Looking at the weeping woman before him, Xie Xuanyi merely furrowed his brows, his eyes displaying neither sympathy nor pity.

More than ten years ago.

He was traveling through Li Kingdom, passed by this place, wiped out several Demon Caves meticulously built by Yin Mountain Ghost Cultivators, and incidentally saved a few unfortunate souls who were kept in the dark and yet to set foot on the evil path.

The woman before him, as well as the shopkeeper, were both "stock" that had been raised within those Demon Caves back then.

If not for Xie Xuanyi.

They would have only two possible endings.

Either, they would be refined alive by the Yin Mountain Cultivators, becoming resentful ghosts within the soul banner.

Or, they would be favored by the Yin Mountain Ghost Cultivators, taken into their sects, and promoted to disciples.

"Qu Li, Zhou Lu."

Xie Xuanyi, with his hands behind his back, spoke faintly: "When I left this inn in your care years ago, what promises did you make? You pledged with confidence that, once the Demon Caves were destroyed, you would devote yourselves to goodness from then on. Where is your goodness after all these years?"

In the eyes of the world.

Xie Xuanyi is a killer.

Evil Cultivators and Demon Spirits, whoever he encounters, he slaughters without exception.

But Xie Xuanyi has his own set of scales in his heart.

He only kills those who deserve death.

After destroying several Demon Caves back then and leaving this one inn, at that time "Qu Li" was but a frail and sickly young man, emaciated from being "raised" by Yin Mountain, looking pitiful with his skin and bones. As for Zhou Lu, she was in no better condition... These two people wept bitterly, thinking their end was near, but never did they imagine that the young Sword Immortal, who single-handedly killed many Evil Cultivators, did not finish them off effortlessly.

Xie Xuanyi gave them a way out.

Before, they had no choice.

Latterly, they had a choice, yet chose to repeat the past mistakes.

"There must be quite a few corpses buried underneath this inn, right?"

Xie Xuanyi, expressionless, slowly spoke.

Across several miles, his Divine Thought could sense the bloody aura that this place could hardly suppress.

"At the Yu Province Border, all kinds of people pass by. In these chaotic times, a few or even dozens of people die every now and then in this desert; no one notices, nor does anyone bother to investigate."

Xie Xuanyi looked down at the woman crawling to his feet and mocked: "How those Ghost Cultivators treated you back then, it seems you've completely forgotten."

"Benefactor..."

Zhou Lu bit her lip, raised her head with tears streaming down her face, and hoarsely defended: "How could I dare forget? Thanks to your grace, my husband and I were able to take over this inn. All these years, we have been honestly doing business... Only in recent years has Yu State been in chaos, those from the worldly society do as they please, and occasionally there is friction at the inn. This forsaken place has no law to protect us, so we had to be wise to protect ourselves, right?"

"Shut up."

Xie Xuanyi expressed his disgust.

The plump woman kneeling on the ground trembled all over, not daring to utter another word.

"It's been ten years, yet unexpectedly, your cultivation has progressed rapidly."

Xie Xuanyi spoke leisurely, chuckling: "Two stock that were raised by Yin Mountain, without guidance and resources, managed to cultivate to the Cave Heaven Realm in ten years?"

Upon hearing this, the plump woman Zhou Lu felt as if struck by lightning.

The kneeling shopkeeper Qu Li, too, had a strange expression. He stopped kowtowing and slowly lifted his head to gaze at the young man in black clothes before him.

"Devouring human hearts and livers, absorbing human bone marrow, cultivating the five internal organs, nourishing the Divine Sea."

Xie Xuanyi said softly: "This seems to be the Cultivation Method of Yin Mountain, both of you hid it quite deep. It seems that without my intervention back then, Yin Mountain Ghost Cultivators would have taken you under their wing... Back then, you were not yet marked with a 'bloody aura'; when did you start consuming the first corpse? After I left?"

"Benefactor."

The plump woman's expression gradually changed.

Her voice was no longer trembling, nor begging; it had turned cold.

Zhou Lu looked up calmly and asked: "Aside from practicing Evil Techniques, did we have a choice?"

"..."

Xie Xuanyi narrowed his eyes, silently observing the woman prostrate at his feet.

"Those Ghost Cultivators destroyed our meridians; to repair them, we could either consume human flesh and blood or swallow Spiritual Medicine."

"But where can we find Spiritual Medicine here?"

Zhou Lu scoffed at herself, then asked again: "You saved our lives, but you can't save us for a lifetime... Is it wrong for us to want to live properly?"

"..."

Xie Xuanyi remained silent.

"Over the years, we husband and wife have operated the inn without initiating murder."

Zhou Lu coldly said: "This place is a mix of good and bad, the hidden currents fierce. Without some tough measures, how can we protect ourselves? Surely you don't think that the sword moves you taught us on a whim back in the day could have let us survive to this day?"

"There are a total of seventy-three corpses under this inn."

Xie Xuanyi lowered his head, his gaze piercing through the second floor's wooden planks, pointing straight to the ground beneath.

"These are just the ones you haven't had time to consume..."

"With the Cultivation Method of Yin Mountain, coupled with your talents, you would need to consume at least three hundred people to cultivate to the Cave Heaven Realm."

Xie Xuanyi paused for a moment, then said: "It seems I should not have been merciful back then, sparing your lives."

In fact, back then, he also hesitated whether to kill all the people inside the Demon Cave.

Zhou Lu and Qu Li, these two nurtured victims, had been eroded by evil energy, their meridians shattered, suffering torment, which in his view left hardly any chance for survival; perhaps death would have been a release.

Only later were Xie Xuanyi moved by their earnest pleas.

Only then did Xie Xuanyi spare their lives, and before leaving, he taught them basic cultivation methods, the Observation Skill, and a few defensive sword moves.

At that time, the Demon Caves in Yu State were all destroyed, and Li Kingdom had not yet fallen into chaos.

Although this desert was desolate, it was not as dangerous as it had become now.

At the second-floor staircase corridor, the sound of kowtowing had ceased.

The wooden planks creaked.

Qu Li slowly stood up.

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