Intention.

The morning was still dark.

Wang Huo, Xuan Ping, Tian Cheng and Li Ying walked along a sandy path. Dry and thorny shrubs surrounded the dirt road.

They were heading to a remote village, called Luo village.

Verdure Province was a region near the Skyreach Forest. It had three sects and a city. The Bright Moon Sect was one of the sects.

The province also had several small villages. The villages were often attacked by Evil cultivators and demonic beasts. The villagers were on their own most of the time. It was the fate of the mortals.

Wang Huo was leading the way as the eldest disciple of Su Zhi. He was a tall and muscular man, with a rough and fierce face with crimson hair. He wore a sky-blue robe that signified his status as an inner disciple of the Bright Moon Sect.

Xuan Ping and Tian Cheng also wore sky-blue robes. But Li Ying was still wearing the black robe that was given to him by Mu Xuanyin.

Xuan Ping was the second disciple of Su Zhi, and he had a plain and ordinary appearance. The only distinctive feature on his face was a cluster of freckles on his nose.

The third disciple was Tian Cheng. He had a graceful and refined demeanor. He always had a gentle smile on his face. He looked like an elegant and pleasant person.

They finally arrived at the Luo village. There were only a dozen huts made of wood and straw. A small well was present in the center of the village.

The village had only one clan which was called the Luo clan. The Luo clan had lived there for generations.

When the villagers saw the four cultivators approaching, they were filled with fear and awe.

The women quickly grabbed their children and stood near their huts, as if they were afraid children might run towards the cultivators.

The men gathered behind the village chief who was an old and frail man with a white beard. He was the patriarch of the Luo clan.

The villagers bowed their heads and greeted the cultivators who were approaching.

Wang Huo stopped in front of the village chief, and said in a cold and authoritative voice, "The village chief can stay."

The crowd of men dispersed in a hurry. They did not dare to linger or look at the cultivators.

Wang Huo stared coldly at the elderly villager who trembled before him. He asked, "How many attacks have there been?"

The elderly man stuttered as he answered, "T-three families have been attacked, cultivator. Only one person survived." His voice was filled with grief.

"Bring us to the sites of the attacks." Wang Huo ordered, without showing any sympathy or compassion for the man.

Wang Huo was a man who despised the weak and feared the strong. He treated this as a mere task that he had to complete. He had no care for the lives of these mortals.

Xuan Ping and Tian Cheng didn't look surprised by his behavior.

However, Li Ying didn't like his attitude. Only in the absence of Su Zhi, Wang Huo showed his disdain towards the mortals.

The elderly villager quickly nodded and said, "Please follow me, cultivators."

He led them towards a dilapidated hut at the edge of the village.

The inside of the hut was a gruesome scene. Blood stained the walls and the floor, and small pieces of flesh had dried up with the blood, forming clumps of gore. The smell was nauseating and the sight was horrifying.

The villagers had buried the bodies of the victims, but they had left the site of the attack mostly untouched, hoping that the cultivators could find some clues or evidence.

They moved on to the next hut that was attacked. It was the same bloody mess.

They came outside the second hut.

"Summon the survivor." Wang Huo said in an indifferent voice. 

The elderly villager did not dare to disobey. He shouted at the crowd of men who had gathered at a distance, "Luo Chin, come here."

A middle-aged man in a ragged vest ran towards them. He looked scared and nervous.

"When were you attacked?" Wang Huo asked the man who was now bowing towards them.

The man lowered his head and said, "It happened a month ago, cultivator."

"What happened?" Wang Huo asked.

The man looked up at Wang Huo and said, "M-my family was killed by that…that demonic woman. She was in my hut." Tears streamed down his face as he recalled the horror.

Wang Huo paused for a moment and asked, "So, you saw her with your own eyes. How did she look?"

The man looked at the indifferent Wang Huo and said with a trembling voice, "She was wearing a red gown, her eyes were crimson. Her hair was long and red. She had claws that could scratch off the skin of a man. She looked at me…she was smiling at me when she walked past me and disappeared." He shuddered as he remembered her sinister smile.

The man had stopped crying and a horrified expression on his face.

"Take us to your home." Wang Huo said.

"What…yes." The man still hadn't regained his senses. He walked while muttering, "Yes…h-home"

They arrived at a tiny hut, where Luo Chin had relocated from his old one. He was in a stupor and led the cultivators to his new home.

The village chief tried to remind Luo Chin, but Wang Huo gestured to him to be quiet.

The hut was too small for them all to enter and examine it..

Wang Huo waved his hand and a gust of wind lifted the hut and threw it away, revealing the interior.

There was a wooden bed, a table, a chair, and some pots and pans. It seemed like a normal and tidy home of a poor villager.

Li Ying wrinkled his nose and said, "I smell blood."

Wang Huo glanced at him and said, "Me as well."

He scanned the ground and noticed a straw mat that looked oddly sunken in the middle. He pointed at it and ordered the villager, "Remove the mat."

The middle-aged villager, Luo Chin, looked terrified and didn't move a single step.

Wang Huo looked at the village chief and said, "You do it." 

The old man hesitated for a moment, then walked towards the mat. 

He lifted the mat and revealed a dark hole in the ground. The hole was filled with dried blood that had turned black and crusty. It smelled foul and rotten. It looked like it had been there for a long time.

"W-what is that…" the village chief gasped.

Wang Huo looked at Luo Chin and asked in a furious tone, "What is this?"

Luo Chin was silent. He stared at the hole with wide eyes.

"T-this Luo Chin is a butcher. It's the blood from the slaughters." The village chief tried to explain. He wanted to protect Luo Chin, even though he himself didn't know what had happened.

"Senior brother, I don't think it's human blood either." Tian Cheng said while looking at the hole.

Wang Huo looked at Tian Cheng and then at the village chief and asked, "Why is he slaughtering his livestock in his hut, and not in an open space?"

Silence. No one knew the answer to that.

They looked at Luo Chin who remained silent, with his head bowed and his eyes wide open.

Li Ying broke the silence and said, "Senior brother, when I said I smelled blood, I didn't mean it in the house. I smell blood on this Luo Chin." He paused, looking away from Luo Chin he continued, "I think he is practicing demonic arts."

Li Ying was in the golden core realm. His senses were sharper than everyone present here.

As soon as Luo Chin heard Li Ying's words, he jerked his head towards him and then spun around to flee.

WIthout wasting any time, Xuang Ping drew his sword from its scabbard and swung it horizontally at Luo Chin, sending a blade of air flying.

Luo Chin collapsed to the ground, his legs severed from his thighs. Blood spurted out from his wounds.

Tian Cheng approached Luo Chin, who was desperately dragging himself on the ground, ignoring the agony in his legs.

He raised Luo Chin's hands and showed them to Wang Huo.

His upper fingers had turned purple, as if his blood was clotted. It was the side effect of using some kind of blood-draining technique.

Li Ying went to the wooden bed that belonged to Luo Chin. He lifted the bedsheet and found some papers hidden under it.

Wang Huo looked at them and sighed, it was the outcome of hatred, greed and opportunity.

It seemed that the demonic cultivator who had attacked Luo Chin's family had given him a few pages of her evil technique, so that Luo Chin would refine his fellow villagers and then she would refine him in the end to harvest the benefits.

'Truly wicked! Li Ying thought.'

"There is no need to investigate further." Wang Huo said. He then looked towards Li Ying and ordered, "Kill him."

Tian Cheng nodded at Li Ying and said, "It is inevitable as a righteous cultivator, you have to kill demonic cultivators sooner or later."

"Yes." Li Ying answered involuntarily. He was actually deep in thought.

Even though Li Ying had lived a long life, he had never faced a situation like this before. He had never killed a person, and this person in front of him had not even killed a human yet.

Was he just guilty of killing livestock? Li Ying had also killed demonic beasts to get stronger.

Wouldn't he be a simple hypocrite if he killed a demonic cultivator without thinking about it?

Suddenly, a figure appeared in his mind. It was from his childhood memories.

'Uncle Xu Lei' Li Ying thought.

Xu Lei was a renowned scholar, who had settled in Li Ying's ancestral village. He had taught Li Ying in his childhood and Li Ying's mind had absorbed his teachings in his deepest part of the memories.

Li Ying recalled one of his quotes, he muttered "Cultivators kill to get stronger, demonic cultivators kill to do evil."

'Intention!' Li Ying heard a silent voice in his mind.

Yes, intention was the answer. Both Righteous and Evil Cultivators killed, but their intentions were different.

Wang Huo was staring at the stunned Li Ying, he shook his head towards Xuan Ping and said, "I don't think he is ready, you do it."

They had been trained to not empathize with evil cultivators and to kill them on sight. They were thinking Li Ying couldn't kill, while Li Ying was thinking why he could kill.

Before Xuan Ping could act, Li Ying stepped forward and snatched his swords from his hands. He walked towards Luo Chin, who was lying on the ground, supporting his upper body with one arm. 

Luo Chin stared at Li Ying with his eyes wide open.

As Li Ying got closer, his eyes twitched rapidly.

Li Ying stopped in front of Luo Chin, holding a sword. He manipulated his voice and whispered.

"I am only saving you from more misery."

Only Luo Chin could hear this voice. He was about to blurt out something.

Slash! A head rolled on the ground as Li Ying swung his sword.

Li Ying returned silently where he stood before, he looked at a distance ignoring Wang Huo and the others who were smiling at him.

As the evil cultivators had the intention to do evil, the righteous cultivators had the permission to slay them. Li Ying was not convinced by this reasoning, but he had no choice but to agree.

"How does it feel?" Li Ying heard a voice in his mind. It was Mu Xuanyin.

"I feel nothing. I have put it out of my mind for now."

"…" Mu Xuanyin kept silent.