Blood of Gluttony

“Otherworlder Yu Xian Visits Huaxia” “Shiny Hero Visits Earth, May Usher in a Grand New Era” “Huaxia's Qilin Receives Gift from Otherworldly Hero” “Parallel Worlds? Hero or Demon, Separated by a Single Thought!” “Is Yu Xian the Wanted Criminal Yu Tian? Why the Staggering Difference Between the Two Worlds?” “A Detailed Breakdown of Wanted Fugitive Yu Tian vs. Otherworldly Hero Yu Xian: Choice Trumps Effort” Yu Tian stared at his phone, his hands shaking violently. Today, every single app was dominated by news of Yu Xian. He did not want to believe that Yu Xian truly existed. After all, compared to Yu Xian, he was practically a pile of... Yet the overwhelming flood of news stories forced him to believe. Yu Xian was a real person, another version of himself from an alternate world—a dazzling, radiant version. In this world, supernatural powers had existed since ancient times, so people were far more receptive to novel information. As more photographs and mounting evidence surfaced, Yu Tian decisively switched off his phone. He could not bring himself to keep reading; the articles felt like knives stabbing into him, hurting too much to bear. Because Yu Xian had already broadcast his movie across the global network, countless people now knew who he was. On top of that, during dinner with Xiao Cheng, Yu Xian had dropped a hint. Xiao Cheng immediately understood that Yu Xian found this version of himself thoroughly revolting, giving state-partnered media outlets plenty of work to do. A deluge of comparison pieces pitting Yu Tian against Yu Xian flooded the internet, laying bare just how wretched Yu Tian was when compared to his parallel counterpart. They also meticulously listed the physical differences between the two, preventing Yu Tian from ever impersonating Yu Xian. “Why?” “If Zhou Yu was born, why bring Zhuge Liang into the world?” Lying atop a massive boulder and staring up at the sun, Yu Tian felt his chest swell with grief and indignation. Yet what truly broke his composure was knowing the movie had spoken the truth. Perhaps Lano really had been a good girl. If he had not killed Lano back then, if he had cooperated with her just like Yu Xian had, would he have walked a completely different path toward the future? A hero! Blindingly brilliant. Yu Xian's journey replayed endlessly in Yu Tian's mind. He envied Yu Xian's fortune, yet he also understood that sheer luck was never enough. His own luck had not been bad either, but he lacked Yu Xian's kindness, Yu Xian's perseverance, Yu Xian's courage, Yu Xian's... He fell short of Yu Xian in every conceivable way—except in ruthlessness and cruelty, where he surpassed him. But what good was that? In the exact same span of a year, Yu Xian had become a Star-rank powerhouse, while he remained stuck at early Tiger rank, with Dragon rank still an unreachable horizon away. Perhaps Yu Xian was more worthy of being Yu Tian... *** The Aska. Yu Xian had not lingered on this world's Earth, departing directly after donating the starship. Although he had clamored about wanting to give Yu Tian a beating, that had merely been spoken in anger; what truly drove his decision to visit Earth had never been Yu Tian, but rather that as a fellow human, he could not simply stand by and watch this world's humankind die in despair. He had gone to bring hope to this world's humanity. After sleeping until dawn, Yu Xian pushed Little Nora's rear end aside and took a good while before climbing out of bed. “Are we really just leaving like this? There are still two days left; you could take some time to reconsider,” Nora said with a smile as she woke up. Yu Xian retorted crossly, “Did you really want me to go beat up that Yu Tian?” With his current abilities, he could naturally track down Yu Tian in no time, but what would that accomplish? Kill him? If there was one parallel world, there would be a second. How long would he have to keep killing? “So you aren't angry anymore?” Nora asked teasingly. At the mere thought of Yu Tian's deeds, Yu Xian's teeth itched with irritation. “If he dared show his face before me right now, I'd punch him right in the jaw.” The words had barely left his mouth when, in the next instant, a cluster of light slowly merged into his body. In a fleeting daze, he seemed to glimpse Yu Tian bowing in homage to him. Though the sensation was faint, Yu Xian knew he had grown stronger. “...” Yu Xian wore an odd expression. Just now, he had actually received Yu Tian's power of faith. Ever since Qilin began clearing his name yesterday, he had progressively absorbed faith from people across this Earth; evidently, quite a few had become his fervent admirers. Furthermore, the power of faith in this world was of high quality—even Little Huangquan gave it rave reviews after tasting it. Yet Yu Xian never imagined that Yu Tian of all people would contribute power of faith to him. What was stranger still was that Yu Tian's faith was exceptionally bizarre: Yu Xian had absorbed it directly. Normally, the power of faith would remain stored inside his body, and he typically used it in two ways: one was igniting it with Six Ding Divine Fire so it acted as fuel to empower himself. The other was infusing it into food, making it vastly more delicious. Yet Yu Tian's power of faith did not remain stored within him; it melted straight into his body, and he could feel himself growing stronger. The problem was that upon opening his status attributes, his combat power had not increased at all. Noticing Yu Xian's strange expression, Nora asked curiously, “What's wrong?” “I just absorbed Yu Tian's power of faith,” Yu Xian said to Nora. “And his faith seems to enhance some ability of mine, though as for what ability exactly... I have no idea.” Nora immediately ventured a guess. “Could it be related to the fact that he's the you of this world?” “Most likely,” Yu Xian nodded. He had thought of that possibility as well, but he wondered whether this phenomenon was unique to him or universal. Unfortunately, this world's 'Nora' was already dead, or else they could have run an experiment. Just then, another wave of power of faith arrived from Yu Tian. Yu Xian closed his eyes, sensing it carefully to track where it was going. The trouble was that this power of faith behaved like a part of his own body, swiftly melting away the moment it entered him. Afterward, Yu Tian's power of faith streamed in steadily. This fellow's faith was rather intriguing: instead of flowing smoothly like a gentle brook, it was sometimes imperceptibly faint, suddenly surging in spikes, then dropping to a trickle once more. Through these waves of faith, Yu Xian could even sense Yu Tian's fluctuating, erratic emotional swings. It was not without reason that the guy had become a wanted criminal—his emotional state was far too unstable. However, just as Yu Xian began thinking this power of faith could only enhance some unknown aspect of his existing strength, after absorbing a certain amount of it, a brand-new power gradually manifested within his blood. The instant it was born, he detected its presence. Yu Xian closed his eyes, examining the new ability within his blood. Gradually, realization dawned on him: this was Yu Tian's ability, Blood of Gluttony. This ability enhanced his digestive capability and absorption rate. Simply put, drinking the blood of just a few people would equal a normal vampire feeding for an entire year, similarly producing the special energy required to awaken bloodline talents. In this way, aside from basking in the sun, he now had another avenue to grow stronger.