It was just as Xu Huo expected, perhaps even earlier than he had anticipated.
The sky had just begun to brighten when a low,
"Buzz— Buzz—" sound arrogantly tore through the air over Black Stone Village.
Xu Huo slowly looked up, his gaze instantly narrowing.
Xu Huo had imagined countless forms for an "Immortal Sect" flying boat—the intricately carved magical sailing ships of Azeroth, the radiant immortal pavilions from Blue Star novels, or even terrifying skeletal warships... However, the sight now greeting his eyes brutally crushed all his imaginations based on both worlds.
Within his mind, Charles also let out a timely gasp of amazement deep in his consciousness.
Beneath the canopy of the sky, a massive object hung suspended.
A living mosquito, magnified billions of times!
Its size was enormous; Xu Huo estimated its wingspan to be far longer than the fuselage of a Boeing 747.
Those translucent, giant membranous wings were vibrating frantically at high speed, which was the source of that piercing buzzing sound.
Its slender, giant spear-like arthropod legs were spread out around what used to be the abdomen but was now the flying boat, forming a specialized support structure that held the entire vessel aloft.
The head, which twitched from time to time, made the flying boat radiate a dangerous aura at every moment.
As the mosquito flying boat hovered, a black vortex appeared at its base.
A small black dot suddenly enlarged in Xu Huo's vision, and then a figure stood directly beside him.
It was a black-clad Daoist with an indifferent expression, holding a roster in his hand and accompanied by a Silver Mosquito the size of a palm.
After standing beside him, he didn't speak immediately but scanned Xu Huo from head to toe. Then, the black-clad Daoist revealed a chilling smile:
"Interesting. Are you the one who killed the people inside the house?"
Xu Huo first bowed respectfully: "Yes, Immortal Master. These people were my beloved family and friends, but my heart is set on the Dao. They were obstacles to my Dao Heart, so I killed them all."
The black-clad Daoist's smile grew even broader.
"Good. I don't care what you were thinking; these ten taels of silver now belong to you."
With a wave of his hand, he tossed the silver to Xu Huo, and the mosquito behind him flew in front of Xu Huo.
"Drip your blood directly onto the Silver Mosquito to register your mark. From now on, you are a Named Disciple of my Wen Shen Sect."
He then opened the roster in his hand: "What is your name?"
Xu Huo bit his finger and dripped blood onto the Silver Mosquito. The blood actually suspended itself above its head, and then a faint red tattoo appeared on the back of his hand.
Xu Huo maintained a respectful attitude and didn't ask questions. He simply said, "This humble one is Xu Huo. Greetings, Immortal Master."
The black-clad Daoist wrote down the name and smiled slightly: "Xu Huo? Good Heart-Nature, decent Bone Structure, and your Soul Quality is somewhat interesting."
He casually hooked his finger upward. Xu Huo felt an irresistible suction crash down upon him.
Xu Huo felt his body become light, and with a 'whoosh,' he left the ground, shooting toward the terrifying flying boat in the sky like a kite with a broken string.
The icy air scraped against his cheeks like knives.
The giant boat held by the mosquito expanded rapidly before his eyes, its overwhelming pressure rushing at him.
He was tossed through an open hatch like a discarded sack by that force.
Thud!
His body slammed hard against the cold, rigid floor. His internal organs jolted violently, and a metallic sweetness welled up in his throat, which he forcefully swallowed back down. The power gripping him vanished.
The hatch clicked shut behind him, completely swallowing the last trace of daylight.
But this darkness didn't last more than a few seconds.
Traces of dim, sickly green light seeped out from the surrounding cabin walls like ghost fires, swaying slowly and barely illuminating the area.
Xu Huo's pupils adjusted to the low light, allowing him to see his surroundings clearly.
This place looked somewhat like the dark red fleshy walls of a giant beast's internal organs. Thick "blood vessels" crawled over the walls, and the sickly green light seeped through the gaps between them.
In the center of this inner wall stood over a hundred Named Disciples. Men and women were gathered in a bustling crowd; some looked indifferent, having guessed they had been sold by their families, while others were still in the dark and looked excited.
Taking a deep breath, Xu Huo followed the flow and joined the crowd.
In his consciousness, Charles's voice rang out: "I've studied this tattoo. It's a tracking Spell. It's not difficult, but I don't have any mana right now, so I can't break it yet."
Xu Huo responded flatly: "It's fine. I've observed the strength of that black-clad Cultivator; he should be at the level of an Elementary Mage. And now, if I'm not mistaken, an assessment should be coming up."
Sure enough, Xu Huo was not mistaken. As the crowd moved, the queue ahead grew shorter, and Xu Huo carefully observed his surroundings during the process.
The corridor inside the cabin was not a straight line but winding, like the twisting intestines of a giant beast.
At intervals, there were "blood vessel" nodes emitting a sickly green glow, pulsating like the heart of a giant beast, injecting a trace of inexplicable vitality into this eerie space.
As Xu Huo observed, he soon found himself at the end of a blood vessel, facing a blood-red gate.
Ripples like water covered the gate, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.
Xu Huo took a deep breath, straightened his back, and walked straight in.
The moment he entered the gate, it felt as though he had entered another dimension.
This was an exceptionally vast space, with a ceiling so high it vanished into the shadows of the pulsating dark red meat membranes above.
The space was an irregular ovoid shape, and the surrounding walls were no longer simple "flesh walls" but were covered in translucent vesicles of varying sizes.
In the center of the space stood three incredibly massive, twisting, and spiraling "Flesh Pillars."
They were like the torsos of giant insects supporting heaven and earth, their surfaces covered in hard carapaces and exposed thick blood vessels.
The Disciples who entered were guided by the black-clad Cultivators to line up in front of the three Flesh Pillars.
The intense biological aura and visual impact made Xu Huo hold his breath. Charles whispered excitedly in his mind: "A marvelous construction! A perfect fusion of a Soul furnace and a flesh workshop!"
A black-clad Cultivator pointed at Xu Huo, and he naturally joined the queue for the middle Flesh Pillar.
Xu Huo followed the queue, moving forward in silence under the glow of the sickly green blood vessels.
Deep in his consciousness, Charles occasionally let out whispers of amazement: "A perfect symbiotic structure... the energy conduction efficiency far exceeds those rigid magic crystals... truly... a fascinating aesthetic of desecration."
As the person in front finished their test, Xu Huo stood before the middle Flesh Pillar.
Up close, Xu Huo saw more details: the pillar was blood-red, its surface covered in golden patterns like cracks in cooling lava. it radiated a scorching, primal aura.
The nearby black-clad Cultivator spoke in a low voice: "The dao seed test begins. Place your hand on the designated spot."
He pointed his finger at a slightly recessed dark red area at the base of the Flesh Pillar.