(Central Region- Lorien Kingdom)
(Unnamed Village- Abandoned Townhall)
"Please… I beg… you… I'm sorry… listen… please… let me… let…me go…"
"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to… I… ARGHHH!!!"
A horrific scream filled the air as an elderly man slumped to his knees. A thin red line had been slashed across his right ankle.
The old man's face was covered with heavy wrinkles, and he appeared to be frail and on the verge of death.
Horrific scars covered his body and despite being a cultivator in the qi tide stage, his wounds just would not heal.
No… more than that… he could not feel the qi inside his body. It was as if the spiritual energy inside his dantian had evaporated.
He could not sense anything. He felt… he felt like a mortal again.
The old man coughed violently, and flecks of blood stained his lips.
He raised up his head with a great deal of effort and stared at the woman standing in front of him.
She was beautiful.
Unblemished skin, soft and gentle facial features and piercing grey eyes that shone with kindness and mercy.
She wore a simple hemp dress that covered her slender physique quite well and even though the material was cheap… it did not diminish her beauty.
Terror filled the old man's eyes as the mysterious woman approached him and stretched out her palm to touch his cheek.
The calm smile on her face did not crack for even a moment as she watched blood slowly drip on the floor from the open wounds on the man's body.
"Didn't mean to?" Jiang Xin gently whispered with her voice like a snake wrapping itself around the old man's neck and choking him slowly.
"It was just a mistake?"
"Yes! Yes… it was a mistake! Let me go I swear I'll… I'll change!" the old man placed his palms together and begged.
"I'll never harm anyone else again… I'll… I'll make it up! These villagers… I'll give them money! Bring them back to the sect!"
He was an honorable elder of a medium sized cultivation sect and yet now he was begging on his knees to a mortal.
For a brief moment an expression of anger mixed with hatred flashed across his face, but he quickly got his emotions under control.
Right now, he needed to get out of here alive and then call his sect for backup. This woman would pay for torturing him.
He would feed her to the damn dogs!
"I believe you," Jiang Xin smiled warmly as her fingers lightly stroked the old man's wrinkled cheek with fondness.
Hope began to fill the old man's heart as he clenched his right hand into a tight fist in order not to show the excitement that he felt.
"Unfortunately, you have to be forgiven by them," Jiang Xin pointed in the corner of the room where two burnt corpses lay side by side.
One of the bodies was much smaller than the other and clearly belonged to a child.
"But how? They… I killed… wait… you…" the old man stuttered as his mind finally connected the dots and he realised that he had been tricked.
This dangerous woman had never thought about letting him live.
"You…" the old man's voice trailed off as he felt the cold steel of a dagger pierce his throat in one fluid motion.
Jiang Xin watched the cultivator collapse on the ground and the dark tattoos covering her skin began to wriggle and squirm.
They were hungry for more spiritual energy.
She let out a light sigh and walked over to the two corpses in the corner of the room. She had arrived too late to save them.
Jiang Xin picked up a nearby shovel and began to dig into the ground.
The abandoned townhall's floor had collapsed in several places leaving exposed dirt behind.
The young woman continued to dig and dig until her fingernails turned bloody. Still she did not stop until she created a hole big enough to bury the two corpses.
Maybe this was useless but… she wanted to make sure that the mother and son pair at least found some semblance of peace in death.
A cultivator has taken their lives as easily as one would snuff out a candle by blowing. Jiang Xin's movements paused as an expression of hatred flashed across her face.
Arrogant men and women with the power of gods. Capable of committing horrific atrocities with no one to hold them accountable.
No one until now.
Jiang Xin buried the bodies and leaned against a nearby pillar to catch her breath. She took a few minutes to recover and then walked outside.
The moon was dimly shining in the sky and the rest of the village was eerily silent. They assumed that the scream coming from the townhall came from the cultivator's victims.
They would learn in the morning that even the gods can be felled.
Jiang Xin rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn. Inevitably her thoughts shifted to a figure that had been haunting her dreams as of late.
A woman who wore a silvery grey mask and simple white robes. The saintess of the Holy Sword Sect.
Jiang Xin frowned as she tried not to think about the female cultivator who had left a positive impression on her.
The bracelet that she had given Xu Lu had stopped tracking her movements a few hours after she had left the village which meant that she had taken it off.
Was their time together worth so little?
No… what the hell was she thinking?
At best Xu Lu was a pleasant distraction and at worst she was member of an organisation known to commit horrific crimes on ordinary mortals while claiming to be on the side of righteousness.
Jian Xin took in a few deep breaths to calm herself down and slowly exhaled. Nothing was more important than her mission.
To rid the world of all cultivators.
That included the charming woman who had wormed her way into her heart. There could be no exceptions otherwise that would defeat the entire purpose of her life.
"You can come out now," Jiang Xin calmly spoke.
Five hooded figures wearing long black robes emerged from the shadows and respectfully bowed in her direction.
Most of their bodies were concealed by the robes but the exposed parts of their skin were covered in dark markings.
"Leader… we have successfully eliminated two search parties that were looking for the missing elder of the Tranquil Dawn Sect," a hoarse voice came from the person in the middle of the group.
"Good… were there any survivors?" Jiang Xin questioned curiously.
"None," came the short reply.
Jiang Xin nodded her head and then placed her palm on the ground. The earth shuddered and a twisted statue rose up from the dirt.
The statue depicted a man… or maybe a woman with their arms outstretched.
The facial features of the statue constantly morphed and shifted making it impossible to make out any details about who or rather what it was modelled after.
Jiang Xin clasped her hands together in prayer and whispered a few words under her breath. A dark shadowy portal began to spread out from beneath the statue's feet.
This portal enveloped the entire group and soon they all disappeared. Leaving nothing behind except the corpses of slaughtered cultivators in their wake.
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