"Finally!" - mumbled Yang Ming, the first task he received from the system was quite unusual, so Yang Ming thought that it would be quite a hassle to complete, but he was wrong, it went smoothly, like a hot knife through butter.
After the task was completed and the life points that the hero had dropped to 0, Yang Ming decided to do what he had come here for in the first place.
Absorb the hero.
As the system said before, now Yang Ming could use it, but there were also warnings of danger that lay ahead, in the course of the task he fulfilled all the conditions, but the main course was still unfinished.
'When I finish the task there must be no witnesses.' Yang Ming still remembers that the system warned him of the danger of exposure to the public. The Gluttony skill sounds like some kind of forbidden skill and if it is found out, there is no telling how it would end up winding for him.
Quite a strange explanation the system gave, there were questions such as: How can they find out the nature or what was this prohibited skill. And yet to such questions, the system answered with one answer, that it is necessary to increase the level of gluttony skill...
While Yang Ming doubted the system, Bai Lin was drowning in despair, in one day he lost his parents, his mother, whom he loved as his woman, dreaming silently that one day she would be one of the women in his harem, and his father who never abusing him, even though he couldn't cultivate and was a disgrace to his family.
And today they both died before his very own eyes, while he could not prevent it...
Of course, if Yang Ming wasn't here, things would have been completely different, namely the pattern of people known as heroes in the future Shui Han Yin and Shui Wei would become his wives in the harem, his father would have accepted the fact that he was a cuckold or died leaving him to take care of his mother. Of course he would take care of her, but not in the way the sixth elder would have expected.
After which he would arrive before Yang Ming, slaying him while he was temporarily in the lower realm. He would gain fame and eventually rise to power and ascend to the higher realm.
And Yang Ming knew that he couldn't leave him be and let him unfurl his wings. He was sure that if he didn't clip his wings now, he would come to bite him in the meaby not so distant future. That's why Yang Ming did what he considered a necessity. He didn't dwell on whether his actions were just or not, he wasn't that kind of man after all. He would nip it in the bud.
Yang Ming came out of his thoughts and looked at Bai Lin, who seemed to have lost his mind, kneeling and mumbling something, when suddenly the hero's eyes flashed with a furious glint.
'So it begins, the hero's last desperate struggle, now he will gain the strength to confront me from who knows where, while spewing some bullshit.' Tugging on my chin, I began to recall the novels that I read, when suddenly the hero's strength is drawn from his soul or reduced his lifespan in exchange for strength and other similar plots.
In novels there often are written such moments when the hero's life is threatened or his friends and family's lives are at stake, and it is usually at moments like these that the impossible happens. The power of friendship and all that bullshit that is available only for people like the heroes.
And now what should happen is what is always described in such novels, as if Yang Ming should be the stepping stone for the hero to gain strength and conquer his fears.
'But what a pity you met me!' Yang Ming grinned, unlike the other villains he wasn't going to let the hero attack or say any disgusting words or start explaining his plan, that wasn't really necessary, as the task was already accomplished perfectly.
In novels, villains are always shown as fools who, by pure chance, become powerful or even demon kings, emperors, or even gods. But why has no one ever asked how a fool could achieve this?
It's pretty simple: villains never consider heroes as enemies on their level, sending their servants to certain death and making the hero gradually grow as they send him his next stepping stone, as if they were not villains but chefs, the best chefs with special nourishing dishes for heroes.
Yang Ming didn't want to waste a lot of time, so he had to first grab the hero then drag him to a quiet place so that no one could watch them and then devour him with the gluttony skill.
"Yang Ming I'll kill you!" - A deafening scream sounded around the Shui Clan like a thunderclap, many windows instantly cracked and shattered, Bai Lin instantly increased his cultivation level, if before he could compete with the clan's top geniuses, now he was at the level of the elders.
"How do the heroes do that? Although I probably expected too much from this particular hero" muttered Yang Ming, looking at Bai Lin's cultivation level compared to the sixth elder's wife, just like her, Bai Lin was now in the later stage of Earth Ascension(2).
"What does he want to do, he wants to scratch me?" Yang Ming grinned, with this level of cultivation it was impossible for Bai Lin to do anything at all, the difference in cultivation level between them was just too massive.
No longer trying to give Bai Lin time for his next chatter, Yang Ming jumped up to Bai Lin like a hawk and struck both legs twice, resulting in an instant rattle across the courtyard.
"You can't run away now!" - Lifting Bai Lin by the hair, Yang Ming said.
He was shocked by the sudden change in his expression, if at the beginning he had a calm and amused expression on his face by which Bai Lin thought that Yang Ming was having so much fun, intentionally quarreling with them and watching the funny show that was going on.
Now he fully understood what was the mistake that he made. This man is completely insane, looking at the distorted smile on his face, how his eyes seem to change color, his expression, he realized that Yang Ming is a crazy man, who arranged everything on purpose and the main prize, it seems, must be himself.
Yang Ming chuckled slightly seeing how Bai Lin seemed to be scared, like a rabbit meeting a wolf on a narrow path, he liked it for some reason.
"Ah what a nostalgic view..." He muttered, remembering something.
When Bai Lin could no longer move, Yang Ming decided to leave the Shui Clan and absorb him with nobody watching. Grabbing Bai Lin by the neck, Yang Ming stepped forward and soon disappeared as if he wasn't even here.
"Phooey!" - Many felt relieved that the demon was gone from their clan, no longer holding back they instantly collapsed to their knees feeling their bodies go limp with terror. If before they could feel that Yang Ming was like a god, now on the contrary they thought of him as a cold-blooded demon.
"Killing with a smile on your face, perhaps only such people exist in the higher realm" When just the thought of this popped into their heads, they were numb with horror, praying that they would never meet anyone like Yang Ming again.
It was too frightening, too terrifying of an experience.