Chapter Forty-Four: The Calm After the Lavish Feast

This commotion lasted for a full two days before the sect leader personally issued a strict order to suppress it, finally restoring some semblance of normalcy. Yet, for days on end, whenever anyone caught sight of Fatty Gu, they could not help but gaze with envy, sigh in admiration, and engage in endless discussion.

At this moment, the busiest places in the sect were the Artifact Hall, the Alchemy Pavilion, and the Herb Chamber. Countless corpses of mystical beasts and fierce birds—whether pelts, tough armor, fiery blood, sturdy fangs, or sharp claws—piled up at their doors. There were also innumerable beast cores, spirit herbs, and mystical grasses gathered in abundance.

It was foreseeable that, thanks to the bounty brought back from this secret realm, the equipment available to the sect’s disciples would surpass that of previous years by several times. Many disciples had, after this expedition, emptied their accumulated contribution points, hard-earned over years within the sect.

Fatty Gu’s treasured artifact, the Rhino Horn, was nearly destroyed, and he seemed particularly fond of it. Thus, the spirited sect leader personally instructed the head of the Artifact Hall to use the gigantic stinger from a Golden Core realm Sand Scorpion, combined with two Golden Core realm Rhino Horns specially hunted and brought back by Old Gu himself, to forge a brand-new, sturdier, and more powerful Flaming Rhino Horn artifact for Fatty Gu.

A lavish amount of contribution points was bestowed upon him without question.

A week later, all seven peaks of the sect were filled with the savory aroma of meat. Tons upon tons of fierce bird and mystical beast meat, along with vast quantities of low-grade spirit herbs and grasses that could not be stored for long, were gathered together to commence a rare and grand feast in the Ethereal Sect.

Though the cultivators could long ago survive without food, the energy-laden medicinal meats were too tempting to resist. It was reported that countless disciples broke through to a new cultivation stage after the feast, while many others, having overeaten and absorbed excess energy, had to be sent to the Herb Chamber and Alchemy Pavilion for treatment.

The Wind God Continent was home to countless mystical beasts. What the Ethereal Sect did today would be impossible outside the sect. If any sect dared to slaughter mystical beast tribes on the periphery of the mystical beast forest and directly consume their flesh for cultivation, it would surely provoke the wrath of the forest’s lord. The beasts would rise up, and a beast tide would inevitably retaliate.

Lately, Fatty Gu, in high spirits, played with his new treasured artifact as he made his way toward the Alchemy Pavilion on the main peak.

“Go, go, go, find somewhere cool to hang out!”
“Can’t you see your master is busy?”
“This time, I must break through to the supreme grade!”

After watching for a while, he realized that Elder Mu Huo had no intention of entertaining him. After bowing respectfully, Fatty Gu quietly took his leave and wandered off toward the place where Wan’er usually cultivated.

“Fatty, you’re here! But I’m a bit busy right now. This furnace absolutely mustn’t explode again. Perhaps you should come back later?”

Fatty Gu, who had arrived full of excitement, left in disappointment. A loud explosion from the furnace echoed behind him; he glanced back twice, sighed, and continued down the mountain. Why did it feel like he was the only idler in the sect now? He thought to himself, forget it, better return and cultivate.

Sitting cross-legged on his bed in his room, Fatty Gu was engrossed in lively conversation with the floating spectral image of Old Qin.

“Old man, are you saying that as long as I cultivate with different attribute techniques, you can help me refine all five elemental spirit essences and unify them?”

“Then I’ll head to the Scripture Vault to find some techniques right now.”

“What nonsense! With such a massive mobile treasure trove right in front of you, why bother with that shabby Scripture Vault of yours?”

“Uh…”

Everything was ready, and the east wind had arrived. The grand advancement was about to begin!