246: Chapter 246 A Bowl of Meat Soup

Gu Changsheng reached back and pushed the wooden door shut.

The door hinges creaked and groaned.

The old grandfather, pulling along the little boy named Shitou, hurried out from the inner room to greet him.

The grandfather and grandson knelt directly on the mud floor and kowtowed heavily three times.

“Benefactor, your great kindness is something this old man will never forget as long as I live!”

The old man's voice trembled, and the skin on his forehead was broken, oozing dark red blood.

“If it weren't for your intervention, Benefactor, the two of us would have met our end tonight under Wang Hu's blade.”

Shitou followed suit and kowtowed, his small face flushed bright red.

Gu Changsheng stood in place and accepted the gesture.

He tapped his knuckles against the edge of the wooden table.

“Get up.”

“Squashing a bug in passing is hardly an act of great kindness.”

The old man stood up shakily and pulled Shitou toward the table.

“Benefactor, this is half a snow rabbit sent by the hunter from the back mountain. We usually can't bear to eat it.”

“You have just suffered heavy injuries and exerted your blood and Qi; please, drink some hot soup to nourish yourself.”

Gu Changsheng's gaze swept over the bowl of meat broth.

A few pitiful droplets of oil floated on the surface, mixed with coarse wild vegetable leaves.

To a Purple Mansion True Person accustomed to high-grade spiritual food, this was not even fit to feed a Spirit Beast.

But he did not refuse.

He picked up the chipped black pottery bowl and drained it in one gulp.

The scalding meat broth slid down his throat and into his stomach.

There was no massive Spiritual Qi nourishment, only the most primal, coarse heat of meat.

At his chest, the taiyin submerging spirit jade grew slightly warm.

A strange sense of tranquility spread through his Meridians to his entire body.

Gu Changsheng's nerves, which had been taut for a hundred years, unexpectedly relaxed at this moment.

He had experienced his aunt's sharp-tongued cruelty.

In the Cultivation World, there was deception and intrigue, with killing intent at every step.

He had reached where he was today by relying on calculation, ruthlessness, and unscrupulous means.

Whether it was the Purple Mansion True Dragons of the Eastern Sea or the Nascent Soul Old Ancestors of the Taiqing Sect, they were all entities that devoured people without leaving a trace.

He had not encountered such pure kindness, untainted by any exchange of interests, for a very long time.

In a Spirit-Severing Land, a bowl of life-saving meat broth felt far more real than the top-grade Medicinal Pills of the Eastern Desolation.

“It tastes good.”

Gu Changsheng set down the empty bowl, the porcelain base clicking against the wooden table.

Shitou grinned so wide his eyes nearly disappeared.

“If Big Brother likes it, Shitou will go to the back mountain tomorrow to set traps and catch more snow rabbits to make soup for Big Brother!”

Gu Changsheng reached out and ruffled the boy's withered yellow hair.

“Go to sleep.”

The night grew deeper.

The grandfather and grandson fell into a deep sleep in the inner room, their breathing steady.

Gu Changsheng sat cross-legged on the wooden plank bed in the outer room.

With a wave of his hand,

over a dozen dark wooden boxes and an exquisite stone box appeared out of thin air on the bed.

The Storage Ring was still usable in the Spirit-Severing Land; this was his greatest trump card.

As long as his Divine Sense was not extinguished, spatial Magic Treasures were not bound by the physical Laws of this world.

He flipped open a wooden box.

Hundreds of low-grade blood crystals emitted a faint dark red glow,

illuminating the dim adobe house in a blood-red light.

Gu Changsheng did not hesitate for a moment.

He reached both hands into the box, his fingers suddenly exerting force.

Crack! Crack!

Dozens of blood crystals shattered simultaneously in his palms.

Violent, non-attribute blood and Qi surged into his body through his pores like a flood breaking through a dam.

Gu Changsheng's muscles instantly bulged.

Beneath his green robe, pale gold dark patterns moved rapidly through his flesh.

His Meridians were instantly stretched wide by this arrogant power, letting out a groan of being overwhelmed.

He didn't even knit his brows.

Having endured the baptism of True Dragon blood in the Dragon Transformation Pool, this level of pain was not even an appetizer.

He grabbed handful after handful of blood crystals, crushing them frantically.

The dense blood and Qi turned into a literal red mist, enveloping his entire being.

Inside his Dantian, that Wither and Flourish dao seed, which had been deathly suppressed by the world's rules, gave a joyful tremor.

The foundation of his Physical Body, tempered by the Dragon Transformation Pool, displayed a terrifying devouring power at this moment.

He refused nothing.

Hundreds of low-grade blood crystals were drained of their last trace of energy in less than half an hour.

Gu Changsheng exhaled a breath of turbid air.

A layer of fine black Impurities seeped from his skin, only to be instantly evaporated by the violent blood and Qi.

He turned his gaze toward the exquisite stone box.

Over a dozen mid-grade blood crystals, the size of longans and deep in color, lay quietly inside.

This was the entire fortune Wang Bao had accumulated over half his life.

Gu Changsheng picked one up and crushed it with force.

Boom!

Energy ten times more violent than that of the low-grade blood crystals exploded outward.

A series of bone-popping sounds like firecrackers echoed from within Gu Changsheng's body.

The pure power of blood and Qi raced through his Meridians, turning into visible blue-black waves of air.

His entire body levitated in mid-air, the blue-gold patterns around him glowing intensely.

The hidden dangers left behind from the erosion of the Dragon Clan's will were thoroughly washed away at this moment.

The strength of his Physical Body rose once again, reaching an inconceivable Realm.

Just then,

the taiyin submerging spirit jade on his chest suddenly erupted with a bone-chilling coldness.

After absorbing a large amount of blood and Qi from the blood crystals, this exotic treasure actually underwent some kind of mutation.

Gu Changsheng's Divine Sense plunged into his Dantian.

The originally deathly still Wither and Flourish magic power actually showed an extremely faint loosening under the guidance of the taiyin submerging spirit jade.

Taiyin is the ultimate concealment of heaven and earth.

This exotic treasure was actually assimilating the Spirit-Severing rules of the Desolate God Grotto-Heaven!

Gu Changsheng's heart leaped.

The Desolate God Grotto-Heaven's rejection of all external techniques was essentially the exclusionary nature of the Heavenly Dao's rules.

And the characteristic of the taiyin submerging spirit jade was to deceive the secrets of heaven and fade out of Karma.

At this moment, it was disguising Gu Changsheng's magic power fluctuations as the native blood and Qi power of this world.

If he could use magic power in this Spirit-Severing Land,

even if it was just a sliver,

combined with his monster-like Physical Body, he would become the true Dominator of this Grotto-Heaven.

He immediately focused his mind, guiding the aura of the taiyin submerging spirit jade.

Bit by bit, it eroded the grayish-white chains wrapped around the dao seed.

The grayish-white chains vibrated violently, attempting to strike back.

Two high-dimensional rule powers engaged in a silent slaughter within Gu Changsheng's Dantian.

Gu Changsheng gritted his teeth, pushing his Divine Sense control to the absolute limit.

He forcefully tore a crack, barely visible to the naked eye, through the iron wall of the rules.

The night passed in silence.

The morning sunlight spilled through the gaps in the window lattice onto the wooden bed.

Gu Changsheng opened his eyes.

Blue-black magic power flashed and vanished in the depths of his eyes.

Although he had recovered less than one ten-millionth of his magic power—not even enough to cast the most basic Fireball Technique—

this was already a qualitative leap.

Having broken the iron wall of the rules, the rest was only a matter of time.

“Brother Gu!”

The wooden door to the inner room was pushed open.

Shitou, wearing patched hemp clothes, called out in a crisp voice.

The old grandfather had already learned Gu Changsheng's surname from Monkey last night.

Gu Changsheng rolled out of bed.

Shitou ran forward and grabbed his hand.

“Brother Gu, Grandpa brewed the dregs of the red thread grass and told me to call you to drink it.”

The boy's hand was very cold, filled with chilblains and callouses.

Gu Changsheng did not pull away.

He reached back and gripped Shitou's wrist.

An extremely faint sliver of Wither and Flourish magic power, mixed with the residual blood and Qi absorbed last night, flowed from his fingertips.

It circulated through the boy's Meridians once.

Shitou's whole body jolted.

His originally withered yellow complexion instantly became ruddy, and the blood and Qi within him surged.

His weak Physique was forcefully elevated by this power.

His Meridians were widened, and his bones became resilient.

Though it wasn't enough to let him step into the Blood Tempering Realm immediately,

at least he now had the capital to protect himself in this bitter cold land.

The old grandfather walked out of the kitchen carrying the medicine dregs, just in time to see this scene.

The old man was so shocked that he dropped and shattered the pottery bowl in his hand.

“This... this is Cleansing the Marrow and Refining the Bones!”

The old man's voice trembled, and his knees went weak as he prepared to kneel again.

In Liuxi Village, only those high and mighty figures from the main city had the means to help their juniors refine their Physical Bodies.

Gu Changsheng raised his hand to support him from a distance.

An invisible force of blood and Qi steadily held up the old man's knees.

“It was just a small effort.”

“Go drink your medicine.”

Gu Changsheng released his hand and patted Shitou's back.

Shitou felt his whole body filled with endless strength and ran cheering into the yard.

Gu Changsheng walked into the courtyard.

The snow had already been cleared away by the villagers overnight.

The collapsed courtyard wall had also been rebuilt.

Suddenly,

deep within his Sea of Consciousness, the golden system panel began to vibrate frantically without warning.

A piece of top-secret information highlighted in red refreshed like a waterfall.