Only I Cultivate
Chapter 49: Thank You

Chapter 49: Thank You

The man aimed the syringe at Luo Li, moving with eerie precision. Neither Feng Fan nor Luo Li noticed the approaching danger until it was too late. When the lights flickered back on, the syringe’s needle had already pierced Luo Li’s arm.

"Aargh!" Luo Li screamed, pain contorting her features as the murky liquid flooded into her veins.

Feng Fan’s eyes widened in shock. "You—!"

Black flames erupted from his fist, and without hesitation, he drove it into the man’s face. The blow landed with a crack, and the sinister spiritual energy controlling the assailant dissipated instantly. The man’s body went limp, collapsing to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

In the shadowy corner of the hall, a figure observed the scene with piqued interest. A twisted smile played at his lips as he murmured, "Oh, what an interesting ability this one has..."

The commotion drew everyone’s attention, and guards rushed to surround the fallen man. One of them knelt to check his pulse. "He’s dead! Who the hell is he?"

A butler, pale and trembling, hesitated before answering. "H-He’s one of the staff... I know him. He doesn’t have any powers. This doesn’t make sense."

"He was being controlled," a calm voice interjected. Feng Fan turned to see Lai He, the old man who had spoken to him earlier, now standing at the center of the chaos. "The young man’s attack severed the connection between him and the one manipulating him."

"P-President!" The guards immediately saluted, their voices taut with respect. Lai He was not only the owner of the estate but also one of the most powerful Hunters in the Dragon Country—a man who commanded unparalleled authority and power.

But Feng Fan paid no heed to the reverence shown to Lai He. His entire focus was on Luo Li, whose condition was rapidly worsening. Her face was deathly pale, drenched in sweat, and her breathing came in ragged gasps. Bloodshot eyes stared unfocused at Feng Fan as her body convulsed uncontrollably.

Before she could collapse, Feng Fan caught her, pulling her into his arms. Panic flashed in his eyes as he yelled,

"There’s something wrong with Luo Li! We need a doctor!" His gaze locked onto Lai He, desperate and unyielding.

Some onlookers bristled at Feng Fan’s disrespectful tone, knowing that speaking so bluntly to the SIF president could easily result in death. Yet Lai He didn’t seem to mind. His expression remained grave as he examined Luo Li’s condition, recognizing the symptoms at once.

He sighed heavily. "She is... undergoing mutation. I’m afraid no doctor can save her now."

The weight of Lai He’s words pressed on Feng Fan’s heart like a heavy stone. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. "W-What do you mean, there’s no one to save her? She’s still alive!"

The crowd around them looked at Feng Fan with pity. Every Hunter present knew what a mutation meant. It was something all Hunters fought against daily, the threat of their bodies being overtaken by the very energy they used to grow stronger.

Lai He sighed, knowing Feng Fan was still new to this world and might not understand. He spoke slowly, his voice filled with experience. "While Hunters rely on absorbing ghostly spiritual energy to become stronger, that same energy is also poison to the body. If it spirals out of control, it causes a mutation, transforming the Hunter into something that’s neither a ghost nor a human..."

Feng Fan’s jaw clenched. He remembered Luo Li talking about something similar, and a flash of realization hit him.

"Can’t purifying incense help her?" Feng Fan asked, desperation edging his voice. "I saw it used on Wu Yunru when he absorbed too much ghostly energy at once."

The people around them looked at Feng Fan as if he were nothing more than a naive boy, a frog in a well.

This time, it wasn’t Lai He who replied, but Luo Li’s father, Luo Ru. His voice was cold, his words cutting through the air like a blade. "Purifying incense isn’t a cure-all. She’s already past the point of no return. The substance injected into her was pure ghostly spiritual energy. They somehow concentrated it into a liquid and injected it directly into her bloodstream, forcibly triggering the mutation."

Luo Ru’s expression remained eerily calm, devoid of the emotion one might expect from a father watching his daughter die. His voice was chilling as he added, "We should end her suffering now, before it gets worse."

Feng Fan’s pupils contracted in shock. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Luo Li’s own father was suggesting they kill her—right in front of her, while she was still conscious, despite her condition.

Luo Ri’s hand gripped Feng Fan’s arm, snapping his attention back to her. "He’s right... Feng Fan... let me die in peace. I want to die as a Hunter, not as a ghost."

Her once silver eyes were now partially blood red, glowing ominously, and her lips were cracked and dry. Beneath her red mask, the ghost bride tattoo pulsed, emanating ghostly spiritual energy and threatening to consume her entirely.

"Luo Li, how could you say that? We can fight back. You’re the strongest person I know... you can win this," Feng Fan pleaded, his voice breaking as unnoticed tears streamed down his face.

He couldn’t stop them; they fell in heavy cascades, soaking the red dress Luo Li wore.

Despite her torment, a faint smile tugged at her lips. She knew her family well—none of them would shed a tear for her, but here was this boy, a stranger in so many ways, crying for her.

How could she not feel a sense of warmth? There was someone who didn’t want her to go.

But time was running out. With great effort, she whispered her final words before her body began to slip from her control completely.

"Thank you, Feng Fan... for caring about me..."

Her eyes closed, only to snap open once more, now entirely crimson. A twisted, eerie grin spread across her face as she lost herself to the transformation.

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