A Mortal Furiously Devours Spirit Beast Blood, the Ultimate Dao Furnace Awakens

Li Changfeng took out a pure white silk handkerchief and carefully wiped dust from the jade thumb ring—dust that did not exist. He lowered his eyes at the muddy alley below, where sword qi had plowed deep trenches. Several severed limbs lay soaking amid broken bricks in filthy water.

"So messy. How are we supposed to lay out a red carpet?"

Li Changfeng casually tossed the handkerchief into a muddy puddle and made a gesture toward the underside of the spirit vessel.

"Go clean it up. Move quickly, and don't leave any extra bone fragments behind."

At his gesture, the enormous Azure-Water Qilin snorted. Its forehoof stepped idly through the air, and its massive body leapt straight from the edge of the spirit vessel. It used no spell; its four hooves merely trod several azure ripples into the air before it landed steadily in the middle of the muddy alley.

Its azure scales gave off a ghostly gleam in the dim alley. It shook out the mane around its neck and stepped forward with elegant poise. To it, this was not merely cleaning up garbage, but a feeding time bestowed by the immortal sect.

Steward Zhao crawled out from beneath a half-collapsed courtyard wall nearby. Without caring in the slightest about the mud covering him, he immediately bent at the waist and scampered forward.

"Immortal Master, truly wise! Look at this honored spirit beast—what an auspicious air it has!" Steward Zhao rubbed his hands together, the fat on his face squeezing into a grin. "Just look at that fur, so moist and glossy! For this beast... this treasure to pass through our Black Mud City is a blessing those lowly commoners cultivated over ten lifetimes! To enter its belly is to wash away the vile mortal blood in them!"

Li Changfeng did not even spare Steward Zhao a glance, acting as though he had heard nothing.

Above, Wang Xuan hugged his flying sword and gave a derisive snort.

"At least this servant has some sense. This is a young beast the sect elders went to great lengths to capture. It usually eats century-old spirit herbs that even we do not get to eat. Today, these mud-legged peasants get to benefit from it. Consider it a snack to sharpen its teeth and replenish its spiritual energy."

The Azure-Water Qilin walked over to a corpse that had been cleaved in half by sword qi. It lowered its huge head and opened its fang-filled jaws.

It bit down on half the body.

It raised its neck, its throat bobbed, and it swallowed the body whole.

The surviving mortals in the alley clamped their hands over their mouths and lay trembling frantically in the mud. Even the strength to crawl up and flee had been drained from them.

The qilin rolled its beastly eyes, suddenly locking onto A-Nan a few steps away.

The little girl lay in a filthy puddle, blood still pouring from where the green fragment had pierced her chest. She convulsed unconsciously, her fingers weakly scraping through the mud.

Though her vitality was extremely faint, to a young beast accustomed to spirit herbs, such fresh heart's blood was the finest dessert.

The qilin swished its long tail and closed in step by step. Its enormous shadow completely swallowed A-Nan's frail body.

It lowered its head and opened its bloody maw. Its barbed tongue dripped viscous saliva, and its rank stench rushed straight at A-Nan's cheek.

Just as its jaws were about to close.

Bang!

A muffled blast suddenly erupted from a pile of broken bricks nearby.

Lu Chen, who had been pinned to the ground by spiritual pressure and injuries, abruptly shot up from the pool of blood without warning. The mud and bricks beneath his feet were stomped into two deep pits, and every muscle in his body swelled to the limit a mortal could reach.

He did not reach for the rusty woodcutter's knife at his waist, nor did he take any defensive stance.

Lu Chen became a lone wolf driven utterly mad, using the recoil of his kick against the ground to hurl his flesh-and-blood body straight into the Azure-Water Qilin!

The sound of bone colliding with scales set teeth on edge.

Boom!

This spirit beast cub, weighing several thousand jin, was actually rammed from the side by a mere mortal and shoved several feet away. Its hooves plowed deep furrows through the mud.

The qilin's jaws brushed past A-Nan's scalp, then with a crack, bit the nearby half of a stone mill into fragments.

It whipped its head around, and intensely humanlike bewilderment flashed through its azure eyes.

An insect it could crush at any moment had actually dared to charge at it?

The bewilderment lasted only an instant before it was replaced by violent fury. A guardian spirit beast of an immortal sect had been provoked by a mortal with no spiritual root.

The qilin let out a low growl, raised its thick forelimb, and viciously slammed a claw toward Lu Chen with a shriek that tore through the air.

Lu Chen had no intention of dodging at all.

He charged forward to meet that enormous claw.

Squelch!

The sharp claw tips effortlessly tore through the flesh of Lu Chen's shoulder. Three bloody gashes, deep enough to show bone, instantly ripped from his collarbone to his chest. Blood spurted out, staining the qilin's hoof red.

Yet even as he was torn open, Lu Chen used the searing pain to force himself close to the qilin's body.

He spread his arms and locked them tightly around the Azure-Water Qilin's thick neck. His ten fingers dug into the gaps between its hard scales, his nails snapping and flipping backward on the spot.

Li Changfeng and Wang Xuan watching from the air, even Steward Zhao at the side, all believed that this mortal was merely struggling uselessly on the brink of death.

The next second, everyone's eyes widened.

Lu Chen opened his mouth, aimed at the softest part of the Azure-Water Qilin's throat beneath its jaw, and bit down savagely!

There was no technique involved, only the most primal brutality.

His teeth pierced the tough flesh and sank straight into a thick blood vessel.

Roar—!!!

The Azure-Water Qilin let out an incomparably shrill scream. The agony stripped away all its elegance. Its huge body suddenly reared up, its neck thrashing madly as it tried to fling off the mortal clamped onto its throat.

But Lu Chen's arms locked around it like iron hoops, his teeth deeply embedded in flesh. No matter how it shook, he would not let go.

The qilin went mad.

The immense azure spiritual energy in its body completely lost control, transforming into a violent vortex that swept through everything around it.

The filthy water, broken bricks, and rotten wood in the muddy alley were all swept into the air by the spiritual-energy vortex. Several ruined courtyard walls nearby collapsed in sheets beneath the impact of the spiritual energy.

"Insolence!"

Li Changfeng's expression changed drastically in midair as he shouted in fury. His two joined fingers jabbed downward, and the flying sword on his back instantly flew from its sheath, trailing a blinding white streak.

Just as sword qi was about to gather at his fingertips, Wang Xuan grabbed his wrist.

"Senior Brother! Don't be rash!" Wang Xuan lowered his voice, his tone full of apprehension. "That is the young beast the Grand Elder dotes on most! The spiritual energy below is in complete chaos. If you strike with that spell, the mortal will certainly die—but this spirit beast will be severely wounded as well!"

Li Changfeng's fingers froze in midair. Sword qi flickered from his fingertips, yet he did not dare bring it down.

If they injured the elder's spirit beast, forget the two of them as outer sect disciples—even inner sect disciples would be unable to bear the consequences.

"Wait until this beast throws that mortal off before we strike." Li Changfeng clenched his back teeth and forcibly recalled his flying sword.

Because of that moment of hesitation, the immortal sect disciples forcibly lost the golden three breaths in which they could have killed Lu Chen.

Below, the Azure-Water Qilin, with Lu Chen hanging from its neck, slammed heavily into the only remaining sturdy earthen wall nearby.

Rumble!

The entire wall collapsed, burying man and beast beneath a mass of yellow earth and broken bricks.

More than half of Lu Chen's body was crushed between stone blocks and the beast's body.

The spiritual-energy vortex unleashed by the qilin battered his body without end. Lu Chen's skin split inch by inch, blood seeping out layer upon layer until his whole body became a man of blood.

Yet he refused to release his bite.

Lu Chen's eyes grew brighter and brighter amid the darkness and dust. It was a light of ultimate savagery, even tinged with madness.

You want to eat people? Then today, I'll eat you alive.

Scalding liquid flowed through the qilin's ruptured throat vessel and straight into Lu Chen's mouth.

His throat bobbed violently as he greedily swallowed that great mouthful of liquid.

The first mouthful of true blood from a high-grade alien beast entered his stomach.

According to the common knowledge of the immortal sect, mortals possessed no spiritual roots and had never undergone marrow cleansing. If they swallowed such violent spirit beast true blood raw, their only fate would be for their meridians to be instantly burst apart by spiritual energy, turning them into a lump of minced flesh on the spot.

Yet the instant that true blood slid into Lu Chen's stomach, no explosion occurred.

Something slumbering in the deepest part of his flesh and blood was thoroughly ignited by that mouthful of true blood.

It was the Ultimate Dao Furnace, buried by the immortal path beneath the Wild Nine Provinces for countless ages.

Just as the violent, rampaging azure spiritual energy within the true blood was about to erupt inside Lu Chen, the power of the Ultimate Dao Furnace instantly enveloped it. Without any reason or logic, that power crushed the pure spiritual energy coveted in the dreams of immortal cultivators into dust with overwhelming force.

The spiritual energy was brutally filtered, pulverized, and incinerated.

Only the vastest, purest source of life remained, surging through his blood vessels with a thunderous crash toward every limb and bone in Lu Chen's body.

Thump!

A deafening boom, more muffled than thunder, erupted from Lu Chen's chest.

It was as though invisible chains that had bound humanity for tens of thousands of years were forcibly torn apart at that moment.

In midair, Li Changfeng frowned deeply and stared fixedly at the collapsed ruins.

"What was that sound?"

Beneath the ruins, Lu Chen's eyes were bloodshot.

Enormous vitality rampaged through his muscles and marrow. There was too much power—so much that his mortal body could not endure it. His skin visibly swelled, while his blood vessels grew so thick they nearly burst through his flesh.

He had to vent it! If he did not immediately expend this energy, then even if spiritual energy did not burst him apart, this immense vitality would suffocate him until he exploded alive.

With no cultivation experience whatsoever, Lu Chen relied entirely on animal instinct.

He clenched his teeth and forcibly summoned in his mind that crude external martial art he had traded for with a stale steamed bun at the roadside.

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