Chapter 120: All Living Beings as Blood Rations

"The prison gates... were smashed open from the inside."

After examining the scene, Li Shun spoke in a grave voice.

Inside the gloomy prison, only seven or eight mutilated corpses remained. The blood covering the floor had long since dried into black stains.

The other prisoners had clearly escaped amidst the chaos.

"The strange part is that something this massive happened inside the county yamen, yet no one outside seemed to notice a thing."

Li Qing's expression was equally solemn.

"Let's head to the granary first."

Duan Jiuzhang remained calm despite the shocking discovery. With a sweep of his sleeve, he cast a secret art that temporarily sealed off the county yamen, forbidding anyone from entering the deadly grounds. Then he led the two brothers toward Yunguan County's granary at a brisk pace.

The granary's massive doors remained tightly shut.

The surroundings were deathly silent, permeated by an eerie aura of decay.

"Something... doesn't feel right."

Li Shun instinctively sensed that something was terribly amiss.

With a slight movement of Duan Jiuzhang's fingertip, the seal on the granary was forcibly broken.

The instant the doors cracked open, a nauseating stench of blood, so thick it was almost tangible, burst forth like a caged beast finally breaking free.

"Hm?"

Duan Jiuzhang's expression changed drastically.

The moment the entrance opened, he moved like lightning, grabbing Li Shun and Li Qing before instantly flashing sideways.

In the next instant, Li Shun witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.

Blood.

A crimson tidal wave surged violently through the opening.

Splash!

The enormous granary had become a colossal vessel filled to the brim with blood. Now that the obstruction had vanished, the accumulated sea of blood burst outward without restraint, flooding across the stone pavement and forming a thick layer of dark crimson sludge.

Within the churning scarlet torrent floated countless severed limbs and ruptured organs, drifting like broken logs upon the waves.

A mountain of corpses.

An ocean of blood.

The horrifying, grotesque spectacle utterly shattered everything they believed possible.

Li Qing's face turned deathly pale before the crimson flood. His stomach churned violently. He held out for a few moments before finally doubling over, vomiting uncontrollably.

Li Shun's heart shook violently as well, his entire body trembling beyond his control.

Yet the instant his mind was struck by the horrifying scene, he instinctively withdrew his divine sense into the Fangcun space.

Because of that, he barely managed to withstand the mental shock.

Duan Jiuzhang's face had become incomparably ugly.

Not because the gruesome sight had frightened him.

Rather, because the killing intent erupting within his heart had become so concentrated that it could no longer be concealed.

Just as the three stood frozen by the horrifying spectacle, another change suddenly occurred.

The thick blood pouring from the granary did not spread aimlessly across the ground.

Instead, it twisted like a living creature over the bluestone pavement.

Within only a few breaths, the flowing blood outlined sixteen bold characters beneath their feet.

Each stroke was powerful and vigorous, yet permeated with overwhelming sinister intent.

It was as though an unseen expert stood high above them, mocking the three from beyond their reach.

All living beings are seeds.

Flesh and blood are rations.

The weak are prey to the strong. What can you possibly do about it?

Duan Jiuzhang stood amidst the blood-soaked ground, silently gazing at the sixteen crimson characters.

The stone beneath his feet cracked apart inch by inch, unable to withstand the terrifying killing intent condensed within him.

"The weak are prey to the strong. What can you possibly do about it..."

Duan Jiuzhang laughed in fury.

His gaze swept across the surroundings like sharpened arrows.

"It seems that from the moment we entered Yunguan County, we had already fallen under his watch."

His expression became completely solemn.

No longer concealing his cultivation, he unleashed it without reservation.

In an instant, boundless emerald Principle Radiance erupted from his body.

Before the blood-soaked granary, the surging radiance condensed into a gigantic phantom hand that blotted out the sky.

It reached down toward the sea of blood.

With a single grasp.

The roaring river of blood, together with every severed limb and mangled corpse within it, was forcibly stripped away and compressed by that overwhelming force of vitality.

In the span of a finger snap, the endless sea of crimson vanished completely.

Everything condensed into a single blood-red bead no larger than a soybean, which Duan Jiuzhang casually stored away.

His divine sense spread across the entire city like rippling water, searching for the tribulation transcending Celestial Phenomena cultivator hiding in the shadows.

Yet aside from the lingering aura of tribulation hanging over the city...

He found nothing.

"Gather every remaining grain reserve within the city."

Duan Jiuzhang's voice grew colder.

"The severity of Yunguan County's situation has already exceeded my expectations."

He turned toward the Li brothers, naked killing intent flashing within his eyes.

"If any wealthy merchants or powerful clans still dare to hoard grain and refuse to comply..."

"You are authorized to execute them first and report afterward."

"Show no mercy."

"Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures. In this chaotic age, harsh laws are necessary."

"If the imperial court chooses to investigate afterward, I alone shall bear all responsibility."

Li Shun and Li Qing acknowledged the order and immediately departed.

With Li Qing's Upper Tier Spirit Resonance martial strength, coupled with the overwhelming authority Duan Jiuzhang had displayed earlier, the two brothers descended upon the remaining grain merchants like tigers among sheep.

In less than half a day, the city's three remaining shops and two grain stores tremblingly surrendered every last kernel of stored grain.

Soon, mountains of grain were once again piled inside the thoroughly cleaned granary.

"I could employ the technique [Field Registry and Territorial Division] and distribute this grain throughout every household in an instant."

Duan Jiuzhang stared at the towering piles before continuing gravely.

"But as long as the mastermind remains alive, Yunguan County remains trapped within this tribulation."

"If too much grain is distributed now, it will not save lives."

"Instead, it will awaken humanity's greed, leading only to looting and slaughter."

"The safest course is to distribute grain daily."

"Organize a trustworthy group of strong men to oversee the process. Also dispatch messengers beyond the city to notify any surviving villagers in the countryside to seek refuge here."

"This grain, even if rationed as strictly as possible, will last no more than seven days."

His expression carried the resolve of someone prepared to stake everything.

"Within those seven days..."

"I will drag that beast out into the light."

"If after seven days this situation still remains unresolved..."

He did not finish the sentence.

His figure dissolved into a wisp of green smoke and vanished without a trace.

The next moment.

A dazzling crimson-gold beam descended from the heavens.

Thud!

A gigantic stalk of golden wheat, nearly half the height of a man, pierced through the stone ground and rooted itself firmly before the granary.

The golden wheat swayed gently.

Wave after wave of warm golden radiance spread outward like gentle sunlight.

Wherever the light passed, the eerie coldness, sinister aura, and deathly silence that had blanketed Yunguan County instantly melted away like snow beneath the spring sun.

Even the terrifying shadow cast by the tribulation clouds hanging over the city seemed to disappear.

But Li Shun knew full well.

It was only an illusion.

The golden wheat was Duan Jiuzhang using his own Origin Principle Radiance as the foundation to forcibly carve out a sanctuary that protected all living beings within this living hell of [Owl God Seizes Food].

"But this cannot last forever."

Li Qing gazed at the radiant stalk of wheat, unable to hide the worry in his eyes.

"Protecting an entire city... every moment that wheat exists increases Senior Duan's burden."

"I don't know how much longer he can endure."

Li Shun took a deep breath before calmly replying,

"The only thing we can do is guard this granary and maintain order throughout the city."

"We cannot allow Senior Duan any distractions."

"The struggle between Celestial Phenomena cultivators is beyond our ability to interfere with."

Li Qing clenched his fists tightly.

His eyes were filled with unwillingness.

Yet in the end, he could only nod.

"All living beings are seeds. Flesh and blood are rations..."

Li Shun gazed toward the temporarily peaceful Yunguan County as he recalled the blood-written words from earlier.

"This Celestial Phenomena cultivator undergoing tribulation..."

"Could he also be from the School of Agriculture?"