Devour Life Force

"A Yi, just what number Soul Ring are you after? We've already reached the area where fifty-thousand-year Soul Beasts roam," Ah Yin asked, sensing the presence of Soul Beasts in the surrounding woods.

"I'm not here to hunt Soul Beasts. I'm looking for the Blue Silver Territory," Huang Tieyi said, shaking his head. "I heard there's a mysterious place in the Star Dou Great Forest that belongs to Blue Silver Grass. It's rich in life force. I have hidden injuries, and I need to recover there."

"Hidden injuries? What kind?" Curious, Ah Yin stepped forward and took his hand. She sent Soul Power into Huang Tieyi's body, examined him carefully, then said in shock, "What did you do? You look full of life, but your reserves are badly depleted. You've only got ten years left!"

"Nothing much. It was all for cultivation, for getting stronger. I'm already a Six-Ring Soul Emperor, and I'm still young. Now I need to find a way to replenish the life force I've used up. I don't want to die so early," Huang Tieyi explained.

Ah Yin looked at the resolve in his eyes behind the mask, then pointed southeast. "I came from that direction. On the way, I passed through a place covered in Blue Silver Grass. It might be the Blue Field Territory you're talking about."

"Really? That's wonderful..." Huang Tieyi said excitedly. "Ah Yin, thank you..."

Ah Yin had only managed to say "No" before Huang Tieyi's back was all she could see. The other two words of "no need to thank me" never left her mouth. What an awful man. What's the rush?

By noon, with Ah Yin leading the way, Huang Tieyi reached the Blue Silver Territory he had dreamed of finding.

Ah Yin had already passed orders to this sea of Blue Silver Grass through the grass itself, so none of it greeted her as royalty.

Huang Tieyi lay down on the carpet of Blue Silver Grass and took a deep breath. "What a magical place. Even the air tastes sweet here."

"A Yi, you exaggerate so much!" Ah Yin said with a smile, sitting beside him.

"I'm not exaggerating. You and I are in different circumstances. You can't know how this feels for me." Huang Tieyi sat up, crossed his legs, and began to cultivate.

Seeing him enter his cultivation state, Ah Yin sat quietly to one side, taking in the Blue Silver Territory around her.

The technique Huang Tieyi practiced in the modern world was called the Great Art of Energy Absorption. It was domineering: it could absorb Soul Power from people and Soul Beasts alike. Paired with his Golden Sacred Body Martial Soul, it could even absorb another's life force. With every breath, he drew life force from the Blue Silver Grass. Each trace was faint, but a great deal could be gathered a little at a time.

Ah Yin remained calm at first. After Huang Tieyi had cultivated for an hour, she could no longer stay calm. Many of the Blue Silver Grass plants in the territory that had been Plant-type Soul Beasts had become ordinary grass.

She wanted to interrupt his cultivation, but then she thought again. They were only ten-year and hundred-year Blue Silver Grass Soul Beasts. Becoming friends with this human would make it easier to learn about the human world, and compared to that, their loss was nothing. She let him continue.

After two hours, the life force of the thousand-year Blue Silver Grass Soul Beasts had been drained as well. Another great swath of her subjects had become ordinary Blue Silver Grass.

After three hours, Huang Tieyi stopped cultivating. He had replenished the life force he had overdrawn for the sake of cultivation. Assuming a normal human lifespan of a hundred years, he was now eighteen and could live to ninety-eight if illness and disaster spared him.

Ah Yin glared at him as he finished, her teeth clenched. "Are you made of stone? You sat there for three hours! Aren't you stiff? Do you have any idea how a gentleman behaves? You left me sitting here waiting for three hours..."

Ah Yin's heart was bleeding. In those three hours, Huang Tieyi's cultivation had cost her thirty thousand subjects! She hated him for it, but she could not reveal who she was. All she could do was vent her feelings this way.

Huang Tieyi knew exactly who Ah Yin was, and he understood why she was complaining. Since she wanted to put on an act, he could only play along. Looking apologetic, he said, "I'm truly sorry, Miss Ah Yin. I got too absorbed in it. My life force was so low, and I wanted to live a long life, so I got greedy. I wasted so much of your time. I really am sorry..."

"Hmph. An apology alone isn't very sincere." Ah Yin turned her head away, pouting.

"Miss Ah Yin, I'd like to make it up to you, but I don't have anything good on me. I didn't even bring anything tasty," Huang Tieyi said earnestly. "How about I give you money instead? You can buy whatever you like when you reach a town."

"That's more like it," Ah Yin said, satisfied.

Huang Tieyi took a hundred Gold Soul Coins from his Space Ring and handed them to her. Ah Yin accepted the bag and tucked it into her clothes with a delighted smile.

"Miss Ah Yin, thank you for helping me find the Blue Silver Territory. I've replenished the life force I was missing, so this is where we part ways," Huang Tieyi said evenly.

"Hey, where are you going? We can travel together," Ah Yin said.

"I'm going to Spirit Hall. I'm one of its Soul Masters. Do you still want to come?" Huang Tieyi asked.

"Spirit Hall? Forget it. I don't want someone above me telling me what to do." Ah Yin shook her head.

"All right, then. With green mountains and clear waters between us, may we meet again." Huang Tieyi activated his second Soul Skill, Lingbo Micro-Step, and headed toward Heaven Dou Town, which lay between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Dou Great Forest.

Ah Yin watched him disappear. A bad feeling rose in her heart, and she soon understood why.

Across the Blue Silver Territory, Blue Silver Grass began to wither and die on a massive scale.

"What happened? Why are they dying?" Ah Yin asked, her voice trembling.

"My queen, that human absorbed a vast amount of our people's life force." The conscious spirit of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Grass appeared beside her and explained.

"I know that! I felt the younger ones lose their life force and become ordinary Blue Silver Grass. But that shouldn't have killed them!" Ah Yin said, trembling and bewildered.

"My queen, that human did more than drain enough life force to turn the younger ones into ordinary Blue Silver Grass. He drained them completely. You didn't sense it at once because he secretly drew life force from our older people and passed it to those he had emptied. Once he left, that life force stopped flowing to the younger ones, and they died immediately."

"That bastard dared to deceive me. The next time I see him, I'll kill him..." Ah Yin said through clenched teeth.