It had taken me a while to discover the source of the enticing aroma of herby grilled meat. Along the way I was accosted by two more cute women who pulled me in to dance with them.

I didn't mind much. I was in a jovial mood. A little dancing was good for the soul. It reminded me of the time I spent with… that woman. What was her name?

It all seemed like a distant dream. Another world? I was a different man. How strange the mind could be.

Forgetting those flights of fancy, I greeted the burly fellow grilling the meat skewers with a smile. "Good man, that meat of yours smells delicious. How much for five skewers?" I asked.

"Five!? Young man, your appetite is truly astounding. I warn you, these skewers of mine are no ordinary delicacy. They are made from the flesh of an awakened beast!" he declared with a proud expression.

Awakened beast skewers? This Dancing Lights City was indulgent indeed! I had tasted the meat of a spiritual beast in the past but this would be a new experience. I was hungry, so why not.

"Uncle, don't worry about me. I'm a sturdy fellow, so give me those five skewers. What's the price?" I chuckled boisterously.

"Young man, since you're so enthusiastic about trying these skewers of mine, then don't worry about the price. Take them. All I ask is that you enjoy them to the max! If you waste a single bite then I won't forgive you, even in death," the middle aged fellow sternly warned me, passing me the skewers.

I took them and devoured the first one in a few bites. The meat was heavenly. The instant I bit down the rich juices of the meat flowed into my mouth and filled me with warmth.

I even felt my dantian stirring. The flesh of an awakened beast was truly a delicacy. Within ten seconds I had finished all five skewers.

Looking up I saw that uncle was staring at me with wide eyes. His jaw was slack and hanging open, but after a moment he suddenly slapped my shoulder and began to cackle like a madman.

"You- Youngsters are truly formidable. What an appetite! Here, have a few more. I wonder if there's a limit to your gluttony, kid," he roared with laughter as he handed me some more.

The herbal rub on that meat was heavenly and I couldn't resist his offer. We were only planning to stay here for one night before moving on, but I was reconsidering my stance. What was the harm in adding a day or two to our trip to explore this delightful place?

We had a week until the opening of the Blossoming Heavens and it wouldn't even take that long to get there if we travelled quickly. I would have to ask Wang Ren.

"Oh, he went off without me. I suppose I should find him, it has been a while," I said, looking up into the sky and seeing the moon was shining brightly.

"Uncle, thanks for the food. I'll definitely come back for more!" I called out as I rushed off.

"Haha! No problem at all. I'll make sure to prepare a dozen more for you, greedy kid," he retorted.

What I failed to notice, distracted by my desire to find my Senior Brother, was that the moment I left the middle aged man's eyesight his amicable face twisted into a hideous expression.

"You think it is so easy to escape this third brother's district? As if I would let this rare opportunity fall into the clutches of one of my siblings. It's all well and good for mother, she can survive for centuries without needing to progress, but how many of us have died since the travellers decided to start avoiding our Dancing Lights City? Let's see how far you can run now that you've ingested my Bewildering Wisp Poison," he chortled, two extra pairs of eyes snapping open on his cheeks.

****

I wandered through the streets with a full belly and a smile on my face. That old kebab seller had been rather friendly and his meat skewers were a true delicacy. I glanced up into the sky.

Seeing the stars was rather annoying with the blinding lights that covered the streets, but given my realm of cultivation they weren't a true obstacle. It was quite late at night. I should probably find a place to sleep.

I felt as though I'd made arrangements when I arrived in the city, but that wasn't quite right. I'd come alone, met that friendly guard and then decided to dance and make merry with the locals.

On my way to look for an inn or find that guard who'd led me here, I ran into a musician in the streets. He was playing a mesmerising tune on a strange flute-like instrument.

For a while I stopped there and admired his expert song, but eventually he stopped and gave a zealous bow. All the spectators erupted into applause and plenty of them tossed a few silver or copper coins into the hat he held out.

My heart was at peace, his tune having truly relaxed me from all the chaos that had filled my life, so I took out a gold coin. With a flick of my thumb, it curled through the air and landed into the hat.

The musician's eyes opened wide and he revealed a wry smile. "Lord, thank you for your generosity! This humble bard doesn't deserve it," he exclaimed, but pocketed the coin immediately with a few glances around.

I didn't bother with his antics and turned back to the street. I really should find an inn. While walking down the street in search of a place to sleep, I started to sway from side to side.

Suddenly I felt as though my head was heavier than a thousand tons of steel and my vision grew blurry. I grunted and forced myself to focus, but it was impossible to push aside those feelings.

I grew dizzier and stumbled forwards. I caught myself before I fell onto the ground. What the hell was going on?

At that moment I felt a suction in my stomach that rapidly grew in intensity. The heaviness and nausea that plagued me were drained away by that force and within a few moments I was no longer dizzy.

I stood up. That… My refined stomach had acted up on its own to devour something inside my body. Why? All I'd done here was eat a few meat skewers.

Throwing my focus inwards to see what was inside my stomach I was shocked. There were three strands of sinister purple energy so dark that they were almost black!

The feeling that those strands of energy gave off reminded me of the strange soul controlling worms that the Gao Clan had used. However, it was different as these strands clearly possessed no intelligence after being refined by my stomach.

What was more important was that this clearly meant I'd been poisoned! Was it that meat skewer seller? He had seemed so friendly at the time.

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Additionally there was no motive for him to poison me. We had only met when I wandered over to his stall and asked to buy his grilled meat.

Confused, I withdrew my attention from my body and turned it back to my surroundings. My eyes shot wide open in surprise and I had to control my reactions so as not to stagger backwards.

What the hell was this!?

The vibrant atmosphere of that Dancing Lights City of a moment earlier had vanished. All that surrounded me was rot, dust, and decay.

Those elegant, traditional buildings? Dilapidated and decrepit!

The bright lanterns and torches which lit up the night? Spiderwebs and mould covered their torn exteriors, the lights extinguished!

That paled in comparison to the true horror that awaited me. Every single one of those cheerful, happy people who had been laughing, dancing, and making merry with one another? They were nothing more than rotting corpses walking the streets!

Undead? I felt as if I had woken up from a delightful dream only to find I was then stuck inside a terrible nightmare. That entertaining musician who I'd tossed a gold coin to was actually just a skeleton.

An eerie tune began to play as the wind rattled through his bones and I felt a shiver running down my spine. What the hell was this?

Had the poison caused me to see this awful scene or was this the truth of Dancing Lights City. Was that jubilant, bright facade just that? A lie?

As my gaze pivoted around I noticed there was only a single person who wasn't actually a walking corpse. My eyes widened to the size of saucers and then I clenched my teeth.

That damn skewer seller! He spotted me looking in his direction and started momentarily, before a wide grin appeared on his face.

However, that grin was horrifying. Rather than a set of human teeth, he opened his mouth to reveal fangs that dripped with venom and lips that split apart to the sides of his face.

Two extra pairs of eyes opened on the side of his face, glowing red orbs that gave me a feeling of bloodlust. What kind of creature was this? Human or beast?

The man slowly walked over to me and I noticed his movements were strange. Rather than a steady gait his limbs seemed to rise and fall in jerking, erratic motions.

I had many questions in my mind, but one was most pressing; what the hell had happened to Wang Ren!? That guard had somehow separated us within moments of entering the city and we complied without complaint.

The only explanation was that we'd somehow been bewitched without noticing. It must have happened the moment we entered the city.

However, these bastards didn't know I had the Fivefold Medicine Forge Physique. That had allowed me to break free of the poison which was affecting me and see the truth of this place.

Was it the entire city or just this one small district? Was this weird creature the boss of the city or were there more like him? There was only one way to find out.

"What the hell is going on here?" I demanded as he arrived in front of me, staring down his nose at me as if I were trash.

"You aren't qualified to know," he snorted. "All you need to know is that you will be providing me, Zhu Yan, with some entertainment!"

As he said that the man waved his arms like an orchestral conductor and dozens of silky webs burst forth from his fingertips. They coated the streets all around.

All paths of escape had been cut off in a single moment. I clenched my knuckles. Goddamnit.

Every single time I went wandering around I had to encounter some kind of ridiculous trouble like this. Could I not get into normal incidents like meeting bandits on the road as other people would?

Instead I had to wander into some kind of cursed city with weird six-eyed people ruling over it. Sighing, I stared up at the man as he began to cackle like a supervillain.

"Now that this area has been blocked off by my Ironsilk webs, there is no escape for you. Even an eight-star Qi Gathering cultivator would be powerless to cut through them!" he proclaimed loudly. "I don't know how you are able to resist the Bewildering Mists Poison, but it doesn't matter. Today you die!"

With that he lunged forward, striking towards my chest with his hands. As he moved, I felt a ripple of qi in the air and an object appeared in his hands.

That object was a talisman with an unfamiliar character painted on it, which he instantly exploded. Dark black hairs sprouted across his body in an instant.

I was left dumbfounded. What kind of ridiculous talisman was that? Making himself hairier was supposed to be an attack?

Even so, I still had to deal with the immediate threat. I gathered my qi in my fists and raised my hands to block.

There wasn't much strength behind the blow. In fact, a quick inspection revealed my opponent to be just a four-star cultivator.

I easily parried his first strike. Before the second could land I was already on the move. I planted a palm against his chest and smashed his body away.

He grunted in pain. As he flew past his other hand brushed against my cheek, but I thought nothing of it.

The creature slammed into his grilled skewer cart, smashing it into smithereens as he landed. With a roar he stood back up and glared at me.

"Hmph. It seems you aren't weak. Good! It would be no fun if our first visitors in dozens of years died instantly," he chuckled, wiping some blood from his chin.

I felt a gentle tingling sensation in my hand and cheek. I started and glared down at the back of my hand, realising that it was covered in red, itchy hives.

Looking back at my opponent I smirked. What an unfortunate soul… Against anyone else his insidious poisons and strange techniques might bring about a slow and painful death, but against me he could only despair as I put him down.

Even while I returned his gaze, I felt my refined stomach stirring, drawing in the strange qi left behind by those black hairs. As it was pulled into my stomach, it was refined into a thin strand of black qi, joining those three purple strands.

The creature rushed at me once more, clearly not caring about his own safety. It made sense. He didn't actually need to deal damage with his strikes, only have me touch those hairs on his skin. Or so he thought.

I wondered what the effect of the new energies my stomach was creating would be. The man lunged forwards and unleashed a dazzling flurry of blows that would make a mortal dizzy. Or dead.

To me however, dodging them was a simple affair. However, I wanted him to think he had the upper hand so I allowed quite a few of his strikes to brush against me as I blocked and parried.

I delivered a few weaker strikes to his body. In the middle of my counterattack I slipped one of the strands of purple qi through my fist and into his body. I believed it would be some sort of poisonous qi as it had been refined from what he called 'Bewildering Mists Poison'.

Having delivered my true attack, I suddenly roared and ducked under his kick. Then I smashed a palm against his gut that sent him flying once more.

He crashed through three nearby stalls, showering the nearby undead with splinters. He coughed blood and struggled to get to his feet. Perhaps I'd hit him a little hard.

I wasn't sure what to do with this creature. He said he only wanted me to entertain him, but he'd clearly worked to poison and enchant me. He'd also told me to die during his initial outburst. Would I need to keep killing in order to preserve my own life?

I didn't like it, but I wouldn't sit by and let whoever wandered past and decided to reap my life take it without complaint. Those were the actions of a fool. Dying a second time didn't really scare me, but dying meaninglessly would be depressing.

By now my opponent had returned to his feet and was staring hatefully at me. However, there was a grin on his face. Realising what he was thinking, I decided to play up.

Swaying slightly from side to side, I stumbled forwards while maintaining my combat stance. It had an immediate effect.

The creature rushed forward and unleashed another barrage of strikes. This time it drew a weapon, a short dagger resembling a fang. I suspected that weapon was coated with even more poison, but I didn't mind.

I inspected the creature's internal situation as we fought, seeing how the strand of purple qi I'd sent inside was behaving. At first it lazily flowed through his body, not seeming to do anything.

Frowning, I was disappointed at how useless it was. At the end of the day it didn't matter. I wasn't relying on it to win the battle.

My stomach continued to refine away any poisons that he inflicted on me. Actually I noticed that my liver was starting to draw some of the free medicinal energy towards it, beginning the process of refining my fourth organ!

I continued to exchange blows, but I was growing bored. Now that I had seen the purple qi was still refusing to act, I decided it was time to end things on my own.

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