12. To Feed or Not To Feed? (2)
A few days had passed since the assessment. The last wisps of the dire bear essence had finally been used up. The crimson thirst had been creeping back into the back of Jiu Yin’s mind like a slow, insistent poison. It started as a faint pressure behind his eyes. Then it sharpened into something far more vicious. It felt like a searing hot needle slowly twisting deeper into his skull with every passing hour. The pain came in waves. Sometimes it was bearable. Other times it made his vision blur at the edges.
Worse than the pain was the voice. It was not a full voice yet, but a low, crazed whisper that occasionally rose when his mindfulness slipped. Rip her throat out. The servant girl is close. So soft. So warm. Just one bite and the pain stops. It lingered on his sister next. Or the one with green eyes. She watches you. Drain her. End it. The new feelings inherited from the host body only made everything worse. The boy had loved his family with a quiet, fierce devotion. That emotion now clashed violently with the ancient hunger inside him. He would not harm them. He refused. But the thirst did not care about love or loyalty. It only demanded to be fed.
His sister’s watchful eyes had made any hunt outside the city walls impossible. She found reasons to stay near him constantly. Because of that, he had been forced to consider feeding inside the city itself. It was immensely risky. Snow Wind City was crowded with cultivators of all levels. One mistake in a crowded street and everything could fall apart.
Jiu Yin pulled a simple dark cloak over his shoulders and slipped out of the compound during the late afternoon. The sun still hung in the sky, its light pressing against him even through the fabric. He moved through the outer districts and gradually entered parts of the city that most respectable people avoided.
The streets here felt different. Rogue cultivators and small gangs controlled the area. Homeless men and women huddled in doorways, their eyes hollow and desperate. Some women leaned against walls, offering services in low, tired voices. Others stood in small groups near alley entrances, watching passersby with calculating eyes. Black-market stalls lined certain corners, displaying questionable wares: beast cores of dubious origin, illegal pills, and weapons that had clearly been stolen. The air smelled of sweat, cheap alcohol, and something metallic. Tension hung over everything like a thin veil. Even the sunlight seemed weaker here, as if the buildings themselves swallowed it.
Jiu Yin had no real memories of this place from the host body. Only vague warnings from his mother telling him never to come here. The ability to focus had grown slightly worse. His control over his body was beginning to fray at the edges. His hands trembled once or twice without reason. This body was not used to the thirst the way his old one had been. He still had time, but not much.
Eventually, exactly as he had planned, a few individuals began to trail him. His heightened senses picked them up easily. He kept walking naturally, pretending not to notice. His eyes scanned the surroundings until he found what he needed: a narrow side street leading to a cluster of rundown buildings.
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He chose one that looked completely abandoned. The wooden door hung slightly crooked on its hinges. Jiu Yin slipped inside, pretending to be panicked. He shut the door behind him with more force than necessary. Being out of the direct sunlight immediately brought relief, even though the cloak had still allowed some of the sun’s energy to soak into him. His muscles relaxed slightly. His thoughts cleared a fraction.
He attempted to tap into his old magic the way he had in his previous life. Nothing happened. The familiar flow of blood magic refused to answer. He let out a quiet curse under his breath and jumped into the rafters above, disappearing into the shadows between the wooden beams.
Not long after, the people who had been following him entered the building. Three figures moved cautiously through the dim interior. Two rough-looking men with sleeveless shirts revealing tattoos on their shoulders. Both had rugged, weathered faces and the build of men who had survived by violence. The third was a woman. She had long black hair that fell straight down her back without any styling. Her body was thin and pale with very little curve to it. She wore red lipstick that stood out sharply against her skin. Her eyes were striking, almost golden-yellow in the low light. From all three of them, Jiu Yin could sense faint Qi. Rogue cultivators.
He sneered quietly from his hiding spot in the rafters. He was not strong enough for a direct confrontation with cultivators who were properly trained. However, his raw Sanguinari strength could probably take out at least two of them before they managed to activate any serious Qi defenses.
The woman spoke first. Her voice was sharp and haughty. “Spread out. Find the boy. He might make for a decent ransom. We need the money for more cultivation resources.”
As she turned her head, Jiu Yin caught sight of a small symbol on her clavicle. It was the same symbol the two men had tattooed on their shoulders. He tried to recall if the host body had ever seen it before, but nothing came to mind.
He waited patiently in the shadows, using his natural stealth. The three split up to search the building. Jiu Yin chose his target carefully: the scrawnier of the two men. He dropped silently from the rafters and followed the man up to the upper floor.
The man moved from room to room, checking behind broken furniture and inside empty closets. Jiu Yin stayed just out of sight, moving like liquid shadow. Eventually the man stepped into a small, dusty room at the end of the hall and began searching through a pile of old rags.
Jiu Yin appeared in the doorway behind him. In one smooth motion, he slashed his claws across the man’s throat before the rogue cultivator could react or scream. The cut was deep. Hot blood sprayed across the wall. The man’s eyes widened in shock. He could only gurgle desperately as he clutched at his ruined throat, blood pouring between his fingers. His body convulsed once, then twice. Jiu Yin stepped forward without hesitation and sank his fangs into the open wound.
He drank deeply. Several mouthfuls of warm, Qi-enriched blood flooded into his mouth and down his throat. The effect was immediate. Strength surged back into his muscles. His body felt energized again. The searing hot needle in his mind vanished. The crazed whispers quieted. For the first time in days, he felt clear.
He let the body drop silently to the floor. Blood still dripped from his lips as he licked them clean. His eyes glowed red for a brief moment in the dim light. The thrill of the hunt returned to him, familiar and comforting. Part of him welcomed it. He was still Cassian Vilemoon deep down. The boy had not changed him completely.
He slipped back into the shadows of the rafters, waiting. There were still two more to deal with.