Activating Physical Constitution

But Gu Yang simply did not give him this chance.

The golden fire dragon had already swallowed him whole.

"Ahhhhh—"

The shrill, agonizing screams lasted for merely two breaths before coming to an abrupt halt.

The sea of fire gradually subsided.

The array formation began its next cycle of transformation.

Only two piles of black ash remained on the spot, along with two storage rings made of a special material that remained undamaged even under the extreme heat.

Gu Yang's face was somewhat pale.

This strike, borrowing the array's power to kill, seemed effortless, but it had instantly drained thirty percent of the spiritual energy in his body.

If those two had held on for three more breaths, or if they had not retreated initially out of paranoia, the outcome might have been completely different.

"Demonic cultivators are truly troublesome to deal with."

Gu Yang walked over, picked up the two storage rings, and nodded in satisfaction.

Afterward, he did not linger for a moment.

He concealed his aura, circulating the Withering Wood Breath Concealment Technique. Like a rotting piece of dead wood in this Soul-Severing Valley, he stealthily advanced toward the northwest without making a sound.

The further northwest he went, the heavier the moisture in the air became.

It was not water vapor, but a miasma so thick and viscous it was almost stringy.

The ground beneath his feet turned into soft, black sludge. With every step, bubbling pockets of swamp gas would surface and burst, releasing a nauseating stench of rotting corpses.

The Rotting Bone Swamp. He had arrived.

"Ah—!"

...

...

At the edge of the Rotting Bone Swamp.

A slightly open patch of muddy ground resembled a tragic asura battlefield.

Three headless corpses lay haphazardly in the muddy water, their Supreme Sword Sect uniforms soaked through with blood.

And in the center of the corpses stood two people.

"Tsk, tsk, is this the Supreme Sword Sect's Big Dipper Sword Array? It could not even withstand a single blow."

Mo Bufan stepped on a severed head that had rolled away, grinding his foot down forcefully until the skull let out a teeth-aching cracking sound.

He wore his usual sunny smile, though at this moment, framed by the blood splattered across his face, the smile looked exceptionally sinister.

Opposite him.

A woman in white knelt on one knee. Her natal flying sword, Frost Cold, was broken in half, the spiritual light at the fracture dim and fading.

The true disciple of the Supreme Sword Sect, Ji Shuanghua.

Her spotless white dress, a symbol of purity, was now covered in mud and bloodstains.

Her peerlessly beautiful face, usually as proud as a swan, was now pale as paper, her chin dyed red by the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

"Brat Mo, hold your hand."

An ancient and eerie voice suddenly echoed within the sea of consciousness of the man standing in the mist.

Mo Bufan had originally intended to slice off this woman's head with a single sword strike, but the voice in his sea of consciousness stopped him.

"Demon Venerable, why?"

Mo Bufan asked in confusion within his mind, "This woman usually looks down on everyone. Relying on her status as the Holy Maiden of the Supreme Sword Sect, she has repeatedly ruined my plans. Killing her would settle everything once and for all."

"Jie jie jie... Fool! What a reckless waste of a heavenly treasure!"

Deep within Mo Bufan's sea of consciousness, a cluster of blood-red mist surged and transformed into an ancient, greedy face—Blood River Demon Venerable.

"Look closely at her bones."

The Demon Venerable's voice carried a trace of excitement, like one who had stumbled upon a rare treasure.

"This little girl appears to cultivate the orthodox Ice Heart Mantra, but in her very bones, she possesses the one-in-a-million Shattered Jade Sword Bone! This is a natural-born Sword Slave physique!"

"Shattered Jade Sword Bone?" Mo Bufan was taken aback.

"Exactly. When jade shatters, it becomes sharp; when bone breaks, it grows tougher."

The Demon Venerable coaxed step by step, his tone insidious. "People with this kind of physique are natural-born masochists. The more you respect and pamper her, the more she will think you are a piece of trash. But if you trample her dignity into the mud, break her bones, and humiliate her..."

"Not only will she not hate you, but in the midst of extreme pain and humiliation, she will develop a sick submission and attachment to you."

At this point, the Demon Venerable let out a spine-chilling laugh.

"Brat, haven't you always lacked a handy Humanoid Demonic Sword? Break her in properly, and she will be the most loyal and sharpest sword in your hands! This is ten thousand times better than simply killing her!"

Hearing this, Mo Bufan's pupils violently contracted, followed by a surge of twisted ecstasy in the depths of his eyes.

A Humanoid Demonic Sword?

To train the high and mighty Holy Maiden of the Supreme Sword Sect into someone who only obeyed his commands?

"I see... The older ginger is indeed spicier, Demon Venerable."

The smile at the corner of Mo Bufan's mouth gradually twisted. He withdrew his throat-sealing killing move, replacing it with the playful expression of a cat toying with a mouse.

He walked up to Ji Shuanghua. Without rushing to act, he raised his foot and stepped on the freshly severed head of her junior sect brother.

Crack.

He ground his sole down forcefully, the sound of fracturing bone exceptionally piercing in the deathly still swamp.

Ji Shuanghua's entire body trembled. She jerked her head up, her originally aloof and proud phoenix eyes now filled with disbelief and fury.

"Mo... Mo Bufan!"

Ji Shuanghua gritted her teeth, her voice trembling, her phoenix eyes filled with disbelief and fury.

"You actually cultivate the demonic path! Aren't you afraid of the Righteous Alliance's judgment?!"

"Judgment?"

Mo Bufan acted as if he had just heard the greatest joke in the world.

He leisurely walked toward Ji Shuanghua, every step letting out a splattering sound in the muddy water.

"This is the Biluo Secret Realm. Dead men... tell no tales."

Following the Demon Venerable's teachings, he did not kill her immediately but began to attack her mind.

"Ji Shuanghua, do you really think you are some pure and flawless fairy?"

He abruptly bent down, grabbing Ji Shuanghua's waterfall-like black hair, and forcibly yanked her face in front of his, their noses almost touching.

"In my eyes, you are nothing but a piece of worthless jade waiting to be smashed to pieces."

"What do you want to do..." Ji Shuanghua was forced to tilt her head back. A sharp pain came from her neck, but she still glared fiercely at Mo Bufan, her eyes filled with humiliation.

"Do what? Naturally... to help you see yourself clearly."

Bang!

Without warning, Mo Bufan threw a punch, viciously smashing into Ji Shuanghua's lower abdomen.

He deliberately controlled the force of this punch, ensuring it would not kill her but would make her experience the extreme agony of her internal organs shifting.

"Ugh!"

Ji Shuanghua's entire body arched like a cooked shrimp. Dry heaving in pain, she was kicked into the foul-smelling black mud.

That excruciating pain made her feel as if her body was about to split apart.

"Stand up!"

Mo Bufan strode forward and stomped his foot on her peerlessly beautiful face, viciously pressing her cheek into the filth.

"Where is that high and mighty attitude you usually have? Hmm?"

"Didn't you look down on me? Didn't you think I was just a lapdog trailing behind you?"

The sole of his foot ground down forcefully. The friction between her tender skin and the rough boot sole brought a burning, stinging pain.

"Don't you look more like a dog right now?"

Excruciating pain.

Suffocation.

And an extreme humiliation that was worse than death.

She was the Ice Soul Sword Immortal, pampered and held in the palms of others. When had she ever suffered such treatment, like a dead dog?

However.

Just at the brink of this dual mental and physical collapse.

Just as the Demon Venerable had said, the Shattered Jade Sword Bone hidden deep within her marrow unexpectedly produced a bizarre resonance at this moment.