Darkness Outward

'She's finally breathing normally,' he muttered to himself as he checked her breathing. 

Examining her tongue again, he saw it was healing; it was now completely gone, but at least she was no longer in danger.

Whatever those dark particles had done to her body, it had just saved her life.

With that reassurance, he could finally take a moment to think about his own situation.

Looking at his hand, he noticed he was no longer as thin as before, but there was something wrong with his body.

'What should I do with my appearance?' he asked himself, staring at his own reflection.

His entire body was now pure black, as if he had bathed in ink.

Only the color of his teeth, eyes, and hair was the same.

Earlier, he had been too focused on his mother's well-being to think about what had happened to him. 

He turned away from the mirror, trying to remember every detail of the incident. 

The object had merge with him out of nowhere.

When it shattered and the dust settled on his skin, he had felt an odd sensation, like a hundreds of thousand tiny needles pricking him all at once.

Now, looking at his pitch-black skin, he wondered what this change meant. 

Was it permanent?

Did it come with any more abilities or dangers?

The questions swirled in his mind, making it hard to focus.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing thoughts. 

His mother's health was his priority, but he couldn't ignore his own predicament.

For all he knew, that thing could be like those illegal pills he had heard about in rumors—drugs that boosted a person's power but then caused internal bleeding, making their insides explode. 

Curious, he took off his top clothing and saw that not only his skin had changed. 

He had also grown some abs. Not a lot, but it was still abs nonetheless.

This new discovery added to his confusion. 

What else had grown? 

So, he also took off his pants.

What he saw did not disappoint. He hurriedly put his pants back on, feeling relieved.

That improvement was definitely not unwanted. 

'But the issue here is my skin,' he sighed. 'I will be hunted down if they see me like this.' 

He remembered his father telling him that beings with this type of skin were called "Mo," or Devils. 

Evil cultivators who also turned away from their humanity tended to have darker skin and were shunned and haunted down by cultivators. 

This wasn't secret a information; it was pretty common knowledge taught in school.

Fang Xuan didn't go to one. But his parents had taught him enough to make sure he wasn't ignorant about the world. 

He began flexing his muscles to check for any unwanted effects.

As he moved, he felt more alive than ever. This was the type of body he had always dreamed of having, except for the color. 

But as he admired himself, his heart suddenly raced faster and faster. 

"ARGHH" he gripped his chest . 

A sharp pain stabbed through his heart, causing him to knell on the floor. 

"BUAHHHHH"

Without warning, he vomited black substance, the liquid staining the ground. 

Fear and confusion overwhelmed him as he tried to make sense of the sudden turn of events. 

'I knew it' he gritted his teeth in pain, feeling like his insides were being destroyed.