Chapter 7

"Xiuji, don't make things difficult for me. After you feed Aye, you need to come out as soon as possible." A man's voice came from outside the door.

Immediately, a woman's voice followed: "Mm, thank you, Changsheng."

When Buye heard the voices outside the door, he knew they were definitely not there to carry out the execution, and he felt relieved.

The door opened, and a woman walked in, holding a lantern in one hand and a bamboo basket in the other. Under the light of the lantern and the torch outside, Buye could clearly see the woman's appearance.

The woman had an excellent appearance and figure, with only her skin not being fair enough, likely due to her work in the fields. However, she had a healthy and robust charm typical of a rural woman. In most cases, a farmer would be content for life if he could marry such a wife.

Based on Buye's memory of this world, he knew that the woman was named Lu Xiu, his neighbor and the most beautiful woman in Dongmang Village. Two years ago, her husband died while hunting in the mountains, and Lu Xiu became a widow, raising her son alone.

After the three-year mourning period, she could remarry. During these two years, the men of Dongmang Village had not stopped eyeing her. However, Lu Xiu only had a special regard for Buye. They had been neighbors for several years, and she had a deep emotional bond with Buye and trusted his character. Most importantly, even if Buye tried to hide it well, as a woman with a keen sixth sense, she could tell that Buye genuinely liked her and her son, not just for her beauty.

Although she had never expressed it openly, deep down she had already made up her mind to marry Buye after the mourning period. She believed that Buye could sense it too. Only the ignorant villagers were still in the dark, still trying to win her over. However, with the mourning period not yet over, how could she reveal that her heart was already set on Buye?

She was twenty-seven this year and had a child, long past the age of romantic dreams. Her only wish was to marry Buye and live a peaceful life together. She wanted Buye to be safe, her son to grow up healthy, and for her to take care of their daily needs and help in the fields. This was the simplest wish of a mountain village woman.

However, Buye's actions during the day had completely disrupted her plans. She appeared calm, but it was all an act.

After entering the room, Lu Xiu looked at Buye under the dim light of the lantern, wanting to confirm if he was really possessed by evil spirits. Their eyes met, and she noticed that Buye's eyes, reflecting the dim light, were particularly clear. Her expression changed slightly, and her emotions became complex.

Their relationship had always been tacit, with neither of them explicitly stating their intentions. Now, she could pretend not to know Buye's feelings and deny her own, allowing her to continue living normally and find another man after the mourning period. However, two years of emotional connection were not so easily dismissed. So, she came late at night, using the excuse of bringing him food. Seeing that Buye did not seem possessed, but knowing he had just killed someone and would likely be executed, her heart was in turmoil.

...

Unfortunately, Lu Xiu's feelings were misplaced.

At this moment, Buye had no emotional connection with anyone in this world, including Lu Xiu. Even if he could guess her current distress and sorrow with the meticulous thinking of an experienced writer, he would not be swayed. He did not want to have any ties with the people of Dongmang Village and only wanted to leave as soon as Xinyun awakened. This poor mountain village had nothing to offer and was not a place for development. As for this woman, she would start a new life after he left, and it would have nothing to do with him.

After that, the conflicted Lu Xiu did not know what to say, and Buye, wanting to distance himself from her, did not want to speak either. For a moment, they were completely silent.

Finally, Lu Xiu spoke first, as she had limited time and could not just stare at him.

"Aye, I came to bring you some food." Lu Xiu's voice was ordinary, neither particularly pleasant nor unpleasant. Once she decided to speak, she did so without any hesitation. After all, she was not a refined lady but a simple, beautiful village girl.

"Thank you," Buye's voice was very calm.

Lu Xiu stepped forward, placed the lantern on a nearby table, and opened the bamboo basket, taking out the food inside. There were a few flatbreads, a large bowl of stir-fried vegetables and dried meat, and a small pot of soup, all of which smelled delicious.

Buye was already very hungry, and his appetite was now whetted. However, his hands and feet were tied, and Changsheng, who was guarding him, was watching from outside the door, so he could only be fed by Lu Xiu.

Lu Xiu was initially a bit awkward but quickly got used to it. She held a flatbread in one hand and used chopsticks to pick up the food, feeding it to Buye mouthful by mouthful. Throughout the process, they did not speak. Buye was focused on eating, while Lu Xiu was lost in thought.

When the last bowl of soup was also swallowed by Buye, everything Lu Xiu had brought was completely finished.

With nothing else to do and Changsheng already urging them to leave, Lu Xiu had to leave immediately.

Buye, who had never dealt with a village girl like Lu Xiu before, found her beautiful, capable, and healthy, which brought him a sense of novelty. However, that was all. His mind was not on Dongmang Village or any of its people.

So, Buye spoke calmly, his voice just loud enough for Lu Xiu to hear: "Forget about me."

Lu Xiu's movements stopped, and her body stiffened.

She had always thought that Buye might say something like this and had even been waiting for it. However, when she heard him say it, her heart still trembled, as if something very important had been taken from her and was now far away...

She turned her head and looked into Buye's eyes, seeing only calm and composure.

...

The next morning, in a deep mountain about three hundred miles from Dongmang Village, a small mountain stronghold gradually came to life in the morning mist.

The stronghold was very simple, but its location was well-chosen, making it easy to defend and hard to attack.

A man in his thirties, wearing tattered hemp clothes, yawned as he walked out of a wooden house, holding a gray pottery jar in one hand.

As he walked, he grumbled, "Those maggots, more precious than people!"

In no time, he arrived at the entrance of a cave, lit a torch, and then entered.

The sky was already bright, but the light could not penetrate the cave, which became darker the further he went. The man's hand with the torch became useful.

After walking about thirty meters, the cave suddenly became cool, and the man shivered, stopping his grumbling.

A few more meters ahead, the cave opened up into a bowl-shaped chamber. The torch's light was not enough to illuminate the entire chamber, so the man hesitantly looked into the darkness and then steeled himself to walk forward.

Finally, the edge of the torch's light revealed a stone platform, on which there seemed to be more than a dozen large bowls. The man's face changed slightly.

When the torch's light finally reached the edge of one of the bowls, without warning, a sharp, ear-piercing scream came from inside, making the man's soul tremble!

As soon as the first scream sounded, similar cries came from the other bowls, filling the chamber with a terrifying cacophony!

The man's face had already changed dramatically from fear. He clutched the pottery jar in his left hand with his right arm, reached into the jar with his left hand, and grabbed a handful of something, extending his arm to scatter it into the nearest bowl.

He moved quickly, scattering handfuls of the substance into each bowl, finally calming the creatures inside.

When the last bowl emitted the sound of chewing rather than a scream, the man, who was already drenched in cold sweat, finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave.

However, at the last moment, he gritted his teeth and held back, as his task was not just to feed but also to monitor the creatures in the bowls. He had been doing this job for several days but had never looked inside the bowls, which was a serious dereliction of duty.

He growled to himself to build up his courage and finally faced the dozen large bowls.

The flame of the torch flickered, occasionally making a "crackling" sound. As the man slowly moved the torch forward, he finally saw the contents of one of the bowls at the edge.

"Ah!"

The man let out a scream, his hand trembling, almost dropping the torch to the ground!

Although he had heard about it before, seeing it in person still made his soul almost fly away.

The large bowl contained half a bowl of blood, on top of which floated a pink, worm-like creature, about the thickness of a child's arm and half a foot long. The sight of this worm was already terrifying and disgusting, but even more so was the fact that its pink body was bulging, forming a human-like shape, as if it had swallowed a small person! The outline of the small person was very clear, and even the features could be seen!

The man almost turned to run, but the worm was clearly not paying attention to him, focusing instead on the food that had just been scattered on the surface of the blood.

Blood bowls!

Soul-attracting worms!

The bowls were made of special materials and supplemented with certain nutrients. A single drop of blood could regenerate a bowl, but each use weakened the bowl's effectiveness.

The soul-attracting worms were rare and peculiar creatures found in Dongmang Mountain. If they did not encounter human blood, they were just ordinary worms, but if they consumed human blood, they would strangely form a human-like shape on their surface, as if devouring a human soul. A unique feature was that they would only consume the blood of one person throughout their life, and if that person died, the worm would also die, regardless of the distance.

The man was seeing a soul-attracting worm for the first time, and he swallowed hard, quickly scanning the other bowls with his eyes.

In the flickering light of the torch, he could see that there were eleven blood bowls on the platform. He quickly glanced over them, wanting to finish and leave as soon as possible.

However, his last glance made him jump in fright!

He saw that one of the bowls in the upper right corner of the platform was full of blood, but there was no sign of a soul-attracting worm!

When a soul-attracting worm died, it would expel all its blood, leaving only a thin, shriveled skin.

However, the man did not realize this at first, thinking the worm had escaped from the bowl. He let out a terrified scream and jumped up, fearing that a soul-attracting worm might crawl up his leg...

After a few more "ah," "ya," and "um" screams, the man finally realized that the worm had not escaped but had died!

He took a deep breath and looked at the blood bowl again, seeing a thin layer of skin floating on the surface, definitely the skin of a dead soul-attracting worm!

He was responsible for monitoring this place, and this was exactly the situation he needed to detect promptly!

He realized that something was wrong!

At this moment, the man was much calmer, shakily bringing the torch closer to the blood bowl and finally reading the hastily written green-painted characters on the outside of the bowl.

"Dong... Mang... Village... Yang... Yuan... Da..." The man read the characters one by one, then let out a sigh of relief, "It's not one of the leaders, I need to report this quickly!"

...

That morning, when Buye woke up, the first thing he did was to close his eyes and focus inward.

In his body, the gray cancer cells were still rampant in the microscopic world, and he did not know how long it would take for them to drag down his current body. However, before that, he would definitely experience a positive change!

The awakening process of Xinyun only took three days, and now, two full days had already passed!

In the area of Buye's heart, the small red nebula was spinning slower, but its overall structure was becoming more perfect, with the life force in each star growing stronger than the day before!

It was hard to believe that such a small nebula could contain such a rich and powerful life force, but in this world, it was the truth!

With such a powerful life force, if he waited one more day, could the complete awakening of Xinyun destroy the cancer cells that represented death and weakness in one go?

The human body was like this: a strong body meant a strong immune system, and a strong immune system meant fewer illnesses. Even if one did get sick, a strong immune system could help recover faster. Before crossing over, there were examples of cancer being cured on Earth, and many of them. In this world, could the overall improvement in physical health through the awakening of Xinyun defeat cancer?

One more day and night, and Xinyun would be fully awakened, and then the signs would be clear.

Buye could not help but feel excited, both because he saw hope in defeating cancer and because he was about to experience the true magic of this world, the Xinyun Blood Star!

After focusing on Xinyun, Buye did not immediately open his eyes but continued to sink his consciousness into his mind, observing the red light in his brain. As a prisoner, he indeed had nothing else to do.

Soon, he caught sight of the red light and the black gas again, but there was a change!

Yesterday, there were five black gas clouds, but today, there were only four left!

Buye's first thought was: one less per day?

Otherwise, it would be too coincidental.

So, if this continued, in four days, there would be no black gas clouds left. What would happen then?

...