Would You Like to Gain Eternal Life?

The man stared greedily at Li Qingyue, while Li Qingyue fell silent.

As the man drew closer, Li Qingyue could clearly see the countless holes riddling his chest.

To put it bluntly, his first reaction was disgust. The holes looked as though ants had gnawed them out, like a nest spread densely across the man's skin. The sight was revolting.

The enormous elk behind the man was much the same, its body pitted with hollows of every shape.

It looked close to death, a dying husk that somehow still radiated utter madness.

Li Qingyue met the man's gaze and was silent for a moment.

Then he calmly raised both hands above his head in surrender. "I'm not a girl. I'm a boy—a real man. I just look a little like a girl, so don't get the wrong idea."

Li Qingyue sounded somewhat helpless as he spoke.

His voice was still deep and resonant. Anyone hearing it would know it belonged to a man.

The middle-aged man stopped. He studied Li Qingyue closely, his frown deepening.

Though inheriting the legacy of Yaoshi, the God of Abundance, had begun to make Li Qingyue's appearance resemble Yaoshi's, the shape of his face was still much as it had been before.

At the sight of that face, the man frowned slightly. "I think I remember what you look like. About half a year ago... I think I killed you."

He paused, looking at the young man before him in puzzlement.

He remembered the young man so clearly not because of his face, but because of his worn clothes, which still carried a trace of finery.

More than that, though, he remembered the young man's parents.

"I was out collecting scrap back then, rummaging through trash bins in Eastsea City's wealthy district. I happened to run into a middle-aged couple who weren't all that old. I think you were with them."

As he spoke, the middle-aged man examined the young man even more closely.

There was no light here, and everything around them lay in gloom. Yet the glow and aura of his Soul Rings let him make out something unmistakably familiar about the young man.

The young man's hair, features, and even eyes had changed somewhat. His skin had turned an unusually pale, jade-like white. Even so, that inexplicable sense of familiarity lingered.

He remembered killing the parents and their child with particular clarity.

In this world, people were rather indifferent to family ties and affection.

Most of the people he hunted would flee as soon as he killed one of them.

Whether they were parents, spouses, or friends, most chose to abandon the others and save their own lives.

Or perhaps, once they saw the strength of a Soul King, fear simply drove them away.

That young man's parents had been the one exception. He had seized their son and threatened to kill him if they ran.

The couple had stopped at once. They hadn't moved. They'd offered their own lives in exchange for their son's, but in the end, he hadn't kept his word.

At the thought, the middle-aged man shook his head lightly.

Seeing the confusion in Li Qingyue's eyes, he recounted the whole thing to him.

A mocking note threaded through the man's voice, and Li Qingyue's body stiffened slightly.

Some instinctive awareness seemed to remain in his body, telling him that the man spoke the truth.

He clenched his fists, his face twisting as he stared at the man.

The man watched him with keen interest.

"I'm curious about your Martial Soul. What kind could bring you back after you've been dead for so many days? It must be something extraordinary."

"I remember your mother's Martial Soul was powerful too—some kind of firebird or fire phoenix. I've heard a fire phoenix can be reborn through nirvana. Could you really have come back from the dead?"

The man walked forward as he spoke. There was no cruel killing intent in his eyes, only the amusement of a hunter toying with his prey.

So what if the young man had awakened a Martial Soul? So what if he had gained considerable strength?

He could never match him. With the power the man possessed, the young man had no chance.

But as Li Qingyue looked at the man's mutilated body, calm returned to his face. He studied him.

Though he was shorter than the man, a hint of condescension entered his eyes, as if he were looking down on him from above.

"Those holes in your body came from some kind of illness, didn't they? It's tormented you until you've gone completely mad."

"Even if your Martial Soul isn't evil, you've fallen lower than an Evil Soul Master."

Li Qingyue spoke very softly, his dark eyes resting steadily on the man.

The man froze for an instant at his words, then gave a derisive chuckle and nodded.

"It is an illness—a curse laid on me by an Evil Soul Master. If I don't want to die in agony, I have to sustain myself with human blood and hearts."

"You seem so kind and compassionate. Would you be willing to die for me again?"

The man smiled at Li Qingyue, who looked back at him calmly.

No other emotion showed in the young man's eyes. He stood there in silence, then raised a hand.

A branch of uneven length appeared in his hand. Not a single tender bud grew from it, yet a hazy green light shimmered around it. A soft, lilting sound began to spread through the air.

The power left the man momentarily dazed. He stared greedily at the branch. Within it seemed to lie the thing he had desired most all his life—the thing he coveted above all else.

"I can grant you Eternal Life. Life without end, a body that will not die, flesh that grows without limit... and a mind that crumbles without cease."

Li Qingyue's voice was soft, yet it held a bewitching pull.

Ordinarily, he would not have spoken those last two parts aloud. But looking at the man's face, he had said them anyway.

He had inherited the legacy of Yaoshi, the God of Abundance. Perhaps when he truly came into his power, he too would bestow Eternal Life upon countless people, as that great being did.

But he was not Yaoshi yet. He could not summon such boundless compassion, nor could he be so noble and righteous.

Now he looked down at the man as a god might look upon a worshiper.

Calmly, he asked, "Would you like to gain Eternal Life? Praise the Medicine King, and eternal life can be yours."