8: Chapter 8 Blood Pool in the Back Mountain: The Taste of Feeding Dogs

It was a scream that sounded like a pig being slaughtered for the New Year, shrill enough to pierce through the damp, cold mist.

Ye Feng's footsteps came to an abrupt halt, and he pushed aside a cluster of withered thorns, following the sound.

Ten steps away, a figure resembling a meatball was rolling in the mud.

Sun Dazhuang.

This chubby fellow, who was usually honest and simple, and who always secretly saved white flour steamed buns for Ye Feng in the kitchen, was currently covered in mud, his left lower leg clamped tightly in the jaws of a black-furred Spirit Beast the size of a calf.

Snap.

The teeth-grinding sound of bones rubbing against each other was clearly audible.

"Let go! I... I really don't have any left!"

Sun Dazhuang's facial fat trembled from the pain as he desperately tried to kick the dog's head with his other foot, but his meager strength was no different from scratching an itch against the thick-skinned Spirit Beast.

On a nearby bluestone stood a sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked Servant, arms crossed, with a playful look on his face.

"What are you playing dead for? Young Master Lin said today's Corrupt Blood Grass must be doubled. You dug twenty stalks, but only handed in ten. Did you eat the rest yourself?"

The man raised his foot and kicked Sun Dazhuang in the ribs, sending him curling up like a shrimp.

"Black Fiend, teach him a lesson. Use the meat on his leg to make up for the missing portion."

The vicious dog, called Black Fiend, let out a low growl in its throat, its eyes gleaming with bloodthirsty red light, and it violently shook its head to tear, looking as if it was about to rip off a large chunk of flesh along with the skin.

A figure crashed through the mist, arriving before them with a fierce gust of wind.

The sharp-mouthed Servant only felt a blur before his eyes; before he could clearly see the newcomer, a rough, powerful hand had already clamped onto the back of Black Fiend's neck like an iron hoop.

"Who..."

There was no wasted talk, nor was there any chance given to this beast to let go.

Ye Feng's five fingers tightened abruptly, and the wisp of Chaos Sword Intent he had just trained permeated through his fingers, instantly piercing through the Spirit Beast's most fragile cervical spine.

This low-tier Spirit Beast, which was capable of crushing rocks, didn't even let out a whimper as its spine was crushed like a crispy twist.

The originally tense dog body instantly went limp, dead as a doornail.

Ye Feng casually tossed the dead dog into the bushes like trash and looked down at Dazhuang's wound.

It was a bloody mess, with the white, jagged bone exposed.

"Feng... Brother Feng?"

Sun Dazhuang was covered in cold sweat from the pain. After seeing who it was, the expression on his chubby face was uglier than crying, "Why did you come here... Run quickly, this is Senior Brother Lin Tian's dog..."

"You are courting death!"

The sharp-mouthed Servant was stunned for two seconds before reacting, looking at the dead pet on the ground, his eyes instantly bloodshot, "You dare kill Young Master Lin's Black Fiend? You sweeping piece of trash, are you tired of living!"

He drew the long sword from his waist, a cold, gleaming refined steel sword; although it was not a ranked Spiritual Artifact, it was sharp enough.

"Die for me!"

The sword tip thrust straight at Ye Feng's throat, fast and vicious.

Ye Feng didn't even dodge.

He merely extended his left hand like lightning the moment the sword tip was about to pierce his skin, grabbing the sharp blade.

In the Servant's horrified gaze, Ye Feng's palm seemed to be wearing an invisible metal glove; the blade made a teeth-grinding sound against his palm, sparks flying, yet it couldn't even cut through a layer of skin.

"This... How is this possible?"

"Too slow."

Ye Feng's voice was as cold as the wind on the back mountain.

His right hand extended in one fluid motion, and before the Servant could draw back his sword, he clamped onto the fingers holding the sword.

He squeezed with force.

Crack!

"Ah—!"

A shrill scream sounded once more as the Servant's three fingers were bent backward and snapped, appearing in a bizarre, twisted shape.

The long sword clattered to the ground.

Ye Feng kicked him in the back of the knee, forcing him to kneel, then grabbed his hair and slammed his face, twisted with pain, into the mud.

"I'm in a hurry, I'll only ask once."

Ye Feng stared into his terrified eyes, "Dazhuang is an honest man and never hides anything. Why are you forcing him to hand over double the Corrupt Blood Grass? Where is Lin Tian?"

"Bah... You're done for! Ye Feng, you're finished!"

The Servant spat out a mouthful of bloody foam; although he was trembling with pain, the resentment in his eyes did not diminish at all, "Young Master Lin is in the rift valley inside! He is using 'blood essence ore' for Body Tempering! When he consumes the blood fiend pill and comes out of seclusion, he will definitely skin you and pull out your tendons..."

blood essence ore?

Ye Feng's heart skipped a beat.

That was a miraculous object formed by the coexistence of earth vein Evil Qi and metal Ore veins; for ordinary Cultivators, it was highly toxic, causing rot upon touch, and it required complex processes to refine.

But for the Chaos Devouring Sword Body...

That was a feast even more nourishing than Spirit Stones.

"Can you still walk?"

Ye Feng turned to help Dazhuang up.

"The bone might be cracked."

Dazhuang sucked in cold air from the pain and tore off his hem to tighten the wound, "Brother Feng, don't worry about me. Lin Tian is an inner sect Genius, we can't afford to provoke him. While he hasn't discovered us yet..."

"If there's good stuff, not taking it would be a sin against heaven."

Ye Feng didn't say another word, carried the one-hundred-eighty-jin Sun Dazhuang on his back, and rushed toward the rift valley indicated by the Servant.

The deeper they went, the stronger the smell of blood in the air became, even carrying a sweet, rusty scent.

Ye Feng felt every pore on his body cheering.

It was the hunger deep within his body roaring.

The bit of refined gold Qi obtained from devouring the discarded sword earlier was just like an appetizer; it couldn't satisfy the appetite of the Chaos Sword Body at all.

And ahead, there was a full-course banquet.

A quarter of an hour later.

The two crept to the top of a hidden rift valley.

Rolling waves of heat mixed with blood Qi rushed toward them.

Ye Feng settled Dazhuang in a crevice of a sheltered rock and lay on the edge of the cliff to peek downward.

He saw that at the bottom of the rift valley, there was a natural stone pool three zhang square.

What was churning in the pool was not water, but crimson, viscous blood plasma.

And at the bottom of the pool, it was covered with dense, fist-sized dark red Ore—blood essence ore.

They emitted an eerie red light, illuminating the entire bottom of the pool.

A shirtless youth was sitting cross-legged in the center of the blood pool.

Lin Tian.

At this moment, his skin was crimson, and his veins were bulging like earthworms; he was clearly at a critical moment of Cultivating.

He was holding an exquisite jade bottle in his hand, carefully pouring out a Medicinal Pill the size of a dragon's eye.

The Medicinal Pill was entirely blood-red, and there were even vein-like patterns pulsing on its surface.

From far away, Ye Feng could smell the intoxicating medicinal fragrance.

"Finally... the refining is complete."

Lin Tian looked at the Medicinal Pill in his hand, a fanatical, ferocious grin appearing on his face, "As long as I swallow this blood fiend pill and absorb this pool of blood essence ore, I will be able to Cultivate the 'Blood Fiend Sword Body'! By then, a spot in the top three of the inner sect competition will definitely be mine!"

Ye Feng licked his dry lips.

He stared fixedly at the pool of shimmering Ore and the Medicinal Pill in Lin Tian's hand.

Every cell in his body was screaming: Eat it! Eat it!

Cultivate what Blood Fiend Sword Body? It's simply a waste of natural treasures.

Such good things must go into his own stomach to be fully utilized.

Ye Feng slowly straightened his body, his internal spiritual power running crazily, like a hard bow pulled to its limit, ready to be released.