This was because the scene inside the cave was truly too horrifying.
Changqing had originally thought he had adapted to the bloody and bizarre nature of this world, having grown accustomed to the female demons devouring each other, the severed limbs, and their half-human, half-insect true forms.
But the sight before him once again redefined his understanding.
The entire cave was very narrow, with dark weeds growing at its entrance.
However, on the walls around the cave, there were pus-filled blisters, as well as tumors and swellings, like the skin of a patient riddled with a terrible disease.
The color of the cave was a bizarre fleshy pink.
Under the firelight, it appeared even more vivid and red.
Even stranger, the entire cave seemed to come alive, its fleshy walls pulsating with the breathing from deep within the cave.
Along with the pulsations, pus-filled blisters on the walls would occasionally burst, spewing pus onto the ground, which then slowly squirmed along the fleshy pink floor of the cave, flowing towards the entrance.
The rich scent of meat emanated from this pus.
This seemed to be a process of transformation: the swellings on the fleshy walls slowly transformed into tumors, the tumors then slowly transformed into pus-filled blisters, and the blisters finally burst.
But even these were not enough to disgust Changqing and Luo Hongyan, who had seen much, to such an extent.
What truly made their scalps tingle was a massive fleshy orb at the end of the cave.
That fleshy orb resembled an exposed cerebral cortex, but it was a tender, fleshy pink, covered in what looked like many fissures, or perhaps several thick, long fleshy strips wriggling.
And the entire fleshy orb was densely covered with countless eyes.
Changqing suddenly recalled that he had seen this fleshy orb before.
This was precisely the 'head' that Liu Lu had regrown when she was resurrected in the previous life.
The difference was that Liu Lu's head was formed by countless venomous snakes coiling and knotting together, covered in fine black snake scales, making the entire head appear dark.
However, the fleshy orb before him was a tender, fleshy pink.
It looked like countless skinned snakes coiled together.
Even more disgusting, the tails of these snakes were all separated and suspended outwards, countless fleshy pink tails writhing wildly in the air, combined with that bizarre head, making it look like a bloody, multi-legged octopus.
The snake mass suddenly stopped wriggling, then trembled violently a few times.
From the center of the snake mass, an opening slowly split apart, followed by a placenta sliding out.
The placenta ruptured, and a monstrosity emerged from within.
It was truly too strange.
It resembled a fleshy pink snake, without scales or fur, only soft, wrinkled skin as tender as a baby's.
On both sides of its body, it had four arms like a human's.
But it did not survive; it coughed violently a few times, like a human infant about to cry out loud.
However, within a few breaths, it quickly died, turning into a pus-like substance with a meaty scent, similar to the pus from the blisters, flowing all the way to Changqing's feet.
The skinned snake mass seemed to suffer immense pain after giving birth to the monstrosity.
It writhed and twitched a few more times, and at the same time, the pupils of countless snake eyes trembled violently.
Strangely, these countless eyes, though constantly moving, always looked in the same direction.
It was as if this snake mass was not composed of a group of snakes, but a single, unified consciousness, a single life.
Finally, all these eyes looked at Changqing.
"Mother."
The snake mass made a sound, but it was the tender voice of a young girl.
It had no mouth, and the only evidence that the sound came from it was that when the tender "Mother" rang out, the "tentacles" scattered beneath its fleshy orb-like head simultaneously lifted, as if expressing joy.
Seeing that Changqing did not respond, the snake mass called out again.
"Mother."
Changqing was bewildered; why would this strange snake mass call him Mother?
If this monster truly had a mother, shouldn't it be Liu Lu?
To confirm whether it was calling him, Changqing moved a few steps to the side, distancing himself from Luo Hongyan.
The monster's many gazes indeed followed Changqing's movement, shifting to look at him.
Seeing this situation, Changqing looked at Luo Hongyan beside him and asked.
"What is this thing? Why is it so disgusting, and why is it calling me Mother?"
Luo Hongyan seemed greatly shocked, staring blankly at the snake mass monster.
"Ling Embryo, I can't believe such a thing truly exists. Did Liu Lu make this? What kind of terrifying monster has she been raising..."
"Ling Embryo, what does that mean?"
Luo Hongyan composed herself and explained.
"A Ling Embryo is the precursor to an Imperial Spirit."
Changqing shook his head, "I don't quite understand. Aren't Imperial Spirits born from nature? Do they have precursors?"
Luo Hongyan thought for a moment, then had to explain it in a different way.
"You've heard of 'ghosts', right?"
"I know, when people die, don't they become ghosts? But that's just a legend, isn't it? In reality, there are no so-called ghosts, right?"
"I'm just using it as an analogy. In fact, the legends of so-called ghosts are inspired by Imperial Spirits."
Luo Hongyan flickered the flame on her fingertip.
"For example, this Fire Spirit, you can see it as a ghost, a 'Fire Ghost' formed by the Soul of fire after it dies. The concept of an Imperial Spirit is the 'ghost' of all things in heaven and earth."
"It's just that not everything simply becomes an Imperial Spirit after death; it's an extremely complex process. Otherwise, the most difficult thing for Spell Cultivators wouldn't be Refining Spirits."
"This Fire Spirit, for example, was refined by me using various Materials."
"But while I can directly refine a Fire Spirit, I cannot first refine a Ling Embryo, then kill the Ling Embryo to crudely turn it into an Imperial Spirit. Do you understand what I mean?"
Changqing nodded; he generally understood.
This was like a chemistry experiment: magnesium burning in carbon dioxide produces carbon, which is the ordinary method of Refining Spirits.
However, the Ling Embryo before them was as inconceivable as using a chemical reaction to create a large tree, then burning the tree into charcoal.
Luo Hongyan added, "An Imperial Spirit is just a spirit body; you can think of it as an inanimate object, a spirit body. It is ethereal."
"But a Ling Embryo is a tangible life; this is simply incredible. I've only ever heard of it, never seen it."
"Moreover, Liu Lu's Ling Embryo is truly too evil, even terrifying."
Changqing stared at the fleshy orb for a long time but didn't see anything evil, only found it exceptionally disgusting.
"This is clearly a Blood Law Spirit Embryo. To refine such a massive Ling Embryo requires countless Qi and life force, and even the flesh and blood consumed every moment is an enormous amount."
"As I said before, relying solely on the humans and female demons in Hundred Flowers Cave, it would be impossible to sustain even a Blood Demon Spirit, let alone such a massive Ling Embryo."
"Such a Ling Embryo, let alone creating it, merely maintaining it would require the lives of at least tens of thousands of Mortals every day."
"Thus, it seems that whether it's feeding the Blood Demon Spirit or creating and maintaining such a massive Ling Embryo, she accomplished it through external forces. The Blood Arts cultivator whose life force, Qi, and flesh and blood she continuously extracted must be extremely powerful."
