Looking at the resolve in Ye Feng’s eyes, Li Guanqi found himself at a loss for words. That inexplicable trust was almost too much to bear. He could not understand it.

How can someone like Ye Feng look up to me? Ye Feng was exceptional in his own right. In any other sect, no one would have outshone him. Yet precisely because he had chosen to follow Li Guanqi, he was this anxious. And it wasn’t just Ye Feng—the same was true of Xiao Chen and Cao Yan.

The corner of Ye Feng’s mouth curved up slightly. He looked at Li Guanqi and spoke with unwavering conviction. “The path of cultivation defies the heavens by nature. If I shrank back from every danger, I would never have made it this far. Hehe. Boss, your luck with gambling is good. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Li Guanqi sighed quietly. If Ye Feng was saying this, it meant he had long since made his peace with it. Both Cao Yan and Xiao Chen had considerably greater talent than he did, and even cultivating with everything he had, Ye Feng could only keep pace with them.

Light flashed from Li Guanqi’s storage ring, and the red-gold jade case appeared in his hand. He looked down at it and found himself overcome with emotion. He murmured, “Brother Ye... do you think it’s worth it?”

Ye Feng reached out and took the jade case from him, laughing. “It’s worth it, definitely!”

Li Guanqi raised his eyes. “Then do you... prefer the man you are now, steady and mature, or the man you used to be, careless and reckless?”

Ye Feng smiled faintly. Turning to see Li Guanqi’s worried face, he grinned. “I prefer the man I am now.”

He opened the jade case without a moment’s hesitation.

Boom!

Razor-sharp metal-element power erupted from the jade case, its aura slicing through heaven and earth, tearing apart the very sky of the Purple Spirit Paradise Realm.

Cao Yan and Xiao Chen, cultivating on a distant peak, both jolted upright the instant they sensed the aura. They snapped out of cultivation, eyes wide with shock, and looked toward Li Guanqi.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The two arrived with equally bewildered expressions. Xiao Chen looked at Li Guanqi and said in a low voice, “Boss, what is Second Brother trying to do? Tsk, what the hell is that thing he’s holding? Isn’t this a little extreme?”

Cao Yan said nothing. He only stared at Ye Feng with knitted brows, worry flickering through his eyes. After a moment, he spoke. “Second Brother! That thing in your hand... you...”

Ye Feng looked at everyone and broke into a grin. He laughed playfully, “Once I swallow this, I’ll be reborn.”

He reached into the jade case and picked up the golden spirit light. The instant he lifted it, his fingers were severed cleanly at the root.

Several fingers dropped, blood drifting through the air. Yet Ye Feng’s expression did not change. He opened his mouth, eyes calm. Only the increasing redness in his eyes betrayed that he was not as calm as he appeared.

Watching Ye Feng open his mouth to swallow the spirit light, even the naturally brash Xiao Chen fell silent. He understood the dire consequences that could arise from swallowing it.

Boom!

Ye Feng’s tongue was shredded in an instant. The invisible metal-element power carved his jaw open with countless wounds. Yet Li Guanqi watched as Ye Feng, face contorted, swallowed audibly, forcing the spirit light down his throat along with the blood.

In the span of a breath, Ye Feng sat cross-legged on the ground. His entire jaw had become a mangled, bloody mess, and blood kept spilling from it. Yet from beginning to end, Ye Feng never wavered.

Li Guanqi spoke quietly. “Sect Master, could you help me activate the Zen Clarity Glass Array?”

Hum!

Less than three breaths later, an incredibly powerful array shimmering with silver light came crashing down into the Purple Spirit Paradise Realm. It gleamed with a silver radiance, rich in spirit qi, exuding a presence both sacred and pure. The grand array descended slowly, completely enveloping Ye Feng.

Lu Kangnian stepped out from the void, eyeing Ye Feng with furrowed brows. “What happened here?”

After Li Guanqi gave a brief explanation, Lu Kangnian frowned and shouted, “Are you out of your mind?! He asks for it, and you just give it to him? If this thing truly is as dangerous as you say, you should have made every possible preparation before doing anything!”

Lu Kangnian looked genuinely angry. Not because Ye Feng had swallowed something with a nine-in-ten chance of killing him, but because they had gone ahead without making any real preparations.

Lu Kangnian waved his hand, and several Spirit-Gathering Array trays and sealing barriers appeared in succession. Then, he set over ten purple-gold jade cases filled with pills beside Ye Feng. After a moment’s thought, Lu Kangnian frowned, drew several jade slips from his storage ring, looked them over, and shook his head.

A moment later, his eyes lit up, and his hands formed a complex series of seals. The winding stream at the back of the mountain twisted faintly, its waters sweeping upward into the air and streaming into the Purple Spirit Paradise Realm like a ribbon of deep blue silk. The stream wound around Ye Feng, emanating a soft blue luminescence that nourished him.

Only then did Lu Kangnian let out a breath and turn to scold Li Guanqi. “If you brats ever pull a stunt this reckless again, see if I don’t beat some sense into you!”

With that, Lu Kangnian looked at blood-soaked Ye Feng and sighed.

“The rest depends on whether he can hold on,” he said, his voice laced with worry.

Ye Feng looked calm on the surface, but his mind was stretched to its absolute limit. The moment the spirit light entered his stomach, it had transformed into a primordial beast. If he could not withstand its onslaught, his divine soul, his physical body, and everything that he was would dissolve within that spirit light.

In other words... if he could not devour the spirit light, he would die.

Li Guanqi could sense the faintest thread of what Ye Feng was going through, and he could not contain himself any longer. He drew out his jade pendant and contacted Su Xuan. “Grandfather, what exactly was inside the red-gold jade case you had Uncle Long bring over?”

A moment later, the old man’s voice came through.

—A metal spirit from the Immortal World.

When Li Guanqi heard the words “Immortal World,” his mind reeled. When he heard “metal spirit,” his heart lurched violently. Isn’t this somewhat similar to the lightning spirit I used to make my clone? Except that the quality and tier of the metal spirit are far too high.

—This is a life-and-death tribulation. If he endures, Ye Feng will have the foundation to follow you into the Immortal World one day. If not, his body will perish, and his cultivation will dissolve.

Li Guanqi set down the jade pendant, his eyes filled with worry.

Clenching his fists beneath his white robes, Li Guanqi took a deep breath and roared, “Brother Ye... hold on! I bet you’ll win!”

Splurt! 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Ye Feng’s robes were torn to shreds by countless razor-sharp forces, blood mist erupting from his muscles all across his body. Over a hundred gashes opened across him from head to toe. Yet, Ye Feng’s brow eased, the corner of his mouth lifting faintly.

Within Ye Feng’s consciousness, his figure took form. Though he faced the enormous metal spirit, he felt not a trace of fear. A sword formed in his hand, and he charged into battle.

The outcome of this battle would decide whether Ye Feng lived or died.