Am I the only one who didn't ascend?

Chapter 544 Heretics
When Qingyuan sincerely proposed to Chicheng to join hands, Chicheng's only response was the jade sword in his hand.

The jade sword was so cold that Qing Yuan couldn't help but stop in his tracks. His four eyes simultaneously showed disbelief... and rage.

"absolute sincerity……"

Hearing that familiar yet unfamiliar tone, Chi Cheng finally couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

"Haha, Brother Qingyuan, you want to join hands with me...but which hand do you want to hold?"

Looking at the six arms stretched out from Qing Yuan's side, Chi Cheng suppressed his annoyance... He had seen many Dharma images like three heads and six arms when he traveled around the nine states, but Qing Yuan's six arms were clearly stolen from different people. Some were slender, white, and quite agile; some were dark and thick, with dilated blood vessels; and some were tortuous, with one more joint than ordinary people...

After a bitter smile, Chi Cheng asked: "Brother Qing Yuan, where did you learn such an evil and sinister technique..."

Before he finished speaking, two balls of fire ignited on Qing Yuan's cheeks. Those were his two eyeballs burning. In the flames came a crazy laugh.

"Haha, weird, vicious... You've been away from home for more than ten years, and you've really changed, become... civilized. I heard that outside Jingzhou, many tribes have become completely different from ours. For example, people in Mingzhou like to watch the stars and the moon, and people in Wuzhou like to play with gold and stone objects. You've stayed in those places for a long time, and you've also picked up the habits of outsiders. Well, I don't blame you."

After hearing this, Chi Cheng's heart was slightly moved, and he forced a smile and said, "Brother Qing Yuan is really well-informed..."

Qing Yuan said, "I also heard about it from others. A few years ago, there was a caravan from another state. The captain's daughter was very good at telling stories. She said that although she was very young, she had followed her father and traveled across half of the world. She had seen hundreds of tribes, some human and some spirit. It was said that in Fengzhou, there was a country that was larger than any other tribe. Unfortunately, it was not a human country... She had endless stories to tell and never got tired of listening to them. But as I listened, I kept wondering, are these stories of hers true or false? Chi Cheng, you are knowledgeable and experienced, maybe you can confirm one or two for me?"

Chi Cheng was about to reply when he saw Qing Yuan slightly turn his head and look at his shoulder.

"Wake up, don't sleep anymore!"

With a roar, the flesh on his shoulder began to wriggle, and then a layer of skin and flesh separated, revealing a woman's face! The woman had delicate features, but they were twisted in pain, and she could only utter a faint moan.

"Please kill me..."

Qing Yuan grinned and said, "Before his death, your father begged me to spare your life. I promised him, so I will never kill you..."

Before she finished her words, a dazzling cold light from a jade sword pierced Qing Yuan's shoulder like lightning, blasting the suffering woman into a ball of bloody mist.

After a while, the blood mist fell, but Qing Yuan shrugged indifferently. The flesh on his shoulder was wriggling, covering the wound.

"It seems that the story is false, so she deserves to die."

Chi Cheng shook his head in pain and whispered, "The story is true. The world outside Jingzhou is indeed very different from here. I have also heard about the country established by the monster, but I have never seen it with my own eyes. I think she has really traveled to many places and seen countless scenery... However, she was... Qingyuan, what happened in these years?"

Qing Yuan watched Chi Cheng raise the jade sword painfully but firmly, then slowly retracted it, his eyes gradually became cold, and he said in a low voice: "What else could happen? Five years after you left, a new tribe migrated from the distant mountains. They were barbaric and warlike, not only occupying our hunting grounds, robbing our property, but also killing our people. The rest of the tribe was useless, and I was the only one struggling to support it. I don't have a good talent like you, just to survive, for myself and the tribe to survive, I must do my best. And the people of Jingzhou can do anything to survive."

Hearing this, Chi Cheng couldn't help but ask: "Jin Mu...Where's Uncle?"

"He died." Qing Yuan said lightly, "He died not long after I took his hunting bow away from him."

Chi Cheng was shocked: "You..."

"He wasn't going to live long anyway, just like every chief hunter," Qing Yuan said. "There has never been a chief hunter in the tribe who lived to be forty years old, and he will die even shorter than most of his predecessors."

Chi Cheng was shocked again: "Is this true?! No, no... it is true. If you think about it carefully, almost all the former chiefs died in their prime or even in their youth... but why?"

For a moment, the confusion in Chi Cheng's heart was obvious even from the perspective of an observer.

Qing Yuan did not answer immediately, but stared at Chi Cheng with complicated eyes, as if waiting for him to wake up on his own.

And Chi Cheng soon guessed the clue.

"Is it because of the Qi and blood cultivation method passed down from generation to generation, the Blood Transformation Method?"

Qing Yuan smiled: "Yes, it is the Blood Transformation Power that only the Chief Hunter can practice. It seems that Uncle Danxin never told you the inside story, otherwise you would have thought of it earlier. Haha, he is indeed a good father, much better than my dad."

As he spoke, he stretched out one of his own hands and subconsciously gently stroked the face that once belonged to Jinmu on his chest, but Jinmu no longer responded.

Qing Yuan continued, "Blood Transformation Power can transform the blood of other creatures for your own use. Everything swallowed will become new power. Only in this way can humans survive. Compared with those monsters and ghosts, humans are too weak. So, long ago, the ancestors who founded the tribe did not hesitate to endure tragic sacrifices and studied this Blood Transformation Power. From then on, the chief hunter of the tribe could have the eyes of a falcon, the claws of a lion and tiger, and the brute force of a bear and a bull..."

Chi Cheng couldn't help but think of more when he heard this: "And the side effect of the Blood Transformation Power is that the practitioner will inevitably die young? My father... my father didn't suffer from the evil spirit back then, but the blood-transforming toxin took effect?!" Qing Yuan bent his slender arm, stroked his chin, and said: "That's true, but Uncle Danxin's situation is indeed more special than anyone else's."

As he spoke, a hint of malice was clearly revealed on that face with collapsed flesh.

"The problem with the Blood Transformation Power is that when you absorb the blood of an external being, you will inevitably be polluted by the mind of the external being... It's not just a simple change in living habits, but many times, you will subconsciously lose track of whether you are a human or an animal. The more you absorb, the stronger the pollution will be, and as the chief hunter of the tribe, there is no way out. Therefore, without exception, hunters in the past would die when the pollution reached the limit. Those with better luck could still maintain the outline of their human form. Those with less luck would not even leave a single bone."

Chi Cheng asked: "My father is..."

"He was one of the rare exceptions, and he survived."

"what?!"

There was even a hint of sarcasm in Qing Yuan's smile: "He survived, but it's no different from being dead. You are his most beloved son, and you don't know anything about it..."

Chi Cheng suppressed his shock, anger and irritability, used the Qingxin technique to control the golden elixir, and asked calmly: "I really know nothing, so, Brother Qingyuan, please don't keep me in suspense."

"Heh, your intelligence must have been inherited from Uncle Danxin. He is different from all the previous hunters. When he inherited the Blood Transformation Power, his first reaction was: if I absorb the blood of another creature, I will be polluted by its mind, so wouldn't it be better to find a creature without a mind? And in the world, there are many creatures that are both powerful and dull."

"Plants?!" Chi Cheng suddenly realized, "No wonder he always liked to play with herbs. It turns out..."

"Yes, generally speaking, picking and processing herbs are jobs for tribal women, but Uncle Danxin enjoys doing it. The reason is that he takes this opportunity to absorb the essence of plants. The blood of plants can also be used for his own benefit... This is actually a very fanciful idea, and it is not completely compatible with the blood-transforming power that has been passed down for many years, but he has forged a path with his own talent. Unfortunately, this road is also a dead end. Although most plants have no mind, having no mind is actually a kind of mind. All things have spirits, this is what Uncle Danxin often said when he was alive, but it is also a heart-wrenching realization. However, the spirits of plants and trees are indeed different from ordinary creatures. Even if the pollution goes deep into the extreme, it will not directly kill people... On the contrary, it will allow people to gain immortality in a not-so-beautiful way."

Listening to Qing Yuan's long statement, Chi Cheng felt more and more uneasy.

That was the spiritual perception brought by the practice of Jindan... and also his usual intelligence. But at a certain moment, Chi Cheng just hoped that he was not so smart and clever.

Because the truth is cruel beyond imagination.

"Remember the warty tree spirit you saw by the river that year?"

"enough!"

Qing Yuan had no intention of stopping, but instead intensified his attack, saying, "Uncle Danxin had always maintained restraint and rationality during his lifetime, but after being assimilated by the plants, he lost all his shackles and was left with only the desire to survive. Before his death, his mind was almost completely wiped out, so he was extremely eager for human hearts, so he wandered in the forest and collected hundreds of human hearts..."

"I said, enough is enough!"

The jade sword's edge became colder again, almost instantly cutting Qing Yuan's throat, interrupting Qing Yuan's story.

Qing Yuan smiled, and meaningfully stretched out his snake-like tongue to lick his neck, as if feeling the chill of the sword energy… Then he changed the subject: “Don’t worry, Uncle Danxin has rested in peace. My father comforted him personally before he died. Haha, the result is that he is covered in wounds and can never regain his peak, which is equivalent to giving me the hunting bow for nothing. But, this is also what he owes Uncle Danxin.”

Chi Cheng ignored these words and warned solemnly: "Don't practice the Blood Transformation Force anymore."

Qing Yuan was a little surprised: "Why?"

Chi Cheng said: "This technique is vicious and deadly. It has only been passed down to the Chief Hunter for so many years, precisely because it is definitely not the right way!"

"But thanks to the Blood Transformation Power, the tribe has survived until now! Moreover, the Blood Transformation Power has now reached its peak... I personally made up for its shortcomings when fighting with foreign tribes! Since transforming the blood of other creatures will be polluted by their minds and forget the difference between humans and animals, then wouldn't it be better to just transform human blood? No matter how many people I eat, I am still a human! And human flesh is much more nutritious than any livestock flesh or plant essence! Look at what I look like now. I have only been eating for less than ten years, but I am already superior to anyone! And absorbing the minds of others has made my desires more focused. The more I eat, the purer I become. After that, as long as I take one more step forward, I... And now, you want me to stop practicing?!"

Chi Cheng suppressed the boiling emotions in his heart and said in a deep voice: "What you mean by no fatal risk... is this what it is now?"

Qing Yuan sneered, "So what if it's like this now? Doesn't it fit your image of civilization? Oh, if it's so-called civilization, it's being conquered and trampled by foreign races, becoming a waste of bones in the wilderness... It's being so hypocritical as to sneak into other tribes' castles in the name of doing business, trying to cause chaos and abduct people in the middle of the night. But being so weak that people can easily see through it, kill them all, and hang them on their shoulders... Then the tribe I'd rather protect will never have a chance to be part of your civilization!"

After hearing these stories, Chi Cheng's heart was naturally disturbed again, but he remained unmoved: "Brother Qingyuan, if you really became pure as you said, and were not polluted into something indescribable, then you should know better than anyone that this path of yours is a dead end. Moreover, if you are still Brother Qingyuan, you would never promote such a vicious method to the tribe members at will."

Qing Yuan snorted coldly, "The rule of the tribe has always been to share good things with everyone. I have rarely improved and perfected the fatally flawed Blood Transformation Power and eliminated the side effects, so I naturally cannot enjoy it alone. Besides, if everyone is not stained with blood, there will always be people who are hypocritical. They can only survive by eating human blood and drinking blood, but they still point fingers at me. The funny thing is that these people will never turn back after eating meat once. No matter how much you persuade them, they will not change. On the contrary, they are more greedy and aggressive than me... Recently, just feeding them has been a headache for me."

Chi Cheng sighed, "One last question, Brother Qingyuan, have you ever thought about where this road will end? There are only a few thousand people in this fortress now, and it's already a headache for you. Then when the population expands ten or a hundred times, how many more people will you have to eat and how much headache will you have? No, there is no need to think too far into the future. Brother Qingyuan, we haven't seen each other for many years. Although you have been welcoming me and inviting me warmly on the surface, the mouth on your belly has been drooling all the time. Can you really control yourself?"

Qing Yuan finally restrained all his expressions.

"Well, it seems that I still can't win against you. Then, let's just follow the tribe's rules to decide the outcome... Let me see, after not seeing you for nearly twenty years, have your civilization and your righteous path made you stronger?"

(End of this chapter)