The Agony of Flaying Skin and Breaking Bones

Fearing any mishaps, Chen Bao led his armored cavalry to escort Liu Chengfeng to Tiger Mound.

"Brother, take this."

On the road, Su Youqian shoved a weapon into Liu Chengfeng's hand.

Liu Chengfeng took a look; it was a sword pellet that flowed in his palm like mercury, radiating a biting chill.

He knew it was extraordinary the moment he touched it.

"What is this?"

"The Nine Water Sword Pellet. It was once our ancestor's weapon, and when paired with the Flying Sword Technique, its power is peerless. None of our descendants have been able to comprehend the technique since, so it has been left idle."

"This sword can enter your body directly; it is safe for you to swallow it, brother."

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

A top-tier weapon from the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury was generally worth around two hundred thousand spirit stones.

The Nine Water Sword Pellet was unique, valued at nearly a million.

The price of true blood was far above that of weapons.

The Great Meng Su Family was being incredibly generous, gifting a top-tier weapon right out of the gate.

Liu Chengfeng swallowed the Nine Water Sword Pellet. As it entered his mouth, it felt like water, hiding directly within his body without any sensation of discomfort.

This was exactly the weapon he wanted. After mastering the Flying Sword Technique, Liu Chengfeng had thought that if he had a suitable weapon, its power would double.

"I have gained some insights into the Flying Sword Technique and have integrated it into an Innate Cultivation Method. I will have a copy made for the Su Family later."

Since the Su Family was generous to him, Liu Chengfeng would not be stingy either.

"Are you joking? How long has it been? Not even half a day."

Su Youqian could not believe it, yet Liu Chengfeng's expression was calm and firm; he was not joking.

"Are you even human? I've been trying to comprehend it for years and haven't gained a damn thing. In half a day, you not only understood it but also integrated it into an Innate method."

Upon receiving a definitive answer, Su Youqian jumped up.

Even Chen Bao cast a sidelong glance. The Su Family's Flying Sword Technique had not been comprehended by anyone in ten thousand years, yet Liu Chengfeng had mastered it in half a day and even evolved it into a Sage Scroll Innate method.

"Brother, this favor is massive."

A Sage Scroll Innate method from the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury was priceless and beyond estimation.

"A genius encountered once in ten thousand years."

Chen Bao exclaimed, acknowledging his genius.

The Fourth Elder had always said that Liu Chengfeng was a genius encountered once in ten thousand years, and while he had been skeptical, he believed it now.

The Fourth Elder couldn't help but puff out his chest, his face glowing with reflected glory.

"You focus on handling your affairs; leave the rest to me. This matter is of great importance, so you must succeed." Upon arriving at Tiger Mound, Chen Bao told Liu Chengfeng solemnly before leading his troops away.

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

"Time is short, so I won't enter the dojo. Please ask the Old Matriarch not to suppress the spirit vein; I will take charge of the Spirit Vein Dojo myself."

The situation was critical, and Liu Chengfeng was anxious to see the She Tian Demonic Tree.

Su Youqian acknowledged him and hurried away.

"City Lord, the exotic beasts are attacking again. I fear the brothers won't be able to hold for much longer."

Outside the city, the exotic beasts had launched another offensive, and this time, the gathered beasts were more than twice as numerous as the previous two waves.

At this moment, the sounds of slaughter outside the city were incessant, with screams echoing without end as the Great Meng City garrison engaged in another life-or-death struggle against the beasts.

The soil outside the city had been dyed red by blood, dried, and dyed red again; the ground was a dark, bruised crimson, and corpses were piled high like mountains.

"How long can we hold?" "One hour at most."

"What about the Three Retinues of the Grandmaster Mansion?" "They said they went to hunt down the leader of the exotic beasts."

"Damn it—" Chen Bao cursed, his face grave. The Grandmaster Mansion had ill intentions.

If the Great Meng Su Family perished and Lady Chen died, only the Grand Marshal and the Emperor would remain among the three great powerhouses of the Qiuchi Kingdom.

By then, the Grandmaster Mansion would be able to stand on equal footing with the Imperial Court.

If they couldn't be won over, the best course of action was to destroy them; even a rough man like Chen Bao understood this logic.

"Tell the people in the city to evacuate first, head toward Tiger Mound. If the brothers can't hold, retreat; don't fight to the death."

"Kill—"

Chen Bao took the lead, charging out of the city himself.

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

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

"To subdue you."

"Ha, ha, ha..."

The She Tian Demonic Tree burst into laughter; it was the funniest joke he had heard in his entire life.

"Junior, do you even know who I am? Even if I were hacked down to nothing but my roots today, I could still look down upon this world with pride..."

"If you could truly look down upon this world, you wouldn't be coveting a tiny spirit vein; you would have gone to plunder the great veins of the Divine Dynasty long ago."

"You death-seeking wretch, how dare you speak with such disrespect..."

The She Tian Demonic Tree was enraged. Being beheaded by the Black Emperor was one thing, and being suppressed in the Cloud Mist Marsh was something he had accepted.

But today, even a human ant dared to speak so brazenly before him.

"If you listen to my commands, I will help you reshape your body."

Liu Chengfeng interrupted the She Tian Demonic Tree.

"Ignorant ant, you dare to command me!"

The She Tian Demonic Tree was wild with fury; never had he been looked down upon like this.

Ignoring the need to keep his identity hidden, the She Tian Demonic Tree unleashed a surge of Devilish Qi, wrapping it toward Liu Chengfeng.

In an instant, demonic vines resembling whiskers sprouted and coiled around Liu Chengfeng's body.

Terrifyingly, these vines then grew their own rootlets, piercing into his flesh and growing frantically.

Every root burrowed into Liu Chengfeng's body, intending to seize total control and drain his flesh and blood dry.

Before this, the She Tian Demonic Tree hadn't even looked down upon Liu Chengfeng's meager flesh.

To a junior ant, this bit of flesh was nothing more than a mosquito's leg, but now, in his rage, he intended to suck Liu Chengfeng into a dried-up husk.

With the She Tian Demonic Tree inside him, the Celestial Body didn't even bother to act.

Liu Chengfeng let out a loud shout, unfurling the World Tree, which instantly took root in the Spirit Vein Dojo beneath the ground.

The Spirit Vein Dojo was forged and refined by the ancestors of the Su family using their mental cultivation techniques; those who were not of the Su family and had not cultivated their techniques could not absorb the dojo's spiritual energy.

When Liu Chengfeng invaded the Spirit Vein Dojo, alarms rang out across the entire Tiger Mound, and the Protective Array of the Su Family Dojo was activated.

The domineering nature of the World Tree was revealed in full force at this moment.

No matter what kind of Protective Array the Su Family Dojo possessed, no matter how powerful the techniques sealing the spirit vein were, and no matter how many layers of defense the Su ancestors had added.

It was all useless before the World Tree, which forcibly absorbed the dojo's spiritual energy, gulping it down like a whale.

What kind of method was this?

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

Inside the Blood Sea Divine Treasury, the World Tree absorbed massive amounts of spiritual energy, causing the blood sea to churn, its blood qi growing as heavy and thick as a mountain range.

"What kind of monster is this—"

The invading She Tian Demonic Tree was suddenly alarmed, and before he could react, the World Tree instantly enveloped him.

The She Tian Demonic Tree cried out that it was a disaster, wanting to turn and flee, to retreat from Liu Chengfeng's body.

But it was too late; the World Tree, having absorbed a vast amount of spiritual energy, surged, as if the weight of the entire world were pressing down upon the She Tian Demonic Tree.

At the same time, the Golden Lotus Root within the blood sea also absorbed a massive amount of blood qi.

With the support of the Su family's entire spirit vein, even as the Golden Lotus Root absorbed blood qi frantically, it had little impact on Liu Chengfeng.

Having absorbed enough blood qi, the Golden Lotus Root sprouted a long golden root-whisker, which pierced into the body of the She Tian Demonic Tree.

"Damn it—" the She Tian Demonic Tree shrieked and cursed, wanting to flee but finding himself unable to move.

The golden lotus threads sprouted countless rootlets, piercing through all of the She Tian Demonic Tree's own roots.

Being pierced through his entire body—such pain was something even an existence like the She Tian Demonic Tree could not endure, causing him to scream again and again.

This was a pain he had never even felt when he was originally beheaded.

"Damn you—"

The She Tian Demonic Tree, in his agony, disregarded his status and cursed Liu Chengfeng foully.

"Rise for me—"

Liu Chengfeng ignored the She Tian Demonic Tree. Amidst a thunderous roar, Liu Chengfeng absorbed the massive influx of spiritual energy.

He strengthened the Golden Lotus Root, filling it with infinite power, and began to pull the She Tian Demonic Tree out of the ground, inch by inch.

The She Tian Demonic Tree had countless roots growing underground, wrapping around the entire Spirit Vein Dojo.

Now that Liu Chengfeng was pulling him out of the ground inch by inch, how was this any different from skinning him and pulling out his tendons?

This pain was even more excruciating than when he had been pierced through earlier.

"Brat, I'm going to kill you—"

The She Tian Demonic Tree roared, his screams echoing incessantly from the pain.

"If you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit, this is the end you asked for."

Liu Chengfeng remained cold, gulping down spiritual energy as he pulled the She Tian Demonic Tree from the earth inch by inch, driving him to the brink of madness.

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

The Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury was washed and tempered by a massive influx of spiritual energy, producing a continuous, thunderous roar.

Under the repeated forging, his physical body became as solid as a mountain root, manifesting the appearance of dragon scales like a suit of dragon-scale armor, while his muscles and bones resonated in unison.

After spiritual energy saturated every inch of his muscles, it began to surge toward his five viscera and six bowels.

It had to be said that the foundation of the Su Family was profound; the abundance of spiritual liquid in the dojo was far beyond what the Cloud Rising Sect could compare to.

Relying on such abundant spiritual liquid, Liu Chengfeng ascended to the second stage of the Treasure Mountain.

In a short amount of time, it filled every inch of his muscles and washed over every bone, causing Liu Chengfeng to undergo a rebirth; his entire body became crystalline, exhaling a precious radiance.

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

Following this, the massive amount of spiritual energy surged into his five viscera and six bowels; this was already the third stage of assaulting the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury.

With the Human Scroll Innate Heart Method combined with the massive influx of spiritual energy, Liu Chengfeng broke through two stages in a single night.

Such a cultivation speed was simply miraculous; no matter how brilliant or talented a genius might be, they could not achieve this.

Lady Chen, who was guarding the Spirit Vein Dojo, watched the spiritual liquid in the pool dropping frantically, and she could not help but feel a pang of heartache.

They did not know how many years the Su Family had spent accumulating so much spiritual liquid, yet now it was being greedily devoured by Liu Chengfeng.

Seeing the roots of the She Tian Demonic Tree being pulled up inch by inch, Lady Chen resigned herself to it, allowing Liu Chengfeng to absorb the spiritual energy.

She was already powerless against the demonic tree; if things continued this way, the demonic tree would occupy the entire spirit vein, the entire Tiger Mound, and even Great Meng City.

When that time came, the Great Meng Su Family would surely perish.

Just as Liu Chengfeng was frantically absorbing the spirit vein and pulling up the She Tian Demonic Tree, exotic beasts breached Great Meng City.

Led by the eight-thousand-year-old Wild Boar King and the Meng Snake King, the exotic beasts surged in like a tide, slaughtering their way into Great Meng City.

Although the beast tide invading Great Meng City could not compare to the one at Little Meng Mountain, Great Meng City still could not hold them back.

Great Meng City fell into chaos, blood staining the long streets; those who could not escape or evacuate in time were slaughtered one after another under the maws of the exotic beasts.

Chen Bao led the iron cavalry of Great Meng City, fighting while retreating toward the direction of Tiger Mound.

Chen Bao had fought until he was delirious, covered in blood; even with the Hunshan Ding Armor protecting his body, he was covered in wounds.

Chen Bao risked his life, fighting and retreating to buy time for the citizens in the city to evacuate.

As for the three retainers of the Grandmaster Mansion, they were on the outskirts of the city, putting on a show of pursuing the exotic beasts, but they only killed a small number of them, allowing the beast tide to rush toward Tiger Mound.

The Grandmaster Mansion had already torn off the mask with Chen Bao, and even if they hadn't, the Grandmaster Mansion was happy to see the Great Meng Su Family trampled flat by the exotic beasts.

When the time came, they would simply claim they were unable to provide timely rescue and then clean up the aftermath.

"Kill—" Chen Bao looked as if he had been fished out of a pool of blood; he fought the Wild Boar King and the Meng Snake King single-handedly, but was beaten back step by step by the two beast kings.

With Chen Bao's strength, killing three-to-five-thousand-year-old treasure beasts was not difficult, and he could even contend with an eight-thousand-year-old beast.

But he could not withstand two eight-thousand-year-old treasure beasts, and he was being suppressed.

The soldiers of Great Meng City suffered heavy casualties and had no ability to share the pressure for Chen Bao.

"Brother Chen, I will lend you a hand."

At the moment of crisis, a bowstring twanged and an arrow arrived, accompanied by a long whistle as Nangong Renshe arrived to assist.