Haitin smiled at first. Then his expression turned serious.
“I have no intention of causing trouble, senior. My presence here is purely coincidental. We still acknowledge our treaty with Haan Di. This is the reason I came out to greet you.”
The atmosphere was tense as Ren Greenleaf turned his cold gaze towards Haitin Blackblood. The elder’s expression was unreadable, but the weight behind his words was unmistakable.
“Oh really? If you acknowledge the treaty with Haan Di, why did you attack the cultivators from Rai City who entered the Wild Devil Lands through legal routes? Don’t play games with me, brat. If you don’t give me a good reason for the unprovoked attack, I might have to deal with you using a heavy-handed approach.”
As he spoke, Ren’s cultivation base surged, the full power of a 6th-stage Foundation Building Expert now on full display.
The air around him thickened with his terrifying aura, and the Spirit essence in the vicinity churned violently, as if caught in the eye of a massive typhoon. The sheer pressure radiating from Ren caused the ground to tremble, and the sky above seemed to darken in response.
Haitin, however, remained unperturbed. A faint, almost mocking smile played on his lips as he faced the slightly enraged Ren. He clapped his hands casually, and in response, a horde of demonic cultivators emerged from behind him.
These cultivators, riding war horses, wielded long, barbed whips that cracked through the air with a menacing snap, driving a group of demonic cultivators forward.
These were the same demonic cultivators who had ambushed Aksai’s group earlier but had managed to retreat. Now, under Haitin’s command, they were being herded back to the scene, their faces pale with fear and resignation. The warhorse riders dismounted and quickly arranged the trembling demonic cultivators into an orderly line.
“Kneel,” Haitin commanded in a cold, low voice.
Without hesitation, the demonic cultivators dropped to their knees in unison, their heads bowed in submission. Haitin turned his gaze back to Ren, his expression casual as he explained.
“Senior, these cultivators were indeed part of the three major demonic sects in the past. However, they were exiled from the sects a few weeks ago. Their actions do not represent the will of the three major demonic sects.
When they attacked the group from Rai City, they acted independently. In fact, I was ordered by the higher-ups to neutralize them. That’s why I’m here—to stop these stray dogs from causing more trouble. I apologize if these strays forgot their place and bit someone they shouldn’t have.”
Ren’s eyes narrowed, his skepticism evident. “Hmph!” he snorted, the sound full of contempt. “Do you expect me to believe your bullshit? Do you think I came out of my mother’s womb only yesterday, brat?”
Haitin merely shrugged, his carefree tone belying the deadly seriousness of the situation. “Believe it or not, this is the truth. But if you need further convincing—”
He paused, his gaze flickering from Ren to Aksai’s group. His eyes narrowed slightly before he continued, “Then so be it.”
With a swift motion, Haitin raised his right hand and twisted his wrist. In an instant, countless black blades materialized in the air above the kneeling demonic cultivators. The blades hovered ominously, their edges gleaming with a malevolent energy, resembling scythes ready to harvest the lives below.
“Senior, this is the demonic sects’ sincerity to Haan Di,” Haitin declared. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, he brought his hand down sharply.
The black blades sliced through the air with a whistling sound, descending upon the kneeling cultivators with lethal precision. In a matter of seconds, the blades found their marks, severing the heads of the demonic cultivators in a grisly display of power.
Blood sprayed across the ground as more than 40 cultivators were killed in cold blood, their bodies collapsing into lifeless heaps. The blood died, the ground red and internal organs were up for display.
Lin Mei’s face turned pale when she saw this scene and she started shivering. Except for Aksai, others in his group also had complicated expressions as they watched this gruesome display of death and cruelty.
‘So this is what’s called being a demonic cultivator. This man is indeed cunning and ruthless,’ Aksai thought to himself as he watched the scene with neutral expressions.
Aksai’s companions watched in stunned silence. The brutality of the execution left no doubt in their minds that Haitin was not a man to be trifled with. Some of the slain cultivators had indeed attacked their group earlier, but many had remained in the shadows, not daring to engage. Yet Haitin had shown no mercy, decisively eliminating them all as if they were nothing more than expendable pawns.
Haitin sheathed his hand, the black blades dissolving into the air as quickly as they had appeared. He turned back to Ren, his expression still calm, as if the massacre he had just orchestrated was of no consequence. “As you can see, Senior,” he said, “I have dealt with the problem. I trust this will satisfy you.”
Ren’s gaze bore into Haitin for a long moment, weighing his words and actions. The elder’s Spirit essence continued to swirl around him, but the immediate threat seemed to have passed. With a final, cold glance at the corpses littering the ground.
“Hmm? This is…”
Ren Greenleaf’s expression darkened as he took in the headless bodies strewn across the ground. His nose wrinkled as he caught a whiff of something sharp and acrid. Narrowing his eyes on Haitin, Ren spoke with a voice as cold as the winter winds.
“This is not enough to satisfy me. You know why? Because these demonic cultivators were clearly drugged before they came here. Do you expect me to believe that these drugged fools acted on their own when they couldn’t even think straight?”
Haitin rolled his eyes, the movement exaggerated and weary, as if he were being forced to play a part in a tiresome charade. He let out a long sigh, taking a deep breath before responding.
“Senior, you can’t expect us to keep tabs on exiled members after they’ve been kicked out of our sects. Even if they were drugged, what does that have to do with us? We can’t stop them from consuming whatever they want after severing our ties with them, can we?”
Ren didn’t reply immediately. He simply stared at Haitin, his eyes boring into the younger man with an unspoken demand. The silence stretched, growing heavy with unyielding expectation.
Haitin pursed his lips, his expression shifting as if he were dealing with an especially difficult customer who refused to accept a perfectly good excuse. Finally, he spoke again, his tone more resigned.
“Fine,” Haitin conceded, his voice calm but with an edge of irritation. “It’s not our fault if these exiled members attacked a group of cultivators on a legal expedition. However, it is our duty to honor the treaty with Haan Di. Because of my position in the sect, I’ll take responsibility for the unprovoked attack caused by these dead stray dogs.”
Haitin’s words hung in the air for a moment before he summoned another black blade above him, the dark energy crackling ominously. He raised his left hand, the blade hovering just inches above his wrist. Without hesitation, he snapped the fingers of his right hand.
Aksai and his teammates watched in shock as the black blade slashed down, severing Haitin’s left hand from his wrist in a single, fluid motion. The severed hand fell to the ground with a dull thud, and for a brief second, blood oozed from the fresh wound, staining the dirt below.
‘Damn it. Not only ruthless to his allies and enemies but also ruthless to himself. Is this the so-called demonic dao? Who… who is this man?’
Aksai looked at Haitin Blackblood as if he wanted to see more of the guy. While others in his team were truly repulsed by what Haitin had done, Aksai developed a bit of admiration.
If you want to roleplay as an innocent, roleplay till the end. If you want to convince someone of your lies, live those lies yourself.
Haitin’s face lost its previous regal composure, his life energies flickering and disturbed. But his expression remained impassive, as if it were not his own hand that had been cut off but someone else’s.
With a calmness that belied the brutal act, Haitin channeled his Spirit essence to stop the bleeding, the crimson flow halting almost immediately.
He looked up at Ren, his voice firm and steady. “Senior, is this explanation enough?”
Ren smiled cunningly, his eyes gleaming with a predatory satisfaction. He watched Haitin closely, as if waiting for him to falter, to show any sign of pain or weakness.
But Haitin stood his ground, his posture unyielding, his gaze unwavering. He refused to give Ren the satisfaction of seeing him break.
Ren sighed, a sound that carried more weight than the mere exhalation of breath. His voice, when he spoke again, was more to himself than to anyone else present.
“The demonic faction is truly fortunate to have birthed dark stars in this generation. The future of the righteous faction is not looking great.”