Ye Tianfan breathed a temporary sigh of relief, but still remained vigilant of his surroundings. He feared the demon beast Xi Kun before him might just be a puppet shell.

This time, Ye Tianfan had shot straight through its heart. Normally, that would be fatal. Of course, since demon beasts have a different anatomical structure than humans, even if Xi Kun's current puppet shell is that of a human.

Ye Tianfan waited quietly for a while, seeing no movement, and noticed that his Spiritual Qi was gradually recovering, even at an accelerating pace.

Ye Tianfan decided to leave this place; he couldn't afford to wait any longer, fearing that if he returned to Little Food Town late, it would become a ghost town.

Ye Tianfan used a "Condense Qi into Sword" on Xi Kun's body, confirming that it still showed no reaction. To be sure, he conjured a large fireball and hurled it at Xi Kun's corpse while retracting his Fire Lotus Sword, stepping on it, and flying toward the passage behind him.

As Ye Tianfan was about to enter the passage, he glanced back to see the fireball had ignited Xi Kun's corpse, making sure it was truly dead. Only then did he swiftly soar into the passage.

Before long, Ye Tianfan flew out from the passage. However, since the passage was too dark, he slowed his speed to the extreme shortly after entering, eventually retracting the Fire Lotus Sword, and walked using eleven flying swords.

After exiting the passage, Ye Tianfan looked up at the sky and sighed deeply.

Sigh, what is this all about? Thinking back to his past, not that he could claim to have wielded power, but he was at least at the top of the food chain. It was unexpected that his first trial led him to nearly perish.

He then summoned the Fire Lotus Sword again, racing towards Little Food Town.

Faster, faster, even faster.

Ye Tianfan, aside from conserving a bit of Spiritual Qi, poured all the slowly recovering Spiritual Qi into the Fire Lotus Sword, aiming to speed up its pace.

Ye Tianfan felt guilty now. If he had gone to the cave first, and set Xi Kun's puppet shell aside under a big tree, he wouldn't be in such a passive situation.

Ye Tianfan could already see Little Food Town's silhouette in the sky, and pushed himself harder with a foreboding sense that he might be too late.

When Ye Tianfan arrived over Little Food Town, he noticed it was devoid of yesterday's hustle and bustle; the whole town was eerily silent.

Damn it!

Ye Tianfan quickly descended from high altitude, flying low and inspecting the entire town.

He finally saw why the town was silent; there wasn't a soul to be found, not even when he ventured into a household's yard and inspected inside, there was no sign of anyone.

After thoroughly checking the town, Ye Tianfan realized there truly wasn't a single person left. Panic set in—where had all the townspeople gone?

But Ye Tianfan did not despair. Although the townspeople had disappeared, it didn't mean they had all met with misfortune. Surely they were taken somewhere; if he could find that place in time, perhaps...perhaps... Ye Tianfan didn't dare to dwell on it further. He didn't know what he would face once finding out where the townsfolk were taken. Perhaps they were alive, perhaps...all were dead.

Just as Ye Tianfan prepared to fly up and look further, he suddenly caught a faint scent of blood.

Smelling blood is never a good sign at such a moment, but Ye Tianfan still needed to follow the scent.

Eventually, Ye Tianfan followed the scent of blood to the woods behind the town.

The scent was now so strong it made him nauseous.

Ye Tianfan gritted his teeth, his eyes wet with despair; he had already guessed what he would face, and these were consequences of his own making.

He feared entering those woods, wanted to flee, pretend none of this had happened, continue his training, and let this matter fester in his heart.

There is something called a moral boundary, safeguarding human conscience, magnified, humanity won't be extinguished; highlighting, the soul won't be dim.

If Ye Tianfan fled and abandoned his principles, he would slowly fall into the abyss of the demon path.

Ye Tianfan knew this profoundly; he inhaled deeply, the pungent scent causing him to cough violently.

He walked slowly toward the woods, summoning his Fire Lotus Sword: since these are his sins, let him end them. First, he would eliminate Xi Kun's puppet shell, then bury all the townspeople from Little Food Town.

At this moment, despair mixed with fury in Ye Tianfan. He needed an outlet, and clearly, the puppet shell would be that point of release.

Ye Tianfan had just entered the woods when he saw a townsman from Little Food Town lying there. Ye Tianfan remembered this person as the vendor who sold roasted chicken on his first visit when he was starving.

As he continued forward, another townsman lay ahead; Ye Tianfan recalled she sold spicy deep-fried tofu.

The deeper Ye Tianfan walked, the more residents of Little Food Town he saw, all calmly lying there without any movement.

Finally, Ye Tianfan reached the depth of the woods, seeing the sole standing figure, even from behind, Ye Tianfan recognized him. Even if he were reduced to ash, Ye Tianfan would know him—the puppet shell wearing the guise of the Li Family he returned in the morning.

Ye Tianfan's eyes were filled with murderous intent as he looked at him, summoning the Fire Lotus Sword; with one command from Ye Tianfan, it could pierce through the puppet shell's skull.

The puppet shell seemed aware of Ye Tianfan's presence, slowly turning around with a smug smile.

"Oh ho ho ho ho, it seems you have defeated all my puppet shells, huh? Not bad, your strength is decent; only, you've arrived too late!" The puppet...no, demon beast Xi Kun's true form, spoke to Ye Tianfan.

This was his true plan to demonize Ye Tianfan, merely unsettling his mind earlier in the cave.

Witnessing an entire town's death, and being the cause himself, under such circumstances, almost any novice cultivator beginning their training would succumb to demonization. Those he encountered previously, even among the Heart Cultivation Sect disciples where mental discipline was paramount, couldn't withstand long before succumbing.

"You deserve to die!" Ye Tianfan shouted, eyes bloodshot, glaring at the demon beast Xi Kun before him. If possible, he wished to bite off Xi Kun's flesh piece by piece, tearing it apart.

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