Twilight Boundary-Chapter 409 - 405: Consumed Flesh

"That Yin General! Even though it hadn’t fully formed, its emergence was still something else! With a single breath, how much of our mine’s Tai Sui Essence Qi did it drain away?" one of the miners exclaimed.

The withering of the surrounding veins had occurred just as the blood-red figure burst out of the cave. At the time, people were in a panic, and since the withering wasn’t severe, no one had noticed.

However, Calculation was deeply distressed upon seeing it. His expression even seemed somewhat tragic as he slapped his thigh and cursed, "It’s all because of that bastard Zhuang Erchang, trying to cut corners! Instead, he caused us to suffer a huge loss..."

"We didn’t secure anything good from the veins, and even the Tai Sui Blood and Flesh were drained of their essence. How much good stuff can we possibly cut next year?"

"We finally got this mine. If things go on like this, won’t we lose everything at once?"

...

Can it be explained this way?

Hu Ma felt a slight twinge in his heart, then a wave of delight washed over him. Yes, that’s exactly how it should be explained...

He had been concealing a matter in his heart, but now an idea suddenly struck him. He hastily said, "That thing, when it emerged... it seemed like it could absorb human blood from a distance. Did it really suck away the Tai Sui Blood and Flesh too?"

"Quick, quick, go check on those things we left in our rooms earlier..."

...

"Oh no..."

His words reminded Calculation, who hurriedly darted toward the wooden house. Hu Ma led the charge, rushing into his room. He grabbed the jars that had been lined up in front of his bed, moved them onto the bed, and then quickly pulled off the lids.

He was fast, and his hands moved even faster. No one else could clearly see that these jars had always been placed before his bed, their lids already loosened.

He hurriedly glanced inside and was immediately stunned. "How did the Blood Tai Sui turn into White Tai Sui? Can this stuff transform too?"

By now, the others had followed him in, all craning their necks to peer into his jars. They saw that the jars, initially filled with Blood Food, now contained flesh that was deathly pale, like wood.

The bloody aura within seemed to have vanished completely, leaving only what looked like dead meat.

"It’s not White Tai Sui..." Calculation said weakly. "It’s residue from offerings made to ghostly gods. I once used Blood Food to make an offering to our ancestral master. Naturally, my ancestral master couldn’t personally descend to enjoy it; he merely took a breath. But anything he breathed upon would turn into this state..."

"Sigh, the Tai Sui Blood and Flesh outside had all its essence absorbed. How could the Blood Tai Sui we’d already cut possibly escape?"

"These Tai Sui were sealed with only the most basic talismans. That Yin General could draw out the Divine Souls of living people to serve as ghost soldiers. Breaching these talismans with a single breath? That wouldn’t be hard for it at all, would it?"

...

Hu Ma showed a look of surprise. "Don’t tell me all the Tai Sui Blood and Flesh in this mine has been drained dry?"

With an expression of disbelief, he quickly instructed Zhou Datong and the others to bring out the jars from his room. They also found the jars Zhuang Erchang had hidden in his room earlier and gathered them all to be opened in front of everyone.

To their horror, these jars were just like the two in Calculation’s hands; the flesh within had long since dried up. The Meat Cutting Craftsmen in the valley, noticing something was amiss, cried out as they too saw that everything had withered.

The appearance resembled the Tai Sui Blood and Flesh at the mouths of the veins, but these portions that had already been harvested were clearly in a worse state; their life force was completely exhausted.

As they opened one jar after another, everyone’s expressions grew increasingly panicked. It wasn’t just the Blood Tai Sui and Golden Silk Tai Sui; even some Green Tai Sui, White Tai Sui, and some Black Tai Sui that usually no one paid much attention to were showing signs of withering.

Countless veteran miners on this site, some with over five years of experience cutting Tai Sui, had inherited knowledge passed down through generations, yet none had ever heard of such a situation.

In earlier years, there had been incidents where some clueless little ghosts had broken into the mine and stolen Blood Tai Sui. The Blood Tai Sui eaten by those little ghosts would then wither in a similar fashion.

But now, the entire valley was like this. It looked as if some Great Evil Spirit had treated the entire blood food mine as a sacrificial offering and thoroughly enjoyed it. The mere thought was terrifying enough.

Throughout the entire process, they had all been in a state of chaos, unable to react. Looking back now, it could only have been that incredibly sinister Yin General.

"It’s all because of that damned Zhuang Erchang, acting so clever by sealing a living person inside the blood food mine!" someone cursed. "Never mind the presence of this evil aura; even without it, how could the person inside have been alright?"

"Great, just great! We’ve lost everything! Everyone’s lost everything!"

Seeing Calculation cursing in despair, jumping about and wringing his hands, Hu Ma finally felt a sense of relief. He silently retreated to the back of the crowd, avoiding any connection to the unfolding events.

In fact, even before this vein was opened, he had already vaguely guessed that the mystical object everyone hoped for might be gone.

Or rather, he had already taken it himself...

Before this vein was opened, he’d vaguely sensed that what his Divine Soul had devoured upon Entering the Mansion wasn’t just the aura of some Black Tai Sui.

At that time, his Divine Soul had directly consumed the Black Tai Sui. The Black Tai Sui was connected to the mountain range; it had never been harvested and had always been linked to this vein—or rather, to the entire meat mountain—as one whole.

So, what he had ’enjoyed’ from this Black Tai Sui—was it not equivalent to ’enjoying’ it from the meat mountain itself?

The anomaly within his Lifebound Spirit Temple that had suddenly flooded his mind, and the information that seemed to be hidden somewhere—did it also originate directly from this meat mountain?

It was precisely because he held these doubts and speculations that he had been so eager to open the vein and see what was inside.

And what he saw indeed confirmed his suspicions.

The contents of this vein hadn’t been able to take form. Calculation theorized it was because there hadn’t been enough time, but that wasn’t the real reason. The truth was, some mysterious essence qi within the vein had already been absorbed by him...

And that General Order, or whatever it was he’d been fixated on—was it highly probable that, along with his consumption of the Black Tai Sui, it had already been obtained by him, or rather, by his Divine Soul, beforehand?

This feeling was truly strange. It seemed he had taken the items himself, yet somehow, he knew nothing about it?

...So, was he here to verify if he’d stolen these things himself?

The more he pondered these questions, the more inexplicably eerie it all felt. The terrified expression on the Yin General’s face when it had looked at him, and the incomprehensible words that had inexplicably come from his own mouth... all of it left a disquieting feeling in his heart...

However, despite the strangeness of it all, Hu Ma didn’t plan to reveal anything. Matters like these were too significant; if word got out, who knew how much trouble it would attract.

And if the contents of this vein were truly so astonishing, there would undoubtedly be trouble later. He was already worrying about how to explain it all. Now, the Yin General’s bizarre escape offered the perfect scapegoat.

Feeling a bit anxious, he wanted to revisit the Lifebound Spirit Temple to have a thorough look. However, seeing the chaotic scene before him, he realized he first needed to calm everyone. Following Calculation’s complaints, he sighed and said, "Sigh, we’ve only just arrived at the mine, and so much trouble has already arisen..."

"Who could have foreseen such an incident?"

"If we really could have extracted something valuable and contributed it to the higher-ups, it would have counted as a merit. But now..."

"All this effort, and we only dug up a stone weight, with a monster springing out of it that even escaped. How are we going to explain this to the Lady?"

...

"What else is there to explain?" Calculation, hearing this, shifted his focus slightly and sighed deeply. "This happened as soon as we arrived. Protecting the blood food mine for our Lady from the clutches of those demon people from the One Coin Sect and the ill-intentioned Witches is already a great achievement in itself."

"We never intended to keep the contents of this vein for ourselves; it was meant for the sect. But the heavens are unpredictable, and things went wrong. Who can be blamed for that?"

"We were frightened ourselves! And now we have to guard against any Witches coming for revenge, dispatch more men to hunt down the Yin General and those other evil objects, and still support all the brothers here at the mine..."

"Actually, this is a good opportunity to write to the higher-ups and request some additional funds and provisions..."

...

"?"

Hu Ma hadn’t thought that far ahead. He looked at Calculation with newfound respect and said, "But I’m young, I’m not very good at phrasing such things..."

"I’ll handle it." Calculation waved his hand dismissively. "I came to the mine precisely to deal with these kinds of matters."

"Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing."

"It’s just such a pity. The Yin General that was pinned under that stone weight... if there hadn’t been an accident, it would have been a strange treasure. We all could have made a fortune, but now..."

...

The more he thought about it, the angrier Calculation became. He couldn’t help but slap his thigh hard again. "It’s all because of that damned Zhuang Erchang! No, this matter has to be reported to the sect! We have to make that Zhuang compensate us for this loss!"

"This old man hasn’t gotten into a fight in decades, but if I find that brat now, just see if I don’t cut off his balls!"

...

He sighed regretfully. "Ah, forget it. For a Shousui man, even if you cut them off, it’s useless..."

Then, looking at the crowd, he raised his voice and said encouragingly, "Besides, wasn’t our original goal simply to take over this blood food mine smoothly?"

"And now, haven’t we successfully done just that?"

"If the heavens are willing to bestow such unexpected windfalls upon us, we should gratefully accept them. If not, then there’s no need to be greedy. As long as we hold onto this blood food mine, we won’t have to worry about our brothers’ food, clothing, and expenses, right?"

...

Hearing his magnanimous words, Zhou Datong and the others couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

Even Calculation glanced at Hu Ma with some surprise. Calculation himself was devastated by the losses to the mine, yet this Shopkeeper Hu had also lost several jars that were practically in his hands. How could he be so composed?

To remain unfazed by the gain or loss of great wealth, and to maintain such composure when faced with bizarre events—he truly has the bearing of a superior!

Only when Hu Ma was walking away did he suddenly see Little Hongtang tilting her head, watching him. His heart lurched with panic. He quickly picked her up and, sighing softly, headed towards his room.

Only Little Hongtang knew that he had ’enjoyed’ all the Blood Food! He couldn’t possibly let her reveal it!

Otherwise, he’d never be able to show his face again...