đź“– Chapter 1333 - Establishing Prestige
“Nice place you’ve got here.” Laughter rang out from the black mist as Wang Baole spoke.
Right now, black mist was covering the entire first floor, causing everything to rot and wither. At the same time, green flames burned all over.
In the midst of these flames, Wang Baole walked up the stairs in a leisurely manner. The stairs turned to ashes as he passed them, but the restaurant didn’t seem to show any signs of collapsing.
Just like that, Wang Baole walked up to the second floor. Here, there were independent private rooms reserved for customers seeking accommodations. At this moment, all these doors flew open, and the cultivators inside jumped out with reddened eyes to attack Wang Baole.
However, before they could get close, the black mist covering Wang Baole’s body churned. Ethereal figures like malevolent ghosts floated out, heading straight for the incoming cultivators. Miserable screams rang out again as the ghosts made contact; wherever they touched, the cultivators would begin withering away before finally disappearing into ashes.
In the end, there were only several dozen ghosts left, howling soundlessly as they wandered the second floor. Soon, these ghosts that emanated an endless aura of desire returned to Wang Baole, prowling around him protectively.
“After cultivating the law of tongue’s desire to a certain level, it’s possible to create a Nightmare of Desire. And these Nightmares of Desire… if I threw a single one into a small world, that world would become a sea of misery.”
Wang Baole shook his head. With a wave of a hand, the second floor withered away, and he walked up to the third. There were only three rooms here on the third floor.
As the Nightmares of Desire rushed in, the three rooms all turned to ashes, revealing… three figures sitting cross-legged in meditation.
Two were old men, while one was the middle-aged man with blood-red scales.
At this moment, the two old men were trembling violently, as if they were trying and failing to open their eyes. Unfortunately, they were helpless to do anything but wait as the Nightmares of Desire approached and drilled into their bodies through their seven orifices.
As for Master Bloodscale, a mysterious rune shone on one of the scales between his brows. He managed to put up some resistance and force his eyelids open, revealing two blood-red pupils that looked at Wang Baole with horror.
“This is yours, right?” Wang Baole’s voice was calm as he waved a hand. The blood-red scale that had been on the table of his shop floated out and flew over to Master Bloodscale.
Master Bloodscale’s body trembled, and he seemed to be trying to crane his neck upward. But before he could do so, a sigh slowly echoed out from the fourth floor of the restaurant.
“Fellow Daoist, you’ve gone too far. If you leave now, I can pretend as if nothing happened.”
With those words, the ceiling of the third floor suddenly blurred, revealing the scene of the fourth floor.
On the fourth floor, there was a black vortex similar to the one surrounding Wang Baole, as well as a figure meditating inside. At this moment, that figure opened their eyes and looked at Wang Baole on the third floor.
At the same time, dozens of Nightmares of Desire appeared from the figure. The Nightmares of Desire around Wang Baole instantly raised their heads, and the two sides immediately charged at each other as if they were mortal enemies.
Wang Baole’s expression didn’t change. However, the scale floating in front of Master Bloodscale suddenly turned into a sharp spike. Just as Master Bloodscale saw the figure on the fourth floor and breathed a sigh of relief, the spike drilled into the center of his brows and exploded inside his body. He didn’t even have the time to let out a scream before dying entirely in body and soul.
The figure on the fourth floor was instantly enraged.
“Courting death!” With a voice like muffled thunder, the figure on the fourth floor suddenly stood up from his cross-legged position, and the vortex around him expanded instantaneously. In the end, the black vortex turned into a pitch-black giant more than twenty zhang tall.
Black mist surrounded the giant’s huge body, and as he rose to his feet, he seemed capable of holding up the heavens. Raising his right arm high, he slammed his palm down toward Wang Baole.
Fluctuations of desire erupted all over his body, causing distortions to appear in all directions and making all the residents of Tongue’s Desire City tremble.
Gazes converged on this location from all directions one after another.
“It’s a mincemeat acolyte!”
“A mincemeat acolyte is making a move!”
Even as these voices echoed out, eight illusory figures, each a hundred zhang tall, suddenly rose up in Tongue’s Desire City’s eight directions. Each figure was like a mountain of meat, exuding shocking pressure as they looked over.
The appearance of these eight figures caused silence to fall over the city. Those people who had been making a commotion instantly became quiet, filled with awe at… the eight Gluttony Lords of Tongue’s Desire City.
And just as the eight Gluttony Lords looked over, the giant that the mincemeat acolyte had turned into finally slammed its palm down. Wherever it passed, the walls and furnishings of the restaurant collapsed completely, and it didn’t take more than an instant to strike Wang Baole’s head.
However… it stopped!
Wang Baole stood motionless beneath the palm. He hadn’t stopped it with his own body; instead, his Nightmares of Desire were blocking its way forward.
“You’re the one courting death.” Wang Baole’s voice was extremely calm. As soon as he spoke, his body suddenly expanded with a boom, and the vortex around him exploded in size. Ten zhang, twenty zhang, thirty zhang… it didn’t take more than a moment to reach forty zhang in size!
As Wang Baole grew, the giant’s hand was forced backward. It seemed that the giant wanted to retract his hand, but Wang Baole suddenly grabbed it. Lowering his head, he looked down on the frightened mincemeat acolyte that was now already shorter than him.
“You-” Before the mincemeat acolyte could finish speaking, Wang Baole suddenly inhaled, and a monstrous suction force erupted from his mouth. The mincemeat disciple’s technique instantaneously collapsed and his body flew toward Wang Baole.
“Bold!” In the distance, one of the Gluttony Lord phantoms roared and reached toward Wang Baole. Heaven and earth dimmed, and the wind and clouds boiled over. It seemed as if the sky had become part of his overwhelming hand as he reached toward Wang Baole.
But at that moment, a mocking laugh came from the northwest direction. Another Gluttony Lord made a move, striking out and blocking the hand of his fellow.
“Tuo Lingzi, you should let the mincemeat acolytes fight their own battles.”
"Zhou Huo, how dare you stop me!"
Rumbles sounded out as the two giant hands met in the sky. While they clashed, Wang Baole had already sucked the mincemeat acolyte dry, causing the black vortex to dissipate and revealing the withered figure of an elderly man. Wang Baole tossed the corpse to the sky and looked upward, rapidly expanding from forty zhang to fifty zhang as the power of desire roiled within him.
Without saying a word, he cupped his fists toward the Gluttony Lord who had helped him, then turned around and walked step by step back toward his shop. With each step, his body shrank rapidly, until he was once again the size of a normal person.
The gazes falling on his body didn’t decrease and instead became even more numerous.
No group of people could ever be perfectly harmonious, and in this place that cultivated desire, internal conflict was even more inevitable. Thus, all Wang Baole had to do was show his value.
His Ice Spirit Water was valuable, and his personal strength was even more valuable.
Since he had both, although some people would target him, there would definitely also be those willing to rope him in.