Cultivating with a Broken System (and No Talent)

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Chapter 4: Blood Dweller City – The Origin of the Demonic Path

When I first absorbed blood, I only thought of survival.

But over time, with every corpse I touched, I felt something rise within me.

Not just spiritual power.

Not energy.

But a craving... to kill.

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> "Kill more.

They deserve it.

Their blood... is your reward."

The voice in my head returned, whispering like it stood behind me.

But I no longer cared about it.

What truly caught my attention — was the scent of blood.

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I arrived at Blood Dweller City — a lawless zone where sects only interfered when it was too late.

Here, the strong wrote the rules, and the weak weren't even remembered.

And in this city, I could smell flesh and blood as clearly as breathing.

> "Something's wrong with me…"

"No. You're awakening. Embrace it."

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I sold some weapons taken from the dead.

Sold a few herbs and scraps I had gathered.

Just enough to rent a damp, rotting wooden room in the poorest part of the city — where names meant nothing.

> "This place feels... calm.

And bloody."

"That's your hunger for power. Accept it."

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I didn't sleep that night.

I followed the stench, the distorted traces of spiritual energy.

And I found them — those pretending to be ordinary but rotten to the core.

They had families, wealth, status...

But behind those masks, they'd stolen, destroyed, and killed.

No one dared to touch them.

No one—except me.

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I struck.

No hesitation. No warning.

And when the blood spilled… the power surged again.

I absorbed it.

Silently.

Then disappeared as if I was never there.

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The next morning, the city buzzed.

> "Someone killed last night... No energy signature left behind."

"The sect can't trace him."

"Could it be… a demonic cultivator?"

I sat in my wooden room, sipping warm tea.

Light from the alley filtered through the cracks in the wall.

No one saw me.

No one knew me.

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Then... I saw her again.

The girl I had once saved.

Her wounds were gone, her gaze sharper.

In that moment, I realized — I wasn't the same person who saved her,

and she wasn't the same girl who needed saving.

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I chose to stay in Blood Dweller City.

Live a few years here.

Earn more money. Learn more about this world.

Gather more strength.

And if needed...

shed more blood.

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