A Pact with the Devourer
"Indeed. Of course, if you do not wish it, you may refuse. The choice is yours."
Choice. Jekyeong sneered inwardly. No matter how free a person was, they could never be free from their own desires. As a cultivator, how could he possibly refuse a treasure like a Grotto-heaven? If everything Sangyoza said was true, he would be utterly unable to reject this transaction. Yes—assuming everything he said was true.
If an obsession with fortuitous encounters was the nature of a cultivator, then distrust of others was equally so. Jekyeong still did not rule out the possibility that Sangyoza's remnant soul was hiding something from him, or perhaps even outright deceiving him.
Wroooom! But at that very moment, as the two worlds overlapped, an indescribable sense of despair washed over him. Skeletal arms, with nothing but leathery skin clinging to the bone, burst from the ground, and eerie, dismal shrieks echoed from all directions.
Hungry Ghosts and all manner of similar yet subtly different monstrosities began to emerge one by one. The moment they appeared, they reached out toward every living thing in their vicinity, and Jekyeong was no exception.
"Grrr." Jekyeong shook off the monsters attempting to scale his massive body, crushing them beneath his overwhelming bulk.
"The lives of those abominations are bound to Taotie and his domain," Sangyoza's voice echoed directly in his mind. "It is useless to crush and burn their withered flesh."
"At least it vents my frustration," Jekyeong retorted.
"Oh, indeed it does. But you must hurry. More and more of them will cross over. You might hold them off at first, but as time passes... entities far beyond your ability to handle will begin to slip through."
Though framed as advice, it was, in truth, a warning-laden urge to hurry.
"Fine. What do I need to do?" Glancing between the heavy shroud of Tribulation Fate and the rapidly multiplying hungry monsters, Jekyeong finally made his decision.
How futile. Watching Gwak Yeon vanish into the writhing mass of flesh without even being able to let out a single scream, Myeong-ha's mind went blank for a moment. There was no joy, no relief. Only a profound sense of futility remained.
The look in Gwak Yeon's eyes just before she was swallowed by the flesh was still vividly burned into his mind. Fear, anger, despair, and every other negative emotion imaginable.
Perhaps this is the true nature of the immortal path. Whether an ant, a rabbit, or a lion, when viewed from the high heavens above, everything is but a mere speck. It is laughable for these specks to bicker over who is larger or smaller in the eyes of those looking down. Large or small, they are all just dots that can be crushed and erased with a single finger.
"Speak, child of the Heavenly Dao. Why should I spare you?" A gloomy voice jolted Myeong-ha awake. The voice lacked any inflection, but to Myeong-ha's ears, it sounded less like a question and more like a mockery.
"Because I will be of use to you."
"Of use? What kind of use do you speak of?"
"I will offer sacrifices to you."
"Jegu said the same. And he disappointed me."
"I am different from him."
"Arrogant." The response was a sneer, but it was also an acknowledgment. Though it was an acknowledgment of the 'child of the Heavenly Dao' rather than Myeong-ha the cultivator, such distinctions did not matter.
"I will not disappoint you. If I do, you may take my life then, can you not?"
"Of course I shall." A massive, elongated tongue burst from the writhing flesh. It was the very same tongue that had snatched Gwak Yeon moments ago. Slither. Drenched in blood, flesh, and an unidentified viscous fluid, the tongue licked Myeong-ha, as if committing his taste to memory.
"You are mine now." After licking him a couple of times, the tongue retracted, and Myeong-ha felt something being branded onto his wrist. It was the mark and proof that all slaves of hunger, including the Hungry Ghosts, had once borne. A brand prophesying that he had now become a follower of Taotie, destined to be eternally imprisoned in his domain as a thrall in some indefinite future.
No, I am different. For a brief moment, Myeong-ha was seized by a dark despair, but he quickly shook it off and steeled his resolve. Ever since he had stepped into the cultivation world, he had faced countless crises, but he had never once succumbed. His Dao Heart was not so fragile. Though he had gotten entangled in something rather massive this time, it was fundamentally no different from the hardships he had faced before. In the end, it was merely a stone blocking his path. Whether one used it as a stepping stone to rise higher or tripped over it depended entirely on the person taking the step.
"Decent. Not bad." Myeong-ha's face paled, fearing his thoughts had been read, but fortunately, the comment of "not bad" was directed not at him, but at the sacrifices currently being thoroughly harvested.
"Hmm?" The mass of flesh, which had been smacking its lips in satisfaction, suddenly paused as it sensed something. "There is still one left. Hmm... a member of the Beast Race? Oh?" Listening quietly to the muttered words, Myeong-ha raised his head at the mention of the Beast Race.
"O Taotie. He is my companion." He had squeezed out a lifetime's worth of courage so many times today that he had lost count. Myeong-ha was certain that his Mind State would advance significantly after today. And this breakthrough might prove to be of immense help the next time he truly attempted to break through to the Core Formation stage.
"And?" Despite summoning every ounce of courage he possessed, Taotie's indifferent response tested him once more. For a split second, he felt like giving up, but he had already taken the plunge.
"I need him for what comes next. If you spare him, I promise to offer you more than enough sacrifices in the shortest time possible."
Taotie—or rather, the mass of flesh imbued with a sliver of Taotie's consciousness—fell silent. It seemed to contemplate, to hesitate. The grotesque tongue, dancing restlessly, laid bare its wavering mind.
"...Very well." After a silence that felt exceptionally long, a low voice rumbled. "But you must keep your word."
The moment those words were uttered, the massive flesh contorted, and space itself warped. Taotie's domain, which had been overlapping with the Secret Realm, receded like an ebbing tide. The slaves of hunger clamored in discontent, glaring at Myeong-ha and somewhere else, but no one cared about their opinions. In truth, they possessed no opinions of their own. They were merely parts of Taotie, and the desires they manifested were nothing but shadows of the emotions originating from Taotie himself.
"Whew." Only after everything vanished and came to an end did Myeong-ha finally breathe a sigh of relief. Thud! With the tension leaving his body, he collapsed onto the ground. A moment later, Jekyeong, having transformed into his human form, approached his side.
"It seems to have ended well."
"Well?" Myeong-ha let out a hollow laugh and shook his head. "Fellow Daoist, you owe me a massive debt this time."
"Hmm?" Jekyeong's lips twitched for a fraction of a second. It was the classic reaction of someone with a guilty conscience, but fortunately or unfortunately, Myeong-ha was slumped over with his head down, so he did not catch it.
Preparing the Sacrifices
"Fellow Daoist. Do you understand?" Myeong-ha asked, sounding frustrated by Jekyeong's silence, to which Jekyeong reluctantly nodded. Did he understand? Of course he did. That was precisely why he was acting like this. His mind was in a tangle, and his chest felt tight.
Damn it. He didn't want to blame Myeong-ha. If the fellow hadn't summoned his courage to speak up as he claimed, Taotie—or rather, that sliver of consciousness, whatever that ominous entity was—would not have left him alone. He didn't think Myeong-ha was lying. All of his explanations were logical, and his fatigue-laden expression and gaze carried an air of indifference and sincerity.
"So, what do you plan to do?"
"What else can we do? We have to fill his belly somehow." Myeong-ha added, "If we don't want to end up like Jegu, that is."
The moment he heard those words, Jekyeong suppressed the faint impulse rising within him. Indeed. Even Jegu, who had been a Demon King, had failed to escape Taotie and ended up buried here. Perhaps Jegu was among the Hungry Ghosts they had seen earlier.
Though I haven't directly entered into a contract with Taotie... He had no desire to risk his life on a gamble. If there were truly no other way, he would take the risk whether he liked it or not, but since Myeong-ha seemed to have an idea, he decided to wait and see for now.
"I am asking for your concrete plan."
"What plan could there be? Naturally, we make a killing using this Secret Realm."
What kind of plan was that? If they were to perform a sacrificial rite for Taotie, they had no choice but to utilize this Secret Realm. It was because his altar was located here. Only here could they easily summon Taotie's domain. As Jekyeong's expression began to sour, Myeong-ha quickly added more.
"Actually, we don't need to do anything special. The rumors about the opportunity for Core Formation must have spread quite a bit by now, and there are likely many rushing toward this place even as we speak. So, we just need to guide them well and lead them straight to the altar."
"What if Core Formation cultivators come rushing in?"
Myeong-ha wore a bitter smile as he replied, "Well... we can only hope they aren't so quick to jump at every little thing."
The opportunity for Core Formation was like a bonfire drawing in moths. Attracting over a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators was merely the beginning. With each passing day, a dozen or so Foundation Establishment cultivators entered the Secret Realm, and sometimes as many as twenty would enter all at once.
Among them were those who had heard the rumors while passing by chance, as well as those who had obtained reliable information and traveled tirelessly from afar. Fortunately, however, there were no Core Formation cultivators among them.
"It seems I was mistaken." Myeong-ha's voice echoed in the darkness. It was a voice only Jekyeong could hear.
"Is that so?" Jekyeong swept his gaze over a limp human cultivator held by the neck, confirming there were no issues. It was a tedious task, but since Myeong-ha had repeatedly emphasized that the selection of sacrifices must be precise, he had no choice but to inspect each one individually like this.
"This is Human Territory, and the only Core Formation cultivators who could rush here first would naturally be the human Golden Core cultivators. However, they are the leaders of the two great Golden Core sects, so how could they move so recklessly? Of course, the opportunity for Core Formation is precious, but in the end, they are already at the Core Formation stage. No matter how much they might desire it, they wouldn't abandon everything to come running."
Their pursuit of the opportunity for Core Formation would be to pave the way for future generations. However, sacrificing the present for the sake of posterity was utterly preposterous. Even if the risks they might face were not great, a Core Formation cultivator could not afford to take reckless gambles.