Blood Under the Moon

Chen Wei walks through the muddy, blood-stained streets, partially hidden by the darkness of the night that falls over the once prosperous and lively Yu village, which used to have bustling streets full of people smiling. Now, not a single living soul remains.

In his hands, he carries a sack of wheat made of rags, stained with blood that drips continuously but leaves no trace on the already blood-soaked ground.

This scene alone would be disturbing enough to make even the bravest soldiers' hearts tremble with fear of what caused such a bloodbath. However, Chen Wei has a simple, calm expression on his face, as if there is nothing to fear.

And indeed, that is the case, as he is solely responsible for the bloodbath that has fallen upon the peaceful Yu village.

"...it seems they are growing healthily," Chen Wei says as he looks at the beautiful red orchids in the distance, which are being watered by a constant flow of blood. "At this rate, they should be ready for the final part of the refinement in a day."

As he murmurs, walking towards the orchids, he passes by a field full of the heads of hundreds of types of carnivorous or scavenger animals placed on improvised wooden stakes.

This is the result of the past two days, during which he constantly had to kill these animals that seemed to appear nonstop in Yu village due to the smell of blood and corpses permeating the air for several kilometers.

To avoid danger to the girls,whi except for Wang Mei, don have a Gu for combat, and she has Li Xin's Gu, whose Gu doesn't provide a strong form of attack against wild beasts, so he had to ensure their safety when he was away from them with this, like just now.

Yu Lian, who was taking care of a large orchid, turns her head towards the sound of his footsteps. "You finally returned!"

"I was starting to worry because of the growling noises of beasts in the dark not far away..." She feels so relieved to see Chen Wei, who exudes an aura of safety for her, that she doesn't care about the content of the sack in his hand.

"Sorry for the delay. The bodies with hearts nearby have run out..." Chen Wei puts his hand into the sack and pulls out a human heart that no longer beats. "...so I'm having to walk further and further to get one of these."

Yu Lian looks with heavy emotions at Chen Wei, who holds the heart as if it were nothing.

"You are more heartless than these poor souls..." Yu Lian pouts and turns her gaze to the two hairy women who were helping her. "...you feel no compassion for the innocent or remorse for your sins!"

"Stop being so dramatic, Lian'er. They were just mortals killed for our own good..." Chen Wei quickly approaches Yu Lian until they are face to face, and he strokes her hair as if she were a child who said something silly. "...what will our hairy women companions think of my wife acting so petulantly to openly contradict her husband?"

Yu Lian just looks silently at Chen Wei, acting like a loving husband, which takes all her strength not to blush because she is not used to contact with the opposite sex. Even so, she still feels her stomach turn while she nervously stamps her feet.

"I understand... husband," Yu Lian says helplessly, with Chen Wei's sudden actions seemingly becoming more affectionate and caring lately.

"...these mortals aren't so innocent after all!" The younger hairy woman speaks, recalling Chen Wei's words about the villagers being aware of Li Xin's actions and even supporting the capture of more hairy men.

"And don't worry about me and my sister, young master Yi..." The other hairy woman, who was tending to the orchids, speaks with a polite smile. "...I know very well that in matters of husband and wife, no one should interfere!"

Yu Lian sighs helplessly because what this basically means is that a wife should always obey her husband, and no one will care to try to change this situation.

Honestly, she still hasn't gotten used to the strong patriarchal customs that most of the Gu world follows, as the Xiong Mao Clan was one of the rare matriarchies.

Even her people in her first world were much fairer and more equal to women, as the clergy was entirely composed of priestesses, and the deity was of a feminine nature.

"Well... these orchids are really thriving under your care," Chen Wei quickly changes the subject as he approaches the orchids. "They just need a little more time to be ready for refinement!"

He looks at the various red orchids, which are almost a meter and a half tall and have large thorns that constantly need trimming. Their roots pierce the ground where the blood flows continuously.

The orchids resemble a flower straight out of a nightmare, with thick, voracious roots that not only pierce the ground but also penetrate bodies.

Their leaves throb constantly like beating hearts, sending nutrients to the orchid in the center, which is the largest of all, standing majestically at two meters tall, a great display of wild and demonic beauty.

"Well, I see you have everything under control, so continue with the refinement process..." Chen Wei hands the sack full of dozens of hearts to Yu Lian. "...I trust my lovely wife will ensure everything continues smoothly, right?"

He knows he can't keep his attention on refining two Gu at the same time, so he left this responsibility to Yu Lian and the two hairy women. However, he knows this also carries risks.

The main risk is Yu Lian telling the hairy women the truth and convincing them to betray him, ruin his Gu refinement, and try to escape.

That's why he has been subconsciously and directly feeding Yu Lian's fear of betraying him, as well as making her extremely aware of the dangers of wild beasts she would face alone and without any Gu if she tried to escape with the hairy women.

Most importantly, and something he does not only with her but also with Feng Hua, he is genuinely treating them "affectionately" and referring to them as his wives, trying to reduce the distance between them.

While this might not have much effect now in gaining their loyalty, if he understands anything about human psychology, as demonstrated by Stockholm Syndrome, it's that a woman's mind is programmed to bond and "fall in love" with those who show some care for her, as well as strength and the ability to protect her when she is in a life-threatening situation like this, even if that person is the captor who put her in the dangerous situation in the first place.

"I understand I will be careful... husband," Yu Lian speaks as little as possible to avoid letting her hesitation show in her voice.

The reason for her hesitation is simple: these plants do not grow by themselves, and the blood is only part of their feeding process. The even more important process is feeding them with hearts carefully processed and mixed with the excrement of barbed snakes.

So it is obvious why Yu Lian, a compassionate and gentle person who has only killed one person in her entire life, feels great disgust at having to grind and process human hearts to feed a bunch of bloody orchids.

"Good... that's great," Chen Wei strokes Yu Lian's head and kisses her forehead, pretending to care for and love her. "...I'm going to deal with the refinement of the Rotting Blood Gu now and will return soon with the other girls."

"Hmm," Yu Lian nods as she watches Chen Wei's back as he leaves.

'Why did he do that? Is he really starting to treat me as his wife...?' She blushes as she feels her heart beating faster than usual.

'Damn it, what am I thinking!' Yu Lian clenches her fists as she tries to calm herself.

But she can't, because for some reason, even though she hates Chen Wei and feels disgusted and repulsed by his actions, wanting more than anything to get as far away from him as possible, when she really thinks about it happening, she feels fear and insecurity.

And now that he has shown affection, which she doesn't even know if it's real, her heart beats strongly as if it were the thing her heart most desired while she refuses to admit it, but she still feels a bit of happiness and excitement, almost wanting to jump for joy because of it.

"Damn it! Let it go!" Yu Lian slaps her head before returning to tend to the orchids, trying not to keep thinking about him.

-----

Chen Wei walks once again through the dark, muddy streets of Yu village, stained with red blood and faintly illuminated by the light of the beautiful, desolate moon that hangs in the sky like a pure and elegant lady.

He hasn't been walking for more than a minute when he already sees stakes with the heads of various animals around an area, similar to the region of the blood orchids. These beast heads have the same origins.

But his attention is not on this; instead, it's on a faint white light in the shape of a crescent moon that shines just beyond the stakes, pointing toward him.

He immediately knows that this light comes from the Light Blade Gu, which used to belong to Li Xin but is now in the hands of Wang Mei to ensure she can defend herself.

"Mei'er, it's me. You can relax..." Chen Wei raises his hands and walks forward until he sees Wang Mei with her hand extended, ready to attack at any moment. "...you don't want to leave little Chen Yuan without a father before he's even born, right?"

"Of course not! I'm glad you're back!" Wang Mei lowers her hand, rushes towards him, and jumps into his arms, kissing him deeply while wrapping her arms around his neck and standing on tiptoe.

"I'm happy to see you too, but we have priorities now..." Chen Wei says, letting go of the kiss but still holding Wang Mei's waist, who makes an indignant face upon hearing his words.

"Hmph! Heartless moron..." Wang Mei murmurs softly, leaving his arms and turning away.

Chen Wei follows the girl who is acting spoiledly without saying a word, but at this point, he knows her well enough to understand that this is just an act to be pampered and receive more attention from him later.

"Besides the four worms you used to refine two new Rotting Blood Gu, no more have appeared..." Wang Mei walks ahead of him, quickly arriving in front of a small mountain made of bodies. "...the original Rotting Blood Gu is already quite fat, being almost three times its original size."

"Are you sure no new worms have appeared?" Chen Wei walks faster to catch up with Wang Mei. "...they can be quite slippery to hide."

Meanwhile, he looks ahead, vaguely seeing the silhouette of two girls near an irregular pile of bodies, though he can't make out the exact quantity besides the silhouettes of some animals that seem to be constantly moving on the ground.

"Hmm..." Wang Mei puts her hand on her chin and seems to think hard. "...well, it might be possible. I didn't dare to look myself and left most of that dirty work to Lan Ye."

Chen Wei hears Wang Mei's murmurs, showing no shame in pushing the worst part of the refinement onto the hairy woman, and simply nods without saying anything.

"Hmm, that's quite..." Chen Wei focuses on the two girls who appear right in front of him and don't seem to have heard anything from the conversation. "Wife... Lan Ye good to see you two."

Both are next to a campfire that provides little light and seems to be heating a cauldron of some disgusting gruel, which, from the putrid smell, is clearly something no human would dare to eat unless starving.

"Husband...I'm glad you've arrived" Feng Hua speaks immediately, making a delicate bow.

But Chen Wei doesn't miss the look of hesitation on her face as she glances at Wang Mei, who struggles to maintain a neutral expression.

"Young master Yi, it's an honor to see you again," Lan Ye, the older of the hairy women, greets in an unusual manner for humans.

"Well, I'd love to chat with you both, but unfortunately, the refinement of the Rotting Blood Gu to rank 2 takes priority for now..." Chen Wei says, putting on a false expression of sadness and regret.

Quickly, both Feng Hua and Lan Ye assure him that there is no problem and that they understand how difficult refining Gu is and how much time it demands.

"Well... let's start!" Chen Wei has determination in his gaze.

The first thing he does is summon the three Rotting Blood Gu he refined, which promptly leave the bodies, that ere their five-star dinners, and come directly to his hand.

Then, with Feng Hua's help, he grabs one of the animals struggling on the ground, a common scavenging-green wolf from the southern border.

Chen Wei doesn't bother to look twice at the animal fighting against the restraints on his entire body incessantly before he opens the wolf's chest with a precise cut, almost like it was done by a surgeon.

But before the animal could even die from the bleeding caused by the heart cut, Chen Wei forcefully inserts the plump, almost cuddly Rotting Blood Gu deep into the wolf's heart.

"Now..." Chen Wei's voice is calm and composed as he speaks to the three girls without the slightest haste. "...bring me the refining materials."

Hearing this, the three, who had somewhat adapted to the horrible smell of decomposing and rotting corpses, still grimace as they obey him.

The reason for this would be clear to anyone when they bring various bowls filled with the disgusting gruel they've been cooking to Chen Wei, who is holding the tied-up wolf firmly on the ground.

The gruel consists of a burning hot mixture of feces, rotten bodies and blood, worms that eat dead bodies, hearts of dead animals, and various types of plants that cause gastric problems.

But for the wolf, who unexpectedly hasn't died yet, he looks at the bowls while drooling profusely, wanting to eat the gruel that appears to be divine nectar to his eyes.

Of course, this isn't because the animal is a scavenger that eats rotting carcasses. Even he would avoid such a disgusting gruel, but at this moment, it's not his thoughts but those of the Rotting Blood Gu embedded in his heart.

Chen Wei, for his part, feels no pity for the poor animal and forcefully shoves the gruel down its throat, which the wolf eats eagerly without stopping due to the Rotting Blood Gu's influence on its heart.

"Poor thing..." Wang Mei comments, seeing the wolf with its belly so full it looks pregnant, even though it's male.

"He wasn't a poor thing when he tried to attack us," Feng Hua comments while continuing to hand bowls to Chen Wei along with Lan Ye.

"Well, here's the last step..." Chen Wei removes one of the two Rotting Blood Gu from its opening while injecting a large amount of primeval essence before forcing it into the wolf's open mouth, from which vomit is leaking.

Thus, several seconds passed, which felt much longer as Chen Wei meticulously controlled the flow and state of the primeval essence while closely watching the wolf's heart, which was rotting into a strange black color.

"Argh!!" But just a second later, Chen Wei finds himself on his knees on the ground, spitting blood while trying to cover his mouth.

"Husband!! Are you okay?!" Wang Mei rushes to his side at that very moment, ignoring the fact that the backlash from the refinement could still be affecting him and might even hit her.

Chen Wei leans on Wang Mei while speaking with difficulty, "I'm... fine."

*cough* "I just need some time to recover before trying to refine again," he says, earning a worried reprimand from Wang Mei, who tries to convince him not to refine any more today.

But after hearing Chen Wei's words that he only has one more attempt anyway, and that they don't have much time to spare, and that the injuries weren't too severe and the Rotting Blood Gu isn't at risk of dying as it's vital to him, Wang Mei sighs helplessly, knowing she can't convince her stubborn husband to change his mind.

So, slow hours passed, during which Chen Wei reviewed the refining processes, trying to think of possible mistakes he made or ways to perfect the refinement for the next attempt.

Of course, during this time, the girls didn't stand idle, with Wang Mei taking care of his health and safety and Feng Hua and Lan Ye preparing another cauldron of the necessary disgusting gruel for the refinement.

It didn't take long, under Wang Mei's attentive care and his rich experience in dealing with backlash from failed refinements, for him to be physically capable of refining Gu again.

Even under Wang Mei's protests, fearing for his health, he started the arduous process of refining Gu again. Despite his not fully healed injuries, it was a bit more arduous but nothing he couldn't handle.

In the end, the relatively small risk Chen Wei took to refine the Rotting Blood Gu not long after a failure paid off. Now, not more than two hours after failing once, he has the Rank 2 Rotting Blood Gu in his hands!