[ Mountains. Eastern region. Lower Kingdom ]
Somewhere deep in an underground cave there was an elderly man sitting in the lotus position, his hair was grayish white, his back was hunched and his face showed deep wrinkles, by his appearance you could tell that this man has lived for a very long time.
There was no light in the cave at all, only pitchblack darkness. At some point the old man suddenly opened his eyes, if you could look closely the veins in his eyes suddenly reddened while his pupils were growing darker by the second.
With every second this man's aura grew fiercer, you could only imagine why this old man got so enraged for no apparent reason.
*BOOOMMM!*
The walls of the cave began to tremble, cracking and splitting apart as if turning into rubble. The mountain that was above the old man almost split in half under the pressure of his aura, which demarcated him as a terrifyingly powerful expert
He certainly was a powerful cultivator, afterall ordinary practitioners of this realm wouldn't even be able to resist the old man's aura. Even though his long hair completely obstructed his eyes from the view, one could still tell how angry the old man was just by looking at his slightly trembling hands.
"Who?! WHO THE FUCK KILLED MY VESSEL!?" - The old man shouted loudly while staring in the eastern direction; it was unclear to whom exactly he was saying this.
"I WILL FIND YOU, AND MAKE YOU REGRET YOUR ACTIONS!" - As if thunder rang out over the entire Eastern Region, the old man's voice resounded throughout the entire region and meaby even further than that.
With these words he suddenly rose high in the sky like a hawk and flew to a certain place. It was unknown exactly where he was headed, but it was clear by the direction that the location was in the Eastern Region.
**********
'What the fuck is this again?' Thought Yang Ming, as he too had heard that old voice, which was filled with boundless hatred.
'He certainly is powerful, I wonder how many points I could get out of him if I ate his soul.' Though Yang Ming with an inkling of intrest, he had wanted to go and check the source of the voice but he soon changed his mind. He was waiting for the dragonewts and hoped that he could meet them again soon. Yang Ming didn't want to wait too long for his meal.
And as a bonus to his actions he would be able to drag the entire Eastern Region into the war whether they want it or not. If his plan succeeds, of course.
With high spirits, Yang Ming slowly headed to a secluded place where no one would notice his dark deeds, as he felt that someone was already watching him and he even felt a great bloodlust oozing from that person.
'I wonder if all lizards are that dumb?' - Yang Ming wondered, he didn't even have to guess who those people were, who seemed as if they wanted to show that they were following him, without even taking into account that they were spotted long ago.
Of course the bloodlust was released by the group of the dragonewts, as per Long Bai's orders, they immediately tracked him down in the crowd as he was leaving the auction house. They followed him outside the city, further and further into the wilds. Perhaps they could not even imagine what type of person they were attempting to assassinate.
They didn't even think that they were spotted but how could they? All that they had in their heads was a brothel to which they would go right after finishing this task. The dragonewts couldn't even imagine that a victim would soon turn into a hunter and that death itself already loomed over their heads. And yet they were unaware of this and continued to follow Yang Ming.
A total of 5 Dragonewts, Long Bai and his friends went in pursuit of Yang Ming, they wished that he would spot them and run in fright. Naturally, if Yang Ming had been replaced by an ordinary practitioner in the late stage of Earth Ascension(2), he would have noticed this as well and would have tried to get as far away as and as soon as possible.
But Yang Ming was no ordinary cultivator, he was a hunter who was about to catch the prey that he coveted. It was quite amusing to see the five dragonewts of the initial stage of Heavenly Ascension(3) trying to attack Yang Ming whose true level of cultivation was one whole stage above them.
As Yang Ming flew farther and farther into the forest, one dragonewt was still confused by this act, perhaps he was the brains behind their team:
As Yang Ming flew further into the forest, one of the dragonewt group suddenly became confused by this act - 'why would he go so deep into the forest?' - he thought. At least one questioned Yang Ming actions, perhaps he was the brain of the group.
"Why is he going farther and farther into the woods? Could it be a trap?" - He asked.
However, as befits the Dragonewt, they were too self-righteous and arrogant, so the others simply ignored his question, grinning at Yang Ming.
"This bastard's life is over! Don't kill him, I'm going to capture him alive so he can later become acquainted with the tortures of our clan, so don't let him go easily, don't kill him! Remember, you can't kill him! You can maim him or sever a limb, but not his life! Anyone who ignores the order will die with him."
Despite the fact that Long Bai treated the dragonewts as his own brothers, in some cases he was quite strict and hasty to kill anyone who dared to disobey his orders and that was absolutely with everyone regardless of their standing or position.
The other four dragonewts swallowed nervously, reminding themselves that they must control their power so as not to accidentally kill Yang Ming, otherwise the consequences of their failure could be catastrophic.
And regarding Yang Ming's strength they didn't bother to think at all, even though it was clear that he was a genius, he was still quite weak compared to them, the gap was too big and in addition they were sure that Yang Ming seemed to rarely leave the clan, constantly cultivating to achieve such a level despite his young age.
They were sure that Yang Ming was a flower boy who hadn't even seen blood or murder in his short life yet, and as for his clan, they didn't care at all, it didn't matter if he was strong or weak, insulting the Dragonewt clan always leads to death.
"Five Dragonewts at the Initial Stage of Heavenly Ascension(3)" - muttered Yang Ming while licking his lips, he began to slow down as if to pretend that he was running out of stamina. He couldn't wait for the stupid lizards to catch up with him, wondering how many points he could get for absorbing them.
Of course he didn't expect to get 500 or 1000 points for each dragon absorbed, he assumed the system would be stingy but he didn't know how much, even if he could get 100 points for each of them it would be a considerable gain.
But there remained one question that had plagued Yang Ming up to that point.
"System, when I use the gluttony skill, Is the subject required to be alive or dead?"
*Ding!*
[ The cost of answering your question is 1000 points. If you agree, say "Confirm" ]
"Confirm!" - said Yang Ming while mentally scolding the system for ripping him off yet again.
[ The Absorption ability can also be used on dead bodies, but in order to gain use it on the dead bodies you first need to increase the level of Gluttony skill. ]