"Have you had enough?" Xiao asked, looking at Xia Yunbai who remained seated on the ground. Xia Yunbai's deep black eyes held endless madness. It had been a few minutes since he woke up, and after drinking water and taking a rejuvenation pill, he felt slightly better. His mind was clearer now, and the chaos within his thoughts had subsided to some extent.
Xia Yunbai tried to analyze the situation, scanning Xiao upside down, searching for any signs of threat. Xiao inwardly smirked as he observed Xia Yunbai's watchful and analytical gaze. Xiao respected those who displayed intelligence, individuals who assessed their circumstances before reacting. Despite the madness and thirst for revenge apparent in Xia Yunbai's eyes, Xiao could discern a glimmer of intelligence that held him in check.
"What do you want?" Xia Yunbai spoke, his voice slightly distorted due to not having spoken to anyone in five years. Xiao continued to gaze at Xia Yunbai without hesitation. After a few seconds, he spoke.
"My name is Yun Xiao, and I am from the Yun family of the Rexion Empire, just like you." His voice resounded through the atmosphere, reaching Xia Yunbai's ears. Xia Yunbai showed no significant reaction but continued to observe Xiao, waiting for him to elaborate. Xiao focused his eyes on Xia Yunbai, deepening his gaze, and continued.
"Like you, I am not well-liked within my family, although my troubles aren't as immense as yours."
"Tell me what you want," Xia Yunbai responded.
"..." Xiao remained silent momentarily before speaking again. "I want you. Specifically, I want you to work for me."
"Impossible," Xia Yunbai replied sharply. He attempted to raise his body, turned his face away from Xiao, and tried to hobble away. Xia Yunbai had no intention of attacking Xiao, not because he was a child, but because he understood that there might be someone protecting Xiao. Walking away seemed to be the best option for now. As he limped away, his bones cracking with each movement, he heard Xiao's voice once more.
"Not even if I tell you what happened to your mother? Not even if I tell you that all your suffering and your mother's death were preplanned?"
Silence enveloped the forest for a moment before an intense, crimson, and profound bloodlust erupted from Xia Yunbai's body. The bloodlust was so potent that it would suffocate anyone standing close to him. The entire forest became cold and dark as if enclosed within a sphere of red blood.
What Xia Yunbai was doing was materializing his bloodlust—a feat achieved only by those who had honed it to its utmost limit. It was a skill possessed primarily by individuals who had spent their entire lives fighting and killing. However, Xia Yunbai's bloodlust stemmed from pure death, born out of the despair and the deaths he had endured over the past five years.
This materialization alone was enough to kill a low-level cultivator. At that moment, Xia Yunbai had truly lost control. Within his eyes, there was no trace of intelligence, only pure chaos. Any sane cultivator would understand that attempting to kill Xiao would result in their own demise, but Xia Yunbai didn't care.
He had a single reason— he no longer feared death. Yes, he had truly lost the fear of death, and a person without fear of death was the most dangerous of all yet at the same time the most foolish.
"Young master, stand behind me!" Elder Fan appeared in front of Xiao, trying to shield him from the overwhelming power that threatened to consume everything in its path.
"Step aside," Xiao's voice rang out. Hearing this, Elder Fan turned around to respond.
"But youn-"
His words became stuck in his throat as he looked at Xiao, who calmly sat amidst the chaos. Xiao seemed undisturbed by the situation. Moreover, the look in Xiao's eyes was not that of a child; it was commanding, refusing to accept "no" as an answer. Xiao seemed to relish what he saw. Absentmindedly, Elder Fan nodded, yielding to Xiao's will, his mind in doubt seeing the reactions of Xiao, the thought that something special lay within Xiao cementing in his mind.
As Elder Fan moved away, the grinning Xia Yunbai, filled with madness, came into view. Though the smile on his face froze suddenly, and goosebumps formed on his body. He wasn't the only one affected. Elder Fan, who watched the scene unfold, widened his eyes in horror and bone-chilling fear.
The reason was simple. Xiao's bloodlust started to spread far and wide, covering a vast area. Unlike Xia Yunbai's bloodlust, Xiao's bloodlust extended from the ground to the sky. Every living creature that came into contact with it perished—whether they were humans, animals, innocents, or the guilty, all died under its influence, the display was extremely affecting Xiao on the inside but he didn't care about it for now, he knew something drastic was needed to tame him, the current Yunbai is a beast out for blood and Xiao knew the perfect way to tame this beast.
Screams of agony and sorrow resonated, carried by Xiao's bloodlust heard around. The world seemed to lose its color, as everything appeared red. This was Xiao's sin, the sin he carried within him, a reminder and penance for who he was and what he had done.
He was once known as the Heaven's Blood Devil—a devil who painted his every path with blood and death, a devil who had no qualms about killing anyone to achieve his ultimate goal. The heavens themselves had taken action against him, suppressing him. He was a devil who had ascended through the Three Heavens through sheer slaughter, altering the trajectory of talent.
Bathing the lands with blood, not from sheer strength but from the sheer power of his mind, wherever he walked through Death and despair followed his manipulation entering into the minds of the weak, whispering within from the bottom that would soon consume the top.
Wherever he stepped through, war waged, family breaks, and distrust and end followed.
And now, Xia Yunbai had come face-to-face with the bloodlust of that devil. Xia Yunbai's barely developed bloodlust was akin to a baby fighting against a dragon that had already spread its wings. In a split second, his bloodlust vanished, and his weak legs buckled. He knelt on the ground, his head touching the earth—an act of respect toward someone who had once trodden the path he was now following—the path of slaughter.