Yun Xie’s nose twitched. That was quite the deep backstory for sure…..

 

How interesting! His face puffed like a curious cat, and he gave a tiny smile. All he’d been doing recently was going about touring the various things the Hundred Cities Region had to offer. This was a storyline that was worth following!

 

Felt like a Xianxia spin-off of some Treasure Hunting Flick. Now, how did he know what was going on? Due to his lack of respect for privacy and overwhelming curiosity, he just read their thoughts. Mind-reading.

 

There were about a thousand different types of mind-reading in his arsenal due to his rather unique golden finger. In this case, he’d used an Esper ability from SPY x Family. From the whiny pink-haired child, he’d pulled <Telepathy>. 

 

It didn’t really have any direct name which was annoying, so he’d just straight up copied out all of her skills. Then again, he could have just used another, but this was simply the first one that had come to mind.

 

<Characterization of: Anya Forger>

 

<Amplification x2>

 

While it gave him the ability to read minds, there were other…. Consequential things that came with it. Horrid music skills, extremely lame ways to not appear as if you are cheating on a test, creepy faces, the ability to cry on a whim, overly bad bluffing, ways to act cute, and a pip-squeak girly voice.

 

Besides him, the Xianxia abomination that was supposedly a man seemed to have also eavesdropped on the conversation and also seemed to be interested. Of course, not to Yun Xie’s level, as “he” probably couldn’t read minds.

 

The transmigrator gave a knowing smile as he waited patiently, his plates completely cleared. From the presences North, it was just a matter of time. Yun Xie frowned a little as he smoothed out his hair.

 

And then it happened. The rapid approach of a multitude of footsteps, arriving at a quick pace. Shuren and Gengxin immediately tensed up, hands reaching towards their cloaks. They definitely weren’t very good at the stealth game, as he could almost hear them breathe heavily and peer their heads.

 

*Clomp*

 

A large group of cloaked occult warriors walked into the tavern, causing the buzz to die down a little as everyone turned. Their hard-cloth cloaks were a  sickly olive-green in tone, shrouding their faces in abyssal darkness. At their sides were long sharp daggers along with an assortment of other things- But what struck out the most were those horrid insects.

 

Crawling about their shoulders and around their bodies were slimy python-sized centipedes with hard barbed shell armor and mandibles dripping with fizzing white acid. Through the air, giant wasps and other winged insects the size of apples buzzed angrily, putrid black and red hair covering most of their bodies.

 

He Gengxin clutched the side of the table hard, and sweat trickled down the side of his arm. His eyes darted to Shuren in panic. She narrowed her eyes, steeling them as she subtly motioned to her side, where a sheathed sword sat under the cloak.

 

Suspicious murmurs spread through the crowd, and the shadier folk began to grasp their weapons. Besides himself and the other three at his table, there were a sizable amount of other cultivators among the crowd, though most were barely negligible in strength.

 

To his right, the feminine “man” was still smiling, as if unperturbed by the whole situation. Either “he” had the strength to back it up, or had some formidable backing that “he” was confident in.

 

The cloaked figures began to spread out as they walked among the tables, kicking tables and grabbing people.

 

“What the hell are you doing bastard!?” Among the customers, one of them had grown irritated and drawn his battered greatsword. He was considered quite strong among the crowd of cultivators currently gathered, at the first stage of the Physique Accumulation level.

 

“Don’t just barge in here and push me around! I don’t care who you are!” 

 

Booze on his breath, the drunk customer’s muscles bulged as he let loose a powerful downward slash, intending to cut a cultist to pieces.

 

The cloaked figure was rather unphased, striding into the girth of the attack, the blade tearing down towards them.

 

As the sword reached the hooded figure's torso, in that split second before contact, the cultist made their move.

 

In a myriad flash, they were holding their previously sheathed dagger.

 

*Shck!*

 

It was an almost casual slow gesture to Yun Xie’s eyes as in the split of a second, the hooded one's dagger planted itself within the man’s throat.

 

Before he could even react, sticky red blood began to trickle down the man’s neck as he widened his eyes.

 

*Clang!*

 

The great sword fell to the ground with a loud metallic ring against the stone flooring. Just a bit after, the man fell too, blood still pouring out of the wound as he died.

 

Yum Xie watched in the muted silence. He could hear all the surrounding surface thoughts running through his head. Fear and desperation radiated off of the customers, while bloodlust and psychotic thoughts seemed to course through the heads of the Cultists.

 

No one else dared to resist.

 

He shook his head, his fingers flashing and signing briefly out of notice. 

 

Finally, after a good two minutes of tense anticipation, the hooded ones arrived in front of them. Yun Xie’s nose twitched. A grotesque rotten flesh smell wafted about, and he held back the urge to wave it away. He’d ruin all of the momentum and such.

 

Glancing out of the corner of his eye, Yun Xie noticed that the crossdresser was just as nonchalant as himself. He concentrated his current telepathic abilities a little and snagged some information. A woman who liked dressing as a man and hitting on girls… How peculiar. 

 

She seemed rather unconcerned with the current sequence of events, and that was a given. Whatever this Cult was, probably couldn’t match her background.

 

Yun Xie heard the stride of footsteps as a hooded man stood just behind him. Within the man, as with all of the cultists, was... A crazed twisted broken mind. One full of sadism and the eagerness to serve.

 

<Quirk: Brainwashing>

 

*Cough*

 

Below his cone hat, Yun Xie let off a small intended cough as his silky hair began to ever so slightly rise into the air. Just a bit. Not enough for anyone to notice the change.

 

“Quiet! If you wish to live, then quit yapping insignificant little dog…. Lest we cut you open-” The cultist spat disdainfully as he grabbed out towards the hat, grotesquely mangled fingers attempting to grasp at his hem.

 

But he stopped. For about a second or so, the hooded cultist froze in place before he simply shook Yun Xie for a moment and stepped back. Underneath the shadows of his hood, it seemed as if something had changed in the man’s gaunt bloodshot eyes. The rest of the group seemed to have already turned attention away from him and the crossdresser as they flocked around the two remaining people.

 

It was obvious that they knew who the remaining two customers were. Their targets.

 

At the head of the group, a seemingly more senior cultist removed her hood. She was chalk-pale to a frighteningly sickly degree and her eyes were the color of blood. She lacked any nose, instead having a long gash down her face bubbling with maggots. What was reminiscent of a mouth remained in a small gap on her chin filled with razor-sharp teeth.

 

Her voice was scratchy and grating, giving all-around shudders:

 

“A fine evening young master and miss of the He Clan…. We were just looking for you. Now please don’t resist, wouldn't want to lose an arm or two, no?”

 

The atmosphere immediately darkened to an even further depth as the two teenagers trembled in fear.

 

“W-what do you want…? You’ve already killed everyone… There are so many people around! You want to offend the Sects!?”

 

He Shuren shuddered under the pressure, but she gritted her teeth.

 

“Hun~ Hun~ Hun~ Everything will be alright! For us of course. To think you’d forget the oldest trick in the book…... 

 

The cultists around gave off screechy chuckles as if admonishing a troublemaking child.

 

“No one will know if there isn’t anyone to tell…. In these lands between cities, anything can happen. That is how this guilt-filled world works…. Only if you empty your heart and feel the consumption within can you truly be liberated!” 

 

The pale-faced monster-hag as Yun Xie mantled her gave a creepy smile from that horrendous gap of hers, a live moldy maggot crawling down the side of her cheek.

 

Yun Xie watched with even higher anticipation. The climax was coming, he could feel it. 

 

*Bang!*

 

He Shuren and He Gengxin blasted out of their chairs, weapons out as they made a break for the doorway. Being important figures in their Clan, they had been well nurtured from youth, both at the reasonable Inner Longevity Stage.

 

Behind Shuren, a harrowed distorting Life Wheel appeared as her blood energy began to burn. Yun Xie watched in interest as the wheel that determined one’s lifespan weakened even further.

 

Gengxin pushed forwards alongside her as they beelined towards the door. He was at a slightly weaker level, so his pace was a tad slower.

 

“Heh… how adorable to think children like yourself could outrun us. Subdue them.” 

 

With a snap of her wrist, the hooded figures lunged out too, trails of toxic smog seemingly following in their wake. 

 

Unstable practitioners of the Warrior Canopy Stage….

 

Before with the countless Treasures and such in their possession, the two last members of the He family could have barely escaped them, but all of the supplies the two had brought were already used up. 

 

Two injured Inner Longevity cultivators could not dare to breach the speed of those at the Warrior Canopy. At this level, a cultivator’s combat prowess would increase much faster and their overall strength would be boosted significantly, making them elite warriors.

 

Within seconds, the two teens were slammed to the ground by the cultists. Gengxin felt his brittle bones crack as the clawed fingers of a cultist stabbed into his ribs. Blood trickled from his mouth as he cried out in pain.

 

Shuren was no better off, as she was slammed to the ground, her throat gripped tight. Both of them did not stand a chance, which Yun Xie felt was normal. There were only so few with the skill or luck to beat out a wide gap in cultivation.

 

The monster-hag insect slowly strolled on over. The whole tavern was in a scarce terror-filled silence as the other customers dared not breathe. Their emotions were all over the place, full of despair and fear, along with anger and hatred.

 

“Ah. Don’t worry. For now, we’ll keep you two alive. There is still a purpose to your foolish little existences after all. We’ll just cut off a leg or two to keep you, children, from running~”

 

From within her slimy green cloak, the maggot-face cultist woman procured a long twisted machete, its tip curved and dripping with yellow puss-like venom. She crouched down alongside Shuren, a seemingly amiable smile on her face as the blade came down towards the teen’s leg…..