Chapter 536: Full Stomach

Chapter 536: Eating Until Full

"Huff... huff..." Qiubao Chi sat on the ground, her cheeks puffed out, carefully blowing air beneath the broken bowl to feed the fire underneath.

"Gurgle... gurgle..." Hearing her stomach growl, Chi grabbed the drawstring of her pants and tightened it slightly.

Though her name was "Eat Until Full," she rarely had the chance to truly satisfy her hunger.

Whether beside her parents or after marriage, it was always the same.

After burning for a while, seeing the fire beginning to die down, Chi grew anxious.

She glanced around quickly and immediately picked up some human bones from the nearby bonfire, tossing them into the flames.

When the fire under the broken bowl flared back up again, Chi finally exhaled in relief.

Carefully lifting off the tile covering the cracked bowl, she revealed three goose eggs rolling in the boiling water inside.

With a rusty knife, she gently prodded at one of the stones. A look of joy instantly spread across her soot-stained face.

She replaced the tile, added more wood to the fire, then carefully cradled the bundle made of tattered cotton rags by her side, gently rocking it.

"My son, today's stones are almost cooked through. Once they're soft, you'll drink this stone soup, and not only will your illness be cured, but you’ll become a god!"

Chi’s voice grew more excited as she watched her baby cooing inside the swaddling cloth.

Just as she spoke, the sleeping crowd around her began to stir from far to near.

An old man sleeping nearby was awakened by the noise. He stretched his arms, yawned, and kicked the broken bowl with his foot.

"My stone soup!!" The cry of despair from Chi rang out, and all around her, followers of the Dao cult wearing white headscarves rose to their feet.

"Kill them!! Kill that red-robed man! He killed our shaman!" Chaos erupted among the crowd, the atmosphere growing thick with tension.

"Who! Who killed our shaman?! Without our shaman communicating with Grandfather Stoneflow, what if the stone soup doesn't work?!"

Chi, who had been picking up stones on the ground, instantly forgot her earlier emotions. She placed the rusted knife inside the bundle, stood unsteadily, and tried to push through the crowd toward the sound.

But her small frame couldn’t squeeze through.

"Make way! Step aside! I can't get through!!" Chi shouted loudly, but no one listened.

Suddenly, the people before her seemed to hear her cries. Half turned left, half right, making space for her.

Before her stood a Daoist with black tendrils covering his body, draped in red robes, his face hidden behind a copper coin mask.

Seeing the blade held before her, Chi felt the protection of Grandfather Stoneflow. No fear touched her heart; instead, she clutched her crying child and charged toward the monster covered in black tentacles.

"You killed our shaman! You smashed my stone soup!" Chi snarled, her teeth clenched, plunging the rusted knife deep into the red-robed Daoist's chest.

Yet in the next moment, everything went dark. Then, nothing.

"Dad, dad!" Li Sui’s voice snapped Li Huowang out of his trance, staring at the gore before him.

He couldn’t afford to lose focus now! All around him were enemies!

Drenched in blood, Li Huowang took a sharp breath, gripping his sword tightly and chasing after Peng Longteng, who had gone completely berserk.

"Don’t linger here! Move forward! Push as hard as you can!"

But Peng ignored his command, continuing her slaughter.

"I said again—move forward! Or I’ll turn you back into mist! For good!"

Peng stopped abruptly, her right hand clenched. With a crack, the mouth-shaped human head in her palm collapsed into pulp, red and white oozing between her fingers.

Though she looked reluctant, Peng obeyed Li Huowang’s threat.

Only a living body could enjoy such a glorious massacre. And to have a body, she had to rely on Li Huowang.

Towering over the battlefield, Peng lifted two burly men like a whirlwind of blood, cleaving through the cultists with ease.

With Peng leading the charge, Li Huowang found himself less burdened. Yet he couldn’t feel any joy. The image of the woman holding the dead infant haunted him.

He scanned the cultists once more, noting their emaciated bodies and bloated bellies.

The redness around him gradually faded back to its true colors.

Peng stomped down, forcing the contents of someone’s belly out. Inside was nothing edible—only solidified earth, known as “Buddha’s soil.”

Eating Buddha’s soil wouldn’t keep anyone alive long. Li Huowang saw a thin leg, and realized they still ate rice and meat.

Li Huowang knew that joining the cult meant these people would commit atrocities without mercy. They prayed to the god of prosperity, yet their god had brought them to this fate. But was it really their choice?

"Grandfather Stoneflow protect us!" An old man with white hair raised a stick and charged at Li Huowang with unwavering resolve.

Li Sui’s bronze coin sword flew through the air, wrapping around the man’s neck like a whip and snapping his head clean off.

Li Huowang stepped over the head and continued forward.

Looking at the faces around him, he suddenly thought of his master, Dan Yangzi, whom he had killed.

These people bore a striking resemblance to Dan Yangzi—naive, blind, easily manipulated.

When he saw the madness in the eyes of the severed head, Li Huowang understood. These people had lost everything to suffering—reason, hope, even humanity. They clung to the false god, even though that god was the very one who had led them to this ruin.

They were not wrong. But at this moment, Li Huowang could only pave a path through their flesh and blood.

Still, perhaps dying was better than living like walking corpses.

Jinshan Zhao, whose body was half-missing, trembled as he watched the scene. Tears streamed down his face. “Ah!” After following Li Huowang for so long, he finally let out his first sound.

Just as Li Huowang opened his eyes to look at him, the ground suddenly gave way. Two legs sank into the earth.

Then, from beneath the crowd, three mounds of earth rose swiftly toward Li Huowang.

Li Huowang had known there must be hidden threats among the cultists, leaders directing the chaos. He hadn’t expected they’d catch up so fast.