The Food God felt uneasy but remained composed due to his vast experience.

Fearlessly, he stepped out, brandished his magical artifact, and shouted, "Li Rouhua, what are you doing?! I can tell at a glance you're not human!! Hurry and surrender!"

The woman was startled, turned around quickly, and cried out, "It's you from the Relieve Worries Tower, spare my life, I'm not some evil demon."

"Then what are you doing? Smashing a child's brain and tattooing it on your body?"

The Food God loudly questioned, "I will report this to the authorities and have you, this Demon Cultivator, arrested! You'll soon be executed, and the Five-Body Realm Great Perfection Chief Constable will personally arrest you. You're doomed! I may only be in the Two-Body Realm and might not be able to defeat you, but if you attack me, I'll fight you to the death!"

The notion of being captured by a Five-Body Realm Great Perfection powerhouse clearly shook the woman.

After all, to these ordinary folks, a Five-Body Realm cultivator is already a mighty master.

Now, in this era of Celestial Spirit Roots, the number of cultivators is extremely limited, unlike the era of Postnatal Spirit Roots when cultivators were abundant.

She seemed afraid of the Five-Body Realm Perfection Chief Constable, and her eyes revealed a fierce intent, as if she might take action against the Food God to silence him.

Terrified, the Food God quickly retreated, saying, "Don't, don't come closer."

After hesitating for a moment, she seemed to collapse completely and didn't attack the Food God. Instead, she suddenly burst into tears:

"I'm truly not a bad person. Sewing the child into my stomach is a spell I heard could help bring the child to life."

"What kind of spell?" the Food God asked. "I've never heard of it. Were you deceived by some evil cult? Tell me about it, and I'll help you devise a plan."

This woman didn't attack him, turns out she's quite mild-mannered, appearing timid and quite easy to bully.

The woman hesitated and seemed to begin revealing her story.

She said she was from Yunping Village, and ever since she was young, when the master who came to check spiritual roots said she had a Lower Grade spirit root, which typically isn't accepted, she could try her luck with small sects.

However, people won't kindly send you there; you'll have to go yourself.

But the journey was frightfully long.

In the same village, there was a child with a Lower Grade spirit root named Xu You. The two plotted together, harboring dreams of making a name for themselves, and set off in a carriage with dry rations sponsored by the village to seek immortality.

All mortals have dreams of flying through the heavens and earth.

They explored their way, escaping danger from beasts several times, supporting each other, until they finally arrived in the city under the Immortal Sect, ready to undergo testing.

However, unfamiliar with life in the city, they were scammed out of money several times before finally renting a place. The landlord was of ill repute, often coveting her beauty.

They lived like this for half a month, participated in the test, and then discovered that ten years ago the sect had already stopped accepting disciples with Lower Grade spirit roots; such roots were only allowed to be loose cultivators in the cities under the sect.

"The intelligence from that old man who tests the roots is too outdated," Li Rouhua said with a bitter smile.

"No, that old man might even have done it intentionally."

The Food God speculated, "He might have been collecting fees, deceiving batch after batch of Lower Grade spirit root children to go there. They don't have to provide welfare as sect disciples, yet they can increase the loose cultivator population working under the sect in the valley."

"This..." Li Rouhua started to suspect everything.

The Food God continued, "Aren't there booklets filled with tales about the joys and freedom of immortal cultivation in every village?"

"Yes..." Li Rouhua nodded.

The Food God said, "Those booklets might have been left by the sects themselves, making all the kids in the villages full of longing and then deceiving you to go there. Once you arrive, you're no longer in control."

"How do you know so much?" Li Rouhua asked in amazement.

"Just a bit of skill at hand," the Food God replied with a casual look.

Back then, Li Rouhua and Xu You didn't become outer sect disciples and wandered finding work, often facing setbacks, trading Pill Medicine and talismans.

The immortal cultivation dreams depicted in the booklets were beautiful, but reality was harsh.

Immortal cultivation was also a small society.

When they first arrived in the city, they stayed up all night in hardship. Xu You spent three days gathering information and decided to learn talisman making. To learn this craft, he woke up early to sell paper talismans for free outside shops and hustled on the streets.

Because the shop owner said: as long as he sold a hundred, he would accept him as an apprentice.

Actually, after he started selling talismans, they discovered that the shop owner had told this to many people.

The nearby streets, like Dingtou Street and Dacheng Lane, had more than a hundred salespersons pitching paper talismans. Every time a loose cultivator passed by or returned to the city, they would pounce like hungry wolves spotting sheep.

Both of them were initially introverted and timid, but for survival, they had to harden themselves by approaching every passerby, asking, "Brother, do you want a Fireball Talisman?"

But Xu You was a clever person; he quickly mastered marketing techniques and gradually increased his sales. With seeming divine assistance, one afternoon he managed to sell seventeen talismans, and both were extremely pleased, went to a restaurant, and ordered three side dishes.

For the first time, they drank alcohol. Xu You said: We will surely become Immortal Path Great Powers, believe me.

Days gradually improved, life filled with hope. Eventually, after selling 100 talismans, they confidently sought out the shop owner, only to discover he was a scam.

Accepting apprenticeships without imparting complete skills, using the apprentice as cheap labor in his shop.

Simply jumping from one pit to another.

With continuous setbacks, they gradually adapted.

Because apart from his inadequate spiritual root, Xu You was truly a genius.

Even among the Postnatal Spirit Roots era, his talents matched those of Jian Xin!

Kind, honest, brave, pioneering, unbelievably gifted... These qualities well describe Xu You, yet with one downside: Lower Grade spirit roots.

And this flaw was most fatal.

With Lower Grade spirit roots, no one would accept him. Xu You took several years, learned talisman making on his own, and crushed the business of his crooked former boss.

Finally, in their thirties, they barely reached the Three-Body Realm, acquired a house for themselves, and life was fairly decent. Li Rouhua was pregnant.

According to immortal cultivation rules, if both parents have spiritual roots, the next generation would basically have roots too.

Xu You's ambition arose. For the child, he planned to take a risk to hunt demons.

Because in the nearby Daping Mountain Range, there was a beast tide—it represented an opportunity.

He said, "We've suffered enough hardships; our child shouldn't endure such suffering. Every aristocratic family, major sect, starts like us, accumulating foundation step by step, providing children a better future."

"I've investigated, in this world, not a single Middle Grade spirit root comes from the children of poor families."

"Even if you have the natural talent of Celestial Spirit Root, if the mother lacks nutrition during pregnancy, it can drop to the level of Middle Grade, or even Lower Grade spirit root."

"You're pregnant, I need to provide you with enough supplements."

In the era of Celestial Spirit Roots, the essence of the spirit root lies in Pseudo-human Three Flowers, passed through parents' blood.

Yet the cultivation of high-tier spirit roots requires massive energy absorption.

If energy is insufficient, the mother's provision is inadequate, leading to eventual her being drained to death!

Therefore, for the child, Xu You decided to hunt demons for money.

No demon hunter ends well.

Few survive beyond three years.

Li Rouhua tried several times to stop him, suggested abandoning the child, but Xu You insisted: we've braved through setbacks, now we live diligently and well; he wanted her and their child to live a good life.

Xu You was confident about hunting demons. Initially, he was in high spirits, even invented a special talisman—Flower Seal Talisman, which allowed tattooing demon beasts' brains on oneself, turning them into temporary divine techniques.

With this skill, Xu You shone during the beast tide, earning a lot of money.

But as the saying goes, stand by the river and one's feet will get wet eventually.

Each outing for demon hunting was a gamble.

Successful ones brought minor profits.

Failures incurred major losses.

During the eighth month of demon hunting, as the child was near due, while Li Rouhua was planting spirit plants in the courtyard for additional income, she received news:

Ultimately, Xu You died.

Though confident in hunting demons on the outskirts, he was struck by the aftermath of a battle between two Four Viscera Realm cultivators, falling to the ground amidst blood.

Li Rouhua, heavily pregnant, ran over, held his corpse, and wailed, "Why have you left? You promised to give me and the child a future."