Wandering Gods of Day and Night-Chapter 379 - 217: Return to the Blood Well

Zhou Xuan entered the Old Painting Pavilion, ready to eliminate the Sect Master and the Suffering Scholar,

but the sight within the pavilion caught him completely off guard.

In the makeshift cell on the second floor, the Suffering Scholar had already descended into madness,

while the Sect Master, tattooed with the "Earth Child" Demon Slaying Diagram, had been gnawing on himself.

Yet now, the Sect Master’s mental state was oddly stable, and his body was intact.

Upon seeing Zhou Xuan step inside, the Suffering Scholar was counting the holes in his chains,

"Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen..."

The Sect Master, on the other hand, shot Zhou Xuan a venomous glare, surrounded by pools of coagulated blood and viscous fluid on the ground.

His body, oddly enough, had fully recovered, showing no signs of the self-devouring damage from two days ago when he had "feasted on himself."

"Oh, you’ve got some resilience. Did you also pick up a trick or two from the Suffering Faction?" Zhou Xuan hooked the Sect Master’s cheek with the Bone Teeth weapon and pulled him close for a closer look. After careful examination, he realized the Sect Master’s rapid regeneration wasn’t the Suffering Faction’s ’Blood and Flesh Regeneration’ ability.

He had seen Blood and Flesh Regeneration on Gu Ling before; its skin was whiter and smoother than a newborn’s, delicate enough to break with a soft blow.

But the Sect Master’s regenerated flesh was nothing like that; it was riddled with abscesses and rotting meat.

"I understand now. This ’Earth Child’ Demon Slaying method is practically infernal torment. It forces you to eat yourself until you’re almost gone, and just when you’re about to die, the tattoo activates to regrow your body, only for you to continue devouring yourself again. It’s even crueller than me."

"Zhou Xuan... You think calling on the Painter or Li Chengfeng will let you safely kill me and the Suffering Scholar?"

"We are under the protection of the Gods. The kidnappers roaming freely—that’s sanctioned by divine permission."

"If you kill us, you cut off the will of the Gods."

Despite two days of confinement and torture, neither the Sect Master nor the Suffering Scholar had truly perished, though they had suffered immensely.

This gave the Sect Master a glimmer of hope—perhaps Zhou Xuan didn’t dare to kill him.

Once he emerged from his self-devouring state, the Sect Master bolstered his resolve, intent on having a proper conversation with Zhou Xuan.

He intended to make Zhou Xuan recognize who exactly he was dealing with—the Sect Master and the Suffering Scholar, backed by higher powers.

So, he was eager to invoke the name of the "Gods."

However,

the mention of the Gods failed to faze Zhou Xuan in the slightest.

He pulled out the Bone Teeth, hooked it into the Sect Master’s ear, and yanked him closer, speaking directly into his ear with a voice full of authority:

"Using the will of the Gods to suppress me? You think I haven’t already defied divine will?"

"On the day of the Bone Elder Gathering, the first Heavenly God that appeared wasn’t real. It was something I faked using my tattoos."

"You’re lying," the Sect Master spat back, refusing to believe Zhou Xuan could pull off such a feat.

After all, Zhou Xuan was just a minor incense-bearer without even three sticks of incense to his name—how could he accomplish something so grand?

"The ginkgo totem of the God of Suffering and Calamity, my Nuoshen Blood, the City God ’Shui Yong,’ the ’No-Words Heavenly Master’ of the Heavenly Eye Temple, the ’Heavenly Official’ of the Bone Elders—three divine auras in total,"

"I merged them all into a single puppet corpse using tattoo techniques and forged an aura of a Heavenly God so convincing even a Bone Elder Priest couldn’t distinguish it. Now I’ve explained it in detail—do you believe me?"

Hearing this, the Sect Master felt chills crawl up his scalp. He had suspected that there was some tampering involved in the resurgence of the Heavenly God’s Fire, but he never imagined it could be on such a massive scale.

And it was all orchestrated by a seemingly insignificant two-incense individual.

"At the Gathering, the descent of a Heavenly Official’s avatar—what of it? It was shattered by the puppet imbued with Heavenly God Aura that I controlled. If I could destroy a Heavenly Official’s avatar, why would I fear a mere lackey like you, the ’Black Glove’ doing the Gods’ dirty work?"

The Sect Master, hearing this, knew his threats held no weight against Zhou Xuan and that his survival beyond today was unlikely. Resigned, he spoke:

"The waters of Mingjiang Prefecture run deep. Sure, you’re bold and skilled, but so what?"

"Sooner or later, you’ll drown in the torrents of Mingjiang’s floods."

"Don’t believe me? Just wait and see!"

"I’ll show you, no matter how deep the waters of Mingjiang run, they can’t drown me—the Living Dragon King!"

Zhou Xuan drew out the Bone Teeth and viciously gouged out the Sect Master’s right eye, clasping it in his palm. He then lowered his head and shouted:

"Earth Child, bury this eye at the City God Taoist Temple, so he can open his eyes and see clearly."

"Let him see what it means to rise above crashing waves and stand atop a hundred-foot pole—the Water Dragon King!"

As soon as he finished speaking,

a crimson vortex appeared in Zhou Xuan’s palm, engulfing the Sect Master’s eye entirely.

The Sect Master’s eye drifted effortlessly into Zhou Xuan’s Divine Revelation Secret Realm,

where it first encountered an endless expanse of Black Water.

The Black Water was a gift from the Nuoshen to Zhou Xuan—a manifestation of "Heavenly God’s Will." The mere sight of it crushed the Sect Master under boundless pressure, as if even one more glance would cause his eyeballs to explode on the spot.

In the midst of the Black Water, the Sect Master then saw Bai Gu Monk.

The bones of Bai Gu Monk originated from Monk Zhu Jiu, who had achieved eight incense sticks at Qiye Temple.

The Sect Master, who had reached levels just shy of seven incense sticks, had excellent vision. Immediately, he recognized from the "Dao Mark" and "Buddha Seal" upon the skeleton that Bai Gu Monk had wielded power above seven incense sticks in life.

"How can Zhou Xuan’s Divine Revelation Secret Realm be so flourishing?"

The Sect Master’s eye continued drifting, eventually floating above the Black Water, where it glimpsed a scarlet moon—Fei Yue.

The aura radiating from Fei Yue exerted the same crushing force on the Sect Master’s eye, threatening at every moment to burst it.

"A force equal to the Nuoshen?"

At this moment, the Sect Master finally understood Zhou Xuan’s confidence.

Two days earlier, he had already heard rumors that the Zhou Family’s Nuoshen favored Zhou Xuan greatly and had gifted him the Sukuna Hand upon his advancement to two incense sticks.

The Sukuna Hand wasn’t just a hand; it carried a fragment of the Nuoshen’s will.

With a fragment of the Heavenly God’s Will, the overwhelming pressure of the Black Water was enough to blot out the sky, overshadowing ordinary mediums, Divine Revelation Secret Realms, and anything of their kind.

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om