The Contest

What was Dragon Saliva Incense?

Fu Qian's question left Ji Liushuang frozen in place.

"Of course I know what Dragon Saliva Incense is, but I don't understand what you mean..."

Ji Liushuang answered in a daze.

Fu Qian hadn't expected her to understand.

An indigestible foreign object wasn't true Dragon Saliva Incense even after it was coated. Only after a whale spat it out and it had been washed and soaked in seawater for hundreds of years did it become a true treasure.

There was one crucial point: the foreign object had to be spat out.

Since he couldn't break through the furnace's barrier, he could make it spit him out as a foreign object.

Perhaps that was one way to escape this desperate situation.

But if the furnace was like a whale, then to be spat out, he had to be not only indigestible, but also large enough.

Fu Qian strongly suspected that Feng Yunhong had been working toward this all these years.

By slowly devouring the extraordinary individuals who came after him, he was accumulating himself as a foreign object, making the furnace's indigestion worse and worse.

Until one day, he crossed that threshold...

"Not understanding isn't a problem. As the ancients said, weakness and ignorance aren't obstacles to survival; arrogance is. If you don't understand something, just don't do it."

Fu Qian winked at Ji Liushuang.

"You'll help us, won't you?"

Unable to understand what Fu Qian meant, Ji Liushuang swallowed and hurriedly said,

"You may not fit in with everyone, but I know you're not a bad person.

"If there's a way out, please tell me. I'm willing to pay any price."

Fu Qian looked at Ji Liushuang's serious face, then at the other five.

Apart from Ji Liushuang, none of them even dared meet his gaze, though they were clearly straining to listen.

"Sorry, you won't be getting out."

Fu Qian mercilessly crushed everyone's hopes.

"Because you're too weak."

"Besides, I may not be a bad person, but I am a mission-taker."

Smiling at Ji Liushuang, Fu Qian leaped into the center of the blood pool, landing where Feng Yunhong had first stood.

The blood at the pool's center closed around him almost instantly.

Fu Qian could clearly feel the blood furiously washing over his body, trying to enter him and assimilate him.

"How about this?"

Without hesitation, Fu Qian plunged his right hand into the blood pool.

The wound where his little finger had been instantly became an opening, and blood surged through it into his body.

"You dare!"

A frenzied roar rang out across the place, and someone rose from the blood pool.

Calling it a person was generous. More accurately, it was a humanoid monster with a torso and limbs, its face completely featureless.

It was Feng Yunhong's voice.

"Of course I know. Why else would I be doing this so enthusiastically?"

Fu Qian replied cheekily. Under the horrified gaze of Ji Liushuang and the others, he then tore off his entire right arm.

The blood rushed in several times faster.

In an instant, he felt his body swell with surging vitality and blood.

"Stop!"

Feng Yunhong's voice grew more urgent.

"Do you have any idea how many years I've spent preparing for this?"

"So you know exactly what your situation is?"

Fu Qian confirmed his guess.

It seemed Feng Yunhong had arrived at the same method.

Turn himself into an indigestible object too large to contain, and make the furnace expel him of its own accord.

"I won't let you ruin decades of hard work!"

Seeing that Fu Qian not only refused to stop, but doubled down, Feng Yunhong began absorbing the blood faster in desperation.

But the earlier self-destruction had clearly inflicted massive damage on him, and he was still recovering.

As soon as he sped up his absorption, his body became unstable. He could barely maintain a human shape and had no choice but to slow down again.

Even so, thanks to his years of accumulation and familiarity, his absorption speed still far surpassed Fu Qian's.

His body gradually took shape, with organs, muscles, and other details appearing.

Once he was sure Fu Qian posed no real threat, Feng Yunhong let out a relieved breath.

"You foolish, overconfident idiot. I let you escape before, and now you've come back to throw yourself into the trap."

He glared at Fu Qian.

"Soon, I'll send you on your way with my own hands, and let you experience the most exquisite pain."

"Hmph!"

Faced with Feng Yunhong's threat, Fu Qian merely snorted, completely unmoved.

"You did remind me. Should I strike first?"

Fu Qian walked forward, step by step, until he stood in front of Feng Yunhong.

He had no skin, and the texture of his muscles was plainly visible. Even his internal organs could be seen.

Feng Yunhong had absorbed most of the blood in the pool, and he looked even taller than before.

"You dare!"

As Feng Yunhong roared, Fu Qian took another step forward, letting him grab him by the throat. At the same time, Fu Qian's fingers, sharp as a blade, carved a deep gash into Feng Yunhong's body.

But in the next instant, blood welled from the wound, and it rapidly healed before their eyes,

"Don't bother."

Feng Yunhong laughed maniacally.

"I may not be able to move easily right now, but as long as I stand in this blood pool, I absolutely can't die.

"No matter what damage I suffer, it'll be repaired in an instant."

"Is that so? What about this?"

Fu Qian blinked, slipped his hand through the not-yet-healed wound, and unleashed Internal Organ Critical Hit.

The blood pool beneath them shook violently, and Feng Yunhong's scream rang out across the place.

As Fu Qian pulled his hand out, a torrent of blood gushed from the wounds in Feng Yunhong's body.

"Stop!"

He didn't even have skin, which meant his whole body was technically one big wound. A perfect target for a kidney punch!

Ignoring Feng Yunhong's screams, Fu Qian reached in again.

The six people on the bank were dumbfounded.

When they'd seen Fu Qian leap straight into the blood pool, they'd thought he'd gone mad and was trying to kill himself.

But now it looked like he'd planned this all along, and was going to kill Feng Yunhong.

Watching Fu Qian's terrifying attacks make Feng Yunhong scream again and again, they suddenly saw a figure rush to the edge of the pool.

"Huang Zhaoyan!"

The group was shocked to see him step forward.

"Fools."

Huang Zhaoyan gave them a cold laugh, then leaped in without hesitation.

He wanted to get his share!

The group, who'd just been called fools, instantly understood Huang Zhaoyan's intentions.

Absorbing the blood in the center of the pool clearly made one stronger, and Feng Yunhong and Fu Qian were locked in a fierce fight, too occupied to pay attention to anything else.

Huang Zhaoyan wanted to get in on it.

It was dangerous, but in a place like this, every bit of strength meant a better chance of survival. It seemed worth the risk.

As for why he'd called them fools, the reason was simple.

If they let things continue, whoever won, they would all end up as lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

The crowd stirred. One after another, figures leaped up and charged toward the middle of the blood pool.