[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-lord-of-the-immortal-food":3,"chapter-lord-of-the-immortal-food-lord-of-the-immortal-food-chapter-32":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Lord of the Immortal Food",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2313155,4524,"Chapter 32: Chapter Thirty-Two: The Blue Bird","lord-of-the-immortal-food-chapter-32",32,"\u003Cp>The signs first appeared over ten days ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Zheng Zhao Baishu was short and hunched, making him appear even more humble. His voice was hoarse—he must have spoken a great deal these past two days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There was an old man in the village who went into the mountains to gather herbs and never returned. He always ventured deep for good medicinal plants, so we assumed he’d slipped or lost his way. He always marked his path when gathering, so we discussed it and sent two men to search. But after three full days, neither of them came back.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We thought they might have been attacked by tigers or leopards, so we sent five more men—armed with knives and forks—and told them to send someone back every other day to report. On the first day, one returned, saying they’d followed the tracks of the first two all the way to the rope bridge and planned to press on. But no one returned on the second day. Neither on the third nor the fourth.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If I’d been smarter, I should’ve reported this to the authorities right away.” Zhao Baishu stared blankly, lifting his gaze to the four faces before him. “But who could have imagined that demons truly exist?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one spoke. The old man took a deep breath, steadied his emotions, and continued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We realized something was terribly wrong. Tigers and leopards are solitary. Even if they’d attacked, how could five seasoned mountain hunters not have escaped at least one?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So we gathered all the village’s able-bodied men—sixteen in total—and had our best hunter, Old Mo Wu, lead them into the mountains with full weapons.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Here, Zhao Baishu’s face twisted with inexplicable emotion—fear, bewilderment, grief, hatred. He struggled to speak: “Sixteen men. All strong, all young. Not one… not one came back.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jing Ziwang fell silent for a moment, waiting until the old man calmed slightly before asking: “When did you realize they’d been eaten by a demon tiger?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Because it came to the village itself.” Zhao Baishu’s face was numb. “Three days after the seventeen men left, we’d just begun worrying they might not return either. That evening, Zhou’s sister went to pick two vegetables from the fields to the west—just across a small hill from the village—and never came back. When we searched, there was almost nothing left but bones.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man gritted his teeth: “It killed her right there, then ate her slowly, calmly!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After confirming none of the seventeen returned, we sent messengers to the county for help. First, we sent two riders in opposite directions. The moment they vanished from sight, we heard a scream. Worse still—less than a few breaths later, another scream came from the opposite direction. That’s why I revised my plea: I demanded a swordsman from the Crane-Frog Register. I’m uneducated, but to cover such distance in mere breaths, to catch two galloping horses—I… I simply cannot imagine how it was done. In the end, we had no choice but to gather our last four horses and send them all in four directions… Now it seems only Huang Er remains alive.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Ye gripped his sword hilt: “It treats the village like a hunting ground.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jing Ziwang said: “But we didn’t encounter it on our way here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man shook his head weakly: “I don’t know.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jing Ziwang instinctively narrowed his eyes: “Let’s send one man on horseback out now. I’ll see if it comes to stop him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Jing my lord!” Xing Zhi met his gaze. “Let’s wait for Master Zhu.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jing Ziwang pressed his lips together, suppressing a flicker of irritation. He rarely faced this much defiance in a month.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course… we’ll follow Master Xing’s advice.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Village Chief Zhao, are the bodies still preserved?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes. I’ll take you there.” Zhao Baishu picked up his cane.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the mortuary, five corpses lay laid out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This one with only bones left is Zhou’s sister. These two are the first pair who rode out to report. These two are the second pair.” Zhao Baishu spoke sadly. “The others died too far away—we dared not retrieve their bodies.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Ye approached the corpse of a middle-aged man and gazed down solemnly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A mangled skeleton, chest and abdomen hollowed out, thighs and upper arms gnawed once or twice, white bone exposed. The fatal wound was the neck—crushed by immense force, the skull slumped sideways. The face remained intact, pupils raised high, nearly invisible, sclera crisscrossed with twisted blood vessels, the expression still holding the lingering agony of death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned his head, surveying the four male corpses. The missing parts were roughly the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘It didn’t stop eating because it was startled—it wasn’t hungry. It only consumed its preferred organs.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Ye thought this, then noticed a broadsword still in its scabbard lying nearby. He drew it—blade gleaming, spotless, not a drop of blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is Old Tongzi. He’d hunted for over a decade—one of the village’s best. Yet he never even drew his blade.” Zhao Baishu said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, Pei Ye truly grasped the difference between an Immortal Hunter and a demonic calamity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Black Chi was calm, rational, sometimes even coldly playful—almost human. But this “demon tiger” was worse than mere beastliness. A beast’s nature is to eat; this thing’s nature is to kill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the other side, Shang Lang suddenly said: “Sister Xing Zhi, come examine this.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone gathered. He pointed to a patch of dark gray skin. Pei Ye glanced and his expression turned incredulous: “This is… frostbite?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xing Zhi’s face grew grave. She took a fine needle and plunged it deep into the wound, then pulled from her satchel a tiny glass gourd, its translucent walls revealing a slow-swirling pale blue viscous liquid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xing Zhi withdrew the needle and immediately inserted it into the gourd’s mouth—the tip sinking into the liquid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within two breaths, the liquid began to boil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Residual spiritual energy,” Xing Zhi said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then we can now track its trail,” Jing Ziwang said, glancing at Xing Zhi before adding, “Of course, we must wait for Master Zhu’s arrival.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shang Lang said: “By rights, Brother Zhu should be arriving soon.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Before he left, he said he wouldn’t go far, but if he sent word, he’d return within two hours.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they spoke, a blue shadow descended from the sky. Xing Zhi extended two fingers and caught it steadily, smiling: “There he is.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She flicked the spirit bird’s head lightly: “So slow—did you nap?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spirit bird shook its head, opened its beak, and spat out a rolled scroll of paper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xing Zhi froze, taking it: “Why did Master Zhu write a reply?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She unrolled it, read it, and stiffened. Her complexion visibly paled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shang Lang stepped forward: “What’s wrong?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xing Zhi lifted her head, her expression unsettled for the first time: “This… this is the letter I sent before we left. The spirit bird… never found Master Zhu.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1153,"2026-06-20T13:17:09.438Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","e9216775fcd819e756aa102aaa9044d0ef23edb106a5f9b7316a3b58781fbb59","lord-of-the-immortal-food-chapter-33","lord-of-the-immortal-food-chapter-31",771,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Flord-of-the-immortal-food-cover.jpg"]