The Agony of Having Your Sinews and Bones Wrenched Out

Fearing anything might go wrong, Chen Bao escorted Liu Chengfeng to Tiger Mound with his cavalry.

"Brother, take this."

On the way, Su Youqian pressed a weapon into Liu Chengfeng's hand.

Liu Chengfeng looked at it. It was a sword pellet that flowed across his palm like quicksilver, radiating a chill.

He knew at once that it was no ordinary weapon.

"What is this?"

"The Nine Water Sword Pellet. It was our ancestor's weapon, and when used with the Flying Sword Technique, its power is peerless. None of his descendants ever managed to comprehend the technique, so it has lain unused ever since."

"This sword can enter the body directly. Go ahead and swallow it, brother."

The Nine Water Sword Pellet was a top-grade weapon of the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury, forged from the exceedingly rare Nine Water Silver Copper.

Top-grade weapons of the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury generally went for around two hundred thousand spirit stones.

The Nine Water Sword Pellet was exceptionally unique, worth nearly a million.

True blood was worth far more than weapons.

The Great Meng Su Family was being generous indeed, gifting a top-grade weapon straight away.

Liu Chengfeng swallowed the Nine Water Sword Pellet. As soon as it entered his mouth, it flowed like water and disappeared into his body, leaving no strange sensation.

This was exactly the weapon he wanted. After mastering the Flying Sword Technique, Liu Chengfeng had thought that with a suitable weapon, its power could be doubled.

"I've gained some insight into the Flying Sword Technique and already fused it into an Innate Cultivation Method. I'll copy it for the Su Family afterward."

The Su Family had treated him generously, and Liu Chengfeng was no miser.

"You're joking, right? How long has it been? Not even half a day."

Su Youqian couldn't believe it. Liu Chengfeng's expression was calm and resolute; he wasn't joking.

"Are you even human? I spent several years trying to comprehend it and got nothing—not a damn thing. In half a day, you not only understood it, you even fused it into an Innate method."

After getting confirmation, Su Youqian leaped to his feet.

Even Chen Bao looked over in surprise. No one in ten thousand years had managed to comprehend the Su Family's Flying Sword Technique, yet Liu Chengfeng had grasped it in half a day and fused it into a Sage Scroll Innate method.

"Brother, this is an enormous favor you've done us."

The Sage Scroll Innate Cultivation Method of the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury was beyond precious, impossible to put a price on.

"A genius like this only comes once in ten thousand years."

Chen Bao exclaimed in admiration, acknowledging Liu Chengfeng's talent.

The Fourth Elder had always said Liu Chengfeng was a genius who came once in ten thousand years. Chen Bao had been half-skeptical, but now he believed it.

The Fourth Elder couldn't help but puff out his chest, his face shining with pride, as if he shared in the glory.

"Focus on handling what's in front of you. Leave the rest to me. This matter is of great importance, so you must succeed." Once they reached Tiger Mound, Chen Bao spoke to Liu Chengfeng with grave seriousness, then rode off with his troops.

"Brother, the Old Matriarch is waiting at the Spirit Vein Dojo."

"There's no time. I won't go into the dojo. Please ask the Old Matriarch not to suppress the Spirit Vein. Let me take charge of the Spirit Vein Dojo."

The situation was urgent, and Liu Chengfeng was eager to see She Tian.

Su Youqian acknowledged him and hurried away.

"City Lord, the strange beasts are attacking again. I'm afraid the brothers won't be able to hold out much longer."

Outside the city, the strange beasts launched another attack. This time, there were more than twice as many as in the previous two assaults.

Beyond the city, the din of battle raged without end, screams rang out incessantly, and the Great Meng City garrison once again fought the beasts to the death.

The earth outside the city had been stained red with blood, dried, then stained red again. The ground was black and crimson, and corpses piled up like mountains.

"How long can we hold out?" "At most an hour."

"What about the Three Retinues of the Grandmaster Mansion?" "They said they went to hunt down the beast leaders."

"Damn it—" Chen Bao cursed, his expression grim. The Grandmaster Mansion had no good intentions.

If the Great Meng Su Family fell and Lady Chen died, only the Grand Marshal and the emperor would remain among the three great powers of Qiuchi Kingdom.

By then, the Grandmaster Mansion and the imperial family would stand as equals.

If they couldn't win someone over, the best thing was to destroy them. Even a rough man like Chen Bao understood that.

"Get the people in the city moving first. Have them retreat toward Tiger Mound. If the brothers can't hold out, they should withdraw. Don't fight to the death."

"Kill—"

Chen Bao charged out of the city at the head of the troops.

In the Imperial Garden, Liu Chengfeng found She Tian Demonic Tree once again.

"Heh, boy, what are you here for?"

"To subdue you."

"Ha, ha, ha..."

She Tian Demonic Tree burst into laughter. It was the funniest joke he had ever heard.

"Boy, do you even know who I am? Even if I were cut down to nothing but my roots today, I would still look down on everyone alive..."

"If you really looked down on everyone alive, you wouldn't covet a tiny Spirit Vein. You'd have gone to seize one of the Divine Dynasty's great veins long ago."

"You ignorant wretch! How dare you speak to me so disrespectfully..."

She Tian Demonic Tree flew into a rage. Being slain by the Black Emperor was one thing; being suppressed in Cloud Mist Marsh was something he could accept, too.

But now even a human ant dared to boast so brazenly in front of him.

"If you obey me, I'll help you rebuild your body."

Liu Chengfeng cut She Tian Demonic Tree off.

"An ignorant ant dares to order me around!"

She Tian Demonic Tree raged. When had anyone ever dared to treat him with such contempt?

She Tian Demonic Tree no longer cared about revealing himself. Demonic energy surged forth and swept toward Liu Chengfeng.

In an instant, tendril-like demonic vines grew around Liu Chengfeng, coiling over his body.

Horrifyingly, the vines wrapped around him sprouted roots that pierced into his body and grew wildly.

All the roots burrowed into Liu Chengfeng's body, seeking to control him completely and drain his flesh and blood.

Until now, She Tian Demonic Tree hadn't considered Liu Chengfeng's meager flesh and blood worth his notice.

A mere ant's flesh was no more than a mosquito's leg. But now, in his fury, he meant to suck Liu Chengfeng dry and leave him a corpse.

Even the Celestial Body had disdained to act when She Tian Demonic Tree entered Liu Chengfeng's body.

Liu Chengfeng gave a loud shout and unfurled the World Tree, which instantly rooted itself in the Spirit Vein Dojo beneath the ground.

The Spirit Vein Dojo had been built and refined by generations of the Su Family's ancestors using their Heart Method. Anyone who wasn't a member of the Su Family and hadn't cultivated the Su Family's Heart Method couldn't absorb the dojo's spiritual energy.

When Liu Chengfeng invaded the Spirit Vein Dojo, alarms rang throughout Tiger Mound, and the Protective Array of the entire Su Family Dojo sprang into action.

The World Tree's domineering nature was laid bare in that moment.

No matter what kind of Protective Array guarded the Su Family Dojo, no matter how powerful the Heart Method sealing the Spirit Vein was, and no matter how many layers of protection the Su Family's ancestors had added,

none of it worked against the World Tree. It forcibly absorbed the dojo's spiritual energy, gulping it down like a whale swallowing the sea.

What kind of ability was this?

The Old Matriarch, Lady Chen, who guarded the Spirit Vein Dojo, was shocked, but she didn't stop Liu Chengfeng from devouring the spiritual energy.

Within the Blood Sea Divine Treasury, the World Tree absorbed vast amounts of spiritual energy. The Blood Sea churned, and its blood energy grew as heavy as a mountain range.

"What the hell is that—"

The invading She Tian Demonic Tree suddenly cried out in alarm. Before he could react, the World Tree instantly engulfed him.

She Tian Demonic Tree realized something was wrong and tried to turn and flee, to withdraw from Liu Chengfeng's body.

But it was too late. Swollen with the massive amount of spiritual energy it had absorbed, the World Tree surged forward, as though the entire world were pressing down on She Tian Demonic Tree.

At the same time, the Golden Lotus Root in the Blood Sea also absorbed a vast amount of blood energy.

With the Su Family's entire Spirit Vein supporting him, even the Golden Lotus Root could absorb blood energy as frantically as it pleased without greatly affecting Liu Chengfeng.

Having absorbed enough blood energy, the Golden Lotus Root grew a long golden tendril, which pierced into She Tian Demonic Tree's body.

"Fuck—" She Tian Demonic Tree screamed and cursed. He wanted to flee, but he couldn't move.

The golden tendril sprouted countless roots of its own, piercing through every root of She Tian Demonic Tree.

His entire body had been pierced through. Even an existence like She Tian Demonic Tree couldn't endure such pain; he screamed over and over again.

He had never suffered such pain, not even when he was slain.

"You son of a—"

In his agony, She Tian Demonic Tree forgot all dignity and cursed Liu Chengfeng at the top of his lungs.

"Up you come!"

Liu Chengfeng ignored She Tian Demonic Tree. Amid the rumbling, he absorbed a vast amount of spiritual energy.

The Golden Lotus Root swelled with boundless strength and slowly pulled She Tian Demonic Tree out of the ground, inch by inch.

She Tian Demonic Tree had grown countless roots underground, wrapped around the entire Spirit Vein Dojo.

Now Liu Chengfeng was pulling him out of the ground inch by inch. How was that any different from flaying him and wrenching out his sinews?

This pain was worse even than having his entire body pierced just moments before.

"Boy, I'll kill you—"

She Tian Demonic Tree roared, screaming endlessly from the pain.

"You refused the toast and chose the punishment. This is what you get."

Liu Chengfeng remained cold and impassive, gulping down spiritual energy as he hauled She Tian Demonic Tree out of the ground inch by inch, leaving him in unbearable agony.

At the same time, Liu Chengfeng circulated the Golden Dragon Heart Method to temper the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury.

Vast amounts of spiritual energy washed over and tempered the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury. The rumbling never ceased.

After being tempered again and again, his body became like a mountain's root. Dragon scales appeared across it like armor, and every sinew and bone in his body thrummed in unison.

Once spiritual energy filled every inch of his muscles, it began surging toward his five viscera and six bowels.

The Su Family's foundation truly ran deep. The spiritual liquid in its dojo far surpassed anything the Cloud Rising Sect could compare with.

With such an abundance of spiritual liquid, Liu Chengfeng advanced to the second stage of the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury.

In a short time, spiritual energy filled every inch of his muscles and washed over every sinew and bone, completely renewing him. His whole body gleamed, radiating and swallowing treasure-light.

He had cultivated the second stage of the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury to perfection.

Then the vast amount of spiritual energy surged into his five viscera and six bowels. This was already the third stage of the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury.

With the Human Scroll Innate Heart Method and a vast amount of spiritual energy, Liu Chengfeng broke through two stages in a single night.

Such a cultivation speed was simply divine. No matter how astonishingly talented they were, no genius could manage it.

Lady Chen, who guarded the Spirit Vein Dojo, watched the spiritual liquid in the pool rapidly dwindle and couldn't help feeling the loss.

Their Su Family must have spent countless years accumulating all that spiritual liquid, and now Liu Chengfeng was gulping it down.

Seeing the Demonic Tree's roots being pulled out inch by inch, Lady Chen accepted it and let Liu Chengfeng absorb the spiritual energy.

She could do nothing about the Demonic Tree anymore. If things continued like this, it would take over the entire Spirit Vein and all of Tiger Mound, perhaps even Great Meng City.

Then the Great Meng Su Family would surely perish.

As Liu Chengfeng devoured the Spirit Vein and pulled She Tian Demonic Tree out, the strange beasts broke through Great Meng City.

Led by the Wild Boar King, with its eight thousand years of life, and Meng Snake King, the strange beasts surged into Great Meng City like a flood.

Although the beast tide invading Great Meng City couldn't compare to the one at Little Meng Mountain, Great Meng City still couldn't hold it back.

Great Meng City descended into chaos. Blood stained the long streets, and those who hadn't managed to escape or evacuate were slaughtered by the strange beasts.

Chen Bao led Great Meng City's cavalry in a fighting retreat toward Tiger Mound.

Chen Bao had fought himself into a frenzy. He was covered in blood, and even with the Hunshan Ding Armor protecting him, his body was riddled with wounds.

Chen Bao fought with all his might as he retreated, buying time for the people in the city to evacuate.

As for the Grandmaster Mansion's Three Retinues, they were at the city's outskirts, pretending to pursue the beasts. They only killed a small number of them, letting the beast tide surge toward Tiger Mound.

The Grandmaster Mansion had fallen out with Chen Bao. Even if it hadn't, the Grandmaster Mansion would have been glad to see the Great Meng Su Family trampled into the ground by the beasts.

Then they could simply claim that they had arrived too late to help and clean up the aftermath.

"Kill—" Chen Bao looked as if he had been hauled out of a pool of blood. He faced the Wild Boar King and Meng Snake King alone, driven back step by step as the two beast kings beat him down.

With Chen Bao's strength, killing a three-to-five-thousand-year-old treasure beast wouldn't be difficult, and he could even hold his own against an eight-thousand-year-old one.

But against two eight-thousand-year-old treasure beasts, he couldn't hold out. They pressed him hard.

The soldiers of Great Meng City suffered heavy casualties and couldn't spare anyone to relieve the pressure on Chen Bao.

"Brother Chen, I'll lend you a hand."

At this critical moment, a bowstring twanged and an arrow arrived. With a long cry, Nangong Renshe came to his aid.