Chapter 373 - 357: Kindred Spirits?

Chapter 373: Chapter 357: Kindred Spirits?

As Gu Li crashed to the ground, the air inside the Mirage Gauze, which had been stretched to its breaking point, finally relaxed.

The joy of surviving the disaster flooded their hearts. The common folk gazed at the two proud, standing figures, their eyes filled with reverence.

’...Is Anhe City saved?’

Even many of the players who saw this scene breathed a long sigh of relief, thinking the quest could finally be completed and the rewards distributed.

However, just as everyone’s minds began to relax and they prepared to cheer and celebrate, a scene unfolded before their eyes that made their hearts, which had just settled, leap straight into their throats!

The two human blood buns that had passed through his chest didn’t fall to the ground and get covered in dust. Instead, they spun bizarrely in mid-air and, with a WHOOSH, flew back.

"SQUELCH!"

The buns burrowed back into Gu Li’s mangled chest cavity.

Not yet completely dead, Gu Li’s pupils dilated as the last shred of consciousness flashed through his mind.

’No... it’s not... I’m... already dying... Do you righteous... cultivators... even desecrate... corpses now...?’

The last spark of light faded from Gu Li’s eyes. He died with them wide open.

Immediately after, a slurping sound began. The two buns, as if alive, started to frantically suck the remaining vital blood and Spiritual Power from Gu Li’s corpse.

Gu Li’s once-sturdy corpse shriveled in the blink of an eye. Even the dry bones beneath his skin let out a crisp "CRACK CRACK" as they were continuously crushed, devoured, and ultimately integrated into the two buns!

[Ding! Conversion complete!]

A panel popped up in Li’s field of vision:

[Item Name]: True Human Blood Bun [Mid-stage Foundation Establishment]

[Quality]: Special Consumable / Throwable Magical Artifact

White flour, once flawless, is stained a crimson lotus.

Boil the bones for oil to make a soup; sever the soul and draw the marrow to fill a hungry gut.

The Guixi Sect’s Dining Pavilion’s hidden unorthodox legacy. All things can enter the stove; all living beings are but provisions.

Can be thrown as a Magical Artifact when uneaten. Can only be refined once.

Tastiness: Surprisingly, it’s a little sweet?

[Special Effects]:

[Whale’s Gulp]: Perfectly locks 70% of the target’s pre-death Cultivation essence. After consumption, the player can directly convert it into an equivalent amount of universal experience points.

[Great Tonic]: Upon consumption, instantly restores 50% of the user’s HP and Magical Power, and removes some negative status effects.

[BUFF: Frenzied Appetite]: For 30 minutes after consumption, all stats are increased by 10%, and the user gains the "Lifesteal" effect, converting 5% of damage dealt into their own HP.

[Evaluation]: It may look sinister and smell bloody, but this is the true taste of the Cultivation Realm! Don’t you want to take a bite?

...

Li stared at the attribute panel in his hands, a grin nearly splitting his face.

’These buns actually locked seventy percent of the experience? My Dao of Culinary Arts has progressed even further!’

He weighed the heavy blood buns in his hand, his eyes filled with affection.

’Thank you, gift of nature! And thank you to the spirit of Mr. Qian in heaven, even though you aren’t dead yet!’

The crowd: "???"

Everyone looked at the desiccated corpse on the ground, which seemed to have been drained for a thousand years, then back at the two human blood buns still "digesting" in the sky. Their minds were filled with question marks.

’This... This isn’t how the plot is supposed to go, right?’

A horrifying feeling, like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, washed over them.

’Wait... What kind of proper immortal refines a magical artifact using their breakfast? And if you’re going to do that, why did it have to be human blood buns? Their technique looks even more practiced than that demon lord from before!’

’Could it be they’re not here to save the people? Are they rivals who thought the last guy was too slow and came to steal his business?!’

In the crowd, Mr. and Mrs. Su’s faces turned deathly pale, their hearts sinking.

They looked at the bizarre buns, then remembered their son Su Wenxuan’s rat-head mask, and their daughter Su Ling’er’s mysterious sect.

Mrs. Su trembled as she gripped Mr. Su’s hand. "Husband... is... is this what they call a third-rate sect? The one our Xuan’er joined... it couldn’t be a demonic, evil sect that devours people whole, could it?"

’...Could the one Ling’er joined be the same...?’

’I hope... I hope it’s just a misunderstanding. But as long as they can save us, maybe it doesn’t matter if they’re demons or righteous cultivators...’

...

「At that moment.」

"WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!"

A dozen or so streaks of black light tore through the sky, landing around the ruins with the unique pressure of the Foundation Establishment Stage.

They were other Foundation Establishment Stage Evil Cultivators, drawn by Gu Li’s distress signal.

This group of Evil Cultivators had just landed. They had originally intended to surround and annihilate a so-called righteous ambush, and perhaps refine a fellow cultivator’s corpse on the side.

But when they got a clear look at the scene, they all froze.

What did they see?

They saw Gu Li’s corpse, already sucked dry;

They saw the two human blood buns on the ground, radiating a dense, bloody aura;

And they saw the two figures who, despite their ragged clothes, employed methods even more brutal than their own.

The dozen or so Foundation Establishment Evil Cultivators exchanged glances.

’What righteous cultivators? Ha! Gu Li, you bastard, you couldn’t even be honest in death! You were trying to screw us over, weren’t you!’

(The deceased Gu Li: "...")

However, when their Divine Sense swept over the two, they sensed that their opponents also only had Foundation Establishment Cultivation. Their taut nerves relaxed slightly, but the greed and killing intent in their eyes grew even more intense.

’But to refine food with blood in broad daylight... such a vicious and brutal method. Which sect does this belong to? The Blood Food Sect?’

’It’s possible. Although their higher-ups are quite particular about their cannibalism, the lower ranks are a motley crew. I’ve heard their Sect Leader, Han Nisca, is especially strict about his own diet of human flesh.’

’He’s extremely focused on the quality of his "ingredients," preferring targets who are healthy, addiction-free, disease-free, and possess a Spirit Root. He even refines the process of cannibalism with exquisite cooking methods and dining etiquette, going so far as to arrange the victim’s body like a work of art. The man has a strong sense of ritual.’

’Using something as artless as buns for blood-feeding... this is unlikely to be the work of a powerful figure from the Blood Food Sect.’

’Many righteous cultivators know some demonic arts, but they’re always secretive when they act, hiding their identities unless they plan to silence everyone present.’

’But two mere Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators want to annihilate more than a dozen of us at the same rank? What a fool’s dream!’

’These methods... they clearly belong to one of our own!’

’And if they are one of us, then things just got interesting.’

The gazes of the Evil Cultivators met in mid-air. Though no words were spoken, an unspoken understanding was reached.

’Anhe City was personally assigned to our Ghost Spirit Sect as a blood-feeding ground by the demonic titans from above! This is our territory, given to us as a reward!’

’But these two clearly have no regard for the orders from above, nor for our Ghost Spirit Sect!’

’This is a blatant violation of the rules! They’re trying to snatch food from the tiger’s mouth!’

Even though the higher-ups had given their decree, in this Cultivation Realm, there were always greedy members of other demonic sects, green-eyed with envy, who were willing to take a desperate risk to get a piece of the pie.

"If you dare reach for it, you’ll leave your lives behind."

A consensus was quickly reached among the Evil Cultivators.

Kill!