Chapter 3075

For nearly twenty years, the state of Chiyan has practiced resource utilization in executing death row inmates. Previously, they were beheaded, hanged, or subjected to beast punishment—thrown to wild beasts or monsters to eat. But twenty years ago, death row inmates began being taken by carriage to the capital, and the executioners nationwide were reduced to just one: the human-faced tree demon before us.

It swallows prisoners whole, whether human or demon, then refines their life essence into condensed fruit for its master to enjoy.

Fu Shanlie plucked the fruit casually, weighed it in his hand—it was heavy.

Today's fruit seemed especially plump and full.

This is good. Tonight, the Heavenly Demon descends; he needs to replenish more energy to face the series of shocks that will follow the Heavenly Demon's arrival.

He pinched the fruit, and the human-faced fruit actually opened its mouth.

Then, Fu Shanlie took out a small crystal vial from his bosom, carefully pulled the stopper, and poured a drop of liquid into the fruit's mouth.

The liquid was pale gold; upon exposure to air, it made the surroundings grow dark and cold. If He Lingchuan or Fu Shanyue were here, they would sense it contained a strong aura of yin and malevolence.

This is the blood of the Yin Kui King, a demon king from the depths of the Yangshan Islands.

When He Lingchuan encountered it on the central island of the Yangshan Islands years ago, it was imprisoned in a deep dungeon. But now, the Yin Kui King's cultivation has advanced greatly, and its chains can no longer hold it.

Likewise, as a being born of yin and malevolent energy, Fu Shanyue has deep ties with the Yin Kui clan and regularly seeks the Yin Kui King's blood, having it secretly sent back to Chiyan.

This is naturally Fu Shanlie's request.

In fact, he has long been nearing the end of his vitality, yet he has managed to persist for over twenty more years thanks to the effect of the human-faced fruit enhanced by the Yin Kui King's blood.

The jiangshi is a most peculiar kind of being in this world.

Though clearly a corpse, he wishes to survive and move freely, yet must absorb vital energy.

And Fu Shanlie's body, being near death, requires additional supplementation of yin and malevolent energy.

He must carefully regulate the balance of these two within himself to ensure unimpeded movement. Whether the yin and malevolent places of the former Yuan State's ruins or ordinary Yin Kui blood, their purity is insufficient for Fu Shanlie's use.

Fu Shanyue can only make the long journey to send the Yin Kui King's blood back to the state.

Fu Shanlie relies on the human-faced fruit tree's power because this tree demon can filter all impurities from the prey's blood, including toxins and curses. Even the wood-transforming poison of the Jin Du ghost spawn would be filtered out.

This surpasses even the jiangshi's immunity to all poisons. After all, Fu Shanyue has this constitution too; back then, he was nearly killed by his brother using wood-transforming poison in a sneak attack?

What is infused into the human-faced fruit is only the purest blood essence of the prey. By eating the fruit directly, Fu Shanlie guarantees he will not fall victim to other sneak attacks.

Given his growing conflict with the Heavenly Demon and the Heavenly Demon's imminent descent, Fu Shanlie must be especially wary of harm entering through the mouth.

He held the fruit in his hand, routinely inspected it, confirmed no abnormalities, then placed it in his mouth.

It looked like a peach, but its flesh was actually a bubble of blood plasma.

One bite broke it, and the blood plasma poured into his stomach. Fu Shanlie closed his eyes, savoring it while preparing to regulate his breath.

Fu Shanlie has eaten this human-faced fruit for over twenty years; to others it reeks foul and horrible, but to him it is fragrant and delicious, a rare delicacy under heaven.

Moreover, today's fruit is actually several times more delicious than usual.

That sweetness, that fragrance, that violent surge of life essence...

Violent!

Fu Shanlie clapped a hand over his neck; his face suddenly shifted from deathly pale to bright red.

Not good!

A violent surge of life force welled up from his abdomen, about to surge along his blood vessels to every limb and bone.

His first reaction was to thrust his fingers into his throat, trying to vomit up the meal he had just eaten.

That human-faced fruit has a serious problem!

But his body craved energy like a dried sponge, while the blood in the fruit was so pure it needed almost no digestion to be directly absorbed.

Fu Shanlie felt his body swell like a water-filled skin balloon, his meridians strained to the point of bursting.

He is already an aged body, unable to withstand such a violent energy scouring; as his heart contracted wildly, the blood pumping through his body mercilessly sought to expel the yin and malevolent energy!

The balance of yang and yin-malevolent energy that Fu Shanlie had long maintained was instantly shattered.

"Your Majesty!" the white ape beside him exclaimed in shock, raising its head to roar a warning.

In this quiet setting, the ape's cry could carry five li; the entire Chiyan royal palace was stirred.

The guards of the Yunyun Tower immediately rushed here.

There was also movement in the courtyard; a great wind blew over, and in the shade of the human-faced fruit tree, a shower of flowers flew out. Reddish petals, aided by the wind, almost drifted to every corner of the Yunyun Tower.

The petals of the mandala flower.

The white ape, crying for help, had its roar cut short;

The guards who had come running down from the second and third floors suddenly encountered an accident.

They, while moving at high speed, suddenly and without warning shattered into pieces, falling to the ground as chunks of flesh.

It was as if, while running, they had head-on collided with an invisible blade, instantly being sliced into over a dozen pieces.

Their blood finally revealed the killer in the air:

It was one root after another of colorless, transparent threads.

Then, from deep in the courtyard, one figure after another emerged. The human-faced fruit tree, disturbed, extended dozens of serpentine-shaped tree roots toward them.

The two leading figures said disdainfully: "Seeking death."

One of them moved his fingers; dozens of faint lights flashed in the air, and the human-faced fruit tree's roots all snapped.

Though its roots could originally regrow, at this moment its branches also rustled down; within a dozen breaths, the heavy canopy crashed to the ground with a boom.

The blood flowing from the trunk trickled across the ground.

Those dozens of faint lights had sliced the human-faced fruit tree—trunk and crown alike—into dozens of pieces!

The spot where Fu Shanlie stood also had fine threads crossing. But his intuition was strong; he retreated two steps early, avoiding the danger of being severed, though his right hand still had two fingers cut off by the threads.

Though he is indeed far less robust than before, the fact that a jiangshi's body could be so easily torn apart by an opponent shows the ambushers are no ordinary Heavenly Demons!

He vomited several mouthfuls of blood before barely standing upright: "Pi... Pi Li Tian?"

Mandala petals + spatial severing technique—this divine ability is easily recognizable, the signature skill of the Spatial God Pi Li Tian.

"Yes." Pi Li Tian pointed to the person beside him: "And this is He Lu Tian."

Hearing the alarm bells of the Red Yan King's Palace ringing long and loud, Fu Shanlie's heart sank instead to the valley's bottom.

"The Void Holy Venerable still, still thinks highly of me." He actually sent two great heavenly demons specially to take his life, and coming along with them were several dozen heavenly demons!

He had already seen that not only did someone stand behind Pili Tian, but outside the Fortune Tower there were also shadowy figures moving to and fro.