(17) The concept of sin is only to block the path to success.

Meren was the most perceptive and sensitive among the beggars. His personality of going over everything and abhorring his current situation — made it so that he would be attracted to cultivation, more than the others.

'With the amount of trust between us and immense desire within him, I can control him for a while. Killing someone would still be hard for him, but it can't be helped. I can just do it indirectly.' Mangrel's eyes coldly flashed, reflecting the quiet scene before him.

A river with its surface covered in blue-green algae. With no one around the area, it appeared desolate and silent, only the arbitrary sound of the wind could be heard.

Mangrel parted with Meren a while ago, after arriving at the alleyways. Deep in the night, Mangrel headed here hiding his presence from others.

Going down to the surface of this river, Mangrel collected algae and stored it within the piece of rag in his hand.

Most of the water was stagnant with foreign matter and only a small amount of water could be seen flowing.

From the condition of the water in the river, it was apparent that no fish existed in it.

Mangrel was not disappointed in the least by this fact. He had long expected that to be the case, seafood was all over stalls. So there was surely a net used to catch fish from the origin of the river.

Getting what he wanted, Mangrel did not stay for long and returned to his alleyway with light steps.

Arriving at the deeper part of the alley, Mangrel saw a familiar kid, looking around with a covetous gaze. It was the same beggar who Mangrel met when he took over this body.

Seeing the corpses, the light in the kid's eyes grew fiercer.

Even without thinking Mangrel could tell what this kid was trying to do.

Cannibalism.

Poverty, famine, and starvation must never be underestimated, they can turn a normal person into a mass murderer or an animal that feasts on its own kin.

Humans are creatures who can ignore their consciousness when faced with immense desires. At first, guilt would rise, but as they continued to carry on such actions, they became indifferent to it. The action of killing or eating one's kin became the most natural thing in the world.

Two such examples were right in front of us, Mangrel and a beggar's kid.

From an early age, the kid had been exposed to the cruelty of the world. Making him the person he currently was.

It was the beautiful nature of humans, but still because of superficial ideals created by others, doing such a deed appeared twisted and evil in others' eyes. Downgrading the act as something sinful, which appeared extremely stupid in Mangrel's eyes.

This kid would be labeled as a monster without a doubt if his deeds were to be made public. The public disdain and fear would be attracted to him immediately.

'Sin? How stupid. Is wanting to live a sin? Is wanting to live a happy life a sin? Is wanting to attain one's dream a sin?! If that were the case, I want to be the most sinful person in the world!'

'Getting trapped in such a shallow concept, created by humans, would only work to block one's success. Only by overcoming these shackles can there be hope for greatness.' Mangrel's gaze burned in the fire that strongly resonated with the desire in his heart.

Sin was nothing but a concept created to shackle others' minds.

Killing is a bad deed, it calls for punishment.

Stealing is a bad deed, it must be punished too.

By forming such a mindset, the organization shackles everyone, making them biased towards people with demonic natures, calling themselves righteous.

The reason why they hate demonic path cultivators was apparent. It was because the mindset of the demonic path made them feel threatened, they could lose authority over others' minds.

Staring blankly at the kid, Mangrel made his way to him without hiding his presence in any way.

Footstep.

The kid who was searching for a corpse, in a better condition to eat, was alerted by the sound of someone walking. His whole body flinched in shock and turned around to look at the person, who neared him.

Seeing Mangrel, the fear passed down the kid's face. He still remembered the cynical sight of being stared at by Mangrel's gaze, which was just like a ferocious beast. It made goosebumps rise whenever that sight appeared in his head.

"Stay still." A cold voice entered the kid's ear, making his leg, which stepped back, freeze in its position.

Mangrel stood just a meter away from the kid, reflecting the kid's appearance in his eyes. The boy had rough brown hair, ruffled and dirty. He looked like 12 years old and was healthier than other beggars' kids.

"Wh-what do you want...?" The kid squished out the question from between his teeth. His attitude was that of a bullied at first sight.

Mangrel didn't bother changing his expression and looked on with contempt, "Do you want to eat them?"

He pointed at one of the corpses laying near them.

"N-no! That's not what I was doing...! I was just...I was just...!!" The kid incoherently tried to explain himself.

"I am not trying to blame you here. I am no different than you, I too ate some of the dead bodies in the past." Mangrel leisurely spoke, while looking at the kid's reaction.

"You are the same as me...?" The kid stared at Mangrel, with a different gaze compared to before. There was curiosity and a sense of recognition in his eyes. There was no reason for Mangrel to lie.

"That's right. I lived in the alleyway on the other side of this wall though." Mangrel walked to the wall beside him and touched it with dim eyes.

It was a blatant lie, but the kid did not notice anything suspicious at all. It was all because this kid stayed near the end of the alley, so he did not meet Mangrel even once in the past.

Mangrel who was aware of this fact used that to his advantage. He had not seen this kid anywhere even when he walked in and out of the inner area of the alley, the kid was not in the construction sight too, so it was apparent where he stayed.

'The fact that the past Mangrel never saw him even once was more than enough to indicate it.' Mangrel found that no memory of this kid was present in his head.

Turning around, Mangrel looked directly into the kid's eyes, speaking in a friendly tone: "What is your name? Mine's Mangrel."

"Mars, Mars is my name." The kid spoke, appearing a lot closer compared to his prior attitude.

"You seem hungry, so let's look for a good corpse first." Mangrel proposed like a senior, keeping up his calm attitude.

Having been exposed to kindness after a long time, Mars involuntarily stared at Mangrel blankly.

"Let's go already. It's getting late." Mangrel began leading the way, as Mars silently followed behind him.

Looking around for a while, Mangrel found a freshly dead body. A few flies could be seen near it, but it was still in a better condition compared to the others.

"Do you have something to dissect this body?"

"Yes..." Mars took out a dagger from behind him, hidden behind his clothes.

Looking at this Mangrel's eyes flashed with a sharp light, 'If I had been careless and attacked, there was a chance I would have hurt myself. I had my doubts, so the chances of getting hurt were still low.'

Without saying anything Mangrel took the dagger from Mars.

"You know how to use a dagger...?" Mars became worried. He had almost cut his finger off mistakenly while using the dagger for the first time.

"No worry. I know how to use it." Holding the dagger aiming down, Mangrel crouched down.

Not bothered by the disgusting smell, Mangrel pulled off the clothes worn by the women before him. Exposing her weak thigh and waist.

After removing all the clothes from the corpse, what entered Mangrel's sight was the body of a naked woman, appearing to be in her twenties.

Her privates were visible to Mangrel and Mars, but both of their faces were calm as a serene lake. It was a cynical sight, seeing two kids staring at the woman's dead body with emotionless faces.

Not moved in the slightest, Mangrel slowly pierced the thigh of the woman before him. Cold Blood trailed down the cut as the dagger pierced deeper into the flesh.

Applying more force to his wrist, Mangrel's hand moved down, expanding the cut further. Blood didn't spurt out as her blood had long stopped circulating throughout the body.

Feeling that the dagger had come in contact with something hard, Mangrel used both of his hands.

Crack~

The sound of the bone being pierced could be heard, but that was not enough. Mangrel applied all of his body weight on the dagger, prompting it to cut through the bone at last after a minute. He had to repeatedly stab for a while before he was able to achieve it.

After separating the thigh from the body, Mangrel began wrapping the area cut using the clothes, stopping the blood from flowing.

The thigh was the most nutrient part of the human body, not just the thigh, heart, kidney, and muscles, they were all edible parts.

Mars's eyes were wide open as he looked at Mangrel's steady and experienced temperament. The little doubt in his heart flew away after seeing this.

"You can only use a body once to eat right?" Mangrel threw a question at Mars.

Mars, who was quietly watching Mangrel immediately tensed up in surprise, "That's right, they get covered by flies and maggots, who are attracted by the blood. And the body starts to rot more quickly, making them inedible."

Mangrel lips curled up slightly, "If you do what I did, you can use one body at least two times."

Mars appeared surprised to hear this. He didn't quite understand the reason behind it, but he trusted Mangrel, hearing his confident voice.

"Here you can eat it all. I have already eaten today." Mangrel passed on the thigh to Mars.

"Thank you." Mars smiled after a long time.