Chapter 196: Finishing Things Up.

  Under the effects of his Qi Domain, many of the demons were cut in half from his wind but not all of them.

"Don't kill him." He heard as more pain struck his body along with the already present persisting pain from the girl's sword.

  The demons bit, clawed, and crawled all over him as he did his best to deal with them. Which was a difficult task because of all the pain plaguing his body. Even for a Core stage cultivator like himself, it was the first time he's ever been in so much pain. He didn't know how much more of it he could take...

  Eventually, the number of demons exiting from the Nine Swords Sect disciple became too much for him to handle even with his Qi Domain. At first it was only a few, then that few became a dozen, and that dozen turned into hundreds. Ai De could no longer resist as he was overwhelmed by the evil creatures. Before everything turned black, he had to wonder. Why in Heaven's all-encompassing name was a Corpse Collector for Nine Swords Sect, a demonic cultivator?

  The most righteous sect in all of the Evergreen continent. The big grandfather of righteousness among all the sects. Has a powerful demonic cultivator inside their sect. Just... why...?

"Accata!" The demons shouted one after the other.

  A fat pink demon crawled out from Hazel's missing arm and began rapidly licking her injuries all over. Her fatal injuries were soon recovering at a rapid pace and in no time, she was back on her feet in perfect condition. She gestured to the small creatures to return back to her as she went over to save the assassin from dying.

"Ai, save him as well." Hazel ordered the child-sized demonic creature.

"Akare asaid..." It shivered looking at the nearly dead assassin. Pink-skin, pudgy belly, claw-like hands, human-like feet and teeth, and a cowardly nature.

"He's not scary, trust me. Now please hurry before he dies on me." Hazel unstrapped her gourd from her back and began to take out some tools from within.

  Ai walked over to the assassin like a grossed-out child would be walking towards a dead body. She poked his injury, causing him to let out a pained groan, startling her. Looking back at Hazel's giggling to herself while taking out sharp tools, she knew that disobeying her wouldn't be good. Some of those things might be used on her!

  So, she gathered her nerves, took a deep breathe, and began licking the bloodied body of the assassin. Her drool held spiritual qualities that increased the recovery process within living beings. Ai made sure to make the process quick so that she could return back to Hazel and not mess with anymore humans. In her opinion, they were quite disgusting and scary.

  Ai De began to rouse from his sleep half an hour later. Hazel was glad to see this, it's been some time and she needed to meet back up with Kai eventually. Hopefully he wasn't causing any trouble. They've only been separated for a couple hours, how much trouble could he possibly get into?

"Little Assassin. I hope you had a good rest. I think it's time you finally tell me what I've been wanting to know." Hazel stabbed one of her tools into his hand.

"Aggh!!" Ai De tried rising up and gaining some distance only to realize that he couldn't use any qi! 'The Qi Domain! That's why!' He suddenly realized.

"Ah, where are you trying to go?" Hazel asked with a playful smile as she stabbed another one in his leg, partially pinning him to the floor.

  He screamed once more and quickly understood that this girl was the black sheep of the Nine Swords Sect! What righteous cultivator would have a face filled with pleasure and joy when torturing someone?! It didn't take long before Ai De was subjected to the most brutal and inhuman torturing that one could go through despite being completely willing to share everything he knew.

"I'm trying to tell you! I'm from Gre---AHHHH!" Hazel stabbed a black knife into his gut when he tried to spill, painting her face with blood.

"Sh, shh, shhh... Not yet... Seeing you completely helpless like this, is invigorating." It was like hearts replaced Hazel's eyes.

  It was the first time in her life that she's felt this way. Completely in control, in power, nothing stopping her from doing whatever she wants to someone. Why did something so terrible feel so good? Hazel understood that this was unusual and wrong even though he tried to kill her but a silent voice in the back of her head was telling her to continue. To keep exerting her control over this man until she felt waves of pleasure overtake her.

"Why!? Why are you doing this to me!? Please! Just kill me instead!" Ai De wailed in agony.

  Hazel completely lost herself in her instincts that she never knew existed until now. It was like meeting an old forgotten lover all over again. Even when she was training with her master for five years, she never felt anything like this. Not once... And it wasn't like Hazel hasn't fought and killed a person before. She's killed plenty of demons captured and held at the sect on her master's orders. Fighting in life-or-death battles with demons usually stronger than her honed her instincts and fighting ability to an incredible degree. But there was never a situation where she managed to dominate and overpower someone like she did to this man. Her master never allowed it by continually increasing the strength of the demons or demonic cultivators.

  So, it was very surprising that this guy managed to hide himself so well in her presence. His martial arts must be focused in hiding and killing without a presence. An unfortunate weakness of that focus was that his combat ability was subpar. Hazel saw several flaws in his swordsmanship that she could've easily taken advantage of. It wouldn't have taken her more than five or ten seconds to completely kill him if she wanted without his Qi Domain.

  With the help of Ai, Hazel managed to satisfy herself from evening to the morning of the next day. Eventually she allowed the assassin to tell her everything. Then she sucked him into her Demon Gourd without killing him. It would be too merciful of her to allow him such a peaceful death after trying to kill her on her first mission out of the sect. There are several fun new little ideas that flowed into Hazel's head after her session with Ai De. What was strange about them was as if they were always there, just waiting to flow inside her head.

  Hazel left Little Snow's house and made her way to the Arena after receiving some directions from strangers. It turns out, Ai De was an assassin from the Great Mountain Clan. He was the man that killed Xia Cao on orders from his patriarch after the patriarch's daughter was raped by Xia Cao and impregnated by him. To cover-up the assassination, they tried framing it on Raven's Claw so that when the Nine Swords Sect's Corpse Collectors came to investigate, Raven's Claw would be exterminated after finding Xia Cao's corpse connected to the woman of a prominent member of Raven's Claw.

  Ai De was ordered to follow and watch the Corpse Collectors on the off chance that they somehow found the truth or a clue that would lead them to the Great Mountain Clan. Unfortunately, he was found out by her infant demon even though his cultivation technique focused around hiding one's presence was at the sky-rank. Forcing him into last fight of his life. Now that Hazel knew all the information, it was time to collect Kai and to exterminate the Great Mountain Clan.

  While personally she agreed with the decision of the patriarch from the Great Mountain Clan, as a Corpse Collector, this was her duty. You kill one of the members of the Nine Swords Sect, everyone involved in their death will die along with them. She would actually be punished by the sect if she didn't exterminate their clan. So, it was unfortunate. Hazel would've probably done something far worse if she had a daughter that was raped, but this was the way of the world. Something she wouldn't be able to change until she's strong enough to overthrow her master as Sect Leader of the Nine Swords Sect.

  Once she became that strong, spreading her influence and ideals across the continent would only take a few words and loyal companions around her. That is something she'll have to start on now that she's finally out in the world. The only issue she had was Kai... What exactly was she going to do about him? His mind was clearly cracked and unstable after her five-year disappearance. In his head, she was his personal servant for the rest of her life. How could she be satisfied with such a title? Even if she cared for the man she looks at like an annoying younger brother, she had her own dreams and goals. Dreams and goals that'll be an issue if she was forced into being his little servant eventually.

'I still have to deal with the Yingjie clan for everything they put me through as well. If he somehow found out about that, would he still be willing to have me as his servant? He'd be more likely to want to kill me instead, right?' Hazel just didn't know enough about Kai. A lot changes in five years it seems.