Chapter 50: A Fruit

Xie Dongsheng began to scream. He could feel a pain growing in his throat that prompted him to scream desperately for his life.

The seed refused to spread its roots into Xie Dongsheng's body. But it was sprouting as much as it could out of the small piece of the Black Oni's tongue.

Which wasn't much, but was enough to pierce Xie Dongsheng's throat and lungs. Soon blood poured into areas it shouldn't. And shortly in pain Xie Dongsheng perished.

Since Xie Dongsheng was dead there were no longer any restrictions on the seed to not use his body, and so it did to complete its growth. And from his corpse, a particularly beautiful fruit-tree sprouted.

The other Marked who had watched this gruesome display were shocked. Seeing how particularly painful Xie Dongsheng's death had been caused them to pause. Shaking off their shock they chose to rush in and attack the Black Oni.

But rather than stand there and fight them it retreated back into the darkness. And behind it, a swarm of Red and Blue Oni charged forth.

The Marked were all drained from the constant onslaught and a few were genuinely considering Overdrawing. With Chen Lan still charging her attack, they were left with few options.

Inside the icy dome, Chen Lan sat cross-legged still debating whether or not to use the Ambrosia on Feng Biao.

She wasn't sure of his background but it wasn't great. At best a bottom-tier Academy, at worst he was from the slums. Either signaled he lacked the funds to repay her for the Ambrosia financially.

Tossing that idea out the way in what other ways could he pay her back? Connections?

Feng Biao, thinking about it he was usually seen around Hunter Jackson and Song Zhilan. Hunter Jackson was not really someone Chen Lan needed to become more aquatinted with. His father was a taxi, but Hunter Jackson wasn't.

As for Song Zhilan, Chen Lan chose not to entertain the thought.

Looking back down on a dying Feng Biao Chen Lan struggled to understand why she was having trouble just letting him die. Previously when she and the other Marked had gone to fight the two Green Oni one had been critically injured.

The thought of using Ambrosia on him had not even crossed her mind. So why was she even thinking it was a problem to just let Feng Biao die?

Chen Lan did not believe in favors. Not really. Marked paid back favors to those whose positions were stable. It wasn't like she didn't believe in empathy in humanity. It was just that in her experience Marked as a whole seemed to lack it.

'Annoying.'

It annoyed her when Feng Biao showed understanding for her killing the worm, but still chose to act as if she had done something wrong. It annoyed her Feng Biao was connected to Chen Lan. And it annoyed her the most she was having an internal conversation with herself at this very moment.

Uncapping the Ambrosia Chen Lan decided on terms that would be acceptable to her. Pouring it into Feng Biao's mouth she watched as the effects showed themselves.

Ambrosia refreshed Divinity. Not only did it partially refill one's Divinity, but it also reduced any cooldowns one's Divine Abilities were under.

In Feng Biao's case, the refill was enough to completely fill up his Divinity and the cooldown reduction allowed him to use Vajra.

Yet rather than allowing Feng Biao to hop on his feet ready for battle it just allowed for him to regain conscience.

He tried to writhe from the pain his body was in but felt his body was in no state to move a muscle. His eyes darted around locking onto Chen Lan's own.

She seemed agitated.

"Listen, I have something to tell you. It's serious."

"I saved your life, but I'm not sure how long you can hold out."

While the Ambrosia had refilled his Divinity it had not healed him. His body was still mortally wounded.

But his Divinity was fueling his body's fight against its encroaching demise.

"You need to regulate the consumption of your Divinity. You're going to die otherwise."

"Don't try to move. Focus on making it work on keeping your vitals working."

Feng Biao closed his eyes and internally felt his Divinity moving rapidly. It was attempting to combat injuries all over his body.

Feng Biao willed his Divinity to wrap around only his heart and lungs. Rather than healing them, it felt like it was holding them in place. If at any moment he stopped supplying Divinity they'd collapse.

Feng Biao chose not to look at his arms and looking back at Chen Lan she nodded.

"Good, now I can tell you what you'll need to know."

"You owe me. And you will pay me back for this."

Chen Lan produced an empty blue vial holding it over Feng Biao's head.

"I used Ambrosia on you. I'm calling this a long-term investment. One day you're gonna pay me back for this."

"That's all I wanted to say at the moment, just keep yourself alive for now."

With that Feng Biao closed his eyes and focused on reducing his internal consumption of Divinity. His body was slowly eroding his supply to maintain itself, and if he ran out he knew he would die.

Feng Biao mused how his slowly encroaching death could be felt. For now, he was out of imminent danger, but as his Divinity reserves dried up he'd start panicking-

'No, I won't.'

'I'm going to stay calm and I'm going to keep myself alive.'

'To the very last second.'

Outside the icy barrier, only 3 Marked remained. The Black Oni's hit-and-run tactics worked flawlessly.

Even if the Marked knew it was coming they couldn't put up much of a fight, the constant onslaught from the Red and Blue Oni had worn them down. And any time one showed weakness the Black Oni had struck.

"CHEN LAN WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE OUT HERE WE NEED HELP NOW!"