Chapter Seventy-One: I Will Refine You!

"Xue Qiming, watch your mouth!" Jiang Feng's eyes were bloodshot—not only from the searing pain tearing through his shoulder, but more so from the humiliation Xue Qiming had thrown at his grandfather. For Jiang Feng, the entire Jiang family held only two true kin: his father and his grandfather.

Xue Qiming gave a sinister grin. "Did I? Ha! If you think my mouth is so filthy, why don't you come over here and shut it yourself?"

"You—are—asking—for—it!" Jiang Feng was utterly enraged. His fury sent the blood pulsing from his shoulder all the faster, making him shudder involuntarily.

At that moment, Xue Qiming withdrew his black staff, then raised it high again.

Jiang Feng moved like a dragon, his steps fierce as a tiger. This time, he pushed his Shadow Dance Soul-Shattering Steps to their limit, evading Xue Qiming’s attacks so deftly that his opponent didn’t even graze a hair on his body. As he moved, Jiang Feng shouted eight syllables with force; from thin air, the Eight-Tailed Sound-Killing Dragon appeared, coiling around Xue Qiming’s staff. Though it howled and struggled, lashed by thunder, its tail flicked sharply and struck Xue Qiming.

It felt as if every muscle had been shattered; Xue Qiming’s body tingled with numbness. Yet he wasn’t harmed—he merely staggered back several steps before regaining his footing. His face twisted with murderous rage, eyes blazing as if he would devour Jiang Feng whole.

"Are you really just at the ninth stage of Nether Adept?" Xue Qiming asked, confused. He still didn’t view Jiang Feng as a real threat, but for the first time, the intelligence he’d received beforehand seemed suspect.

Jiang Feng sneered coldly. The pain in his shoulder left his mind unusually clear. He was now like a wounded leopard—no matter how terrifying the enemy, he’d fight with all his might, tearing the foe to shreds if he must.

Ninth Stage Nether Adept! Ordinarily, those four words meant little to the audience of the Nine Rocks Tournament. In their eyes, such strength was as insignificant as the ants killed by Fang Ping—after all, every participant in this tournament was above the Astral Nether Realm, and even those Fang Ping had slain were at least at the first stage of Astral Nether.

Yet none of them had expected Jiang Feng’s cultivation to be so low!

Those words, "ninth stage Nether Adept," seemed magnified by Jiang Feng himself, each word weighty and lofty, giving him an unshakable superiority. The Astral Nether Realm was something the audience could only look up to, but the ninth stage of Nether Adept—they could aspire to reach that themselves, through effort and struggle. So despite all the scorn Jiang Feng bore in Nine Rocks Town, he instantly became a role model in their eyes.

"You and Brother Xingyun are both disciples of the Langya Chamber of Commerce, but what a world of difference between you! I once thought, from watching Brother Xingyun, that Langya must be a fine place. Now I see it’s nothing more than a den of filth and rot!" Jiang Feng’s words were perfectly poised—there was not a single foul word, but Xue Qiming’s heart burned with rage, the urge to tear Jiang Feng apart growing ever stronger.

In that moment, Jiang Feng raised his idolized adversary Duan Xingyun high, while casting Xue Qiming down into the dust.

"You little wretch, such a silver tongue! I’ll shatter every tooth in your mouth!" Xue Qiming screamed, his body unharmed, but this humiliation was more painful than any wound.

He was always the one hurling insults—when had anyone else dared to berate him?

Jiang Feng chuckled inwardly, squared his shoulders, and asked, "Who are you calling a little wretch?"

"The little wretch is you!" Xue Qiming blurted out in fury, still too angry to catch the wordplay, thinking he’d gained the upper hand.

The pain in his shoulder forgotten, Jiang Feng grinned wickedly. "Exactly! The little wretch is me!"

Laughter exploded through the Cangsong Pavilion. The tense, bloody atmosphere Fang Ping had left behind was instantly dispelled by Jiang Feng’s antics. No one expected anyone would have the wit to play such games in the heat of battle.

Xuan Xingzi’s handsome face, as youthful as a man in his thirties, turned the color of pig liver.

Jiang Yuehai allowed himself a faint smile. He found his grandson more and more unfathomable. Despite being the target of all Nine Rocks Town’s scorn, Jiang Feng was boldly competing in the tournament, even trading insults with his foes. Such optimism made Jiang Yuehai feel, perhaps for the first time, that the Jiang family’s future truly depended on this boy.

Suddenly, a restlessness rose from the marrow of his bones. Alarmed, Jiang Yuehai pondered, "Could it be that the Jiang family’s legacy truly needs to be inherited by Jiang Feng?"

Jiang Feng had counted on Xue Qiming falling for his trick, deliberately provoking him to throw his mind into turmoil.

People like Xue Qiming, once enraged, have only two possible outcomes: either their combat power surges, or it plummets. Jiang Feng was confident that his taunts had indeed left Xue Qiming unsettled, his strength diminished by more than a level.

"Ten thousand spirits, the world’s living beings, the manifestation of law, perish and are reborn!" Jiang Feng chanted aloud. This was the first incantation in the Profound Heaven Secret Arts, the Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation.

As he intoned, the world changed—everything turned blood-red, like a setting sun. Before all eyes, that crimson light expanded wildly, becoming a massive, spinning apparition that seemed capable of shattering the very cycle of reincarnation.

This was the most powerful nether art Jiang Feng had found in the Profound Heaven Secret Arts!

Its rotation stirred up a series of whirlwinds, instantly sweeping up grass, trees, nether beasts, and birds—everything was drawn into the maelstrom. From outside, nothing could be seen, but the agonized shrieks of nether beasts told all just how terrifying this Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation truly was.

If Fang Ping’s nether arts were a study in subtlety, Jiang Feng’s was a masterpiece of sheer force!

Xue Qiming stood stunned by the spectacle, never before having seen such a titanic nether art—it was like a mountain collapsing, a sea overflowing. Yet he regained his composure quickly; the talent of the second disciple of Langya Chamber of Commerce was now on full display. He raised his black staff high and shouted with all his might. Incredibly, the staff began to grow on its own, as if just moments ago it was a mere sapling, and now it had become a towering tree.

"Ruyi Sky-Pillar Staff! He actually passed such a treasure to him!" Liu Tao was aghast. This Ruyi Sky-Pillar Staff was a white-grade nether artifact. Though the lowest grade of white, its quality far surpassed that of any supreme dark-grade item—a difference as vast as earth and sky.

Jiang Yuehai cast Liu Tao a faintly indifferent glance. "Senior Brother Xuan Xingzi treats treasures as dirt. It’s just a Ruyi Sky-Pillar Staff. Look at the nether artifact Duan Xingyun has—perhaps then you’ll care less about this staff."

Liu Tao looked where he indicated. When his gaze landed on the small ring on Duan Xingyun’s finger, he was utterly stunned. "Another white-grade nether artifact—the Star-Sand Azure Dragon Ring! Good heavens, Senior Brother Xuan Xingzi, just how many treasures does your sect conceal? If you’re so generous with your disciples, what grade is the nether artifact you wield yourself?"

Xuan Xingzi did not answer, but the superior light in his eyes told Liu Tao all he needed to know. No doubt, Xuan Xingzi’s nether artifact was far greater than these two, or he wouldn’t have handed out two supreme treasures to disciples only at the sixth stage of the Astral Nether Realm.

Liu Tao’s spirits deflated at once, like a punctured ball. He watched the match with resignation—after all, his own nether artifact was no more than a supreme dark-grade.

"Boy, did you notice his nether artifact?" Jue's voice sounded at just the right moment. Jiang Feng was busy speculating about the grade of Xue Qiming’s artifact when the voice popped into his mind.

Jiang Feng shook his head, but did not relax his vigilance. The Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation continued its orderly rotation, and the oppressive might was still growing. The ground was stained with red, corpses littered everywhere—but all the bodies were penned nether beasts and birds.

He wondered what that wealthy Xuan Xingzi would think, seeing his precious nether beasts lying dead like this.

Jue could not hide his excitement. "It’s a white-grade nether artifact! If you melt it in the Rivers and Mountains Vase, you can forge a flying sword. The grade will drop, but a supreme dark-grade is just what you need!"

Jiang Feng’s eyes flashed. He constantly imagined possessing eight supreme dark-grade flying swords, activating the Eight Swords Diagram within the Rivers and Mountains Vase, and unleashing untold destruction. Right now, he only had one supreme dark-grade sword. Though refining Xue Qiming’s artifact would diminish its value and power, for him, supreme dark-grade was the most suitable—white-grade was of no use to him.

"Heh, I’ll refine you yet!" Jiang Feng looked at the invincible Xue Qiming and breathed the words quietly.

No one heard his arrogance, for all eyes were fixed on Xue Qiming and his Ruyi Sky-Pillar Staff.

The black staff, now swollen and lengthened, had turned violet, gleaming brilliantly. Its tip, seen from below, looked like a massive spike piercing the heavens.

"Pierce it for me!"

Xue Qiming roared. As the words left his mouth, the staff’s tip drove hard into the spinning Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation, stabbing a violet hole right through the crimson disc.

It was as if a hole had been punched through the very sky.

Jiang Feng was unsurprised. He grinned. "No wonder it’s a white-grade nether artifact, such fearsome power. Too bad he’s only a sixth-stage Astral Nether cultivator. If it were that old villain Fang Yichen, my Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation would be utterly annihilated by such a strike."

"But how are you going to deal with him now?" Jue asked.

Jiang Feng smiled. "With the Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation, of course. I never said it was broken. If it were Fang Yichen, perhaps he could destroy it, but Xue Qiming is far from that level."

Even as he spoke, sharp-eyed spectators noticed that the violet hole in the crimson disc was shrinking, as if it would swallow the Ruyi Sky-Pillar Staff whole.

Xue Qiming noticed too, and his heart skipped a beat. He gripped his staff and tried to pull it free.

"Hmph, as if I can't tell what you’re thinking. You want to pull out your staff? Dream on!" Jiang Feng’s lips curled in a cold smile. He planted his feet, calm and composed, and intoned, "Manifestation merge—heaven and earth as one!"

The hole shrank rapidly, corroding everything around it like acid.

Meanwhile, the rotation of the Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation summoned even more terrifying, mournful winds, wailing like ghosts. The sound made listeners instinctively cover their ears—everyone knew that if such a sound pierced their eardrums, it would invade their minds and destroy their spirits.

There is no attack more terrifying than one that shatters the mind directly!

"What kind of nether art is this? How can it be so bizarre?" Wang Yu muttered, baffled. He’d heard from his cousin—Wang Yingying’s father—that Jiang Feng’s skills were exceptional and his nether arts even more so, but he’d never heard of Jiang Feng wielding such awe-inspiring techniques.

From the Eight-Dragon Sound-Killing Art to the Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation, not one nether art was familiar to the Jiang family, nor had anyone in Nine Rocks Town ever heard of them.

He glanced at Jiang Yuehai and saw the man equally perplexed. "Brother Jiang, do you know what nether arts your nephew is using?" he asked.

Jiang Yuehai stared for a long while, racking his brain, but he had no answer. "I neglected Jiang Feng since he was a child," he admitted ruefully. "Later, when we discovered his strange illness, I paid him even less attention. Even his father lost faith in him, so we have no idea what he has learned."

Xuan Xingzi was silent. He had investigated Jiang Feng and even sent people to monitor him in the Star Soul Flowing Light Formation, but never discovered that Jiang Feng could use such mysterious inherited arts. If he could wield even the Senluo Myriad Phenomena of the Fang family, that would already be extraordinary—but Jiang Feng clearly had many secrets.

Even Fang Yichen’s ever-calm expression showed a flash of astonishment.

While these people speculated, Xue Qiming’s face was wrinkled with distress. He might not have been born with divine strength, but wielding the Ruyi Sky-Pillar Staff—capable of piercing the heavens—took no small amount of power. Yet now, to his horror, he found it trapped in the crimson disc, utterly immovable no matter how he struggled.

"Ahhh!"

Xue Qiming howled, but it was useless.

The audience murmured with all kinds of voices, but most looked on him with pity. The Xue Qiming who had swaggered and bullied just moments before was now utterly pitiful—like a child learning to chop wood, who finally gets the axe stuck in the tree, only to find he can’t pull it out.

What a sorry sight!

Jue laughed heartily. "Good lad! I never imagined your nether art had such a trick. By the way, you’ve never told me where you learned those arts—the Eight-Dragon Sound-Killing, Profound Heaven Divine Palm, and this Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation. Each is so strange and powerful, nothing like what your cultivation level should allow."

For the first time, Jiang Feng felt a surge of pride at Jue’s question. "I once had a master," he explained. "He called himself the Old Man of Secrets, but I knew him only briefly before he left me, leaving behind the Profound Heaven Secret Arts. There are countless nether arts within, but I’ve only mastered these three."

Jue pondered a moment and shook his head. "Never heard of this Old Man of Secrets, but his nether arts are truly remarkable. This Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation is not only formidable but sly—downright shameless, even!"

As he said, while the spectators pitied Xue Qiming, they were cursing Jiang Feng’s nether art as too sly, too brazen.

A man has but one white-grade nether artifact, and you trap it so completely he can’t do a thing!

Jiang Feng cared nothing for their opinion. He didn’t feel the least bit ashamed—in fact, he thought his move was brilliant, a stroke of genius.

He struck out with his palm, and in midair four imprints appeared—each one a Profound Heaven Divine Palm, each capable of striking at a distance.

These handprints pressed forward like relentless hammers, step by step closing in on Xue Qiming.

Boom!

Poor Xue Qiming, both hands still clinging to his Ruyi Sky-Pillar Staff, stood like a target as the four palms struck him head-on.

Jiang Feng exhaled heavily, cold sweat fading from his brow. Though he looked fearless, he was more nervous than anyone. "At last he’s dealt with!"

"I’ll pound you to a pulp!"

Just as everyone thought Xue Qiming was spent, a wild voice, like a nightmare, echoed in their hearts.

Jiang Feng’s face changed dramatically!

The dense smoke from the Profound Heaven Divine Palms cleared, revealing Xue Qiming’s figure—uncannily, except for a bit of dust, he was completely unharmed!

In a flash, Jiang Feng recalled how Xue Qiming had shrugged off his Profound Heaven Divine Palm at the very beginning.

"Hmph! You think you can break my Absolute Defense? Keep dreaming!"

For the first time, Xue Qiming’s arrogance struck Jiang Feng as truly terrifying.