Chapter 227 |
Chapter 227 - The Arrival
Chen An and Mei Changliu stood side by side, silently following the Hall Master of Changchun.
Beside them, other leaders of Changchun Hall also stood nearby, admiring the scene in front of them.
Chen An looked up and then froze.
In front of them, a vast open space was filled with figures.
From the silhouettes of these people, it could be vaguely seen that they were the children who had been cultivating together before.
In the past, these children were innocent and bright, all dreaming of a beautiful future.
But now, they were all lying on the ground in this place, emitting screams of pain.
Their appearance had become very strange, their whole bodies had swollen up, looking like bloated fat people, showing a strange and deformed appearance.
In this place, they lay there, emitting cries of pain.
The scene was quite tragic for a moment.
Looking at this extremely pitiful scene in front of him, Chen An was stunned.
Calculating carefully, he had experienced a lot in his life, and his life experience added up to two or three hundred years.
In his long life, he had seen many dark things, but he had never thought that someone could do something like this.
At this moment, as he lay there screaming in pain, looking like deformed monsters, they were clearly the children from before.
"Are they refining human medicine?"
At this moment, Chen An finally realized.
Previously, Changchun Hall had been gathering children on a large scale, almost indiscriminately collecting all the children nearby, which was clearly not an act of charity.
They were not being charitable, they were clearly playing with human lives.
They let the children practice martial arts, and those with excellent aptitude were collected, while those with less aptitude were quietly cultivated into what they were now.
They made the children practice martial arts not for the purpose of cultivation, but just to make their bodies stronger so they could withstand stronger medicinal effects and not fall apart so easily.
Their true purpose was to use the bodies of these children as a foundation for cultivating a great medicine that could assist in cultivation.
The many elixirs and so-called internal energy scriptures before were mostly problematic.
These children were unknowingly practicing this internal energy, and the more they practiced, the closer they got to the scene before them.
In this way, they had refined themselves into a kind of human medicine, becoming the nourishment for the cultivation of others.
The things refined in this way were given a unique name in the material world, human medicine.
The method of refining this human medicine was not commonly used by cultivators, but it was a technique that the cultivators of the devil path loved the most.
Chen An had only heard about this in the records of Haoshan Sect before.
But he had never expected to see it now in a different world.
This was really -
"An Di, there's no need to be like this."
Apparently seeing Chen An's reaction, Mei Changliu spoke up, smiling and comforting him, "These people are just materials, the first time you see it you may find it hard to stomach, but it gets easier the more you see."
Chen An remained silent for a moment, then spoke, "But isn't this too cruel to do so?"
"Cruel?"
Mei Changliu was disdainful, saying, "These people were meant to die anyway."
"Most of them were beggars and refugees before, never getting enough to eat, even if they didn't die here, they would have starved to death somewhere else."
"Compared to that, they were well-fed and clothed here for so long, and they should give something back to us in return."
To Mei Changliu, scenes of cruelty like this were commonplace, and he didn't see anything wrong with it.
And there were clearly more people present who thought the same way.
"The Young Hall Master is right, these beggars were meant to die, we fed them for so long, it's only fair that they pay back in some way!"
"Debt must be repaid, that's only natural. These people have been freeloading from us for so long, it's only normal to expect some return now."
"Chen Xian nephew, don't think too much. This is their fate, sooner or later they are all destined to die. Dying here with us is at least a few more days of living."
In the end, someone even turned around to comfort Chen An, speaking nonsense with a straight face.
If Chen An wasn't an old man at heart, but a nine-year-old child, he might have been really fooled by them.
After a moment of silence, he finally looked up and calmly spoke, "You are right."
"I understand."
With that, a smile appeared on the faces of those around him, including Mei Changliu.
Mei Changliu patted Chen An's shoulder, showing a clear sense of closeness between them.
This was actually the intention of the Hall Master of Changchun.
After the Hall Master of Changchun accepted Chen An as his disciple, he arranged for Mei Changliu to stay with Chen An often, clearly intending for Chen An to become Mei Changliu's supporter and companion in the future.
Chen An's face remained calm as he quietly looked forward.
On the surface, he seemed to have accepted this situation and no longer felt anything about it.
But in reality, no one knew what he really thought.
"What will be the final fate of these people?"
After a while, they left, and on the way, Chen An suddenly spoke up.
"After a period of time, when the medicinal power stabilizes in their bodies, they will be harvested and disposed of together."
Mei Changliu explained to Chen An.
It turned out that this type of great medicine synthesized from children was called flesh pills by them.
The reason why Changchun Hall could spread around and have such a huge influence was that they controlled the methods and channels for refining flesh pills.
In just a few years, they would come to harvest the nearby children like this.
Situations like natural disasters and man-made disasters in recent years were the most favorable for Changchun Hall.
Because during these times, there were a large number of people selling their children, and there were also a large number of beggars, making it easy to obtain a large amount of materials.
This was the most convenient time.
If it was during normal times, they would just mobilize their faction members and purchase them through various channels.
Changchun Hall operated as a pharmacy, selling medicinal materials on the surface, but in fact, they were the largest buyers of human traffickers in the area.
They engaged in the buying and selling of people, but on the surface, they appeared charitable, and no one suspected anything until now.
Even if someone did suspect, it didn't matter.
After all, besides their abundant financial resources, Changchun Hall also had top-notch local martial strength.
For this type of gang power, ordinary people could do nothing but despair, seemingly unable to do anything.
Time passed slowly.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed.
During this time, batches of flesh pills were harvested and became the flesh pills in the mouths of Mei Changliu and others.
Changchun Hall Master and others did not take any action against these flesh pills, they were just sealed.
Until one day, the buyer of these flesh pills came in person.
She was a beautiful woman, dressed in light gauze, looking like a fairy.
She had a unique temperament that made people's eyes light up at first sight, making her seem like a perfect woman.
But at this moment, such a fairy stood in a place filled with blood and flesh, looking around with interest at the scene, listening to the cries of pain coming from afar without any emotion.
"Mei Yue, it's been a while since you came to this place."
The woman looked around and listened to the cries coming from afar, a smile on her face, "I hope this time won't disappoint me."
"It will not."
Changchun Hall Master Mei Yue smiled, then made a welcoming gesture.
The two turned and walked ahead.
The surrounding view gradually became clear.
She looked ahead and saw the scene there clearly.
On a spacious platform, many children were screaming in pain.
Mist filled the front, with a unique aura drifting everywhere.
The mist kept boiling, then slowly merged into the bodies of those children, gathering within them.
This process would last for about half an hour.
When the mist around them was completely integrated, the lives of those children would basically come to an end.
By that time, someone would step forward to open their mouths and cut open their abdomens, extracting the condensed flesh pills from their bodies.
Their task would be completed at this point.
The woman looked satisfied watching this scene, nodding from time to time, looking quite excited.
As for the bloody scene in front of her, she didn't seem to think much of it, just considering it a normal occurrence.
Perhaps for this woman, such scenes were commonplace and easy to see.
"Huh?"
After casually looking around for a while, the woman suddenly felt surprised.
She looked behind Mei Yue and saw one of the children.
He looked young, only about eight or nine years old, dressed in ordinary clothes, and didn't look particularly luxurious.
But his aura was unique, clearly young but exceptionally calm, facing such a cruel scene with an equally calm expression, showing a sense of composure.
The woman was drawn to this child's gaze, and after a moment, she couldn't help but speak, "What a handsome child."
"Is this your son, Hall Master Mei?"
"No."
Upon hearing the woman's question, Mei Yue also realized and smiled, "He is my new disciple, and also my most proud student."
"Oh?"
The woman was surprised, showing interest, "With your discerning eye, Mei Yue, you can still take on disciples. This child must be quite exceptional?"
"If he can practice well on the path of martial arts, he will surely surpass me in the future."
Mei Yue nodded and said so.
This kind of remark surprised the woman once again.
Mei Yue was not a simple person.
He was the Hall Master of Changchun, one of the strongest martial artists in the area, and his strength had already reached the stage of internal energy completion, only one step away from the Realm Transformation.
For him to say that this child would surely surpass him, wouldn't that be -
The woman looked around and was surprised to find that when Mei Yue said this, the several helmsmen who accompanied him and even his son Mei Changliu didn't say anything, and even showed signs of agreement on their faces.
Obviously, they were quite in agreement with Mei Yue's words.
(End of this chapter)