"Hey, have you heard of what happened to the Hui fen vilage?" A man asked, nearing the the other one with a look, his face a picture of unsureness and slight terror.
"No, why? What happened to it?" The other one asked, a flicker of curiosity appeared in those black eyes, his chin was held up and the nose tip was facing the sky, the question lingered in the air.
"...Then let me tell you." The man began explaining, not knowing someone was listening to their conversation.
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Screams.
Screams were heard from a small and renowned village, elders, wives, kids, all were screeching and screaming in agony, their throat's were burning with the intensity of their life force being sucked out of them, blood gushed out of their mouth's, in every hole of their body. Their bodies were disappearing one after one by a dark, hidden and concealed existence.
Terror was what everyone in the unfortunate village was feeling.
How did this even happen?
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"Xiangsheng, what's this strange flower? If this one may ask of course..." a young boy, no older than 10 asked the man in front of him who gazed at the flower thoughtfully.
The flower was bigger than the usual size of it's bunch, it emitted a strange aura, one couldn't be sure to call it dangerous or not, except if one talked about the size, it was as big as a Maple tree, perhaps a couple of inches shorter but it was a correct comparison.
The flower was a scarlet red with yellow highlights in the shape of tears intricated on each petal was to be seen, inside of it were 7 black and 5 Ruby red stegma's.
The flower was a beauty in it's own right, it made you curious and lured you to itself.
"This one isn't sure, didi. I think we should ask the rogue Cultivator that's staying in our village for a while." The man decided, an air of uneasiness was around him, he didn't know what this flower was, but by the sheer size of it, made him hesitate to come closer to it or think of it as harmless and non-threatening.
"Should this one call the Cultivator, Xiangsheng?" The boy offered, glancing at their village that was to be seen behind the tree's.
"That would be great, didi, go get him please." The man nodded, his long hair flowed in the air as the wind peeked up.
The clouds darkened, the air had a cold breeze to it while the leaves of the tree's were rustling slightly, it was either going to storm or rain, and that was a bad omen.
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The Cultivator was displeased but he wasn't going to show it, he was a Cultivator after all, if he wanted to make a name for himself out there, he had to start little by little before he could start ignoring villages.
When he stood in front of the flower, his annoyance disputed into curiosity and caution.
He hasn't seen anything like that before, nor could he guess what kind of flower it was or what it could do, was it a spiritual one? Poisonous one? Maybe a normal one that was extinct and was irregular by it's size? A demonic flower? Or perhaps it was a flower to be eaten for one's cultivation like a ginseng?
Maybe he should stay in this village a little longer, to know more about this mysterious flower, if it was the latter of the things he'd mentioned, then he would make sure that he'd plant more of those flowers.
"Gongzi? Have you any clue what kind of flower this is? This one isn't knowledgeable about floral things but he senses something strange coming from it." The man bowed down, he unsurely was glancing at the flower, like if he took his eyes from it he wouldn't be able to stop an attack that would come from it.
The Rogue Cultivator hummed to himself, nope, he didn't know what it was, but he couldn't say that, it would be too humiliating.
"This one isn't sure, but this flower does seem familiar, maybe if this gongzi could stay longer, he might remember what it is from his scrolls?"
As expected, the man agreed, believing his words without a second thought, like a mindless puppet, it was good, he didn't want to humiliate himself and ruin his image of a Cultivator.
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Days passed and passed and passed.
A famine broke out in the village, the plants were withering away, any vegetable that was planted was rotting away and the soil was dry, animals were catching diseases or them themselves were malnourished just like any villagers in the Hui fen village.
The Rogue Cultivator didn't know what was happening, how could this happen in such a short time?
What was the cause? Something was taking the nutritions that would be needed in the soil for vegetables.
Villagers were panicking, they didn't even have drinkable water, they dug into the ground with their bare hands, dirt catching between their finger nails, but they didn't stop, they were thirsty, hungry, they were going to die of starvation.
What they were digging for was unknown, what were they searching? The rogue Cultivator didn't need to eat because of inedia.
Inedia is something every Cultivator can do inside their core, using their qi to flow through their golden core and to their meridians.
Though, only Cultivator's that have reached the Loose Immortal realm could be able to do it, if they were at the body tempering stage or the meridians opening stage, they wouldn't be able to use indea.
There are 9 realms, their stages depend on the realm, at the beginning there are 11 stages until you reach the Loose Immortal realm.
At the beginning, the 1st stage is Body Tempering: It strengthens a Cultivator's physical form by hardening the muscles, skin, blood vessels, bones, and the organs, making the body strong, durable and resistant to damage.
The second stage is Meridian opening: It's about unblocking, enlarging or creating new pathways for the spiritual energy that would advance a Cultivator to higher realms and stages, to also utilise stronger techniques and gain greater physical and spiritual power.
3rd stage Qi Condensation: Where a Cultivator begins to absorb the qi around them and store it inside, usually the Dantian, to refine their physical form and laying down the groundwork for future growth.
4th Qi Sea: That would also be called Dantian, its a place where the qi a Cultivator absorbed is stored inside, refining it into more potent forms, making the energy flow inside through the meridians to strengthen the physique.
5th Foundation Establishment: A stage where the Cultivator uses the spiritual energy to cleanse and refine their body, making it more suitable for advanced cultivation.
6th Golden Core: It's meant to be the orb that's inside your Dantian that is the accumulation of all the energy you have gathered in your body over the previous one/two/three stages of cultivation, and gives you a large boost to your abilities.
7th Nascent Soul: It increases power, extends life span, and new abilities like enhanced spiritual sense, hearing and seeing.
8th Soul Formation: It's a critical stage where a cultivator consolidates their Nascent Soul into a true Soul Formation by integrating it with a comprehended Domain of the heavens.
9th Void Breaking: A Cultivator's breakthrough to a newer, higher realm that involves Transcending their limited mortal existence und understanding the fundamental's of the universe, allowing for a significant increase in power and change in their being.
10th Great Ascension: Cultivator's gain immense power and control over the world's energy, making them get nearer to immortality by overcoming heavenly tribulations.
Then the realms and stages continue, it only goes higher and higher, making the one who reaches the highest realm a Primordial.
Cultivation was about absorbing qi, refining qi, strengthening your physical body and breakthrough realms.
It could take eons to get to the last realm, but the ones who are greedy for power would go for it, there's also a certain stage where your physical appearance stops aging or makes you age slower.
Using his Qi, The rogue Cultivator let is flow everywhere, trying to track the cause down.
Was it a demonic Cultivator?
He sensed demonic energy, it was dark, thick and inscrutable, it felt uncomfortable to the skin, leaving you with goosebumps, it was also hotter than spiritual qi that was cool and pure, the demonic qi was the opposite of it.
How was here a demonic Cultivator without him sensing them? How strong were they? Were they a stage higher than him or maybe an realm?
Little did the Rogue Cultivator know what was actually happening.
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The little boy fell down onto his knee's, you could see the bones under his flesh and the definition of his ribs, he felt weaker and weaker by each passing day.
He looked at the older male, he wasn't better looking, his hair seemed greasy from countless days of not being washed with water.
His lips were chapped, and his cheeks were hallow, to the point he looked like he would fall to death at the moment.
"...Xiangsheng...I'm so hungry...do we have anything edible left?..." He couldn't take the hunger anymore, it felt like his organs were twisting and shrinking, as if there were nail's trying to poke out of it, he barely had any strength to get up or run like he used to.
He wanted to be able to run qgain, feel full again, taste his mom's chicken congee and play with the other kid's.
Xiangsheng also Lian Zixue was his uncle, the only one left in his family.
Overcome with Hunger his Mom had passed away, she wanted him to eat the remaining meat on her bones.
He didn't want to do that. He didn't, but all he could do was cry and eat her.
His mom was just flesh and bones, she couldn't satisfy his hunger that felt like a pit, a void that would never be full, no matter how much it eats, even when he hasn't eaten in so many months.
How many days have passed? When was the last time he heard his A-Niang's voice?
"Sorry A-Ming didi, we don't have anything edible left..." Xiangsheng didn't have to answer to his question, he already knew, he was just so hungry that he couldn't think straight.
Food...hungry....hurts.
It hurts.
His stomach hurts, his brain feels like it's eating itself since he hasn't been consuming anything after his A-Niang's death and sacrifice.
"Okay Xiangsheng, this one understands..."
He already accepted his fate, he was going to die just like the way his A-Niang did.
There was no point. They couldn't do anything.
The village and his Xiangsheng already tried by going to other villages, but they were too far away, and their animals were also starving.
At least he would see his A-Niang again...
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At a night it happened.
"The house leaks and is then hit by continuous heavy rain."
—And the heavy rain was going to start now, which would be the end of the village.
The rogue Cultivator was frozen in horror, the village was getting destroyed.
That flower was the cause for the endless starvation and lack of nutritions, water, and for the disease that spread through animals that were near to the village.
The famine started because of this flower.
And he said he would watch over it.
He didn't.
He didn't do it.
This is all his fault.
The kids, they were lifeless, just bones. Their throat was hurting, they were screaming, anguished cries fell on his ears, loud, ringing and echoing.
"Help us!" A kid with hope sparkling in his eyes begged, looking directly into his own terrified one's.
"Please help me!" Another one.
"IM SCARED, I DONT WANT TO DIE! PLEASE HELP ME!" another one who hasn't even begun properly walking!
They were all kids, looking at him, their eyes were on him.
Cold sweat clung to his temple and above his eyebrows.
He was a Cultivator—he was supposed to kill evil beings that hurt the innocent.
He couldn't just leave them.
He was already in the realm of Loose Immortal, he could do this...right?
He was an hypocrite, he always ran away.
But...not now.
The flower released it's poisonous scent, if it touched you or you took a small whiff of it's scent, you would be coughing out blood and you would be able to feel your organs turn to mush.
The Rogue Cultivator used his spiritual energy to make a barrier that stuck to his body like second skin.
It wouldn't be good enough since the Demonic flower was fully fledged. Which meant it had it's full power to use now.
And the bad thing is—that he doesn't know what this flower can do, he can't estimate it's capability, in other words, he might be fucked.
He moved swiftly when the flower tore one of its roots out of the earth to throw him against the tree.
He saw how the villagers were getting those roots stabbed into their hearts, where they potentially lose their life essence as they got sucked dry and then just dissappear.
If those roots catch him, he's dead. That's enough motivation to stay alive, but is he able to?
The flower tore multiple roots out from the ground, all attacking the Cultivator at the same time, their movements were sharp, precise and without hesitation, the killing intent was almost funny for a flower, but it was a demonic flower, so it made sense.
He send spiritual qi towards the flower petals, hoping that one of it gets teared off or destroyed, but it didn't even merely scratch the flower! How was he supposed to put it down?
As he fought uselessly against the flower. The demonic flower was multi-tasking, killing the villagers, drinking their life essence, making itself stronger, while it still continued to fight the Cultivator to gift him the same fate.
The Rogue Cultivator panted, his nose was bleeding, his spiritual qi barrier was slowly being destroyed, the poison was going to get him soon.
With a groan he moved fast, enhancing his speed with qi and slashing the root's of the flower, his long hair tied with a simple ribbon was moving with the wind, he had to cut the flower in pieces.
That's the only way for it to die.
He send a palm strike at the next root that attacked him from the side, it was aiming at his head, the root was sharp, like a polished sword that wanted to dig into his brain.
His palm connected with the root, the palm inner lines were outlined with a crimson liquid, and the root exploded into little pieces, leaving only dust behind.
He didn't destroy the root unscathed, he was in pain, a lot of pain. His mind was getting hazy and his heart was throbing against his throat.
'Close call.' He commented internally as he wiped some sweat that clung to his eyebrow.
He had to destroy the other roots, if he did, then the flower wouldn't have a power source, and by that he meant the humans that it was sucking the life force out of.
Thousand of the root's sprung into action. Thousands of them, moving towards him like arrows, they were fast enough to make the wind whip him harsh across his face.
He used the wind steps that he learned from his once Master and evaded the root's that were trying to catch him by his legs.
Splinters were thrown at his face by the roots of the demonic flower, causing his vision to get blurry with blood covering his eyelids.
The rogue Cultivator jumped high in the air and onto the flower, his sword circling around him like a shield as he used his qi to make an energy sword that would slice the flower into half.
The flower's petals fell on the ground, the root's circled him like a tornado, the petals that fell on the ground, they got caught up in the wind and hit every part of the Rogue Cultivator's body, the petals were fast enough to cut his skin and make droplets of his blood fall down.
The petals turned into knifes. Sharp enough to cut him.
He couldn't see, and his qi was slowly running out, if it did by then, he would die, unable to even save the remaining villagers from the Hui fen village.
He should have killed this flower when he first laid eyes upon it.
The rogue Cultivator didn't know that he and the Demonic flower shared the same sentiment.
And just like that, his heart got pierced from behind, he tried using his sword to cut the root but he didn't have any strength left.
Something melancholic clung to his chest. He couldn't go back to his master, to make him proud by the fact he made a name for himself.
His master, what would he think if he didn't return?
He took off the ribbon he had tied his hair together with and pressed it against his chest.
Seems like he couldn't keep his promise after all...
"F..Forgive me...master." He muttered with blood oozing off between his lips, drooling down his chin and fell on the white ribbon.
His eyelids grew heavy, and he felt his essence get sucked out of him. He felt weaker and weaker, regret swallowed him whole as the flower swallowed his essence.
'What a pathetic death.'
The village was destroyed at that night, there wasn't any living person to be seen, there was nothing. It was empty, like there wasn't a village in the first place, but the people who had family members or lovers that lived in the Hui fen village, they knew that it existed and wasn't just a myth.
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The Man finished, the one in front of him was in astonishment, "Actually? A demonic flower killed everyone in that village?"
The man nodded, "Yes! But no one knows what it's name is so they gave it a temporarily one, Shi Hun Zhi Hua (噬魂之花) – Soul-Devouring Flower." He started enthusiastically, "But the crazy part is, that when people arrived at the village, the flower wasn't there anymore! As if it disappeared!"
The other one shivered "Ugh..really? What if the flower grew leg's and is now out in the wild trying to find it's next victim?" He didn't want to imagine it, that flower was strong enough to destroy one village in one night, if it came to their village, they would all also die, and he didn't want to die by being pierced into his heart by a root like beef skewers.
The man shrugged, "Who knows? Maybe it died from not eating more humans. Though if it did grew legs and decided to destroy more villages, ours would be next on the list. Hopefully it isn't."
"Mhm...yeah...hopefully..." He said with a shudder.
The one who was listening to their conversation stood up from the chair, put 5 silver yuan on the counter that was payment for their food and left.
"Soul-Devouring Flower...hm..." they muttered under their breath and disappeared into the crowd of people.