Chapter 54: Head Slave

*Things like sexism and racism are purely for worldbuilding and to make it more realistic. Thank you for your understanding.*

A huge figure sped through the dark streets of the slums at an incredible speed, leaving heavy cracks on the hard earth and huge thuds in its wake.

A young woman turned around with a cold gaze, her icy figure standing beautifully in the middle of the road. However, before she could even open her mouth, a huge scaly hand with sharp claws thrust itself into her chest and surfaced from the other side.

She wanted to look up at the figure that had taken her life, however, her head fell limp before she could even think to. After her eyes had gone dead, huge lumps of blood began to spill from her mouth gruesomely, but the large scaly hand skillfully caught it and shoved it back down her throat.

'I'm sorry.' Nu Li thought before flinging the body of the woman over his shoulder, where three other bodies already lay. They were all Stage 2 cultivators, and since Nu Li was higher Stage 3, they were all mercilessly butchered by his sharp claws.

Nu Li turned his huge three-meter body and started to rush back to where his master meditated.

It had been a week since his master had ordered him and his four brothers to amass large amounts of cultivator blood, and Nu Li had been tirelessly slaughtering humans.

With the promise of being granted the title of Head Slave, Nu Li and his brothers were undoubtedly killing hundreds of cultivators by the day to satisfy their master. However, Nu Li was sure that he was ahead of his brothers by a large amount, with second place belonging to Long.

Thinking of Long, Nu Li's expression soured. If buying Ren was a bad decision, then Long was the worse one he could've made. The other three dragonmen cost two claws altogether, however, Long cost two claws just by himself...

The peak Stage 3 dragonman had an incredibly pure bloodline and was barely human. But this also meant that he was much stronger than Nu Li, and Long was currently causing him all sorts of problems.

Nu Li suddenly threw his thoughts away and focused back on reality as he saw a massive figure running directly at him!

However, Nu Li just had a cold expression as he turned to the side and ran straight past the figure. As if it was slow motion, Nu Li directed an apathetic glance at a smirking dragonman who ran with five bodies impaled on one of his arms.

'That fucking Ren! He's leaving a blood trail down the fucking street!' Nu Li inwardly griped with an ugly expression, however, did not let bother him too much as he carried on running.

Since Nu Li was close to where his master lay, it was not strange to see his brothers carrying dozens of bodies down the street every now and then. After all, who wouldn't want to be a head slave?

Thinking of all the privileges he would get, Nu Li's hand drifted to a necklace that he wore over his scaly upper body. It was a crude bit of string tied with a knot, however, there was a sparkling black claw held by the string.

This was his master's claw that he had been rewarded with after buying his four brothers successfully. It was undoubtedly a huge treasure that could buy Nu Li many resources that would further his cultivation and maybe even push him to peak Stage 3, however, he hadn't used it yet.

A few minutes later, Nu Li arrived at a small house on the outskirts of the slums, rushing through the door before kneeling down solemnly.

He did not speak and only knelt for a moment before dropping the four bodies he had gathered next to his slumbering master. The bodies fell onto many fresh ones just like it, however, they all lay on a huge bed of bones that reached all the way to the door! There must be over five hundred skeletons, Nu Li thought!

Nu Li peeked at his master before he was about to rush away again, marvelling at things he couldn't understand. His master had his eyes closed in sleep and reached his hand over to devour a body every once in a while.

However, what shocked Nu Li most was his master's body. A week ago, his master looked weak and frail, his skin clinging to his bones. But now, after amassing tons of human flesh for his master, he had completely transformed...

His arms that used to be painfully thin that would make one cringe were now thicker than tree trunks as they pulsed with strength, the muscles visibly rippling beneath the skin! His legs that didn't seem they could hold his bodyweight now stood strong and firm like a fortress, his devastating claws that dug into the earth even growing in size!

A visible ribcage was replaced by wiry layers of rippling muscle that made one frightened to face the monster, and the thin neck and empty face were now pulsing with life!

Nu Li was astonished at the insane transformation, however, attributed it to his master's Stage 5 body that could crush mountains and level forests.

Nu Li was about to turn away, however, stopped in his tracks as he saw his master's eyelids slowly slip back and reveal his blood-red eyes and hellishly black sclera...

...

Qing Fang opened his eyes from his slumber.

For the past week, he had been focusing solely on nourishing his body and had expended mountains of flesh and blood to do so. However, when he felt the unimaginable strength flowing to even the ends of his fingers and into his claws, he flared his nostrils in satisfaction.

His muscles rippled in a disgusting uniform as Qing Fang tried to use martial art with his body, however, he was sorely disappointed. Martial arts was about unlocking the muscle's potential and pushing it to its limits by removing the shackle one's body put on itself.

However, it seemed that now Qing Fang's Stage 5 strength transcended what was possible by the Laws of Nature, martial arts was nothing but a parlour trick.

Qing Fang was not too disappointed as he already had amazing strength granted to him by his natural suppression, his eyes scanning the pile of bodies to his right. He had drained almost all of them to fuel his body's nourishment, but there was still a mountain of blood in his stomach and on the pile also.

Qing Fang looked to the five golden runes that lay in the empty space next to his injured soul, jabbing them with a prod of his divine sense. The kneeling Nu Li's face suddenly paled as he staggered and almost fell over.

This was a method Qing Fang and many others used to recall their servants and also discipline them. The rune was connected to the slave's "essence", or soul, and if it was shattered the slave would instantly die. However, prodding it only delivered unimaginable pain.

Of course, others would not use divine sense as they may not possess it and purely relied on the pitiful power of their locked soul to do so.

Qing Fang closed his eyes again for a short period of rest and only opened them a few minutes later. By that time, five dragonmen piously knelt before him and there were also a dozen more bodies on the pile.

He was satisfied with their efforts and parted his jagged teeth to speak in a demonic voice.

"You have all done well and pleased me greatly. Nu Li has delivered the most blood so he will be allowed the title of Head Slave." Qing Fang said slowly as he watched Nu Li's fists tighten in excitement as well as all the other sour expressions.

Qing Fang was about to carry on, but another gruff voice interrupted him before he could.

"Master! Please allow me to fight for the title of Head Slave!" Qing Fang abruptly turned his huge head to stare directly at a large dragonman. His scales were piercingly red as his massive horns twisted into the air. His body was larger than the others, standing four meters tall, and his eyes contained a beastly arrogance.

Nu Li's eyes shrank to pin-size as he heard the words of the largest dragonman in the room and went on to look at his master with a steely gaze, awaiting the words he would speak.

A small smile crept up Qing Fang's lips as he spoke with bared fangs.

"As you wish."

The large dragonman, Long, raised his horned head with a smile as he turned to look at Nu Li's white expression from the corner of his eye. He dragged his large body from the ground and turned to face Nu Li, who was still kneeling.

Three other pairs of eyes from the other dragonmen fell on Nu Li also, pressuring him to stand with a bitter look in his eyes. He looked to the side and saw his master's evil smile, his shoulder drooping.

Long stood three heads taller than him and his shoulders were at least a foot wider. After all, Nu Li was told that the concentration of Long's bloodline was nearing ninety-five per cent, while he knew his own was only seventy-eight...

A dragon's strength was entirely dependent on its bloodline. If a Fire Dragon, which had a weak bloodline, tried to fight a Bluefire Dragon that had a strong bloodline, it would only die miserably. Not even mentioning a Heavenly Flame Dragon, which possessed a legendary bloodline and was Stage 8 when fully grown!

The scales on both the dragonmen's throats began to glow a bright red and flow all the way down to their chest, unbelievably hot magma undoubtedly flowing within. Their white claws had a reddish tinge as they began to convulse the air around them with the heat!

And before Nu Li could ready himself, Long lunged forwards on his front foot with his arms spread and his glowing claws falling with immense speed! Nu Li's beastly instincts took over as he roared and rushed forwards as well!

Ten huge claws fell into Nu Li's back and scraped dreadful art as they slashed and cooked the flesh around it! The huge body of Long seemed to encompass Nu Li and made him look pitiful as he opened his large maw and bit heavily into Long's neck! Nu Li's claws slashed at Long's chest, however, they didn't scrape as deep as Long's bigger claws.

Nu Li's feet were pushed back and left deep etchings in the earth as Long continued to massacre his back and cause bits of steaming flesh to fall to the floor! Even though Nu Li was biting his neck, Long bared his teeth and growled as he tensed with all his might, making Nu Li feel as though he was biting into stone!

Only a moment later, Nu Li's teeth loosened from Long's neck and screeches and howls of pain only came from him instead!

Long grabbed the head of Nu Li that was avariciously biting into his neck and threw him to the floor with an annoyed expression. As Nu Li fell, the dragonmen laid their eyes upon Nu Liks back which was entirely shredded with scratches on the visible ribcage beneath his flayed flesh! They all grimaced as they stared at Long.

Ren snorted with contempt while Shen just looked solemnly. The last, and most quiet, dragonman, Bai, had completely white scales and looked on expressionlessly. He didn't even look up and kept his gaze on the floor.

Long took his eyes from the defeated Nu Li and looked back to his master before kneeling once again, however, there was a smile on his lowered face.

However, his smile suddenly froze as his eyes widened to the extreme!

A sickening crack had resounded followed by a numbing pain and liquid tricking from Long's head. He moved his hand up to where his horns were and felt a hollow stump that fountained purple blood down his face...

He looked up to Qing Fang with a pleading gaze but was only answered with coldness.

"Do not disobey your master."

A large white hand reached over for his other horn and Long flinched, wanting to pull his head away! However, he could not...

His brands glowed with a golden burn as his body was rooted, almost paralyzed, as he watched the hand grip onto his remaining horn and snap it off...

Long watched with a daze as he couldn't even feel pain, only a numbness and his blood flowing from his wound.

Qing Fang smirked as he spoke with a gruesome expression that caused Long to shiver...

"You, slave, tried to obstruct my orders for your own gain. This is your punishment!" Qing Fang shouted horribly and caused Long to lower his head in fear. He had indeed been eating humans that Nu Li, Shen and Bai had gathered. He had even forced Ren to as well...

His head was lowered as he watched his purple blood flow onto the scratched earth endlessly.

Qing Fang turned his gaze to one of the kneeling dragonmen in the back who was shivering incessantly. He narrowed his eyes and spoke harshly.

"You! Come here!"

Ren flinched and raised his head with widened eyes before he slowly alighted from the ground and walked over with heavy steps and an ashen expression. He knelt beside Long and gazed at the huge pool of his blood fearfully before lifting his chin to face his master.

"You are also guilty." Qing Fang said with a disappointed expression that he feigned. He then reached over to Ren, his brandings flashing insanely brightly as the dragonman shivered in his place with wide eyes!

Qing Fang took his thumb and index finger before pushing them into Ren's maw and clamping them onto his lower jaw where his incisor fangs lay. He stared at his slave for a moment, making eye contact with him and seeing the despair within.

However, he did not react and gradually began to squeeze. Even though his thumb was on the sharp higher Stage 3 fangs, his Stage 5 skin was not going to be pierced.

Ren felt as though his jaw was going to hold strong at first, but he began to feel a strange pain in his gums before he physically felt his teeth sinking into them! Blood began to flow from his mouth as he desperately tried to pull away, however, his brands restricted him as they glowed brightly.

And then, a deafening crack followed by a squelch sounded as Ren's entire jaw folded into meat and blood. Qing Fang pulled his hand away before licking the delicious purple blood from his fingers as he watched Ren's jaw hang limp as blood continued to trickle weakly.

He swirled his finger as all the blood from the two of them shot into Qing Fang's stomach and fell into a large mess of blood that lay there.

Qing Fang looked back to Nu Li who wore a complicated expression.

"You are now my Head Slave, Nu Li. You can order the others around to help you in your tasks, and you will receive rewards from me."

Qing Fang said before he suddenly looked over to the others.

"Other than the two before me, you will be able to challenge the Head Slave for the position." Bai and Shen looked up and nodded before lowering their heads again, afraid of attracting punishment with their gazes.

"For now..." Qing Fang said as he tore a black claw from his finger amidst spurting blood and threw it to Nu Li.

"...get me a Storage Ring."

The five dragonmen nodded solemnly before quickly leaving the small house. Now, only silence reigned.

No more roars came from that hole as Qing Fang had slaughtered all of the black creatures since they were useless to him. He had a feeling that finding a human with Blood affinity was not going to happen anytime soon, so there was no point in amassing any more useless flesh.

Qing Fang then looked to his side and drained the remaining fleshy bodies of all their blood and stored it in his gut before evaluating how much he had gained from the past week. His slaves had brought him over one hundred Stage 2 cultivators and upwards of five hundred Stage 1s in their tireless hunting.

Even after using a bulk of the blood to nourish his body back to peak health, Qing Fang was certain there was enough for him to break through to Stage 3 in one sitting!

However, from there, cultivation would massively slow down. The first three Stages were much quicker to cultivate than the next three, with the boundary being Stage 4; a realm that Qing Fang had never even touched.

The only reason he could fight a Stage 4 before this was because he had cultivated all the way to Quasi Stage 4. However, he had never felt the tribulation nearing even when he felt his Water Dao Body bursting at the seams.

Qing Fang thought that was the limit of cultivation if one didn't cultivate in line with their affinity, and he was probably right.

However, cultivating all the way to breakthrough would take Qing Fang a while even if he did have the resources. He approximated it would take him just under two months until he would feel the second tribulation descending.

It was a long time of seclusion considering being only Stage 2. Normal humans would have to take several breaks to replenish their hunger as well as mental stability. Naturally, Qing Fang didn't worry since he had a middle Stage 5 body acting as his foundation.

Not wasting any more time, Qing Fang shut his eyes relaxedly as he cast his mind to the World of Laws and focused on absorbing the ownerless Laws into his Blood Dao Body bit by bit...

*3,028/3,000 words*