotter the air became, carrying a sense of dryness as it entered his lungs.

Soon, a long line of flickering torches appeared on the mountain path ahead.

At the valley entrance, hundreds of fully armed Imperial Guards surrounded the only entrance so tightly that not even water could leak through. A large banner embroidered with a golden flame emblem fluttered in the wind.

In front of the checkpoint, several people dressed as Loose Cultivators were being forcibly stopped by the Imperial Guards, the sound of their arguments drifting over with the wind.

"Why won't you let us in? Red Flame Valley is an unclaimed land!"

"This is the command of His Third Highness! If you want to enter, it's not impossible..."

A commander-like Imperial Guard sneered, his long spear thudding heavily on the ground as he pointed to a huge bronze chest nearby.

"Either get lost, or leave behind a fire-attribute Spiritual Artifact as an 'entry fee'."