“Roar!”
A massive roar echoed as the giant alchemy furnace vibrated. In an instant, Duke's entire body of flames converged, and the demonic flame column above his head also retracted, returning to Duke's body.
"Inhale!"
Duke took a deep breath, causing his chest to swell, then exhaled slowly.
"Phew!"
A white cat, its eyes gleaming, exhaled a breath of turbid air.
As the cat took a slow step forward, Duke squatted on the floor, straightened his back, and twisted his neck.
"Finally, it's over."
"Although I already knew how to strengthen the Black Cauldron, if I have to do this every time, I can't stand it!"
"Huh?"
Thirteen approached Duke, "Cat Lord, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, and don't get so close to me," Duke pushed Thirteen away, saying, "Your eyes are almost poking into my face."
Thirteen chuckled a few times, then looked at the babies scattered on the ground.
"Uh, what about these children?"
As soon as Thirteen spoke, Duke said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it right away."
While speaking, Duke threw the bag containing the beast pouch into the Black Cauldron.
The beast pouch in the cauldron was instantly steamed into a liquid by the flames.
The liquid boiled continuously, and the flames began to compress the pouch, solidifying it into a pill.
In just a dozen breaths, the beast pouch pill flew out of the Black Cauldron and embedded into the void.
"All set."
Duke took out the beast pouch pill from the space. The pill was semi-transparent with swirling mist inside, making it hard to see clearly.
"The speed of alchemy is several times faster than before. It seems the previous hardships were not in vain."
Seeing Duke taking out the beast pouch pill, Thirteen understood Duke's meaning and eagerly brought a child closer.
Regarding this reckless behavior, Duke slapped Thirteen with his hand.
"Silly dog, don't be so reckless!"
Unexpectedly, Duke's slap sent Thirteen flying, spinning in the air before crashing to the ground.
Thirteen, with its hind legs split, kept rolling its eyes in the eye sockets.
Duke stared at his own hand, then at Thirteen, bewildered.
The next moment, he rushed towards Thirteen.
"Thirteen, are you okay?"
"Lord Cat didn't mean it; I didn't even use any strength!"
Thirteen just looked at Duke, giggling to itself, "Hehehe, so many Lord Cats!"
Still circling around, Duke is now surrounded by many Lord Cats.
What a happy situation!
Then,
Thirteen fell backward with a thud, fainting instantly.
"I didn't use any strength; why did he faint?"
Duke shook Thirteen, but at that moment, a stone pillar near the wall rumbled down.
Simultaneously, a rumbling vibration transmitted through the floor to Duke.
"Not much time left."
Duke realized that the self-destruct mechanism had been activated. Without hesitation, he grabbed the beast pouch pill and rushed towards the children.
The Beast Sac Pill gently rubbed against the baby, and in an instant, the baby was transferred into the pill. Du Ke followed the procedure, and in no time, over forty children were all collected into the Beast Sac Pill.
After completing all this, Du Ke dared not waste any more time. He gathered all the Beast Sac Pills. He grabbed thirteen of them and carried them on his shoulders, then hurriedly headed towards the corridor where the Wutong Temple Master had left.
The scent left by the Wutong Temple Master was still strong, so following his scent would definitely lead to no issues!
The upright white cat, carrying the unconscious dog, ran a distance following the scent of the Wutong Temple Master, until it came across the old Taoist's Taoist robe.
Seeing the Taoist robe discarded on the ground, Du Ke immediately widened his eyes.
"What's going on? How did the old man take off his clothes here?"
"Is he a nudist?"
"Never mind, I won't dwell on it!"
"Let's run first and talk later!"
Du Ke ran out a few steps, then abruptly turned back, picked up the Taoist robe left on the ground, and threw it into the Black Cauldron Space.
"Ah, my clumsy hands, I just can't control them!"
Du Ke slapped his own paw, swiftly leaving following the scent of the Wutong Temple Master.
If he didn't run now, it would be a scene of flooding the Wutong Temple and the cat and dog forever reigning over the Wude Mountain.
.........
Inside the Wutong Temple, in the main hall.
The night-guarding Taoist had just struck the wooden block in front of him, not even turning the pages of the scripture yet, when a crisp sound came from ahead of him.
The Taoist subconsciously looked up, his face suddenly filled with fear.
Because the statues of the Wutong Gods enshrined in the Wutong Temple's main hall cracked with a crisp sound, revealing a crack.
The crack first appeared on the statue of the Metal Passage Deity, starting from the forehead, then extending all the way down until it pierced through the statue.
The statues of the Wood Passage Deity, Water Passage Deity, Fire Passage Deity, and Earth Passage Deity also cracked one after another.
Subsequently, all five statues collapsed at the same time.
In just an instant, the dust raised by the collapsing statues filled the entire hall, choking people's eyes and making them cough incessantly, even waving their sleeves.
When the dust settled, everyone present was dumbfounded.
The statues of the Wutong Gods had actually shattered.
All of them were shattered, not a single one left.
"How did this happen?"
A Taoist exclaimed in astonishment, while another Taoist muttered unconsciously, "Could it be because there's something wrong with the Wutong Great God?"
"Don't joke around, even if you die, the Wutong Gods wouldn't disappear!"
"That's right, stop talking nonsense!"
"But the statues did collapse!"
"Maybe it's a warning sign. Let's go ask the Temple Master..."
"Yes, let's go ask the Temple Master!"
.....
While numerous Taoists were arguing incessantly, a sharp laughter suddenly echoed in the main hall.
"Hehehe...."
As soon as the laughter sounded, everyone's hearts chilled.
"Who just laughed?"
"It wasn't me, it wasn't me, I didn't laugh!"
"The statues of the Wutong Gods just collapsed. Who would still have the mood to laugh at this time!"
......
"Hehehe...."
The laughter resounded again, causing the Taoists to break out in cold sweat, and some couldn't help shivering.
"Who's laughing?! At this critical moment, dare to make such jokes, do you not want to live?"
A Taoist tried to maintain his composure and shouted loudly, "At this critical juncture, dare to make such jokes, do you not want to live?"
"We're all here, who dares to laugh!"
"Yeah!"
The other Taoists spoke up one after another, each with an indescribable fear on their faces.
"Why don't you look up at the ceiling?"
A pair of pallid arms descended from above several Taoists' heads. As they pressed down on one Taoist's shoulder, strands of black, foul-smelling hair formed into a coil, dangling down.
The Taoist whose shoulder was pressed looked up and met the gaze of a pallid face.
The face was not complete, only half remained. Beneath the pallid skin, maggots writhed.
In the instant the Taoist and the face locked eyes, the pallid face opened its half-mouth, spewing out white maggots.
In the moment the white, fleshy maggots splattered on the Taoist's face, the others' scalps tingled, and they screamed, running out of the main hall.
But before they could step out of the hall, the lights inside extinguished instantly, and countless ghostly hands emerged from the sudden darkness, engulfing them.
Creak... Bang!
The main hall door closed automatically, leaving only screams to escape through the windows.
Yet, in just a moment, everything returned to tranquility.
The night grew even darker.
...........
Wutong Temple, a certain ritual altar.
Several individuals wearing garments woven with five-colored feathers danced on the altar, shaking bells continuously, chanting incantations to communicate with the Wutong Great God, hoping to command the Wutong Spirit Generals.
Below the altar, a group of Taoists watched silently as these shamans seemed to be dancing wildly on the altar.
"Hey, these shamans have been dancing for almost an hour today, why haven't they summoned the Wutong Spirit Generals yet?"
A Taoist with a mole on his face asked the Taoist next to him. The Taoist asked by the one with the mole had a fair complexion, not a single hair of sweat, and stood with a sophisticated posture.
"Ah, how would I know about these things."
The fair Taoist glared angrily at the Taoist with the mole. The Taoist with the mole touched the black hair growing on his mole and muttered to himself, "In the past, it only took a stick of incense to summon the Wutong Spirit Generals, but today it's taking so long, it's really strange!"
"Perhaps the Wutong Spirit Generals are gathering for a drink today and don't have time to deal with us!"
The fair Taoist raised his hand, admiring his neatly trimmed nails, showing no concern.
"Heh, speaking nicely, they are the Wutong Spirit Generals, speaking bluntly, they are just a group of lost souls and wild ghosts forcibly detained by the Wutong Great God."
"A group of ghosts drinking what kind of wine!"
The Taoist with the mole rolled his eyes. It was also at this moment that the jarring sound of bells on the altar stopped.
All the shamans stood motionless on the altar as if they were statues.
"Why did they all stop?"
The Wutong Temple steward in charge of supervising this matter also frowned and asked, "They haven't summoned the Wutong Spirit Generals yet, why did they all stop?"
"This is the task assigned by the supervisor, if you don't want to live, just say so, don't delay the supervisor's time."
"Hehehe..."
A shaman who had turned his back to the steward suddenly chuckled a few times. He had just laughed when the steward roared, "What are you laughing at, don't want to live anymore?"
“You're the one who doesn't want to live!”
The mocking laughter of the spirit priests echoed, and their heads turned sharply towards the steward.
As the spirit priest's head turned, bloodshot eyes widened, even to the point of unintentionally tearing at the corners.
“The Wutong God is dead…” Another spirit priest's neck twisted with a crack as he laughed sharply at the Taoist priests below the altar.
“No one can restrain us now!”
“Yes, yes, the Wutong God is dead, miserably dead. Body and spirit annihilated, even the remaining essence has been taken away by someone.”
“We are free now.”
...
The spirit priests on the altar spoke one after another, and the Taoist priests below felt a chill down their spines witnessing the scene.
“What nonsense are you talking about? How could the Wutong Great God possibly be dead?”
“Speaking ill of the revered one is a capital offense, do you know that?”
The steward roared, spitting out flecks of saliva.
But the stewards on the altar just smiled, and a spirit priest stuck out his tongue, licking his nose.
“He's afraid!”
“Yes, he's afraid!”
“They're all afraid!”
“Yi xi xi xi xi...”
“They're afraid of us, so can't we…”
All the spirit priests suddenly opened their mouths, lips cracked, flesh on their cheeks tearing open, leaving tendons hanging like broken threads.
“Feast time!”
All the spirit priests opened their mouths simultaneously, their voices flat but carrying a sinister taste.
The next moment,
The altar shattered, revealing skulls inside. Each eye socket of the skulls lit up, and murky ghostly energy pervaded the void as the skulls floated away.
“Everyone!”
The spirit priest who had twisted his head backward earlier slowly turned his body back without moving his head.
But because of the forceful neck twist earlier, his neck's skin tore, and the neck bone broke, so his head hung on his shoulder, staring ominously at all the Taoist priests.
“Tonight is the time for revenge!”
As this statement was made, the upper and lower jawbones of all the skulls collided continuously, creating sharp sounds.
“Wear their skin, drink their blood, eat their flesh, pull their tendons, cook their bones, hollow out their hearts and livers, scoop out their brain pulp and eat it!”
At the same moment, all the altars in the Wutong Temple consecutively shattered. Skulls rolled out, floating in the air, chanting the same sentence.
“This is what you owe us!”
“You owe us!”
“Owe us!!!”