Amarathia

Warning: Slight gore. Also, there is an important poll at the end of this chapter.

...Qin Yan felt strange…

His vines had grown to the point that they could reach out and grab at things with enough dexterity to flay soybeans from the husk, but since yesterday evening, he hadn’t felt right. There was an urge...no, not a sexual one...if he were to compare it to human standards, this urge was like a twisting of the stomach, a vague thrill, a want for something. Again, not sexual.

It seemed what his roots absorbed for nourishment deep in the ground wasn't enough to fuel his growth anymore. A tiny intuition screamed to him like a perpetual headache that ceasing to grow stronger was the same as accepting death, and it was probably an evolutionary pressure that was the foundation of life itself. As the laws of the jungle go, creatures that do not excel and exceed and breed will die out, trampled by the others. But this gnawing sensation was entirely foreign, so Qin Yan was unable to understand what his plant body wanted him to do.

He soon had an answer.

A goblin-looking creature was slinking by his plant in the garden again, but Qin Yan saw something different about it. There were translucent veins beneath the creature’s skin, throbbing and glowing with a dark reddish hue. Nothing was wrong with the goblin, it was Qin Yan who could ‘see’ through the skin of this creature to the meridians¹The meridian system is a concept in traditional Chinese medicine about a path through which the life-energy known as "qi" flows. and dantians²These are the major points of Qi flow in the body, heart, liver blah blah. Just think of it as dantians being important places were qi pools. If a dantian is blocked or destroyed its much worse than if a merdian is. beneath, the core of its cultivation.

Without thinking at all, Qin Yan threw out his vines towards its legs.

As the goblin suspected no more than anybody would that an eggplant would attack him, Qin Yin's vines wrapped over its leg and onto its belly with ease. The goblin-thing began to struggle. It thrashed its arms, bit with its sharp teeth, and heaved its chest, but Qin Yan wrapped three vines around its neck to silence it. He was constricting the goblin, pinching closed its wind pipe as its eyes turned dim.

It was not long before the goblin could only twitch one leg like a mouse caught by a snake, asphyxiating, gurgling, and squeaking hopelessly. When the creature stilled, eyes peeled wide open but empty, Qin Yan realized it had died.

Huh. He didn't expect that...

He thought he should feel appalled at himself, but in honesty, he felt nothing...he hadn't been this heartless when he was a human. Once he watched a snake eat a mouse for biology class and been slightly disturbed by the slow, grueling process. In this case, the goblin was only another one of Lord Wangzi's mindless slaves. It had done nothing wrong to him and he may have even seen it walk past a few times before. It could have had a goblin family and goblin children that it was hoping to survive for. Ah, but most likely it was a person in demonic cultivation that made a nasty mistake, causing his body to change into a deformed shape.

Still!

Whatever and whoever it was still lying motionless, drool coming from its bloody mouth.

Qin Yan was stunned even more, then frantically thought, “Does it matter what it is or if it had a family?! I killed it for no reason! OH NO, someone call the police! I'm a hopeless fanatic!”

Obviously there were no police.

Perhaps it'd been longer than a few months he'd spent as a Demon Eggplant, Qin Yan could no longer tell, but the more time he spent absorbing demonic energy, the more he was deprived him of something he had before and something else was growing inside him. Dark and black, sinister. Even right now half his mind was occupied by this. Although he could not put a finger -vine- on it. Perhaps he was losing some of his previous emotions, remorse? Is this the rumored effects of demonic Qi? 

The goblin was still there, and Qin Yan could not help but space-off as he stared at the veins under its skin, slowly fading in color as the creature’s cultivation dispersed after death.

What a waste that would be.

Several of Qin Yan's vines inched back over and embedded under its skin, and he began to suck the demonic Qi out. He was instantly hit with an extreme sensation like a soaring high and his body surged with an energy that was quickly digested. He could not even think about anything else as he drained the goblin’s veins. When he finished, it had dried up skin like a prune, bones prominent under the flesh, sunken eyes where the  eyeballs themselves like tiny walnut seeds, and the goblin’s sharp teeth appeared to form a smile.

Oh no...now he's made it worse. It’s a bit eye-catching now.

No one seems to have noticed yet, but Qin Yan strongly felt that he shouldn’t leaving it lying around or the next person who walks by will shriek and get out the herbicide sprayer. That, or reveal to Lord Wangzi that he is here. Qin Yan wasn’t sure how common it was to get demonic plants in this world, but if it was eating your minions it would probably be taken as a threat. He had no choice but to cover his tracks and to literally sweep this corpse under-the-dirt in hopes. Phoenix Demonic Sect spans over several li³A li is about half a mile, and although this garden was considered a bit close to the Inner Court where Wangzi resided and traffic was sparse, there were still hundreds of Sect Members. So...no one will notice?

As such, Qin Yan pulled the body off the stone path, digging up the soft, ashy dirt of the garden, and covered it cleanly. He noticed a hand was sticking up and quickly broke it down, stuffing it deeper into the ground.

That should be good. 

Nevertheless, there was a sense of foreboding as Qin Yan viewed the tempting veins of others that passed by in the distance as the day drew on. It was like viewing plump cattle, pork, or chicken. He almost lunged out at more of them, but it seemed that eating the goblin’s cultivation was enough to restrain himself for a while. Aaaa, this was very, very bad. Watching the goblin asphyxiate to death was like viewing it on a television, not connected nor real, and so the tiny bit of consciousness had had left at the time hardly recognized that he was the culprit. That frightened him more than anything.

“Stop. Eating others is not okay,” thought Qin Yan nervously. “At least eat something without as many brain cells.”

Like a fish. Or a clam.

“They’re just a few lackies of Wangzi.”

“It tasted so good. Better than spicy ramen!”

“…that one looks especially good.”

An internal battle ensued between Qin Yan and himself.

...is this really himself? The peaceful Qin Yan? He never thought of violently killing others before and just a while ago he'd still been a good-hearted eggplant in this cesspool of a place, but it seemed a demon eggplant has a predatory nature. Come on...this is just unfair. He already had to transmigrate into an eggplant, can't he just be a normal one? Why did he have to be a carnivorous thing like cobra lily⁴ A pitcher plant! and Cape sundew⁵ Has sticky tendrils!! 

Qin Yan was having an identity crisis when the Song Heqing arrived with his near inaudible muttering.

As the protagonist, there was no doubt that Song Heqing would make a delicious, delectable, tasty morsel of a meal, but Qin Yan's fondness for the person that watered him since day 1 was much stronger than any innate urge to devour him. Luckily he’d just eaten, too. But…if he betrayed the one person who had brought him the slightest bit of relief here…he would have truly become a monster.

Qin Yan was inexplicably nervous. Although he didn’t harm Song Heqing today, what about tomorrow? He almost wanted to scare him off for good, but the loneliness of that idea made him hesitate even more.

Maybe he should just become so close to Song Heqing that even the evil part of him would allow the protagonist some respect and not dare attack him.

But how was he supposed to do that?

Qin Yan had always been at a loss on how to make new friends, let alone now that he was an eggplant. At this point it wasn’t a matter of starting a conversation (which was hard enough) but crossing a species boundary. He decided may as well follow the points system and do something to tease Song Heqing. Cause' frankly that sounded a lot easier to do than striking up a conversation and he needed lots of points so he could reincarnate into something other than a predatory demon eggplant. Preferably FAST. 

As Song Heqing bent down to water another plant while muttering, the vines of Qin Yan slid over from behind silently. One curled around Song Heqing's pant leg teasingly, feeling along the cloth to find the shape of a thin ankle beneath.

"Ahh!"

The startled shout of the young Song Heqing was rather high-strung and pure, and Qin Yan would’ve laughed if he could. It was cathartic to scare the future manly-man stallion protagonist to this degree. Wait, no. Uh...they say actions speak louder than words, so this will definitely let him become closer to Song Heqing faster? 

On the other hand, poor Song Heqing was clueless to what the new and unknown threat was. He curled his fingers into a fist as he swiveled around in all directions.

"W-who’s there?"

When Song Heqing realized that it had only been an eggplant leaf that brushed against his leg, his two cheeks reddened in disbelief. With glaring eyes and sword brows scrunched in embarrassment, Song Heqing was like an adorable puppy trying to snarl.

A notice flashed across Qin Yan's mind.

*Humiliation +3—

The points bar for humiliation filled to 3/1,000,000.

"Well, I guess it won't be so easy to reincarnate soon." Qin Yan calmly thought in his mind, “F*** you, system S.”

Even killing a goblin hadn’t given him any points, how was he supposed to farm them? Although, in the goblin’s case it could be because it didn’t feel much anger, frustration, or humiliation at death, but fear. Regardless whether it was hopeless to gather points or not, Qin Yan just needed something to distract himself from his previous actions, and Song Heqing’s reaction had overwhelmed him with amusement. He didn’t know how much he craved the craved interaction with a human after so long.

Since Song Heqing didn’t know he was a self-aware eggplant yet, he’d better play with him a bit more!

The vines lifted off the ground, tugged at the sleeves of Song Heqing's robe lightly, then tickled the side of his leg, making the boy shudder in a fright so bad he was about to drop his watering container.

Qin Yan's vine caught the container before it could spill over. 

It had to be mentioned that the garden’s bone lattice Qin Yan grew on was made from the bleached bones of all the unlucky servants and enemies of Demonic Lord Wangzi...who knew what punishment young Song Heqing would receive if he didn't water properly.

Song Heqing had been stiff with horror, arms tucked to his sides, but calmed when saw the watering container hovering close. It was as though the vine was waiting for him to take it. He couldn’t let the garden wilt, so Song Heqing let out a grumble as he snatched it,

“A demonic beast...? How could such a thing grow here?"

Qin Yan was given a wary squint as Song Heqing retreated to a spot far out of his reach, then continued watering. Finally, the boy had a pensive expression before stomping away.

*Anger +1—

Anger was now 1/1,000,000.

"Amazing," thought Qin Yan, "I’ll really be at 1 million in no time..."

“Oh well. Think of the silver-linings...”

Yes, he would have lots of fun teasing Song Heqing every day. For how much boredom he's forced to endure, this isn't an inappropriate obsession, is it?

Ahem. It’s definitely for the points.