The hunger returned before fear.
It started as a dull pressure in Lin Feng's chest, like an empty stomach that could not be filled. Then it sharpened, turning into a burning ache that spread through his ribs and into his head. His thoughts became slow, heavy. Every shadow he saw seemed alive. Every movement felt edible.
He gripped the edge of a black stone table inside the training hall, forcing himself to stay upright.
"So this is what it feels like," he muttered.
Lira leaned against a pillar nearby, arms crossed, watching him with an unreadable expression.
"You're already shaking," she said. "That was fast."
"The hunger doesn't wait," the Mother of the Abyss replied from her throne above. "If he does not feed today, tomorrow he will lose himself. Bring the prisoner."
The shadows on the walls shifted. Two figures of darkness dragged someone into the hall and threw him to the floor.
It was a man in his thirties, his cultivation already sealed. His face was thin, his eyes sharp and restless even while kneeling. Dried blood stained his robes.
Lin Feng looked at him and felt the hunger surge violently.
"Who is he?" Lin Feng asked, forcing his gaze away.
"A slaver," the Mother said calmly. "He sold children to demonic cultivators. He tried to escape the Abyss by offering lives as payment."
The man laughed hoarsely. "So what if I did. The world runs on strength. Weaklings are currency."
Lira walked forward. Her shadow stretched unnaturally long across the floor.
"You don't get to speak," she said.
In a blink, she was in front of him.
Her hand became a blade of darkness. One clean strike.
The man's head rolled across the black marble floor. His body collapsed without a sound.
Lin Feng's stomach twisted.
Then something strange happened.
A pale mist rose from the corpse. It twisted and struggled like a living thing. Inside it, Lin Feng saw fragments. Screams. Chains. Gold coins soaked in blood. The soul of the slaver, trying to flee.
Lira raised her hand.
Black symbols appeared on her palm.
The mist was pulled toward her and condensed into a sphere of dim white light, floating above her hand. It trembled violently, as if it were alive.
Lin Feng took a step back.
"So that's… a soul."
"Yes," the Mother said. "My daughter harvests. You consume."
Lira turned to him.
"Come closer."
Lin Feng hesitated, then walked toward her. His chest burned with hunger, but fear still clung to his heart.
"What if I can't control it?" he asked.
"Then I'll cut you down too," Lira said simply. "So don't lose control."
She placed her hand against his chest.
The sphere of light moved toward him.
The moment it touched him, the world exploded.
The soul was dragged inside him like water into a whirlpool. A freezing cold followed by burning heat tore through his veins. Images flooded his mind. The man's greed. His cruelty. The way he smiled while others cried.
Lin Feng gasped and fell to his knees.
The hunger vanished.
In its place came something else. Strength. Not in his muscles, but in his existence.
A black shadow leaked from beneath him and rose from the floor, taking a human shape.
A faceless figure knelt before him.
"Shadow Servant: Slaver," the Mother said. "His skills remain. His will does not."
Lin Feng stared at it.
"So this is… what I become."
Lira stepped back and wiped her hand on her dress.
"You didn't vomit," she said. "Better than I expected."
Lin Feng laughed weakly.
"I almost did."
He looked at the kneeling shadow, then at Lira.
"You killed him."
"You devoured him," she corrected. "I only cut the meat."
For a moment, silence filled the hall.
Then the Mother spoke.
"You have taken your first soul. From now on, this is your path. My daughter will harvest. You will refine. Together, you will grow."
Lin Feng clenched his fists.
Mei Ling's face surfaced in his mind.
Zhao Wei's smile.
The Celestial Clouds Sect.
"I will not starve again," he said quietly. "And I will not forgive."
Lira smirked slightly.
"Good. Tomorrow, we hunt again."
The shadow servant bowed its head.
The hunger slept.
But something darker had awakened.