Is It Wrong to Bully the Novice Village for System Rewards?

Several days later.

Inside the main hall of a minor cultivation clan.

Chaos reigned. Tables were overturned, screens shattered, and furniture lay splintered across the floor. The clan members were strewn about in grotesque disarray, their faces frozen in masks of abject terror, forever capturing the moment their lives had been extinguished.

Rivers of fresh blood seemed to possess a life of their own, weaving across the flagstones to form a sinister, pulsating formation.

At the heart of these crimson lines stood a figure cloaked in black. His hands moved in a blur of hand seals, his lips moving rapidly as he chanted a low, guttural incantation.

As the formation hummed to life, it began to distill the essence from the blood. The crimson liquid boiled and coalesced, rising into the air as thick, serpentine tendrils that slithered toward the cloaked figure.

With every intake of breath, the figure’s aura surged. He smashed through the limits of the Qi Refining realm in moments, his power continuing to climb with terrifying momentum.

After several dozen breaths, the turbulent energy stabilized. He stopped just half a step shy of the mid-Foundation Building stage.

By this point, the corpses littering the hall had been drained dry, reduced to bleached white skeletons. The hall resembled a slaughterhouse for Asuras.

“Ah… the sensation of returning power. Truly exquisite.”

Han Lie snapped his eyes open. Two eerie, blood-red lights flashed within his pupils as he murmured to himself.

“This so-called cultivation family was pathetically weak. The strongest among them was merely early Foundation Building—worse than the Qi family I harvested last time.”

He flexed his hands, feeling the flow of Qi. “No matter. This Seat’s strength is currently limited. I must prioritize quantity over quality.”

“It is a pity that the Jade Maiden Sword Immortal began to suspect me. If I had remained undetected until I recovered my Golden Core cultivation, I could have found an opportunity to strike her from behind…”

Since narrowly escaping that demoness’s clutches, Han Lie had exhausted every trick in his arsenal to shake off Qin Lingxue’s covert surveillance. Only now was he free to embark on a wanton killing spree, nourishing his withered soul with the blood of the living.

“This new body’s bone structure is naturally suited for the Blood Path,” Han Lie mused, a sinister grin spreading beneath his hood. “Even without the Abyssal Condensation Sword, this Blood Asura Scripture alone is sufficient. I shall rise again and reclaim my peak in no time.”

His grin widened, twisting into something manic. “When that day comes, I will refine that hypocritical sanctuary demoness into a Blood Puppet. I will drain her and torment her day and night. Only then will the hatred in This Seat’s heart be quelled!”

Han Lie basked in the feeling of abundant power, his expression a mask of excitement and greed.

“Brother,” a male voice suddenly cut through the air from outside the hall. “Who did you say you were going to drain just now?”

“Who?!”

Han Lie’s expression crumbled. He spun around, instinctively looking toward the courtyard.

Two figures, a man and a woman, drifted down from the sky and landed softly in the yard.

The woman possessed a cold, transcendent beauty, her aura like frost. It was none other than Qin Lingxue, the Young Sword Master of the Abyssal Sanctuary—the very person he had worked so hard to lose.

Han Lie didn’t recognize the man standing beside her. However, the faint but oppressive pressure radiating from him suggested he was no less formidable than Qin Lingxue.

What the hell is this situation?

Han Lie stood frozen, his mind reeling at the bizarre scene.

Qin Lingxue stared at the brutalized corpses and the blood-soaked hall, a terrifying murderous intent filling her eyes.

She had long suspected that her “fiancé”—this “Qi Yuan”—was not right. To uncover the truth, she had shadowed him for days.

She hadn’t expected the man to be so cunning, nor to possess such a myriad of strange, untraceable escape techniques. A single moment of carelessness had allowed him to slip away.

It wasn’t until she encountered the Holy Scion of the Supreme Mystery Sanctuary, who was tracking the same target, that the horrifying truth clicked into place.

This “former fiancé” who had miraculously returned from the dead was nothing more than an evil cultivator borrowing a corpse to return his soul.

And because she had hesitated—because she had let the tiger return to the mountain—innocents had been slaughtered.

How could she remain indifferent?

Facing her silent wrath, Han Lie snapped out of his stupor. He was, after all, an ancient powerhouse who had weathered countless storms. He forced his expression into one of shock and righteous indignation.

“Actually… this is all a misunderstanding,” Han Lie said, his voice steady. “I was merely passing by when I noticed a surge of blood aura. I came to investigate, and the moment I entered, I was greeted by this tragedy.”

He shook his head, looking pained. “I never imagined that in broad daylight, the Demonic Path would dare to be so brazen!”

“Oh? Is that so?”

Before Qin Lingxue could retort, the unfamiliar man beside her smiled. His tone was playful, bordering on mocking.

“Whether you did it or not isn’t up to you. Let’s ask the victims.”

The man flicked his sleeve, shooting several streaks of ghostly light into the corners of the hall.

Whoosh!

A chilling wind instantly swept through the spacious room. Shadows flickered and warped as dozens of translucent figures materialized from the ether.

They were the souls of the freshly dead—innocents who had died wrongful, violent deaths. Their resentment was palpable, a thick, suffocating fog.

As soon as they appeared, dozens of pairs of hollow eyes locked onto Han Lie.

“It’s you! You killed my entire family! Old and young, you spared no one!”

“And you still dare to lie?!”

“Wuwuwu… I died so miserably!”

“Evil scoundrel! I won’t let you off, even as a ghost!”

The wraiths hurled malicious curses at Han Lie, their faces twisted in agony and rage. However, the immense blood aura radiating from his Foundation Building cultivation terrified them. They dared not approach, hovering in place as they howled and wailed.

“????”

Han Lie’s mouth twitched uncontrollably.

What the hell? Who is this guy?!

He just casually waves his hand and summons the souls of the dead? That’s way too sinister!

And more importantly… with both ghostly witnesses and material evidence, how am I supposed to bullshit my way out of this?!

Qin Lingxue was momentarily stunned by the sudden shift to a horror-show atmosphere. Recovering quickly, her face turned icy.

“So you really are the murderer! Pay with your life!”

Clang!

Her sword left its sheath, gleaming with cold light. She prepared to end him with a single strike.

“Lady Qin, please wait.”

Qi Yuan grabbed her sleeve, stopping her charge. “You promised to leave him to me.”

As he spoke, Qi Yuan casually waved his hand, dismissing the room full of wailing ghosts as if he were shooing away flies. He then turned a hostile gaze toward Han Lie.

“I forgot to introduce myself. I am the Holy Scion of the Supreme Mystery Sanctuary. Coincidentally, I am also named Qi Yuan.”

Qi Yuan cracked his neck, his eyes narrowing. “You’ve been running all over the map these past few days. You made me search very hard.”

He was genuinely irritated. This guy was slippery as a loach. Not only did he run fast, but he had also used four or five teleportation arrays in a row.

Even with the Abyssal Condensation Sword acting as a traitorous GPS, Qi Yuan had arrived too late several times. It was incredibly annoying.

Now that he had caught the culprit, he had to torture… no, interrogate him properly. And maybe collect a little interest.

Qi Yuan had a gut feeling. Even though this Han Lie appeared to be a rogue cultivator, his methods suggested extraordinary origins. A careful interrogation might yield unexpected loot.

And if the guy didn’t want to cooperate? Fine. He could just kill him and interrogate his soul.

After his recent ‘underworld mission,’ Qi Yuan’s proficiency with the Soul Summoning Technique was maxed out. As demonstrated just now, he could call back a whole room of ghosts without breaking a sweat.

Thoughts flashing through his mind, Qi Yuan snorted coldly, adjusting his expression to one of righteous solemnity.

“As a rising star of the righteous sects, I despise evildoers and criminals above all else. Under the clear sky and bright sun, you dare to slaughter the innocent so wantonly? You truly deserve a thousand deaths!”

Qi Yuan took a step forward, his voice dripping with judgment. “Before you die, do you have any last words?”

Righteous sects?

Han Lie’s expression contorted into a look of pure confusion.

Good heavens… why does this Sanctuary Holy Scion reek of evil even more than I do?