Chapter 200 – The Five Viscera Devour Gold, Extreme Yang Blood, A Husband and Wife United Against Ghostly Foes - Part 2

Several days later.

Li Yuan used the thousand-mile thread to slip over to Yan Mu’s side, where he finally learned the news he’d been seeking.

“It was the Red Lotus Rebels,” Yan Mu said wearily. “They’ve formed an alliance with the undying husks. Zhu Nuyang actually got off lightly compared to others. Plenty of other provinces and prefectures were hit by surprise ambushes. The Holy Tree Temple alone lost one fifth rank and seven sixth rank experts. Plenty more were wounded.”

Li Yuan frowned. “Didn’t you people already suppress the Red Lotus Cult? How can they still wield this level of power? Is it purely because of the undying husk alliance?”

“It’s all under investigation,” Yan Mu said. “But I don’t know what’s really been uncovered, if anything at all. I’m exhausted. I don’t want to go back to the Holy Tree Temple, or see...

that person

. The only reason I left Gemhill County to begin with was because the temple ordered me to Northriver Prefecture. Now I just want to return home.”

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Yan Mu’s face was etched with fatigue, as though sick of all the killing. His gaze trailed downward, but when he spoke the last sentence, a faint smile returned. He had no real home of his own; as far as he was concerned, wherever his uncle-in-law lived was home, especially since his cousin, whom he treated like a cute little sister, would be there as well.

With a rueful smile, Li Yuan teased, “Time you found yourself a wife.”

Yan Mu shook his head. “A wife? You and my aunt were an exception. How many martial artists actually settle down and marry?”

Not wanting to press the subject, Li Yuan waved him off. “Fine, come on back, then. But before you do, I need you to trade for a few things through your sect.”

He proceeded to list off the items—10 fasting pills, 10 rejuvenation pills, and 225 kg of sixth rank demonic beast meat—all of which came to 360 taels of blood gold.

“Oh, and if there’s a sixth rank skill that tempers the organs, get me that, too. I’ll give you the 160 taels of blood gold I have left.”

Over the past few days, Li Yuan had been devouring large quantities of sixth rank demonic beast meat while refining his shadow blood. Surprisingly, it seemed to work. Because a martial artist’s essence resided in the blood, compressing and purifying it step by step triggered a healthy improvement in his body overall.

Still, he was already consuming five kilograms of sixth rank demonic beast meat per day, double the usual amount for most sixth rank martial artists, and still felt it wasn’t enough. With the Red Lotus Cult back in action, he decided to stock up while he could. Better to convert his hard-earned money into power now than scramble around once chaos erupted again.

As for the 10 fasting pills, those were for Tang Nian. They would let her go for two weeks without eating or drinking, enabling her to focus completely on puppet-making and raising her chances of creating a sixth rank masterpiece.

He’d hesitated briefly about the 10 rejuvenation pills, but in the end, he bought them anyway. Xue Ning was handling all the work in Hundred Lotus Manor, along with the Ginger Tavern, Hundred Lotus Distillery, and the Purejade Merchant Association. She deserved a little indulgence.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Three days passed by.

Yan Mu returned with Li Yuan’s requested items, plus a sixth rank skill called Five-Viscera Gold-Swallowing Art.

Li Yuan immediately guessed his nephew had paid out of pocket. After grilling him, Yan Mu finally admitted he’d fronted 40 taels of blood gold.

Yan Mu had also spent what he’d earned in the recent battles on sixth rank demonic beast meat, which he handed over in full.

Then, as Li Yuan vanished before his eyes using the thousand-mile thread, Yan Mu cast a melancholy glance skyward, nudged his stallion’s flanks, and galloped south toward the Eternal Rest River.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Back in the Hundred Lotus Manor, Li Yuan felt a pressing sense of danger. This time, it wasn’t some distant threat.

Right across the Eternal Rest River, the Zhu Family, backed by a mighty fifth rank elder, had been overturned, and Zhu Nuyang himself was gravely injured.

Li Yuan could still picture Zhu Nuyang soaring imperiously above Newsun County, imposing and invincible. Now that same elder had been severely wounded, his daughter and son-in-law abducted. Whatever force was strong enough to annihilate the Zhu household could easily lay waste to the Hundred Lotus Manor too.

The battle in Northriver Prefecture ended without a true victor or loser; it was merely a preview of what was to come. Martial artists and undying husks clashed on a large scale, and other factions, like the Red Lotus Cult, also emerged in force. All of it was happening just beyond the river.

“What if they come to Gemhill County?” Li Yuan wondered uneasily. In the past, he’d never worried about the Red Lotus Rebels or the undying husks, figuring they were focused on the Jade Capital. But now the conflict was spreading everywhere.

He could only hope none of the Red Lotus Cult or undying husk commanders suggested encircling the Central Plains from the outskirts or some similar plan; otherwise, Gemhill was doomed.

That night, Li Yuan had his birds watch over Antelope Pass. After spending some intimate time with Xue Ning, he discussed the grim situation, wondering if retreating further south might be possible.

Relaxed in the aftermath, Xue Ning spoke with unhurried clarity, “When the old black market closed, a new one popped up in Brighthold. The old site was in Silver Creek, which attracted foreign traders, many of them fences and bandits because beyond Silver Creek lay mountains, plains, and official roads.

“Brighthold, however, is deep in the south of Gemhill. Beyond that, you find wilderness; keep going and it’s primeval forests, eventually leading to what people call the Sunset Rainforest, a paradise for demonic beasts. So the merchants flooding this new black market include demon hunters who travel there to catch live demonic beasts and bring them to Brighthold for sale.

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll try to connect with them. I can offer discounted stalls and trading benefits in exchange for information and a long-term partnership. I believe if we must move south, our best hope is with them.”

Li Yuan, who only had a general sense of county affairs, listened to his wife’s proposal and agreed with a nod. “Go ahead. This might just be our family’s escape route if trouble really comes.”

She nodded in return, then let out a soft sound of contentment as she snuggled against him. Her embrace showed only affection, untainted by fear. Obviously, she was no stranger to upheaval, someone who could hold her own like a seasoned general on the battlefield.

Li Yuan wrapped his arms around her in turn. A sudden thought made him reach an arm out from beneath the silken quilt, groping for a small bottle on the nearby table. Leaning in, he whispered the purpose of the rejuvenation pills in her ear.

What woman didn’t love beauty? What woman didn’t want to feel her husband’s concern and care?

Xue Ning gazed at him, her eyes brimming with emotion.

Before long, the quilt rippled like waves, and they lost themselves in each other for the rest of the night.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

The next day, Xue Ning did not rise until midday. Sitting before the mirror as she combed her hair, she cast a quick glance at Li Yuan, who was training in the courtyard outside. Worried thoughts clouded her brows; the bronze mirror reflected eyes deep in contemplation.

Meanwhile, Li Yuan was focused on practicing the Five-Viscera Gold-Swallowing Art. It was an exceedingly rare skill that required a seventh rank internal cultivation skill at the Expert level.

Most martial artists who trained their bodies focused on external methods, but truly deep internal cultivation, tempering the organs themselves, was far less common.

Li Yuan, however, had fused both disciplines, reaching the pinnacle of the seventh rank and developing a

Gold Body

in the process.

Seated cross-legged with eyes closed, he followed the skill’s prescribed method of circulating shadow blood and employed a specific breathing technique. He had sent Xiao Zhu to acquire various medicinal ingredients, nothing rare or mystical, just ordinary herbs meant to help the internal organs absorb shadow blood more effectively.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Half a month later.

Li Yuan let out a long breath. At last, a new entry appeared in his status window.

NEW! Basic Five-Viscera Gold-Swallowing Art (1/10)

Without hesitation, he allocated 309 stat points into it, immediately maxing out the Five-Viscera Gold-Swallowing Art and leaving him with 9,041 stat points still in reserve.

... ➔ Master Five-Viscera Gold-Swallowing Art (160/160)

A rush of strange memories coursed through him.

In that recollection, Li Yuan was someone with an astonishing appetite. While others could eat six buns at a meal, he could devour 60. He grew round and heavy, enduring scorn from the people around him and ridicule from relatives. Determined to change, he threw himself into disciplined training. Over time, his natural gifts finally shone through.

The years drifted by, and he reached sixth rank, earning wide respect. And yet, he was numb...living a life that felt meaningless. He realized he didn’t actually enjoy what he was doing. So what did he want?

One day, by sheer chance, he swallowed a small stone. Somehow, the solid heft of that stone in his belly gave him a powerful rush of fulfillment. It set him on a wild path...swallowing more stones, then moving on to metal. The feeling of fullness in his abdomen and the vividness of old memories filled his eyes with tears. For the first time, he remembered what it felt like to be truly moved.

But his organs were too weak to handle such abuse. So he tried every possible approach, driving his shadow blood to strengthen his internal organs and concocting medicines to aid the process. After suffering one injury after another, he finally succeeded. His viscera became unbelievably resilient, allowing him to swallow blades or swords without harm.

A new problem arose, though. He could ingest metal, but he couldn’t digest it. His stomach acid wasn’t strong enough to break down steel or iron. He could only gulp them down and then cough them back up.

“No...this can’t be all there is...”

Tormented, he ran through the mountains in a downpour, howling his frustration to the sky, roaring that the organs could not be such useless things. “I won’t accept this! I refuse to accept it!”

Then he encountered a vague, otherworldly figure who whispered secret hints in his ear. From those whispers, he finally learned the true key to digesting metal was potent toxicity.

“If my body could produce an even more potent corrosive venom,” he thought, “then I could melt the metal from within.”

Fueled by manic enthusiasm, he pursued that goal, even though no one took this insane skill seriously. Yet shadow blood was so adept at dispelling poison that his attempts went nowhere. Every standard toxin was expelled the moment it entered his body.

He tried again and again, day after day, year after year...

Finally, on one snow-swept evening, he sat alone by a small brazier. A pot simmered on the stove, bubbles rising to the surface with a rolling boil. He watched those bubbles intently. They were nothing but air, yet they existed briefly within the water, traveling upward at surprising speed.

“If air can reside in water, even if just for a fleeting instant,” he thought, “then...why can’t poison coexist within me too?”

These vivid flashes lingered in Li Yuan’s mind as the final element of Five-Viscera Gold-Swallowing Art took root. He could practically feel the echo of that predecessor’s obsession, the yearning to devour and dissolve anything at all.