Blood Food

While Huang Huai had yet to recover from the shock of his own transformation, the crowd that received the blessing bowed once again toward the Three-Eyed White Lotus Goddess in the air with utmost piety.

"We thank the Exalted Deity!"

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After bowing to the Three-Eyed White Lotus Goddess, the crowd turned to bow with immense gratitude toward Seventh Elder Wei Yang of Great River Sect, who stood atop the tall sacrificial altar. "We thank you, Lord High God! We only pray that your Dao Path leads to the heavens, that your gods and demons remain immortal, and that you attain eternal life!"

Seventh Elder Wei Yang nodded slightly toward the Three-Eyed White Lotus Goddess in the air. The next moment, the divine light suddenly retracted, and the Three-Eyed White Lotus Goddess, transformed into flesh and blood, vanished. A lifelike, three-foot-tall Jade Three-Eyed White Lotus Goddess Statue appeared in the air.

With a beckoning wave of his hand, the jade divine statue fell into Wei Yang's grasp. He examined the jade statue resting in his palm, and seeing that the incense and fire prayer power accumulated upon it had increased somewhat, a look of satisfaction inevitably crossed his face.

Having gained the incense and fire prayer power of thousands upon thousands of common folk this time, his Jade Three-Eyed White Lotus Goddess Statue benefited immensely, taking yet another step closer to fully condensing a true spirit, forging a divine body, and transforming into a living deity.

With a thought, the Three-Eyed White Lotus Goddess Statue in Wei Yang's hand sank into his body, returning to his Dantian Divine Palace to continue nourishing it with the power of qi and blood.

Feeling the changes in the Three-Eyed White Lotus Goddess Statue, Wei Yang sighed inwardly. Harvesting the incense and fire prayer power of the common folk—using the myriad people prayer power to forge a divine body and condense a true spirit—was indeed far faster than painstakingly nourishing it with the qi and blood transformed from his own essence, breath, and spirit.

If he could manifest his sainthood often to harvest incense and fire prayer power, his cultivation speed would definitely become much faster.

Yet he also knew that if he really did that, once or twice would be fine, but if he manifested his sainthood too frequently, the common folk would lose their pious and reverent hearts. By then, not only would the harvested incense and fire prayer power be greatly reduced, but the prayer power itself would also become turbid and impure. At that point, it would be far more harmful than beneficial to his cultivation.

Manifesting sainthood and bestowing blessings occasionally like this, giving the common folk benefits visible to the naked eye—only after receiving benefits would the people appear even more pious, and practitioners like them could obtain incense and fire prayer power to aid their cultivation. This was the long-term path.

His gaze swept across the crowd below who were devoutly bowing and thanking him. Wei Yang took a few steps forward, his figure fluttering, and vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye, leaving only two disciples to handle the aftermath.

The blessing concluded, and the gathered common folk dispersed one by one with utmost satisfaction. Having witnessed the bizarre and wondrous other side of this world in such a short span of time, Huang Huai was truly deeply shocked. Even after quite a while, he was unable to steady his mind, wandering aimlessly through the streets in a daze.

In Great River City, sandalwood incense drifted among a cluster of archaic, continuous buildings, permeating the air with a rich scent of incense. Within this architectural complex, one could see various courtyards and all sorts of grand halls. Inside the halls, a wide array of divine statues were worshipped, with Great River Sect disciples dressed in uniform attire pacing to and fro between them.

A figure drifted down into one of the courtyards. Who else could it be but Wei Yang, Seventh Elder of Great River Sect, who had manifested his sainthood and bestowed blessings in the city not long ago?

As soon as Wei Yang returned to his residence, attending attendant boys and attendant girls stepped forward to pour tea and water for him. Before he could even take a sip, a rich fragrance of wine washed over him, and immediately afterward, an unrestrained and unconstrained voice rang out. "Junior Brother Wei, I wonder what the harvest was like from this manifestation of sainthood!"

Before the voice had even faded, a figure materialized out of thin air within the hall. This man was unkempt; the same style of robe as Wei Yang's was worn in an entirely different fashion. His wrinkled garments were stained with wine spots, and slightly disheveled hair hung down, a few strands clinging to his well-defined cheeks, perhaps dampened by wine.

The newcomer hauled a jar of wine in one hand and leaned lazily against a chair, looking at Wei Yang with sleepy, drunken eyes.

If such a person were lying by the roadside, he would likely be mistaken for a drunkard.

Yet Wei Yang, the Seventh Elder of Great River Sect, turned solemn the moment he saw the newcomer. He stood up, respectfully bowed to the other, and said, "Greetings, Second Senior Brother. In reply to Senior Brother's words, although the harvest this time was not small, it is still far from the success of conferring divinity upon my second deity!"

Facing the drunken newcomer, Wei Yang did not dare to show the slightest disrespect. One had to know that the other was the Great River Sect's sole Third Realm powerhouse who had opened up three divine courts in his sea of consciousness and enshrined three revered deities. It was precisely because of this person's existence that their Great River Sect could remain unafraid of surrounding factions, firmly grasping such a lucrative piece of fat as Taian Prefecture, Great River City, and the millions of common folk around them.

The name of Zhang Yan, Second Elder of Great River Sect, held extremely strong deterrence even among the various large and small factions in the surrounding area, making him a rare Third Realm powerhouse.

Zhang Yan, lying lazily with hazy, drunken eyes, glanced sideways at the respectful-looking Wei Yang, took a gurgling gulp of fine wine, and said, "You brat are as boring as the Sect Leader Eldest Senior Brother!"

Hearing this, Wei Yang could not help but offer a wry smile. Up and down their Great River Sect, everyone had always valued hierarchy and propriety. People like Zhang Yan, who remained drunk all day and disdained minor details, truly could not be found a second time.

Paying no heed to Wei Yang's reaction, Zhang Yan sat up straight, exceptionally wearing a serious expression as he looked at Wei Yang. "The destruction of Niujia Village—every single one of its hundred-odd residents wiped out, their flesh, blood, and souls utterly annihilated—has been investigated by me. It was not the doing of gods, demons, or malevolent spirits..."

Wei Yang's eyes abruptly constricted as he gasped in a low voice, "Just what kind of person dares to defy universal condemnation, using the flesh, blood, and souls of living humans as blood food to refine and sacrifice the divine statues they worship? Does he not know that cultivating with this taboo demonic method, once discovered, will lead to him being universally condemned by the whole world!"

As he spoke, Wei Yang looked at Zhang Yan with a solemn expression. "The most crucial part is that the other party dared to commit such a heaven-sent outrage right on our Great River City turf without any concealment at all. This is completely disregarding us in the Great River Sect!"

Zhang Yan waved a hand. "Let's leave universal condemnation aside. Among those who willingly degenerate and enter the demonic path, blindly pursuing cultivation speed, how many in the end are not counter-attacked by the gods and demons within their bodies, ultimately having their magpies' nests occupied by cuckoos and transforming into gods, demons, or malevolent spirits?"

Saying this, a rare flash of sternness and murderous intent surfaced in Zhang Yan's perpetually drunken and hazy eyes. "I have already discussed it with Sect Leader Senior Brother. We will dispatch our disciples to thoroughly search a radius of one hundred miles around the territory of Great River City."

Wei Yang nodded heavily. "That he cultivates using the flesh, blood, and souls of living humans as blood food is his own affair; so long as he didn't bump into Great River Sect, that would be that. But he shouldn't have provoked Great River Sect like this. If our Great River Sect cannot find him and eliminate him, others will think our Great River Sect is easy to bully."

Wei Yang quickly reacted, raising his head to look at Zhang Yan. "Senior Brother, you don't mean..."

Zhang Yan took another sip of wine water and said, "That's right. This search of the territory outside the city will be led by you, along with Fifth Brother and Old Sixth, while the city itself will be searched by me personally."

Hearing Zhang Yan mention the city, Wei Yang was first startled, then his expression turned stern. "If someone who obliterates human nature like this were to sneak into the city and hide in the dark, quietly abducting people to practice demonic arts..."

With that, Wei Yang anxiously looked at Zhang Yan. "There are a full hundred thousand people in Great River City; even if three or five people vanish every day, it wouldn't be noticed. Senior Brother had best order people to carefully investigate whether anyone has inexplicably gone missing or if any unfamiliar faces have suddenly appeared in the city over the past few days!"