CHAPTER 250: CHAPTER250-WORMS IN THE CORPSE

National Preceptor Blois glanced up at Dominic, who was seated opposite him, and lifted a cup made of ice-crack patterned jade from the table, sipping it gently.

He then praised, "Excellent wine, truly excellent. This wine even surpasses those I’ve had in the palace by quite a margin!"

Hearing National Preceptor Blois commend the rice wine he had brewed, Dominic couldn’t help but beam with pride.

"I wasn’t just boasting to you!" he exclaimed.

"My wine really is better than what’s available in the palace. Why, just these past few days, my daughter Alison, who resides in the palace, had some of the palace’s tribute wine sent over to me. After having a few sips, I realized it couldn’t hold a candle to mine!"

"Blois, my brother, feel free to drink as much as you like. I have plenty!" Dominic added, his face flushed with alcohol and a drunken aura about him.

Blois, looking at Dominic, whose face was beet-red and reeking of alcohol, cursed silently to himself: If it weren’t for your beautiful daughter, I wouldn’t bother wasting my time here with a drunkard like you.

Noticing Blois’s reluctance to drink his homemade rice wine, Dominic felt slightly offended and asked, "Why aren’t you drinking, brother? Is my wine beneath you? Let me tell you, Blois, my son-in-law is going to become the heir apparent in just three days. And once the current king passes away, he will be... shh... I shouldn’t say more. You know, speaking such things could be considered a capital offense, hehe."

He finished his rant with a hiccup.

Blois, disgusted, waved away the stench of alcohol with his hand and loudly called out, "Someone, bring in the gifts I’ve brought for Lord Dominic."

Several attendants came forward, carrying chests of gold and silver and several large jars of century-old wine.

Dominic, already drunk, caught the scent of the century-old wine brought by the attendants and suddenly perked up, as if sobered by the aroma.

He hurriedly went over, dipped his little finger into one of the jars, then took a sip with his mouth, and said blissfully, "What excellent wine, truly excellent!"

"If Lord Dominic likes it, then nothing could be better. I myself am not much of a drinker, so if you enjoy it, please take it. It saves me the trouble of dealing with it."

Dominic, incredulous, asked, "Are you serious?"

A mocking smile appeared on Blois’s face, "Indeed, I hope Lord Dominic will kindly accept."

"Ha-ha-ha, then I won’t be polite."

Blois bowed, "Then, I shall not disturb Lord Dominic any further today."

Dominic, without lifting his head, responded, "Hmm, safe travels, no need to see me out."

Blois, observing Dominic lost in the ecstasy of the century-old brew, deepened his smile.

...

On White Tiger Mountain, ten miles from the capital, within a secluded cave.

National Preceptor Blois, dressed in a ceremonial robe made of black crow feathers, was carefully drawing sacrificial symbols with fresh red blood on a millennium-old crystal coffin.

With a solemn expression, Blois knew that this blood sacrifice, unlike the previous one conducted in his basement, couldn’t rely on the Demon Entrapment Array carved into the basement walls to withstand backlash from the crystal coffin.

Should backlash occur again, he would undoubtedly perish.

As the preliminary work for the blood sacrifice neared completion, Blois shouted towards the cave entrance, "Bring in the remaining boys and girls."

Hearing his uncle’s voice, the second prince, with a twisted expression of excitement, waved his hands, "Quick, bring those children in here."

Nearly a hundred cultists in black cloaks escorted a thousand gagged and bound children into the cave.

Entering the cave, the cultists felt a bone-chilling cold, causing them to shiver uncontrollably.

Blois glanced at the children brought in, then turned to sit cross-legged, continuously murmuring spells.

The lid of the crystal coffin began to tremble as if something within yearned to break free.

Shortly after, with a "bang," the millennium crystal coffin’s lid spun into the air, crashing against the cave’s ceiling where it embedded itself into the rock, indicating the force of the impact.

As the lid took flight, beads of sweat the size of peas rolled down Blois’s face.

He closed his eyes and continued chanting.

The lidless coffin revealed a millennium corpse, whose beauty captivated all who saw her.

Even in death, she stirred a primal urge in onlookers to possess her allure.

As time trickled by, the ancient corpse opened her long-sealed eyes.

A pair of blood-red, vacant eyes broke the spell of her beauty, instilling fear instead of allure.

Apart from Blois, who remained seated and closed-eyed, unaffected by the corpse’s beauty, everyone, including the children, fell into a state of terror after their initial enchantment.

The cultists, wanting to flee but finding themselves unable to move as if their feet were bound to the ground, stood foolishly, awaiting whatever might happen next.

The millennium corpse, now standing upright in the coffin and surveying the crowd, bore an emotionless yet captivating face.

Suddenly, her lovely visage twisted horribly, as if something was about to burst forth from within her body.

A wave of fear swept through the onlookers.

The millennium corpse began bleeding from all seven orifices, her beautiful visage aging rapidly, transforming into a shriveled body in moments, leaving no trace of the captivating beauty that once was.

Eventually, the withered corpse could no longer support its own weight and collapsed into the crystal coffin.

The onlookers initially felt a sense of relief, as if they had narrowly escaped death, but this feeling soon gave way to a sense of loss for the beautiful woman who had vanished before their eyes.

Just when everyone thought they had escaped mortal danger, a nearly invisible, transparent worm, half a foot long and legless, slowly emerged from the crystal coffin.

It was difficult to spot without careful observation.

A sense of impending doom filled the cave once more, with people unsure of where the danger was coming from, only instinctively bracing for potential threats.

Initially, the transparent corpse worm moved slowly, but its speed increased whenever it encountered sacrificial text written in blood, which it consumed completely.

With its senses, the transparent corpse worm surveyed its surroundings, excitedly discovering a group of delicious food - the children.

With a surge, it leapt forward, landing on the face of a boy with his mouth and hands bound, and crawled into his nostrils.

At this moment, everyone noticed the insect, an unknown entity that had transformed.

They watched as it crawled into a boy’s nostrils, and shortly after, the boy began to convulse in agony.

The blood within the boy’s body seemed to be drawn towards one location, perhaps due to the rapid flow of blood, causing it to seep from his pores as if his veins were about to burst.

Soon, the boy’s delicate skin began to wither, just like the millennium corpse, and in no time, what was once a living being turned into a mummified corpse.

Witnessing the boy’s gruesome death, everyone wanted to flee this hell on earth, but their legs failed to obey their commands.

Some cultists desperately hit their legs, hoping to restore sensation, but it was in vain.

After greedily consuming the boy’s blood, the corpse worm moved on to its next victim, leaving behind a trail of shriveled bodies.

With each child’s death, the cultists prayed that the terrifying worm had finally been sated.

However, each time, their hopes were dashed.

The seemingly insatiable corpse worm, small as it was, appeared to be an abyss that could never be filled.

The deaths of thousands of children did not satiate the resurrected corpse worm, which by now had turned half blood-red, yet it continued its hunt for more.

With no more tender children left, it turned its voracious appetite towards the cultists.

In a short span, nearly a hundred cultists met the same fate as the children, turning into desiccated corpses.

After consuming the blood of these cultists, the corpse worm’s body turned a vivid red, and its movements began to slow.

It laboriously crawled towards the last living prey in the cave, Blois, who had remained seated in meditation from the beginning.

Feeling the corpse worm’s slow crawl on his body, Blois couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.

"Hopefully, it’s full by now," he prayed anxiously in his heart.

Struggling to open his eyes, Blois fixed his gaze on the corpse worm on his chest.

Its body was red, and it moved sluggishly, seemingly sated, bringing him immense relief.

Steadying his mind, Blois executed a series of hand seals with his right hand, causing the corpse worm to halt its crawl abruptly.

Seizing the opportunity, Blois quickly grabbed a box prepared earlier with his left hand and forcefully trapped the red little corpse worm inside.

The motion was fluid and precise, a clean and beautiful act.

Seeing his efforts come to fruition, joy overwhelmed him.

"Ha-ha, I’ve finally succeeded, finally succeeded."