Chapter 366: No Deal With Gutter Rats

The sickening crunch of collapsing bones and boiling marrow echoed through the sweltering caldera.

Within seconds, the plump muscle on their frames melted away, violently converted into raw, liquid vitality.

Their skin lost all color, stretching paper-thin and turning a necrotic, bruised gray that glued itself directly to their sharp, protruding ribs.

Vibrant rivers of boiling blood, red marrow essence, and spiritual energy were forcibly dragged through their open pores and torn wounds, flowing into the hungry runic channels on the floor.

One of the captives violently convulsed as a thick tendril punched up through the roof of his mouth, bursting his jaw open in a spray of shredded teeth and black, curdled gore to greedily siphon the spiritual essence from his brain.

The air grew thick and heavy with the suffocating reek of copper, burned flesh, and ruptured entrails.

The remaining captives bound on the sidelines violently retched, their faces pale as death, several losing control of their bladders under the sheer horror of the slaughterhouse before them.

Pfff—

With a final, hollow rattle, the four bodies caved in entirely, reduced to desiccated, skin-draped skeletons before crumbling into brittle piles of gray bone dust.

RUMBLE— CRASH!

The massive torrent of refined gore surged along the runic channels.

The five palm-shaped runes flared with blinding, incandescent crimson light, casting monstrous, bloody shadows against the towering basalt walls.

With a deafening groan that shook the volcanic mountain to its roots, the colossal stone slabs ground inward once again, slowly parting to reveal the freezing, pitch-black abyss within.

Du Sha’s pale lips curled into a cold, satisfied smile as he looked at the yawning entrance.

Nearby, the surviving captives and the four drained cultivators pinned to the nodes stared at the open gate with a mixture of trembling hope and greed.

Catching their expressions, Du Sha merely sneered in utter disdain.

Dragging his failing body forward, the lanky leader collapsed onto his knees at Du Sha’s boots, coughing weakly as black veins pulsed all over his body.

“Senior Du… the gate is breached. The antidote… please, I am at death’s door!”

Du Sha looked down, his smile smooth and placid.

The pitch-black viper coiled around his right forearm stirred, sliding down his pale wrist and slithering toward the kneeling man.

Terror seized the lanky leader.

He instinctively scrambled backward, stammering, “S-Senior, what is the meaning of this?!”

“Do not move,” Du Sha said mildly.

“My spiritual beast will draw the parasitic poison directly from your meridians. That is your antidote.”

The lanky cultivator hesitated, his brow furrowing in suspicion, but with the deadly poison eating away at his body, he had no choice.

He froze, bracing himself as the cold scales grazed his skin.

The moment the serpent touched his flesh, an icy shiver shot down his spine, the lethal toxicity radiating from the beast was dozens of times more terrifying than the poison within his chest.

The serpent slithered swiftly up his shoulder, coiling around his neck before sinking its fangs deep into his carotid artery.

Hiss!

A sharp, tearing agony tore through his throat, but within heartbeats, the suffocating burning in his veins subsided.

The black parasitic essence was forcibly siphoned from his meridians, devoured greedily by the twin-headed serpent.

After drinking its fill, the viper hissed contentedly, slithering back down and wrapping itself around Du Sha’s arm like a satisfied pet.

Du Sha gently stroked the viper’s sleek head with a blackened fingernail, a surprisingly tender smile gracing his pale features.

Letting out a heavy, relieved breath, the lanky leader stood up unsteadily on his feet.

“Senior Du, our transaction is complete. I have no desire for the treasures within the vault. I will take my leave now.”

Du Sha tilted his head, his dark eyes gleaming with cold amusement.

“Did I ever say I would let you leave alive?”

The lanky cultivator froze, a nervous, dry chuckle catching in his throat.

“W-What do you mean, Senior Du? You promised to grant me the antidote and spare my life!”

“And I fulfilled my oath,” Du Sha said smoothly.

“I granted you the antidote and cured your poison. But I never promised you would walk out of this caldera alive.”

“Why?!” the lanky leader cried out in frantic despair.

“I gave you the information! I ask for nothing inside! Why must you kill me?!”

“Why?” Du Sha murmured, his voice dripping with condescension.

“Because you are a filthy demonic cultivator.”

“Aren’t you the exact same?!” the lanky leader screamed, his voice cracking with hysteric fury.

Du Sha’s smile instantly vanished, replaced by an expression of frigid, haughty arrogance.

“Impudent trash,” Du Sha sneered.

“We of the Thousand Poison Sect from the Great Venomous Empire may cultivate the dao of lethal poisons, but we are recognized across the domain as an orthodox pillar of the righteous faction. How dare a gutter rat like you compare our noble heritage to your demonic scum?”

Du Sha casually flicked his wide sleeve.

SWOOSH—!

Dozens of razor-sharp, emerald-green Qi needles erupted from his cuffs like a sudden venomous gale, flashing through the sulfur mist with blinding speed.

PSTT! PSTT! PSTT!

The strikes were merciless and absolute.

Every single demonic cultivator in the clearing, the lanky leader, the drained men on the cardinal nodes, and the bound captives on the sidelines, had their foreheads and dantians instantly perforated.

Their corpses collapsed in unison against the scorched basalt, their life flames wiped out in a single breath.

The silence of the volcanic caldera returned, heavy and absolute.

The only living beings remaining were Du Sha, his black serpent, and the twin brothers, Ou Hu and Ou Ba.

Without sparing a second glance at the butchered corpses, Du Sha adjusted his dark robes, turned on his heel, and led the twins straight across the threshold into the ancient gloom.

-x-

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