Asking for What Is Owed

Xining Ferry Crossing, shrouded in night.

Several lamps swayed in the wind, throwing into relief cries of pain.

"Hmm?"

The servant boy and the residence attendants had gathered beside the dockside haystacks to divide scattered silver when they suddenly noticed the lights flickering.

Whirling around, they saw a figure standing behind them, though none knew when he had arrived.

"What the hell... who are you?!"

The servant boy jumped in fright. Looking closely, he saw that the figure was thin and wiry, not particularly tall. The black clothes fluttering in the wind gave off two or three parts of a chilling air.

There had been an honored guest at the ferry crossing today. Apart from this cargo ship, no other vessels had docked.

Could this fellow be one of the laborers who had unloaded cargo with the cook earlier?

No.

He did not look like one.

That build did not look like it belonged to a dockworker capable of unloading goods.

"..."

Xie Xuanyi said nothing, merely silently watching the young men groaning in pain beneath him.

Many people said

he was a killing fiend who could make evil cultivators of the Southern Borderlands flee at the mere sound of his name.

In a sense, he resembled a devil even more than a devil did.

But no one knew

that this devil could, most of the time, be called "compassionate."

He lightly tapped a finger.

A strand of snow-white vital energy swept from Xie Xuanyi's sleeve. He split a strand of the Principle of Life into several smaller wisps, sending them into the mouths and noses of those groaning on the ground. Before long, the ferry crossing fell quiet. Of course, Xie Xuanyi was not "compassionate" enough to use the Principle to save these sufferers' lives.

He had no intention