Chapter 24

If he had a choice, Li Yu would never waste a third Truth Bubble.

Although this thing could be generated continuously, the method of charging it was not easy at all.

But now that a life-and-death crisis was before him, how could he dare to be careless?

It was strange, to say the least!

The mystic evil cultivator disguised as Cui Yuan outside the door could kill even Cui Yuan, so he must be at least a formal Sequence 8 cultivator, perhaps even Sequence 7; a mere door could not possibly stop him.

Yet he chose not to break in, but instead to put on a show with Li Yu.

This peculiarity gave Li Yu an opportunity.

"Within fifty breaths!"

"Range of departure from the body is over three zhang."

Unsurprisingly, the power of the third bubble was far greater than the first and second.

However, Li Yu had no time to rejoice; he was anxious to know the background of the visitor, whether he could save his own life, and whether he should fight or flee next.

Filled with excitement and urgency, his Truth Bubble body departed his physical form and passed through that mottled, old courtyard gate.

The next moment, the familiar "Tofu Beauty" Cui Yuan came into view.

Her attire was beautiful and revealing, her body mature and charming, infinitely seductive.

There was no difference at all from the real Cui Yuan.

The only difference was that this time, she was carrying a huge, gorgeous, and exquisite silver dining tray.

If there were no surprises, what was on that tray must be the so-called "Jade Maiden Feast" cooked by this fellow.

The ingredients were, in all likelihood, Cui Yuan herself.

"Is it a transformation technique?"

"Or did he kill Cui Yuan and steal her human skin to wrap himself in?"

"Whichever it is, it's disgusting enough."

As doubts rose in Li Yu's mind, a rainbow-colored finger reached out without hesitation, directly touching the center of this Cui Yuan's brow.

That's right, he even skipped the step of observing from a distance.

With fifty breaths of time, he didn't want to waste a single second.

The moment he touched her, he asked a series of questions in his heart, trying his best to make his search for knowledge comprehensive, leaving nothing out.

Who exactly is this person?

What is his transcendent tier?

What abilities does he have?

What are his weaknesses?

How did he find me?

Does he have backup?

The power of this third Truth Bubble did not disappoint.

Although it took a full twenty to thirty breaths, the transcendent information that emerged one after another could indeed answer these questions.

"Yi Ya, human male, practitioner of the Jinshen Sect, originally a failed scholar from the Gan Nation, later encountered a human tragedy during a great famine, joined the Jinshen Sect by chance, holds the position of 'Vegetable Cutter' in the sect, whose duty is to be responsible for harvesting the Jinshen eggs that have been pastured out once they mature."

"This practitioner is currently a Sequence 8 【Vegetable Person】 of the Jinshen path, and has been at this sequence for many years, has gathered the secret medicine formula for the Sequence 7 【Blood Slave】 of this path, and is confident he can pass the promotion ritual, but because he is obsessed with the pleasure of cooking and harvesting, he has been delaying the promotion."

"He possesses physical strength and energy superior to a Son of Jinshen, super five senses, and extremely strong poison resistance, and possesses a powerful blade technique, otherworldly culinary skills, and a rather rich repertoire of cannibalistic recipes."

"His weakness is that he strictly adheres to rules, has a near-obsessive pursuit of the ritualistic nature of his eating and hunting, extremely enjoys the struggle of his prey before death, and has a persistence for gourmet food far exceeding other Vegetable People."

"Yi Ya had originally completed the harvest of Golden Body eggs planted in the Heavenly Secret Workshop area, handed over three mature Sons of Golden Body, and later, while passing through the Old Street on his way back to his residence, accidentally smelled the lingering scent of spiritual food on Chen Canglu, Sikong Nian, and Cui Yuan, so he interrogated and slaughtered these people one after another, learning the location of the cook."

"He temporarily decided to use Cui Yuan's body to cook a spiritual dish and came to spar with you on the art of 'being human'."

The answers that surprised Li Yu beyond measure came flooding in.

Just by relying on these secrets, Li Yu saw the charging progress of his fourth Truth Bubble jump forward again.

The visitor's cultivation realm did not exceed his expectations; what Li Yu really didn't expect was this.

It wasn't just Cui Yuan who had been killed.

"Zhu Mei should be fine, but I wonder how many of the remaining ten neighborhood evil cultivators have met with disaster?"

"The newly formed secret society gathering, its members were slaughtered seven or eight out of ten?"

"Chen Canglu can no longer advance to Sequence 8, Sikong Nian can't be a water ghost anymore, and Cui Yuan's dream of being a courtesan is shattered..."

"And this person has the ability to kill so many evil cultivators in one night; his divine abilities and methods are far beyond what an ordinary Sequence 8 cultivator can compare to. He's a veteran, isn't he?"

Theoretically, knowing this and realizing his situation, Li Yu should be panicked and fleeing for his life right now.

But he was no longer the person he was when he first arrived; his whole being had been somewhat driven mad by this strange world.

And in the Truth Bubble state, he could maintain absolute rationality.

Seeing that there were only a dozen breaths left, Li Yu originally wanted to continue probing to see if he could find more secrets favorable to himself.

But he suddenly saw the evil cultivator called "Yi Ya" frown, a sneer appearing on the corner of his mouth, as he reached out to touch the courtyard gate.

Knowing that this fellow's patience had been exhausted, Li Yu already had a preliminary plan in his heart.

Since this evil cultivator liked to act, he would play along. Fortunately, judging from the secrets obtained, the situation was not so dire that he was certain to die.

On the contrary, Li Yu faintly glimpsed a glimmer of survival.

Without further delay, he immediately returned to his physical body.

The next breath, the courtyard gate was opened first with a "creak."

Li Yu, with a brilliant smile on his face, greeted him.

"Sister Cui, please come in."

After speaking, Li Yu turned around to lead the way as if he had no defenses, exposing his back to the other party.

But this Yi Ya did not make a move immediately.

Instead, he stared at Li Yu, his nose twitching as if sniffing something.

After entering the courtyard, he acted as if he didn't care at all about being "exposed," directly looking Li Yu up and down, making clicking sounds with his mouth.

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"Strange, truly strange."

"I have been harvesting 【Sons of Jinshen】 for so many years and have seen all shapes and sizes; one like you is the first."

This person exposed himself without warning.

As his voice fell, facing the horror on Li Yu's face, he smiled elegantly and enjoyably, then reached out and grabbed his own forehead.

Accompanied by a teeth-gritting "shredding" sound, the entire human skin belonging to Cui Yuan was torn off.

Revealed was a man of about thirty, with a slender figure and excessively pale skin.

He didn't care at all about the pus, blood, and flesh sticking to him, showing no signs of being disheveled, stretching his waist, and looking at Li Yu and the Jiao family courtyard with a dashing and self-satisfied manner.

When his gaze swept to Hongdou, he showed a faint look of disgust.

"What's wrong? Are you surprised? I smelled your fear through that door. What I'm curious about is that you clearly saw through the fact that I wasn't that dark prostitute, yet you didn't think of fleeing, but instead came to open the door for me. Could it be that you have some kind of reliance?"

"By the way, this technique is called 'Skin Changing.' If you want to learn it, I can teach you."

"As a reward, you only need to taste the 【Jade Maiden Feast】 I brought and give an evaluation."

Hearing these words, Li Yu watched as Yi Ya slowly lifted the lid.

Inside was a very exquisitely arranged "cold dish."

The ingredients were exactly those he mentioned outside the door.

It was just unclear how he had processed them; not a single trace of blood could be seen. Instead, each item had its own characteristics, some crystal clear, some shimmering with luster, and they emitted waves of fresh and elegant fragrance.

Li Yu seemed to be scared out of his wits at this moment!

One could see the expression on his face changing constantly, first horror, then intense fear, and then struggle and disgust.

This performance!

Made Yi Ya feel extremely comfortable.

A look of enjoyment even appeared on his face as he smiled and urged:

"Yes, that's the kind of fear aura, it's so delicious."

"Come on, child!"

"Tell me, how did you resist the possession of the Jinshen egg? And how can you borrow the power of a Vegetable Person while in a clear-headed state?"

"Don't think about hiding it; I have tasted every one of the spiritual foods you cooked, although it was indirectly through eating the diners, but that kind of deliciousness definitely came from the recipe of our great Lord."

"I was raised in captivity by my parents since I was a child. A few days ago, I couldn't help but slaughter them. I originally thought about committing suicide, but I accidentally discovered that I could use this to consume the power of the Jinshen egg in my belly. And because I am quite compatible with it, it allowed me to borrow its power, but every time I borrow it, I get one step closer to alienation and corruption, and in the process, I also need to listen to the Vegetable Person song chanted by that shitty Jinshen."

"Are you a member of the Jinshen Sect? What do you intend to do?"

"I will absolutely not eat this shitty Jade Maiden Feast of yours."

After Li Yu finished speaking, he seemed to have gathered his courage, his face cold as he retorted.

Who would have thought that these few sentences of his would precisely step on several of Yi Ya's triggers.

The originally gentle scholar suddenly had veins popping out, appearing in front of Li Yu like a ghost, grabbing him with one hand, and lifting a foot to kick away the clumsy, slow-moving mechanical maid.

"What did you say? You're courting death!"

"Our Lord is great, and the Vegetable Person song is a rare and beautiful song in the world."

"This Jade Maiden Feast of mine is an extraordinary spiritual food; even if it went to the Garuda Restaurant, it could be sold on the third floor, priceless."

"If you admit your mistake to me now, obediently eat it all, and give the best evaluation, I can temporarily not kill you and take you back to study properly. Perhaps you have a chance to survive."

Li Yu's face turned red from being choked.

Yet he still refused to admit defeat, and even gave a well-founded bad review on the spot:

"Heh, do you call that culinary skill? You're not even fit to carry my shoes."

"Since it's called a Jade Maiden Feast, why did you choose an evil cultivator from the Lust Sect as the ingredient?"

"Do they have even a penny's worth of connection to a Jade Maiden?"

(End of chapter)