It was already evening, the sky was particularly red tonight. The air was cold, giving chills. The atmosphere was gloomy as if crying itself. The corpses lay on the ground. Blood decorated the pathways. There were splashes of blood on the trees, houses, and everywhere.
It was decided by almost everyone, every clan, and every sect that no matter what, even if a war started, no one was allowed to attack the mortal villages. If someone did, they would be attacked by every clan in the area. This was why even enemy cultivators didn't attack the mortal villages and why the Bai clan didn't send cultivators to check on these villages.
Forget about these villages, they were not even allowed to kill the guard cultivators appointed to these villages.
However, there was a man who didn't care about that. To him, rules were just restrictive chains. These chains didn't bind the higher up, but the ones they ruled.
Yang Zhai was standing, looking straight. Corpses lay, and blood coursed through the streets instead of the veins. The disciples were all tired and exhausted. They were all awakened by Yang Zhai early in the morning, were made to kill all day, didn't rest enough, and were already hungry.
"Stand up, let's go!" said Yang Zhai.
When the disciples heard this, their eyes widened.
"Do we need to kill more?!!!"
"We have already killed hundreds. Why are we even killing them?!"
"We are too tired and didn't even rest. How can we continue like this? It might be us dying instead."
Everyone was scared after hearing Yang Zhai. How could they kill so many mortals for no reason? How could they continue with their tired bodies like this?
Yang Zhai heard them whispering and said,
"No, not that, we are going to the next village to rest. Don't worry, two villages are enough for today, let's go," said Yang Zhai.
"Really!" Everyone was happy to hear Yang Zhai.
However, this happiness didn't last long as they realized,
"But, brother, can't we rest for an hour here? We are too tired and can't even run like that." someone from the group said.
"No, let's go. I am going, anyone who wants to come can accompany me. Everyone else can stay here and rest. But remember that we are far from the village, someone might attack you. And also, you will need me to get out of this mess."
Yang Zhai left after saying this.
The others looked at each other and also started to follow Yang Zhai. They knew what they did was bad. If they abandoned Yang Zhai now, they would be the ones getting punished by the clan. Not just that, how could they spend a whole night in a village filled with only blood and corpses, and no life?
They were stuck and couldn't do anything except follow Yang Zhai now. Now, Yang Zhai didn't even need to threaten them to follow him.
Yang Zhai was running at a low pace, he knew these disciples were too tired to run fast. He wasn't a fool to break them completely. He needed them, so he didn't mind running at their pace.
After an hour, they reached a village. It took them this long because everyone was tired and couldn't run fast. And this village itself was a little far from the other villages.
Everyone entered the village. It was night, and the lanterns in the village were lit. There were mortal guards guarding the village gate, but they didn't stop the cultivators.
These disciples were covered in blood. Even though a few were not covered much in blood, they too had splashes of blood on them.
Every mortal looked at them worriedly and weirdly.
All the disciples were walking slowly, their heads bowed as they looked down. It seemed like they were coming from a war.
"All of you, go and find an inn. You can order something to eat. Don't worry, I will find you guys."
Yang Zhai was about to leave after saying this to everyone, however, was stopped by a disciple.
"Class leader, where are you going?"
They were worried that Yang Zhai would leave them.
"Don't worry, I am not going anywhere, there is someone I need to meet outside the village. It will take me a few minutes. You guys go ahead and find an inn." Yang Zhai left after saying this.
He started to look around the village and found a hut. He went close to it and knocked on the door.
The door opened and a woman walked out of the gate. As many mortals used to seek help from her, she thought that a mortal had come to ask for help. Thus, she opened the door and asked,
"Kid, who are you?" asked the woman.
Yang Zhai didn't answer and punched the woman in the face heavily. His strength was no joke, a punch from him was enough to kill a rank 2 cultivator. Especially the one without body cultivation. Her face was even distorted and a dent appeared in it. It burst open from behind as well. Yang Zhai had still held back his strength.
The woman was sent flying and hit the wall of the hut. However, as the hut was made of wood and not strongly built, the wall broke, and she fell out of the hut.
Yang Zhai examined the hut and found nothing. Nothing was found on the woman as well, except for a few essence stones. He used the Earth Burial Ka to dig a pit and hid the body inside.
After that, he went back to the village and asked for the closest inn and found all the disciples there.
On his way to the inn, everyone avoided him. When he entered the inn, all the mortals present there were shocked. This boy was the one bathed in the most blood among all the cultivators who came. Even his face had splashes of blood on it. His both hands were completely covered in blood as well.
Not just him, but the disciples were also shocked. They could not see him properly before because it was evening, and the sky was particularly red at that time. Afterward, they still couldn't see him well as it had gotten dark.
But, here, it was lit with stones and lanterns, as well as candles.
"Blood Demon," a mortal, involuntarily muttered this as he saw the boy covered in it. The man himself didn't realize it before speaking. But he covered his mouth hurriedly as he realized what he said.
Yang Zhai ordered a meal,
"Bring me whatever good you have."
The mortal worker hurriedly brought whatever they had.
Yang Zhai didn't look at others and started to eat. After eating, he asked,
"How much?"
"No, lord, we don't need anything. How can we ask for you to pay."
The worker replied. He was already serving with trembling legs and arms.
Yang Zhai stood up and placed 1 essence stone on the table before leaving. Even one essence stone was enough to pay for every disciple's meal, let alone just his own.
"All of you, sleep wherever you want, but don't go out of this inn. I will be sleeping out of the village."
Yang Zhai went into the forest and dug a pit before entering it and closing the entrance. He left a small, narrow hole a little distance away, connecting it to the pit for oxygen and air.
He had already dealt with the guard, so he wasn't worried about any mortal going to the guard to inform them. As for the mortals, they were not courageous enough to go to the Bai village alone to inform them. And anyway, they didn't know if the clan itself sent them here.
After four days,
"Good, we have dealt with every mortal village under the Bai clan. There is no village left on this mountain besides the Bai village now. We can move onto Ma Mountain now," said Yang Zhai.
In the past three days, they had dealt with five villages, eliminating almost every mortal in these villages. Even the disciples had gotten used to killing. Their hesitation lessened before killing someone.
In the three days, they managed to deal with all the five villages. As for the last day, Yang Zhai allowed them to rest the whole day. What a tragedy was it that they rested among the corpses. They ate among the corpses. The mortals who weren't willing to accept essence stones from these disciples in exchange for the food they served were paid with death.
Just four days with Yang Zhai had changed their whole world. Their perspective changed. Their pride had fallen to earth while following Yang Zhai's orders again and again.
They had never thought that becoming a cultivator would turn them into monsters. They were in power, they abused it.
"I don't know what I have become," muttered Hong Mi.
Forget about us, we were at least hesitating and crying before killing. Even now, we hesitate a little, but this Yang Zhai… is he even a human? He became a cultivator with all of us, so how can he kill so easily? He killed everyone like they were just bulls to be butchered. His ruthlessness knows no bounds. If this monster manages to become stronger and goes into the world, I don't even know what will happen: thought Hong Mi.
Almost everyone thought like this about Yang Zhai.
To them, Yang Zhai had become a monster. They were not even scared of the Bai clan's leader, Tai Qi, as much as they were of Yang Zhai.
"Get ready, now that all of us are cleaned, we are ready to go," said Yang Zhai.
All had bathed and put on the clothes of the mortals from the last village.
They all set out on their journey, staying close to the main path to avoid any beasts while keeping their distance to avoid any of the Bai clan elders.
This time, they had set for the Ma mountain.
/!*****!*****!/