On the altar, the thick, metallic scent of blood seemed to congeal in the stagnant air. Li An stood amidst the sea of corpses, his tiny white tiger frame trembling uncontrollably. His soul was a blazing sun, but his vessel was a cracking porcelain jar.
[Host, stop posing and move!] The System's voice was no longer mocking; it was frantic. [That soul shockwave literally pulverized the last of this body's vitality. The elders of the Valley of Ten Thousand Medicines have sensed the massacre. They're coming with the Enforcement Team at full speed. If you're caught, they won't just kill you—they'll toss you directly into the furnace to melt you into a puddle of medicinal broth!]
Li An didn't respond. He looked down at his blood-matted paws, his golden slit-pupils flashing with a ruthless, albeit exhausted, cold light.
He didn't run toward the valley exit—that was surely a death trap. Instead, he forced his limbs, which felt as heavy and useless as wet cotton, to turn toward the valley's most infamous forbidden zone: The Miasma Woods of the Back-Hills.
It was a place shrouded in toxic fog that could corrode spiritual energy—a nightmare for cultivators. But for Li An, survival only lived in the jaws of death.
He dragged himself through thorns and poisonous flora, his snowy fur matted with gore. As his soul strength hit rock bottom, he could no longer maintain his beast form. Before a hidden crevice in the mountain rocks, his bones let out a sickening, grinding sound. After a violent convulsion, he shifted back into his human form—slender, pale, and utterly broken.
Li An collapsed into the mud beneath a jagged rock overhang. The mountain rain washed over his translucent skin, exposing wounds that bled a pale, sickly red.
Is this… the limit? He curled his lips into a self-deprecating smirk, letting his consciousness slide into the cold embrace of the abyss.
Just then, a flicker of orange torchlight pierced through the heavy fog.
"Well now… what a curious little thing I've found."
A voice—light, melodic, yet as cold as water running beneath ice—drifted into Li An's fading senses.
Then, a pair of expensive black boots embroidered with intricate silver thread stopped before him. The stranger held an ink-black oil-paper umbrella, appearing elegant to the point of being eerie amidst the toxic mist.
Leng Heng had ventured into the hills to harvest a rare "Blood-Soul Flower," but he hadn't expected to find a "prey" far more exhilarating than any plant.
He knelt, his long, cool fingers ignoring the filth as he slowly hooked them under Li An's chin, forcing his head up.
"You're in quite a state, little one." Leng Heng's gaze was like a cold, slimy snake, traveling greedily over the devastatingly beautiful face. "Three broken ribs, a punctured lung, and most interestingly… within this shattered husk of yours dwells a soul so powerful it almost frightens me."
A flash of manic excitement danced in Leng Heng's eyes. He was an anomaly in the Valley—a "Medical Madman" who preferred dissecting life to saving it. To him, Li An wasn't a person; he was an exquisite, fracturing work of art.
"Who… are you…" Li An rasped, forcing his eyelids open. Even with his life flickering like a dying candle, the look he gave the man was sharp enough to freeze the soul.
"My name is Leng Heng. Remember it, for it is the name that will eventually be carved into your collarbone," the man chuckled. His movements were dominant as he scooped the drenched, shivering youth into his arms.
There was no warmth in that embrace—only the hunger of a possessor.
Inside the secluded cottage, the scent of herbs was so thick it was almost suffocating.
Li An was settled into a wide wooden chair covered in thick fox fur. Leng Heng slowly stripped away the ruined rags of his clothes. Under the flickering lamplight, the youth's body possessed a luster like ivory, yet it was terrifyingly transparent.
Leng Heng knelt between Li An's legs, a warm cloth soaked in precious elixirs in his hand, wiping the grime away with meticulous care.
"Don't look at me with those murderous eyes," Leng Heng said, sensing the tension in Li An's muscles. He smiled with a playfulness that didn't reach his eyes. "You couldn't even kill a kitten right now. Or perhaps… you'd prefer I find a more 'intimate' way to clean this body?"
His fingers intentionally brushed against Li An's sensitive waist, sending a jolt of electricity through the youth.
Suddenly, because his physical state was too weak to maintain a perfect human form, a snowy, fluffy tail matted with blood burst out from behind him, twitching uneasily against the fox fur.
Leng Heng's breath hitched.
He stared at the tail, his logic collapsing into obsession. He reached out and gripped the most sensitive part—the base of the tail—and gave it a sharp, possessive tug.
"Ngh!" Li An let out a fractured moan, his body arching instinctively. His eyes flushed a startling red from the combination of pain and humiliation.
"Don't expect me to be gentle," Leng Heng whispered against his ear, his cool breath ghosting over Li An's neck. "Little White Tiger, tell me. If I locked you in this room and fed you the finest pills every day until you were soft and plump… would you beg me? Beg me never to send you back to that altar?"
Li An narrowed his eyes, the arrogance of his soul erupting. He lunged forward suddenly, his teeth sinking deep into Leng Heng's neck, right over the carotid artery, until blood flowed between his teeth and into Leng Heng's collar.
"You can try," Li An rasped, his voice like silken daggers. "Try and see who gets tamed first—and who ends up as my sacrifice."
Leng Heng froze. The sting on his neck sent a jolt of adrenaline through him, and then he broke into a distorted, ecstatic laugh.
"Beautiful… you are so beautiful I could eat you right now."