Chapter 394
Chapter 394
Mabel and Beatrix could not condone Jonathan and Lesley killing innocent people. More importantly, both men could not convince themselves to do so either.
They found themselves in a dilemma. Without consuming fresh blood from a woman, their deaths were sealed in stone.
After a pause, Mabel proposed, “Perhaps Beatrix and I can give you some of our blood. We can also head out and pay off some young women to donate their blood.”
Beatrix voiced her doubts about the plan, “That won't necessarily work. The blood stored in the hospital didn't work on them. Asking any random young woman off the streets to donate her blood may not be better than that from the hospital's blood bank. I'm worried they'll have to suck blood from a living human. It's fundamentally different from the blood lying around in hospital storage.”
“Nonetheless, we have to give it a try.” Mabel added, “Let me draw some of my blood first.” She got up and left in search of a clean container.
Soon enough, she returned with a wine decanter. Mabel slit one of the veins on her arm and aligned the wound above the mouth of the decanter.
Blood gradually filled the decanter, flowing along its curved walls.
Jonathan watched the scene intently, suddenly realizing his heart was itching with anticipation. He felt the impulse to rush forward and press his mouth over Mabel's bleeding wound. Her flowing blood felt like the most fragrant and wonderful wine in the world.
Jonathan barely resisted the urge to lick his lips.
Beside him, Lesley was suffering much the same trial in patience.
By then, Mabel had lost almost seventeen ounces of blood at one go, filling half the decanter.
“That's enough.” Jonathan stopped Mabel anxiously. She was his closest friend in the group, and he could not help but worry about her well-being.
While she was a Level Eight Divine Master, it was still dangerous for her to lose too much blood.
Fresh blood was crucial to sustaining a body's spiritual energy. Even the most skilled cultivators would become significantly weakened after extreme blood loss.
In fact, Mabel was already looking visibly paler.
Beatrix had also filled another decanter with her blood.
It was around this time that Jonathan and Lesley's bloodlines began to act up.
The frequency of the recurrence was too often for comfort.
Jonathan and Lesley exchanged a glance, and each grabbed a blood-filled decanter.
Jonathan had picked up the decanter holding Mabel's blood and gulped the liquid in one go.
Once the blood reached his stomach, he felt an inexplicable surge of warmth through his entire body.
It was at least a hundred times more intense than the warmth he felt before.
Jonathan felt as though each and every one of his body cells was relishing the soothing warmth.
The effects of consuming the blood were akin to that of an Immortal Pill.
Jonathan immediately knew that it was a consequence of Mabel's high cultivation level. Her virginity also boosted the quality of the blood.
Briefly, Jonathan marveled at how he would be able to achieve the Divine Master level if he drank all of Mabel's blood.
Still, these were all in his mind. He would never do anything to harm Mabel, even if it meant giving up his life.
“How do you feel?” Mabel asked Jonathan anxiously.
He nodded and replied, “Pretty good.” The words had barely left his mouth when he suddenly felt an uncomfortable sensation.
His body temperature began rising at an alarming pace.
The bloodline is acting up too aggressively and frequently. It's really after my life!
Jonathan's skin reddened, and he felt as if he could breathe fire from his mouth.
Lesley suffered a similar fate.
Their female companions blanched in horror. They were starting to realize the severity of the situation.
Jonathan and Lesley promptly whipped out blood bags and began gulping the liquid in a frenzy. However, they soon stopped themselves as they concluded that the blood bags were no longer effective.
A sense of hopelessness overwhelmed both men.
A concerned Beatrix muttered, “Oh dear, the fresh blood from the hospital doesn't work anymore.”
Mabel had noticed it as well.
Elijah immediately declared, “I'm heading out to look for blood.”
He was still acting normally, unlike Jonathan and Lesley. Elijah did not waste a single moment and left Protector Condominium.
Mabel and Beatrix felt lost as they watched Jonathan and Lesley's tormented states.
The flare ups were evidently getting worse and worse. Content provided by NôvelDrama.Org.
Jonathan roared in pain. He felt his skin changing into a dark, purplish color.
He could even sense the changes and torture in his body cells.
At this rate, his body temperature would eventually rise to a point hot enough to react with the air and the acidic substances in his body, leading to burning.
Since old times, monks who had transcended the heavens as rainbow streaks in the past typically underwent such a painful process. However, they used friction between the magnetic fields within their bodies and the environment to raise their body temperatures, basically setting themselves on fire and producing brilliant rays reminiscent of rainbows.
Jonathan and Lesley both shivered at the thought of perishing in such a painful manner.
Naturally, Mabel was the most concerned of the group over Jonathan's well-being. The thought of his pain and his imminent death emboldened her to stretch her fair, slender arm toward him.
She offered, “Take my blood, Jonathan!”
Beatrix shared her sentiments. She wanted to save Lesley as well and joined Mabel in offering her arm. “You should take my blood too, Lesley.”
Their arms were promptly pushed aside by Jonathan and Lesley.
Despite their excruciating pain, their minds were clearer than ever.
They knew they would lose control if they sucked the young women's blood now.
After all, once the desire to consume blood trounced every last thought in their mind, not even the strongest willpower could stop them until the young women had become corpses.
The men resigned themselves to their deaths.
Just then, footsteps sounded outside the condominium unit.
Mabel and Beatrix looked up to see Simon barging in through the front door.
He did not come alone—there were two young women beside him.
Jonathan and Lesley turned toward Simon just as he flung both women before them.
The two young women shrieked in agony.
At the same time, blood gushed out of lacerations across their necks.
Simon had used his sharp nails to slash their necks while throwing them toward Jonathan and Lesley.
He said solemnly, “Go ahead and suck their blood. Their blood is on my hands, and they won't survive even if you don't drink their blood. I have sinned so don't waste my effort, and don't make their deaths meaningless.”
He turned and dashed out of Protector Condominium after those words.
Conflicting emotions warred in Jonathan and Lesley's chests. They exchanged a glance hesitantly.
Still, they knew it was no longer prudent to delay their decision.
They seized a young woman each and covered their mouths over the wounds, sucking the fresh blood greedily.
Mabel and Beatrix were understandably stunned by the scene. However, they were also heartbroken.
Five minutes later, the two young women brought in by Simon had turned into dry, bloodless corpses.
Jonathan and Lesley had also satisfied the bloodlust surging in their veins.
The intake of fresh blood warmed every part of their body and nourished their starved cells.
Suddenly, Jonathan's eyes turned bloodshot, and he roared, “Argh!”
A faint, almost indiscernible glow swathed his body, appearing to repress a black mist.
It represented the cultivation stage where murky energy declined and pure vital energy surged.
In other words, Jonathan broke through to the Divine Master stage.
It had always felt so out of reach, yet Jonathan had achieved the stage with such an unimaginable process.
On the other hand, Lesley had surpassed the bottleneck of the final stage of Nascent Soul, reaching the middle stage of Celestial Soul in a fell swoop.
That was one of the unique benefits of Leahra's bloodline.
Everything had a bright side and a downside. Even seemingly horrid fates had a silver lining.
For Jonathan and Lesley, the bloodline allowed their cultivation to progress at lightning speed.
Notably, Simon was already a Level Three Divine Master, which implied that he had sucked the fresh
blood of many young women.
He would not have improved so quickly otherwise.
While Jonathan and Lesley had achieved leaps and bounds in their cultivation, they could not rejoice. Despondency and guilt weighed on their hearts as they stared at the two victims before them.
They were still humans, after all.
Of course, they knew they had no right to blame Simon for his actions.
In fact, if anything, Jonathan and Lesley were the selfish ones in this situation. They hid their weak resolves behind masks of righteousness and kindness while pushing all the dirty work onto Simon.
Mabel and Beatrix were also in no position to condemn Jonathan and Lesley. They struggled to overcome the moral dilemma in their hearts.
The situation had advanced to a stage they had never imagined or wished to witness.
Jonathan broke the silence with a sigh. He turned to Mabel and said, “Lesley and I will deal with their bodies. The two of you should get some rest.”
Mabel and Beatrix nodded and left.
Shortly after that, Jonathan and Lesley transported the young women's corpses out of Protector Condominium.
On the way to their intended burial site, Jonathan had come to terms with his earlier actions.
He knew it was inevitable, and there was nothing to do but accept the irreversible consequences of his actions.
Lesley, however, struggled to reconcile his actions with his morals.
Finally, they pulled up by a lake.
They placed the bodies beside the lake instead of burying the evidence. At the very least, they hoped the young women's families could find them and give them a proper burial.
Only then did both men get a good look at their victims' faces.
Still, because both young women had had all their blood sucked dry, their face shape had changed substantially, and they looked rather eery at night.
Suddenly, Lesley knelt and prostrated himself before the two bodies to pay his respects.
Jonathan followed suit, even though they both knew it was futile.
On their way back, Lesley remained silent.
Jonathan spoke up. “Lesley, many people die every day. Perhaps this was their fate. Stop beating yourself up. We didn't act out of malice. They wouldn't have survived even if we didn't drink their blood.”
Lesley argued, “Simon only killed them for us. Whichever way you think about it, we killed them.”
His words struck Jonathan silent. Frankly, Jonathan had not fully convinced himself of the propriety of his actions, which just made it harder for him to console Lesley.
Suddenly, Lesley stopped the car and announced, “I want to walk alone for a while, Jonathan.”
Jonathan knew he felt terrible and quickly agreed with his request. “Go ahead.”
Lesley alighted from the car and headed off in a different direction.
Dawn had come upon them, and the sun was peeking over the horizon.
Lesley's figure appeared incredibly listless against the soft illumination of the sunrise. Jonathan felt the chilly morning breeze that day carried a somewhat melancholy scent.