One more catty, one more attribute point

"Gurgle, gurgle!"

The water in the gigantic blood pool began to boil, with scarlet thick smoke rising from the obese figure.

"I'm so hungry!"

Along with a series of agonized roars.

From within the dense smoke, a large hand reached out, grabbing the fresh innards stacked like a small hill on the tray.

There were over a dozen plates of innards, weighing at least a few hundred pounds.

The obese figure ceased its painful howling, but thick smoke still continuously billowed from its body, and its breathing was as heavy as that of a wild beast.

An elder, covered in fat, mustered the courage to approach, "Family Head, are you feeling any better?"

"Hoo!"

A heavy breath parted the thick fog.

The Family Head's fat and twisted face was exposed in front of the other elders — the intense pain made his expression even more fierce and hideous.

"Not enough!"

The Family Head replied and then repeated in an even more terrifying voice, "Not enough!"

"I need more, no, it's not that I need more, it's that thing inside my stomach, it needs more!"

The Family Head bellowed painfully, squinting his eyes, squeezing out murky, blood-colored tears.

"I can't eat anymore, my stomach is going to explode!"

"I'm so hungry!"

The obese figure danced wildly in the blood pool, raving madly.

The roaring resounded like a series of hand grenades exploding one after the other, causing the flames in the underground palace to flicker. The chains on the ceiling jangled incessantly, and the hanging corpses fell from the chains with dull thuds.

Watching their Family Head in this state, the remaining elders turned increasingly pale, indescribably terrorized.

"Damn it!" one of the elders cursed, "Why hasn't that bastard Luo Sandao come back yet, where is Yinshen Taisui?"

With the Parasitic Species of Yinshen Taisui,

they could temporarily suppress the powerful vitality of the Family Head, but an accident occurred, Yinshen Taisui mysteriously disappeared, and even Luo Sandao, who was in charge of this matter, could not be contacted anymore.

"Luo Sandao's soul lamp has been extinguished," another slightly younger elder cautiously replied.

The remaining elders fell silent all at once.

"Damn it!" an elder with graying hair cursed, "How did that waste die? Was he killed by Yinshen Taisui?"

"But Yinshen Taisui is gone too." Someone lamented, on the verge of tears.

"The heavens want to doom our Luo Family!" The eldest and most senior elder, with hair completely white, sighed as he looked up.

"Elder, watch out!" someone next to him shrieked.

The chief elder's face changed dramatically, and he promptly tried to retreat, but it was still a step too late.

A large hand reached out, five fat fingers clutching his body, no matter how much he struggled, it was futile.

And finally, a large mouth covered in sticky saliva and chunks of flesh.

This time, he finally quieted down. But the surrounding elders, witnessing the bloody and brutal scene before them, felt a chill in their limbs and their hearts seemed to plummet to the abyss.

The Family Head's already huge stomach was now swollen like a small hill.

The bluish-purple skin appeared as though it was an overinflated balloon.

Ready to explode at any moment!

And what was even more bone-chilling was that inside the stomach, the outline of a face with sheep's horns began to surface, becoming distinct.

The elders could even make out the insane, hateful expression on that face.

"Hee hee hee hee!"

The human face on the belly opened its gaping maw and let out a hair-raising laugh, "Three hundred years, a full three hundred years! Descendants of Luo Chengzu, you just wait! Once I'm out, I'll tear you all to pieces and consume you! Not a single one will remain!!!"

...

Elsewhere, Su Heng's figure burst forth, stealthily advancing through the darkness.

Scaling the city walls, leaving the county, crossing the Guang River, passing by fields and dense forests, he finally stopped in front of a fortified bastion.

This massive earthen fortress, built against a mountain and shaped like a half-moon, contained an extensive area complete with clusters of earthen buildings, bamboo houses, terraced fields, and a year-round source of clean water that never dried up. Even completely cut off from the outside world, this fortress could comfortably sustain a population of thousands for years.

In the ancient dynasties of bygone eras, such a fortress could have stopped an army of ten thousand.

But in the Great Zhou Dynasty, a time of demons and powerful Martial Artists,

purely in terms of military significance, such a fortress was actually not remarkable. What stood out more was its display of a noble family's unique status.

Within this fortress lay the territory of our family.

The laws that must be followed here are the family laws of our clan, not the royal laws of your dynasty.

A dynasty may last a hundred years; a noble family, a millennium.

The Great Zhou Dynasty had leveraged the strength of noble families when it was founded.

But in the subsequent years, unable to eradicate the noble families completely due to their overwhelming clout, it gradually led to the situation as it stands today.

Atop the walls of the Luo Family's earthen fortress.

Three guards, clad in black armor and carrying crossbows at their waists, were on patrol.

One hand wielded a sharp long sword, while the other held a flaming torch, illuminating the darkness around.

"Who's there!?"

The lead guardsman suddenly stopped in his tracks, lifted his head, and fiercely looked behind.

Rustle rustle!

The sound of flapping wings rose.

A grey-feathered owl had landed on a perch, cocking its head and preening its feathers.

"It's just a grey-haired mountain owl, nothing to worry about," his companion said with a laugh as he turned to glance at it.

"Stay alert!" the leader frowned, exclaiming in a cold voice.

He turned around, and within the light of the torch, a tall figure suddenly appeared, the two of them no more than half a meter apart, almost bumping headfirst into one another!

"Who are you!?" This was no minor incident.

The guardsman was terrified, his voice even slightly hoarse and distorted.

Bang!

Su Heng didn't answer.

He simply narrowed his eyes and threw a punch forward.

The head of the lead guardsman exploded on impact, blood and brain matter gushing forth, covering a range of several meters.

"Big brother!" The other two guards behind him finally reacted, shouting in alarm, dropping their torches, swinging their long swords, and viciously slashing towards Su Heng's head.

Whoosh!

"Ghost Causes Grief" was drawn from its sheath, accompanied by an arc of blood.

Blades, arms, and torsos were all sliced in half in an instant, blood spurted everywhere, and the two men died on the spot, beyond dead.

The commotion here alerted another three-man patrol squad.

These men were all elite.

Facing a sudden attack, they didn't panic.

Two of them immediately stopped, drew their crossbows, and two arrows burst towards Su Heng's chest.

The third man turned and ran towards the beacon tower, knowing that if he could Ignite the beacon, he could send out the alarm, at which point the elders would surely come forth to deal with the situation.