The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

Seeing Wen Ying's serious and questioning expression, Lu Xiaosan's heart, which had just been at ease, started to pound again.

He scratched his pale face, looking rather embarrassed, and said, "Actually... there's no particular reason..."

Wen Ying shook him in her arms and said expectantly, "You must have been coerced into doing this, right?"

Wen Ying simply couldn't believe that the person she had tried so hard to save was actually a ruthless monster.

Lu Xiaosan's eyes darted around, a bitter smile on his face: "In this world, no one can force me... The reason I eat people... is actually for just one reason, a reason universally acknowledged..."

"What is it?"

"It means: I'm hungry."

Wen Ying's warm smile froze instantly, her eyes widened, her sky-blue pupils trembled, and she stared at Lu Xiaosan in disbelief.

Seeing this, Lu Xiaosan hurriedly explained, "Little Golden Retriever, you...you don't misunderstand, I was starving for days before I was able to rescue those people..."

"Moreover, most of them were already dead at the time. When I was burying them one by one, well, in the end I was so hungry that I couldn't stand it anymore. Plus... plus those demons just happened to come back and saw me eating people with my mouth full of blood. But I only ate a few people, so that's why there's this saying that I eat people."

Actually, what he wanted to say was that when the dead were used as food by the demon kings, they were made to taste incredibly delicious.

In addition, he had not eaten any proper food for several days, so in the end, he could not control himself.

But cannibalism is cannibalism, and nothing can change that.

As for his habit of eating people, he first learned it from the bandits in the temple.

Whenever there was a famine, they would try every means to go out and capture people to roast and eat.

If they really couldn't find one, they killed and ate one of their own.

So at that time, everyone in the temple was filled with anxiety, fearing that their newly gained little bit of fat would be noticed.

Lu Xiaosan, being young and thin, always managed to escape unscathed.

But since they were among the survivors, they had to worry about hunger.

After much deliberation, he ultimately decided to eat the fragrant human leg on the grill.

Therefore, eating human flesh when extremely hungry was nothing out of the ordinary for him.

However, Wen Ying, who was focused on saving lives, found it hard to accept.

Seeing the lingering surprise on her face, Lu Xiaosan quickly closed her eyes, pressed herself tightly against Wen Ying's chest, and wailed in pain, "I can't take it anymore, I can't take it, ouch..."

Wen Ying fell for it as expected. She hugged him tightly with concern, patted his back, and said softly, "It's alright, it's alright now. No more fish will come out to scare you."

Lu Xiaosan had originally planned to deliberately distance himself from her, but only just now did he realize how afraid he was of being disliked and feared by her.

Feeling her warm, soft body, Lu Xiaosan asked cautiously, "Little Golden Retriever, are you... are you still angry with me...?"

Upon hearing his words, Wen Ying patted him blankly and said, "No matter what, the lives of the living are always more important than those of the dead... and I believe you are kind-hearted by nature and would never be a cannibalistic demon."

Lu Xiaosan breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good, that's good."

At this moment, the golden fireflies all around poked their heads out again, and the lake bottom was dyed back to its original golden-blue hue.

The two of them stayed there for a while, enjoying the beautiful scenery and resting.

During this time, Wen Ying was somewhat dazed and confused, and spoke much less.

After all, it's impossible for a healer not to have a change in mindset when she suddenly discovers that the person she's been through thick and thin with is actually a cannibal.

The two then proceeded in the opposite direction from the giant fish: the further they went, the fewer grass, trees, and fireflies they encountered, replaced by ancient ruins and remnants.

There were broken stone pillars everywhere, and ruins overgrown with weeds nearby. It felt like I had wandered from a forest into an abandoned town.

But the surroundings were still predominantly blue, and I didn't know whether continuing like this would bring me closer or further away from the flowing lotus grass...

Lu Xiaosan led Wen Ying to a high place, where they saw only broken walls and ruins all around. These were the remains of ancient halls that had been smashed, and it was definitely not a place where the flowing lotus grass would grow. Only in the north-south direction, there was a flickering light.

The two continued on their way in that direction.

As they drew closer, they discovered that the source of the light was a massive open-air altar. From a distance, six towering pillars stood in the very center, each topped with a flashing white light.

The two became more vigilant and continued along the narrow paths of the abandoned city.

After passing through the ruins, I carefully hid behind the wall outside the altar.

As they got closer, they could hear strange, incantations coming from the center of the altar.

No matter how you look at it, there are only those six pillars on the altar, nothing else.

These six pillars are covered with layers of fish scales.

The gray-black scales continued to wriggle, creating ripples, as if they were alive.

The white light at the top of the pillar attracted bolts of lightning.

At the top center, there is a bundle of white square grass, which seems to be used for electrical conduction.

The lightning intensified around it, and streaks of electricity shot straight up to the black mist that almost covered the entire ruined city.

"Flowering Lotus Grass!" Wen Ying exclaimed in surprise, looking at the white square grass on top of the pillar.

Lu Xiaosan's lips curled up slightly. "Finally found it. I'll go get it."

But the lightning on the pillar struck the sky like six sharp swords, crackling and thundering.

Wen Ying frowned. "This lightning was so fierce, I wonder if the Lotus Grass can still be harvested..."

"It's alright, with me here, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Before she finished speaking, Lu Xiaosan pulled her toward the pillar, completely disregarding the strange incantations coming from all around and the potential traps and dangers, relying solely on his inner confidence.

The golden canopy carried the two of them, floating lightly in the air. Suddenly, the incantations it uttered became shrill, as if it had discovered the two intruders.

At the same time, the red ground below suddenly began to writhe violently, creating waves, and rows of blood-red creatures emerged from the ground.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that there were approximately several thousand of these living creatures, standing majestically on the large platform. The entire expanse of red earth was instantly transformed into a pitted and desolate wasteland.

Wen Ying was startled: "What...what are these...?"

These creatures all had bloody fish heads on their heads. Although they were called fish, they had no scales from head to tail, were covered in bloodstains, and had arms and legs like humans. They were staring at the two people in the air with their fish eyes that could freeze a person to death.

Upon seeing the six pillars covered with shimmering scales, Wen Ying's eyes widened instantly. "Could it be that these scales were plucked piece by piece from the fish below... so all this red... is it blood?"

Before she could think any further, the incantation grew even more ferocious, and a loud "whoosh, whoosh" sound suddenly rang out from all directions.

Thousands of fish-men stood still, their wriggling mouths spewing blood-red bubbles into the air.

Thousands of blood fish were spitting blood bubbles at Wen Ying's feet, a sight that horrified her. She could now understand a little why Lu Xiaosan was so afraid of fish.

Looking closer, the fish's mouths never stopped, and more and more small red bubbles were being expelled, slowly forming a blood-red bubble membrane that covered the entire ground.

Then the red membrane began to shake and tremble violently, and the surrounding lake water began to stir along with it, causing the entire lake bottom to emit a loud "buzzing" sound.

Looking down, all they could see was a constantly flowing red film of blood. The two of them were like a lone boat adrift on a vast sea of ​​blood, unable to escape no matter how hard they struggled.

With a soft yet crisp "pop," a giant blood bubble rose from the sea of ​​blood. This single blood bubble was about ten times the size of the golden shield.

Soon, the sounds of "Boom, boom, boom!" rose and fell, and huge blood bubbles began to gather everywhere on the sea of ​​blood.

Gradually, thousands upon thousands of blood bubbles appeared on the red membrane.

Blood bubbles swayed in the air, each one poised to burst forth.

It looked as if a vast army was besieging the city. At a single command, tens of thousands of crimson waves erupted, instantly tearing the two people in the air to shreds.

No sooner had the giant fish incident passed than the two were targeted by thousands of blood fish.

Although Wen Ying knew that the golden shield was incredibly strong, she still felt a chill run down her spine when she saw herself as an ant in front of this overwhelming sea of ​​blood.

She turned to Lu Xiaosan, gently tugged at his clothes, and asked with some concern, "With so many red bubbles, can these prayer beads withstand it?"

Lu Xiaosan did not answer, but gazed at the sky thoughtfully.

It turned out that the black mist overhead was gradually spreading, slowly covering the entire ruined city.

He didn't even bother to look at the group of clowns at his feet, or perhaps he simply didn't dare to look at them.

As the black mist in the sky expanded further and further, the surroundings gradually darkened. The entire lakebed was bathed in the crimson hue of the sea of ​​blood, exuding an endless killing intent.

With a deafening roar, six bolts of lightning from the top of the pillar simultaneously blasted into the black mist.

Almost simultaneously, thousands of blood bubbles burst forth from beneath their feet, like a lion with gaping maw about to devour the two of them.

"Ah!" Wen Ying screamed, covering her eyes and unable to look any longer.

Lu Xiaosan remained unmoved, staring at the black mist in the sky, a sinister smile gradually creeping onto his lips. He said coldly, "Come out and see me. I can sense you, hehehehehe."