57: Chapter 57: A Killing God Emerges from the Slums—Who Dares to Touch My People?

This was the filthiest corner of Tianji City, the air thick with the stench of rotting slop and mildew.

A few scrawny rats, only half the size of a palm, poked their heads out by the sewer.

In this place that even the moonlight shunned, a few incongruously luxurious palace lanterns were lit.

Ye Feng had just turned the corner of the alley when his footsteps paused.

Lying in the mud puddle at the end of the alley was a person.

The man was in rags, his back covered in footprints, his face a mixture of mud and blood, swollen beyond recognition, yet he was clutching a tattered Storage Pouch to his chest.

It was Lin Bei.

The poor Loose Cultivator whom Ye Feng had casually saved a few days ago just because he had given Ye Feng half a bun.

At this moment, a gold-trimmed boot was stomping fiercely on Lin Bei's head; it was Zhao Kuang.

A collateral branch member of the Great Xia Imperial Family, a notorious mad dog.

"Your bones are quite hard." Zhao Kuang toyed with a crimson soft sword, its blade flicking like a snake's tongue, exuding a sinister, bloody aura. "That bastard surnamed Ye was infinitely glorious at the banquet, why didn't he bring you, his dog, along to enjoy the blessings?"

Lin Bei's mouth was full of mud, yet he struggled to speak: "Senior Brother Ye... is not a bastard..."

"Still running your mouth."

Zhao Kuang sneered. He hadn't been qualified to attend the banquet, but hearing that Battle Heaven Dragon had been humiliated by Ye Feng, he had come to the slums to vent his anger on this lone "Ye Feng's lackey."

"Since you are so loyal, I'll break your shoulder blades first and hang you at the city gate to see if your master comes to save you!"

A cold light flashed.

The crimson soft sword carried a sharp whistle as it thrust straight at Lin Bei's back.

If this sword struck true, Lin Bei would be a cripple for the rest of his life.

Whoosh—!

No roar, no wasted words.

In the darkness, an inconspicuous pebble shot out like a shooting star chasing the moon.

A crisp sound of metal clashing rang out.

Zhao Kuang felt a violent jolt in his hand, and half his body went numb instantly.

The top-grade Magical Artifact soft sword in his hand, capable of cutting iron like mud, was actually broken in half by this pebble, and the broken tip flew off, spinning and embedding itself deep into the mud wall nearby.

"Who?!" Zhao Kuang retreated in horror, clutching his bleeding right hand.

The shadows dispersed, and Ye Feng walked out slowly.

He didn't even glance at Zhao Kuang, but walked to Lin Bei's side, bent down, and kicked away the broken sword that had stepped on Lin Bei's head.

"Senior... Senior Brother Ye..." Lin Bei struggled to open his eyes, his face full of shame, "I've disgraced you..."

"If you can endure without begging for mercy, you haven't disgraced me."

Ye Feng casually stuffed a Medicinal Pill for healing into Lin Bei's mouth, then turned around, his gaze falling on Zhao Kuang.

That look was as if he were watching a pig waiting to be slaughtered.

"You... You are Ye Feng?!" Zhao Kuang recognized this face; although he hadn't been close enough at the banquet, he had seen the portraits.

A tremendous fear instantly gripped his throat, but it was immediately followed by shame and anger.

Battle Heaven Dragon wasn't here, and neither was Divine Calculator Zhuge, and he had four death soldiers behind him!

"Get him! Kill him!"

Zhao Kuang shrieked hysterically.

In the shadows behind him, four black-armored death soldiers were already poised for action.

"Form up! Coordinate and surround!"

The four men moved like lightning, instantly occupying the four cardinal directions, their internal spiritual power resonating wildly.

A crimson wave of fire rose out of thin air, and four battle sabers connected into a net of fire, sealing off all of Ye Feng's retreat paths.

This strike was enough to strangle a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator.

"Ignorant."

Ye Feng stood in the center of the fire net, not even lifting an eyelid.

If it were before, he might have needed to draw his sword.

But now, having devoured so many high-level metals and spiritual objects, his body itself was the strongest weapon.

He stepped forward, crashing directly into the most scorching part of the fire net.

"Chaos Sword Body, Strip!"

The pores all over Ye Feng's body seemed to turn into countless tiny black holes at this moment.

The originally violently raging flame Saber Qi, capable of melting gold and iron, suddenly felt as if its spine had been ripped out when it touched the three-inch radius around Ye Feng's body.

The fire was still the same fire, but the "heat" and "spirituality" within it vanished instantly.

All that remained was the superficial red light.

The four death soldiers hadn't even reacted to what had happened before they felt their internal spiritual power pouring out uncontrollably, like a bursting river.

The "fire spirit" at the core of the Formation had been eaten by Ye Feng in one gulp!

Having lost its attribute support, the violent spiritual power instantly backlashed.

"Pfft—!"

The four death soldiers spat out blood in unison, their chests feeling as if struck by heavy hammers, and they flew backward like broken ragdolls, crashing into the crumbling mud walls nearby before falling silent.

One move.

The Formation was broken, and the men were dead.

"This... How is this possible?!"

Zhao Kuang was scared out of his wits. Those were death soldiers the Family had spent a fortune to cultivate!

Run! Must run!

He didn't hesitate to crush a "Divine Movement Talisman" hidden in his sleeve, and his whole body turned into a residual shadow, instantly darting a hundred meters away.

"Did I let you leave?"

A cold voice rang out behind him.

Ye Feng raised his right hand and grabbed into the Void Realm at Zhao Kuang's fleeing back.

In his palm, a vortex suddenly rose.

A terrifying suction force, like an invisible chain, instantly locked onto Zhao Kuang's ankle.

"Get back here!"

Zhao Kuang felt his body lighten, the power of the Divine Movement Talisman unable to resist this brutal suction, and he was forcibly dragged back from mid-air, slamming face-first into the mud puddle at Ye Feng's feet.

That was the same place Lin Bei had been lying just a moment ago.

"No... I am a member of the Great Xia Imperial Family, if you dare to touch me, the Great Xia iron cavalry will trample..."

Ye Feng stepped on the back of Zhao Kuang's head, crushing his unfinished threat along with half his face into the foul-smelling black mud.

"You enjoyed stepping on him just now, didn't you?"

Ye Feng was expressionless, his right hand forming a claw, directly gripping Zhao Kuang's Dantian location.

"No! Don't!!"

Feeling the frantic loss of spiritual power in his Dantian, Zhao Kuang let out a scream like a slaughtered pig.

That was his Foundation Establishment cultivation that he had painstakingly cultivated for twenty years!

But in front of the Chaos Devouring Sword Body, there was no reasoning to be had.

Within a few breaths, Zhao Kuang's originally plump body rapidly shriveled, the light in his eyes dissipated completely, and like a salted fish drained of water, he lay softly in the mud.

Ye Feng shook his hand in disgust, as if he had just pinched a bedbug to death.

Just then, at the top of an abandoned bell tower hundreds of meters away.

The night wind whistled.

Divine Calculator Zhuge, dressed in plain clothes, held the ancient compass in his hand, his gaze piercing through the heavy night, staring fixedly at the youth standing in the mud of the slums.

Even from such a distance, the devouring power that had erupted just a moment ago caused the needle on the compass to tremble crazily, emitting a hum that signaled it was beyond its capacity.

Crack.

A fine crack appeared on the surface of the compass.

A line of blood-colored small characters slowly emerged on the compass at the moment the needle froze.

"Devouring Heaven and Earth, an anomaly of the ages; if this child appears, the nation will surely fall."

Divine Calculator Zhuge's pupils contracted, his fingertips turning slightly white.

"Nation will fall? Is it merely a Dynasty..." He murmured softly, looking up at the pale white light gradually appearing in the east, "No, this hexagram refers to, I fear, this very sky."

Boom—!

The dull and murderous sound of war drums suddenly came from the direction of the central square of Tianji City, instantly spreading throughout the entire city.

That was the signal for the start of the preliminary rounds of the All-Nations Grand Assembly.

A thousand-person melee, life or death immaterial.

Ye Feng stepped over Zhao Kuang, looking up in the direction of the drumbeats.

This was just an appetizer.

The real feast had just begun.