Players: All NPCs in the Sect Are Moles

Killed hundreds of thousands of people?

Slaughtered hundreds of cultivators?

BZZZ—!

Outside the window, a dozen or so heads suddenly froze. Even their breathing was cut short by the appalling news.

Wang stared at the silhouette on the window paper, distorted and stretched by the flickering firelight.

'Hundreds of thousands? What does that even mean?'

'Even if you were slaughtering pigs one by one, killing hundreds of thousands of them would dull your blade and dislocate your wrist, wouldn't it?'

And that's not even counting the hundreds of cultivators among them!

'So Miss Su, who on a normal day just looks like a natural-born Evil Cultivator, actually has this much blood on her hands?'

One of the undercover agents from the righteous path gulped with difficulty.

'This is a living Asura in human skin! Our righteous sects might exploit our own disciples and lower-level sects at most, but we'd never do something as blatant as a blood sacrifice of an entire city. But this demonic sect... they just hand over a mortal city for their disciples to practice on? As expected of a demonic sect! So wicked!'

Meanwhile, the expressions on the faces of the few demonic path agents next to him were absolutely priceless.

'What a ruthless person! No wonder she gets to be the Holy Daughter! No wonder she gets to enjoy this high-class treatment of having her bones shattered and reforged for cultivation!'

'Slaughtering cities and cultivators at the drop of a hat, using hundreds of thousands of resentful souls as nourishment... Is this the legendary path of proving one's Dao through killing?!'

'But why does the bloody, resentful aura on her body only look like she's blood-refined a few thousand people?'

...

Inside the pavilion, however, the atmosphere was completely different.

Lying on the anvil, Su Ling'er was enduring the agony, her mind filled with question marks.

Su Ling'er: "???"

'Hundreds of thousands of people? And *I* killed them?'

'Am I really that strong?'

'This is too ridiculous! Besides, there's no way I would ever do something like that!!!'

Su Ling'er was so anxious it felt like ants were crawling all over her.

'Senior Brother was the one who controlled that army of one hundred thousand! They had mental breakdowns and killed each other or committed suicide out of shame!'

'I was right there, diligently practicing my swordsmanship on that old Nascent Soul geezer, practicing the Green Lotus Sword Song one strike at a time! And he committed suicide too!!! All I did the entire time was break his skin, ahhh!!!'

'Th-th-this... This is slander!'

'How did this whole mess get blamed on me? These are all just rumors!!!'

'Besides, it was all that group of would-be Evil Cultivators who twisted right and wrong and wanted to slaughter cities and clans! They got what they deserved! It was all Senior Brother's achievement. How can I, someone who just poked some skin the whole time, take all the credit?'

'No.'

'I have to explain this clearly!'

"Th-those people... they weren't..."

WHOOSH—!

A terrifying gust of wind suddenly forced its way into her mouth and nose.

DONG!!!

Shi Gandang was quite curious, but he couldn't let his junior sister's cultivation be delayed! So, he brought the hammer down!

"Ahhhhh—!!!"

The pain made her body go rigid, and her attempted explanation was shattered into fragments: "Puaaahhh... It... was... me... who... slaughtered them!!!" (She meant to say: It wasn't me who slaughtered them!)

The agents outside the window let out a collective hiss. She admitted it herself! She's the one who slaughtered them!

Tears streamed from Su Ling'er's eyes in agony. She twitched and tried to explain, wanting to name the true hero, her Senior Brother:

"It was all..."

DONG!!!

Another heavy blow from the hammer!

'I was just using that Nascent Soul to practice my swordsmanship! I didn't use living people for cultivation!'

Su Ling'er's eyes rolled back in her head as she trembled in the aftershock of pain, forcing out her last words:

"Ugh-aaahhh... massacred... (She meant: They massacred each other!)... my kill!!!"

The crowd outside heard: "I massacred them!"

Su Ling'er continued to explain.

"Those people, ahhh, wrong, ahhh... ahhhhhhhhh, slaughter cities and destroy nations!" (She meant: Those people twisted right and wrong, wanting to slaughter cities and destroy nations!)

"I... was just... ahhh!"

DONG!!!

"...practicing... my sword!!!"

DONG!!!

"...I... was just... ahhh!"

DONG!!!

"...using... them, ahhhhhh... the... effect is... better, ahhh!!!"

The air stagnated at that moment.

Only the girl's shrill, rhythmic screams from the anvil echoed in the silence.

'Junior Sister is a total psycho.'

Shi Gandang stopped hammering, wiped the hot sweat from his forehead, and his mouth twitched.

'I get what you mean now. You killed them, so what? You were just using them to practice your sword, and took their lives for your cultivation along the way? Why are you so bloodthirsty!'

'Is she the type of person who skips all the story cutscenes in a game and just starts a killing spree the moment they can? Just kill, kill, kill?'

'Terrifying. It's a good thing Junior Sister isn't a real person. Otherwise, a fanatical mass murderer like her would either be smashed into Su Ling'er paste by Adam's Heavy Hammer or be banished to kill or be killed among the lawless.'

'But hey, this is a game! Being powerful and liking to kill, kill, kill isn't a bad thing here!'

"I get it now, Junior Sister! You did a great job!!!"

Su Ling'er: "???"

'What do you get? I feel like you don't get it at all! The credit for eliminating those enemies belongs to Senior Brother!!!'

Seeing her reaction, Shi Gandang grinned, revealing a set of pearly whites. "You were open about it!"

"You dare to do and dare to admit it! Just as expected from someone from our Artifact Refining Pavilion who cultivates the Sword Refining Skill!"

Su Ling'er: ???

Su Ling'er: 'You really don't get it, do you!!! I barely did anything!!!!'

As he spoke, he raised the giant hammer again. His muscles bulged, and fiery red Spiritual Power gathered wildly at its head.

'Since you've killed so many people, Junior Sister, you must have a lot of bloody resentment built up inside you. We definitely won't finish hammering it all out in one go. The guild master is sending over some refined blood essence in a bit, too.'

'Your senior brother is going all out today! I'll work overtime to hammer all this raw material right into your bones! This is a great fortune, and I'll help you seize it!'

"Come on! Brace yourself! This next one is a big one!"

Su Ling'er watched the hammer grow larger and larger in her vision, her pupils shrinking in utter despair.

'There's more?!'

'I feel like you completely misunderstood! And you're going to hit me again?!'

"Wai—ahhhhhhhhhh—!!!"

DONG—!!!

This tremendous bang was deeper and more shocking than any before it.

The very foundations of the Artifact Refining Pavilion shook three times.

The scorching shockwave slammed against the window lattice, which creaked as if about to break.

Outside the window, all the undercover agents' bodies went rigid for a moment.

Their expressions were awestruck.

'Miss Su... she's terrifying!'

'Is this how the Guixi Sect cultivates? Is this... the daily life of the Holy Daughter?'

A thought sprouted and grew wildly in the mind of an agent who came from the righteous path.

He had once seen a vague record on a fragmented page of an ancient text.

Legend had it that in ancient times, there was a righteous sect that worshipped suffering. Its members would temper their will through extreme methods like self-mutilation, gouging out their eyes, flaying their skin, and severing their limbs, all to attract the attention of a certain existence in exchange for supreme divine power.

That sect seemed to have vanished long ago, completely submerged in the river of time.

'Could it be...'

'Could the Guixi Sect be the successor to that ancient sect?'

'No, that's not right.'

'Their methods are full of blood and wickedness, without the slightest hint of a righteous air.'

'Perhaps... they're a fallen offshoot of that sect?'

The agents were lost in their own thoughts, minds racing, but on the surface, each maintained a solemn, observant expression, terrified that their "fellow disciples" beside them would notice something was amiss.

Just then, a streak of bloody light cut through the night sky and flew into the Artifact Refining Pavilion.

It was a cluster of blood-red crystals.

Just a wisp of the aura it emanated was enough to make the agents outside the window's hearts palpitate.

'This is... this is high-quality blood essence!'

Inside the pavilion, Shi Gandang reached out, and the cluster of blood essence landed steadily in his palm.

He glanced at the message that came from Lin Qingfeng, a flash of surprise in his eyes that quickly turned to understanding.

'So that's how it is.'

He looked at the nearly unconscious Su Ling'er on the anvil and said,

"Junior Sister, this is a reward from Senior Brother."

"This is a blood core condensed from those hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of cultivators. Senior Brother has already helped you refine most of the bloody, resentful aura from it. This is a portion he separated for you, enough to help you break through to the Fake Core Realm!"

Su Ling'er's scattered consciousness suddenly focused.

'A reward... from Senior Brother?'

'He... He really has been watching over me?!'

'He knew I was solidifying my Dao Foundation and was just a step away from the Fake Core realm, so he sent me a special reward?'

A warm current instantly washed away the intense physical pain.

'Even Senior Brother thinks so highly of me! He even pinned the achievement of slaying countless Evil Cultivators on me! It's probably so I can survive better in this demonic sect!'

'Those Evil Cultivators deserved to die, and their deaths are an achievement, a guarantee that proves I've killed before in this demonic sect. Senior Brother even went out of his way to refine blood essence for me!'

'This... How can Ling'er ever repay him? How can I ever return this favor!'

'To no longer be a helpless bystander, to become stronger, to help Senior Brother escape the Demon Venerable's control, to uphold the ideals of the righteous path within a demonic sect... all of this... is worth it!'

Outside the window.

All the undercover agents heard Shi Gandang's words clearly and saw the high-quality blood essence.

'And just like that... it was refined... and a portion was given to Miss Su?!'

Several agents from the demonic path were shaken to the core.

They knew better than anyone what this meant!

'Especially the quality of this blood essence, the concentration of this resentful aura... it's definitely the essence of hundreds of thousands of souls and hundreds of cultivators. There's no faking it.'

'But this... is just a portion that was separated out?'

An absurd, yet perfectly logical thought exploded in his mind.

'Miss Su slaughtered hundreds of thousands of living beings, but she herself wasn't qualified to enjoy all the spoils of war.'

'What she refined was merely an insignificant portion, equivalent to a few thousand people.'

'The vast majority had to be offered up to the sect as a "tribute"?!'

'And this blood essence right now is a reward bestowed upon her by the sect *after* they collected their "blood tax"!'

'Whether it's the high-and-mighty Holy Daughter or new disciples like them, everyone must contribute to the sect, hand over their "value," and only then can they earn the right to become stronger!'

The last bit of resentment they felt over having their Spirit Stones confiscated also vanished into thin air.

'We just had to hand over one day's worth of Spirit Stones, and the very next day Miss Su takes us to bio-morph to get stronger?'

'Looking at it now, we're actually getting preferential treatment!'

...

「Meanwhile, at the foot of Luohai Peak.」

An elderly figure appeared.