A Demon's Path Volume 1 Chapter 22

Luo Shang didn't even spare Xiao Zhang a glance. He coldly said, "If you want him to stay behind, he'll stay behind. What's it to do with me? He's originally one of you anyway, but he was insistent on clinging to my thighs like a little puppie. What can I do? Humph!"

Luo Shang swung his sleeves and left with his disciples in tow. Qian Gui and Chen Tao placatingly laughed at Cheng Qiantai and rapidly left with their disciples, too.

"How can this be…" Xiao Zhang stood where he was in a daze, repeatedly murmuring the same phrase to himself like a fool. Several minutes went by like this before he slowly returned to his senses. He looked around, then focused his vision on Cheng Qiantai and fell to his knees. "Master, please spare me!"

Cheng Qiantai didn't fly into a fit of rage like Xiao Zhang expected. Instead, he indifferently questioned his former disciple with a calm expression, "Tell me. Why did you betray the Northern Jade Sect? Could it be that I owe you something as your Master?"

Xiao Zhang slowly calmed down and his face immediately contorted to one of resentment. "Master, I've always been there for you at your beck and call, yet you never trained me. There was Li Yuanhuan before and now there's Ling Xiao. Fine, Li Yuanhuan is your prime disciple. But Ling Xiao! He's only a good-for-nothing from Northern Jade City. How can he compare to me? Master treats him so well just because he can concoct medicine and earn money. You've forgotten everything I've done for the sect, for you! Master, you're biased."

Cheng Qiantai was abnormally calm. "Alright, just treat this as something I owe you. I won't abrogate your cultivation. You're free to join another sect."

"Master…" Xiao Zhang looked at Cheng Qiantai, feeling a little taken aback. After giving it some thought, he kowtowed three times. "Master, your disciple bids you farewell."

Other than Ling Xiao, no one else noticed the look in Xiao Zhang's eyes when he was kowtowing.

Xiao Zhang stood back up, threw a final glance at the Northern Jade Sect, and then left the grounds, never to return.

The moment Xiao Zhang stood up, Ling Xiao lightly flung his dust-stained sleeve in his direction. He watched the exiled leave and slowly shook his head. "There's no viper as venomous as a human with a tainted heart. Master, oh Master, people who kick their benefactors in the rear are aplenty. You really shouldn't have let him go."

…

In proximity to the Northern Jade Mountain stood another mountain. Within its peak, which stood above all others in the region, a spring resided. A stream went down the mountain, providing Northern Jade Sect with a source of water. Even during the coldest winter day, the mountain spring didn't freeze over and continued to supply the entire region with water for everyday use such as drinking, washing, and so on.

Xiao Zhang stood by the mountain spring's side, spite plastered on his face. He was clutching a shining knife in his hand. The blade was drenched in fresh blood while big red droplets dripped to the ground from its tip.

The Northern Jade Sect disciples guarding the water source laid still in a pool of blood. The 10 corpses still wore expressions of shock and surprise. How could one of their own take their lives so ruthlessly?! They'd spent every minute and every hour together. They were like family! It had never crossed their minds that one day a brother would kill them. In the end, they didn't even have time to set off the warning signal to call for help.

"Banishing me? Humph, I'll kill all of you!" Xiao Zhang took out a small bottle from his pocket and lightly pulled the cork off. A black wisp of smoke emerged from within. It was clearly a highly toxic poison.

Xiao Zhang stretched out his arm, holding the bottle over the spring, and started tilting it. In this moment, a shadow flashed by and seized the vial.

"Ling Xiao, it's you!" Xiao Zhang tightly gnashed his teeth together as though he wanted to shatter them to pieces.

Ling Xiao took a whiff of the scent coming from the bottle and said in an indifferent manner, "You can actually get hold of a Soul Snapping Fragrance of this quality. It barely even has a scent! What idiot would sell this to someone pathetic enough to use it as a poison?"

"Who are you calling pathetic?!" Xiao Zhang was seething with rage. Even though only Ling Xiao had ever called him pathetic, it stung his heart more than anything else ever had. He always showed confidence on the surface, a hint of narcissism in his behaviour. But below that thin exterior, there was a deep abyss of inferiority. Xiao Zhang felt he always had to proof his worth, that nothing he did was ever good enough, that he really was pathetic. So when Ling Xiao called him that, it quickly tore apart any mask of confidence he wore and revealed his scars. In a final attempt to protect his self esteem, Xiao Zhang jumped at Ling Xiao and hacked away at him with his knife held high.

A pitch black and a bright white ray of light slammed into each other with a loud bang. After which, Xiao Zhang arced through the sky before falling on the ground with his hands and feet splayed out. The knife in his hand had turned into countless specks of white powder.

It only took Ling Xiao a single exchange to destroy his opponent's weapon and knock him off his feet.

"Wah!" Xiao Zhang violently coughed out large amounts of blood as he tightly clasped his caved in chest. "I-I can't, can't even land a hit on you."

An evil laugh escaped Ling Xiao's lips. "I could've killed you by now, you know. It's just that I wanted you to understand a few more things before you die."

Xiao Zhang forced his head up and glared at him. "W-what do you want me to know?"

Ling Xiao's smile sent cold shivers down Xiao Zhang's spine. "The little girl you found in the Medicine Warehouse, she really is a demonic beast. However, I can concoct the Soul Alteration Pill. This pill conceals all traces of soulforce and the attributes associated with them. You know, it isn't even those three righteous Sect Masters' fault they couldn't see her for who she really is. So long as she continues taking the pill, no one can."

"You-" There were many things Xiao Zhang wanted to ask, wanted to know, but the blood in his body was rapidly turning cold. He couldn't even speak anymore.

Ling Xiao showed kindness, compassion even as he looked down at Xiao Zhang. But never did Xiao Zhang see it as such, for he saw the insincerity in this devil's eyes.

"Did you want to ask how I found you here? Oh, and why you suddenly can't move?" Ling Xiao drew his face close to Xiao Zhang's and bore his eyes straight into the other party's. "I sprinkled a bit of poison powder on you and followed its scent. Alright, you know everything you need to know. You can die now." With a snap, Ling Xiao cleanly broke Xiao Zhang's neck.

Xiao Zhang's head was twisted to one side, his mouth filled with blood. Anger, rage, unwillingness, there were many expressions readable in his preyed open eyes that looked straight ahead. No one knew what he was trying to see.

"Alas!" Ling Xiao lightly huffed out. "It's a pity it got this far. We're from the same sect, after all."

Before long, the warning signal burned brightly in the sky, requesting the Northern Jade Sect for reinforcements. Cheng Qiantai and Li Yuanhuan ran ahead of the rest, rapidly making their way up to the mountain's spring. Here, they were welcomed by the scene of Ling Xiao standing over 11 corpses.

Vigilance morphed to shock on Li Yuanhuan's face as he asked, "Junior Brother Ling, you weren't in a good mood and went for a walk only a little while ago. You, this, who killed them?!"

Cheng Qiantai observed the corpses on the ground and looked at Xiao Zhang, remorse painted on his face. "It's all my fault. It's all because of me that you guys-"

Li Yuanhuan immediately understood what transpired and felt a neverending grief wash over him.

When the other disciples finally arrived, they solemnly stood around the 10 dead disciples with their heads bowed low. They didn't utter a word.

Ling Xiao was expressionless, but his heart seemed to ache a little. He finally understood why the relatives and close friends of the deceased would cry their hearts out when they were sending the dead off. In the past, he was only a spectator. Today, he experienced it for himself. The life and death of others are of no concern to me. I only need the people around me to be alive. This was the first time Ling Xiao had such clear intentions in his mind.

They had a simple cremation for the 10 dead disciples. Cheng Qiantai went down the mountain and evenly split the profit he'd received from the three Sect Masters amongst the relatives of the deceased. The disciples from the Northern Jade Sect similarly handed over a portion of their gems as an expression of goodwill.

Even though they were grieving for their dead relatives, Cheng Qiantai gave them enough riches to last an ordinary family more than a lifetime. For this, they even felt a little grateful to him. The life of mortals was like grass, they flourished like a flower of the field. The gems were enough for them to feel content.

After arranging these matters, Cheng Qiantai reorganised the Northern Jade Sect once more. There were still 10 people guarding the water source, but he added Ling Xiao and Li Yuanhuan to the mix. The both of them would take turns supervising the group.

Pertaining to where Tang Yingying came from, Ling Xiao tearfully denounced his crimes to Cheng Qiantai, confessing that he'd secretly went to a brothel. He promised there wouldn't be a next time. He also mentioned how he bought Tang Yingying after taking pity on her for a moment when he saw her being sold like an animal. As for the price he paid, Ling Xiao changed the 400 yellow gems to 400 oranges ones. The source of those 400 orange gems was another crime on his head. He said that he'd secretly hidden a few Crimson Soul Pills the last time he concocted medicine.

Cheng Qiantai didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He reprimanded Ling Xiao and asked him to beat it after that.

Soon, the day of the Sunken Wind Valley's newcomers tournament fell upon them.

"Let's go." Cheng Qiantai led Ling Xiao, Li Yuanhuan, Cheng Yu, and several more disciples as they set off for the Sunken Wind Valley.

Naturally, Cheng Qiantai took his treasured wife, Cheng Shi, along with him. While Ling Xiao brought Tang Yingying along, the young girl he enjoyed sharing his life and dreams with.

What was slightly out of Ling Xiao's expectation was that Tang Yingying and Cheng Yu got along rather well. Cheng Yu who looked down upon everyone with disdain actually treated Tang Yingying like family. Not only did she treat her with smiles, but she also dressed her up every day and even bought Tang Yingying new clothes to wear.

Ling Xiao was extremely jealous seeing as Tang Yingying was closer to Cheng Yu than to him. What made matters worse was that Cheng Yu seemed to enjoy badmouthing him. Whether it was on purpose or not, she would do so at least once or twice a day, warning the little girl of the evil Ling Xiao.

Tang Yingying only giggled. Other than saying Big Brother Xiao was a good person, she didn't say anything else about him.

The group was underway toward the Sunken Wind Valley. No one knew what the future had in store for them.

Chapter end