46: Feast of Flesh and Blood

Soon, the trade fair drew to a close.

Just as they were leaving, a ethereal voice transmitted a message into Gu Changsheng's ear.

After hearing the content, Gu Changsheng's eyes showed a hint of surprise, and he glanced at the masked youth who had traded the yuan magnetic profound ore earlier, nodding almost imperceptibly.

Then, he followed the crowd back to the main hall.

"Senior Brother, you've suffered a great loss in this trade.

That inferior yuan magnetic profound ore isn't heavy enough, it can't be refined into a mountain Magical Artifact, it's not even worth the lowest grade of Evil Qi..."

Yu Ziren beat his chest and stomped his feet, showing a strong sense of disappointment.

"Cough, cough, this old Daoist didn't want this either.

It's just that I sustained internal injuries when I slayed the Dragon... My body... gets weaker by the day... A True Core, is hopeless."

Gu Changsheng reined in his Qi and blood, his face instantly turning pale, and he feigned spitting out a mouthful of dark red blood.

"It's better to plan for an inheritance early... That boy Yan Qing under my Sect, his Heart-Nature is pure and honest. If he can return alive, I'll use this yuan magnetic profound evil to refine a heart-protecting Magical Artifact for him."

When Gu Changsheng took out the jiaolong evil qi, he had already thought of a countermeasure.

He would directly push it onto his Disciple.

Regardless of whether others believed him, by the time they realized what was happening, Gu Changsheng would have long since escaped.

Hearing this, Yu Ziren sighed softly, a hint of sadness in his expression, and said no more.

Soon, the grand feast in the hall began.

All sorts of delicacies and fine wines were continuously brought up by lightly dressed maidservants.

"Haha, after thirty years, the Five Viscera Temple's blood wine is even more mellow.

This taste, wonderful!"

A burly Daoist in a white bone Daoist robe, embracing a black wine jar, guzzled it down.

Crimson wine dripped from the corners of his mouth onto the ground.

This wine was made from the blood of strong adults as raw material, supplemented with various spiritual fruits and medicinal herbs, refined with secret techniques from the Kidney Water lineage, and could only be drunk after ten years of sedimentation.

Not only was the wine fragrant, but it could also increase one's cultivation.

"The taste of these heart and liver pills is also exquisite... It must be taken from the heart tips of infants less than a hundred days old.

This method... The Five Viscera Temple is becoming more and more refined... Haha."

A goatee-bearded Daoist stretched out his long, barbed tongue, tasting a crystal clear pill.

Most of the food at the feast was like this.

More or less, it was related to human flesh and blood.

Because humans are the most spiritually abundant and easy to raise and harvest.

Sects like the Five Viscera Temple, powerful forces occupying a region.

On the surface, they were compassionate and benevolent, healing the world.

When floods or droughts occurred, they would even provide porridge for disaster relief and perform rituals for favorable weather, ensuring grain harvests.

Their reputation among the Mortals was excellent.

In secret, however, they absorbed Daoist children and refined them into great pills of flesh and blood.

In the eyes of these high and mighty Cultivators, Mortals were nothing more than talking two-legged sheep.

'This is truly a feast of demons and monsters...'

A cold glint flashed in Gu Changsheng's eyes.

He poured a cup of monkey wine and drank it in one gulp.

This was one of the few wines at the banquet brewed from spiritual fruits.

Suddenly, on the five qi gathering tree, the skin of a green fruit gradually turned red, and as its flesh grew, it mutated into the shape of hands and feet, looking very much like a newborn infant.

Crack—

The fruit split open, forming a mouth-like shape, frantically sucking in the Five Elements Qi diffused in the Void Realm.

"Look quickly, the first greater five viscera pill is about to mature!

The opportunity to achieve the Dao is right before our eyes..."

"Haha, the speed of refining this time is so fast.

I remember, at the last Pill Appreciation Assembly, the first one was barely refined only in the middle to late stage of the banquet."

"This time, the Five Viscera Temple has truly gone all out, investing so many Daoist children, they must be able to refine a few more..."

A group of Cultivators looked at the green fruit on the treetop, their eyes burning with fervor.

Taking a greater five viscera pill could increase the chance of breaking through a Realm.

Its effect was far superior to ordinary Evil Qi.

However, behind every greater five viscera pill, countless Daoist children died.

'I wonder how Yan Qing is doing?'

Gu Changsheng looked towards the depths of Lake Heart Island.

Blood qi permeated there, and faint sounds of fighting and wailing could be heard, like a Hell on Earth.

At this moment, at a lake on Lake Heart Island.

Yan Qing was hidden in a patch of reeds, most of his body submerged in the water.

His eyes were fixed on a group of crocodiles dozens of meters away.

In the center of the muddy pond, surrounded by the crocodiles, a white lotus bloomed, and its lotus pod bore nine round lotus seeds.

They shimmered with colorful light, clearly not ordinary items.

"Yellow Rank spiritual material, Bitter Heart Lotus..."

A hint of fervor appeared in Yan Qing's eyes, then his gaze sharpened, and he began to form hand seals.

Whoosh—

Suddenly, a cluster of orange flames erupted from the heart of a fierce crocodile, scorching its body from the inside out. The crocodile thrashed and rolled in the water in pain.

However, the flames did not extinguish.

Instead, they began to spread among the crocodile group.

"This Daoist priest's Heart-Burning Fire, the angrier you get, the fiercer it burns..."

Before long, the crocodiles were charred black, emitting black smoke, and floated belly-up on the water.

Yan Qing quickly approached, reached out, and plucked the Bitter Heart Lotus.

"This Bitter Heart Lotus has nine lotus seeds, its quality is top-grade."

Suddenly, a cold water arrow shot through the air, striking. Yan Qing tumbled to the ground, not caring that he was covered in mud, narrowly avoiding it.

"Hand over the Bitter Heart Lotus, or else... die!"

On the shore, a blue-clothed Daoist child said with a cold face.

"You're courting death!"

Yan Qing's expression was furious, and he began to form hand seals, engaging in a fierce battle with the attacking Daoist child.

Soon, he fell into a disadvantage.

'Damn it, this muddy terrain restricts my movement... Should I use the trump card Master gave me...'

As Yan Qing struggled, three cold water arrows struck, targeting his nose, throat, and heart, vital points.

"The Yin Water Arrow secret technique, Major Achievement..."

Yan Qing's pupils contracted, then a cold glint flashed in his eyes, and a crimson Flying Sword slashed out. A thick, scorching Sword Qi instantly destroyed the three water arrows.

Its remaining power undiminished, it sliced across the blue-robed Daoist child's neck.

"It's actually... a Spiritual Artifact..."

A head with a terrified expression rolled to the ground.

Yan Qing was soaked in sweat, panting heavily, a sense of joy at surviving a calamity welling up in his heart.

"Thanks to the Li Huo Flying Sword bestowed by Master, otherwise I would already be a dead man... A Spiritual Artifact... is indeed powerful.

Perhaps with this, I can truly fight my way out of the Immortal Ascension Assembly and become a Spirit Building Stage cultivator... Haha."

There is great terror between life and death; even the dullest person will grow with their environment.

Yan Qing coldly scanned his surroundings and quickly looted the body before leaving.

In less than a cup of tea's time, the body of the blue-robed Daoist child, who had died, decayed into a skeleton, and faint, imperceptible water Qi rose up, merging into the treetop high in the sky.

And such scenes occurred all over the island.

On the other side, the feast of flesh and blood reached its climax.

The Spirit Building Stage cultivators eagerly craned their necks, looking at the treetop, their eyes filled with longing and greed.

At the top of the treetop, that fruit, like a whale sucking water, frantically absorbed the Five Elements Qi.

Visibly, the last hint of green faded, the fruit's skin turned completely crimson, and its hands and feet were fully formed, resembling a red-skinned infant.

At the same time, a strong, exotic fragrance swept over.

The first greater five viscera pill, complete!