This Damned Thirst for Survival

"Why did you ......" Jiang Luo said with difficulty, "tie them up."

The evil spirit's voice was gentle, "Because they can't cure you."

He lifted Jiang Luo's face and dropped a kiss at the corner of Jiang Luo's lips, the tip of his tongue reaching out and curling away the blood that remained on Jiang Luo's lips, "Because they let you get hurt on their turf."

His face was crawling with ghostly lines, and when he got close, the ghostly lines looked even more like they were alive. The more you look at them, the scarier they become, the more you want to look at them. On Chi You's face, the ghost lines are ugly and hideous, but they also have a bit of a magical charm after a long look.

Jiang Luo was a little frightened by Chi You's state. He looks back at the hanging Lian family in the corridor, without Ji Yaozi.

Jiang Luo's head hurts, both physically and psychologically, "What's wrong with my body?"

"The power is too much, pressing on your flesh and bones," Chi You said lightly, "but no fear, the Lian family is a family of witch doctors, there will always be a way to heal you, right?"

When he finished, he gave a low laugh. Teng Bi and Beaver suddenly came from the end of the corridor, hose in hand, and held it up to punch the Lian family in the face.

Teng Bi moved stiffly, he certainly didn't have any sympathy for humans, he was just afraid that Jiang Luo would look at him with a look of disgust.

One by one, the Lian family members are splashed awake, and Taoist Master Wei He, the nearest to Jiang Luo, coughs a few times and raises his head wearily. He looked wretched and miserable, his face still bloodied, his white beard pulled into wisps and his eyes bloodshot.

The others were not in as good a state as Daoist Wei He. Jiang Luo saw that Lian Xue's face was red and he did not wake up even after being doused with water, and seemed to have fallen into a deep coma.

The smell of blood was stronger in the corridor. Water left from them, staining the floor and showing a dark, blood-like hue.

The ceilings are very low and such an airtight building creates a sense of psychological oppression, so that people cannot breathe and their psychological defences become weaker and weaker. The sobs were contagious, and many of the younger members of the family who had never experienced this before could not help but whimper.

The evil spirit did not change its face, still licking the blood from Jiang Luo's lips. The knot in Jiang Luo's throat rolled and he met the eyes of Daoist Master Wei He.

Wei He looked at him with complex eyes, but surprisingly not with hatred, but with a mixture of melancholy and enlightenment.

Noticing Jiang Luo's wandering, the evil spirit followed his gaze to Daoist Master Wei He. With a sudden smile, the evil spirit walked up to Daoist Master Wei He with Jiang Luo in his arms and said courteously, "Daoist Master, have you now figured out a way to cure him?"

Wei He took a few ragged breaths as he struggled to say, "I have to take his pulse."

The evil spirit gave the flowering beaver a look.

The beaver stepped forward, extended its paw and gently raked its sharp fingernails across the iron ring of Wei He's right hand, which abruptly snapped in half.

The evil spirit held Jiang Luo's hand from the blanket and handed it to Daoist Master Wei He.

Daoist Master Wei He had no idea how long he had been hanging, the marks on his wrists engorged with blood to the point of purple, his hands trembling gently from the prolonged lack of blood circulation, even as they fell onto Jiang Luo's wrists.

Taoist Master Wei He quietly took Jiang Luo's pulse, his face shifting and his fingers shaking more noticeably, almost unable to press his pulse.

The evil spirit looked down at the movement of his fingers and looked up with a smile, asking for advice in a gentlemanly way, " Wei He Daoist, what results have you put out?"

Wei He opened his mouth and said through clenched teeth, "I can't cure it."

The evil spirit's face remained unchanged as he let out a long "oh" and said thoughtfully, "It's alright. I have heard of your name when I was still alive, and I have always respected you. It's okay if you can't get it out, I believe in your skills, even if you can't get it out now, you'll figure out a way to cure him later."

Having said that, Chi You smiled slightly, nodded towards Taoist Master Wei He and moved on to the next person.

Wei He didn't expect such a reaction from Chi You, and he looked at him in disbelief, unable to believe that he would let himself off so easily.

Next to Daoist Wei He was Lian Qiang, the evil spirit also holding Jiang Luo's arm, "It's your turn."

Lian Qiang's eyes were blue and black, his face haggard, and he took Jiang Luo's pulse as soon as Hua Xiu released one of his hands. Gradually, his face slowly turned white and he glanced fearfully at Chi You and then at Jiang Luo, "Something is wrong with him, his body ......"

The evil spirit asked in a good-natured voice, "What's wrong?"

Lian Qiang was afraid he had taken the wrong pulse, he diagnosed again and looked at Jiang Luo's face again, "His body is constantly hurting and healing ......"

The evil spirit couldn't hold back his laughter as his fingers slowly rubbed Jiang Luo's small arm, as if he found Lian Qiang's statement amusing, "So what should be the cure?"

Lian Qiang shuddered, "I, I don't know."

The evil spirits were silent.

A suffocating silence instantly stole everyone's breath, even Hua Rui and Teng Bi couldn't help but hold theirs. After a few seconds, the evil ghost sighed, "Neither will you."

He turned towards the next man, his voice suddenly turning cold, "Then there is no need for you to live."

Immediately, Hua Xiu stepped forward and grabbed Lian Qiang's neck and tried to break it. Wei He was shocked and shouted angrily, "Stop!"

Flower Beaver looked to his master and the evil spirit paused in his steps as he looked back with interest, "Hmm? Master Wei He has thought of a way to cure Jiang Luo?"

Wei He Daoist was so angry that his face turned blue and his chest rose and fell violently, " Chi You, if I won't heal you can keep me, why do you have to kill him if he won't heal you!"

"How can you be compared to these people," said the evil spirit gently, " Taoist Master Wei He is a great healer and all kinds of difficult diseases can be treated properly under your hands. If you don't know how to do it, then you really don't know how to do it. But I am sure that given enough time, you will come up with a good cure, but others will not be able to do so. If you can't cure Jiang Luo, what's the point of keeping them?"

Wei He's fingers shook, "You, you-"

And the evil spirit had already walked up to the next member of the company.

As Hua Beaver also squeezed Lian Qiang's neck again, seeing that Lian Qiang was about to meet with a poisonous death, Taoist Master Wei He said in a disheveled voice, "I can cure, I can cure ...... you let them go!"

The Lian family, who were taking Jiang Luo's pulse, were so relieved that they almost collapsed in a heap, weeping after the robbery.

The evil spirit turned around with Jiang Luo in his arms, raised his eyebrows in slight surprise, and reappeared before Daoist Master Wei He, "You can heal?"

Wei He said with a sober look on his face, he did not want to answer the question, but for his own sake and for the sake of his people, he said firmly, "Yes."

The evil spirit smiled at his expression until, after confirming that Taoist Master Wei He was telling the truth, he slowly curbed his smile and looked grimly at Taoist Master Wei He.

"There is a way, and you didn't say so before," the evil spirit whispered, "It's amazing how loyal the Predestined's lackeys are to him."

The ghostly lines on his face moved, and the face of the evil spirit became even more sinister. Jiang Luo only felt that after waking up from a dream, Chi You seemed to have changed into a different person, with a more frightening hostility.

Jiang Luo was just about to say a few words when the familiar pain struck again, Jiang Luo's eyes lost focus again and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

The blood slid down his delicate chin and into the collar of his neck, making it uncomfortably sticky. Jiang Luo was in so much pain that he wanted to roll around on the floor, not caring about such small details, and as he spat out a mouthful of blood, Jiang Luo's eyes seemed to glow red.

Daoist Master Wei He could see clearly that the evil spirit's gloomy face suddenly froze after Jiang Luo had spat out blood. He held Jiang Luo firmly in his arms for a second or two before raising his hand to wipe the blood from Jiang Luo's mouth.

The villain's arm kept lifting and wiping, repetitively mechanical.

But there was so much blood that by the time Jiang Luo had finally calmed down and passed out from the pain, the evil spirit's tidy body was also covered in a lot of blood.

The evil spirit touched Jiang Luo's eyelids with his hand, and Jiang Luo's eyelids were glued with a smear of blood.

The evil spirit paused and tried to wipe away the blood, but there was so much blood on his hands that the more he wiped, the dirtier it became. The evil spirit finally simply walked into the room with Jiang Luo in his arms, his voice low, "Bring him in."

Teng Bi was worried about Jiang Luo, who was one step ahead of Hua Rui and led Daoist Master Wei He into the room.

The beaver bristled and stayed outside to watch the others.

Lian Qiang looked at him hesitantly and whispered, "Who are you? Why are you kidnapping us."

The beavers ignore it.

Lian Qiang looked again at the room that had been closed, " Jiang Luo ...... What happened to him?"

The flower beaver said coldly, "Isn't that what you are being asked."

Lian Qiang was bewildered, "Why are you asking us?"

The Flower Beaver said, "Because he was wounded at the top of your mountain."

Lian Qiang subconsciously wanted to retort, how could this be possible? The Lian family had never done anything to harm anyone, they were all good people. But he locked eyes with Lian Bing, whose hands were tied up across the room, and Lian Bing gave him a wink and was forming a seal in his hand, telling him to keep stalling the civet.

Lian Qiang recognised the seal, the method Jiang Luo had shown them in the mirror world that would draw the wind.

He hurriedly continued to talk to the flowering beaver, attracting its attention.

Inside the house.

Jiang Luo woke up after only a short period of unconsciousness, staring at the ceiling in disorientation as he gradually recovered from the pain he had just experienced.

Turning his head, Taoist Master Wei He was rubbing the acupuncture points on his hands with strange finger movements. Jiang Luo's throat filled with a fishy taste and he coughed, saying dully, "How is it you?"

Taoist Master Wei He didn't even want to reply to this nonsense and instructed Chi You, who was standing straight next to him, "Give him a glass of water, a little less."

Chi You poured a glass of water and fed Jiang Luo, who breathed out comfortably, "I just realised how happy I am when my body doesn't hurt."

Wei He Daoist said indifferently, "Your body possesses a very large power within it, a power that is not something that a human body can withstand and is very similar to the power within a predestined person. By definition, your body is only in its twenties and it is impossible for a body that has not undergone tempering to hold so much power. But your soul is solid, beyond my expectation, and not even close to the soul of a predestined person of over two hundred years. That is why so much of this power has been absorbed by you, so much that your body cannot bear it but is still hardened to bear it."

I see, no wonder he was able to extract half of the power of the host with an hour of word spirits, all thanks to a powerful soul that had experienced the crossing by the looks of it.

Jiang Luo pondered, and suddenly said, "I took away half of the power of the offering from within the predestined person."

Even though he had some suspicions, Daoist Master Wei He was shocked when Jiang Luo actually admitted it.

Who are the fatalists?

He was the first pseudo-god from ancient times to the present day, and even though he was a pseudo-god, he was still a "god". In the eyes of the Lian family, he was a true god. But such a man was robbed of half of his power by Jiang Luo.

If he had not taken Jiang Luo's pulse himself, Daoist Master Wei He would not have believed it.

Wei He Daoist suddenly remembered that a month before, the predestined man had spoken to him as he stood in front of the window.

"Maybe, he'll be the next me."

Doesn't that mean that Jiang Luo might become the next false god?

So is Jiang Luo's taking away the power of the predestined now within the predestined's expectation or outside of it?

Sweat broke out on Master Wei He's forehead when Jiang Luo's voice suddenly rang out, " Master Wei He?"

Wei He Daoist was righting his god, "It is because your soul can withstand it that these forces of offerings are working hard to transform your body, making you break away from the human realm and become more powerful, otherwise you would have exploded and died long ago. And at the same time, your body cannot withstand so much power, thus collapsing again and again, causing you to spit blood and pain."

"I guessed it," Jiang Luo said calmly, "is there anything you can do to stop my body from collapsing?"

Without hesitation, Taoist Master Wei He said, "Make your body stronger until it can contain the power of the offering."

Jiang Luo said, "What is the exact method?"

Taoist Master Wei He was silent for a moment, "I have to think about it."

The evil spirit gave a sudden laugh and Daoist Wei He stiffened. Jiang Luo agreed before the evil spirit could speak, "Okay, but first you have to promise that I can reduce the number of words I spit out before you come up with your solution." Otherwise, Jiang Luo was afraid he would bleed to death.

Looking at Jiang Luo as if Chi You wasn't going to say anything after his words, Daoist Master Wei He relaxed a little and hastily agreed, "I can do this."

Jiang Luo looked up at Chi You after hearing this.

He looked at the ghostly lines on Chi You's face, at the dangerous smile at the corners of Chi You's mouth. The appearance of the evil spirit made Taoist Master Wei He tremble, but Jiang Luo couldn't help but laugh as he watched.

He arched his eyebrows, the blood had been wiped clean from his face, and the lustre between his brows reasserted a lustre that was uniquely his, but the lustre had weakened a few points on his face, which was pale from the loss of blood, and was more than a little heartbreakingly pathetic, "I'm hungry."

Teng Bi immediately said, "I'll go and prepare the meal."

Jiang Luo looks to Teng Bi, "A bowl of beef noodles with extra beef and no cilantro, please."

When Teng Bi had gone, Chi You said lightly, "He did listen to you."

Jiang Luo didn't take the comment, but looked at him and winked, "I want to take a shower before the meal comes."

The evil spirit stared back at him without a ripple in his eyes.

Jiang Luo: "And you say you want to woo me, but you won't even give me a bath?"

When he finished, he picked the corner of his lips and said with deliberate annoyance, "Mr. Chi, could you give me and Taoist Master Wei He a moment alone to talk?"

However, no matter what he said, the evil spirit did not move. Jiang Luo was getting tired before the evil spirit got up leisurely and walked out without any hurry.

The door was closed, leaving Jiang Luo and Taoist Master Wei He alone in the house. But both of them understand that evil spirits are everywhere and if Daoist Wei He dares to do anything to Jiang Luo, he will definitely die.

Jiang Luo took the lead and said, " Daoist Master Wei He, you should understand that you have been abandoned by your predestined person."

Daoist Master Wei He's face sank, but he said, "I just realized today that your previous appearance of being pure of heart and mind was all an act to deceive us, good boy, you really fooled us."

"It's just a trick," Jiang Luo laughed, "I haven't told you about Lian Xue yet. I thought it was strange that the Lian family was at least one of the Six Families, but why did the younger generation not even know how to do astrology and fortune telling, not having anything to protect themselves. After seeing Lian Xue I understood, it's not that you don't want to learn things, but the predestined people won't let you learn, right?"

Wei He Daoist's face changed and he subconsciously exclaimed, "How did you know!"

Jiang Luo smiled, "Why won't the Fatekeeper let you learn? Because there is something else in your bodies that seals his style gods. When the time comes, you can awaken the gods for his use, right? When you look at it that way, you Lian family members are a vessel for him, or a vessel that you don't even know what you are. There would be a downside to this, wouldn't there, seeing as Lian Xue is becoming weaker and weaker, I suppose that downside would be that it would damage the life span of the sealed person, causing irreversible damage?"

Wei He 道長: "......"

He clenched his fist and looked pained, a look that already told Jiang Luo the answer, and he was right.

Jiang Luo laughed coldly and sneered, "You don't hate the Predestined One even though he has done this to you?"

"And you," Taoist Master Wei He suddenly raised his voice in anger, "are you not also disgusted with Chi You, that inhuman and evil spirit, who hurts us innocents for your sake?"

"Are you really innocent," Jiang Luo said calmly, "Chi You's soul was refined into Yuan Tianzhu, I've been wondering if there was any involvement from you in this matter, after all, you are a family of witch doctors and loyal lackeys of the predestined people, making the soul into something that helps After all, you are a family of witch doctors and loyal lackeys of the Fates, so it would not be difficult for you to make the soul into something that would help others enhance their spiritual bodies, would it?"

Wei He was dumbfounded as he looked at Jiang Luo lying on the bed with unfamiliar eyes, recognising for the first time the horror of Jiang Luo.

Jiang Luo said, "I can dislike him for a thousand reasons, but not for hurting you."

He looked back up at the ceiling and whispered, "Because this atrocity of his was all for me."

"Everyone else can call him names and loathe him for this, only I can't, and I don't want to, got it?"