Passive Gluttony Shows Its Might

Night fell, and the surroundings grew silent.

Aside from the occasional chirping of insects, there was only the sound of patrolling disciples passing by.

By now, Zhou Feng had been assigned to a courtyard.

That's right—a courtyard all to himself.

Every one of the newly inducted disciples had actually been given a private courtyard to live in.

They had even sent over a pile of food.

Besides that, there was also a small booklet.

Yet the more accommodating the Three Gu Sect was, the more uneasy he became.

As someone with a functioning brain, he naturally understood that there was no such thing as getting something for nothing.

For example, would a stranger in this world give you money for no reason at all?

Unless that person was an idiot, or they could obtain even greater benefits from you.

Other than those two possibilities, there was basically no other explanation.

The disciples patrolling outside from time to time only confirmed his suspicions.

Earlier, he had tentatively stepped out of the courtyard, only to be discovered immediately and driven straight back inside.

"Could this have something to do with the nourishment Instructor Wei mentioned?"

Zhou Feng recalled that Instructor Wei had said most of them would receive nourishment from their Bloodthirsty Gu tonight.

Could something go wrong during that process?

Was that why they had separated and confined all these newly inducted disciples?

Faced with all these strange matters, he simply could not stop his mind from wandering.

"Forget it! Forget it! Thinking so much will only add to my troubles!"

There was no point in thinking this and that.

Even if he did manage to guess something in the end, what could he do about it?

Without enough strength, he could not change his current circumstances at all.

Then, he picked up the meat laid out before him.

This was cooked meat delivered by the sect. He could grab it and eat it right away.

What was rather exaggerated was that there were two whole baskets of it.

That's right! You heard correctly! Two entire baskets.

Other than the meat, there was nothing else. As for drinks, there was only the water in the vat beside him.

"Why do I feel like they're really feeding a pig here?"

Zhou Feng bit off a huge chunk of meat, muttering to himself inwardly.

Because of the Bloodthirsty Gu, even though he had taken a Blood Replenishing Pill earlier, he was still starving. So he immediately began wolfing down the food. When it came to eating, he was quite interested.

Come to think of it, he seemed to have a Gluttony passive.

Zhou Feng opened the Skill Panel and casually glanced at it, only to discover that the passive had actually triggered.

"Digesting unknown beast meat, blood vitality +1!"

"Digesting unknown beast meat, blood vitality +2!"

"Digesting unknown beast meat, blood vitality +1!"

"..."

At that moment, his stomach was like an incinerator.

It continuously digested the beast meat he swallowed.

Then it constantly produced blood vitality, nourishing his entire body.

He could clearly feel streams of warmth flowing throughout him.

How should he put it? It felt like sitting in a small courtyard in winter, with warm sunlight shining over his whole body.

That cozy warmth made one unconsciously narrow one's eyes and relax completely.

But that comfortable sensation soon vanished.

After sensing such abundant blood vitality, the Bloodthirsty Gu lodged near his heart began to act as well.

And it drew in blood vitality far faster than before.

"This is..."

Panic suddenly rose in Zhou Feng's heart. If it kept sucking like this, would he be drained dry?

Instinctively, he began constantly swallowing the beast meat before him.

He chewed each piece twice, then swallowed it, one piece of beast meat after another disappearing into his stomach.

Now, he began to feel fortunate that he had obtained the Gluttony passive skill.

With this passive, he had transformed into a super Big Eater.

In an extremely short time, he could continuously digest beast meat and convert it into large amounts of blood vitality to supply the Bloodthirsty Gu.

Even while the Bloodthirsty Gu continuously drew upon his blood vitality,

he still had the spare capacity to open the little booklet the sect had given him.

"Blood Condensation Art? Is this a method for controlling one's own blood vitality?"

Only then did Zhou Feng realize that this was a method for resisting the Bloodthirsty Gu.

The booklet recorded a series of methods specifically meant for dealing with the Bloodthirsty Gu, and even included an introduction to it.

The Bloodthirsty Gu was an extremely special kind of Gu insect.

It could parasitize any living creature.

This Gu insect had to be supplied with a great amount of blood vitality for it to draw upon.

Otherwise, the Bloodthirsty Gu would start from the heart and bite, mouthful by mouthful, forcing its host to refine blood vitality.

However, the Bloodthirsty Gu would not bite too hard. It merely used this as punishment to urge its host onward.

One could imagine that under the combined pressure of recurring heart-wrenching pain and the threat of death,

how much drive the host of a Bloodthirsty Gu would erupt with.

This Bloodthirsty Gu was practically the very embodiment of capitalists squeezing workers dry!

"Just as I thought! I knew it!"

After reading the introduction to the Bloodthirsty Gu, Zhou Feng felt a slight chill run down his back.

Besides that, the booklet also described some simple methods for controlling the Bloodthirsty Gu.

Most crucially, it contained a method for circulating blood vitality. This was a special circulation technique that could speed up digestion.

At the same time, it could allow blood vitality to flow through the entire body, opening some blocked meridians and making subsequent cultivation easier.

And this was the only hope of survival for these new disciples.

Gu insects were not cheap. Even the lowest-grade Bloodthirsty Gu

was extremely troublesome to cultivate and consumed a great deal of resources.

Thus, newly inducted disciples all had to undergo the most difficult trial.

That was to control the Bloodthirsty Gu within their bodies and ensure they would not be drained dry.

For people who had never received any knowledge in this area before, this was simply as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Among this batch of newly inducted disciples, eighty percent were abandoned people randomly seized and brought up the mountain.

So-called abandoned people were refugees who wandered among the mountains and forests.

In contrast to the abandoned people were stockade folk, who lived in permanent stockades.

Compared with abandoned people, those stockade folk possessed inherited systems of knowledge and understood some matters of cultivation.

Thus, the main force among the new disciples consisted of these stockade folk.

The remaining abandoned people basically would not survive the night.

However, Zhou Feng did not know much about any of this.

Following the Blood Condensation Art recorded in the booklet, he began circulating his blood vitality in a particular manner.

At first, he found it extremely strenuous.

But because he kept eating, Zhou Feng converted an enormous amount of blood vitality within his body.

The Bloodthirsty Gu inside him actually became full for the time being, and even began assisting him in circulating his blood vitality.

A new disciple had actually managed to barely feed a Bloodthirsty Gu to fullness?

If the others from the Bloodthirsty Gu branch learned of this, their jaws would surely hit the floor.

Because such a thing had never happened before.

Never had an ordinary person with no cultivation managed to feed a greedy Bloodthirsty Gu to fullness.

Even those stockade folk only fed their Bloodthirsty Gu until they were half-full, then used all kinds of methods to lock down their blood vitality.

They forcibly made the Bloodthirsty Gu quiet down.

As for feeding the Bloodthirsty Gu to fullness while having it actively assist in circulating blood vitality? They would not even dare dream of it.

"So that's how it is! This Bloodthirsty Gu can actually assist cultivation too! As expected, fortune and misfortune go hand in hand!"

Feeling the Bloodthirsty Gu help him circulate his blood vitality, Zhou Feng looked as though he had suddenly understood everything.

In truth, the Bloodthirsty Gu was helping him circulate his blood vitality solely because it wanted more.

The Bloodthirsty Gu had discovered that the blood vitality within Zhou Feng was simply excessive.

In this short time, it was already close to transforming.

And transformation required even more blood vitality.

If helping Zhou Feng circulate his blood vitality at this moment could earn it more blood vitality, why would it not do so?

Though the Bloodthirsty Gu, as a Gu insect, possessed low intelligence, it was not without wisdom.

It had merely made the best choice according to its instincts.