Chapter 184 - The Tragedy of a Broken Heart [3]

Many years passed in his previous life. Cale was near the breakthrough to Emperor Stage, but he still thought it would take at least a year or two more.

"To think I was this slow... this system isn’t that bad of a thing after all."

But then suddenly, the demonic cult was attacked. Not just by one or two sects, but by tens of them. Cultivation families from across the continent converged.

Cale wanted to request help from other elders to rescue the main clan, including Cheon Yuha — only to realize that many elders had already deflected.

A full-blown war happened and millions died.

In such a battle, when Cale was about to be killed by a righteous sect master’s flying arrow the size of a chariot, Cheon Yuha appeared in front of him suddenly, taking the entire brunt of the attack.

Cale was frozen still...

Why? Why? Why? Why the hell would she do that? Where did she even appear from?

But then he realized, a bracelet. A goddamned bracelet which she’d given him as a gift, saying that it would protect him in times of need on its own.

To think it worked like that.

Original Cale had sighed in the illusion, "I asked the system to delete this memory. Why the fuck am I seeing this again!"

But it continued.

What pained him more was that he couldn’t feel pain at that moment.

Even now, his own sanity was kept by many skills, techniques, and laws, rather than going back to his previous state.

She died.

Only to make him rage more and kill more.

But who knew, this wasn’t the only shock he would be getting in that life.

A Transcendent appeared, a real one.

To think he would have such fortune... or rather, misfortune, since they were on the enemy side.

Just one flick, one fucking flick of their hand. And Cale had died, and not just him; tens of thousands.

Pitiful, ah! he felt pitiful, so weak, helpless. One with no backing and no origin. One left with no start and no end...

He couldn’t even register what the person did.

And just like that, in under a few hours after her death, he too died.

That was when he met Nocturnus. Or at least, heard him. He couldn’t see his face anyway.

***

The illusion was over.

Cale was back in the real world, uncertain of where exactly he was, somewhere on a random mountain in Vaeloria, at least.

It was night, and the moon did help settle his burning blood.

He sighed, cramping himself, pushing his head between his knees, hands curled around them.

After some time he said, "Do it."

[The Memories Have Been Erased.]

He slept just like that.

But the system kept chiming.

[Host Has Comprehended Death Qi]

[Reward: Heaven Predating Glutton

Grade: Earth Grade

Type: Devouring Technique

Description:

A cultivation technique that allows the user to devour the flesh, blood, and spiritual energy of beasts and cultivators, refining them into nourishment for their own body and cultivation. With sufficient time and understanding, the user can gradually absorb certain traits from their prey, though the process is neither guaranteed nor instantaneous.

The technique can also be used to devour small quantities of unrefined spiritual energy and weaken opponents by consuming a portion of their energy through direct contact. However, the efficiency depends on the target’s strength, the quality of the absorbed energy, and the user’s own cultivation. Energy that is too impure or incompatible may require extensive refinement before it can be safely absorbed.

The technique cannot directly steal complete bloodlines, physiques, memories, or cultivation techniques. Any traits obtained through devouring are limited and may require prolonged refinement to manifest. Attempting to consume a target far stronger than the user can control may cause severe internal damage.]

[Host Has Inherited The Sin Of Gluttony!]

[Predation Dao Has Been Inherited!]

But Cale didn’t hear any of it. He slept in his sound yet mind-heaving sleep.

***

Morning came quickly, and Cale rose with it...

He did notice a lapse in his memories. A gap where something significant should have been, for him at least.

"Hmm? Sin of Gluttony, huh... I see. Quite a lot must’ve happened. Given that this talkative system isn’t warning me, it’s either that the memory wasn’t useful, or I asked to do it. Heh, who knows."

Sighing, he started his walk. He wasn’t in any mood to fly, he wanted to relax a bit.

"Hey, what was happening last night?" he asked suspiciously.

The system didn’t answer.

While he didn’t recognize Cheon Yuha entirely now, he still remembered her name and his affiliation with her in his past life. But that’s all.

The same was with others.

He had somehow gotten a new kind of energy called Death Qi. Strangely enough, its quantity couldn’t be extracted from nature, but only by killing.

The more you killed, the more the reservoir filled. Then you could use it.

’It better be stronger than any other kind of energy.’

Fusing Death Qi easily with Chaos Flames on the tip of his finger, he pointed at a tree and used Holy Spirit Flame Bomb.

Boom!

The entire tree burst apart, reduced to splinters and ash.

’To think even just a little bit of this technique can do such damage?’

But he didn’t have much Death Qi in his body, since he had only started to comprehend it from now on.

But the future possibilities were endless and interesting.

Coming back to the main topic, he grinned.

"Come on~ give some hint. I’m getting more curious about what happened in that illusion. It’s more scary to not know about a mind-boggling illusion I was in, and it even forced me to delete my own memories. If I think about it, it’s literally more than ten years of memories! What the fuck was it? Tell me!"

[It Was About Host’s Love Life.]

This made him fall into deep thought.

Love life?

Did he even have a love life in his past life? Was it even right to call it that?

Even now, he did have a bit of affection. But he doubted he could truly love anybody.

He continued his walk, the morning light filtering through the trees, casting long shadows across the mountain path.

"A love life," he murmured to himself, shaking his head. "How pathetic indeed."