Chapter 190: Binge Eating

Yang took a deep breath and quickly swallowed the demonic core as Senior Brother Fan Xiao stood close to him.

Unlike the beast cores he had consumed years ago in the forest, this demonic core carried a sharp, bitter aftertaste. And where those early cores had felt like boiling liquid scalding its way down his throat, this one felt ice cold. It felt like getting frostburn spread inward as the demonic core dissolved, turning into a frigid, icy vapor that dispersed through his body.

The frosty sensation soon reached his chest as Yang braced himself. He wasn't sure if he would feel pain or not, since he had already gotten used to beast cores and wasn't feeling the pain by the time he left the forest, but there were many variables that could make anything possible now. First, this was a demonic core instead of a beast core. There was also the part where the demonic beast's cores were from creatures far stronger than Yang had ever killed, or rather, ever consumed the core of.

The cold demonic energy spread through his body. Just as a sharp, piercing pain flared, he tensed as he braced himself for it, only for the pain to vanish instantly. It felt like it was all sucked away by the bead.

Yang sat still for half a minute waiting to see if any delayed backlash would follow. When nothing did, he looked into his sea of consciousness briefly and noticed that the webbing was still dim with no visible improvement.

He turned his attention back to the jade storage box, scooped up a whole handful of dark demonic cores, and tossed them all into his mouth.

The icy cold came again, faster and stronger this time likely due to the number of demonic cores, and disappeared even faster. The bead devoured the energy as soon as it had fully dissolved, not even giving it a chance to spread a bit. Yang had never felt it take something so ravenously. He could not tell whether it was the demonic energy specifically that suited it, or if it was weakened to the degree where it desperately sucked the energy as soon as it could.

He took another handful.

The next hour or so passed like this, as Yang kept shoving demonic cores down his throat like a man possessed. Seeing his speed, he actually saw Senior Brother Yuan Shen let out a laugh, but Yang paid no mind to it. He was completely focused on helping the bead recover. Senior Brother Fan Xiao was standing next to him keeping an eye on him like a mother hen, while his other Senior Brothers were busy scouring through the whole chamber.

It was a cave with dried blood all over the walls, forming a thick layer of it on the ground. He saw his Senior Brothers try everything from punching at the walls to attacking them with various weapons. But there seemed to be no way out.

Yang grabbed another handful of demonic cores and swallowed them down, and glanced down to find the jade box still as filled as before. Apparently it had extended space and he was going to be here for a while.

The next couple of what felt like hours passed like this, Yang acting as a bottomless pit for demonic cores, putting a dent in the box Senior Brother had given him. He must have swallowed thousands of cores by now, and it all seemed to be all absorbed by the bead.

He again placed his hand inside the box only to meet smooth, empty jade. He looked down at the box on his lap and realised he had emptied the whole box. He peered inside his sea of consciousness to see if the web was bright as it was before.

It was not. While it had recovered some of its former brightness, it was still far off to what it was like before the bead had communicated with Senior Brother Fan Xiao.

Yang stood and looked at Senior Brother Fan Xiao. "It is less than halfway recovered."

Senior Brother Fan Xiao maintained his calm expression, though a flicker of subtle disappointment crossed his eyes. Reaching out, he took Yang's wrist, his fingers resting over his pulse to check his condition for a few seconds before letting go. "You remain completely unharmed by the demonic qi. That is what matters most." He paused, looking around the cavern. "We will find another way to handle the rest."

With a silent nod Senior Brother Fan Xiao then went off towards Senior Brother Qing An.

Yang himself made his way towards Senior Brothers Zhen Hao and Yuan Shen, scanning around to see if there was something he could notice that may help them escape this place. As he approached, it was Senior Brother Zhen Hao who addressed him first. "Junior Brother Yang. How are you holding up?"

"I am fine, Senior Brother. Just thinking about how we’ll get out of here," Yang said, casting a wry look around the bloody chamber.

"We will find a way. This is hardly the worst situation we've been in," said Senior Brother Yuan Shen, before adding in a disgusted tone, "We could still be without senses, ripe for picking by that creature."

"What was it exactly?" Yang asked.

"A corrupted construct birthed from foul, ancient magic," Senior Brother Zhen Hao answered, his expression darkening. "It was entirely composed of lingering malice, driven solely by the urge to inflict its own torment on anything living." He looked at Yang with genuine warmth. "It was fortunate you were able to guide Senior Brother Fan Xiao when you did. That creature nearly took Senior Brother Yuan Shen's arm off in the dark."

"Indeed, I must thank you for that." Senior Brother Yuan Shen said with a smile. "I thought we'd be protecting you on this trip, but instead it's you who has been of the most help so far."

Yang shook his head quickly. "If it weren't for all of you I would not have survived the first hour in this world." He changed the subject before it could continue. "I will help you look for an exit."

Yang quickly started walking through the room, taking a look at every detail he could see, which was not exactly a lot considering there was little to see beyond bare stone and dried blood.

Reflecting on what his Senior Brother had said about Yang's contribution he couldn't help but think none of it would have been possible without them protecting him.

Even with the aid of inner instinct he wouldn't have been able to get away from that monster, and he doubted the bead could have actually been able to physically save him from it. Now that he knew for sure what the limit of its power was he should be able to make more informed decisions. No wonder it only becomes active when he is in mortal danger, and or asks specifically for its guidance, and then goes into dormancy to recover.

Yang now hoped it was recovered enough to at least find a way for all of them to leave this place.

This ordeal had been a harsh lesson. Staying within the safety of his sect had made his life too comfortable. He had fallen into the habit of prioritising craft over technique. No matter how much he lacked interest in combat and defence, he had to fully concentrate on improving his cultivation and repertoire of techniques as well. And now he had another aim, the world bud. It was clear that if he intended to have the bead as his trump card he needed to actively work on increasing the energy he put into it.

He stepped over the spot where the creature had met its end, noticing that even the foul, sludgy remains of its corpse had been reabsorbed into the stone floor.

Walking past the central area, he headed toward a jagged stone formation where he remembered nearly stumbling while Senior Brother Fan Xiao was waving him around like a flag, but suddenly at his next step he stopped as he felt a tingle from deep within his chest. Weak and barely there.

If he had been an actual mortal he would have ignored it as a bout of heartburn. But he was a cultivator; even at the early stages of Qi Condensation, physical ailments like heartburn were a thing of the past.

He froze still at the exact place where he had felt it and looked around, trying to see what it was trying to show him.

Senior Brother Fan Xiao and the others must have been keeping a very close eye on him, because soon enough all his Senior Brothers were around him, forming a circle with him.

"Did you notice anything, Junior Brother?" asked Senior Brother Qing An.

Yang stood quiet for a moment and slowly nodded his head. "I think there is something here," he said before looking around at the lack of walls around them, and then, as if they all reached the same conclusion at once, they all looked down at the floor together.

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