Night Journey

Chapter 90 Burning Blood
Tania lay naked on the bed, staring at the darkness above her.

As a follower of Chaos, Tania has always abhorred sunlight. It suppresses the chaotic power within her, even scorching her skin and burning her flesh.

Ultimately, Tania is a stargazer born of destiny, not a purely wicked offspring. No matter how much she hates sunlight, the human part of her heart always holds onto the expectation of a clear, bright day.

Not to mention, since Tania returned to Hel City, she has stayed in the vertical farm and hasn't stepped out of it.

"Ah... damn it..."

A dull pain shot through her, and Tania covered her cheek.

A horrific scar ran across Tania’s face, blinding one of her eyes, while an even more gruesome scar cut across her neck, across her chest, and down to her abdomen.

Tania touched her bare, severed arm, the cruel scene still vivid in her mind.

Cillian's furious face came to mind.

During the fierce battle in White Cliff Town, if it weren't for the timely rescue by the evil power that pulled Tania away from the battlefield, she would have almost been killed by Cillian.

Tania was quite pleased with herself for a while after her miraculous survival.

She completed the task assigned by the Claws exceptionally well, earned her mother's attention, and everything was wonderful until the moment Tania tried to heal her injuries.

"Ah...ah..."

Tania's expression twisted in pain.

A burning, phantom pain emanated from the scars covering her body, relentlessly emanating from them.

She tried to sit up straight and, in the dim light, examined her body.

Tania was naked, her body covered with dense fungal hyphae that penetrated her skin, constantly numbing her nerves to relieve the burning phantom pain.

But this was all in vain. The phantom pain not only affected the nerves directly, but also began to erode Tania's spirit.

Since returning to Hel City, Tania has been tormented by this phantom pain, feeling as if she were living a life worse than death.

What made Tania even more desperate was that the mycelium could no longer heal her injuries. No matter how many times she tried, the scars on her body could not be removed, and even her severed limbs could not be regenerated.

It was as if a vicious curse was buried deep in her blood and soul.

"Why...why is this happening..."

Tania curled up and groaned in pain.

"His blood has contaminated your wound."

A muffled sound came from the dim light, as if someone was speaking while wearing a heavy helmet.

"No matter how much I dilute it, there will always be some blood left in your body, constantly preventing the healing of scars and the regeneration of severed limbs, while also leaving behind the effects of phantom pain."

More mycelium entwined around Tania's body, sucking her blood and cleansing her body.

“But…why?” Tania asked, puzzled. “How can he possess such power?”

"I am not sure."

The dull voice replied, "According to you, the other party is merely a first-rank torchbearer and has not used any source-bound weapons... The only possibility I can imagine is that this burning phantom pain comes from a mutation in his clan's bloodline."

After countless generations of bloodline differentiation, the bloodlines of different torchbearer clans exhibited different mutations, and each clan used its own mutation as a distinct characteristic to differentiate itself from other clans.

Tania countered, "But there is no similar anomaly among the known Torchbearer clans."

"According to the Deathbird, the other party comes from the Yangkui clan."

The voice paused for a moment, "But the Yangkui clan disappeared without a trace a hundred years ago, and most of the Chaos forces that were their enemies were wiped out, leaving behind very few useful records."

"..."

Tania said no more, only occasionally letting out unbearable groans of pain.

The voice, weary of her pain, spoke.

"Perhaps you could try joining us."

"to join you guys?"

Tania laughed dismissively, "Like you, donning that bulky armor and locking yourself inside for life?"

"But this is indeed a good way out. You will have great power, and even near-eternal life... as long as you continue to serve your mother."

The voice emerged from the darkness, and a tall, armored knight appeared before Tania.

His armor was bulky and heavy, the metal uneven and covered with reddish-brown rust, and the gaps and grooves were overgrown with fungi of various shapes.

Some resemble tiny fluffy balls, while others look like curved tentacles, spreading wantonly across the surface of the armor. The spores, like a hazy green mist, cling tightly to the armor, giving it a moss-like luster.

"When I first saw you like this, I was indeed envious and longed to be one of you, but now..."

Tania countered, "Can you even take off this armor?"

The armored knight remained silent, only letting out a helpless sigh.

"Stop talking, Havin."

Tania broke free from the mycelium that bound her and draped a robe over herself with one hand.

“I want to go further on the path of destiny, even if it means enduring this phantom pain forever, I am willing to do so.”

She spat out, "I don't want to become something as ugly as you."

Having said that, Haven silently retreated, disappearing into the darkness, leaving only the lingering green mist from where he had stood. Tania calmed herself for a moment, then left the room and went to a higher place.

After the White Cliff Town incident, Tania not only gained the attention of the Evil Mother, but her status also rose within the Evil Claw, giving her a certain amount of real power and making her the manager of this vertical farm.

Tania looked down.

The entire underground farm has a regular geometric shape, with layers of planting platforms that resemble huge stairs, extending upwards from the depths of the earth until they approach the top of the cave.

Tania walked down the suspended stairs.

In the original design by the spirit craftsmen, each platform was meticulously planned, planted with a large number of crops, which thrived in a suitable artificially controlled environment, providing abundant food resources for the city of Hel.

But now, the neatly arranged crops are nowhere to be seen, replaced by clumps of huge, strangely shaped fungi.

Some resemble giant mushrooms, with caps reaching several meters in diameter, their surfaces covered with rough bumps and black spots. Others resemble twisted vines, intertwined to form eerie fungal towers, their surfaces constantly oozing a viscous liquid that emits a pungent, putrid odor that makes one want to vomit.

Endless mycelia intertwine and entwine, forming a complex network that constantly wriggles, like countless tiny venomous snakes slithering about, emitting a chilling "rustling" sound.

A rumbling sound came from above Tania's head; it was the sound of water rushing through the cooling pipes.

To cool the burning torch lighthouse, a cooling system was buried deep in the earth like the roots of a tree, connecting with three rivers within the city of Hull.

The vertical farm controlled by the Claws is located deep underground in the Torch Lighthouse, growing alongside its complex cooling system.

Whenever Tania thought of this, she felt a pang of irony; no one would have imagined that they were hiding under this sacred, radiant light.

"Ah...ah..."

Meaningless murmurs rose from below as figures walked by.

Countless figures are busy in the vertical farm, their movements stiff, their eyes vacant, and their bodies covered with dense fungi.

thump—

Someone stumbled and fell straight down.

When his body crashed to the ground, it lacked any resilience that life should have, resembling a tattered rag doll, its limbs strangely breaking apart and scattering.

There was no splattered blood as expected, nor any torn flesh. What emerged from the shattered body were clumps of fungi of various shapes, as if the man's body had been devoured by these strange fungi at some unknown moment, leaving only this horrifying empty shell.

No one cared about the man's fall. More zombies stepped over his body, and within a few dozen seconds, the man's corpse grew wildly into a large colony of bacteria, merging with the surrounding environment.

As for the corpse itself, it had long since decomposed into nothingness.

"This one is growing quite well."

Tania commented coldly.

The wicked offspring carefully collected these bacteria and moved them to the center of the vertical farm.

A decaying culture pool stands here, like a cauldron for cooking plague. The wicked offspring continuously pour the cultivated bacteria into it, and under the power of chaos, they are confused into a deadly poison that can devour the city.

"I can't wait any longer, how much longer until we're ready?"

Tania gazed at the horrifying culture tank, her eyes burning with a fervor akin to looking at a lover from a dream.

"It will be soon. Once it is fully cultivated, you can bathe in it and complete the transformation of your soul and body. At that time, your destiny will be reversed to the Derivation of Devouring."

The wicked offspring answered respectfully.

After the Mother of Fungi fell from the giants into evil, the three sages separated the Devouring Fate from the Bound Source Long Staircase.

From then on, all wicked offspring who embark on the path of destiny must undergo an extremely rigorous and complex ritual in order to advance further on their path.

As designed by the Three Sages, when Tania fell into the embrace of chaos, the Binding Steps completely rejected her. Even though she returned to the Sea of ​​Origin according to the path of destiny, she could not take a single step on the Binding Steps.

Most Chaos believers will encounter this dilemma, so they can only serve the evil even more frantically, seeking a sliver of opportunity to switch to the fate to which the evil belongs.

Just as Tania is preparing for now.

Once she awakens from the ritual bath, she can completely break free from the Heavenly Fate Path and instead enter the Devouring Fate Path, rising to the third rank.

This is no easy ritual. Throughout history, only a very few people have managed to overcome the conflict between the two forces that change their fate and survive.

Tania hesitated for a long time, but as the burning phantom pain intensified, she was tormented to the point of collapse. In the end, she no longer cared about the risks and placed all her hopes on the conversion ritual in order to completely heal herself.

Thinking of this, the familiar yet terrifying burning sensation returned.

Tania instinctively gripped the railing in front of her to avoid falling. The burning pain from the flames seeped out of her body, and with each heavy breath, she felt as if her breath itself carried sparks.

This horrific torment lasted for several minutes before slowly subsiding. Tania knelt weakly on the spot, her consciousness fading.

"Are you... okay?"

The wicked offspring cautiously approached, showing concern for Tania's condition.

Tania did not respond. After a long pause, she slowly stood up and said sternly.

"I need to speed things up and get the ceremony done as soon as possible."

Tania realized that, over time, the frequency of the phantom pains was increasing, and the duration of the pains was also lengthening.

She dared not imagine what would await her if she continued to delay.

At this thought, Tania's face once again appeared before her eyes.

That furious gaze.

(End of this chapter)