📖 Chapter 1338 - Beginning of the Hunt

16 May, 2024

Wang Baole had little interest in becoming a Gluttony Lord. To him, cultivating the law of tongue’s desire was just to gain a better understanding of the Emperor.

Ever since he realized that this world’s seven emotions and six desires originated from the Emperor, a certain idea had lurked in Wang Baole’s mind. If… he could completely comprehend all of the seven emotions and six desires, what would happen?

‘Would it cause the Emperor to awaken, or… would it make him never wake up again?’ Wang Baole narrowed his eyes. Walking along the streets of Tongue’s Desire City, he glanced up at the vault of heaven.

Although his gaze couldn’t penetrate into the first layer of the world above him, he could sense that beyond the sky, there was a figure meditating in silence.

A while later, he retracted his gaze and walked into his Ice Spirit Pavilion.

Time passed. In the following days, Ice Spirit Pavilion was no longer as conservative as before. Centered on the first shop, it expanded rapidly in all directions.

With the female manager and the others going around paying visits, the surrounding shops gave up ownership one by one. Almost a month later, in the east district street that housed the original shop, every single shop was owned by Ice Spirit Pavilion!

Now, there was another super shop in Tongue’s Desire City.

The expansion of the shop and the popularity of Ice Spirit Water meant that the aura of tongue’s desire became richer than ever. Every day, Wang Baole’s law of tongue’s desire improved by leaps and bounds.

No one knew just how powerful Wang Baole had become over the course of this month. But when a person stepped into the street, they would immediately feel desire emerging uncontrollably in their heart.

This abnormality naturally attracted the attention of the eight Gluttony Lords. However, the Great Hunt was coming up soon, so they didn’t do anything more after giving Wang Baole’s street a cursory glance.

In fact… Ice Spirit Pavilion wasn’t the only place with a sudden outbreak of desire. Over the past month, a total of thirteen areas in Tongue’s Desire City had similar outbreaks.

Each and every one of these thirteen outbreaks had a mincemeat acolyte behind it.

Obviously, all the mincemeat acolytes were worried about the Great Hunt. Aside from a few who had various reasons to keep concealing their power, most of them expanded crazily during this month, hoping to absorb even a little more aura of tongue’s desire.

Among them, although Wang Baole had grown rapidly, he wasn’t even the most astonishing. There are three people who grew even faster than him, and one of them was Shen Ludao.

Shen Ludao himself didn’t run any shops. However, for the past month, he had been given the right to absorb the aura of desire from all the shops under his liege’s command.

In other words, the Gluttony Lord Shen Ludao served had given him a month’s worth of a Gluttony Lord’s cultivation resources. Obviously, this involved an incredible amount of aura of desire, making Shen Ludao’s degree of improvement absolutely terrifying.

The other two people were just as astonishing. One of them was completely unknown, having remained in seclusion all year round before this. The moment he came out of seclusion, he triggered a vortex of tongue’s desire that covered the entire city.

Everyone in the city was shocked by this scene.

Even Gluttony Lords couldn’t do something like this; only the Desire Lord had this authority. Thus, this incident gave rise to countless speculations. There were even rumors claiming that this unknown mincemeat acolyte was the real reason the Desire Lord decided to hold a Great Hunt.

It wasn’t long before this mincemeat acolyte’s name was discovered and spread through all of Tongue’s Desire City.

This person’s name was Feng Di.

As for the last one, he didn’t come as too much of a surprise. After all, he was Cheng Lingzi, the son of Gluttony Lord Tuo Lingzi.

These three, along with Wang Baole, were the objects of everyone’s attention for the past month. They were the most likely candidates for the next Gluttony Lord.

Just like that, another Gluttony Festival arrived. However, unlike usual, the mincemeat acolytes didn’t make an appearance. As the processions of the eight Gluttony Lords gathered at the central altar, just like always, the lump of meat that was the Desire Lord descended amid raucous cheers. But this time, it suddenly waved both arms at the sky.

In an instant, rumbling reverberated throughout heaven and earth, as if the entire world was shaking. A gigantic vortex appeared above Tongue’s Desire City, and it continued to grow with every passing moment.

After a few seconds, all the cultivators in Tongue’s Desire City could clearly see the swirling black vortex, wreathed by flickering bolts of lightning. Gradually, another world appeared on the other side of the vortex.

That world was one unfamiliar to the crowd. The earth there was black, although a blood-red haze covered it. No ruins could be seen anywhere, nor any signs of life. It was as if the entire world was a burial ground.

The air seemed to be filled with death and decay, causing a wave of gloom to sweep over Tongue’s Desire City. The cheering crowd suddenly quieted down.

And that wasn’t all. As the black vortex grew bigger and bigger, a deafening roar suddenly echoed out from the burial ground on the other side.

This roar traveled through the vortex and came upon Tongue’s Desire City like a storm, causing everyone in the city to feel their minds rumble. A massive rotting hand reached out from the vortex, as if it wanted to grab toward the city.

There were countless vicious black bugs crawling around on this rotting hand, making its aura even more terrifying. Just as the hand was about to touch the city, the Desire Lord suddenly let out a cold snort.

In an instant, the black bugs on the rotting hand screeched, and they suddenly began devouring the hand like they had gone crazy. Moreover, they even attacked and devoured each other, as if they were lost in a haze of desire.

Just like that, the horrifying hand disappeared at a rate visible to the naked eye, turning into nothingness mere moments after leaving the vortex. Now, there was only a mass of black bugs devouring each other in the air.

At that moment, the lump of meat on the altar inhaled, and the bugs were all sucked into its mouth. Grotesque chewing sounds echoed out, shocking the minds of all the cultivators in Tongue’s Desire City. However, despite their shock, they were unable to stop the desire to eat from rising up within them.

“The hunt begins. All you mincemeat acolytes, hurry up and get in there!” After swallowing down the black bugs, the lump of meat on the altar calmly spoke. The city trembled under its resounding voice.