93 Senseless cruelty

Senior Pai knew Zhao Fanyu when he was a newborn. They weren't the closest of friends but their relationship was not different from true brothers.

"Don't worry about me," he said with unwavering determination, not batting an eye when Peng Jipei pressed a dagger to his neck.

Zhao Fanyu was not so unwavering. But he hid his panic behind a straight face, not yet believing that this Hidden Mist boy was capable of senseless cruelty. The Wayward Sect Leader kept his voice calm and asked, "Why are you interested in the Ten Thousand Eternal Star Bead?"

Peng Jipei was without mercy and did not hesitate when he cut into Senior Pai's throat, "That's not what I asked!"

Wet gurgling sounds came out and further down the row, Zhao Weiwei screamed, echoing the fear that fully bloomed in Zhao Fanyu's heart. "Stop this! You're being senseless!! There's no need to--"

Those were not words that Peng Jipei wanted to hear either. And while he was new to villainy he had neither kindness nor patience. Peng Jipei executed the next person without warning. And moved on.

Each one of them wore white faces of resignation. Zhao Weiwei did not share their bravery. She was shaking like a leaf and stared at her uncle with pleading eyes. The last sliver of her dignity held her back from outright crying out to him but even she understood hopelessness.

Zhao Weiwei did not want to accept death.

But she was not given a choice. Her body stiffened as bloodied steel was pressed against her neck, its edge still sharp despite the flesh it had sliced into.

"Peng Jipei!" She could hear the desperation in her uncle's voice but even at the young age of fourteen, she was not so foolish to believe in salvation. "I'll tell you so stop this now! I'll show you where the damned Bead is hidden so--"

Zhao Weiwei made the mistake of looking up. Peng Jipei's eyes were black, fully dilated, the nervous tremble gone. And in the next moment, she could hear her uncle scream but the young girl was too busy choking on her own blood to understand what he was saying.

…

Within the tall Wayward Wind Temple, a savage corpse impeded the three friend's advance. An older man this time with a face that Li Zheng was able to recognize before Yuan Xuelan and Liu Sumeng shredded him apart into a faceless heap of gore.

Li Zheng did not want to stand around uselessly. But his martial prowess was embarrassingly inferior compared to his newfound companions. He found it difficult to do anything beyond cutting down any random weak ghouls that dared to disturb the main battle.

He also did not want to look at Elder Mu's face, twisted into the mindless evil creature he became.

Luckily for them, this Elder Mu hadn't been gorging on nearby corpses and wasn't nearly as powerful as the beast they faced down in the main hall downstairs. Mingshui easily parried any oncoming blows and when the ghoul was suitably distracted, Yuan Xuelan circled behind it and cleave its head right off its shoulders.

Elder Mu's teeth still clattered even with his head rolling free. Li Zheng wouldn't be shy to admit that he recoiled at that creepy and terrible thing. He moved out of the way and allowed Yuan Xuelan to draw one of those power-filled talismans he used downstairs, stick it onto Elder Mu's face, and explode it into bits of gore.

The smell of blood was thick. And in the meantime, the Ivory Sword Saint did not slack, dismembering the body into neat little bits, until it could no longer move nor pose any threat. Li Zheng prayed silently in his heart and looked away.

Yuan Xuelan sighed as he gazed at the next set of stairs that led up to yet another floor, "Just how much further do we have to go!?"

"..." The Ivory Sword Saint didn't know but supposed they would have to find out either way.

But before they were about to reach the staircase, Li Zheng stopped them, "Wait."

The pair paused and watched as Li Zheng bent down and rummaged through the shreds of what used to be Elder Mu's clothes. He pulled out a pouch, emerald green fabric soaked red with blood. He ripped off a piece of his own sleeves to wrap up the filth before handing the pouch away to Yuan Xuelan.

The young cultivator was immediately intrigued by the item dumped into his hand and opened the dirty pouch to take a look at the thing inside. It was a little jade emblem and from the design, Yuan Xuelan almost felt like it was a smaller piece of a whole.

"So this is the key huh?"

Li Zheng wiped his bloodied hands on his pants and nodded, "Yes."

Yuan Xuelan was tempted to take the item out of the filthy pouch and inspect it further. But he could also tell the pouch surrounded the key with a protective shrouding spell that could hide the item's power. It was probably why they didn't notice it on the ghoul during the fight, and it would also keep the key hidden from other people discerning its power as well.

Pleased, he wrapped the pouch back up in the torn cloth and towed it away on his body. Yuan Xuelan jogged up to the Ivory Sword Saint.

"You look happy," Liu Sumeng noted.

Well, he just received an interesting thing so of course- Yuan Xuelan stopped and realized maybe his reaction was inappropriate for the situation.

He would never be able to muster up the sincerity of sympathy for these fallen strangers. Yuan Xuelan could feel hatred and bone-deep desire for just vengeance. He felt love and could devote his heart to someone else above all else. He felt those things so vividly that they left him drunk and nauseous from thought. But empathy never came easily to him.

There was a time when he didn't care. Not that much, only enough to not show his ugliness in front of Chen Anyue's purity. But the thought of Liu Sumeng thinking poorly of him, or outright disliking him left Xuelan feeling gutted and breathless.

So he schooled his expression and blinked at the Ivory Sword Saint blankly. "I was just…surprised. It's not like I'm happy or anything…" But Yuan Xuelan was quick to cave at Liu Sumeng's sharp gaze and like a dog with folded ears he lowered his head, "Don't look at me like that…! I'm sorry."

But in reality, Liu Sumeng's thoughts were very different from Yuan Xuelan's and he had no idea why the boy was apologizing. In fact, he was only surprised and a little happy himself that Xuelan's mood was not so horrible that he could still enjoy small pleasures from magical tools.

Now that Yuan Xuelan was before him with a lowered head, Liu Sumeng felt apologetic as well. "…" So he reached over and patted the crown of black hair before moving on.

Yuan Xuelan froze at the touch and then looked up to see Liu Sumeng continue up the stairs. If there were ants in his guts before that crawled to the sound of Peng Jipei's name, then Liu Sumeng's touch replaced all the terrible visceral hatred with nauseating butterflies instead. Love was as rough on Yuan Xuelan's heart as Liu Sumeng was kind to him.

"Sumeng! Wait!" He quickly chased after and bickered with the Ivory Sword Saint for a place at the fore. After all, he needed to stand in front to protect Liu Sumeng.

If Li Zheng wasn't so anxious and depressed about the destruction of his home and the death of his friends and family then surely, he would have been depressed about being a third-wheel instead.

There was noise coming from the floor above and it did not sound like the groaning and moaning of mindless ghouls.

They heard something like a clash of steel and a muffled string of words that came from the living rather than the dead.

Even though the sounds were soft and difficult to perceive from below the floorboards, Li Zheng could recognize with certainty who was ahead of them passed the staircase. He burst into a sprint and pushed past Yuan Xuelan and Liu Sumeng.

"Zhao-ge!"

Liu Sumeng and Yuan Xuelan chased after the Wayward Wind disciple and came upon a strange scene.

Beyond the stairs was a hall designed to mirror the wide hall found on the first floor.

Zhao Fanyu's back was turned to them and he seemed to only turn his face slightly to the side in acknowledgment of the newcomers. His visage was difficult to discern, his long hair had fallen over his profile. But even with his expression masked, Liu Sumeng felt that there was something different about the Zhao Fanyu they came upon, compared to the whiny business-savvy Sect Leader they met back at the Hidden Mist.

"Zhao-ge!" Li Zheng yelled again but stopped when he caught sight of the figure standing opposite his Sect Leader. "Y-you!"

Hui Moxiang's smile was a bitter one, "Can't you tell I'm trying to have a private conversation here with my darling?"

Li Zheng shuddered at the nickname as memories of a whimsical and playful Hei Xiang surfaced in his mind. To think that Zhao Fanyu loved and doted on this monster…! Fate was awful and cruel.

"To say such words… You truly are a heartless monster," Li Zheng spat at her, "You are not welcome here! Stay away from my Shixiong!"

This entire time, Zhao Fanyu did not say a single word. His aura was odd, unbalanced, and cold. But Li Zheng couldn't blame him. Not when that Hui demon stood so hatefully before them.

Of course, Hui Moxiang wouldn't listen to Li Zheng shouting and screaming at her. She turned her attention back to the Wayward Wind Sect Leader and tried her best to smile. "Let's end it for real this time."

Zhao Fanyu gave the barest of nods. He reached into his robes and took out a golden pill and placed it between his tongue and teeth.

Hui Moxiang plucked the hairpin out of her hair. The jade pin hummed with a dark power and stretched and grew in her hand until it took the shape of a staff.

The atmosphere stilled.

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