White, that was the one word Huang Ying could use to describe the world right now. Everything was white, the blood that stained the ground, the sea of people around him, the chunks of flesh and organs scattered about, all of it dyed a bright and clean white. The law of devouring that had remade him, that flowed through him at all times, it had declared as such as he observed the world through its eyes.
Feast.
That which was white could be devoured and that which was black could not, that was the simple way the law of devouring allowed him to see the world. And now there was not a speck of black in sight, now he was surrounded by nothing but a smorgasbord waiting to be eaten.
"Come now! Take a step forward, raise your weapons and advance! If you stay back like that then you'll never get anywhere, clench your teeth and show your resolve!"
Huang Ying's voice was practically a roar as he moved forward, his two-headed spear continuously cutting through the air. Blood splattered both him and the white world around him, adding another layer of white to top things off. His shadow kept wriggling, the mud-like darkness stretching out its tendrils as it feasted on the flesh around it, both from the living and the dead.
His body felt like it was bulging, all his veins seemed to be on the verge of bursting from all the energy he devoured with every step. But thanks to the continuous need to heal his wounds or launch new attacks, the energy was expended as quickly as it was absorbed so he managed to keep a strange equilibrium.
Something entered the range of his perception, a spear tearing through the air as it flew towards his head. But Huang Ying didn't even need to raise a defence against it, a small figure dashed forward and hurriedly arrived at his side. Song Yi hopped up and raised both her daggers, crossing them in front of her chest as she blocked the spear, her raven black hair fluttering in the wind.
"You can't die...you really can't..."
Her voice was a bit powerless as she pushed the spear aside and landed again, her eyes unconsciously avoiding Huang Ying as she pushed her arm forward and dug one of her daggers into the chest of a woman that had tried to take this chance to charge in. He only glanced at her momentarily but he could still see the dimness in her dual-coloured pupils.
She looked sick and nauseous, she was almost as pale as some of the corpses around their group. Was it shame that was reflected in her eyes, fear, regret? He couldn't quite tell, she dashed over the new corpse she had created and charged towards two others that were approaching before he could take a closer look.
He simply pulled back his gaze and focused it on the front again, on the white world that awaited him. If she wanted to talk then she would talk, if she didn't want to talk then he wasn't going to interrogate her until she spilled the beans.
His shadow suddenly squirmed again, his gaze lowering since he wasn't the one doing it. A man rose up from the darkness, a dagger already in his grasp and pointed upwards. By the time his torso had left the shadow, the dagger he was holding had already pierced into Huang Ying's chest, it ran clean through his lung and poked out through the other side.
But what met the man as he fully left the shadows wasn't the soft gurgling of a man drowning in his own blood. No, what greeted him was a lowered head adorning a twisted grin stained with blood.
"Hah, that was a good attempt! You had the determination to attack so surely you've got the resolve to die, right?"
The man was a bit too close for Huang Ying's spear so he reached out with his free hand instead. The man tried to dodge backwards, but Huang Ying followed him by stepping forward, not allowing him to pull his dagger out of his chest. And then his hand reached the man's head. Or to be more specific, his fingers reached the man's temple.
Bones cracked and flesh was torn, the fingers acting more like claws as they dug into the man's skull. A soft, almost jelly-like sensation graced Huang Ying's fingers, each ridge on the man's brain could be felt if he just tried to wiggle his fingers a little. A patch of sickly darkness stretched out from his fingers and enveloped the man's brain, drowning his consciousness with the chattering of teeth and malevolent grins.
The wound on Huang Ying's chest closed up as the man and the corpses around him were devoured, the five other new wounds he suffered while finishing him also starting to close up. He didn't even bother counting the number of attacks that reached him, didn't really bother tracing their origin. He simply swung his spear again and stepped forward, leaving his back to Ying Feixu and the others as he bathed in the blood of the pure white world.
"Come now! Stop hiding and watching, crawl out and join in! You'll never feel as alive as you can right now, so straighten your backs and step forward, let's greet death on our feet!"
He strode through the blood that pooled faster than it could be devoured, his twisted grin searing itself into the minds of those who had yet to die. What sort of creature was this? He was being bombarded with attacks, the number of wounds he had suffered was already hard to count. But it seemed like none of that mattered, people kept dying and his wounds kept closing. He didn't even look like he was trying to rush to escape, he was urging them to come closer, to join the fray and bathe in the blood with him. This was insanity in human form, this was madness given flesh.
"He really is a bit twisted isn't he?"
"Twisted? Wouldn't it be better to say that he's absolutely screwed in the head?"
"Let's just keep it simple and call him fucking mad."
"A little focus on the task ahead of us would be appreciated, I don't wanna tell the underworld guardian that I died because some people were too focused on discussing the nuances of how messed up a certain person is. He's got her on his tail so this much shouldn't be surprising."
The group safeguarding Huang Ying's back muttered slightly as they looked at him. They had already gotten used to this nature of his, it was an interesting aspect that could attract people. But that didn't mean that they couldn't still be amazed by it, it was an almost suicidal way to go about life.
They also couldn't help but glance at Ying Feixu as they muttered. She was perhaps the most suicidal part of that personality. After all, who in their right mind would not only bring along, but willingly train the person who openly admitted that she just wanted to kill him. She had even declared that she would kill him here if he ended up stumbling. Huang Ying didn't mind the mutters from behind him, a voice in his head giving him the information he had been waiting for.
"I've found the messenger, he's not terribly far from here. If you keep going at this snail's pace then you should reach him in about three or so minutes."
Li Jun spoke somewhat unenthusiastically, it really was far too easy for him to locate someone in this city, even in the state he was currently in. Of course, had it not been for the oath he had been forced to swear then it was uncertain whether or not he would have actually given the truth at this time. Huang Ying's macabre grin grew a bit as he turned his head according to Li Jun's instructions, the people who his gaze landed on shivering somewhat.
"Over there, are you? We're picking up the pace a bit, don't fall behind."
He didn't look at them as he spoke but the others immediately understood that he was talking to them, nodding quietly as they continued to defend him from those that tried to attack from behind. They had launched so many attacks that they would normally be out of Qi, but the almost invisible tendrils he had latched onto them kept them constantly topped up. It was a state that most people would kill for, you could launch as many attacks as you wanted without ever having to worry about running dry.
But they weren't idiots, they could see the cost of that state. The entire world had been dyed red, torn up corpses scattered all about as that sickly looking darkness nibbled away at them. This was carnage, a sea of blood, this was survival.
Huang Ying gathered some strength in his legs and then took a powerful step forward, the gurgling darkness that stretched out from him intensifying its devouring. He poured all the acquired energy into his leg as he brought it down, the white world around him splashing upwards as he stomped the ground.
The earth trembled fiercely as a result of his stomp, the law of earth pouring out from Huang Ying and into the ground. A large crack spread out from beneath his foot, a gorge opening in the ground as the earth tore itself apart. Those who failed to evade fell into the gorge, earthen spikes jutting out from the sides and shredding them as they reached the depths. As for those that managed to evade, all they accomplished was opening the path for Huang Ying.
He kicked off the ground and shot forward, small footholds stretching out from the sides of the gorge so that he and his group had a place they could place their feet as they ran. The opening wouldn't last long so he had to take advantage of it while he could. It wasn't like the opponents would stop fighting him, the bounty on his head was far too enticing for them.
So it really wasn't a problem if he first went for the messenger to see what he knew and then took things from there. There would still be plenty of people to fight him after that, they would let him feel alive for as long as he wanted, until either he or they all perished.
His spear swept out a few more times after he reached the end of the gorge, white splashing onto white as he tore through the sea of people that was reassembling. But the gorge had done enough, the target was already within sight.
"Wait, Wait! I don't want to fight! Mercy, please, mercy!"
The man noticed the moment Huang Ying's eyes settled on him, it was like hundreds of needles had suddenly jabbed themselves into his neck. He hurriedly tried to push through the crowd as he pleaded for his life, he had no interest in having any dealings with this insane monster. But what a shame it was that he was doomed to not get the desired answer to that begging.
"Oh, don't worry, we won't fight."
The voice was already almost right behind him, a warm and sticky sensation now covering the man's back. How many people had been between him and this monster? Was it a handful, several tens? He couldn't quite recall, and glancing backwards was of no help, there was no way to tell which part belonged to which corpse and what parts had already been eaten by that disgusting darkness. A hand reached out and covered his vision, a myriad of crimson eyes and grinning maws becoming the last thing he ever saw.
"Yeah, figures that there'd be another one. Find him, Li Jun."
Huang Ying couldn't help but softly click his tongue after he scoured through the man's memories. He really was just a messenger, he'd only been responsible for handing over the file that the Domecliff Cove was paid to hand over to Liangyu Shao Zhe.
But of course, it wasn't exactly a dead end. The man had received the file from Domecliff Cove so all Huang Ying had to do was find the one who handed over the file. Scouring his memories should allow Huang Ying to find out who had sent the Liangyu family the faulty information about him, Song Yi, and Ying Feixu.
"He seems to be at his house right now, he must have been sleeping since he's somewhat drowsily taking a shower. Full-speed and you should reach it in about a minute I guess?"
Li Jun quickly located the target that Huang Ying pointed out, there was not a single place in this city that he could hide. He gave the directions to Huang Ying, who turned his body and head as he charged through the crowd. His spear continued to slash out, occasionally splitting into two blades when some people got too close.
A good portion of the people attacking had higher cultivation than him, but he was able to fight such people even under normal circumstances. Their numbers also didn't matter, it was impossible for them to overwhelm him thanks to his law of devouring. Each one he killed gave him enough energy to deal with three more people, death grew at an exponential rate as he cut through the sea of people.
But it seemed like the horde truly was endless, there was always someone new to take the place of the previous one. Greed was a strong motivator, that fact was all the more true in a world where strength was more often than not what gave you any rights at all. So they hoped and they prayed that they would be the ones who managed to kill him, that they would be the ones who reached him when he was weakened, that he'd run out of gas as they stabbed him.
But he killed and killed without pause, a twisted grin punctuating it all as pain assaulted him from all sides. His heart was thundering in his chest, he could hear it all the way in his head, echoing like the drums of war as his blood rushed through his veins like magma. He was standing. A sea of people wanted him dead but he was standing. His feet moved forward step by step, wading through that pure white world. Right here and now he was alive.
