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(Western Region- Xercon Plains)

(Unnamed Village)

It was a scene from hell.

The heavy metallic scent of blood filled the air as well as the sounds of injured cries and moans of pain.

These cries eventually ceased.

Wooden shacks and stone huts alike had all been destroyed. Bits and pieces of rubble lay scattered on the ground.

Corpses of men, women and children stared blankly at the sky. Their bodies had been twisted and warped beyond recognition.

Some had been chopped up into pieces while others had terrified expressions on their faces that only hinted at the horrors that they had endured.

In the middle of the village square a frail old man bowed his head as his body kept trembling like a leaf in a storm.

Standing in front of him was a group of seven cultivators wearing pure white robes. Members of the \'righteous\' path.

"Village... head..." one of the cultivators sneered arrogantly as his hand drifted towards the sword attached to his hip.

"Do you regret your choice now?"

The old man let out a mournful cry of rage and rushed towards the cultivators with all the strength that he could muster in his body.

He knew it was useless.

He knew that ordinary men could not hope to defeat immortals.

Still... he had to... if...he could just...

The old man\'s body stopped moving as a thin red line appeared on his neck. His feeble and wrinkled hands lightly touched the area before his body collapsed.

His head rolled away from the rest of his body.

The cultivator tucked his sword back in his sheath and laughed as he approached the head and kicked it.

The head went flying off into the distance and slammed into a nearby wall with a resounding thud.

"What should we do about this mess?" a female cultivator in the group asked as she tidied up her hair.

"Blame it on the demon cultivators. When we get back to the sect we just need to report this matter and the sect elders will handle the rest," someone said lazily.

"It didn\'t have to be this way," another whispered softly as he approached the corpse of an attractive village woman and lightly touched her body using his foot.

"Oh please... you were the first one to stab that whore," a female cultivator in the back of the group jeered mockingly.

Laughter echoed through the destroyed village and the cultivators spent a few minutes reminiscing about the events that had lead up to this point.

They had been passing by when the village head approached them and asked for some help with bandits that were roaming through the forest.

Of course, the cultivators wanted payment first.

It was only reasonable.

The village head gathered all of the wealth in the village and presented their riches to the cultivators.

It was not enough so one of the male cultivators kindly suggested that the village head could make up the difference by giving them people.

The foolish old man refused.

And no mortal should dare to refuse the words of gods.

"Did you see the look on his face when we killed his daughter?" a cultivator joked as he pointed at the small corpse in the corner of the massacre.

"You mean when he cried and begged like a bitch?" the male cultivator who had killed the village head asked.

In the midst of their discussion, no one noticed a slender figure slowly making her way through the destroyed village.

She was an incredibly beautiful woman.

She looked to be in her mid twenties with gentle facial features, soft eyes and a warm smile.

She wore a rough outfit made out of hemp. It was the clothes that poor rural folk would wear since they could not afford expensive fabrics.

There was not a hint of qi surrounding her body.

She appeared to be an ordinary mortal and yet not one of the cultivators noticed her presence.

Her eyes glanced at the corpses on the ground and the smile on her face got even brighter although those cheerful emotions did not reach her eyes.

Her gaze eventually landed on the group of cultivators in the center of the village still joking and laughing without a care in the world.

And why would they?

To them these lives were insignificant.

They would receive no punishment even if the sect elders discovered the truth and the men, women and children that they killed would not receive any justice.

Cultivators were all the same.

Selfish, greedy, arrogant.

And yet somehow... they were given the powers of gods. So that everyone was forced to cower and bow to their will.

The beautiful woman stepped closer to the group and then lightly knelt down and touched the ground.

Dark patterns appeared on her skin and flowed into the soil beneath her feet. The smile on her face never broke for even a second.

This process went on for a few minutes before the woman stood up and approached the group without a hint of fear on her face.

"Why did you do this?" the woman opened her mouth and asked.

The cultivators jumped in surprise and their eyes instantly focused on the direction of the unexpected voice.

They were wary at first but when they realised that the person in front of them was an ordinary mortal woman, they immediately relaxed.

"Why did you do this?" the woman asked a second time with the same even tone.

"This? What makes you think that we did this?" a female cultivator responded angrily as she stared at the woman with some jealousy in her gaze.

How was she so beautiful?

The male cultivators on the other hand and looked at each other and could see the lust and desire rising up in their eyes.

There was an unspoken power struggle and then finally the male cultivator who had killed the village head stepped forward and roughly grabbed the beautiful woman by her arm.

"Forget about them..." the male cultivator whispered as he leaned in slowly.

"Why don\'t I take you back to my sect and make you my consort?"

He looked at the beautiful woman\'s face and expected to see happiness and joy in her eyes. This was an offer that he had made to many naïve mortal women.

Most believed him immediately and for the ones that didn\'t... well... he would just bring them back by force.

"I\'m sorry... but I will have to decline," the woman bowed her head politely and replied without any sorrow heard in her voice.

"Listen you..." the male cultivator\'s voice trailed off as something strange began to happen.

The beautiful woman took a single step forward and dark black runes appeared on the ground and spread across a wide area.

The cultivators did not know what was happening because they had never seen such strange markings before.

"What is going... arghh!" the male cultivator holding the woman by her arm screamed in pain as the markings travelled up his body.

The woman stepped away and watched as the cultivators collapsed on the ground. The qi in their dantian cores began to flow out of their bodies.

She continued to watch as wrinkles began to appear on their once fair and flawless skin and traces of age marred their immortal appearance.

Their cultivation was being slowly stripped away.

The beautiful woman approached the dying group and whispered something softly in the ear of the one who had threatened to make her his consort.

An expression of terror flashed across the male cultivator\'s face before his heart gave out.