Chapter 35: Full

Outside the cave laid the corpse of the Green Oni. Monsters did not dissolve into existence when killed, they were after all impure beings made of material flesh.

In their essence Monsters were basically animal-Divinity hybrids. Some leaned more to one side than the other. The Green oni leaned more towards being a biological being, which is why its corpse had such a pungent scent.

That scent from its corpse attracted another Green Oni, one that recognized it as a familiar scent. Seeing the corpse of another Green Oni it did only what was natural to it. It consumed it, as it had consumed any other Green Oni it had ever stumbled upon.

Typically that required a fight, but this time a free meal was presented to it. The reason for why this particular Green Oni was dead was irrelevant to it, the only thought in its mind was the ever consuming demand that had been there since it first became a Green Oni

"Eat"

Of course, just eating dirt and trees would not suffice, it needed to consume Divinity, and the more the better.

And so the simple creature ate the corpse of another simple creature. And that would have been all that would have happened if the Green Oni did not possess a medium-sized Mythological Fragment inside its corpse. Upon chewing on the piece of flesh that hid this piece of Divinity the Green Oni began to feel a change.

It no longer felt hungry. It was a foreign feeling, it had always felt hungry. As a Blue Oni, as a Red Oni, and especially as a Green Oni. Yet the more it consumed of the Fragment the more it began to feel full. A wonderful feeling of contentment overcame it and the Green Oni, having finished consuming the Mythological Fragment, stopped eating the corpse.

For the first time in its existence, it did not finish a meal. It simply laid on the mountain and looked up. Without the constant thought of consumption ruling its mind, it had no goal. It began to grow dreadfully tired and closed its eyes, unable to fight the urge to sleep it drifted off peacefully into a slumber it vaguely recognized.

It was the same one it had entered before it became a Red Oni, and the same that took place before it became a Green Oni. The sleep that preceded a growth of its potential.

Inside the cave, Yi Lingshi and Wang Haisheng painfully clutched their bodies as they writhed on the floor. If they lacked a Divine Foundation they would surely only have minutes to live, but the key benefit of the Divine Foundation was the tempering of internal organs and bones.

This didn't mean they were fine, they had suffered a strike full of Divinity upon their bodies without defending against it with their own Divinity. In the confusion of the light, they had instinctively gathered up their Divinity in their arms, away from their body.

If they had been calmer and not channeled their Divinity so chaotically they might have been able to avoid a mortal wound. As it stood, even if their livers hadn't exploded they were still ruptured. In due time without treatment, they would die.

"You're done," Feng Biao said staring coldly at the two below him.

"Are you gonna kill us?" Yi Lingshi said realizing what had just happened was a complete betrayal, which frankly he couldn't begin to care about. His own survival was his top priority.

"No, and you should have enough Divinity to get down from the mountain and leave the Marble alive," Feng Biao replied flatly.

Without a word Wang Haisheng painfully turned his body around and made his way towards the caves' exit. He swore in his heart he would kill Feng Biao no matter what it cost him, but for now, he needed to conserve his strength and save his life. As someone who had participated in Sanctioned Duels, he was familiar with the feeling of a ruptured organ.

Unpleasantly painful, that was the best way to describe it. Focusing his Divinity into his body he could accurately tell which organ, in particular, was the cause of his pain, and looking at where Yi Lingshi was clutching his body he guessed they both shared the same injury.

"FUCK!"

An external scream was released in anger and frustration. The two injured Marked were able to channel their Divinity into their Divine Foundations and slow the rate at which their injury affected their body and managed to shakily stand.

They both slunk away from Feng Biao back towards the entrance of the cave. Feng Biao meanwhile was already moving forwards past both Cui Meizhu and Hu Shunzhi. It was Cui Meizhu who spoke as she carried Hu Shunzhi on her back.

"Umm, are you sure it's alright to let them go?"

"You can go kill them if you want, but you know what they say about rats and cats," Feng Biao replied continuing to quickly walk in the now illuminated darkness.

"I just don't get why you didn't include killing them in your plan, I mean it worked perfectly, but intentionally letting them live after humiliating them..." Cui Meizhu trailed off. In her mind, Yi Lingshi and Wang Haisheng would surely recover. They would no doubt target the three of them afterward, but primarily Feng Biao.

Feng Biao remained silent. He wasn't sure himself. The idea of killing just left a nasty taste in his mouth. Thinking about it he realized it was that damn Wang Hao's fault. Instilling morals into him and making him stay out of trouble in the slums.

Yes, he had been raised with a moral compass, that was it. Taking another life directly was something he felt he could only do in the direst of circumstances. Because he had been shown great kindness by another human being he could not cut himself off from the idea of humanity.

"They have people who care about them too."

That was the simplest reason that held Feng Biao back from culling what he knew would be a great problem. Empathy, Feng Biao laughed, empathy was truly a weakness. Yet without empathy, he would surely not have been raised by Wang Hao, so how could he spit on it?