Who Will Spare the Dead If I Spare You?

The man ignored Wu Xuan's changing expression and seemed to mutter to himself, "I had a childhood sweetheart for a wife. We grew up together, and even as children, I thought she was the most beautiful and kindest girl in the world."

"Even after she awakened a useless martial soul and had no Soul Power, making her nothing more than an ordinary person, I still believed she was the best in the world. I never thought she was unworthy of me. We loved each other, and under the witness of our relatives, friends, and fellow villagers, we got married!"

As the man spoke of his past, his voice brimmed with emotion. Yet the gentleness in his eyes and the coldness on his face made for an extremely strange sight.

Wu Xuan did not lower the Soul Breaking Spear pressed against the man's throat. His pitch-black pupils remained fixed on him. He would not relax his guard simply because of a few words from an Evil Soul Master.

The man seemed to sink into his memories as he continued speaking to himself. "The years I spent living with my wife were the happiest days of my life."

At this point, tears involuntarily streamed from the corners of his eyes. But in the next moment, his agitated emotions turned cold and sinister. "For my wife, I always worked hard. I believed that as long as I strove to improve and cultivated diligently, one day I would reach a higher realm and give her a better life."

"But why?"

The gaunt man covered his eyes with his only remaining left hand. A shrill, despairing question came from his bloodied mouth, his overwhelming grief nearly taking physical form. "Why did that young master from the City Lord's Manor have to shatter my peaceful, beautiful life? Was it just because my wife was beautiful? There were plenty of beautiful women. Why did he have to choose mine? Why? Why exactly?"

"Was it because I had no background and no strength that he dared treat me this way? But that young master was merely the illegitimate son of a concubine. What gave him the right to look down on me? I still remember that night. That little beast broke into my home under cover of darkness, caught us off guard, knocked me and my family to the ground, and tied up our hands and feet. Can you guess what happened afterward?"

The gaunt man seemed to be asking Wu Xuan, yet also himself.

His eyes were bloodshot as he said, "That little beast! Right in front of me and my family, he shoved my wife onto the bed. No matter how she begged for mercy, he turned a deaf ear. Before my eyes, before my parents' eyes, all I could do was watch..."

"No matter how I screamed or cursed, it was useless. His arrogant laughter still echoes in my ears. I hate it. Why? Was it because his father was the City Lord? Because he was stronger than me?"

The gaunt man stared at Wu Xuan. His previously bloodless face had flushed faintly from agitation. He fixed his eyes on Wu Xuan and said word by word, "After he left, my wife dragged her battered body over and untied us. Though my parents said nothing, it was already too late. A woman's chastity was so important, especially when it happened before my parents."

"There was such a huge commotion in my home, yet not a single villager who had lived beside us for years dared come over. Fine, they did not come. But afterward, they even dared gossip about my wife in front of my parents. My parents actually agreed with those deeply humiliating words and told me to divorce my wife. How dare they?"

"Just as I was planning to leave my parents behind, move away from that place, and start over, my wife killed herself because she could not bear the rumors. I nearly went mad!"

"I hated them. I hated everyone. The endless hatred in my heart caused my martial soul to mutate, transforming from a Sharp-tailed Spirit Devouring Bee into a Skeleton Soul-Devouring Bee!"

"From then on, I gained the ability to absorb the life force and fear of others to raise my own Soul Power. Under the effects of my mutated martial soul, my mind was clouded. I actually killed every villager in the village, including my parents. I was terrified at the time, but my thoughts were completely beyond my control. I devoured all of their life force, and my injuries gradually healed."

The man raised his withered left hand and looked at it, speaking calmly. "To grow stronger, I spent more than a year starting with soul beasts. But it was too slow, so I tried deliberately killing people for the first time and devouring their lives and souls. In that moment, the feeling was indescribably exhilarating. I became addicted to the feeling of my strength rapidly advancing, and I began slaughtering commoners and weak soul masters like a madman. At first, my conscience troubled me somewhat, but gradually, I came to terms with it."

"Because weakness is a sin. This was what they deserved to bear! Just like me! If they wanted to blame someone, they should blame the unfairness of heaven!"

Wu Xuan's expression remained calm as he stared intently at the man recounting his story. Judging by the violent fluctuations in the man's Spiritual Power, it was all true.

"I have already taken my revenge. I killed every single member of that little beast's family, regardless of age or gender. I slaughtered them all. Especially that little beast—I tortured him for an entire day and night. Whether that was right or wrong, I no longer cared."

"This is my story: the story of a nobody struggling in the mud before finally taking revenge. Do you still think I am an Evil Soul Master?" The gaunt man stared tightly at Wu Xuan, seemingly waiting for an answer—an answer that could bring him peace.

"Once an Evil Soul Master, always an Evil Soul Master. And besides, you talk too much." Wu Xuan slowly raised his cold eyes and thrust his spear through the man's throat. The man stared at Wu Xuan with unfocused, disbelieving eyes before breathing his last.

"It truly was a pitiful story, and I sympathize with what happened to you. But you killed so many innocent commoners. Did you really think I would let you go after hearing a story? If I spare you, who will spare them?"

"You have no chance in this life. Let an Evil Soul Master torture you to death in your next life, and then you will understand, you hypocritical scum." Wu Xuan put away the Soul Breaking Spear and turned to leave with an indifferent expression.

"No way! Little Wu Xuan, that man was so pitiful! You just killed him like that?" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm sniffled, apparently deeply sympathetic toward the man.

Wu Xuan looked at Sky Dream Ice Silkworm as if he were an idiot. He had slept his way to a million years of cultivation. I can't get angry. I can't stoop to his level. Wu Xuan took a deep breath and consoled himself.

"Tian Meng! Stop being so sentimental. Learn from Ice Empress." Wu Xuan said helplessly.

"So this is love between humans? It is so touching, sob sob sob." Ice Empress said, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Uh! Forget it! Pretend I said nothing!" Wu Xuan's face darkened as he could not be bothered with these two fools who were missing a screw.

This world had always been cruel. Without the strength to protect oneself, one had to possess the courage to keep living.

Wu Xuan could not be bothered to comment too much on the rights and wrongs of this matter. He had seen only one thing: weakness was the original sin.

That Evil Soul Master had once been weak, so the City Lord's illegitimate son could humiliate him as he pleased. Once the Evil Soul Master became strong, he slaughtered the entire City Lord's Manor, and they had no choice but to endure it. But if you, a commoner, casually slaughtered commoners just like yourself to grow stronger, then if I found out and killed you, you would have no choice but to endure that too.

This was the principle Wu Xuan followed.

He did not care whether it was for hatred, love, or anything else. He could not be bothered to know your affairs. Take your revenge if you wanted; he could not be bothered to interfere.

But if you dared deliberately implicate innocents in the course of that revenge, then should he discover it, as long as he had sufficient strength, he would certainly destroy you.

This world was broken enough already. Someone needed to step forward and mend it.

PS: Without Electrolux, he would still have to seize the Life Gold later—and forcibly buy it right in front of Huo Yuhao. The Spirit Devouring Engraving Knife did not necessarily need Electrolux to purify it.

I wanted to write about Evil Soul Masters from different circumstances later on. Some were simply born evil, committing every kind of atrocity. Some had martial souls that mutated on their own later in life and cultivated in a wretched manner. Others mutated suddenly after suffering oppression and stimulation, cultivating through vengeful slaughter.

This time, I wrote about an Evil Soul Master whose mutation came from oppression. He was an ordinary lower-class cultivator, bullied by a noble young master, then became an Evil Soul Master whose martial soul mutated and who cultivated through killing.

Although this plot point was rather cliché, it made it easier to shape the protagonist's character.