This scene reminded Chen Duan of a similar experience in the ancient tombs of Qingzhou.
"Trying to run?"
Chen Duan moved, transforming once again into a fading afterimage as he pounced on the fleeing chunks of corpse.
"Don't kill them! Throw them all over here!"
Feng Qu Xian's slender body threaded through the wreckage strewn across the ground. His wide mouth opened and closed as he swallowed the chunks of corpse whole, shouting at Chen Duan with undisguised greed.
Soon, Chen Duan tossed over a black ball with long legs, roughly the size of a palm. Feng Qu Xian's body sprang up, his mouth stretching open like a pouch to catch the black meatball. With a gulp, he swallowed it.
More severed limbs and scraps of flesh in all shapes and forms came flying over intermittently. Feng Qu Xian refused nothing, accepting every piece and eating to his heart's content.
However, the remaining chunks of corpse seemed to sense something. They all began swelling, then exploded one after another with a series of popping sounds, transforming into even finer bits of flesh as they fled for their lives.
Some, no bigger than maggots, burrowed straight into the soil.
A moment later.
The dust settled.
Old Feng leisurely crawled back onto Chen Duan's shoulder. After twisting his body a few times, he returned to his normal state.
Although he had swallowed a large amount of corpse matter, his body had not visibly changed.
"What a pity. Some of that impostor still got away..." Old Feng smacked his lips, his tone filled with regret.
"But I reckon less than a tenth remains. It suffered a grievous loss of vitality and won't be able to stir up much trouble anymore..."
Before he had finished speaking.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Chen Duan suddenly swung his fists again, pounding the surrounding ground. The force of his punches left several horrifyingly deep pits in the earth.
Some chunks of corpse lurking in the shallow soil, which had not yet managed to escape, were directly shattered and slaughtered by the fierce true qi.
The sudden commotion startled Old Feng into a violent twitch. Still shaken, he glanced at Chen Duan, who remained in his swollen state beside him, and instinctively ducked his head.
To be honest, Old Feng had not been sure whether Chen Duan could defeat that impostor.
But he had had no other choice. If he remained beside that impostor, he would eventually be swallowed and digested, becoming nourishment for it. Compared to that, Chen Duan's side at least offered a glimmer of hope.
At the thought, a complicated emotion welled up in Old Feng's heart.
Huh~ Who would have thought he was merely a clone.
This time, he had truly been played, made into a tool from beginning to end.
Fortunately, the outcome had been dangerous but ultimately uneventful.
It was all thanks to his long-term residence inside Chen Duan, where he had absorbed a vast amount of powerful qi and blood. At the critical moment, he had used that power to secretly neutralize the Cold Poison and quietly eaten part of the impostor's brain. Only then had he managed to turn the tables.
"Old Feng, anything you'd like to say? This time, you really did 'betray' me~"
Chen Duan did not linger. He set off toward Kongling Village, his tone carrying a hint of teasing that was almost, but not quite, a smile.
Those words sent a sudden chill through Old Feng's heart.
Sure enough, I couldn't hide it...
Of course, he could never admit it so easily.
His eyes shifted, and he immediately began "recounting" what had happened.
After carefully cutting, embellishing, and exaggerating the details, he portrayed himself as a hero who had endured humiliation, infiltrated the enemy's lair, and ultimately joined forces with Chen Duan from within to help him achieve victory.
"Heh heh heh. If this old man hadn't infiltrated the enemy ranks and struck at the critical moment, heavily damaging that impostor's mind, do you think you could have defeated it so easily?"
Feng Qu Xian struggled to straighten his tiny body and stroked his nonexistent beard, putting on a smug, self-congratulatory air.
In truth, Chen Duan's victory over Feng Qu Xian had little to do with him. If Feng Qu Xian had not developed the intention to flee and avoided the battle, the fight might have ended even sooner.
"Oh? Is that so?"
Chen Duan continued walking. He reached out with two fingers, pinched Old Feng up, and raised him before his eyes.
Those deep eyes stared fixedly at Old Feng without the slightest emotion.
"Y-you... What are you trying to do? This old man warns you not to act recklessly!" Old Feng panicked under that scrutinizing gaze.
"Finished telling your story?" Chen Duan asked calmly.
"Hmph! Here we go again, slandering a loyal subject! When has this old man ever said a single lie?" Old Feng shouted, forcing himself to remain composed.
"Whether it's a lie or not..." A bone-chilling smile spread across Chen Duan's lips, revealing his pale teeth.
"I'll know once I have a taste."
"You—you—you! You're not this old man! Even if you swallowed me, you wouldn't obtain my memories. It would only be a waste! Aah!!! Stop, you bastard! Let me go!" Old Feng screamed like a slaughtered pig, scared out of his wits.
Before long, they arrived at the ruins of Kongling Village.
Chen Duan casually stuffed the limp Old Feng back into his body, found his wooden box, and took out the Yellow Medicine to smear over the arm of Feng Qu Xian beneath his armpit.
As the medicinal power seeped in, the arm's agitation and rejection subsided considerably.
However, the foreign internal force within it was indeed formidable. Combined with the strange and tenacious Cold Poison it carried, completely refining it would still require a long period of patient effort.
Crack!
The arm shrank, eventually becoming a patch of pitch-black flesh that faintly radiated Chilling Air.
Just then, a powerful emptiness rose from Chen Duan's abdomen, accompanied by a rumble like thunder.
After the intense expenditure, his body urgently needed an infusion of energy.
Chen Duan immediately opened the wooden box and stuffed all the Blood Food stored inside into his mouth, wolfing it down.
However, that amount was little more than a cup of water poured onto a burning wagon. His hunger remained.
He raised his head and immediately locked onto a direction.
His body moved, vanishing from where he stood.
As the battle ended, the fleeing Kong Family Members suddenly felt the ground tremble.
A massive shadow descended from the sky and crashed heavily in front of the convoy, sending dust billowing upward.
As the dust thinned, that terrifying figure entered the eyes of every Kong Family Disciple.
"Everyone, stay alert!" Kong Mingcheng was horrified. He immediately rushed to the front of the group, his voice trembling slightly.
The excitement from the earlier battle had faded. Now, facing this monster directly, the fear born from their very instincts as living beings immediately wrapped itself around every heart.
That savage Multi-armed Demonic Body, along with the final vicious tiger, had already been branded into their minds as nightmares. They would likely never forget them for the rest of their lives.
Only the members of the Gu Tribe still had traces of fanaticism in their eyes alongside the fear.
"Second Brother! Let me negotiate with Senior Chen!"
Kong Tianpeng instinctively tried to step forward, but Kong Mingcheng held him back firmly and dragged him behind himself.
"Shut up! Get back! He isn't the Senior you know!"
Kong Mingcheng shouted harshly, his expression grave.
After witnessing the previous clash, he could not even determine whether the thing before him was human or something else entirely.
If someone as straightforward as Kong Tianpeng negotiated with it and accidentally provoked it with the wrong words, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Kong Mingcheng drew a deep breath and forcibly suppressed his fear. Facing the figure ahead, he respectfully cupped his hands and bowed, keeping his voice as steady as possible.
"May I ask what Senior wants with us?"
The head lowered slightly, and a muffled voice emerged.
"Do you have anything to eat?"
The Kong Family Members froze at first. Then boundless terror filled them.
Food?
He's asking us for food?
Does he want to use us as rations?
Everyone swallowed as they looked at Chen Duan's gaping mouth.
Several people in the crowd went weak in the knees and collapsed directly onto the ground.
Others fared even worse, wetting large patches of their trousers and filling the air with a foul stench.
Some had simply been scared senseless. Others had their own little schemes: perhaps if they made themselves filthy and smelly, the monster would find them disgusting and let them go?
Kong Mingcheng's face was deathly pale. He clenched his teeth, and a trace of resolve flashed through his eyes.
He stepped forward, raised his head, and shouted, "Senior! If you need food, eat me! I'm a Five Levels Martial Artist, and my qi and blood are fairly abundant. They're all too weak, with thin qi and blood and no use to you! I beg Senior to show mercy and spare them!"
"Brother Cheng!"
"Uncle Mingcheng!"
"Lord Mingcheng!"
The people behind him cried out in grief.
They had never expected that, at this life-or-death moment, Kong Mingcheng would be willing to sacrifice himself in exchange for a chance at their survival.
The person who had wet himself in an attempt to save his own skin was now red-faced, so ashamed he wished he could crawl into a hole.
Kong Tianpeng once again rushed to Kong Mingcheng's side. With his neck stiff and his face full of righteous passion, he cried, "Don't eat my second brother! He's old, and his qi and blood have already begun to decline! If you have to eat someone, eat me! I'm young! My qi and blood are vigorous!"
"Tianpeng!" Kong Mingcheng's expression was deeply moved.
Infected by the two men, the remaining Kong Family Members behind them began shedding tears. Several stepped forward and shouted over one another.
"Eat me! I'm not afraid to die!"
"I'll do it! My flesh is firm!"
"Tell my father I wasn't a coward! I died for the Kong Family!"
For a time, the scene looked truly "heroic."
Chen Duan frowned. What were these people suddenly carrying on about?
He had only wanted to ask for some Blood Food. Why were they acting as if he intended to eat people?
He was no saint, but he was not so ravenous that he would eat anything indiscriminately.
Then he suddenly came to his senses and lowered his head to look at his body, which was still swollen.
Perhaps this appearance had caused them some unnecessary misunderstanding.
Crackling and popping, Chen Duan's body rapidly shrank. Within a few breaths, he had returned to human form.
Looking at the Kong Family Members still competing for the "right to be eaten," he said impatiently, "I said Blood Food—Blood Food from anomalous monsters! If you don't want me to eat people, hurry up and find Blood Food for me. All of it!"
The clamoring stopped abruptly. Everyone stood frozen in place, the resolute tragedy still lingering on their faces now mixed with a touch of comical bewilderment.
"Huh???"
Before you continue