Eating, And Eating Fruits

"!" - "!!" The crowd became overly surprised and then excited upon seeing Tae's change. They looked at each other incredulous as the Power Energy this teenager showed was firmer than even the middle-aged man cultivator! Even that cultivator looked shaken, but seeing and hearing the unmistakable conflict between both parties, he relaxed as he praised Tae in his mind. 'It's incredible! Who knew someone like him could exist? His Power Energy is too powerful... even for me! I-I... am not even his match!'

“It has to be that legendary kid! The one who can fight above his own stage in any cultivation realm!” One cultivator said from the side, and another commented to complement the former. “He has even killed those from other powerful organizations and doesn’t fear them!”

“... To think I would lower myself so much, and for someone like you…” Tae heard those words and directed his furious eyes to Heian Ciemnosc’s handsome face. He continued speaking, this time with bravery, feeling his body even as he was facing someone much weaker than him. “But it will be worth it… It isn’t a day to day occurrence the chance to ki- !!!...”

“!!!” - “!!?” - !?” Tae suddenly stopped talking, and when the cultivators casually glanced in his direction, thinking he was overwhelmed by fury and thinking to themselves if Tae was really attempting to murder a Wrath Nihility Academy student. However, they immediately found not only why Tae went silent, but very few in the group instinctively used their Spirit Sense to read his body, only to find any signs of life within gone!

Their faces became pale, and they almost felt like throwing up. As a Middle Kingdom, these organizations’ cultivators had seen and participated in bloodshed, but seeing the current scene of Tae’s body made them almost throw up, even their Power Energy in a liquified state.

There was a snake-like tube that came out from the ground and penetrated into Tae’s right shin. It was thin and possibly 2 fingers wide. Its length was unknown, but everyone could see it disappear within Tae’s body, not leaving a trace of it squirming beneath the skin. Yet, as one looked further up from there, they would see Tae’s face, now totally pale and with his mouth agape to an impossible level for any Race of his height.

Tae’s eyes were similarly enlarged, grander than a kid’s fist, and looked exceptionally watery. His nostrils were wide agape, and mucus came out from it, along with darkened blood, as if having suffered the worst imaginable injuries to exist. His head seemed a bit more full, bloated, in a sense. And his torso, limbs, and neck were becoming thinner and thinner as the cultivators watched.

As everyone looked, they were too afraid to even move, as if moving would make them react the same way and die a horrible death. Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes trembled as he looked at the sky. With a light murmur, he softly spoke at a low volume, not minding anyone’s reaction to what was happening. “He was indeed different, phew~. What exquisite Spirit Power and Dantian’s potential. I need to find more like him, heh hah.”

“...” The crowd of cultivators slowly rotated their heads, and some even twisted their necks, all just to look at Heian Ciemnosc, seemingly having fun in some way. And from the words he spoke… perhaps… it was related to Tae’s current state. That made them feel even more terrified. Only the middle-aged man closest to Heian Ciemnosc and could immediately act in case they were facing a monstrosity aberration dared to speak up at this moment.

“Did you… eat Tae? Yo- y-y- you monster?! How is this even possible…”

Whoosh- crank- cruuushshh~. Hajp hajp hajp- pshift pshift pshift pshift~- tap tap tap tap tap...

The following procedures were quite simple. Heian Ciemnosc dashed past the middle-aged man and towards a group of cultivators. Tae’s body was pulled in his direction by his left leg, and as soon as it was raised to dash away, the base of Vocón Link appeared to the ignorant onlookers. But by then, Tae’s body had disappeared, and Heian Ciemnosc had unexpectedly reappeared above an orange haired young man.

They were predominantly at the Ashes Soul realm. But even the middle-aged man couldn’t tell Heian Ciemnosc’s movements and reacted to turn his head around a second after Heian Ciemnosc dashed past him, leaving the pupils and irises in his already wide-open eyes critically shrinking.

The middle-aged man couldn’t see how Heian Ciemnosc appeared above the annoying brat who spoke before, his right hand already Claws Out as he pushed down the teenager’s body while his body was forcefully floated downwards. Crushing the head as he did, brain matter filled his palm, enticing him to taste it, but he had to clean it up as he did with Tae’s body first. Heian Ciemnosc then cut through his skull like cutting through butter with hot knives, breaking apart the teenager’s head and neck in but a moment.

The next moment, Heian Ciemnosc opened his mouth wide, almost more than regularly, as his dark fangs covered his canines and added a layer of darkness around the rest of his teeth. Taking 3 bites from the teenager’s collarbone to the sternum after a layer of dark Power Energy washed over the teenager’s body from up to below, Heian Ciemnosc’s actions alarmed the cultivators. One of them was a small trio from another group consisting of a younger girl with blonde hair wearing a dark blue gothic dress.

It was only when Heian Ciemnosc took the last, third bite the middle-aged man turned his head around and, from the left corners of his eyes, saw Heian Ciemnosc’s actions of cruelty. They weren’t alarmed by this ‘cannibalism’ from Heian Ciemnosc, whom they couldn’t tell his actual Race was not Human, but rather, because of not doubting to kill his enemies this way.

“AAAAAAAHH!!!” One cultivator screamed really hard. That sparkled the bomb surrounded by flames, and the rest followed as they ran in every direction they could think of. However, Heian Ciemnosc wasn’t slow to act, nor was his Vocón Link idle. His body was still in midair, so his left foot faced the side as from its sole, the Vocón Link simply enlarged to 100 meters before plunging into the ground.

It was noiseless, and the ground didn’t even tremble. The cultivators didn’t notice except for the middle-aged man and the other 3 peak Ashes Soul realm cultivators. A few seconds later, even as the fleeing, scared cultivators used their whole Power Energy to escape, almost 3 dozen ‘tentacles’ came out from the ground.

These were different than the Vocón Link. Instead of having that dark opaque substance and consuming light and anything put in between, it was colored with pure darkness. Those ‘tentacles’ weren’t Vocón Link, but Heian Ciemnosc’s dark Power Energy!

The tentacles sought every single fleeing cultivator. There was only that small group of three that didn’t move. A couple wanted to, but the little girl stopped them, and even though she herself was scared to shit, she kept her calm so her little group would be fine. That trio was ignored, but the other cultivators were reached and hugged by the tentacles around their torsos. And sometimes, the tentacles played with each other as they pulled the cultivator another one had and tore parts of their bodies. Or smashed the body they had against another time and again.

Seeing this scene, the already hesitant peak Ashes Soul realm cultivators lost all will to fight, and remembering Tae’s demise, they didn’t even dare try seak attacking Heian Ciemnosc. Who knew if that Power Energy ‘snake’ could still move underneath at these moments, even as the monstrous teenager pulled some corpses and the other living cultivators towards him.

“Well, just one second, oh,” Heian Ciemnosc faced the l4 peak Ashes Soul realm cultivators and ‘comforted’ before finally landing on the ground with his right foot. The moment his left foot landed on the ground, Heian Ciemnosc’s dark Power Energy tentacles disappeared as the cultivators still alive were left with gray skin, and their bones, seemingly curious to see the world, fell onto the solid rock floor. Heian Ciemnosc walked to each of them with sweat covering his forehead and stored them in his Covert Space bags.

“Now,” a few tens of meters away from the remaining most powerful 4, Heian Ciemnosc addressed them before walking towards them. Heian Ciemnosc’s gray robes and contrasting black jacket with ferociously biting dogs on the shoulders made him appear omnipresent in the terrified eyes of those 4.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Please, almighty Student, forgive us!” One female peak Ashes Soul realm cultivator clasped her hands and fell to her knees, imploring Heian Ciemnosc even before he could arrive before them. Another 2 peak Ashes Soul realm cultivators fell to their knees before clasping their hands but not speaking a word of subservience, simply relying on the female’s words from the beginning.

“Tsk, tsk tsk.” Shaking his head, Heian Ciemnosc looked at the 3 begging him, contempt casually showing through his eyes. He looked fleetingly at the middle-aged man, whose eyes seemed to grow older all of a sudden. Then Heian Ciemnosc looked emptily at the space before him, returned his gaze to the 3 on his knees, and stood before them with his nape fully showing from the back. “What little intention, at least say some words. If you’ll disrespect yourself, do it big.”

Pshift, pshift- phhshk, phhshk.

“Gukk- guuaaww…” - “Eck- grrhh!” The 2 late beggars who got on their knees didn’t even have to put some Power Energy into motion when a pair of dark Power Energy tentacles formed from Heian Ciemnosc’s right-handed inner and ring fingertips, lunging at their heads like leeches that made their bodies jolt backawrds upon being hit. The dark Power Energy limbs didn’t penetrate through, simply stuck at their foreheads as their skin withered and turned gray.

Their throats tried screaming, begging, cursing, and one of their eyes darted to the female peak Ashes Soul realm cultivator in the middle. Their other eyeball was entirely bloodied and unresponsive. But, naturally, they simply talked like idiots for a couple seconds before even their lips crumbled like a concrete wall turning into dust after hundreds of years without any maintenance or reinforcement.

“Is there… any way I can save myself?” The middle-aged man tried saving his neck even as he saw Heian Ciemnosc slowly retract those dark Power Energy ‘tentacles’ as they moved like they were.his tongues and was content with the meal.

“Nahh,” Heian Ciemnosc kindly responded without a care. He tilted his head to the left and looked at the middle-aged man on his right. Heian Ciemnosc straightened his back up before gesturing to the middle-aged man with his left palm. But the man didn’t understand what he meant. Confused and frowning, the middle-aged man formed a small aura-like knife around his left hand before aiming it at his heart.

Pshift- tap, phhshk. “!!” The middle-aged man was just taking his time to contemplate life and about to live the last motion his body would willingly do with his brain awake when he heard the moving of Power Energy through the air. Before his eyes could even process the images, colors, and light, Heian Ciemnosc’s dark Power Energy limb had struck and embedded itself on the middle-aged’s throat.

Heian Ciemnosc pulled the middle-aged man over, initially just 2 meters away, and grabbed his neck with his left hand. His face coming close to the middle-aged man, the latter could smell the blood, flesh, organs, and even the faint scent of bones. Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc’s face became strenuously fierce yet quiet and solemn.

“No, you don’t get to have that death. But you at least can feel the life seeping out of you, slowly, in pain. You won’t suffer the exact same fate as them,” Heian Ciemnosc gestured with his eyes to the 2 corpses he hadn’t recollected yet. “But your death is nowhere near enough to be from your heart. Die in the wrenching thought of provoking me.”

Heian Ciemnosc’s words were worse than anyone could imagine an angry devil speaking like. The middle-aged man’s eyes were deprived of all hope as he felt his body slowly bleed out. His Power Energy was eaten away by whatever was at his throat, vacuuming it like a swirl with his throat at the center. He could tell his veins were bulging as he felt his body strangling his collarbone, jaws, and neck.

Heian Ciemnosc watched as the middle-aged man’s veins near those regions became like leeches pumped with blood but were just filling up with the blood he was about to feast in. As soon as the middle-aged man died and Heian Ciemnosc cleaned the carcass, he could store it for later. He could very well cultivate to the 2nd stage with these games.

Looking into each other’s eyes, Heian Ciemnosc didn’t stop conveying his emotions through his eyes until the last bit of Power Energy and blood was amassed or bled out of the middle-aged man’s body. When the middle-aged man’s neck remained limp and twisted without any will left, Heian Ciemnosc stored it before turning to look at the female peak Ashes Soul realm cultivator.

He cleaned his mouth and walked over, standing before her again before crouching to her northwest, his legs spread and knees folded as he rested his right forearm on his right thigh above the knee. “I see your emblem is different to theirs. Your organization comes from the west, yes?”

“...” The woman said nothing but nodded and trembled nonstop. Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head slightly to the left and nodded before returning to normal. His voice became soft yet hoarse, “I will let you go, but I can’t ‘just’ let you go. I also won’t hurt you, but I will leave behind a reason for you to live, okay?”

She looked up at him, her hands still in prayer with interlocked fingers, hoping for the best but not knowing what this terrifying teenager meant. Heian Ciemnosc stood up, hung his neck towards her, tilted his head to the left, and extended his right hand towards her. She knew it wasn’t to help her up, so she cleverly took her Cover Spce bag out of her waist and opened it after gazing at Heian Ciemnosc’s pale palm.

Thud, thrashin~~~~...

Heian Ciemnosc opened it completely and let everything out, from pills to tools and even photos of memories and paintings of what his eyes recognized as her family members. He looked at her expressionlessly, not caring to know whether they were sons, cousins, lovers, uncles, daughters, parents, or nephews and nieces. When everything was done, he took a pill from his Covert Space bag and demonstrated it to her, holding it with 3 fingers beside his right ear.

“You know what this is?” Heian Ciemnosc asked her, looking down. The woman nodded again, this time calmer as she now understood. “Oh, alright. I made it in my early months at the Academy. I just wanted to try poisons. They are just not my thing, kinda boring. Take it and all of your things. I will just take away any antidote… and these things. Mn; that will help your mind stabilize, steel itself, and motivate you.”

Not only did Heian Ciemnosc take her pills, incense, and potions away, but he also took her paintings and photos and made them ‘poof’ into nothing as dark Power Energy covered them instantly. The woman’s eyes widened, and her irises and pupils shrunk. Only now did she appear to grow eggs, and Heian Ciemnosc knew she was about to throw away her life. He tilted his head to the left, his lips relaxed and his eyes as if he had done nothing, not even breathe.

“What is it? You don’t want to see them again?” Heian Ciemnosc said, his tone back to a calm one. The woman became awestruck, her eyelids widening the panorama of her eyeballs even more, but the glint of determination changed. It wasn’t gone. Instead of being directed towards Heian Ciemnosc’s actions, they became solid like steel. She turned around after taking the interim pill down her throat. She left this hole of death at a notorious but stable pace.

Heian Ciemnosc looked at the departing figure for a few seconds before turning around to look where the ragged breathing was coming from. The younger girl with blonde hair wearing a gothic dress ‘protected’ the other 2 young girls behind her, her arms spread and keeping them behind her back as she looked at Heian Ciemnosc in the distance.

Her eyes were trembling, but there was hope within her eyes, especially after seeing what had transpired. Yet, just as she was thinking of giving him her Covert Space bags altogether, Heian Ciemnosc walked towards them before abruptly changing direction to walk to the tree instead. She and her little group looked perplexed, “?”

“Hey, you. Give me your fruits. Stop being so lusty,” Heian Ciemnosc stopped 5 meters before the tree, precisely where the only spot of green grass commenced or ended, depending on one’s perspective. The young girls were left even more speechless but looked at the tree in expectation, even if they were terrified to almost pee themselves like genuine little girls with no cultivation.

“Tsk- pah, alright,” Heian Ciemnosc seemed to have grown increasingly annoyed. He walked onto the patch of green, and the tree swayed a little. Branches and leaves became ‘windy’ as the girls looked with rapt attention but didn’t feel a thing.

“There, there.” Heian Ciemnosc walked to the tree trunk and extended his left hand to caress it. Shockingly, the tree swayed more, and even the blades of grass around his feet behaved exotically as if a little girl-grown woman had touched his idol’s skin from the back of his hand. Sick, for real.

Thud, putong, thud thud- plop plop…

Large fruits fell from the tree, previously hidden by its branches and protected by its roots and grass, connected into one just as it is with its branches’ leaves. Several tens of fruits came down, each with the size of a headstrong baby’s head and a pair of leaves with a very smallish stem at the top. They were bright orange in color, emitted a soft, mellow fragrance, and transmitted a more than welcome slight warmth from within to the touch but were actually insatiably fresh.

“Oh. Alright.” Heian Ciemnosc looked up at the tree with contempt before picking them all up. In total, there were 104 fruits, Orangebreeding Fruits. They weren’t for the purpose of boosting fertility. They were called such because they gave a tiny boost to one’s Spirit Sense permanently and a little boost to one’s cultivation speed, but only the first time consuming it. Afterwards, it only temporarily enhances one’s Spirit Sense and helps in one’s cultivation for a very short time.

However, it can be used for augmenting pills. Not too many were needed, but just a few were enough to act as the core of the pill’s formula and to create one. Having these many was a good thing in case, for whatever reason, Heian Ciemnosc failed to concoct Evans’s pill on the first try. As for the others, Heian Ciemnosc figured his Master would have him recreate them as incense and potions.

After picking them all up and looking at 4 fruits with saliva forming on his tongue, Heian Ciemnosc walked to the little group of three, to the utter shock and anxiety of the younger girls.

…