Different Paths, Same Goals

The Mark of Gluttony originates from the Gluttony Lord of the Seven Deadly Sins. It is a parasitic curse that lives on the soul and feeds on the host's life force.

The appetite of the parasitized person will be amplified infinitely; it's not that they want to eat, but that they need to eat.

If you don't eat, a hunger will well up from the depths of your soul. That hunger cannot be resisted by any willpower, because what is resisting it is not willpower, but the collapse of the body itself.

The more the host eats, the faster its life force is depleted. Once depleted, the host will completely transform into a mindless gluttonous demon, becoming the puppet of the spellcaster.

He struggled in that world for another two months. He forced himself to read three books on curses using the memory palace technique, and used his remaining savings to buy a few bottles of cheap purification potions, but it didn't work; he even hired a priest to perform an exorcism, but that didn't work either.

He even tried to draw a reverse magic circle and locked himself in the basement for three days without eating or drinking, thinking that he could endure it with his willpower. However, when he woke up on the fourth day, he found that he had bitten through the basement door and his mouth was full of wood chips.

Then he saw the message.

The story of Liu Jin piercing the screen with one finger went viral among transmigrators.

Everyone knows that someone broke the rules, obtained something they shouldn't have, and was punished by being sent to the punishment world.

Someone got information from Earth that Liu Jin had been thrown into which world.

The news spread like ripples across various worlds, and the barriers in each world were tightened. However, in order to prevent a repeat of Liu Jin's situation, it was better to guide than to block. Earth was able to maintain some contact with these transmigrators, so the management was loose on the surface but tight on the inside.

Zhao Fengnian's family spent all their savings on Earth and went through several layers of connections to finally get the news to him.

The message contained only one sentence: "Go to this world and find Liu Jin."

He did as instructed. He spent all the savings he had accumulated in that world, bypassed three layers of inspection through a semi-abandoned inter-world teleportation array, and landed in this black pine forest.

He had been squatting there for three days, gnawing on tree bark when he was hungry and dozing in the bushes when he was tired. When he saw the blue light shooting into the sky, he scrambled over and saw Liu Jin slap the weasel to death.

"Immortal Master, please save me. If you can find a way to get this thing out of my soul, I'll do anything for you."

Liu Jin squatted down, extended his finger, and gently touched Zhao Fengnian's brow. His consciousness followed the finger into Zhao Fengnian's soul space, which was now in complete disarray.

The area that should have been the core of the spiritual world was occupied by a huge, dark red tumor.

The surface of the tumor was covered with tiny mouthparts that opened and closed constantly, each opening and closing devouring the surrounding spiritual energy. The entire soul space had been gnawed open, riddled with holes, like an old tree whose heartwood had been hollowed out.

The Samadhi Fire can burn it away, directly affecting the soul, incinerating all things, and returning to the origin.

The problem is that this thing has completely merged with Zhao Fengnian's soul. If it is forcibly burned, the Gluttony Seal will die, and a piece of Zhao Fengnian's soul will also be burned away.

It's not that it can't be removed, it's that it can't be removed by force.

Liu Jin withdrew his finger and opened his eyes: "It can be removed. But burning it would be too wasteful. I can give you three options."

Before Zhao Fengnian could even kowtow and express his gratitude, Liu Jin added, "But I'm not taking on any disciples for the time being."

"Then I'll serve you! I'll be your servant!" Zhao Fengnian wiped his face, his sleeves covered in snot and tears, but his smile was brighter than the sun, his fat face glowing.

"Immortal Master, please go about your business. I'll just squat here. You can talk to me whenever you have time. I've already endured two years in that awful place, a few more days won't make a difference! Immortal Master, would you like some water? I'll go find some! Would you like something to eat? I'll go get some?"

When he said the word "eat," his stomach suddenly made a loud rumbling sound, and he shuddered as if he had been whipped, a fleeting and profound fear flashing across his face.

But he immediately forced a smile, pretending nothing had happened, and subconsciously took two steps back, as if afraid that his stomach would growl again and make Liu Jin think he was greedy.

Liu Jin squatted down in front of Zhao Fengnian and held up three fingers.

"Three paths, you choose."

Zhao Fengnian straightened up, wiped his face haphazardly with his sleeve, and stared intently at Liu Jin's fingers.

"First, I will now use the Samadhi Fire to burn away that tumor in your soul. Clean and efficient, with immediate results."

However, the mark of gluttony has already completely merged with your soul. Forcibly burning it away will leave a void, and your soul will be missing a piece. Without this piece, you will be slower than others in cultivating any technique in the future, because your soul will be incomplete, and the flow of Qi will be disrupted.

To mend it, you'll need to find rare and precious materials for repairing the soul, or a specific cultivation technique for doing so. Whether these things exist in this world, I don't know.

He retracted the first finger.

"Secondly, I will give you a seed of Samadhi True Fire. You should nurture it in your soul space. It can suppress the Gluttony Mark so that it will no longer flare up. From today onwards, you will no longer need to eat."

But a spark is still a spark; it has a temper. When your mind is unsettled, it may go berserk under the influence of the Gluttony Seal. Once it goes berserk, your soul space becomes a battlefield, with two forces fighting each other within you, and you yourself becoming the one taking the beating.

Of course, if you can withstand the repeated outbursts, you can cultivate the Samadhi True Fire into a spell, and incidentally, use it to devour the Gluttony Seal, refining it into your own supernatural power. This path is more promising than the first, but it's also riskier; you must cultivate it carefully.

He retracted his second finger.

"Thirdly, I will not give you the seed of fire. I will give you a wisp of pure fire, the most basic level of Samadhi True Fire, specifically for body tempering."

You use this wisp of essence fire to refine your body, reforging your flesh and blood that have been corrupted by the Mark of Gluttony. After the essence fire has tempered your body, the Mark of Gluttony will no longer be able to alter it.

Then you need to cultivate yourself, starting with the essence fire, then the qi fire and the divine fire, uniting the three fires to achieve your own Samadhi True Fire. After you have achieved this, you will have your own True Fire Supernatural Power, and you will not have to fear the fire going out of control.

Furthermore, during your cultivation journey, you can repeatedly tug at the Gluttony Mark with your own true fire. It devours your soul, and you burn its tentacles. Ultimately, you refine it into your own supernatural power. The Gluttony Mark is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, of extraordinary origin; mastering it will elevate your combat strength by several levels.

He retracted his third finger.

"The drawback is also obvious: it's slow. Cultivating the Samadhi True Fire is not something that can be done overnight. I spent several years cultivating at the Sanyi Sect before I reached my current level. If you start from scratch, you will only be slower than me."

Moreover, the process is extremely painful. You should be mentally prepared for the pain of the first stage of tempering the body with essence fire. Then, the next stages, tempering the meridians with qi fire and tempering the soul with divine fire, are like taking your whole body apart and putting it back together each time.

In addition, there's a Gluttony Mark within you constantly resisting; the deeper you progress in your physical training, the more intense its resistance becomes. It's like someone riding on your neck and choking you while you're running. If you think you can withstand it, choose that path.