You're awake?

The Kun's eyes had gone white. Was it because humans tasted so good that he'd gotten carried away?

Was that steaming burp because he'd eaten too much?

Was that scorching, charred heat because Wine Fox Immortal was a fire-type Beast Immortal?

Golden Peng's nostrils twitched, and his expression gradually stiffened.

This... wasn't the taste of a human.

This was the rich fragrance of fish bones aged for thousands of years!

It was the taste he'd once dreamed of, on the eve of his defection from the White Lotus Sect two thousand years ago, when Yun Zhonghe had hosted guests from the Immortal Court and cooked Void Kun.

It was the taste the East Floating Immortal Court had spent a thousand years promoting in its campaign to hunt the Void Kun!

An ominous premonition surfaced in Golden Peng's mind.

Had the Void Kun's belly been roasted?

Golden Peng froze in shock.

Impossible!

The Kun's maw swallowed heaven and earth, its stomach was a hollow void, and its gastric juices could refine an ocean. Nothing made of steel or stone could resist digestion.

Over the past thousand years, the Void Kun had devoured countless immortals, among them powerful Immortal Sect Masters!

Could this kid be far stronger than an Immortal Sect Master?

Not only had the Kun's belly failed to digest him, but he'd burned away its gastric juices, burned through its stomach wall, and charred its bones and flesh?

A careful sweep with his spiritual sense told him he could no longer detect the Void Kun's spiritual pressure.

It was almost cooked through...

Absurd!

Roiling flames churned in Golden Peng's eyes.

What kind of monster was this guy?

Just how much strength had he been hiding?

Humans... were too despicable!

Golden Peng stood suspended in the air, unable to believe his eyes.

Through all those years of wind and rain, we'd killed and burned, slaughtered cities and wiped out sects, fought heaven and contended with immortals. What glorious days they'd been! And now you'd died at a little Bamboo Spring Sect?

"If I, Golden Peng, don't wipe out the Bamboo Spring Sect, may I never be a Peng!"

A vast sea of rage erupted in an instant.

"But not today."

He didn't sink too deeply into his grief. Without another word, Golden Peng turned and left.

Suddenly, behind him, the Giant Kun opened its mouth and gulped. A terrifying force dragged him backward.

Golden Peng sensed disaster and instantly used Beast Release, transforming into a giant Peng. He spread his wings and raced away, but...

He was flying backward, straight toward the Kun's mouth!

He couldn't escape even after going all out?

What kind of monstrous power was this?

Golden Peng realized death was drawing near, but he still had one last trump card.

Exploding the Kun!

It was a lethal technique he'd devised when he was young. At a critical moment, he could detonate the Void Kun's Immortal Platform, gravely wound his enemy, and buy himself enough time to escape.

He instantly returned to human form, swiftly formed a hand seal, and shouted:

"Expl—"

Before he could even say the word "Kun," swordlight suddenly blazed behind him!

A giant sword formed from three thousand sword shadows, at just the right moment, in just the right place, from just the right angle, with just the right amount of force...

One sword pierced through his Immortal Platform!

"You—"

Golden Peng stared in shock and turned around. Reflected in his frozen birdlike eyes, several miles away atop Little Bamboo Spring Mountain, was Liu Xuanye's imposing figure, standing aloft.

He'd been ambushed!

The Void Kun swallowed someone, only to be roasted by them.

He was forming a hand seal, only to be ambushed by a sword...

Humans were too despicable!

Golden Peng's eyes nearly split with fury.

His fingers began to crumble into dust. No matter how he reached out to grab hold of something, he couldn't stop it. Instead, more of his body disintegrated. At last, his entire body burst into ash and vanished into the sky.

As a Beast Immortal, he turned to dust upon death, just like an immortal.

His eyes held the tragic injustice of death and the fury of an unfulfilled grudge.

He'd never met a married couple so shameless!

"Fellow Immortal Tails, please, you must destroy humanity!"

That was his final wish...

On the Sword Terrace.

Liu Xuanye's heart was as still as water. She turned and walked into the depths of the bamboo grove.

Three thousand swordlights all returned to that slender figure, graceful as green bamboo.

On the Martial Arts Arena, the black clouds receded and the downpour finally stopped.

The sea of clouds in the sky was breathtaking. Golden sunlight pierced through it and spilled across the land, as if draping Floating Mountain in a magnificent divine aura.

Watching Golden Peng turn to ash, Ning Zhongzi instinctively tossed a jar into the air.

Golden Peng's bounty was several hundred times greater than Yunzhongzi's!

After collecting the ashes, Ning Zhongzi looked at the huge, white Kun in the clouds and shook her head.

Senior Brother really... had made her worry for nothing.

With such a gigantic Kun's worth of meat, plus Golden Peng's bounty, perhaps Azure Phoenix City could hold out until the crops ripened two months from now.

Had all this been part of Senior Brother's plan?

As for the Sect Master killing Golden Peng with a single sword, there had been an element of ambush, but it certainly hadn't been easy. At least, she'd never seen that move before.

Had she learned it through dual cultivation with Senior Brother, too?

Ning Zhongzi didn't dare think about it any further. Her bright eyes glimmered softly as she turned to look at Snake Baby.

On the Martial Arts Arena.

The Beast Immortals stared blankly at Golden Peng's disintegration, still unable to fully process what had happened.

They'd won just like that?

Was the Sect Master's sword really that powerful?

The Sect Master and Lord Wine Fox—the Peerless Duo of the East Floating Immortal Academy back in the day—even injured and constrained by their constitutions, could still wield strength beyond their cultivation...

Was this what talent looked like?

And another thing.

Why had the Void Kun's body turned white?

What was this incredible fragrance?

Was Elder Lu still alive?

In a corner, Weasel Immortal trembled.

He finally understood why he'd seen a horrifying vision of meat in Lu Ya's eyes—a vision of meat capable of swallowing heaven and earth and eating anything in its path.

"It's the City Lord. He roasted the Kun's body from inside its belly... He let himself be swallowed on purpose. He even had all the seasoning ready."

That was how Weasel Immortal explained it to everyone.

The Beast Immortals stared back, utterly baffled.

But when they thought about all of Lu Ya's actions, before and after, it really did seem that way!

Shock, absurdity, and lingering fear.

Could such a cooking technique really exist?

Was Elder Lu a demon?

Muyu Feifei came to her senses after her fright. Their two little faces, pale as death, gradually turned red. The pants they'd wet from sheer terror earlier now felt...

Like they'd pissed themselves for nothing.

"Roasting fish inside a fish's belly?"

"Eating fish from inside a fish's belly?"

Envy twisted their faces beyond recognition!

They were so jealous of Lord Wine Fox.

They wanted to eat fish inside the Kun's belly, too.

But they were afraid they'd be digested before they could reach Lu Ya.

They wanted to find someone to go with them, but no one agreed.

Their four chubby little legs paced back and forth across the Martial Arts Arena, circling around and around as they hesitated.

After a little deliberation, they all flew up into the sky on their swords, wobbling their way toward the clouds.

They hovered beneath the enormous Kun's body, gazing up at its gigantic belly, covered in pale blue-green scales.

It felt like looking at the lid of the sky.

It was simply too huge!

And it smelled so good!

How long would it take to eat all that?

Why hadn't Lu Ya come out yet?

Was he planning to eat such a huge fish all by himself?

A lone man and woman alone together in a belly—weren't they embarrassed?

The two of them wandered in front of the huge, slightly open Kun's mouth for a long time. Staring into its deep throat, black as a black hole, they still didn't dare go inside. They could only shout into its mouth:

"Little Martial Uncle, come out already!"

"Your adorable nieces are here to help!"

"Can you let us in?"

"We won't cause any trouble this time. We'll do whatever you say!"

"..."

By now, the Giant Kun's belly had become a sea of flames.

Dim blue flames drifted like floating ghosts.

Its stomach was three zhang long and two zhang wide at its broadest point—larger than the apartment Lu Ya had coveted in his previous life but couldn't even afford to use as a toilet.

All of its gastric juices had evaporated, and its stomach wall had been burned through.

Inside the Kun's belly, it was like a vast, wondrous collection of organs. Only a bit of liver and the swim bladder remained; Lu Ya had tossed everything else into his spatial ring.

Lu Ya had cut a series of slits into the inner layer of the Kun's flesh with his sword.

He'd sprinkled on a vast amount of chopped scallions, minced garlic, chili oil, cumin, salt, Sichuan peppercorns, and star anise...

The meat was golden-brown and glistening, lightly spicy with a fresh, savory aroma, neither greasy nor gamey.

The roast sizzled. A drop of hot oil slowly slid down the plump grain of the meat, intoxicating to behold.

The fragrance filled the Kun's entire belly.

There was a flat patch in the center of the Kun's belly.

This place was sheltered from the blue flames and hot air currents inside the Kun. A faint breeze even drifted in from the distant void, making it wonderfully cool, like a hidden paradise.

Lu Ya sat cross-legged.

He'd planned to use the force of Golden Peng's explosion to save some fuel, but his wife had worried and killed his source of fire.

You really are a wonderful wife!

Beside Lu Ya,

Wine Fox Immortal lay on her side atop the Kun's flesh.

She was sleeping soundly.

A loose blue robe covered her petite body, still caked with blood.

Her rugged, ordinary features had, in sleep, taken on a hint of round, childish cuteness.

Unfortunately, her long, expressive eyelashes had been singed and curled by the dim blue flames.

Her recent wounds had mostly healed, leaving only the old wound Liu Xuanye had inflicted on her at the Immortal Academy.

Lu Ya had left it as a memento for her... He'd supposedly done it for her own good, too.

After a long while,

Wine Fox Immortal's pert nose twitched. She rubbed her eyes and woke up.

What met her foxlike gaze was a world of blue flames, terrifying and grotesque walls of flesh beyond description, and the savory scent of roasting corpses filling the air.

"Is this... hell?"

Lu Ya sat cross-legged beside her, just as he had on Ning Zhongzi's bed ten days ago.

"You're awake?"

Wine Fox Immortal sprang up in a start. She stared at Lu Ya, pointing at him, unable to speak for a long time.

"Y-you... you died too?"

Thanks to everyone for the tips!

LDG Flower Demon - 15,000 (total: Hall Master)

丨肆意丶 - 2,000

饭太希灬-1200

White Essence Author, Update Quickly-1000

Carrying a Girl to Kill, Dismantling Gundam Barehanded-500

Love One Person for Life-500

掌缘生灭映辉江-100