Demonic Cultivator: Immune To Common Side Effects - Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Kid, You’re Awake?
“Kid, you’re awake?”
“What’s your name?”
An aged voice roused the young man lying in bed.
Li Yan’s gaze was vacant, his eyes filled with confusion. “I… I’m Li Yan. Where am I?”
Looking around, Li Yan found himself in an old courtyard house, damp and cold, the air thick with the musty scent of mildew.
When he threw back the quilt, a bone-chilling draft sent shivers down his spine.
Then he remembered.
Li Yan remembered.
He recalled attending a Hanfu enthusiasts’ gathering. During a hike, he had slipped and fallen off a cliff.
That was his last memory before losing consciousness.
Dazed, Li Yan glanced to his right and noticed a figure standing beside his bed.
He looked closer.
The Daoist Priest before him was an elderly man clad in a Daoist robe. His skin was pale and grayish-green, half of his right ear was missing, and his cloudy, bloodshot eyes glared with a sinister scrutiny.
This Daoist Priest doesn’t look like a normal person at all…
Suppressing his unease, Li Yan asked, “Old Daoist, I seem to have lost my phone. Could you help me call my family?”
The Daoist Priest’s eyes flickered with surprise.
He shook his head vigorously. “It seems the fall from the mountain gave you a case of hysteria. You’ve started babbling nonsense.”
“Don’t worry, this Poor Daoist has a Medicine Pill for headaches,” the old Daoist said, pulling out a gourd-shaped medicine bottle and pouring out a crimson pill.
“Here, take this pill. It will suppress the delusions in your mind.”
As the old Daoist held the pill before Li Yan, Li Yan frowned. Something about it felt profoundly wrong.
The pill pulsed like a beating heart, its interior flashing red intermittently. Within its depths, he could discern what looked like embryonic insect eggs.
A Medicine Pill?
It looked more like a clutch of golden apple snail eggs!
Li Yan shook his head vigorously, refusing. “No need, Daoist Priest!”
But the crooked-eyed, split-eared old Daoist pressed closer, shoving the throbbing pill toward Li Yan’s mouth.
“Child, would I harm you?” the Daoist wheedled. “Those wild ravings of yours clearly show you’re gravely ill. Take this medicine at once.”
Whoosh!
The Daoist’s horsetail whisk sprang to life, its thousands of silken strands darting out to bind Li Yan tightly.
The yellow-toothed old Daoist chuckled deeply, a low, rasping sound like rumbling thunder.
“This is all for your own good,” the old Daoist said, his voice oily. “Now, be a good boy and swallow the pill.”
Li Yan’s eyes widened. He wasn’t sick! He didn’t need any medicine!
Seeing Li Yan’s tightly clenched jaw, the old Daoist swiftly pressed an acupoint on his cheek. Li Yan’s mouth snapped open, and the crimson pill was shoved inside.
“Ugh!”
The moment the pill touched his tongue, Li Yan felt it throbbing and wriggling, squirming its way down his throat.
This pill is definitely trouble!
If that parasitic egg hatched inside him, Li Yan would become nothing more than a living puppet controlled by the parasite.
I’m done for…
His heart pounded, and his breathing grew ragged.
Detected host has consumed a Medicine Pill with severe side effects—Lower Grade Blood Egg Pill!
Congratulations, host! The Side Effect Collection System has been activated.
Not only are you immune to all side effects, but you can also collect them and harness them for your own use!
The voice echoed in his mind, jolting Li Yan. He slowly regained his composure.
Did I transmigrate? And I awakened my golden finger at this critical moment?
Not only was he immune to side effects, but he could even turn them into his own skills?
Having read countless web novels, Li Yan immediately realized what this meant.
He stopped struggling, his expression gradually calming.
Seeing this, the old Daoist’s grin grew even more twisted. “Heh heh heh, it seems this Poor Daoist’s Medicine Pill is working.”
“How do you feel, little one?”
Staring at the squint-eyed, split-eared old Daoist, who was smiling like a fox, Li Yan knew he was no match for him.
This world clearly had Immortal Cultivators.
A wise man doesn’t court disaster. Until he understood the situation better, Li Yan decided to play it safe.
“I feel much better, Daoist Priest,” Li Yan said.
The old Daoist bared his yellow teeth, a foul stench wafting from his mouth.
“Little brat, stay here and recuperate peacefully within the sect. Heh heh heh.”
As Li Yan watched the old Daoist leave the room, the old man muttered strange words to himself.
Only after the voice faded into the distance did Li Yan exhale a long, foul breath.
But almost immediately, he felt an odd sensation in his stomach.
The Lower Grade Blood Egg Pill was slowly wriggling inside him, creeping toward his dantian.
He could clearly feel the thing squirming around in his abdomen, a sensation that sent shivers down his spine.
Just then, the System’s voice echoed once more:
The Lower Grade Blood Egg Pill has hatched within you.
Effect: Suppresses nervous overstimulation, restoring calm, enhancing blood qi condensation, and accelerating entry into the Blood Condensation Realm.
Side Effect: While aiding the host’s cultivation, the Blood Egg will continuously drain the host’s blood qi.
Initiating side effect immunity… Parasites have been purged. Commencing side effect conversion…
The host has acquired a new ability: Blood Qi Theft (Level 1).
Blood Qi Theft: When targeting opponents whose cultivation realm is no more than one major realm higher than the host’s, blood qi can be silently stolen from cultivators within ten steps.
What?!
Li Yan raised his hand, sensing a peculiar new power coursing through him.
Footsteps approached outside the door. A young disciple with a pale face and dark circles under his eyes entered, carrying a tray of food and a wooden tag at his waist.
The tag read: “Servant – Ming Che,” identifying him as a servant disciple of the Tranquil Void Temple.
As Li Yan pondered, Ming Che tossed a wooden tag at him. “This is your identity tag. From today onward, you’re a guest of the Tranquil Void Temple.”
Li Yan caught the tag and examined it. His tag simply read: “Guest.”
The servant placed the food on the table and said matter-of-factly, “Master instructed me to inform you of the Tranquil Void Temple’s rules.”
“During the day, you’re not allowed to wander freely. You must stay within the Stone Workshop Hall.”
“At night, you must return to your room. The Tranquil Void Temple enforces a curfew.”
Hearing these rules, Li Yan became increasingly convinced that this was no ordinary Taoist temple.
His identity tag labeled him a “Diner,” as if he were merely here to eat at the temple.
But who was truly dining on whom? This “Diner” status… it felt more like that of livestock penned up in the Stone Workshop Hall.
At that moment, Senior Brother Ming Che’s lips curled into a sly smile, and he made a suggestive gesture.
“Got any silver?”
Li Yan looked puzzled. “Senior Brother, what do you mean?”
“What do you think I mean? I’m asking you to show your appreciation.”
With that, Senior Brother Ming Che placed two bowls of rice on the table.
“Pay up, and you can enjoy this white, fluffy rice.”
“No silver? Then I’ll have to serve you this instead.”
One bowl contained normal rice.
The other was filled with wriggling insect larvae.
Senior Brother Ming Che’s greedy eyes remained fixed on the gold necklace around Li Yan’s neck.