The second henchman jumped into the fray, he used a great curved saber and spun as he swung his blade adding more strength to the already clear-cutting ability of the great curved blade he had. The man came at me spinning like a top, flashy, overbearing, and outright stupid.
As the spinning sword was about to slash me in two, I took a single step back, then thrust my sword forward exactly when his sword had missed me, and his back was now exposed to me.
Creeping Demise tore through the man's back muscles like a needle and stabbed into his upper torso. Luckily it hit his heart, not for me, but for him as he died instantly afterward. Because my sword was coated in poison, if it missed his heart, he'll have suffered a pain ten times worse than death.
The last of the three, had his face pale to the color of ash, he looked at me in fright, yet immediately he roared as if to regain his bearings and shake away his hesitation and frightend emotions.
He then pulled an ebony flute that was decorated in gold and jade rings. He blew on it and the blood wolves surrounding us howled.
The pack of wolves came charging at me, to which I turned and opened my mouth then spat a concentrated burst of purple-colored poison, based on the effects of the paralyzing Braided Mourning Petal, the last gift I received from the Purple Cloud Sect.
The smoke spread out in a pervasive manner as it assaulted the sensitive noses of the enraged wolved then made them shudder and fall unable to move a muscle.
One of the wolves seemed to have more sense than the rest and decided to come at me from the back, where the poison would take slightly more time to spread.
As he jumped I held both my hands forward, both of them shaped like the mouth of a snake.
"Twisted Snake!"
My hands flashed blurred and struck at the dazed wolf. The sight of my hands moving from left to right in utter mesmerizing patterns was so illusionary that the wolf was unable to determine which hand was the one that was going to strike as he lunged at me. Yet no matter how powerful the wolf's eyesight is, it will only work against it, as he saw my hands coming down on him from above his head, my hands had already jabbed at the wolve's throat, ripping it from its place. The last look of the wolf's eyes was that of confusion mixed with pain.
The wolf dropped to the ground struggling for one last breath that will never come, and as for the rest, no matter how strong the complement of that flute it was not as strong as death. For any wolf that wasn't afflicted with the mortal Braided Mourning Petal, they scurried away whimpering from fear, no one wants to face poison.
The kid blew his whistle several times over but no wolf, monster or creature replied as he found himself alone, in his own indignation he howled and shouted "I'm almost at the Core Formation Peak, I cannot believe you'll be my match! Even if you killed these wolves, you're nothing but a first layer Core Cultivator!" he said and dashed at me.
"Take my blow! Fearless Sword!" the kid shouted as he charged at me with an extended thrust.
Not mentioning the cringiness of this kid's words his sword skill was actually impressive, it was a good sword art and was quite similar to the Laughing Slaughterer's own Sanguine Blade. But…
I pulled Creeping demise, compared to the man's massive Liang Sword, mine was like a needle, but I had a slight advantage, I was calm. And the kid, even if he used whatever art, he had would have a hard time piercing through my clothes, clothes I inscribed and crafted using the skin of that Jade Serpent X killed in the Laughing Slaughterer's training grounds.
The kid's sword tried to pierce through my chest and I grinned as I charged at the kid using the Laughing Slaughtere's own sword art, Sanguine Thrust.
My sword, my motions my whole body lunged forward like an unsheathed blade, disregarding any thoughts of self-preservation and charging in an attack that will be the pinnacle of trade of life.
The kid noticed my lack of regard for self-preservation as I looked like I was about to impale myself on his sword, but at the same time, if I were to succeed, I will have his life as well.
'Fearless sword you said, that's nothing but talk,' I grinned as the kid realized what was going to happen if he kept moving. Fear and the thought of losing one's life, especially someone as sheltered as this kid, someone who is a 'prince' and has been doing whatever he pleased for all of his life, he would never dare risk his life against a 'nobody' and the obvious result came in immediately.
The kid faltered, and tried to forcefully stop his charge, he dodged to the side only to have me capitulate on his hesitation. I was not as strong as him, nor as fast, clearly from the difference in cultivation, but all that advantage he had was lost because he hesitated for a moment. The time it took him to cancel his attack and change his direction was already more than enough for me to close the gap and actually nick the kid's left arm.
The kid skidded to the side, huffing, his face paler than a ghost, "YOU MAD! If you want to die why the hell do you want to bring me with you!" just as he finished his words, he lurched a disgusting pile of blood.
"W-what the fuck?" the kid said, his body was already shuddering.
I usheathed creeping demise and walked away from the kid and toward the boy and two girls with him.
"Where the hell do you think…" the kid's words were stopped by another fit of throwing up blood, he wiped the blood from his mouth, pointed at me with his sword and said again, "This prince hasn't allowed you to leave yet!"
"The hell are you talking about? Omai wa mo…Shindeiru," (Sorry but I really had to XD)
"The hell are you saying?" the kid replied, confusion and mild nausea clear on his face.
I smiled at the prince, "You wouldn't get it." and turned away from him to the kids before the prince's face began shuddering, his limbs shaking and then he fell face forward with his eyes rolled back.
I shook my head, not at the kid's death, but the cruelty of my own self, though I don't regret having killed him, I only regret my lack of emotion at the death of three persons. Such sadness, such is this life. Life means nothing in a world of cultivation, and only the strong thrive.
Especially, since in a world of cultivation, people and monsters are so numerous that the death of a few hundred thousand isn't even worth mentioning in some countries. Death happen all the time, and it seems that even my moral compass has been adjusted to fit into this world's view of human life.
"Kid, you should take good care of your own possessions," I said.
The kid looked at me with angry eyes and said, "To be completely fair, you shoved this lot of problem down my throat, I never asked for that pill, and even if you wanted to reward me, privacy man!" the kid said and sighed.
"Do you regret having the pill?" I asked. Though it was unfair to the kid I wanted to know his real answer.
"No, birds die for food and man dies for wealth, this pill will help me along the martial path, and if it brings issues such as these, then I'm sure it's worth the trouble. Still, you should really be careful uncle Shen Bao," the kid said.
'uncle again, yeah, I remember my appearance changed from an old man to that of a middle old man.'
"Why is that?" I asked.
"Well, that kid you just killed, is the second prince of King Wu, from the Futian Kingdome, it's a neighboring kingdom to the Zhou Country."
Not fully understanding where the kid was going I gestured to him to continue explaining.
"Sigh, well, King Wu has seven children, they're all vying for his throne once he dies, though he wouldn't bat an eye if one of his sons killed each other for the throne, don't expect him to sit tight as a random person kills his son."
"How is he to know who killed his son? I left no witnesses, unless you're saying you'll be a little tell-tale." I said as I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword."
"Hold up!" the kid said as he raised both hands in surrender "You somehow don't know this apparently, which is pretty weird, the princes and people of high regards, geniuses of sects and anyone with an interesting title, life or regard to certain factions or sect would usually have a sliver of their souls inside a jade piece, and these jade pieces would break once the life of said person has been claimed. Also it allows the jade to display one last image of the person who killed the jade owner."
"Basically they have a mug-shot of me. Well that's not good," I frowned.
"Technically, it's not that grave, as long as you don't ever set foot in the Wu Kingdom, you'll be mostly okay, unless the king sends hired killers and assassins after you, which I doubt would not happen." the kid replied in an infuriating shrug.
I sighed, "Man, so much trouble for an arrogant prick," I said as I went to the three kids and took their holding bags.
Their content was not bad, especially the prince, he already had defensive treasures on him, but sadly he never used any of them, and the most interesting was the flute.