Chapter 239 - The Brood Organ and the Barbecue
Su Bai continued deeper into the underground chamber.
The farther he went, the denser the Ashen-Blood essence became.
The energy here was thick and concentrated, flowing through narrow channels carved into the walls and floor before spreading toward the rows of Soul-Bloom Seeds.
Su Bai followed those currents with his spiritual sense.
Soon, he found their source.
At the far end of the chamber, something enormous pulsed beneath layers of dark flesh.
It resembled a heart at first glance, but its shape was too irregular. Thick veins extended from it in every direction, disappearing into the walls and beneath the floor while dense Ashen-Blood essence moved through them in slow waves.
Each pulse sent another surge toward the developing Soul-Bloom Seeds.
Su Bai’s expression turned cold.
The aura was unmistakable.
It carried the same essence as the flesh fragments he had taken from the sealed sources. It was clearly part of whatever system they had built beneath the altar.
A breeding organ.
Su Bai did not hesitate.
Qi Needles erupted around him and tore through the thick veins first.
Ashen-Frost Blight Flame followed immediately.
The dark vessels ignited.
A shrill sound erupted from the massive organ, loud enough to make the underground chamber tremble.
Several Soul-Bloom Seeds shuddered inside their growths.
He kept going.
More needles pierced into the pulsing flesh as ash-gray fire spread through its channels, burning away every connection it had to the surrounding chamber.
The vast organ shuddered violently for the last time. Its final pulse rolled through the floor as the Ashen-Blood essence within the chamber faded away.
Su Bai did not approach immediately. He watched the organ for several breaths.
The vast mass remained completely still. Only after the silence stretched on did he finally move closer and store the entire thing inside his system inventory.
He would deal with it later.
Behind him, the ancient weapons gave off faint spiritual fluctuations. None of them objected to what he had done, and the subtle satisfaction in their reactions was difficult to miss.
Su Bai let his gaze move across the chamber again.
There was still more here.
On the opposite side of the Soul-Bloom Seeds, he found the remains of several large cocoons.
Su Bai studied them for a moment.
The answer became obvious. This place had not merely nurtured Soul-Bloom Seeds. It had grown bodies too.
False Bodies and Soul-Bloom Returnees had both been produced here.
Su Bai exhaled slowly.
"That ends today."
He turned back toward the remaining Soul-Bloom Seeds and counted eight in total.
None had matured far enough to become Returnees yet, which immediately eased some of the tension in his expression.
That distinction mattered.
Once they developed into complete beings with their own identities and consciousness, Su Bai would not have treated them the same way.
But right now, they were still seeds.
Eight Soul-Bloom Seeds.
Su Bai’s eyes brightened despite himself.
The first Soul-Bloom Seed had eventually given him the Soul-Bloom Lotus and his Natal Needle.
If these seeds developed the same way as the first one, eight of them meant eight more possibilities.
The thought excited Su Bai at first, but the feeling faded when he looked at the soul fluctuations inside them.
Those were not empty materials.
Each seed contained soul slivers taken from real cultivators who had entered the Fallen-Star Sanctuary and never returned.
Su Bai remained silent for a moment.
Leaving the seeds here would not save those people, and allowing the sealed sources to reclaim them would only continue the same cycle.
In that case, he would make use of what remained.
Su Bai reached out and stored all eight Soul-Bloom Seeds inside his system inventory.
After that, there was nothing here worth preserving.
Ashen-Frost Blight Flame spread from his body and rolled through the underground chamber.
The remaining flesh channels burned first, then the empty cocoons. The dark residue coating the walls ignited soon after.
Su Bai stood among the flames while the ancient weapons watched everything the sealed sources had built disappear.
By the time he turned toward the passage leading upward, most of the chamber had already become ash.
The artifact spirits followed him without hesitation.
Their spiritual fluctuations felt lighter.
...
When Su Bai returned to the surface, the sealed sources immediately understood what had happened.
The flesh masses convulsed against their restraints.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?"
"YOU DESTROYED IT."
"THOSE WERE OURS."
The ancient weapons gathered around Su Bai as the layered voices rolled across the altar region.
The sealed sources pulled against the ancient weapons pinning them in place hard enough for the surrounding formations to awaken.
Golden light spread across the restraints.
Ancient patterns beneath the altar lit up one after another, and the flesh masses were dragged back down while their furious shrieks echoed through the clearing.
Su Bai watched them for a moment.
"You should probably stop struggling."
"WE WILL ERASE YOU."
"YOU WILL NEVER LEAVE THIS PLACE."
Su Bai ignored them and sat down several dozen steps away.
The ancient weapons positioned themselves nearby.
"I need to meditate for a while."
The saber floated closer.
"Now?"
Su Bai glanced toward the sealed sources.
"They’re not going anywhere."
The flesh masses surged again.
The ancient formation immediately pressed them back down.
Su Bai closed his eyes and retrieved the first Soul-Bloom Seed.
The moment he swallowed it, the sealed sources went still for a brief instant before a furious roar erupted across the altar.
"SPIT IT OUT."
Su Bai reached for the second Soul-Bloom Seed without opening his eyes.
The roar from the sealed sources grew louder, and the ancient weapons stirred around him as if expecting another violent reaction.
He swallowed the second seed anyway and reached for the third.
By the time he swallowed the fourth, the sealed sources were thrashing so violently that the ancient weapons pinning them down began releasing bright streams of suppression light.
The surrounding formations awakened completely.
"STOP."
"YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE CONSUMING."
Su Bai swallowed the fifth seed. A suspiciously amused spiritual fluctuation came from the hammer nearby, but he paid it no attention and reached for another.
The sixth seed followed, and after a brief pause, so did the seventh.
When Su Bai finally swallowed the eighth Soul-Bloom Seed, the layered roar from the sealed sources sent a visible shockwave across the clearing.
The ancient weapons immediately released their spiritual pressure around Su Bai.
The shockwave broke apart before reaching him.
Inside Su Bai, the familiar process had already begun.
The Dao-Devouring Blank Stele reacted first. Soul slivers poured out from the swallowed seeds and were drawn toward it.
One after another, they disappeared into the blank surface.
New inscriptions began forming.
Su Bai did not examine them yet.
At the same time, his Crystalline Tree Spirit Root responded.
Eight developing Soul-Bloom Seeds were pulled toward its branches and settled into different positions around the existing Soul-Bloom Lotus.
They remained settled along the branches without blooming.
Su Bai already knew what they lacked.
Nourishment.
He opened his eyes and found the sealed sources still staring at him.
Without saying anything, he reached into his system inventory and brought out the massive brood organ.
The flesh masses immediately erupted again.
"DO NOT TOUCH THAT."
Su Bai looked toward the ancient saber.
"Can I borrow you?"
The saber’s spirit surged at once, and before Su Bai could say anything else, the weapon had already flown into his hand.
He almost laughed.
"You seem enthusiastic."
"Cut it."
Su Bai glanced at the flesh organ beside him.
"Gladly."
A sharp spiritual fluctuation ran through the saber, carrying an eagerness it made no effort to hide.
Apparently, it had been waiting several thousand years for this opportunity.
Su Bai raised the blade and began cutting.
The brood organ was enormous, but the saber had little trouble dividing it into manageable portions.
Each slice made the sealed sources react more violently.
Su Bai arranged the pieces around the altar and summoned the Ashen-Frost Blight Flame. Ash-gray fire gathered beneath the flesh as the ancient weapons watched in silence.
For several breaths, even the sealed sources stopped shouting.
Su Bai started cooking.
Before long, a strange smell spread through the clearing. The hammer drifted a little closer, while the bow quietly moved farther away.
The saber remained in Su Bai’s hand, its spiritual fluctuation making it obvious that it had no intention of missing what happened next.
The sealed sources finally understood.
"YOU DARE."
Su Bai turned one of the pieces.
"I’ve done this before."
"THAT IS PART OF US."
"I know."
The flesh masses convulsed so violently that the restraints lit up again.
Su Bai watched the meat darken beneath the flame.
The scene felt strangely familiar.
The brood organ was even more concentrated than the ordinary fragments he had consumed before.
Whatever essence the sealed sources had been using to nurture their creations was gathered densely inside it.
Su Bai waited until the first piece was ready, then he picked it up.
The sealed sources began shouting over one another.
"PUT IT DOWN."
Su Bai examined the cooked flesh before taking a bite.
The sealed sources went quiet for less than a breath.
Dense Ashen-Blood essence spread through him almost immediately, carrying the same corruption that would have been deadly to anyone else. His Reversal Body turned that harmful influence around as it entered, and the resulting benefit flowed through his foundation while he continued chewing.
His eyes narrowed slightly in satisfaction.
Across the altar, the sealed sources finally lost whatever restraint they had left.
Their bodies thrashed violently against the ancient restraints, forcing the weapons pinning them down and the formations beneath the altar to flare with renewed light.
Su Bai swallowed and looked at the struggling flesh masses.
A small smile appeared on his face as he reached for another piece.
"Not bad."
The layered scream that followed shook the entire clearing.