Chapter 373: You're Simply Not a Renunciate at All!

The youngster was named Feng Zhu, belonging to the Feng clan's younger generation, and moreover a genius among them, possessing formidable strength.

From the fact that he wore blue robes at such a young age, just like the previous generation, one could tell.

Compared to the previous generation, who were experienced and had been immersed in the Corpse Mushroom path for a long time, Feng Zhu was somewhat weaker.

But compared to most of his peers who still wore white robes, he was very strong.

Feng Zhu himself thought so too; he felt that once the sacrifice was thoroughly completed and the Feng clan's King of Immortality emerged, they would let the whole world know what was called the remn— no, what was called extraordinary power.

By then, the Feng clan could truly step from behind the scenes onto the stage.

Becoming one of the world's rulers.

He, Feng Zhu, would also become a figure at the very top of the pyramid.

Although the preparations stirred up quite a commotion and brought some pressure, for the sake of the glory and splendor to come, all of this was acceptable.

As a result, where did this white-haired man pop out from?!

How did his Seventh Uncle die?

A flash of lightning? He was just electrocuted into charcoal, and moreover, he was truly dead!

Feng clan members, even those at the white-robe level, were extremely hard to kill. As long as the head and the Corpse Mushroom remained, even injuries that should be fatal like a pierced heart or being cut in half at the waist, they could survive.

Let alone blue-robes.

The lightning, from the feel of it, was actually emitted from that white horse.

Feng Zhu felt immense pressure, extremely immense.

So immense he directly knelt down; whatever genius pride, all gone to hell.

Even Seventh Uncle was dead; only a living genius counts as a genius, a dead person is nothing at all.

"This poor monk is Xuanzang; I merely asked you to guide the way, why are you kneeling?" Tang Luo said.

Guiding is guiding, kneeling is kneeling; if you don't guide, kneeling is useless too.

"Poor monk?" Feng Zhu keenly caught this self-designation, and a sliver of hope rose in his heart, "This is a monk who has left home."

Looking closely, the white robes inside the black greatcoat seemed somewhat like a monk's robe.

"Master, we haven't..." Feng Zhu's words couldn't continue.

He originally wanted to say something like the Feng clan hadn't done evil deeds, to arouse the compassion of a renunciate.

But for the emergence of the "King of Immortality," the Feng clan had taken desperate risks; within the mist's range, a population of tens of thousands had already dwindled to less than a thousand.

Among them were still nearly two hundred Feng clan members and their retainers, peripheral members — Painted-Skin People, Corpse-Drivers, and the like.

Anyway, all the kind who deal with corpses.

Of the remaining people, the majority were slaves, who in a few more days would become sacrificial offerings.

"I didn't do anything, I was forced, I can still be saved, I'm willing to convert to Buddhism!" Feng Zhu switched tactics.

"Amitabha." Tang Luo placed one palm at his chest and proclaimed a Buddha's name, "If the benefactor is willing to lay down the butcher's knife, he becomes a Buddha on the spot, proving his karmic affinity with my Buddha."

"That's right, Master! I've liked the Dharma since childhood!" Feng Zhu immediately said, the boulder in his heart loosening slightly.

Didn't expect that the powerful, stupid, pedantic monks from novels actually exist?

"Then guide the way for this poor monk." Tang Luo said, "Guide it well, and this poor monk can also deliver you."

"Yes." Although Feng Zhu felt the second half of that sentence was a bit odd, he still replied respectfully.

As for what way to guide, he naturally knew very well.

Not jumping directly down through the hollow in the clearing, Feng Zhu led Tang Luo to the house on the other side.

Two people were guarding outside the house's door.

Feng Zhu kept a cold face and paid them no heed whatsoever; these two were merely the Feng clan's peripheral members, he, a proper Feng clan blue-robe, could completely ignore them.

Sure enough, those two didn't dare question, opening the door with slight trepidation, not even daring to ask who this stranger Tang Luo was.

Tang Luo didn't make a move; these people could be left for Ao Yulie to deal with.

The house interior was empty and hollow; outside the tiles were already laid, but inside it was a standard unfinished shell.

There was a stairway leading downward on the ground.

"What are you doing underground?" Tang Luo asked as he walked.

"Hm?" Feng Zhu blanked for a moment, then said, "Uh, for the sacrifice, to increase power."

Fortunately, inside his body, even his heart was already gone, so it wouldn't race from emotional agitation.

He doesn't know!

This monk doesn't know the Feng clan's specific movements and situation. This way, the probability of scheming this person to death was even greater.

"Sacrifice?" Tang Luo raised his brows slightly, "Sacrifice what?"

Inwardly he wondered if the source of this affair might be some evil god or the like?

Same as the Northern Plains situation, is there something sealed underground?

"Actually, it's just hoping to cultivate more Corpse Mushrooms." Feng Zhu said, not using the term "Immortality Mushroom"; here he basically told the truth, nine parts true, one part false.

The false part was simple: not cultivating more, but stronger Corpse Mushrooms.

No, it should be said letting the supreme Immortality Mushroom mother mushroom fully mature, letting the "King of Immortality" truly emerge — actually, describing it as a Corpse King would be more accurate.

"Oh." Tang Luo responded noncommittally, "Then take this poor monk to your largest cultivation ground."

"Cough, Master. It's very dangerous there, basically all Feng clan people are there." Feng Zhu said.

"No matter." Tang Luo said.

Unknown if it was an illusion, Feng Zhu felt these two words carried a hint of "delight"; that's not right, shouldn't it be gravity and caution?

Tang Luo was naturally quite delighted; killing his way into the enemy's lair and wiping them out in one net, he liked that very much.

Having a self-righteous guide leading the way, he liked it even more.

The underground had already been turned by the Feng clan into a labyrinth extending in all directions, intricate and complex.

The passage was two and a half meters high and two meters wide; two people could barely walk side by side.

The source of light was not electric lamps, but corpse mushrooms placed overhead, emitting a faint fluorescence, with one every twenty meters or so.

They made the pitch-black passage barely navigable by sight, while also being able to release poisonous mist at any moment.

Walking in the long, narrow passage, Feng Zhu suddenly felt an inexplicable chill behind him; he couldn't help but turn around, only to see that Master Xuanzang now held an ice-blue, semi-transparent long spear in his hand.

The entire spear appeared to have been carved as one piece from ice, exquisite like a work of art.

It was the obvious cracks on it that ruined much of its beauty, making one sigh with regret.

Feng Zhu sensed that the chill came precisely from this spear.

"Good stuff." Feng Zhu immediately looked away, saying it in his heart.

Wonder if he'll have a chance to get this spear after this monk dies.

But he's a monk — why would he use a spear? Shouldn't he use a staff?

"There are men guarding up ahead, Master, please cooperate." After walking a while, Feng Zhu warned in a low voice.

The Qingyi were also pillars of the Feng clan.

"Good." Tang Luo agreed.

Soon, the passage widened a bit, and two Feng clan white-clad disciples could be seen on guard duty.

Only their guarding was truly unqualified.

They sat crookedly, leaning against the wall.

Seeing Feng Zhu approach, they straightened up and asked with a hint of ingratiation: "Zhu Qingyi, this one is……"

Before the words were finished, Feng Zhu felt two cold lights flash past his sides.

The original chill suddenly intensified, released and withdrawn in an instant.

Feng Zhu saw the two Feng clan disciples before him fall, their corpses covered in white frost, a huge bloody hole in their chests.

Not a trace of fresh blood flowed out; the corpse mushrooms inside their bodies had already vanished.

The small fragments newly on the ground should be the wretched remains of the two corpse mushrooms.

"Cooperation's passable, carry on." Tang Luo said.

"Hmm." Feng Zhu's cheek muscles were twitching; the cooperation he meant wasn't this kind of cooperation!

On the journey that followed, Feng Zhu and Tang Luo's cooperation remained good.

A full thirty-plus Feng clan disciples died at Tang Luo's hands, plus quite a few Feng clan outer members.

Tang Luo also saw several underground prisons, holding a group of unconscious people.

They were all sacrifices for a later time; Tang Luo had no intention of saving them first — releasing them would make a mess, and saving them later would still consume merit power.

Once he thoroughly cleaned up the chief culprits, these people would be safe too.

At most clear up the residual poison, consumption greatly reduced.

Seeing Tang Luo had no intention of saving anyone, Feng Zhu felt a pang of disappointment; if the other party saved them, their odds of winning would be even greater.

Didn't expect this monk to merely glance once, face cold and indifferent — whatever happened to the promised compassion?

He even specially brought this monk here for nothing.

"Master, up ahead is…… the place…… the place." Feng Zhu's speech was even stammering.

Because just half a minute ago, three Qingyi died at Tang Luo's hands.

In the whole Feng clan, there were only thirteen Qingyi total; among them, five Feng Zhu had to call Uncle-X, the rest he had to call Granduncle, X-Grandpa.

Then, two uncles, one granduncle, just died before his eyes like that.

Same as those white-clad disciples, instant death.

If forced to name a difference, those people at least left intact corpses, while these three Qingyi didn't even leave whole bodies.

Probably this monk sensed Qingyi were hard to kill, so he used ruthless force.

"Then why not hurry?" Tang Luo said with a smile, "The time until Benefactor converts to my Buddha is not far off."

"You're not a monk at all!" Feng Zhu shouted, charging forward recklessly.

Tang Luo didn't attack, nor deliberately pursue; he simply stepped along behind Feng Zhu.

Because the destination was already right before their eyes.

The Feng clan people had already prepared, waiting for him to enter the net.

Exiting the passage, before them was a fairly spacious underground space; corpse mushrooms covered the surrounding walls — unlike the passage, these were not picked and installed.

They were directly grown on the walls.

The walls were entirely corpses, providing the necessary nutrients for the corpse mushrooms' growth.

These corpse mushrooms emitted fluorescence, lighting the underground space brightly and spaciously.

Feng Zhu stood among a crowd of Feng clan people, watching Tang Luo enter with lingering fear.

For some reason, even standing in the crowd, with the Feng clan's supreme — the soon-to-be-born Immortal King — behind him, Feng Zhu still felt no sense of security at all.

Among these Feng clan people, most were white-clad, there were also a few Qingyi, and four black-clad elders with no "Feng" character embroidered on their chests.

White, Qing, black — the three colors of clothing represented the status of Feng clan disciples.

Black was highest.

Tang Luo's gaze completely ignored this group of tigerishly-watching Feng clan people, landing on the massive corpse mushroom behind them, a full five meters tall.

That's right, this should be the source.