(MC's POV)
Men die for riches.
Heroes live for beauties.
And cultural men like me seek for cliches.
Yet why?
Why is god not gracing me with a sexy runaway noble or a targeted princess?
(╥﹏╥)
Lamenting silently at my fate, I looked outside of the carriage's window with a tinge of disappointment.
.....
(Lily's POV)
'Master must be contemplating on something important far beyond my comprehension.'
I thought so admiringly as I stared at the figure of my master looking out of the window in a state of deep contemplation.
I really wanted to do something to help my master after he revealed a look of disappointment.
But perhaps because of my inability or his intention to keep me out of harm, I did not even know why he was feeling melancholic.
That thought made me a bit sad but also re-ignited my passion to become stronger.
'I must get stronger.'
I silently muttered in my heart.
But before I could sit down to cultivate, a charred smell of burnt wood entered my senses and the carriage was suddenly stopped by the orders of my master.
Taking a step out of the carriage despite the muddy puddle underneath, he muttered.
"Smell of a number of different bloods hidden in smoke."
With his eyes gleaming coldly, he then said in a serious tone which I had never heard from him before.
"There has been a massacre."
....
(MC's POV)
'I wanted to find a beauty in my trip, not something bloody.'
Sighing exhaustively, I looked at the scene before me.
What was once probably a village filled with non-cultivators was now nothing more than ashes.
Not even the corpses of the people who once lived here remained.
What remained however, was their blood which had dried up due to the passing of time.
Whoever did this was no doubt a lunatic.
But the problem was that the perpetrator was a prodigal rich lunatic.
And when someone speaks of wealthy lunatics, it can only refer to a certain bunch of crazies even among the demonic cults.
The church of blood.
The greatest nutjob of all.
However, I cannot see the reason behind them using hell fire just to cover up dead bodies.
No.
To be precise, I cannot see the reason behind them hiding dead bodies at all.
Could the burning of the village have any other meaning?
I wondered.
Looking closer, I found some of the dried blood to be oddly geometrical.
Could these be forming a pattern?
To verify, I levitated above the ground to check if a pattern of ashes and dried blood existed.
And then I concluded.
I see.
I never came here.
┌（・Σ・）┘≡
...…
Risking your life for someone you don't know is something I admire.
What I admire even more is if you do so for someone who will never know what you did.
Hence, I wrote an anonymous letter describing this event to the sect.
Under the pen name of 'Tie Chong'.
It is one of the many nicknames Young Che will take in the future when he attends a few auctions to sell his items.
As his former master, I will bestow all my admirable deeds to him.
I am really a great (former) master, aren't I?
Although I almost committed the sin of writing a random name instead.
Then I recalled his 'help' in my past life when he used my name to wreak havoc in other sects causing me to be targeted by all of them.
After that, my hands just could not stop moving.
This way, the church of blood will also not find me as they will think I am in another location.
As for Young Che?
No worries.
His cockroach vitality will kick in every time he will fall in danger in the mortal plane.
On the off side it does not.
Well, I for one won't be attending his funeral.
...…
After sending the message to the sect by using a disposable dharmic messenger, I returned to the carriage with a grim expression on my face.
I had already decided that I would no longer run away from the moment I took Lily as my disciple.
As such, the reason why I sent the message to the sect under an alias was of course not because I was afraid of the church of blood.
It was to buy time instead.
The longer I could stay undetected, the better.
And what better scapegoat than the undying cockroach (exclusive to mortal plane) Young Che.
I needed to use this time to find out their plans which I missed in my past life and foil them while remaining as low profile as possible.
If the matter only concerned a single village, perhaps I could stay unconcerned.
But that symbol.
'The symbol of the Blood Cult.'
The moment the symbol was used, it represented an event which would comprise of all three planes.
An event bathed in blood.
After all, that is the sort of concept the blood cult is.
It is a concept which exists beyond the power blocs of all the planes.
For instance, our world of mortal plane is divided between the four major sects which has ties to the upper planes and the imperial Qing Shan family which controls the mortal lands of the world.
Yet, all these blocs need to work together to resist the church of blood which is one of its branches.
Similar situations occur in all planes.
Whether it is the spiritual plane where major bloc is the four noble clans or the heavenly plane where the major bloc is the seven holy lands.
None have the power to individually contend against blood cult.
This is because the blood cult operates on desires.
The desires of the ones who wish but cannot ascend.
The desires of ones who wish to use the Devil Plane as a proxy to other planes. (ch 10, connected to all planes)
The desires of the ones who wish to live in the devil plane.
For as long as cultivation exists, so will these desires.
That is because cultivation is the path to seeking ascension.