Chapter Sixty-Six: Infinite Devouring

“May I ask who this senior brother is?”
With no other choice, Jiang Feng had to brace himself and greet the young man who had just praised him to the skies. However, every ounce of nether energy within him remained on high alert. If the youth should suddenly resort to violence, at least he would be ready to respond.

“Me? Just a nobody,” the young man replied with a humble smile. In his every gesture, Jiang Feng sensed no hint of aggression; on the contrary, he seemed exceedingly friendly. “Duan Xingyun of the Langya Trading Guild.”

Duan Xingyun!

Jiang Feng was taken aback, his face ashen. He had heard of this name before. Although the Langya Trading Guild was ostensibly a commercial organization, it had produced many outstanding young talents. Among them, one shone the brightest—his name rang out like clouds beyond the starry sky: Duan Xingyun!

“You’re Duan Xingyun, the one they call the Little Star Fiend of Langya?” The words slipped from Jiang Feng’s lips in his astonishment.

Duan Xingyun did not deny it; instead, he seemed rather pleased with himself, as if speaking inwardly: “Duan Xingyun, did you hear that? Even the Jiang family’s prodigy recognizes you. How fortunate you are!”

Watching Duan Xingyun’s self-congratulatory antics, Jiang Feng felt a wave of skepticism regarding his identity. But within the young man’s body, he could indeed sense an almost overflowing surge of nether energy. If this wasn’t Duan Xingyun, he couldn’t imagine who else would possess such formidable power.

“Um… Senior Brother Duan, could you tell me where we are?” With no other recourse, Jiang Feng decided to clear up his confusion first.

Duan Xingyun was startled by the question, but quickly recovered and laughed. “This is, of course, the Langya Trading Guild. We call this place the Star Soul Flowing Light Array. My master entrusted it to me for cultivation, so I could prepare for the Great Jiuyan Tournament in half a month.”

Jiang Feng managed a friendly smile, but inwardly, bitterness welled up. He, too, once had a master, but after bequeathing him the Xuantian Secret Art, the old man had passed away, leaving Jiang Feng without even a place to call his own. Ah, how comparing oneself to others can be so maddening.

Seeing Jiang Feng’s darkened expression, Duan Xingyun seemed to understand. With a mixture of suspicion and concern, he asked, “I heard from some junior brothers that someone from the Jiang family betrayed their master and ancestors—a man named Jiang Feng. That… wouldn’t be you, would it?”

Jiang Feng gave a bitter laugh. “What do you think? If I said I was framed, would you believe me? No, I suppose you wouldn’t.”

Fang Yichen’s scheme was flawless. Jiang Feng had searched for a loophole, but found none.

“I believe you,” Duan Xingyun said solemnly, his gaze locking onto Jiang Feng’s eyes. “My master warned me long ago about Fang Yichen—a man who feigns virtue but harbors evil. Who knows how many lives he’s ruined? Even the Fang family’s entire foundation is built on his deceit. He weaves lies more convincing than truth itself. If anyone else had accused you, I might have doubted you. But if it was him, then yes, I believe you were framed.”

Jiang Feng stared at Duan Xingyun in disbelief. For a long moment, his eyes shimmered with unshed tears. He wanted to say thank you, but the words stuck in his throat.

“A true man does not weep. Jiang Feng, I know you have nowhere to go right now—why not stay here for the time being? You could even give me some pointers.”

“Ah? Cultivating here—I’d be delighted, but you’re far more powerful than I. How could I possibly instruct you?” Jiang Feng chuckled, his eyes shining with genuine goodwill. Duan Xingyun was utterly guileless, clear-eyed—a world apart from men like Fang Lingtai. This put him completely at ease.

Duan Xingyun grinned, neither affirming nor denying.

Jiang Feng chose a spot within the Star Soul Flowing Light Array and eagerly settled in to refine his River Mountain Vase.

From Jue, he’d learned that the River Mountain Vase was not only a vessel of boundless nether energy, but also crafted from materials rare and precious under heaven and earth. It was nothing like the Nine Heavens Refined Steel Blade he’d once possessed, which, though powered by nether energy, was made from ordinary steel—no wonder it had been shattered by Fang Yichen’s Senluo Myriad Phenomena.

But the River Mountain Vase would be different!

The very nature of this artifact demanded that it possess peerless hardness; that gave Jiang Feng the confidence to gamble. If he failed and ruined the River Mountain Vase in the process, the loss would be irreparable.

“I’m teaching you a method called Infinite Devouring,” Jue expounded, his eyes gleaming as though Jiang Feng were forging a treasure for him. “Because your flesh has been tempered by Ice Soul Liquid, you’re perfectly suited to this technique. And when you hear the result, I think you’ll be very excited!”

“What result?” Jiang Feng was already impatient. Without a true artifact, he always felt at a disadvantage in battle.

Jue’s eyes twinkled slyly. “You will completely merge with the River Mountain Vase. At that point, you will inherit its power—to contain nether arts!”

Jiang Feng was dumbfounded, speechless at Jue’s audacious plan. In his mind, there was only one word for it: madness!

By refining the River Mountain Vase into his very body with Infinite Devouring, and then absorbing the nether energy of other treasures, it was as if he would forge his own flesh into another River Mountain Vase!

“Well? Isn’t it a bold idea?” Jue praised his own plan. “If you absorb the River Mountain Vase, your cultivation will ascend a whole level, and you’ll be able to wield all its miraculous powers. The River Mountain Vase has immense potential for growth—refine it to its peak, and it could become the most feared nether artifact on the continent!”

“But that would turn me into a nether artifact myself,” Jiang Feng protested. Such grandeur was tempting, but the thought of transforming himself into a nether artifact was simply unacceptable.

Jue only smiled ambiguously and reasoned, “That’s just one perspective. If you wish to separate from the River Mountain Vase in the future, that’s not impossible either.”

Jiang Feng’s concerns eased somewhat at this. He took out the fifty-pound River Mountain Vase and gazed at it for a long time. In his mind, he saw again the horrifying spectacle of Fang Yichen wielding Senluo Myriad Phenomena. His blood surged; with a resolute snort, he nodded heavily. “Very well. I’ll do it!”

He was haunted by Wang Yingying’s charming smile and Fang Yichen’s despicable sneer. Unless he killed Fang Yichen, he would never know peace—and so he accepted Jue’s technique without reservation.

Soon, he mastered the Infinite Devouring art.

He raised the River Mountain Vase into the air and inhaled sharply. The vase glimmered with emerald light—resistance from the nether arts Fang Yichen had left within. A wave of nausea hit him, but he forced it down. Overhead, a few stars suddenly shone—an automatic response from the Star Soul Flowing Light Array. Unintended, yet it lent Jiang Feng strength, making his devouring even smoother.

Half an hour later, his body began to swell, ballooning like an overinflated bladder, as if he might burst at any moment.

At that moment, Jiang Feng became an extraordinarily rotund figure!

“Yama Sovereign, grant me divine might! Devour all things—Infinite Eternity!” His now-massive hands wove a complex series of seals, each changing with lightning speed, embodying the most primal law of heaven and earth: to devour, to seize!

This was without doubt the most domineering, unreasonable nether art since the dawn of creation.

Only now did Jiang Feng understand how Jue could repeatedly reshape his own body. With the power to seize nether energy and life force, even a mere wisp of soul would always have the chance to rise again.

He felt a surge of emotion—he had not known Jue for long, yet the man had entrusted him with this tremendous art!

As his hand seals shifted, wondrous and mysterious sigils emerged, forming a vast and intricate array that spun around him, eventually becoming a whirlwind.

The formations spun ceaselessly, while the Star Soul Flowing Light Array supplied Jiang Feng with a constant stream of stellar power. Thus, all the vast and surging strength within the River Mountain Vase poured into him. His body became a beacon amid the darkness, radiating dazzling light that shone through his clothes. The emerald nether energy from the vase poured out and was absorbed into his body.

Though his form swelled, under his intricate seals, the nether energy he drew in was compressed and broken down, then infused throughout his being. Every orifice opened, expelling clouds of turbid air—poison and impurities from his body. After this forging, his flesh was even more solid than before.

This signified that Jiang Feng had completed the initial stage of devouring.

The next step was to absorb the entire River Mountain Vase into his body.

Beads of sweat streamed from Jiang Feng, each drop hitting the ground with enough force to leave tiny pits—an oddity that surprised him, but Jue explained it was excess nether energy being expelled, which was a good sign, so Jiang Feng did not dwell on it.

At last, the body of the River Mountain Vase began to lose stability, inching toward Jiang Feng. Even before it touched him, its fierce aura had already vaporized his clothing into white mist, which quickly dissipated on the wind.

“Ah!”

The base of the River Mountain Vase pierced into his chest, sending a sharp pain through him and forcing a low, guttural cry. Yet as the vase sank into his body, it was melted and fused by his own blood, emitting a mournful howl like the gates of hell thrown open—ten thousand ghosts and demons shrieking and howling, thunderous and overwhelming.

Jiang Feng shook and trembled as if racked by a storm, yet he instinctively protected his heart. Jue had instructed him to begin absorption from here, but it was dangerous; if the vase’s aura invaded his heart, he could fall prey to illusions, suffer a heart demon, or even drop dead on the spot with no hope of cure.

The nether energy within the River Mountain Vase circulated through his organs and countless meridians, growing ever denser, seeping outward in waves.

Finally, the entire River Mountain Vase merged within him, transforming into a towering mountain inside his body—lofty, precipitous, endless. In a flash, he let out a thunderous roar, and the mountain collapsed.

Ordinary people using Infinite Devouring would stop at this stage, forming a peak within. Any further, and the vast nether energy would tear their meridians to shreds, destroying them in a spectacular self-detonation, leaving not a trace in the world. But Jiang Feng’s body had been tempered by Ice Soul Liquid; he could withstand such an onslaught.

Crack! Crack!

Jiang Feng’s body underwent yet another transformation. Every pore now seemed capable of releasing nether energy, and on his chest appeared a tattoo of the River Mountain Vase, strikingly beautiful.

“Not bad, not bad,” Jue praised without reservation as he watched the entire process. “Now, don’t rush to refine any other treasures. Your body has just been tempered—further forging would do more harm than good.”

Jiang Feng nodded, understanding that Jue meant to proceed with caution.

With the River Mountain Vase within him, Jiang Feng felt like a bottomless abyss—no matter how much nether energy surged in, he could contain it all. He suddenly wondered: where was his limit?

The pillar of stellar light provided by the array grew thinner and thinner, until at last, it vanished with a boom.

The sudden disappearance startled Jiang Feng. When he looked up, he saw that the stars above had dimmed considerably, and he shuddered in alarm. “This is terrifying—my Infinite Devouring can absorb even so much star power?”

Jue, however, was unimpressed. Hearing Jiang Feng’s astonishment, his eyes flashed briefly with annoyance. “What of it? Those who reach the True Nether Realm all possess similar devouring arts. You may not have met such experts yet, but in the future, when you encounter the Nether Prison or the Nether Devourer, you’ll understand what ‘survival of the fittest’ truly means.”

Jiang Feng was deeply unsettled. He had only known that the Nether Prison he wielded would bring endless torment, not realizing how it was intimately connected to the cultivation of its master.

He considered telling Jue that he carried the Nether Prison within himself, but decided against it. He was still far from his goal, and such talk would be pointless now.

His present task was to devote himself wholly to gaining strength, to crush the Fang family, rescue Wang Yingying, and clear his name of Fang Yichen’s slander.

As for the secrets of the Nether Prison, there would be time enough to explore them later.