Chapter 15: Day 15

In a place littered with the torn bodies of humans.

“I, I’m serious!”

A man was on his knees, begging for his life in front of a girl much younger than himself.

The man’s eyes were stained with fear, and his face, covered in tears and snot, made anyone who looked at it frown.

The girl just grinned at the man’s plea.

Crunch, crunch.

She was chewing on a freshly pulled, very fresh heart.

A human was pulling out and chewing on another human’s heart.

That sight was enough to instill fear in even the strongest of hearts.

“So, you guys don’t really know what you’re looking for either? You’re a beggar, right?”

A tone that went back and forth between honorifics and informal speech, like that of a madman.

The sight of her chewing raw heart and that madman-like tone made the fear in the man’s eyes grow even deeper.

“That’s right! I’m serious! I can swear on my parents!”

“Your, no. Your parents are not important.”

The girl chuckled at the man who swore on his useless parents.

However.

‘They weren’t looking for me specifically?’

The girl muttered to herself.

If so, were these people just mere bandits, unrelated to the fight she had sensed earlier?

No. No.

That wasn’t it.

These people were definitely the main characters of the fight the girl had sensed.

At the same time.

‘These guys are also just mere pawns.’

Pawns used and consumed by someone’s needs.

These bandits in front of her were just such pawns.

And the one who used these pawns was clearly.

‘A cultivator. Or a wandering vagrant.’

Then, should she leave now?

Or………

“Should I gamble?”

A gamble.

It was to hunt the one who was using these pawns.

After pulling out the hearts of nearly a dozen people and even consuming their souls to accumulate Demonic Qi once again, she might not be able to handle a cultivator, but she could probably handle a wandering vagrant.

Wandering vagrants, due to their nature, were far behind in their cultivation level, skills, and practice compared to cultivators who properly trained in specific sects. Calling them fellow cultivators was an insult to the ‘real cultivators’.

But.

What if, through a one-in-a-million chance, the one manipulating them was a real cultivator?

Not just a wandering vagrant, but a cultivator with a proper spiritual root, proper talent, and systematic training since childhood?

It would be somewhat difficult to handle in her current state.

That’s why the girl called it a ‘gamble’………

“F*cking hell?”

The girl, who had been deep in thought, suddenly lit up her eyes and cursed.

At the girl’s curse, the man flinched, and the girl’s hand moved like a snake.

With a whoosh! The girl’s hand moved with the strange movements of a snake, tearing the man’s clothes to shreds.

The man, whose clothes were torn off, became naked in an instant.

The girl quickly scanned the man’s body.

Such behavior was not for mere lust or anything similar.

The reason the girl did that was.

“Sh*t, it’s too late.”

The girl muttered softly.

Somewhere on the naked man’s body.

To be precise, on his left inner thigh, a small pattern in the shape of a human eye was engraved.

As soon as the girl recognized its existence, the pattern emitted a ray of light and melted away without a trace.

The girl realized it was too late to escape.

The opponent had already recognized her existence.

The opponent didn’t instruct these pawns to find ‘something’ specifically because they couldn’t pinpoint her existence precisely.

But more than that, the pattern that had just disappeared could receive a signal the moment it found ‘something’, in this case, herself.

At that fact, the girl clicked her tongue and moved her hand again.

Whoosh.

The girl’s hand moved again like a snake.

Thud.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the man’s heart.

With a hole in his chest, the man, whose heart had been pulled out, collapsed to the ground with a blank look.

The girl just silently crunched on the heart she had just pulled out.

Whoosh-.

A gentle breeze blew from somewhere, passing by the girl.

“Hmph, I thought it was a useful ingredient. To think it was a wandering Demonic Beast.”

In front of the girl, who was just crunching on the heart.

Furthermore, in the center of a scene resembling hell, where the bodies of nearly a dozen ordinary people were torn to pieces, a young man appeared.

A young man in a blue robe, his long hair tied back to his waist.

His somewhat delicate appearance resembled that of a scholar.

But the young man’s eyes, looking at the girl, were like those of a wild beast.

Finally, the young man held a steel fan in his right hand.

The girl, who referred to herself as an ‘ingredient’, threw away the heart she was eating without hesitation and grinned.

“You’re a Demonic Beast too. And a wanderer just like me.”

“Different. Different. Very different.”

The young man also twisted his lips into a strange smile and said.

“You seem to have luckily picked up a Demonic Art somewhere, but the difference between you and me is very different. There is a very overwhelming difference.”

“Oh? What’s the difference?”

“If you just happened to pick up a Demonic Art. This body….”

Chwaak-.

The young man covered his mouth with the steel fan in his hand.

At the same time, the young man’s eyes, looking at the girl, curved like a crescent moon.

“From a proper Demonic Sect, a proper Demonic Art. I trained in a proper way. And received proper support.”

The young man emphasized the word ‘proper’.

The girl burst into laughter without realizing it.

What?

From a proper sect.

A proper Demonic Art.

In a proper way.

With proper support?

So. That proper. And the standard route of a Demonic Beast.

“Is only at the Foundation Establishment stage?”

Tremble-.

At the girl’s sarcasm, the young man’s eyes twitched.

The girl looked at the young man and grinned even more intensely.

Yes. Let’s say the opponent belongs to a proper Demonic Sect.

At best, he’s a Demonic Beast at the Foundation Establishment stage.

Moreover, a useless bug who barely reached the Foundation Establishment stage by borrowing the power of the Demonic Art due to his inferior talent.

He probably sought her out to further enhance his stagnant cultivation level.

At that thought, a dry laugh escaped the girl’s lips.

In her eyes, a dark purple light mixed with intense madness bloomed.

She felt like an idiot for being scared of such a bug and running away with her tail between her legs like a dog.

Meanwhile, the young man, who introduced himself as a ‘proper Demonic Beast’, trembled at the sudden change in the girl’s atmosphere and the dark purple light blooming from her eyes.

What?

What went wrong?

When he first sensed the girl, she was nothing more than a simple bug.

He didn’t know where she picked up the Demonic Art, but her cultivation level was only at the Qi Condensation stage.

That’s why he could confidently reveal himself without any hesitation.

But it wasn’t.

The moment the bug in front of him bloomed with dark purple light. No, even before that. The moment a dry laugh escaped the girl’s lips.

What the young man saw was a thick darkness.

Like a swamp, the more he looked, the more he was sucked into an endless abyss.

It was not something that a bug-like Demonic Beast at the Qi Condensation stage could imitate.

Could it be?

No. No, could it be?

But it doesn’t make sense.

No, you never know? Really.

The young man’s expression changed rapidly.

In the young man’s eyes, a faint fear began to appear along with embarrassment.

And in his voice, which opened towards the girl, there was even a hint of ‘humility’.

“Are you perhaps a senior?”

“Hmph?”

At the young man’s humble question, the girl just let out a dry laugh.

Also, the young man took the girl’s laugh as a silent affirmation.

At that moment.

“T, this lowly junior greets senior!”

The young man hurriedly bent down, bowed his head, and greeted.

The young man was completely different from his initial demeanor.

It was such a perfect change of attitude that it didn’t even feel ‘servile’.

“May I know which sect senior belongs to?”

“Hmph-.”

“If you spare my life, my sect will provide senior with ample compensation.”

“Hmph.”

Demonic Arts. Elixirs or pills that enhance cultivation. Or offerings needed for cultivation. Whatever senior desires.

“Anything…!”

Crack-!

“Ugh!”

A rough groan escaped the young man’s lips as he desperately tried to survive.

When did she move?

The girl’s hand, which appeared in front of the young man, moved like a snake and grabbed the young man’s neck.

However, what was strange was that the girl’s skin, which was gripping the young man’s neck, was pale as if it were a cold corpse.

It was clearly the skin color of a normal human just a moment ago.

But the young man, whose neck was grabbed, couldn’t care about that now.

Meanwhile, the young man, who was constantly coughing, swung the steel fan in his hand as if to escape the girl’s grasp.

As the steel fan swung, a black wind swirled along its trajectory.

The black wind rots everything it touches.

But the girl’s body did not decay even when touched by the black wind.

The black wind created by the young man could not penetrate the girl’s body, which was protected by the power of the Ninefold Hell Body Explosion Art.

At that moment, the young man opened his eyes wide as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Annoying.”

Crack-.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the young man’s right arm holding the steel fan and ripped it off.

A terrible scream erupted from the young man’s mouth as his arm was torn off.

Red blood constantly gushed from the young man’s shoulder where his arm was torn off.

Nevertheless, the young man still expressed his will to live, begging the girl to ‘spare him’.

“I’ll eat your heart and soul well.”

Whoosh-.

The girl’s hand reached out.

Thud-.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the young man’s heart.

The young man’s body, whose heart was pulled out, lost its life and grew cold.

From the young man’s body, which had become a mere lump of flesh, a soul screaming in despair and fear was escaping.

The girl looked at the heart in her hand and the soul escaping from the corpse and said.

“Thank you for the meal.”