Chapter 2: Vengeance Under the Corpse and the Abhorrent Cultivation
The bone-deep chill from the black stone, the pain of a thousand needles stabbing his body, and the flame of vengeance that had ignited in his eyes—
Mu Chen woke up abruptly in the middle of the night. The scent of blood and decay still permeated the air, but what had changed was the "Sensation" inside his body.
The exhaustion remained, but he no longer felt like he was dying. His veins seemed to have been purified by some kind of black ice, allowing him to rise to his feet, though he staggered slightly.
He looked up at the blood-red moon illuminating the horizon. It was only a dim light that offered no warmth, but in that darkness, he realized that the Black Stone he had grasped last night was gone.
"It vanished... or was it just a dream?" Mu Chen pondered frantically.
But the evidence remained: a faint wisp of black, cold energy circulated in his lower abdomen. It was not Qi, but it made him feel "Alive" and "Ready to Destroy" more than ever before.
Savage hunger abruptly attacked him. Mu Chen had to crawl out of his hiding spot to search for scraps. He headed towards the villagers' daily garbage dumping point.
Mu Chen crawled his way to the large waste pile.
He noticed the still body of an old man lying next to the massive mound of trash. The man was a beggar who used to live in the area, often beaten for sport by the disciples of the Three-Headed Sect. Now, he was dead.
"He's dead..." Mu Chen felt no pity; only an absolute frigidity resided in his heart.
Just as he was about to rummage for food scraps near the old man, the wisp of black coldness in his lower abdomen suddenly "vibrated" faintly.
[Reaction of the Demonic Energy]
The black energy was "demanding" Mu Chen to do something to the lifeless body before him.
His instinctual madness commanded him to touch the corpse.
Mu Chen placed his mud-stained hand on the chest of the old man's corpse.
Instantly, the black cold energy violently rushed out of his body, passed through his hand, into the corpse, and began absorbing the "Essence of the Extinguished Life" back into him.
Mu Chen did not "absorb Qi," because the old man possessed none. Instead, he absorbed the "Flickers of Life's Purity."
This infusion slightly strengthened the Demonic Energy within him.
The minuscule increase in power made Mu Chen feel a slight Satiety. Instead of food, it was the most Abhorrent Form of Cultivation imaginable.
The realization dawned:
"If I do this... I will grow stronger..." This thought did not come from reason, but from the raw malice that dictated his survival.
He didn't consider his actions evil or wrong, for virtue had never truly existed in his world.
Mu Chen looked at the corpse and realized he would no longer need to starve, provided he could find other "Energy Sources."
Mu Chen quickly hid back inside the old timber wreckage. He clenched his fists, staring at the dim lights of the Three-Headed Sect only a few hundred meters away. That was where he was beaten. That was where his hatred was cultivated.
His eyes reflected a thirst for blood and madness. He began to memorize the "Sensation" of the Demonic Energy flowing through his body.
"I will accumulate it... little by little... until I can walk back into that Sect on my own two feet."