75: Catching pigs! That's true manly romance!

The Giant Star Gate swung wide open.

Behind the gate, there was no divine light shining down, only a vast space where Spiritual Qi had condensed into a sea of mist.

Mountains built from Top-Grade Spirit Stones rose and fell in succession, and atop the peaks, ten-thousand-year-old Medicinal Kings exuded seven-colored radiant light.

A galaxy paved with "Star Sand" traversed the heavens and earth; what flowed in the river was not water, but the liquefied Origin of Heaven and Earth.

Any speck of dust here, if thrown into the outside world, would be enough to make a group of Cultivators fight until their heads were bloodied like dogs.

Here, they were merely cheap wallpaper used to decorate the background.

Deep within the treasury, the auras of countless Emperor-grade Killing Formations intertwined into a net—silent, yet lethal.

Walking at the front, Ye Linghan didn't even bother to twitch an eyebrow.

Her eerie phoenix eyes swept over the area with indifference.

Everywhere she passed, those terrifying killing formations—capable of instantly strangling a Great Saint—didn't even have time to let out a wail before they melted silently like thin snow under a scorching sun, collapsing into the purest Spiritual Qi.

Her existence was, in itself, an absolute taboo that transcended all rules.

Following at the very back, Liu Ruyan's pupils behind her fox mask suddenly contracted.

The strength of this Imposter was even more unfathomable than she had estimated.

In her heart, which usually craved nothing but chaos, an emotion called "solemnity" began to emerge.

"Tsk."

A sound of picky disgust broke the dead silence of the treasury.

Su Chen leaned down and grabbed a handful from that "galaxy" composed of Star Sand, bringing it before his eyes.

Every grain of sand shimmered with the brilliance of stars; it was a supreme divine material for refining Saint Weapons.

Su Chen, however, had his brows tightly furrowed.

He brought the sand to his mouth and touched it very quickly with the tip of his tongue.

The next second, he whipped his head around, spat on the ground with a "pah," his entire handsome face twisting in revulsion.

[What the hell is this! The texture is as coarse as chewing iron scraps, and it has a fishy smell of rust. Not even a bit of salt! One star review! I'd even find it too uncomfortable to use as bedding for my dog Wangcai back home!]

As if shaking off a glob of snot stuck to his hand, he casually tossed away that handful of Star Sand that would make even a Saint King go mad.

Ling Qingzhu's footsteps suddenly froze in place.

As she watched Su Chen's "this trash is actually called a treasure" posture, her frozen Dao Heart trembled violently once again.

[What... what is he doing?]

[When ordinary mortals see such a divine object, they only think of how to take it for themselves, yet he... is tasting it?]

[No! He isn't tasting it! He is using this most primal and direct method to see through the essence of all things! In his eyes, these supreme divine materials that the world flocks to are no different from the gravel on the side of the road! What a transcendent Dao Heart this is!]

Ling Qingzhu looked at Su Chen's back, the reverence and pity in her eyes almost overflowing into physical form.

To numb those two enchantresses, he didn't even hesitate to defile his own reputation, disguising himself as a... glutton who only cared about "mouthfeel."

He truly carries too much on his shoulders.

The four of them passed through one mountain of treasure after another built from Divine Gold and Immortal Iron, soon arriving at the end of the treasury.

There was no magnificent gold or jade here, only a door carved from a single piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Warm Jade, simple and restrained.

On the door, two large characters were carved in a flamboyant style.

—Hall of the God of Food.

Just as the three women were feeling puzzled, an indescribably domineering fragrance, like an invisible giant hand, forced its way arrogantly through the crack of that Warm Jade door!

It wasn't a single scent.

It was Dragon Liver roasted over Saint Flames for forty-nine days; it was Phoenix Marrow slow-stewed with Tianshan Snow Lotuses for eighty-one days; it was a supreme divine brew mixed from tens of thousands of top-tier spiritual fruits and buried deep underground for a hundred thousand years... All the scents mixed into a torrent, domineeringly boring into the depths of everyone's Divine Soul, awakening the most primitive appetite.

*Crack.*

It was the sound of something shattering.

It was that profound and unfathomable mask on Su Chen's face.

*Gulp.*

The incredibly clear sound of someone swallowing saliva rang out abruptly in the dead silence of the treasury.

Ling Qingzhu, Ye Linghan, and Liu Ruyan—three pairs of eyes looked over simultaneously.

They saw Su Chen, who just a moment ago was posing as a high-level expert for whom "all things are but passing clouds," now standing stiff as a wooden statue struck by lightning.

Those usually lazy peach blossom eyes were wide and round, and from the depths of his eyes erupted a light never seen before, a billion times more brilliant than Star Sand!

On that peerlessly handsome face, all the disguises, all the indifference, and all the Divine Son's poise were washed away completely in this instant!

All that remained was the most primitive, purest, and most burning... hunger!

[PIG!!!]

[It's my pig!!! It's the scent of that Nine-Revolution Golden Scale Pig that was fed Heaven And Earth Treasures for eight thousand years!!!]

[And wine! It's Drunken Immortal Brew! No mistake! That's the smell!]

Su Chen's body trembled violently due to extreme excitement.

Like a primordial Vicious Beast that had caught the scent of blood, he pounced like a hungry tiger, lunging before the Warm Jade door and pressing his entire face against it.

His nose was tight against the crack of the door, letting out heavy "huff huff" breaths like a large dog, desperately inhaling that Soul-ravishing fragrance in a nearly frenzied manner.

That gluttonous appearance, with saliva almost forming threads from the corner of his mouth, was like a completely different person compared to the mysterious Divine Son who had opened the Giant Star Gate with a wave of his hand!

The corner of Ye Linghan's mouth twitched slightly.

The expression under Liu Ruyan's mask was too wonderful to describe.

And Ling Qingzhu was completely petrified on the spot.

Suddenly!

Su Chen whipped his head back, staring with bloodshot eyes at Ye Linghan behind him, who hadn't reacted yet.

That look was like he was looking at a waiter who was eight hundred years late with the food.

He extended a finger, pointing straight at the door, and roared with a voice that brooked no argument—even carrying a hint of a sob from being hungry to the extreme:

"What are you still standing there for?! Open the door—!!!"

"My pig! My wine! I'm coming!!!"

Watching Su Chen's impatient, gluttonous look, a vein on Ye Linghan's temple throbbed uncontrollably.

She, the grand Fallen Immortal of the Mortal World who had lived for a hundred thousand years and was a taboo existence that once made countless Great Emperors tremble with fear, was now reduced to... opening a kitchen door for a man?

If this got out, how was she supposed to keep her reputation in the Demonic Path circles?

[little thing, you just wait for this seat!]

Ye Linghan felt ruthless in her heart, but she still stepped forward reluctantly.

She wanted to see exactly what kind of divine breed that pig was to make this man so obsessed.

She extended a finger as white as jade and gave a light tap toward the large door carved from a single piece of Fire Jade.

*Boom!*

A muffled sound echoed.

That Fire Jade door, capable of withstanding the full-force strike of a Great Saint, along with the countless defensive Restrictions upon it, instantly turned into nothingness without a sound, like ice and snow melting under a fierce sun.

A domineering fragrance a hundred times thicker than before—a mix of roasted meat, immortal brew, and spiritual fruit—rushed toward them like a tsunami!

Su Chen was instantly lightheaded from the fragrance; his whole person felt ethereal, as if his Divine Soul had been sublimated.

"My god..."

He stumbled into the Hall of the God of Food, and seeing the sight before him, saliva ungracefully dripped from the corner of his mouth.

Inside the Hall of the God of Food, there was another world entirely.

This place was simply a foodie's paradise!

On the left were rows of wine racks made of Ten-thousand-year-old Profound Ice, filled with immortal brews of various vintages, each jar emitting an intoxicating halo.

On the right was a small medicinal garden opened with spiritual soil, planted with all sorts of unheard-of top-tier spiritual vegetables and immortal fruits, each one plump and dripping with Spiritual Qi.

And in the center was a massive roasting pit using True Fire of the Sun as fuel.

Above the roasting pit, a strange giant beast the size of a small mountain, its body covered in golden scales and possessing nine heads, was being roasted until it sizzled with oil, its fragrance wafting everywhere.

It was precisely that legendary... Nine-Revolution Golden Scale Pig!

"Pig! My pig!"

Su Chen's eyes turned red; like a bull in heat, he charged toward the roast pig with a howl.

However, just as he was about to pounce on the roast pig and enjoy this supreme flavor of the human world...

A sudden change occurred!

The eyes on the nine heads of that Nine-Revolution Golden Scale Pig, which was supposed to be half-dead and roasted motionless, suddenly snapped open at the same time!

"Roar—!!!"

An earth-shattering roar erupted from its nine mouths simultaneously!

The terrifying sound waves, mixed with the horrifying demonic power of a Saint King, instantly shook the entire Hall of the God of Food until the ground moved and the mountains swayed!

Boom!

The massive roasting pit powered by True Fire of the Sun was overturned on the spot by this force!

The mountain-sized Nine-Revolution Golden Scale Pig flipped over, jumped off the roasting rack, and landed steadily on the ground.

Its nine heads and eighteen eyes were all burning with raging fury, dead-locked onto Su Chen who was charging at the front!

"Holy crap!"

Su Chen slammed on the brakes in a panic, nearly crashing headlong into it.

[What's the situation?! This pig is alive?!]

[Does the Myriad Dao Merchant Guild really play like this? To eat a roast pig, you have to fight the pig first?! What kind of immersive dining experience is this?!]

[Wait, that's not right! This part wasn't in the original novel! When that grandson Qin Feng came, wasn't this pig already roasted through?!]

Su Chen's brain fell into chaos once again.

And at this moment, the Nine-Revolution Golden Scale Pig had completely gone berserk!

It had been locked up here as "reserve food" for thousands of years, forced-fed all kinds of foul-tasting Heaven And Earth Treasures every day; it had long been suppressing a belly full of rage.

Today, it finally found an opportunity to vent!

"Roar!"

The pig head in the middle suddenly opened its bloody maw, and a golden light pillar condensed from pure demonic power blasted toward Su Chen like a laser cannon!

The power was enough to instantly blast a ninth-layer Saint Realm expert into fly ash!

"Holy shit, it's for real!"

Su Chen let out a strange cry, spatial Dao rhymes flowing beneath his feet as his figure flashed, narrowly dodging the lethal strike.

Boom!

The golden light pillar missed and slammed hard into the wall of the Hall of the God of Food.

The entire hall shook violently, and more than half of the countless reinforcement formations on the wall were instantly shattered!

"Hey! What are you three still standing there for? Hurry up and help!"

Su Chen shouted exasperatedly at the three women at the door who were still watching the show, while he clumsily dodged the Nine-Revolution Golden Scale Pig's frantic attacks.

"This is our first piece of loot! Team property! Are you really just going to watch it run away?!"

"If it runs away and I don't get to eat pig meat, I'm telling you, today's operation is canceled! Everyone stop playing! Go back to your homes and find your mothers!"

Su Chen straight up started acting like a rogue.

His words successfully caused a change in the expressions of the three women.

Liu Ruyan was the first to let out a laugh.

"Giggle, Divine Son Su, don't be in such a hurry. This humble servant will come help you now."

Her figure blurred, turning into a black phantom as she joined the fray.

Countless black chains condensed from Devilish Qi flew from her hands, attempting to bind the berserk Golden Scale Pig.

Ling Qingzhu, on the other hand, had her delicate brows tightly knit. She felt that taking action just to catch a pig was truly beneath her status as the Yaochi Saintess.

But at the thought that this was part of Su Chen's "plan," she still gritted her teeth and summoned her ice-crystal longsword.

Streaks of bone-chilling Sword Qi, like a sky full of flying snow, slashed toward the Golden Scale Pig's limb joints, trying to restrict its movement.

Finally, there was Ye Linghan.

She looked at the "Beauty and the Beast" farce before her, her face full of disdain.

"A bunch of trash, can't even handle a pig."

She snorted coldly, finally deciding to act.

She didn't even move; she simply raised her eyes, her eerie phoenix eyes meeting the eyes of one of the Golden Scale Pig's heads.

*Wring—*

A terrifying pressure coming from the Soul level descended instantly!

The Golden Scale Pig, which had been jumping around in a frenzy, suddenly froze its massive body the moment it made contact with Ye Linghan's gaze!

In its eighteen eyes that had been burning with fury, they were instantly replaced by endless fear!

It was an absolute reverence for a higher level of life, coming from deep within its Bloodline!

It seemed to see a terrifying image of its own ancestor being swallowed whole by a supreme demon god!

*Thump!*

A muffled sound.

That majestic, mountain-sized Nine-Revolution Golden Scale Pig actually had its legs go soft and knelt on the spot!

Its nine heads all drooped down, its massive body shivering on the ground, letting out "wu wu" whimpers from its mouths like a lapdog that had done something wrong.

The entire Hall of the God of Food fell silent instantly.

Su Chen, Liu Ruyan, and Ling Qingzhu all watched this scene with blank expressions.

"Done."

Ye Linghan withdrew her gaze and spoke indifferently, in a tone as if she had just "dealt with an ant."

Su Chen looked at the Nine-Revolution Golden Scale Pig kneeling on the ground, so scared it was about to pee, then looked at the nearby Ye Linghan who had her aura fully released with a "that's it?" expression, and a tidal wave of shock rose in his heart.

[Holy shit! This lunatic... is she this fierce?!]

[With just a look, she scared a Saint King-level Vicious Beast into kneeling?!]

[This is like, whoever she glares at gets pregnant—oh no, whoever she glares at kneels!]

[With such a mass-destruction weapon around, why the hell did I go through all the trouble of planning an infiltration? I should have just let her glare her way in through the front door and be done with it?!]

Su Chen complained wildly in his heart, but his hands were not slow at all.

He rushed forward in one stride, pulled out a "Dragon-Binding Rope" specifically used for tying up Spirit Beasts from his Storage Ring, and in a few swift motions, he tied up the Golden Scale Pig, which had completely given up resistance, into a tight bundle.

"Hehe, my pig!"

Su Chen patted the Golden Scale Pig's smooth scales, a look of extreme satisfaction appearing on his face.

"Let's go, we'll go to the cellar next to get my wine, and then we'll go do the serious business!"

He shouldered that still-shivering giant pig and walked toward the underground wine cellar of the Hall of the God of Food with his head held high and chest out.

That appearance was as if what he was shouldering wasn't a pig, but the entire world.