245: Chapter 213_2 245: Chapter 213_2 However, it seemed that their mana was insufficient to remove this feeling of crisis, possibly because the adversary was attacking with something akin to a magic curse, leaving them only to suffer.
Initially arrogant, those in black who had spoken of letting others die, when they started to experience immense pain, their pride was abraded away, wishing only for a quick resolution, or to be set free.
“Hero, please let us go?
We will never dare to commit evil again, and in the future, you are free to enter the mountains without us causing you trouble.”
“Yes, let us go, let us go, you will be my masters, and from now on I will serve you.”
The Earl, hearing these confessions, felt a softening in his heart and hesitated whether to release them or not?
He had never killed anyone before, and although someone had come to the mountains to kill, the attacker had not succeeded, nor had he killed that devil.
The Earl had never encountered a true devil, nor had he killed anyone with his own hands.
The method he had used to punish the devil earlier was merely to resist them, and moreover, to test whether these few were truly greatly sinful and wicked.
Having not witnessed these people committing murder, the Earl held compassion in his heart and was good-natured.
As he was hesitating, the veteran hunter beside him sensed that the situation was going awry.
If the Earl were to release these villains, their stockade and tribespeople might suffer from revenge in the future.
The veteran hunters incessantly advised the Earl in the background to never let them go, as such greatly sinful and evil people deserved punishment.
The Earl, after hearing the words of the veteran hunters, recounted his considerations.
Should he listen to the veteran hunter?
The Viscounts, like the Earl, were all young men in their twenties who had never seen true villains.
Although these men were despicable, they may have desired to keep them and kill them, but they had yet to inflict harm.
They hesitated about whether or not to persuade the Earl to spare them but felt that the veteran hunter lacked compassion.
The Earl swung back and forth, but when compared to the safety of his people, he of course chose to first protect his tribespeople.
Muttering the execution curse under his breath, those men felt as if they had been struck by a magical treasure or a sword.
Countless beams of light shone upon them, seemingly carving their flesh in pieces.
Though their bodies remained whole, it felt like they were being cut slice by slice.
In the midst of agonizing screams and pleas for mercy, the men slowly turned to ash and disappeared into the air.
Even their storage bags turned to ashes, along with any clothing and items on their bodies.
As the wind blew over the mountain, only some black dust was seen flying away.
The Earl felt a tremendous pressure during the entire process; killing for the first time invoked a sense of dread in him.
For the first time, he realized the power of the magic wand, able to turn people to ash, just like the magical treasures or burst talismans used in the cultivation world.
Witnessing living beings vanish before his eyes for the first time, the kind-hearted young man felt a flash of guilt in his heart.
The Viscounts also witnessed the formidable power of the magic wand for the first time.
In the eyes of the young, the magical treasures and cultivation spells of the cultivation world were much stronger than their magic wand.
Today, their understanding had changed, realizing that they too could be so powerful.
It was just regrettable that among them, none could forge a magic wand, only the Earl had the right to use it and learn such curses.
They, of the same Blood Clan, did not possess this ability.
The veteran hunters had urged the Earl to kill the men in black for their families.
They too saw a person transform into ash before their very eyes for the first time, and for a moment, the scene fell silent.
The demonic beasts watching nearby and those wanting to take advantage of the chaos were earlier eager to charge forward or reap the benefits.
Seeing the robbers who had been threatening them and dominating their forest so effortlessly killed, they realized how weak they were.
The demonic beasts felt fear, their eyes begging one of the humans, filled with fear, believing this person to be even more terrifying than the black-clothed bandits.
The demonic beasts slowly retreated, choosing to invisibly return to their lairs and keep their distance from these humans to avoid being harmed by them.
Demonic Beasts, many of whom had developed intelligence, sensed that among the humans were several who carried the scent of their species, evidently humans who had killed many of their kind.
However, these Demonic Beasts knew of hunters who had cultivated to rank one or higher.
They could feel a sense of crisis and thought they were no match for these humans, fearing that outnumbering the humans might still lead to their demise like the bandits had met.
They had seen with their own eyes bandits kill people, but it was just death; they had never seen people turn to ash from being killed with Magical Treasures, leaving no chance for the victims to become Ghost Cultivators.
This was the point that Demonic Beasts feared most, to silently disappear from the world of the living.
The Earl, having recovered his wits, gave a strained smile to the young brothers standing beside him, who looked somewhat uneasy.
His smile was so forced that it was better not to smile at all.
He, like these young men, had only seen dead people; their tragic passing was not frightening, perhaps because it was all in the mind.
The Earl, who had killed with his own hands, actually felt more fear than his brothers.
His hands were stained with blood, no longer sacred.
The Earl knew that his Blood Clan had their ways of cultivation; they had had glorious times and fought against others.
All that was the doing of ancestors; the people living in their stockade had not ventured out for ten thousand years, and their bloodthirsty ambition had long since been ground away.
The Earl composed himself, fearing another encounter with such people.
Clutching his Magic Wand tightly, he gestured vigilantly to everyone to proceed.
They had come this far, and though previously they wanted to retreat, now the threat had seemingly vanished, so they chose to move forward once again.
The young Viscount dared not walk in front, nor immediately behind the Earl.
Suddenly, he seemed to harbor a sense of fear towards the Earl.
They followed behind the Veteran Hunter, no longer sounding their cheerful laughter as before.
The Earl led his men to a deeper place where they discovered a cave.
“Stop advancing…”
The Earl had everyone halt and sent a Hunter to scout ahead.
The Veteran Hunter, despite having been to the mountains many times, had never come here, but knew of caves that might be dwellings for people or Demonic Beasts.
After traveling so far without seeing any caves, nor any man-made structures, they speculated that those people they encountered earlier didn’t build on the mountain, but might live inside caves, leading the reclusive life of savages, possibly killing those from the Cultivation World who came to train in the deep forests and mountains as bandits.
“Earl, there is a cave ahead with signs of habitation, a table, a bed, and the cave seems to go deeper, but I dared not explore further,” reported the Veteran Hunter upon his return.
“Hmm, perhaps that’s where those people from before lived.
We don’t know if there are still people inside.
We can’t all go in together, fearing they might trap us in the cave with no way out.
Some of us will go in with me, while others will stay outside on guard duty.
If those in front or those staying behind run into trouble, we will communicate with a secret sign,” the Earl instructed.
“Yes,” they acknowledged.
Leading the way, the Earl, who was of the same age as the Viscounts, suddenly evoked a sense of fear among his peers.
His presence made them feel estranged, and they dared not follow him, choosing instead to stay at the entrance of the cave.
The hearts of the Veteran Hunters also felt fear, but having seen more than the younger ones, and it was their suggestion that led the Earl to kill.
It seemed that the fear was only temporary at first, but then they felt a surge of bloodthirstiness, a strange exhilaration for the scent of blood.
The Veteran Hunters didn’t understand why they felt this way but knew it might be innate instinct, perhaps because they possessed the heads of beasts and bodies of men, naturally drawn to blood.
Over millions of years, they had undergone many changes, transforming to blend in with ordinary humans and live ordinary lives.
The Earl cautiously surveyed the cave, which lacked any sign of luxury, furnished with simple wooden tables and chairs, and even the beds were quite rudimentary—Cultivators never placed much emphasis on sleep.
The beds in the cave bore traces of meditation, and there were no cooking facilities, further suggesting it was not a place where meals were prepared.
The Earl was aware that some in the Cultivation World could sustain life merely by consuming Pills.