Chapter 78 - Cold Slaughter

For a moment, silence descended upon the entire 3rd trial palace hall.

Yaan's voice was loud and echoed across the battlefield until it gradually faded away into the still air. At the same time, his aura was recovering at a visible rate.

It didn't take Ghu Lin long to deduce that his poison had been neutralised.

In truth, the poison hadn't been 'neutralised', it was being removed entirely, but the end effect was essentially the same. The pill that Zue Yin found was able to drain the poison from his body, this was the only viable solution given their current means.

Using his Agile Sword Arts, Yaan slowed his descent towards the ground as he fell down from the sky. By the time he landed, the two sides had once again split apart. Yaan faced Ghu Lin, who stood a dozen or so feet away.

Yaan smiled. Ghu Lin remained indifferent, as if none of this made a difference to him.

"Ghu Lin…stop the battle now. I'll enter the 4th trial. Your task was to kill me, and nobody has ever returned from the 4th trial in the past 1,800 years."

For a long period of time, there was only silence. Nobody said anything, creating an increasingly tense atmosphere.

The number of bodies that littered the floor was far too high, there were surely only a few hundred people remaining at this point.

"Just you entering the 4th trial isn't enough…there are still benefits to be reaped from this battle." Ghu Lin finally responded.

Some people sucked in a breath off cold air, glancing at the other Ghu Clansmen to see their reactions…

Nothing. He spoke of benefits whilst disregarding their lives, but to the Ghu Clan, this was only normal.

"I'll enter too." To Yaan's surprise, Zue Yin stepped forwards. She didn't look at him, but stared straight ahead at Ghu Lin. He raised an eyebrow and pondered, before nodding slowly.

"This is good for my clan…but still not enough!"

"You can keep all of these corpses, as well as any treasures laying about on the ground." Aque Li suddenly spoke up.

Ghu Lin stared at him, before turning to the other significant characters on the enemy side.

"Who else intends to enter the 4th trial?" He suddenly asked.

One by one, a few people stepped forwards. Surprisingly, there were another nine individuals, six of whom were only at the Innate Qi Realm! Clearly, they intended to try their luck.

Looking across this group, Ghu Lin slowly nodded.

"This deal isn't bad, but…the reward gained from a body temperer killing the others here is simply too valuable."

When she heard this, Zue Yin scoffed.

"What, you expect us to hand over our hard earned rewards?"

Yaan ignored Zue Yin and looked at Ghu Lin deeply.

"We have 198 clansmen, 96 guests and 382 pawns." Ghu Lin spoke without emotion, continuing tom watch Yaan carefully.

When they heard the term 'pawns', many of those on the Ghu Clan side began looking around confusedly. However, there were some who had realised the truth during the 3rd trial, they realised that they were disposable to the Ghu Clan…

A few of the more intelligent individuals had drastic changes to their expressions. They tried to flee to the opposing side, but before they could move more than a few steps, they were grabbed and their legs were broken by the Ghu Clansmen.

The other Ghu Clan pawns froze in shock and fear upon witnessing this. As for those on the opposing side…most were still feeling confused, but others wore grim expressions, understanding what was to come.

Of course Yaan understood what Ghu Lin was saying…he was saying that he wanted to reap as many rewards as possible from this inheritance. He was saying that he wanted the surviving pawns to serve their final purpose.

"…If I do this, you'll leave everyone else alone?" Yaan finally asked. In response, Ghu Lin simply nodded.

Yaan sighed deeply. He didn't want to do this, but…he had no choice.

And since he had no choice, he might as well profit from it.

"Fine then…but I want half."

"Half?" Ghu Lin snorted coldly as he showed an unkind expression. "You doing this for us is already-"

"If the battle continued, it wouldn't end well for you either. Especially now that I've stalled enough for the poison to fully detoxify from my body." Yaan smiled, before spitting out an ominous looking ball of black noxious liquid.

Ghu Lin's eyes widened, showing a rare look of disbelief as this item landed in Yaan's palm. This was the poison draining pill, only now, it was filled with almost all of Ghu Lin's poison! Some traces remained in Yaan's body, but the quantity was small enough that he would be able to deal with it with his own vitality.

After taking a moment to think it through, Ghu Lin decided to compromise.

"Half is far too much. I will allow you to take 30 rewards of your choosing. However, you cannot take any unique techniques which are not possessed by my clan."

Yaan's and Ghu Lin's conversation went completely over many people's heads. However, those who understood the contents of their negotiation shuddered, feeling an uncomfortable chill creeping through their bodies.

Even though they had also engaged in wanton slaughter for the sake of monetary gain, listening to people discussing the mass massacre of human life in terms of benefits and rewards was still difficult.

Truthfully, massacring so many helpless victims was not something that Yaan was comfortable with doing - it went beyond his 'limit'. This sort of 'evil' was something that he had always been resistant to.

Perhaps he would look back on this event and regret his choice…or perhaps this was a new demonic beginning for Yaan…

Due to the recent unfolding of events, in this moment, Yaan's heart was as cold as ice. Since entering this inheritance, he had killed too many people, he had become numb to the screams of pain and death.

He had been betrayed, he was forced to face his own inadequacies. He was made to acknowledge his faults, his mistakes, and how his arrogance almost got him killed.

Right now, he was only thinking about getting out of here alive. He needed the Ghu Clan to leave him alone until the 4th trial opened, but he also needed to procure resources and other treasures if he wanted to improve his chances of making it through the 4th trial in one piece.

Yaan did not want to kill…but he would rather kill, than be killed.

And so, he would kill.

Whoosh!

Ghu Lin casually lifted one hand up, clenched his fist, then dropped down his arm. Apparently, this was a signal to the Ghu Clansmen. The Ghu Clan Guests were bewildered and moved out of the way fearfully, but thankfully, the Ghu Clansmen ignored the guests.

They were only targeting the remaining pawns.

Yaan watched on silently from a distance, with Aque Li to his left and Zue Yin to his right. Aque Li sighed, shaking his head pitifully. He had witnessed these sorts of horrors in the past, and he was sure that he would witness them again in the future. The cultivation world was cruel…

No, the world itself was cruel.

As for Zue Yin, she didn't truly understand what was happening until she saw the Ghu Clansmen readying their spells and treasures. They focussed their accumulated killing intent on the terrified crowd of 'Ghu Clan Pawns', who had all been herded together like livestock.

"Attack." Ghu Lin's command was simple, but the ruthlessness contained in such a monotone voice was incomprehensible to an ordinary person.

Boom!

Zue Yin's eyes were wide. She trembled, her knees almost buckling as she watched from a safe distance. Even from here, she could still feel the residual shockwaves.

"Ahhhhh!"

"P-please, please don't kill me!"

"I, I have children to feed, I, I…I want to live…!"

…

Their pleas were both pathetic and entirely understandable. Given the same circumstances, most people would act the same way.

"Yaan, you won't really-" Zue Yin turned to the her side hurriedly, finally understanding everything.

The Ghu Clan crippled their own pawns, making way for Yaan to slaughter them.

Yaan was already gone.

Zue Yin turned to her other side, leaving her startled when Aque Li and another three Qi Temple Realm cultivators quickly followed after Yaan.

The Ghu Clansmen followed Ghu Lin's orders and parted ways, moving far enough away from Yaan that he didn't need to worry about them attacking him.

Aque Li and the others were on guard as they protected Yaan. They were ready to remain in position for a few minutes or even longer, but Yaan was far faster than expected.

One by one, the bodies dropped to the ground. As Yaan moved past, a pool of crimson accumulated beneath the lifeless corpses, creating a stifling atmosphere around the area of the presently transpiring tragedy.

Yaan only used his Agile Sword Arts to sweep through the crowd of pawns. The pawns were all at the Innate Qi Realm, they couldn't put up the least bit of resistance before Yaan.

Aque Li followed Yaan around, collecting the rewards one by one. He was stunned by Yaan's movement speed and his efficiency in killing. It was as if he didn't need to stop to swing his blade…just drifting past his enemies left them deceased.

55 seconds.

That was how long it took for Yaan to massacre 365 Innate Qi Realm cultivators.

The aura of death lingered heavily over Yaan's small body.

Back in the crowd, Zue Yin stared at him with a trembling gaze. She witnessed how he killed those people without so much as hesitating…it was the first time she had seen such coldness in someone's eyes when killing.

She wasn't the only one to feel this way. In fact, most people present, aside from those in the Ghu Clan, were so shocked by this horror which was committed by a lone 'child', that for a long while, they were unable to speak or move.

Ghu Lin and the Ghu Clansmen stood some distance away as Yaan lay out the 365 rewards on the floor. They did not approach Yaan and his group for now, but they watched him like a hawk.

After placing the rewards on the ground for all to see, Yaan was the first to break the silence. He spoke to Aque Li and the other three who had assisted him just now, protecting him from any potential Ghu Clan ploys.

"I'll keep 15 rewards, Aque Li can take six, then everyone else gets three."

The others looked at him in surprise, but they said nothing, each having their own thoughts.

Yaan was being quite generous, but he had his reasons for this.

Firstly, he wanted to quickly fit into this group so that he could survive until the opening of the 4th trial. By giving these key group members generous rewards, they would feel better disposed towards him.

Secondly, Yaan already had hundreds of rewards, and many of those came from Qi Temple Realm and Qi Palace Realm cultivators. Just these 30 rewards didn't tempt him much…although, he was able to choose the rewards that he wanted for himself, which was quite good.

Yaan saw no need to rush his choosing, and neither did anyone else. They were on guard against the Ghu Clan, but with the Ghu Clan's members having retreated back by a hundred or so feet, it could be seen that they no longer had any intention of fighting.

He studied each item one by one. After some time passed by, he called Zue Yin over to help him identify things, since she was supposedly a knowledgeable alchemist.

"You want body cultivation stuff, right?" She asked.

"Mm. Also anything relating to life and death, vitality and blood essence."

"In that case, you need these nine pills for sure." She pointed out nine pills, eight of which were Rank 3 and one which was Rank 4.

According to Zue Yin, every single one of these pills was a body tempering medicine…

These were true body tempering resources which affected the physical flesh rather than Vital Energy. These pills could assist Yaan in developing his fleshly body. This was something that he always sought out, but struggled to find.

Moving on from the pills, she selected six books. After Ghu Lin confirmed that these were not techniques needed by his clan, Yaan was able to take them all.

It was a decent haul, but he definitely earned many more incredible things during the earlier battle.

The others took their time choosing their loot. Two hours later, once Ghu Lin was beginning to lose his patience, they were done.

They handed over the remaining 335 items to Ghu Lin and his clan…but at least they had taken all of the best things, bar some techniques. More importantly, the bloody battle had come to an end, which was the main point of all this.

And now, they needed to wait for five more hours, until the 3rd trial ended and the 4th trial opened. This was not going to be a short five hours.

Everyone had obtained some sort of reward in this place, yet hardly anyone had the heart to make use of these things right now. The Ghu Clan and their guests moved to one side of the palace, whilst everyone else shifted to the other side.

"Yaan, you're really entering the 4th trial?" Aque Li asked curiously. Whilst he couldn't say that he had a deep relationship with Yaan, they had been able to understand one another's intentions using eye movement alone, right after Yaan was attacked by Ghu Lin. This showed that they truly were two people who could definitely get along with one another, so Aque Li felt somewhat disappointed that Yaan was…going to vanish forever.

Would he die? Would he find himself trapped in some unknown trial? Would he be transported so far away that he could never hope to find his way home?

Nobody could say for sure. The 4th trial was a terrifying unknown.

"I am." Yaan nodded. He had now changed into a clean red robe, hiding his golden armour below and looking much more presentable compared to before. His burns were yet to heal completely, but his condition was clearly improving.

"But you weren't planning to enter before, right?" Aque Li sighed.

Yaan lightly shook his head.

"Ghu Lin wants me dead, or at least gone. If I don't enter the 4th trial, he will try to kill me before the exit appears. Even if I make it out of the inheritance alive, he'll continue giving chase, or maybe I'll be directly targeted by Ghu Clan Elders."

After saying this, Yaan looked around, glancing at the others thoughtfully.

"Watch out. Once I'm out of the picture, Ghu Lin might decide that his advantage is sufficient to deal with you."

Aque Li nodded, he'd already considered that.

"I know. There's a decent chance that I'll be forced to enter the 4th trial too. At least the 4th trial entrance remains until the end of the 3rd trial, so we'll have a way out regardless."

Yaan nodded, then didn't say any more on about this matter.

It was a difficult situation with no right or wrong answer. In the end, he was only entering the 4th trial to flee from Ghu Lin. Besides, it was clear that he wouldn't be welcomed by the Ghu Clan as their guest any longer…

In the end, Yaan had no place that he could truly call home.

There was nobody who would miss him if he left…or if he died.

He had no responsibilities nor expectations resting upon his shoulders.

He lived only for himself, so in the end, he had no misgivings about leaving the Ghu Province behind and entering the 4th trial.

The same couldn't be said for Zue Yin. Honestly, he was bewildered as to why she would enter the 4th trial when she had a powerful clan supporting her in the outside world. That said, he also didn't care enough to ask.

Time passed by slowly.

With hundreds of people in their group, they didn't need to be too wary of the Ghu Clan as there were always a few dozen people keeping watch at any one time.

Nobody tried to pressure Yaan into keeping watch, mostly because he frightened everyone. Anyway, this was good for him, because he needed to continue healing his wounds. The third degree burns were now healing up nicely, and with just two hours left until the 4th trial opening, he was more or less ready.

He continued to consume more regular Vital Recovery Pills every now and then whilst starting to read one of the books that he had been rewarded much earlier on. Out of all the books he'd obtained, this one interested him the most. It was titled 'Fiend Alchemy'.

"Hey…how come you eat recovery pills like candy?" Zue Yin finally couldn't contain her curiosity and asked. Yaan glanced at her and sighed.

"You surely must have realised by now, right?"

"Ah, I know you're a body cultivator…but you definitely cultivated Innate Qi back in the nine factions tournament! So then, you're…"

She trailed off, but Yaan nodded silently. There was no reason to hide it, since it was fairly obvious that he was a fiend at this point.

Zue Yin's eyes lit up, as if excited that she had deduced this correctly.

"Still though, it can't be good to throw back handfuls of recovery pills like that, right? I know that you don't have any Innate Qi so you can't suffer from Qi deviation, but, I don't know, what about your body? What about the efficacy of the pill? Doesn't it lose effect eventually?"

Yaan glanced at Zue Yin, before shaking his head lightly. Since she had helped out earlier, he decided to at least answer her, but he wasn't about to give her a lesson here and now.

"Pills naturally lose their effect when used in excess, but body temperers can handle the adverse effects. I don't know much aside from this."

Honestly, he really didn't know the answers to her questions.

The Fiend Transformation Technique that existed within his mind…had some problems. His guess was that, like when Rui first transmitted this technique to him, she had missed off certain details because they were not yet relevant, or perhaps because his mind was unable to process the information at the time.

"Anyway, why all the questions?" Yaan avoided answering her directly and glanced back at Zue Yin. She pouted, half-glaring at him as she matter-of-factly stated:

"We're both going to be competing in the 4th trial, right? We should definitely stick together, at least until we understand the trial."

"Well, I suppose you're right." Yaan nodded.

"Then we need to get to know one another, to better understand each others' abilities, strengths and weaknesses, right?" She leaned in with a self-assured smile.

"No thanks." Yaan shot her down, shaking his head adamantly.

"B-but why not?"

"Revealing my weakness? No thanks. And my strengths? I'd rather keep them hidden, you've seen enough as it is. It's good enough to agree to an alliance, isn't it? Everyone has their secrets, let's leave it at that."

"Fine then…"

Yaan's coldness caused Zue Yin to pout again, but she ended up feeling bored as the minutes ticked by. She leaned over Yaan's shoulder, peering at the book that he was reading.

"Fiend Alchemy?" She blinked. "Wow, you got something so use- ahem, I mean, this is sure interesting!"

Yaan speechlessly stared at this girl who couldn't sit still or keep her mouth shut. He was starting to worry about this 'alliance', and whether it would actually be of any help to him.

He ignored her for the most part, reading through the introduction to this book whilst waiting for the trial to end. This was a thick book written in tiny print, with countless minute diagrams and runes imprinted all over every page. He could tell that this was going to take some time to read…it included alchemy refinement methods, but for some reason, it also delved deeply into the fiend's biology, their progression alongside their cultivation, and other such things.

Yaan wasn't complaining of course, all of this was important information to him!

By the time he finished the introduction, a giant red vortex appeared within the centre of the palace roof.

Quickly standing up, Yaan nodded to Aque Li, before grabbing Zue Yin's wrist and rushing towards the centre of the hall without a word. He acted so quickly that nobody had time to react, even Ghu Lin was a step too slow.

Before he jumped, Yaan paused. He caught Ghu Nadda's eyes, and for a moment, his gaze lingered on the young ghoul's melancholic and regretful expression.

Yaan smiled slightly, but he didn't say anything. Nadda looked hesitant, but Yaan knew…he would not follow after him. Nadda had a clan back home, there was no temptation for him in the 4th trial realm.

Yaan clasped his hands towards Nadda, then without waiting to see his response, he looked up at the giant red vortex of energy, rotating a hundred feet above his head.

And with that, he jumped up.