Ye Feng Awakens: Who Do You Think You're Messing With?

Straining with every ounce of his strength, the old man hauled back the bowstring. The colossal ballista swung around, its terrifying maw aiming squarely at the cluster of men confronting Lu Kangnian. Sleeves rolled high, thick veins bulged across Ling Daoyan's forearms. His face twisted into a savage sneer, eyes burning with manic fervor. Scooping up a wine jar with one hand, he tipped his head back and gulped down the searing liquor. Throwing his head back, he bellowed with laughter, "Glorious!! God damn it, this feels glorious!!" Ling Daoyan's wild, arrogant laughter grated harshly against the ears of the Lu clan. To the disciples and elders of the Great Xia Sword Sect, however, the sight stirred their blood with fierce elation! Especially the disciples who had weathered the sect's darkest trials... Back then, even Ziyang Palace, with merely a handful of Soul Formation cultivators, had pressed down on the Great Xia Sword Sect until they could barely breathe. Who could have guessed their sect possessed foundations this unfathomably deep? Now, staring down eight Body Integration powerhouses and over twenty Void Refining cultivators, their sect master could boldly declare his intent to slaughter every last one of them! How could such a sect not fill their chests with immense pride? At that moment, a brilliant light shone in everyone's eyes. Only Han Chengxian and Tantai Yiting watched the spectacle with complicated, sullen expressions. If Li Guanqi had not interfered when they returned, one of them might very well have been sitting in the sect master's seat today. Suspended in midair, the faces of the Lu clan cultivators turned deathly pale. They had all witnessed Lu Tao being wounded just moments ago. Even though Lu Tao had only scrambled to defend in haste, it was glaringly obvious how devastating the ballista's destructive might truly was! Lu Wuhen's expression shifted repeatedly, his sharp eyes sweeping across the three thousand singular peaks of the Great Xia Sword Sect. For a fleeting second, an absurd illusion seized him—that the heritage of his ancient clan, passed down for tens of thousands of years, might actually be inferior to this modest sword sect. Even the eight Body Integration elders behind him broke into cold sweats. In their senses, amidst the heavens-spanning pillars of light blazing from the sect's rear mountains, there were more than a few presences whose auras eclipsed their own! Stormy waves crashed through everyone's minds, refusing to settle. With one hand resting behind his back, Lu Wuhen shot an indifferent glance toward Li Guanqi. He raised a hand, and the figures behind him began melting into the void. Turning away, Lu Wuhen cast a deep, lingering look at Li Guanqi and murmured, "I hope you have the guts to look me in the eye." Fury flared in Li Guanqi's chest the instant the words landed! *Clang!* The Moonlock Sword flashed into his palm, instantly unlocking into its full Apocalypse release. Lu Wuhen merely offered an offhand smirk. Keeping both hands clasped behind him, his form gradually began to fade into empty space. Yet the moment Lu Wuhen's silhouette dissolved, a hand roiling with pitch-black demonic miasma suddenly tore out of nothingness! At the same time, Ye Feng's icy voice drifted into his ear. "Who do you think you're messing with?" "Barking at my big brother?" Within the palm of the ghost hand, the phantasmal silhouette of a great sword materialized, slashing across in a brutally swift horizontal arc! *Ssst!* Lu Wuhen reacted with extreme speed, shifting his movement technique in a heartbeat, yet the blade shadow still slashed across the corner of his mouth. A gruesome gash tore open, ripping all the way from his lips to behind his ear! At the same instant, Lu Wuhen drove an iron fist straight out, forcefully shattering Ye Feng's shoulder with a sickening crunch! *Boom!* Lu Wuhen raised a slender finger, wiping away the blood on his cheek. A solemn weight settled over his features as he stared at the man before him. Golden hair whipped in the wind. The man's eyes were as deep and dark as an abyss, and thick demonic energy billowed from his right arm like a primordial fiend from the Abyss. Across his lean, taut frame was an intricate mesh of savage, crisscrossing scars. Ye Feng stood planted before him like a naked blade in Li Guanqi's grip. The moment Li Guanqi spoke, he would cut down the foe! Lu Wuhen smiled, chuckling softly. "Interesting... Hahahahaha!" "See you in seven days, Li Guanqi." Cao Yan and Xiao Chen hurried over from afar. Ye Feng had been at the critical final stage of his refinement, so even though they knew chaos was erupting outside, neither of them had dared to make a reckless move. Yet the instant Ye Feng opened his eyes, before his cultivation could even stabilize, he had stepped through space and vanished. By the time they caught up, Ye Feng had already carved open Lu Wuhen's cheek. Li Guanqi sheathed his sword, standing upright with a broad grin as he looked at Ye Feng. Ye Feng shrugged, muttering with unconcealed displeasure, "I should've just cleaved the bastard in two." Turning around to Li Guanqi, a silly grin replaced the grimace. "Heh, boss." Li Guanqi looked at Ye Feng with warm gratification. The current Ye Feng had undergone a total metamorphosis, his transformation unmistakable to anyone with eyes to see. His natural spiritual root was now on par with Li Guanqi's own, and his Sword Ruins belonged to a class revered even in the Immortal Realm. Deep down, Ye Feng overflowed with gratitude for everything Li Guanqi had done for him. Cao Yan and Xiao Chen felt the exact same way. If not for Li Guanqi, they would never have dared to dream of choosing a spirit ruins a second time in their lives. Moreover, the sights they had witnessed during their second ruin opening were secrets they would carry to their graves... Eighth-rank and ninth-rank ruins artifacts had been strewn across the ground like worthless garbage! Such an unimaginable treasure trove was something they could never have conceived. Needless to say, all of it was Li Guanqi's doing! Li Guanqi turned to look at Lu Kangnian. The sect master stood quietly in place, his eyes lightly closed. Though thunder rumbled fiercely across the heavens above, it did not shake his composure in the slightest. Li Guanqi sighed softly inside. Old Lu's forced breakthrough looked splendid and imposing, but it had pushed him past his limits. He would likely be plagued by the fallout for quite some time. The pillars of light ascending from the rear peaks gradually faded, and the thousands of jade slips and talismans resolved into streaks of flowing light, sweeping back to circle around Lu Kangnian. Glancing at the cultivators hovering in midair around the peaks, Li Guanqi said in a deep voice, "Everyone, return to your duties. The days ahead will be demanding." The crowd bowed deeply toward Li Guanqi before flying off to attend to their respective tasks. Those outside sects and clans desperate to latch onto the Great Xia Sword Sect stared at Lu Kangnian with wild, fervent devotion in their eyes. They had made up their minds: even if it cost them every scrap of family fortune, they would merge into the Great Xia Sword Sect at all costs. Meanwhile, the Spirit Fish Clan had taken on the role of assisting Pengluo, fashioning a medicinal pool within the Xiu River. With the additional support of Pill Peak, this medicinal pool was in no way inferior to a primordial spirit pool. Pengluo crouched suspiciously by the edge, watching the purple-skinned ginseng soaking in the water. "Son, don't worry about a damn thing right now. Just suck it all in like your life depends on it, hear me?" "Sigh... Daddy's telling you, good days like this don't last forever." "Who knows, in the future... your hard days might not be any easier than mine were." At this, Pengluo looked up at Lu Kangnian. The corner of his mouth twitched upward, and he patted the ginseng's head with a grin. "Still, listen to your old man. Just stick close to that guy named Lu Kangnian and follow him." "No matter what happens, he won't let you get the short end of the stick." The purple-skinned ginseng had already swollen several sizes, growing almost as large as Pengluo himself. Moreover, matching purple patterns had surfaced across its skin, remarkably similar to the luminous markings that appeared on Pengluo during battle. Noticing several youngsters from the Spirit Fish Clan standing nearby, Pengluo beckoned them over with a sneaky wave. "Come, come, come! You little rascals, get in here and take a soak!" The clan chief of the Spirit Fish Clan stared at Pengluo in disbelief, his voice trembling. "My lord, is... is that really permitted?" Pengluo chuckled. "We're all family! Why let those bastards outside profit when we should be enjoying it first?" A few cultivators from the external clans were also soaking in the pool. Hearing this, they couldn't help but scowl. A glint of cold menace flashed through Pengluo's eyes. Raising his hand, he tossed them straight out of the water. He spat curses after them, "Bloody hell, giving me dirty looks? I do whatever I damn well please—who are you to pull a face at me?" "Get the hell out of here! Piss off!" "Old man, you lot get in there too! Soak, all of you!!" With a sharp *snap*, Pengluo broke off a section of his own arm and hurled it straight into the pool. After tossing it in, Pengluo froze, turning around to grumble under his breath. "No, no, no... How the hell did this turn into a habit? Every time I see a pool, I just want to snap off an arm... No good, no good... I really have to break this damn habit..."