Chapter 3 Boiling in a Pot

  At that moment, the young man who was thrown into the hot water screamed continuously, and the rest cried out in disorder. Some people even rushed out recklessly, and the scene suddenly became chaotic.

  Shi Dong's body flashed, and he was about to follow them out. His gaze fell on the corner of Bai Jin's mouth, a blue-robed cultivator with a cold smile hanging from his lips. This kind of cold smile would appear every time he was about to kill someone. Immediately afterwards, a very low and soft sigh could be heard.

  As soon as he thought of it, he hurriedly forced himself to hold back.

  Bai Jin and the Taoist priests in green robes swung their sleeves together, and countless black and gray smoke flew out, pulling back all the young men who had rushed to the gate of the main hall. They were thrown in front of the bare-chested giant, who shouted in unison: "Deserters, kill them without pardon!"

  Those big men simultaneously raised their sharp knives and stabbed them into the chests of these fleeing boys.

  Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft......

  Over a hundred young people spat out fresh blood and died on the ground.

  The executioners worked tirelessly, skillfully using sharp knives to carve out the hearts, livers, spleens, and lungs of the dead youths, casually chopping them into small pieces and tossing them into large cauldrons behind them. The air in the grand hall was filled with the stench of blood, making people feel nauseous.

  In the blink of an eye, nearly a thousand young men were reduced to one-tenth, and those who remained did not dare to move, trembling with fear, paralyzed on the ground, and no one dared to cry out.

  Shi Dong didn't expect that in a split second, he would narrowly escape disaster. He was suddenly frightened stiff and felt a sudden urge to urinate, hastily clenching his muscles to hold it back.

  The surrounding area was filled with a strong smell of urine, many young men were scared and lost their senses, some even fell to the ground vomiting.

  "Those who indulge in vomiting shall be executed without pardon!" The Taoist priests in green robes shouted again.

  With a loud gurgle, he swallowed back the food that had been stuck in his throat, and his eyes welled up with tears. In a daze, he saw those big men wielding sharp knives, killing more than half of the young people, then throwing their chopped-up internal organs into a large pot.

  The remaining boys were all stunned, each with a dull gaze, not daring to escape, not daring to vomit, holding in their feces and urine, not even daring to make a sound. Their pupils had shrunk to the size of pinheads, filled with extreme fear.

  The person who issued the order was an old man with a long beard, wearing a black robe embroidered with gold thread and adorned with hundreds or thousands of large and small skulls all over his body. On his chest was a large blood-red skull.

  A black base, a golden skull that shines brightly, with the movement of the body, it seems to come alive, really frightening.

  His appearance was even more daunting, with a thin face that seemed to be all skin and bones, yet sporting a large eagle-like nose, making him resemble an old eagle transformed into a skull.

  Fierce! Ferocious! Sinister! Unspoken intimidation!

  He saw a pair of eyes sharp as knives looking around, seeing no more crying young people, nodding in satisfaction, walking quickly to the high platform in the center of the grand hall, raising his hands to the sky, muttering words.

  Suddenly a gust of dark wind swept across the ground, and Shi Dong felt that he had fallen among the corpses of the young men beside him. It seemed as if ghostly spirits were emerging from them, shrieking and trying to escape, but they were bound by an invisible force. The surging blood energy was trapped and fell into a large cauldron emitting hot steam.

  Intense curiosity overcame fear, Shi Dong stared with wide eyes at the scene in front of him, a transparent blood-red ghost struggling to rush up from the black water, making the black water churn and bubble like boiling water, but was bound by a strange power and could not escape.

  The old man on the high platform gazed intensely and shouted loudly: "The blood sacrifice is complete, the boys and girls quickly enter the cauldron!"

  Those big men quickly grabbed the young man, cut open their clothes with a knife, and threw them into these big cauldrons one by one. Soon it was Shi Dong's turn.

  As he splashed into the eerie black water, a strange and extreme feeling enveloped him, as if all the pores on his body opened up at once. The water seemed to have given birth to countless small insects that were desperately drilling into his body through the pores.

  Pain! Numbness! Itchiness! Sourness! Bloating! Heat! Cold!

  All sorts of flavors almost made him faint, but his mind was exceptionally clear, and those strange feelings seemed to be magnified hundreds or thousands of times, driving him crazy.

  "Ah!" Shi Dong couldn't help but let out a miserable cry.

  However, his cries were not prominent because the young men around him were all shouting wildly and no one could bear such torture, and several people jumped out of the pot immediately.

  "Out of the pot, kill!" The green-robed Taoists shouted in unison again, and several young men immediately fell under the big man's sharp knife.

  Shi Dong understood that he had no choice but to endure the inhuman torture, so he gritted his teeth and bore it.

  It felt like those strange little bugs had crawled into his body, slowly moving along the blood vessels to his lower abdomen, gathering there and biting wildly, causing pain, numbness, and heat.

  By now, fewer than four hundred men and women had survived, all of whom were thrown into the churning black water of the cauldron, each exposing only a small head, and no one dared to jump out again.

  After a while, the mournful cries gradually subsided, and the surroundings were as quiet as death. The mist that rose from the ground grew thicker, shrouding everyone's figures in an eerie, terrifying atmosphere that enveloped the entire grand hall.

  Shi Dong gradually got used to this strange feeling and felt that his lower abdomen was getting hotter and hotter.

  Suddenly, a hot line jumped up, and those squirming little bugs burrowed into the chest and abdomen again, crawling and biting wildly here.

  Pain! Numbness! Heat! Exactly the same feeling as the lower abdomen just now.

  With his previous experience, Shi Dong endured it and didn't make a sound this time.

  He muttered to himself, "Look at this, it seems we're not being cooked for food. The black water in the pot is boiling, but it's not that hot, just the little bugs in the water are too strange. Strange! Strange!"

  Reaching into the water to grab, and then touching the lower abdomen and chest, but not feeling any small insects, yet clearly sensing them crawling in through the pores, all over the body, a truly strange sensation.

  After another meal, the heat in my chest and abdomen surged up to my heart again. My heart felt as if it had been placed in a boiling pot of oil, being stir-fried and battered around by countless tiny insects inside.

  "Ah..." Shi Dong couldn't help but let out a miserable cry, using his hands to push against the edge of the large pot and jump up. As he floated above the water's surface, he saw that there was actually a circular mark on his chest.

  Its size is like a sea bowl, its redness is like rouge.

  Shi Dong was frightened, and he didn't know why such strange marks appeared on his body. He quickly used his hand to touch his chest, and he felt his heart beating wildly, almost bursting out of his throat, and it was scorching hot to the touch.

  Lowering his head to take another look, the originally pitch-black water had lightened by a few shades and become slightly translucent. He could see that on his bare chest and abdomen, as well as on his lower belly, there appeared such circular marks.

  "What is this strange thing?" Shi Dong hastily looked around and saw that the boy next to him in the big pot was even more severe, with circular marks on his throat, and the color was bright red like blood, very strange and terrifying.

  And the black water in his pot had become as clear as clean water, and did not resemble the dark ink-like color on this side.

  Just as Shi Dong was puzzled, a green-robed cultivator named Bai Jin walked over with big strides, looked down at the young man's condition, and nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad, not bad. In just this short period of time, he has already absorbed all the medicinal liquid. I'm afraid that's at least top-grade talent."

  As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed the boy's neck, lifting him up dripping wet. On his body, four bright red circular marks appeared, located on his lower abdomen, chest and abdomen, heart mouth and throat, clear and round, as if someone had deliberately tattooed them on.

  The Taoist priest carefully examined the prints, clicking his tongue in admiration, and then tossed him into a large empty cauldron beside him, letting him continue to soak in the boiling black water.

  Shi Dong was looking at it with a puzzled expression when he suddenly felt a tightness in his chest.

  Bai Jin walked up to him, reached out and grabbed his neck, pulling him out of the water. Seeing only three blurry circular marks on Shi Dong's body, he sneered: "Look at your cunning appearance, I thought you had a high talent! Looking at your situation, you can't even compare to Ding! You're really a useless waste!" After finishing speaking, he splashed Shi Dong back into the pot.

  A hint of mockery hung at the corner of his mouth, without even giving him a glance, he walked away and went to inspect other boys.

  "How did it come to qualifications? And saying I'm a worthless piece of trash that no one wants?" Shi Dong felt uneasy, thinking that things were not quite right.

  He stared with his shiny eyes, carefully observing the surroundings, only to see the green-robed monks walking back and forth in the field, inspecting the condition of the young men.

  About 20% of the boys, about 70 or 80 people, were also picked up and put into empty large pots. Look at those green-robed monks treating these boys with a nurturing attitude, smiling on their faces, nodding repeatedly, as if picking big juicy fruits in a fruitful orchard.

  As for the remaining 50% of young people, they would frown slightly, but their eyes would still reveal a glimmer of expectation.

  As for the last three-tenths of the youth, the corners of his mouth were filled with disdain and ridicule, he glanced at him and shook his head repeatedly, casually throwing him back into the large pot, as if throwing away a piece of trash.

  Witnessing this scene, Shi Dong's heart sank.

  He guessed that being cooked and eaten was unlikely now, but the situation was just as dire.

  The monks of the Demon Sect should be using such a bizarre method to select their disciples. As long as they can make a cauldron of black water clear quickly and have large, clear circular marks appear on their bodies, these young men will definitely have excellent qualifications and will receive their attention.

  The remaining 50% are at an observable level, as for myself, I am like those 30% of young people, all of whom are inferior and not worthy of attention, and may even be killed by the Han people with a sharp knife, treated as useless waste.

  "Didn't those boys who died before end up like that?" Shi Dong's face suddenly turned pale, and he suddenly lost all sense of control over his own fate.

  At this moment, he thought of his hard days as an apprentice in the tea house, not having enough to eat or wear, and being treated coldly by others; he thought of his lonely mother and sister, how heartbreaking and desperate they would be if they couldn't wait for him to return.

  He gritted his teeth and made a fierce vow in his heart, "No! I don't believe it! You watch, thief heaven, Shi Dong will definitely find a way to survive! I won't lose!"

  The water in the cauldron suddenly rippled, and a faint wave actually appeared on its surface. The black color in the water seemed to accelerate its entry into his body.

  "If you think it's good-looking, don't forget to recommend and collect it, thank you 101 times."