Chapter 1597 1590: Fortuitous Encounter: Hunger (4)
Where am I? Why am I engulfed by this warm light? Who am I?
Engulfed in a warm light, enveloped by a layer of interwoven energies, the flawless woman had her very first series of thoughts. They were intelligent and inquisitive and asked in the most personal introspective manner. She seemed to be beckoning these answers from her True Soul.
She was newly born, but she wasn"t without intelligence, awareness, wisdom, or instinct. She had all four and her thoughts swirled into a cohesive whole through a complete process of questions and discovery.
She smelled a fragrance so heavenly that she knew there was likely no rival in this world; she tasted nectar so sweet that her lips puckered and her tongue lightly licked with an indescribable relish; she heard her own heartbeat that was steady, powerful, and alive; she felt the purest warmth of the world and the presence of her soul; her eyes were closed yet the brilliance of the heavens seared itself through her eyelids, allowing her to view the cosmos in the most intimate view.
All of these sensations branded themselves into her True Soul, imparted with an understanding of a living being. Innately, she was gifted with knowledge of the heavens, insight of the world, and an understanding of the great daos.
Something"s wrong...with me.
After adjusting to the world, she felt it. It was a vital deficiency. It was hard to describe or understand for her initially, but she felt that her body wasn"t...entirely correct. It wasn"t in line with what it meant to be a genuine living being. It lacked something important.
Will I be born like this? I want to be born. I...want to exist.
She clung to life like an infant clung to the warmth of its mother. It was with the purest and most untainted feelings in existence. From beyond her coc.o.o.n of interwoven energies of the heavens, her very own egg of sorts, she heard the voices of two beings.
Males? Men? They are men.
Her innate knowledge allowed her to grasp their ident.i.ties from the masculine tone of their voices.
I...am I a female? A woman?
Self-discovery flourished within her thoughts while the golden coc.o.o.n began to tremble lightly. It was indicative of its imminent shattering-of her imminent birth into this world. She could do nothing to halt the process nor attempt to interfere. She was going to be born.
But I lack...something. What will I be? Will I live? Will I...die?
The coc.o.o.n began to rise above the lake and the warmth felt tighter than before as if the liquid within, that sweet nectar, was congealing into something else entirely. It was preparing the last-minute solidification of her fleshy form.
...
I don"t want to die. I don"t want to die. I don"t want to die.
Her thoughts repeated incessantly until her coc.o.o.n exploded, freeing her from her sh.e.l.l, and allowing her to be exposed to the world"s essential energy-Mana. The very thing that kept the world itself together like glue, regulating all things, maintaining all things, and existing in all things. Her body was flooded by this as she evolved to adapt to the entire world, be it a lake or a galaxy.
While her eyes remained closed, she could "sense" the world on a level that was extremely clear. She intuitively grasped a form of Spiritual Sense. While it wasn"t strictly spiritual sense, it was what allowed demons to grasp an awareness of themselves and the surrounding world they resided in. It acted to a.s.sist and support, like an umbilical cord attached to an infant, meant to deliver oxygen and nutrients. Without this sense, those like a leaf, a mountain, or a drop of water would have no way of discovering who or what they were.
The only difference between them and her was their innate knowledge. As an existence that was successful in regards to the Impartation of the Heavens, she grasped all sorts of knowledge, insights, wisdom, and understanding from the moment she was born. They were imprinted onto her soul and reflected in her Primal Yin.
All that knowledge...that those gifted abilities had yet to be permanently imprinted, and should someone seize such a precious resource at this point of her birth, they would acquire all her innate gifts. The knowledge of the heavens, the insight of the world, and the understanding of the daos. For cultivators, this was the treasure of all cultivation treasures.
Irresistible.
Her soul s.h.i.+vered; A pristine white-robed young man entered her vision, and she could sense his rampant desire for her body and life. Intuitively, she could feel his intentions and wants. His desire to fight to possess her, to ravish her, to seize everything she was blessed with from the very beginning. Especially the ravish, the eyes that gazed upon her body were unquestionably heated with rampant l.u.s.t. It was hard to conceal nor was he trying to.
I don"t.
She knew about matters of Yin and Yang, including the act of copulation. Even demons can have children, those born from a drop of water or a Solar Star, let alone her who was humanoid born from a yin-aligned location.
I don"t want to.
She was powerless as the ambient mana lifted her, slowly infusing into her body for the purpose of perfect adaptation. She had no cultivation to speak of, only knowledge. She was as frail as a human infant. Even her soul was that of a mortal, slowly the Mortal Dao oversaw her adaptation while the other great daos observed her silently with a smidgen of their grand attention.
Don"t.
Suddenly, her body began to convulse.
Something"s wrong with me. It hurts. Is this pain? Why does it hurt? It hurts so much!
The white-robed young man"s timing was impeccable as he spoke in the common mortal tongue, a language she was gradually gaining intimacy with. From his words, she grasped her issue.
I lack yang? Oh. I do, don"t I?
There was a distance in her voice as she calmly gauged her condition. She verified the white-robed young man"s diagnosis. Additionally, her understanding of daos allowed her to fully know the importance of lacking either yin or yang during the birthing process. It was a recipe for disaster. A birth that could never be completed. Whether one was a man or woman, a rock or a Solar Star, the unity of yin and yang was fundamental in everything, and while some things might differ in terms of ratio, they always coexisted.
There were those with Yin Physiques, and even they had yang within them, permitting growth amidst the establishment of form, and vice versa. Without form, how could growth occur? Without growth, what was the point of form?
For the first time in her entire life, which was all but a few seconds now, she felt panic.
How do I obtain yang? Why am I missing yang?
She couldn"t wrap her mind around why her body could exist without growth. How did she even come into existence without yang? The potential for growth? Wasn"t she an infant? No...she was an adult.
She discovered her body was already fully grown as if the yang element of her body had been expended prematurely, exhausting itself entirely through the gestation period of her birth. That conclusion was correct; her Primal Yang had been exhausted unnaturally in her birth, rapidly maturing her body and mind. Her level of intelligence, degree of awareness, and bodily growth were all attributed to this reckless consumption.
No! No...I don"t want to die like this! I want to be...I want to be...I WANT TO LIVE!
Who...are...you?
Her "sense" suddenly caught another existence, the origin of the second male voice. He seemed to have vanished from her senses, as if he had merged himself with the void itself, cautiously withdrawing from her senses, and only now did he reveal himself.
If she could be considered flawless in beauty, then the man before her was peerless in existence as a whole. This was what her instincts told her. He was a person that pursued perfection, and was succeeding with each and every solid step or breath he made. It was miraculous and indescribable.
However, her heart pounded as her body convulsed more intensely after. The pain was almost unbearable. However, despite Wei Wuyin"s looks, temperament, and presence exceeding her breadth of knowledge by a tad bit, she refused to give her everything to anyone.
Within his eyes, there was similarly a mark of l.u.s.t and desire, a distinct hunger that permeated his entirety, and he eyed her with not the slightest wisp of love or tenderness that the heavens had shown her, but a swirl of selfishness and want.
I refuse!
She knew she would die without any infusion of yang essence, likely requiring the purest essence of it, but she refused to give her body to anyone based on superficial, surface-level impressions. Despite being a newborn, she rejected it with all her soul.
Don"t!
But...I don"t want to die!
What can I do?
-----
Wei Wuyin eyed the convulsing beauty after exiting from death. For a split second, he felt all the raw desire flow through him as he considered his gains and losses at this moment.
Eventually, a slight grin containing a rare sign of admiration formed on his lips. With a soft breath, he couldn"t help but mentally applaud the Heavenly Daos and the Bloodline of Sin for this carefully devised plot.
What should he do?
Take a bite of this apple? Everything was telling him that this was the appropriate thing to do. Moreover, it was the "right" thing to do. If he hesitated or refused, the Shard of Heaven, the Apple, this gorgeous and heavenly woman, would certainly die alongside all those extraordinary benefits that could be acquired. Who knows if such an opportunity will appear again?
Decades ago, Wei Wuyin had stumbled upon an ordinary young woman thanks to Su Mei"s superb instincts. After close inspection, he discovered that this young woman had a unique Yin Physique that was extremely rare-the Three-Point Yin Physique. When awakened, she possessed three Primal Yins, elevating her Yin Energies by several stages.
At that time, Wei Wuyin was young and ambitious, always having to deal with a.s.sa.s.sins or outrageous schemes to claim his life. He was in a world of deception and manipulation, having been plotted to be killed by his subordinates, betrayed by his subordinates at the behest of his enemies into framing him and harming the woman that was most important to him at the time-Mei Mei-and, despite their wild a.s.sumptions, had no cultivation treasure to supplement his rise.
He used hard work and dedication to achieve great and steady success, alongside intelligent schemes, well-crafted plans, and well-timed counters. He walked a tightrope. It was something where even the slightest showcase of carelessness meant his irredeemable death. In another life, it led to his death.
During that time, it wasn"t wrong to do anything for an advantage or pursuit of strength, yet Wei Wuyin maintained a set of principles and beliefs that he Inherited that he never allowed himself to lose, and he gave that young woman a choice. That was the least he could do. If she had refused, Wei Wuyin would have undoubtedly taken the indirect extraction route, killing her and acquiring all the benefits for himself.
She chose to live.
However, unlike that time, this situation was carefully curated as if his principles, beliefs, and hunger were taken into complete account. Because...if he didn"t...she would die.
She wanted to live, but she didn"t want to have anything of hers taken against her will. After all, she would lose everything that made her special. Her knowledge had yet to permanently imprint itself onto her True Soul, so dual cultivation would undoubtedly benefit the yang party only. Everything she had would belong to him. Unquestionably so.
However, she would live. If he acted and dual cultivated with her, he could be guilt-free of all consequences while gaining everything. Moreover, he had already scanned her condition. She needed a yang on the level of a high-level Ascended, but she was a mortal. Unless he extracted the Primal Yang from billions of young boys, essentially granting them eternal suffering, there was no other option besides himself.
Everything was carefully planned and considered this time...
"If you don"t do anything, she"s going to die!" Young Master Shang urgently shouted. He was currently suppressed by Wei Wuyin"s spiritual strength, and all his attempts at circulating his cultivation base were met by a sluggish response.
Wei Wuyin knew that this pristinely white-robed figure was the mouthpiece of the Heavenly Daos. Unfortunately, he couldn"t tell if the Heavenly Daos" urgings were to see if he would resist or if he would indulge. He couldn"t be certain which was the correct answer or if this was a trick question.
Should he resist the inner l.u.s.t within his body? That hunger that fed his soul and maintain his principles that he had developed after Na Xinyi? To never do something like this again...and allow her to die?
Or...
Should he allow his kind instincts and exploitative nature to succeed, saving her life while obtaining it all? In the future, he could make it up to her by bestowing her knowledge. Perhaps he could even use the Neo-Fruit of Eden Spell to return what he claimed today.
Back then, with Na Xinyi all those years ago, he made a choice no other cultivator would make.
Today, as he eyed the convulsing beauty that was experiencing a form of degradation of the soul and body, a process that not even his Minor Time Law could halt, he made a choice no other cultivator would make.
Standing over her floating body as it twisted in midair, Wei Wuyin"s silver eyes reflected the visage that seemed too perfect for words.
As if reacting to his gaze, her fluttering eyelids opened to reveal a pupil resembling a galaxy and irises of gold. The galaxy seemed to reflect Wei Wuyin"s face and contained a swirl of reluctance and pleading but also a tinge of acceptance.
Wei Wuyin placed his hand on his abdomen, just above his yang root, and this caused the woman to stare intensely at him as if wanting to sear his image into her nascent mind before she was taken for the sake of her life.
Wei Wuyin slowly opened his lips, "Are you...hungry?"
"..."
"..."
Young Master Shang was unable to hear those three words nor was he able to hear the reply.
Wei Wuyin smiled. Then, with the strength to pierce the Void, his hand at his lower abdomen breached his skin and dug into his refined flesh and muscle. With a vicious, flesh-tearing yank, Wei Wuyin pulled out his Yang Source!!!