“Status.” Xiao Hong intoned.

After her conjecture of using external influences to speed up the cultivation of her Techniques was confirmed, she replaced the Grade 3 Alchemy with the Heaven Concealing Method since Grade 3 Alchemy wasn’t going to be of much use.

‘By tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, the Secret Realm should converge with the Main World. And that is when the Inner Disciple should make a move to open the entrance to the Secret Realm’ Xiao Hong mused.

Just as she was about to get up, Xiao Hong felt the formation of her room give a jolt.

‘Hmm? Who is it now?’ She activated the formation and took a peek outside, ‘Chen Yu and his sister? Didn’t we all agree to go into closed-door cultivation to adjust our states?’

***

A few minutes ago.

“{Brother, do you think it is a good idea to tell her?}” Chen Qiuyue looked at her brother in doubt.

“{... I don’t know. But as a friend, it is my duty to tell her about it. How would you feel if the friend you believed in kept such a huge matter from you?}” Chen Yu replied to her qi transmission. 

Chen Qiuyue did not reply. She would not feel good if her friend did that to her. 

Chen Yu just sighed.

Just yesterday, a rumour had been going around that the Inner Disciple of the Mystic Sky Sect had proposed a bet. That in itself was not surprising, every time the Secret Realm opened there would be a bet; no, it was the fact that the prize was the dignity of a girl. And the girl in question was his friend - one that he cared for deeply! 

That the Inner Disciple of their Sect had agreed left him utterly shocked! 

Then the shock turned into an apoplectic rage! How could someone who was supposed to protect them use them as chips for their bets?! How could someone from their own Sect, who was supposed to be like family, not care about the dignity of the members of his Sect?! How could he not only allow for an outsider to humiliate a member but also agree to it?!

If it weren’t for Chen Qiuyue and his friends holding him back he would have rushed to the Inner Disciple’s lodgings and kicked his door down!

However, as his rage cooled, his worry for his friend started to grow. He could not even begin to imagine how it would feel, to be used as a betting chip. Having to face such humiliation… he really couldn’t imagine it.

*** 

“Senior Brother Yu, what’s the matter? Didn’t we agree to adjust our states for the Secret Realm?” Xiao Hong’s tone was uncertain.

“J-Junior Sister, please remember that we’re with you, no matter what.” Chen Yu’s eyes kept flicking away from her own as if he were afraid of facing her. “All of us.”

Xiao Hong was just confused. ‘The heck are you talking about? Why does it feel like someone died?’

“I don’t understand Senior Brother, what’s going on?

Chen Yu, opened and closed his mouth several times, before sighing, “Here…” he handed over a jade slip.

Curiously, she took over the jade slip and poured her Divine Sense into it. A moment later, a frown appeared on her pretty face before it turned completely expressionless.

“Senior Brother, can you leave me alone for a moment?” Xiao Hong’s voice was as emotionless as her face. Chen Yu opened his mouth wanting to say something before he thought better of it. He simply nodded and dragged his sister away.

***

After they’d left, Xiao Hong walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

She quickly walked out of the palace under the pitying gazes of several disciples and made her way out of the City.

Ignoring the setting sun, she took flight and shot deep into the forest that lay on the west of the Bi Xin City. Reaching deep enough, her emotionless face warping into a horrendous scowl; her jaws clenched so hard she felt her teeth ache. 

“DAMMIT!”

BOOOM-CRUNCH!

Her balled fist shook as she lifted it and slammed it into a tree with such force, that it was obliterated, turning into small wooden chips that sprayed onto the tree behind it piercing them! The shockwave from the collision was so intense it forcefully bent the trees away from her!

Her Zhenqi blazed through her meridians, causing a horrific aura to surge around her, cracking the ground below and crushing the remnant stump into nothingness.

“DAMMIT!”

BOOM!

She punched another tree obliterating it and the ones behind it.

“FUCK!”

BOOOM!

She punched the ground, causing it to cave.

Her breaths came explosively as she rampaged through the forest, destroying the trees and the ground, clearing out a small area, leaving craters and stumps all over the ground.

Xiao Hong stood in the centre of the clearing after a while, still breathing heavily, eyes blazing with hatred. They dared to use her as a commodity, a betting chip; they treated her dignity as something worth less than a Pill!

Once again, Xiao Hong was made to understand - this was not Earth anymore. This wasn’t a place where peace was maintained. The Sect might seem peaceful on the surface, and the cultivators might look like normal human beings on the surface, but right underneath their thin veneer of civility was a Demon that treated lives below as nothing more than a pawn they could casually trade, casually dispose of. 

And she was smack in the middle of thousands of such… things. The stark realisation hit her with a force greater than the one she used to crater the ground. 

If they wanted to, they could easily capture her and use her as they wished. And she would be wholly unable to resist. Her end and humiliation were a mere thought away for them. The thought filled her with a sense of helplessness and weakness.

The hatred, the wrath, and… the fear and helplessness coursed through her veins, almost overwhelming her. Under her circumstances, they fused - and for the first time since she had come to this world, an intent to kill was born in her heart!

It was a bone-chilling, ruthless determination to end anyone who harboured malice towards her. 

It was a seed that took root in the depths of her heart, once again pushing her mindset a step away from peacefulness.

If she wanted to survive here, she too needed to become a Demon! A Demon stronger and greater than any that surround her. She needed to transform into a Demon so formidable and fierce, that even the worst of the worst would think twice before crossing her!

Only this way could she stay safe. 

Only by ending everything that stood in her way could she stay safe.

Only by mercilessly destroying all resistance would she have what she wanted.

Only by slaughtering…

Her change in mindset resonated with her Soul. An unbridled sense of violence filled her mind - making her want to slice apart anything and everything in her way. The seed of Killing Intent that had taken root sprouted under the nourishment of her intense emotional state and the incredible Soul Power gifted by the Spirit God’s Soul Cultivation Method.

Her mind warped, developing towards the direction of a Slaughter Heart. If this continued, she would become a Slaughter Immortal! 

At this moment, her Spirit God’s Soul Cultivation Method circulated automatically, purifying the seed to keep her Soul from being tainted by the Killing Intent.

‘Shit!’ Xiao Hong immediately sat down in meditation.

‘Use Slot 1 for Spirit God’s Soul Cultivation method!’ she shouted inwardly. Only after hearing the ‘Ding!’ did she examine her State of Mind.

The Spirit God’s Soul Cultivation Method had already started purifying the seed of Killing Intent. And she too helped, trying to calm her Killing Intent.

She sighed in relief, if that had continued, she would have really become a Slaughter Immortal! A terrifying being who was feared even by the Demonic Path!

Though, Slaughter Immortals aren’t really bad per se. In fact, it was actually great! Unlike what the name suggests, a Slaughter Immortal didn’t kill indiscriminately all the time. Slaughter Immortals were special in that they could gain from killing! They could spontaneously gain enlightenment from killing, or even a direct upgrade to their Cultivation Base!

It was just that they had to continuously suppress their unquenchable thirst for carnage, or else they could go on a rampage, slaughtering everyone they saw! There were rumours about Slaughter Immortals going out of control and Slaughtering entire countries before they were put down.

And Xiao Hong had no interest in becoming a ticking time bomb that could go off at a moment’s notice!

So, she sat there working in conjunction with the Spirit God’s Soul Cultivation Method to carefully remove the influence of Killing Intent on her Soul.

It was only after a few hours that she managed to completely purify her Soul. 

However, after the purification, she also forever lost the possibility of becoming a Slaughter Immortal or any special abilities related to them. 

However, she did gain resistance to Killing Intent - to her own and in general. She would not be as fazed by the Killing Intent of a more powerful cultivator than her. Her mind would also be protected from her own Killing Intent, allowing her to control it far better than most could ever hope to.

At least her Soul cultivation which had stagnated for a while now finally took a step forward!

Through this ordeal, she also gained comprehension of the Spirit God’s Soul Cultivation Method - it didn’t really increase the ‘realm’ of her Soul, rather it raised the ‘quality’ of her Soul. The ‘Realm’ of her Soul could only be increased by the increase in her Cultivation!

The ‘Realm’ of her Soul would be capped at the highest cultivation she had achieved in either Essence or Physique Cultivation. After that, it would only increase the ‘quality’ of her Soul - and even that would be capped at the maximum ‘quality’ a Soul of that realm could have.

This ‘cap’ was not really a bad thing. This cap helped protect her because too powerful a Soul would result in equally strong emotions. Just what happened before was proof; while developing Killing Intent for the first time was quite an upheaval, it should not be strong enough to kickstart the transformation into a Slaughter Immortal! But the tremendous Soul Power gifted by Spirit God’s Soul Cultivation Method exacerbated her emotions far beyond what she could control.  If not for her System, she would really have become a Slaughter Immortal!

Xiao Hong shook her head, ‘Looks like I can’t depend on Soul Cultivation too much!’

“Well, time to get back!” Having vented, her rage had cooled down temporarily. 

***

“Yuan Feng! What is the meaning of this?!” Bai Heng’s wrathful voice slammed into the Palace that was Yuan Feng’s dwelling, shaking it as though an earthquake was occurring, “We agreed for this bet to be private!

“Yet, the whole City already knows!”

“Brother Bai, calm down!” Yuan Feng raised his arms and gestured placatingly. “I intended to keep this private, but…” He shook his head sadly.

“But what?” growled Bai Heng, his teeth bared almost like a feral lion.

“But… sigh…” Yuan Feng sighed and gestured dully to the disciple next to him, “Bring him here.”

The disciple nodded.

A few minutes later, an extremely beaten-up-looking disciple was dragged in. It was one of the two disciples who were standing behind Yuan Feng when they made the bet. His fiery-red orbs looked dim like dying embers. His bloodied limbs looked more like flesh noodles than actual limbs.

Bai Heng’s eyes narrowed. His experienced eyes immediately picked up on the signs of horrendous torture. A normally calm person like Yuan Feng would not resort to such means. And the fact that he had… was quite indicative. And his next words confirmed Bai Heng’s conjectures.

“This disciple - no, this traitor, is from the Divine Qilin Empire of the Myriad Empire Alliance.” Yuan Feng’s shoulders slumped down slightly after he handed over a beautiful token inscribed with Golden Qilins to Bai Heng, “He used my trust in him to record the conversation and… well, you know what happened next.” 

The Myriad Empire Alliance was a Faction equivalent to the Super Sects. It was, in fact, much stronger than anyone given Sect! It was just that the Myriad Empire Alliance also had its internal struggles, so they could not exert their full power. Moreover, it was in a rather hostile relationship with the Super Sects of Eastern Mystic Continent: the True Martial Sect, Mystic Sky Sect, Purple Spirit Sect, Adamantine Fist Sect, Enlightened Sword Palace, Savage Sabre Mountain and the Lunar Jade Sect.

The Divine Qilin Empire among them was especially hostile towards the Purple Spirit Sect.

Bai Heng’s fists clenched. He knew that Yuan Feng could not be blamed. He just glowered at the traitor with hatred. 

Now that his deeds had spread to the world, he was done for. The Sect would not let him off with a light punishment. It could very well be a century in the God Sealing Tower - which was no different from a death sentence. 

Every Super Faction valued their reputation immensely. And such a stain on the Sect’s reputation because of his deeds… Yeah, he was done for.

At this point, he could only wait for the Sect to call him back.

After apologising to Bai Heng several times and giving him many treasures as compensation, Yuan Feng sent him off.

He then looked at the traitor coldly. A few months ago, he had still thought of this fellow as a brother in arms. Even though the traitor was not as talented as him and could not enter the Inner Sect, he had protected him unconditionally using his status as an Inner Disciple - even if it brought a lot of dissatisfaction from others. He supported him throughout, giving him resources an Outer Disciple would never see, much less use. He didn’t care for others’ words.

But, a few months ago, Yuan Feng received some information indicating his betrayal. He refused to believe it at first - there was simply no way this man was a traitor, but soon reality slapped him in the face and every single line mentioned in that jade slip turned out to be true.

Even now, he could feel the tightness in his chest every time he thought about this bastard’s betrayal. To think that the man he’d thought of as a companion of Life and Death was plotting his death all along… Heh, what a great companion of Life and ‘Death’!

He had really wanted to rip the bastard to pieces immediately. But, Yuan Feng was also a practical man. He wouldn’t let go of such an asset. So, he gulped down a few times to rid the painful constriction in his throat and waited for the right opportunity to get the best use out of the traitor.

And in just a few months, the opportunity presented itself. So, with ‘information’ from a ‘reliable source’ Yuan Feng set him up to stand with him during the bet between him and Bai Feng. And the rest was history.

He gestured to the other disciple to take him away, “End him.” There was no use in keeping him anyway - he was so tight-lipped, that even Yuan Feng felt a sense of grudging admiration. 

He regretted that this loyalty wasn’t for him, though.