Blood Wine

"Divine One above!"

Ye Qianfan carried the blended Blood Wine into the evil god's temple and placed it on the altar. "This humble fellow had no choice but to offend Your Divine Excellency earlier. Please accept this modest offering of wine and forgive my transgression!"

On the Sumeru pedestal in the middle of the main hall sat a statue of a little girl dressed in red wedding clothes. She was clearly very young, her hands and feet still plump little things shaped like steamed buns.

She even wore festive tiger-head shoes!

Yet such a little child sat cross-legged on the Sumeru pedestal, creating a sight eerie in the extreme!

And just then...

Upon hearing Ye Qianfan's words, the statue actually lifted her eyelids slightly and glanced at him!

The statue's eyes were filled with compassion for all living things, nothing like the mischievous, restless Nini sitting on the tree trunk.

This statue looked exactly like Nini, yet gave off a completely different feeling!

It was so strange!

"Smack!"

However...

To Ye Qianfan's surprise, the evil god's statue waved her little hand!

An invisible force slapped the jar of wine Ye Qianfan had placed on the altar away.

The jar hit the floor and shattered with a crack, the aroma of wine and the smell of blood instantly filling the main hall.

"Was it wrong?"

Ye Qianfan looked at the evil god's statue, whose expression had turned slightly angry, and began to panic.

Had I gotten something wrong?

However...

Before Ye Qianfan could figure out what had happened, the evil god had already reached her little hand toward him!

The evil god's plump, lotus-root-like hand was clearly still several meters away from Ye Qianfan.

Yet he felt an immense pressure pinning him to the spot, leaving him unable to move!

I'm done for!

Ye Qianfan's heart gave a violent jolt!

Did Blood Wine have to be made with blood from the living, not the dead?

The evil god's little hand viciously struck through empty space...

And came slapping down!

"Smack!"

A sharp crack rang out beside Ye Qianfan's ear!

Ye Qianfan was so frightened that he thought his body had been flattened. Fortunately, the Daoist spoke just in time. "Ye Qianfan, our gamble paid off!"

"The evil god really does like wine mixed with blood!"

"Those people were dead, but they'd only just died. Their blood hadn't gone bad yet!"

"I told you it would be fine!"

"Whew!"

Only then did Ye Qianfan let out a deep breath of relief.

When he looked up at the Sumeru pedestal, he realized that the smack just now had been the sound of the evil god opening a fresh jar of Blood Wine!

At that moment...

She was holding a large wine jar in her little lotus-root hands, pouring wine into her tiny mouth with loud gulps!

"I thought blood from the dead wouldn't work!"

Ye Qianfan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Only then did the Daoist explain, "The evil god really wasn't interested at first! But after she smashed a jar and smelled the aroma, she took an interest!"

"Do you think three jars will be enough for her?"

Ye Qianfan was worried that the remaining wine would not be enough for the evil god!

If she finished drinking and was still awake...

Who would dare go over and cover her with the red headscarf?

"They... should be." The Daoist sounded uncertain too. "The statue is only so big. Pour all three jars into her, and she'd probably overflow! If that still doesn't get her drunk, bringing out the last jar from below probably won't do much either!"

"How about I bring out the last jar anyway?"

"That works too..."

The Daoist felt it was better to be prepared than caught wanting.

But just as Ye Qianfan stood up to head outside, the Daoist suddenly stopped him. "Wait. The evil god seems to have a much lower tolerance than we thought!"

Ye Qianfan turned back...

Sure enough, the evil god's eyes had grown unfocused, and her entire statue was swaying as though she might topple over at any moment!

Seeing this, Ye Qianfan was naturally in no hurry to fetch more Blood Wine.

Instead, he simply sat and waited for the evil god to pass out drunk!

"Hah!"

And at this critical moment...

Several cultivators sneered outside the main hall, then slowly walked toward Ye Qianfan. "I knew it wasn't that simple!"

"Two out of three ran away, while the last one stayed in the temple all this time. What a slick trick of luring the tiger away from its mountain!"

"If we weren't well versed in the art of observing qi, you little rat would have fooled us!"

"Senior brother, why waste words on him?" another cultivator holding a judge's brush said coldly. "He must have the red headscarf. Just take it!"

"Shhh!!!"

Seeing that they started making a racket the moment they entered, Ye Qianfan could only helplessly gesture for silence. "If you want the red headscarf, I can give it to you!"

"But please keep quiet. Once this evil god passes out drunk, we only need to return the red headscarf to its rightful owner, and we'll have cleared this trial!"

"It doesn't matter who clears it. If you want to, you can have it!"

"Hah! You cunning scoundrel, do you think I'll believe you again?"

After hearing Ye Qianfan's explanation, the fellow with the judge's brush did not quiet down. Instead, he shouted even more loudly!

Ye Qianfan saw the evil god's expression growing increasingly displeased...

His instincts told him something was about to go wrong!

"If you want it, take it!"

He decisively tossed the red headscarf onto the floor and fled out of the hall.

The cultivator's eyes lit up at the sight of the red headscarf, and he immediately stepped forward to pick it up...

"Junior Brother Yan, watch out!"

The scholar cried out in alarm.

But his warning came too late!

Junior Brother Yan abruptly looked up, only to see the statue extend an enormous invisible hand, seize him, and bring him toward her mouth.

"Evil spirit, you court death!"

The scholar hurriedly took a bamboo scroll from inside his robes, unfurled it, and quietly uttered a word toward the evil god: "Release!"

And the instant the word "release" left his lips!

A golden character flew out of the bamboo scroll and shot toward the evil god's statue!

But before the golden character could strike the statue...

The evil god roared angrily:

"Scram!"

The icy voice burst forth with a gale, sending the scholar holding the bamboo scroll flying!

The scholar slammed heavily into the wall and spat out blood!

"Pfft!"

In that brief instant, Junior Brother Yan had already been brought to the evil god's mouth.

And as Junior Brother Yan drew closer and closer to the evil god...

Something bizarre happened!

Before their eyes...

Junior Brother Yan rapidly shrank, growing smaller and smaller!

By the time he reached the evil god's mouth, he was only the size of a dumpling!

The evil god swallowed him in practically one bite.

"Crunch!"

"Junior brother!!"

The other two scholars, who had not had time to attack, were scared senseless.

But they knew their cultivation was far inferior to their senior brother's. Even he had been slapped away, so how could they dare step forward and court death?

And so, at that moment...

Rather than rescue their junior brother, they turned and fled from the temple!