Chapter 61: Three Thousand Terraced Fields

"You are no match for me. It is still not too late to back down now."

Ye Feifan's gaze flickered. Since he was destined to take the blame for this, rather than bearing an unfounded accusation, he might as well make the crime a reality.

Seeing that Ye Feifan had no intention of surrendering, the leader of the men in black could only sigh and wave his hand: "Since you are courting death, don't blame me. Attack!"

A dozen men in black swarmed forward, vaguely forming a formation. Their confidence was quite high.

Ye Feifan made no superfluous movements; he merely seized the right opportunity and thrust forward with his novice sword.

Critical Hit!

With double the stacked force, combined with the physique improved through practicing the *Soaring Serpent Body-Refining Technique*, Ye Feifan's sword strike was definitely something no practitioner at the Five Tribulations realm could withstand.

The first man in black pierced by Ye Feifan stopped without warning, cut cleanly in half at the waist by the sweeping blade.

The sword body was stained with blood, and a heavy, malevolent aura erupted like a detonated gunpowder barrel, its bone-chilling frostiness invading the surrounding men in black.

"A demonic art?!" The members of the Liu family were all dumbfounded, launching frenzied attacks in hopes of subduing Ye Feifan swiftly.

They were people of experience and recognized Ye Feifan's desperate, lethal move, but they failed to guess the truth.

The move Ye Feifan used was indeed a desperate killing technique, but the sacrifice it required was not his own life, but those of others.

The first time he laid eyes on the *Blood Fiend Sacrificial Sword Technique*, Ye Feifan had been captivated by its synopsis, choosing it out of tens of thousands of martial arts manuals.

As long as one continuously sacrificed fresh blood, a supreme, malevolent sword could be forged. Slashing immortals and executing Buddhas would be effortless, and even gods and demons would have to give way.

However, looking back through ancient history, not a single person had ever cultivated this technique to the realm of Great Accomplishment. Moreover, the power gained from sacrifice was relative; the more blood required, the more powerful the treasured sword would become... On one hand, it required elevating the sword's quality; on the other hand, it demanded endless blood. It was fundamentally an insatiable bottomless pit.

Influenced by the malevolent aura, the men in black at the very front grew somewhat dizzy, and Ye Feifan seized the opportunity to cut them down one by one.

"Blood Battle in All Directions!"

Surrounded by the blood-activated malevolent aura, the novice sword displayed an extraordinary radiance. Every swing of Ye Feifan's sword carried an innate area-of-effect mental attack.

The men in black could only see everyone around them bleeding, while a gigantic blood-colored serpent opened its jaws to devour them, amplifying every shred of fear in their hearts.

"Those who kill others must be prepared to be killed." Ye Feifan stood holding his sword, chanting incantations. The surrounding blood was attracted and flew toward the novice sword, merging into it in a bizarre fashion.

The men in black fell one by one. Before they could break free from the illusions, Ye Feifan cut them down one by one, and in the process, Ye Feifan came to fully realize his own strength.

Unawares, he had actually grown to such a terrifying degree...

The *Soaring Serpent Body-Refining Technique* was truly extraordinary!

The corpses around him had shriveled into mummies, leaving not a single drop of blood on the ground. The novice sword in Ye Feifan's hand had also returned to a dark red color, with numerous fine red veins appearing upon its surface.

Looking at the eerie blood veins on the sword body, Ye Feifan felt a sudden panic: "I'm not actually going to forge the Immortal-Slaying Sword out, am I?"

...

The inn waiter's scheming was far from over; no matter what, he had to find a way to settle this score.

Judging from their exchanges, the opponent possessed a very strong sense of overall strategy, but lacked breadth in the details... Changing the details could alter the overall situation.

"I think... I know how to deal with you now."

Ye Feifan glanced around, slowly retreated, and quickly bolted deep into the forest... As for why there was a forest in the suburbs, Ye Feifan was hardly in a position to explain.

This place was on the fringes of the Demonic Wind Ridge. The Yellow Mud Fields and the Liu family had temporarily formed an alliance to resist the Demonic Wind Ridge... Yet judging by the Liu family's style of conduct, they might have secretly struck some kind of deal with the forces of Demonic Wind Ridge.

"Large families can never be relied upon. Fortunately, I broke away from the Xun family early on..." Remembering his decade-plus of acting, Ye Feifan felt immensely fortunate. The decision to get himself driven out of the Xun family had indeed been the right one.

Along the way, Ye Feifan traversed a small grove and arrived at the Yellow Mud Fields. However, the village itself was situated atop the mountain, while the foothills were filled with nothing but water-logged rice paddies.

The scale of the Yellow Mud Fields was massive. Looking closely, one would see a vast expanse of terraced fields. The terraces were flooded with water, planted with rice, and stocked with plenty of crucian carp. The water flowed from a spring on the mountain.