Chapter 424: Devour

Lin Mu's hair flapped around as his bloodshot eyes gleamed. The black thorn spear was thrumming with power and it had already reached the maximum limit of what it could hold for now.

"TAKE THIS!" Lin Mu shouted.

The black thorn spear was stabbed deep into the chest of the Great slumber bear and pierced its heart, nailing it to the rock floor. Lin Mu and the Great Slumber bear stared in each other's eyes as unwillingness appeared in the beast's.

"Rest in peace, I vow to use your bloodline and take it to the apex." Lin Mu spoke suddenly.

He knew that he was killing a beast that had actually not wronged him. But like Senior Xukong had said this was the ruthless cultivation world, and he was now a cultivator. This was the least he could do for the beast and thus he did.

It was as if the beast understood his words or the intentions behind it as it gave up on struggling anymore and closed its eyes. A minute later, the steamy breaths of the Great Slumber Bear had stopped and Lin Mu confirmed that it was now completely dead.

~phew~

"It is done…" Lin Mu muttered as he looked at the still warm body of the beast.

"What're you waiting for, quickly take out its core and store the body in your ring, don't waste the blood!" Xukong urged.

Lin Mu nodded and hurriedly dug out the core from the beast's chest and then placed his hand on the beast, storing it along with all of the weapons in his ring. The only weapon he had lost in this was the long sword which had been shattered by the great slumber beast's attack.

Lin Mu looked at the handle of the long sword as that was all which was left, the blade having been split into multiple pieces fallen on the ground.

~Sigh~

"Thankfully, I already finished the practice routines with this long sword, or I would have ended to find a replacement." Lin Mu said.

Lin Mu looked at the large core that he was still holding in his hand. This was the largest core he had ever seen and even in the beast records that he had the biggest core recorded was about five times smaller than this one.

The core in his hand was about ten centimeters in diameters and was barely graspable in his hand being so wide. It was transparent unlike the other cores and had a triangular brown colored pattern on it, like the one that one on the Great Slumber Bear's Torso.

Even after being removed from the beast's body, the core stayed warm and throbbed with power. Lin Mu could sense the bloodline deep within the core just by holding it in his hand and knew the potency of it. He was a bit anxious about the next few steps that he would be needing to do after this.

"You should begin in now, the faster you do it, the higher your success rate will be." Xukong spoke.

"I understand, Senior…" Lin Mu replied before taking out a wide tub from his ring.

He then started removing his clothes and became naked. He didn't want to soil his robes for what was about to come, and frankly, it would be easier if he was naked to do it as there would be an ease of movements.

~Huu~

"Here we go…" Lin Mu said before he sat down in the tub and took out the corpse of the Great slumber bear.

He placed its large body outside of the tub and took another breath to prepare himself for what he was about to do. 

Lin Mu closed his eyes and practiced the nameless technique of the lost immortal. He knew that it had reached a specific level, but knew it was barely at the start. He had just scratched the surface and its secrets were way beyond this.

Lin Mu tensed his body as the effects of the technique started and the hunger reappeared. He had intentionally triggered it this time and was prepared to bear its consequences.

"Grr…" A low rumble came from Lin Mu's stomach as it ached.

Lin Mu's muscles started twitching as veins appeared on his body, but this time it was not because of hate burning heart sutra. No, rather it was the almost animistic hunger that was taking over him and was close to turning him into a ravenous beast.

After two minutes, Lin Mu could no longer hold back and pulled the paw of the great slumber bear before biting on it. Even without spirit qi and vital energy to protect its body, the skin of the great slumber bear was quite tough.

But Lin Mu was in no condition to think about that, and all he wanted to do right now was eat.

It took him a few tries before he was able to tear the skin and bit away a mouthful of flesh from the beast. Lin Mu started chewing and then swallowed the flesh, blood dripping from his lips. A grin appeared on his face, as he suddenly found it to be incredibly delicious despite being raw.

"MORE!" Lin Mu said before taking another bite.

~Chomp~

~Gnaw~

~Chew~

Various sounds were heard as Lin Mu finished eating the entire right arm of the great slumber bear after thirty minutes. He pulled the bones and placed them in the tub before pulling the other arm of the beast and starting to eat it.

Just like this, Lin Mu went from one limb to the next, finishing up all four limbs of the great slumber bear. The bones of the limbs were half sunken in the blood that had accumulated in the tub while Lin Mu ate.

All the blood that spilled from the flesh and Lin Mu's mouth was caught by the tub and was thus not wasted. Lin Mu's body was also covered with blood as only his back was now left dry. There was blood on his face, his hair and on his neck.

If someone were to see Lin Mu right now, he would look no different from some deranged devilish cultivator. But it was not just his appearance that was terrifying, even his aura was undergoing a change. There were waves of spirit qi and vital energy coming from his body and spreading in the cave.

Now only the main body of the great slumber bear was left for Lin Mu to devour. His hunger had actually been placated somehow by eating just these four limbs, and thus he had gained a bit of clarity. He triggered the nameless technique of the lost immortal and stimulated his hunger again.

There was a massive amount of spirit qi and vital energy that was being poured into his body from his stomach as the net made out of obscure patterns had appeared on his stomach. Bit by bit, more of those obscure patterns appeared and linked up to form threads that interwove and formed the nets.

This was the third layer that was now forming over it, and the previous two were already densely packed. They were grey in color and caused his stomach to look as if it was made out of some kind of a metal. 

Lin Mu continued and ripped the torso of the great slumber bear, starting to eat its internal organs. One by one, each of the organs started disappearing into his gullet. Liver, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, intestines, stomach, spleen, gall bladder, heart; everything was cleanly eaten.

Lin Mu then withdrew his short sword from the ring and cut the skull of the Great slumber bear apart to reveal its whitish pink brain. Jamming his hand in, Lin Mu scooped out a handful of brains, before slurping it up like jelly.

The taste was incredibly delicious to Lin Mu, and he couldn't help but drool even more. In less than two minutes, the entire brain was eaten and now only the flesh and bones were left. Lin Mu started peeling the flesh off the ribs and put it in his mouth.

It was as if he was picking berries from a bush and putting them in his mouth, but the bush was made of bones and flesh were the berries. An entire hour passed before Lin Mu was able to complete eating the flesh, leaving behind only the bones and the blood which had nearly filled the tub to the brim.

"Are you fine?" Xukong questioned.

"Yes…" Lin Mu replied in a hoarse voice.

"Begin the next step, your body is already assimilating it, you need it as the catalyst," Xukong said.

Lin Mu simply nodded his head and withdrew the core of the great slumber bear and held it in his hands. He sat down in a cross legged manner and focused on the beast core.

~ROAR!!!~

A physical wave of spirit qi came from the beast core as the illusory figure of the great slumber bear appeared in front of Lin Mu.