Chapter 414

Inside the cave, it was deeper and more winding than imagined, clearly expanded and refined by human hands.

The passage sloped downward, its walls slick with a thick, foul-smelling, dark green, moss-like substance.

The air was thick with a suffocating stench of decay mixed with sweet rot, and the temperature was much higher than outside, heavy and humid.

Even more chilling were the grotesque, slowly wriggling insects visible everywhere on the walls and ground.

Some resembled giant centipedes, others fleshy, tumor-like soft-bodied creatures; they seemed fearful of the true energy glow emanating from Jin Ao and Chen Mu, retreating into the shadows.

Yet their compound eyes or mouthparts still fixed unblinkingly on the intruders, emitting faint hissing sounds.

The passage was not a straight path but split into several branches, like a labyrinth.

Jin Ao, relying on some tracking technique or acute sensitivity to energy fluctuations, chose the path with the strongest, most pungent odor.

The two advanced cautiously, their spiritual senses fully focused, alert for attacks from any direction.

Along the way, they encountered several sporadic ambushes by hidden poisonous insects and triggered two small toxic miasma traps.

But both were easily neutralized by Jin Ao's dominant black flame blade qi and Chen Mu's sword qi working in tandem.

The deeper they went, the more spacious the cave became, revealing stone chambers resembling halls.

The scenes inside these chambers were even more horrifying.

Piles of unidentified biological remains lay scattered, some clearly human.

Stone troughs held thick, writhing liquids; walls were carved with twisted, blasphemous, eerie runes and patterns emitting chaotic, evil spiritual vibrations.

The stench in the air had nearly solidified, inducing nausea.

"So this is the Shishen Sect's way—sacrificing living beings to cultivate abominations!"

Jin Ao's face turned ashen, his grip on the blade trembling slightly—clearly furious.

Chen Mu also frowned deeply; these scenes gave him a visceral understanding of the Shishen Sect's depravity and cruelty.

He noticed scattered fragments of torn clothing and broken weapons in the corners of some chambers—likely the discarded relics of recent victims.

"This seems merely the outer breeding and slaughter zone; the true core must lie deeper," Chen Mu whispered.

He sensed a stronger, more chaotic energy surge ahead at the end of the passage, accompanied by a low, heartbeat-like thudding?

Jin Ao sensed it too, nodding, his eyes sharpening, "Be careful—there's likely something big ahead."

The two slowed their steps, suppressing their energy, like predators stalking prey, slipping silently toward the passage's end.

Around the corner, the view suddenly opened up!

It was a massive underground cavern, dozens of zhang across and seven or eight zhang high.

At its center was a sunken, circular blood pool over ten zhang in diameter.

The pool did not contain mere blood, but a thick, churning, dark red sludge emitting an overpowering stench and searing heat.

Along the pool's edge, thick tubes made of biological membranes and bones channeled murky fluids and chunks of flesh into the blood pool.

Above the pool floated a monstrous, horrifying fleshy tumor!

The tumor exceeded three zhang in diameter, its surface covered in twisted veins and constantly opening and closing tiny mouthparts, dark red nearly black, like a pulsing, evil heart.

The low "thump… thump…" heartbeat came from this tumor.

With each pulse, the sludge in the pool rose and fell, radiating waves of chaotic, greedy, gluttonous spiritual intent!

Around the tumor drifted thin strands of dark red mist, within which countless tiny, translucent insect shadows fluttered.

The cavern's walls and ceiling were crawling with the same grotesque insects and flesh worms seen earlier, all seemingly gathered in a bizarre posture of worship toward the central tumor.

Beside the blood pool stood three figures.

Two of them wore attire similar to the leaders Chen Mu had slain, but their energy was stronger—clearly Earth Altar Realm, Five Qi Convergence!

One male, one female: the man was emaciated, sunken-eyed, with emerald-green flames flickering in his gaze.

The woman was obese and bloated, her face piled with fat, a mouth stretched nearly to her ears, greedily staring at the sludge in the pool.

Standing before them, facing away from Chen Mu and Jin Ao, was an elderly man in a dark gold robe, of average build, with thinning hair.

He emitted no particularly strong aura, but when he slowly turned, both Chen Mu and Jin Ao felt a sudden chill!

His face was withered, skin like dried bark; his eyes, however, burned unnaturally bright, pupils swirling like vortices, radiating an eerie gaze that pierced minds and disregarded life.

In his hand he leaned on a twisted bone staff, its top set with a pale white skull.

Earth Altar Realm, Seeing the Divine, Unbreakable!

And far from newly entered.

His aura was so obscure and profound, it even subtly pressed Jin Ao!

More importantly, when the old man turned and his gaze swept over Chen Mu and Jin Ao at the passage entrance, his face showed no surprise—only a strange, knowing smile, as if all had been foreseen.

"The Lord of Lihuo Sect graces us… and this skilled companion…"

The old man's voice was hoarse and dry, like two bones grinding together, "I am the 'Devouring Heart Venerable'—I have awaited you long. Are you satisfied with my sect's 'Sacred Embryo' breeding ground?"

"Devouring Heart Venerable…"

Jin Ao's eyes locked onto the withered elder, especially the skull-topped twisted bone staff, his expression solemn as he spoke slowly, "One of the Ten 'Venerables' of the Shishen Sect's Gluttony Hall, famed for devouring hearts and refining souls, cultivating abominations… I never imagined even a demon of your caliber would come here in person!"

Chen Mu's heart sank.

Gluttony Hall?

Ten 'Venerables'?

They sounded extremely high-ranking within the Shishen Sect.

True Venerables are all Myriad Form Realm; those who call themselves Venerables are merely bold, self-proclaimed impostors.

But from Jin Ao's tone and the chilling aura radiating from the Devouring Heart Venerable, this old demon was undoubtedly a formidable foe—his cultivation likely neared the Heavenly Palace Realm threshold, perhaps even mastered some extremely bizarre technique.

"Sacred Embryo?"

Chen Mu's gaze swept over the pulsing giant tumor above the blood pool; its evil, greedy, chaotic life energy triggered his instinctive revulsion and wariness.

"Feasting on the flesh and souls of countless living beings to cultivate such an abomination—you truly deserve to die a thousand deaths!"

"Sin?"

The Venerable Heart-Devourer pulled the corners of his mouth into an exceedingly ugly smile, the vortex-like pupils in his eyes turning slightly. "Junior, in this world of all things, the strong are honored and the weak are prey. My Holy Cult has merely pushed this ultimate principle to its extreme."

"This 'Sacred Embryo' has gathered the essence, blood, and souls of tens of thousands of living beings in Tongzhou. Once it matures, it will become a 'Sacred Worm' worthy of rivaling the Heavenly Palace realm!"