Noon, the blazing sun hung high in the sky.
The treetops, some darker and some lighter, shimmered with pale light. As their branches and leaves spread out, flecks of gold danced among them, bright and radiant.
Birds perched and flitted among the branches, like shoals of fish darting through the air.
Following the dense foliage downward was like diving from the bright, azure surface of the sea.
Gloom, cold, rot, and other such scents gradually drove out all light and warmth, filling the air.
Like a forest at midnight, bones lay piled high, and blood trickled into the soft, black grave soil, staining the entire burial ground a dark crimson.
"Ahhh!!"
With an utterly shrill scream, the last living person was brutally slaughtered by one of the slaves of greed amid boundless terror. At the same time, "Yu" finally recovered to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage!
By now, every living creature in the vicinity, whether human or beast, had been brought here by the slaves of greed and slaughtered!
At that moment, footsteps sounded beneath the trees. The other three slaves of greed returned, but they came empty-handed and had found nothing.
The three slaves of greed bowed in unison to "Yu" and said in cold voices, "Master, we have searched all the territory nearby."
"We found no other living things."
"Yu" stood alone beside the tombstone, his eyes slightly closed. He did not open them at their report, only nodded before giving his orders: "Go farther afield."
"Our cultivation has only recovered to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage."
"The blood and fear still aren't enough!"
"Also, avoid 'Xi' and 'Qiu' as much as possible."
The four slaves of greed bowed together. "As you command!"
They waited briefly. Seeing that "Yu" had no further orders, they quietly withdrew.
Beneath the